Justin Orloff seen through a soapy window, swinging the applicator through big soap spirals

My story · Justin Orloff, window cleaner since 1999

Window cleaning is only the movement.
It's what you become on the way.

A quiet job for introverts and outroverts, no degree needed. This is who I am, how I got here, and why I teach it.

Justin Orloff on rope access, hanging on a wind turbine blade above the open sea

Chapter 1 · the climber

Books were never my way. My hands were.

I'm dyslexic. I learn by doing, not by reading. As a kid I climbed everything: trees, walls, buildings. I was looking for something I could master.

I didn't know yet that it would be glass.

A squeegee pulling a clean line through soap water, a harbour behind the glass

Chapter 2 · Melbourne, 1999

My first window.

I wasn't a natural. But something clicked. Here was something I could get better at, one window at a time. Every streak taught me something.

I became an industrial climber, so my love of heights became my work. Every window had a beginning and an ending, with a clear difference. I loved that.

My dyslexia didn't matter here. My dedication did.

Soap swirls smeared across glass, the light behind it out of focus

Chapter 3 · the hard years

Stubborn dirt doesn't clean away in one pass. You go back again and again until everything is clear again.

Not every view was clear for me.

Actually, it was years of an unclear view of myself. Becoming a husband and a father changed that. An inner voice always said: show up, do the work.

There was no lightning bolt. The turning point came through the work itself, one window at a time.

In Japan, broken pottery is repaired with gold. It's called kintsugi. The cracks are not hidden; they become the most beautiful part.

Those years are my gold lines.

Justin on a rope beside a glass facade, high above the rooftops of Vienna

Chapter 4 · Vienna, 2010

Start bad, but start.

New country. New language. I started again from zero, the only way I knew: one window, one customer at a time.

Today I still clean windows in Vienna, solo. My clients rate me 5.0 on Google, and my calendar is booked into 2027.

As I cleared away dirt for others, I started to see myself more clearly too.

Introvert · extrovert · outrovert

I thought I was an ambivert. The test said outrovert.

Outrovert, or otrovert as psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski spells it: someone who is warm one to one, but never needs to belong to the group. An observer. A comfortable outsider.

Warm at every door. Never part of the crowd. A window cleaner looks in from the outside of the glass. That has always been me.

Belonging isn't about being perfect. It's about showing up, flaws and all.

Seen from inside an empty room: Justin kneeling outside the glass, cleaning the window alone

What I got, and still get

Why window cleaning is a job for introverts

A different point of view: Every day a new window, a new street, a new view. Literally.
Time alone: Your hands move, your mind is free. That audiobook you always wanted to listen to. Finally.
A new wellness center, every day: Beautiful homes, quiet rooms, light. And you get paid to be there.
Your own week: Freedom to sculpt and design your timetable. Nobody decides it for you.
No degree: No interview panel. No certificate from school. One window at a time.
A change you can see: Your customer's view, clear again. Their next daydream starts at that glass.

Best jobs for introverts: why quiet people do well in a trade

Justin at a floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over a green valley

Justin washing a sunlit window by the water, soap swirls catching the light

T-bar, two squeegees, a T-bar applicator and a squeegee rubber on a wooden floor

Before, after. For now.

A clean window doesn't stay clean. That isn't failure. That's the practice. Start bad, but start. Resilience is like a muscle: you have to keep using it, or it fades. You only fail when you stop.

A dirty, speckled skylight with a blue sky behind it — Before

Spotless window glass reflecting a blue sky and white clouds — After, for now

Convictions

What I believe about this trade.

I don't teach business theory. I teach the physical reality of perfectly clean glass. These four things I learned on the job, not in a seminar.

Business theory cannot fix flawed technique.

You can have the best marketing plan in the world, but if a first-time squeegee attempt leaves streaks, you will lose the client. Long-term success requires mastering the physical skill first.

"Watch me do it" is a liability, not a training program.

Showing a new hire how to clean a window guarantees they will do it their own way the minute you leave the job site. True training transfers repeatable physical muscle memory, not just visual memory.

Scale requires standardization, not supervision.

If you have to stand over your team to prevent callbacks, you don't own a scaling business. Growth only happens when every employee cleans to the exact same standard without you in the room.

Premium tools are not a substitute for proper mechanics.

Vendors push expensive gear as a quick shortcut to quality. But professional, flawless results come from the standard built into your hands, not the price tag on your equipment.

Who is behind it

Still on the glass. Still in Vienna.

Continuous professional fieldwork since 1999, Melbourne then Vienna, with the technique proven daily on the glass.
Pioneered the world's first Augmented Reality (AR) window cleaning training tool.
47 Google reviews, all 5 stars, across both my window cleaning businesses.
Internationally certified industrial climber, fully insured.

I am dyslexic and use AI and editing tools to write these pages. Read how I write.

Justin Orloff. On the glass since 1999, still cleaning windows in Vienna.

Questions people ask me

Is window cleaning a good job for introverts?

For me, yes. Most of the day it is you, the glass and your own thoughts. You meet each customer one to one, at their door, not in a crowded office. I have worked this way, solo, since 1999.

What is an outrovert?

Outrovert, or otrovert as psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski spells it in his book The Gift of Not Belonging, is someone who is warm and social one to one but has no need to belong to a group: an observer, a comfortable outsider. I tested as one. It explains why this work has always fit me.

Do I need a degree to become a window cleaner?

No. You need the right technique, $35 to $60 of tools, and the patience to be bad at it for a few days. I am dyslexic and I learn with my hands. So does everyone who cleans windows well.

Do I need experience to start my own window cleaning business?

No. I had none in Melbourne in 1999. What you do need is the patience to be bad at it for a few days before you are good at it.

How long before I am earning?

Three or four days of practice before the basics are solid. After that it depends on how quickly you go out and find people, which is the part I cannot do for you. I will not give you a number, because anybody who does is guessing.

Where do I start?

With the free Manifesto. It takes 5 to 10 minutes and explains why glass streaks and the only 5 tools you need. If it speaks to you, the homepage shows the three ways in.

Six months from now, you can still be researching. Or you can have cleaned your first hundred windows. The only difference is whether you start.

If you've ever felt behind before you've even begun, I built this for you.

I was that person. Window cleaning gave me a way to prove to myself, one small win at a time, that I was enough. I teach that system. Start bad, but start. One window at a time.

Start free: the Manifesto

Want the whole picture first? How I teach it, and the three ways in.

Questions? office@orloffs.com

Window cleaning is only the movement.It's what you become on the way.