Dec
13
Written by:
Nick
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 1:08 PM
Are you in the festive spirit yet?
Don’t worry, neither am I. I do find it difficult to get too worked up about the festive season in general.
Don’t get me wrong. It was great as a kid and even more magical when our kids were young, reliving Christmases past and present through their wide-eyed excitement.
But the constant television ads – with the exception of the rather clever John Lewis campaign – and reminders wherever we go in the shops with Noddy and chums belting out ‘It’s CHRISTMAAAAAS’ all gets a bit well, wearing.
It doesn’t help either having a birthday just before Christmas – on the 21st by the way – a wee reminder that I am another year older.
Business wise this time of year can become very frustrating starting with the run up to the Christmas/New Year period. Trying to source new orders after mid December – about now – is very difficult. Then Scotland shuts down for a couple of weeks and it seems to take a further week or two to get up and running again so it is possible to lose about a month’s trading at this time of year.
For the self-employed it is really easy to fret about business during this period.
I am not one for making new year’s resolutions but this year I have made a decision to take at least 7-10 days off and to stay away from that darn computer. I will also try very hard not to check in to my smart phone, well not too often. My Twitter habit will be sorely tested during this period!
The decision to take time off has been made easier by being very active over the past month. During the last four weeks I have attended six large networking or business events and had a further 14 meetings with a range of businesses and organisations with a view to getting to know them better and letting them know about the services Legends Promotional Products supplies.
Profit levels in the coffee shops of Perth have soared and my caffeine levels are at an all time high. But it has been a really worthwhile process which has led to a better understanding as to what potential customers needs are and for some quote requests which I hope will translate to business in the new year.
This has been an interesting blog to write because as of an hour ago I had no idea what was going to come out!
However, I do know what I am going to write about next week in my final blog of 2011 – it will have a sporting theme - and in keeping with the time of year it will be a Christmas special.
Copyright ©2011 Nick