I have a council estate that I do once a month. It's half an hour away, and I picked up the first customer there through a family member of a customer who lived round the corner from me. The former asked around the estate on my behalf and through her I got a few more.
Most turned out to be messers or non-payers, but I was determined to turn things around as I needed the work (I was in the early stages of building my run and was quite honestly desperate). Just as I was reaching the point of thinking that I was flogging a dead horse, I picked up a few more customers on the estate, who over the last year have proved to be model customers. The messers who were dragging me down have been culled and it is now a real pleasure to go there. The pleasure was heightened recently when one non-payer got her elderly mother to ask me back ('do them today and I'll pay you next week', said the old girl) and I told her how much her daughter still owed!
John