Jack Fairburn inspires the next generation at Brunshaw Primary School

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who teaches at Brunshaw Primary School rang and asked if I’d come in to talk about business as part of their careers day. I thought, “Yeah, no worries, this’ll be easy!”

It wasn’t. Standing in front of two classes of 60 kids was a lot more nerve-racking than I expected. I’ve handled big contracts and 4:30am starts in the rain, but a room full of children who’ll tell you exactly what they think is a different level.

What I told them

I kept it honest and simple. I’m not a teacher, so I just told them how it really went for me.

The bit I made sure they heard

I left school with no GCSEs. I couldn’t even do the alphabet, and if I’m honest, I still struggle with it now.

I told the kids that on purpose. School doesn’t suit everyone, and not being top of the class doesn’t mean you can’t build something. If you turn up, work hard and look after people, you can go a long way. I wanted the ones who find it tough to hear that from someone who’s been there.

Fair play to schools for getting kids thinking about business and work from such a young age. Jack Fairburn, JWF Window Cleaning

Thank you to Brunshaw Primary for inviting me, and to the pupils for their questions. Some of them were better than I could answer.

About JWF Window Cleaning

We’ve been cleaning windows in Burnley and across Lancashire since 2001, for homes, shops and businesses including Blackburn College. As well as window cleaning, we do gutter cleaning, power washing, roof cleaning, solar panel cleaning and uPVC cleaning. We also try to give back locally, from sponsoring football clubs and boxers to raising money for charity.