Yesterday me and my good lady went for one of our favourite long walks along the extensive network of forestry tracks behind our property.

It’s about 6 miles there and back. The the first couple of miles winds up through mainly pine forrest with just tantalising glimpses through the trees of what lies ahead.

What lies ahead is an utterly spectacular view of the firth of Clyde far below. The trees fall away and you are left with an uninterrupted view that takes your breath away.

To the left you can see as far as Dumbarton and Greenock, to the right the Ayrshire coast, the Islands of Cumbrae, Millport, Bute and Arran. 

On a clear day like yesterday you can also see the deserted Ailsa Craig - where curling stones are quarried. Beyond that lies the rest of the world.

You probably see about 100 miles of open sea, dotted with light houses, sailing boats, ferries, container ships, cruise liners and occasionally one of the submarines from nearby Faslane.

That view suddenly emerging from the trees is truly awe inspiring. 

I’m going back today to shoot some video for a new ad campaign.

Because that walk always strikes me as a fabulous metaphor for personal development and self improvement and in fact for building a new life through digital marketing.

The first 2 miles are a bit of an uphill toil with just those small glimpses of where the path leads. So you just keep striving forward one step at a time. 

Then when you eventually get to the next stage - where the big picture reveals itself - You know it was so worth it.

We always look at each other at this point and say “Wow - we live here!” 

Earlier in the year we took a much longer longer walk on another of those tracks to watch a stage of the Argyll car rally. It was much much farther than we had thought when we set off and the weather was horrible!

On the way we met some people coming back down - they too had underestimated the distance and had given up. 

But we persevered and again it was so, so worth the effort when we were rewarded with some seriously exciting car action - I got some fab photos too. 

On the way back we met some people heading up - they asked us if it was much further to the rally stage (they had also underestimated the hike! 

Some gave up when we told them it was a few more miles uphill, some carried on. 

My point is that even with the best maps, the best equipment for the job and a glimpse of what’s waiting at the end of the journey …..(like you get with SFM when it comes to building a life changing digital business)  

You need still need to do the journey! 

And in the end - its the journey that makes the goal worthwhile. 

And every journey starts with - THE FIRST STEP

Cheers!