2019 update: I have written two blog posts on Crowdfunding. This one was written in early 2014 following a feature on Today FM on The Sunday Business Show. The original article is presented below. I wrote a separate blogpost in 2019 for the New Frontiers blog which featured a YouTube video interview with Derek O’Sullivan…
Today, I made a modest financial contribution as part of a Crowdfunding campaign to MediStori and I would ask everyone who reads this to seriously consider supporting this campaign – by making a contribution directly or telling someone else who would benefit from the product. The promoter is looking to raise €50,000 in the next…
I recently delivered a Training Workshop on Marketing. As the session concluded, I shared my format for a One Page Marketing plan – both options are free to download! The One Page Marketing Plan is precisely that – there should be no need to go beyond one page. It contains 7 elements: Business Goals SMART…
I recently noticed a change to the Tax Treatment of Charitable Donations in Ireland and I thought I would share it here as most charities seem to be still using an incorrect (or confusing) form on their websites and this blogpost includes text taken from an email that I just received from the Revenue Charity…
Thanks to Tara Dalrymple of Mission Possible for giving me a loan of Seth Godin’s ‘Tribes’ a few weeks ago. The book, published November 2008, is contemporary – it is becoming even more relevant as time passes. It is a fascinating book, I was half way through it before I realised that it does…
I write several business plans for clients every year and I also regularly create tender documents for my own business, with partners and for customers. I review many more business plans to include InterTrade Ireland’s Seedcorn competition and tender submissions. Having a professional-looking document is a great start. Here are some of my top tips…
A self employed person running a professional services business has a different outlook to most other businesses. I think that somewhat different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) apply when you want to track how the business is doing so that you can plan for the future. Here is my review of my business in…
Startup Digest Galway has been curated by Donncha Hughes, on a voluntary basis for several years. It aims to feature startup oriented news and events taking place in the Greater Galway and West of Ireland region. It is firstly a Google Calendar and secondly anyone can sign up to receive a weekly email listing the…
Wishing everyone that I know in business and from other walks of life a brilliant Christmas holiday and a happy new year. Hope you all like my featured image (created using Pixlr Photo editor) regards donncha (@donnchadhh)
I am a big advocate of Lean Startup. This post selects my four favourite Lean Startup books from the many books on the broad area of Lean Startup. To be read in this order: 1- Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development 2- The Lean Startup 3- Running Lean 4- Lean Analytics Starting Point The book that…
I am really looking forward to Monday 9th December when GMIT’s Innovation in Business Centres Galway and Mayo will host a Livestream of the first half of the first day of the Lean Startup Conference. I am delighted to have a small involvement in bringing this to Galway. FREE to attend – book via Eventbrite link…
Information Technology is very important for small business. A new laptop for a small or home office (SOHO) business can be a big investment. This blogpost will outline how I set up my new HP Pavilion g6 laptop. I was up and running within a few hours but it has taken some time to get…
This blogpost discusses ‘how do you build a business when what you are selling is your skills, domain knowledge and expertise’. This is an important question for Ireland Inc, which has for many years been reliant on the Services sector as evidenced by a CSO report which found (page 22) that new service enterprises accounted…
This is my first post since returning to work after a family holiday. It is not a post about my holidays in Blackpool, as no-one is really interested in another person’s holiday – admit it we only care about our own! It is rather some thoughts on our experiences as customers of various services providers…
Bullet charts are a superb data visualisation tool – if you want to present results of a metric such as Sales across two periods e.g. this year versus last year (or against this year’s target) in for instance a business plan update. The advantage is that they allow presentation of comparative information while also presenting…
I asked myself a question today – How do you run up a hill? What is the best way? This raised more questions. Do you grit your teeth or do you smile, do you keep a steady pace or do you sprint up to get it over and done with, do you run in a…
I am proud to be an advocate of the Lean Startup movement. I have worked with lots of startups to firstly explain the principles and secondly to use the tools. Why – because when I read The Lean Startup, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development, particularly Running Lean and most recently The Lean Entrepreneur, the…
I have had an iPad for many years. It can be a neat business tool for use in and out the office – I particularly like Noteability: an iOS app for for taking notes and signing documents; a Maglus Stylus; a bluetooth wireless keyboard; the office apps with Dropbox; and Zoom . I travel regularly…
I am looking forward to attending Villiers School on the North Circular Road, Limerick this Thursday to meet the students for their market day as part of the 2013 Student Enterprise Competition organised by Limerick City Enterprise Board. I was delighted to be asked to be a member of the Limerick City judging panel along…
I was delighted to be asked by Maria Staunton,of GMIT’s Innovation in Business Centre in Castlebar to speak at the first meeting of 2013 of the Mayo Open Coffee Club. I was asked to speak about ‘New Year, New You, Setting Smarter Goals for 2013’. I readily accepted as I have a keen interest…
I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very Happy Christmas to all the people who I met for mentoring, training and consultancy this year. 2012 was a very busy and productive year. I thank you all for making my ‘job’ very rewarding. And thanks to all my customers for their continued business.
