The Road to Success is Long...

There have been a lot of positives in the last month, and there is certainly a lot to look forward to in 2012:

• Party bookings are up
• School enquiries are up
• Hits on the website are up
• social networking seems to be paying dividends

Despite all of these positives, there is still 'leg work' to be done.

That is what I have been doing today.

Part of being self employed, and taking responsibility for your own success (or failure), is acknowledging that every task is your task (if you aren't in a situation to pay someone else to do it for you).

Today I have walked miles.

I'm not sure exactly how many miles, but I know I was walking continuously for several hours. I wish I'd been wearing a pedometer so that I could calculate how many calories I'd burned!

I dropped leaflets along a familiar route, which would normally take about 15 minutes to walk. 

After over an hour and a half I was running low on flyers, so retreated to a pub for a well deserved drink.

The lessons learned today were many and varied.

It's amazing how quickly you pick up on the types of houses to target with flyers.

My flyers were designed for children's parties, so I quickly started to target houses with  the following:

• Children's bikes outside
• Trampolines in the garden
• Small sized shoes in the porch
• Photographs of children over the fire place
• Curtains in upstairs rooms with football team logos (predominantly Liverpool FC, despite Liverpool being several hundred miles away)
• Cars on the drive way with child seats / sun shades in the back seats

Despite this targeted approach I find that, at the end of a long day, my legs ache and I am tired. 

I am, however, contented in the thought that if even 1 in 100 flyers elicit some kind of response I am better off than I was 24 hours ago.

I have made that difference myself.

I have walked the streets.

I have promoted myself.

I have spoken  to people.

I have earned my money (or will have when my efforts pay dividends)

There is pride to be had from this kind of personal approach to business, and I like that!

I take pride in my business.

I take pride in myself.

I take pride in working hard to achieve my ambitions.

I shall sleep well tonight!