The Year Gone And The One To Come

It's almost the end of another year and from a business point of view it has been very busy, which can only be a good thing! Beginning my third year of going solo I would have never expected to be where I am now and I truly thank all my customers for this from the bottom of my heart. I do hope that this coming year will be more of the same.

At the beginning of the year there were certain issues in both personal and business lives which I originally couldn't see a way out of yet fast forward 12 months the whole picture is so much different. Each year since I began I set myself a list of goals I want to achieve in the following twelve months, when I write them I always think they are out of reach, especially given the position I was in this year. Both years I have achieved 90% of these goals and both years I'm staggered I have! So over the next week I will do the same again and check in over the year at where I am in achieving these.

I've invested in a few things this year which have really helped my business and one that will eventually help, that is a spray machine. Currently I have a Graco Ultra Corded handheld sprayer, used it twice and made a mess! Finish was still good but too much overspray so I am using a couple of jobs I have coming up and at home to practice a bit more. Once I get it right I will be able to promote other services in my business and I will more than likely be investing on bigger machines.

Further to my purchases the next twelve months I aim to go on a few courses, spray course, repair care and others to also learn more. Always beneficial to expand your skillset and just being in the presence of other Dulux Select Decorators online and other quality decorators who kindly share their knowledge has helped me greatly. With how quickly the painting industry is changing you can easily be left behind so I am determined to keep myself up to date. As of writing this I have left TrustMark, if I'm honest I don't know many customers who have heard of it and for the yearly outlay it wasn't worth it. I might return to it in the future as it should be a good scheme but has no national recognition.

One thing that is happening next year is that I am part of the official select team entered in the Dulux Trade London Revolution, a 180 mile bike ride around London over two days. This is going to take a lot of effort and hard work on my behalf for a few reasons. I'm a few stone overweight, I have barely rode a bike in the past 20 years, I have no idea of how to train correctly, yet alone how to diet (I am the takeaway king!!) and I have never done anything that requires this level of training before. So to commit to this while running a business and raising a family is going to be tough. From the start of January I have 19 weeks to lose two and a half stone, learn to ride a bike correctly and build up my core stamina to do it. Nothing like a deadline to work to eh?! I will be asking for donations towards this as it is all for charity so I apologise in advance because I will be pushing it a lot!

I'd like to finish by wishing all my customers a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Without your continued support I wouldn't have made it this far and I really appreciate it, truly.