I changed from a petrol to a diesel car this year. I always wondered how much money this would save me in terms of motor costs. I estimate that the change has saved me 20% or approximately €108 in reduced fuel bills when I compare my travel in September 2012 to September 2011. …
This blogpost will highlight some of my favourite parts of the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaccson – which i think is a brilliant read. I will focus on the parts which epitomize the role of Steve Jobs in building Apple – a company which changed the world. I will also pick out nuggets…
I use Dropbox every single day. Dropbox is described as a free* service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. The key for me is that Dropbox sits on the desktop of my laptop. I save files in the normal way into folders as I work on them….
This blogpost will focus on writing your business plan so that it proves valuable to you during your first year in business – we don’t want it to just gather dust, that is never be read again. In essence, your business plan should concisely detail what your business is about, who your customers are, and why they buy from you. It will also set out how you plan to grow the business. You should write your business plan with the objective of copying and pasting the words, descriptions, images and graphs into other communications during your first year. You can refer to your business plan to explain to suppliers such as website and graphic designers and your accountant what your business is about. You can also use it with agents, partners, and your bank manager to set out the vision for your business. Finally, you can also use it for yourself and your team to record ideas for the future and most critically to track the progress of your business.
I volunteered to speak at BizCamp Galway tomorrow (Saturday 10th September) on the topic of ‘Ten challenges to help your business plan succeed’. We have been allocated a 30 minute slot to include Q&A. My talk and this blogpost focuses on my experience of working with hundreds of startups to present the key issues that…
Public Relations (PR) is coverage of your business in the media – tv, radio, newspapers, magazines and now blogs – as part of their news. While there is no money paid to the organisation for the coverage it does take time, effort and money to get lots of positive coverage for your business. The flipside of course is that not all PR is 100% positive but that is another story. The blogpost will summarise some key points to remember when preparing a press release to promote your business. They are two key stages in the process. The first is to think about an angle that makes your release newsworthy. You then need to write the release in a style and language that suits your audience. The second key stage is distribution of your release. At the end I will talk about the advantages of using a PR agency.
Chapter 12 of ‘What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography’ by Alan Sugar (2010) is fascinating. It tells how Amstrad reinvented itself by helping Rupert Murdoch to launch Sky. I love stories. This particular story is fascinating as it shows superb lateral thinking by Alan Sugar and his team. Around 1988, satellite dishes and receivers were on the market for approximately £5,000. In June of that year, Alan Sugar agreed that Amstrad would develop satellite receiving equipment which would sell in the shops for £199.
If a premium rate number operator like Zamano which manages the number 57030, take credit from your phone without your permission, you can get it back! You will need to text STOP to unsubscribe from the service, you will then need to contact your mobile phone operator, you should also contact the operator, and finally I would suggest contacting the very helpful Comreg.
Six factors critical in formulating your approach to tendering in Ireland are discussed in this blogpost. It is critical to select your tenders carefully, read the tender invitation carefully and structure your submission to demonstrate that you meet all the requirements of the tender.
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