Read one Irish entrepreneur's blog as she operates a business in Dublin
When your hero tries to visit and can't get in
August 29, 2003
One of the most inspiring books I have ever read is written by Seth Godin and it’s called "Permission Marketing". I read the earlier edition months after it was published back in the days when I was just starting out in internet marketing. The book resonated with me. Seth Godin put down all the thoughts and concepts that shape the business I’m in. It was great to know that there was someone out there beating the same drum. Mr Godin is now considered one of the guru’s of the internet marketing world.
I was lucky enough to meet him early in 2002. He was over in Dublin for a conference on Permission Marketing and thanks to some crafty positioning I found myself sitting at the top table for lunch, beside Seth, where I got to talk to him about lots of interesting stuff. The people who organised the conference were all wondering who this chick was beside Seth and how she managed to get there!
As you may have noticed, in the last few days I have changed the title of this page from “Todays Blog” to “Latest Blog” – this is to give me a bit of breathing space and means I don’t have to publish a blog every day. However, I forgot to change the URL on my email signature so it was still referring to today’s blog – a page that no longer exists.
Last night I was reading Seth's blog and replied to a comment he made about stupid instructions on products. I came in this morning and there was an email from The Man Himself saying he had tried to click my link but had got an error message!
My hero might have read my writings on this page, but because of a stupid oversight on my part, he couldn’t. That was very annoying indeed. I have assured myself that this won’t happen again!
Ireland's 1st Honeymoon Registry
August 25, 2003
The start of a promising week. I have a client site going live later in the week. But it’s not just any old site – well none of my client’s sites are, check them out in the clients section above for yourself. This site, however, is the first of its kind in Ireland.
It’s an online honeymoon registry.
Because nowadays many Irish couples live together before getting married, they tend to have all the essentials for their home by the time they get married. So what to put on the wedding list? There are only so many glasses pillowcases a couple can use. It’s a bit crass to ask friends for money. And returning unwanted gifts can take up time and cause embarrassment when they’re not on display when the donor is around!
Ireland’s first online honeymoon registry works just like a traditional wedding registry, except instead of glassware, china and linen, guests can contribute towards the cost of the couple’s honeymoon. All elements of the honeymoon may be purchased in units of €25, so a guest wishing to spend €100 for example can contribute €25 towards the flight, €25 towards the hotel, and even extras such as champagne, massage and excursions.
There are additional features on the site to make things even easier for couples. Once the honeymoon has been booked, the couple is given a space on the site for their own wedding web page. Couples can use the wedding web page to publish a photo of themselves and information that will assist their guests (details and directions to the ceremony and reception, etc). The wedding web page can also be used to manage RSVP’s, making it convenient for guests to confirm their attendance by email. Of course, the wedding web page has a link to the couple’s honeymoon registry so that guests will be aware of it.
Finally, when the couple return from their honeymoon refreshed and relaxed, they can publish photos from their trip onto the site and all guests who have contributed towards the honeymoon will receive an email and a link to the site.
Nice idea eh?
The site is a database-driven site and will be ready for testing on Wednesday. Go2Web is the company that is developing the site, e-commerce sites with shopping cart functionality is a forte of theirs, and I must say, they’re very pleasant to work with. Go2web designed the original site for the client, The Travel Broker.
Once the testing is complete, it’s a case of getting it out there to as many wedding related websites and magazines as possible. If you’re reading this and you’re thinking to yourself – “what a brightspark kind of idea” – contact us and let us know of any wedding industry contacts you have. For wedding planners and others who work in this (multi million euro) industry, it’s definitely something that will make them look good to be able to refer their clients to.
More on this later when there are some results to brag about…
First BNI Meeting
August 21, 2003
Yesterday I attended my first BNI meeting. BNI is like an uber networking group where they make no bones about the fact that people are there to swap business contacts, and not talk about the weather. The chapter I visited is the oldest in Dublin and the largest – BNI Airport.
At 7am, I arrived bleary eyed and a little tired to see how proceedings went. My situation wasn’t helped by the fact that TG4 had shown “Boogie Nights’ until 1am the previous night and I had stayed up to watch it.
Proceedings begin with a circuit of the table where everyone gets to speak about their business for 1 minute. The idea is that if you attend every week and listen, soon you’ll be fully aware of what everyone else does and so you’ll be able to recommend their services to people who need them. Each week one person gets to speak for 8 minutes. After that is the official swapping of leads and contacts.
There were 82 referrals at the session I attended yesterday! That’s pretty good – averages about 2 per person.
What a good concept – to have 39 excellent networkers and smart business people out marketing your business on your behalf!
Downsides? Commitment to attend every week at 7am. I was starting to flag yesterday at around 3pm, it felt like late at night! Also, you do have to pay €600 to join, which is the most out of all such networking groups in this city. However, if it generates business like I imagine it does, that would be paid for in the first job.
I can attend 2 more sessions as a visitor and I will before I make my decision of whether to join. But in the meantime, if anyone needs a good painter/printer/copy writer/designer/accountant/lawyer…just let me know I can refer you to some of Dublin’s finest!
All About Time
August 19, 2003
Oops nearly a week since the last blog, it's appropriate that this one is all about time.
Since starting this business – all of 2 months ago now – I’ve learned to put a much higher value on time than ever before. My definition of time has been stretched and changed so it resembles something far different to what it was.
The time that elapses between having that first meeting with a potential new client to being paid for that work is certainly longer than I imagined. Time stretched. The amount of time devoted to administrative/red tape chasing is huge. Time dissolved. Time spent on the phone to one of Ireland’s beloved telecom providers. Time evaporated.
I’m beginning to begrudge the amount of time I’m spending on admin tasks. The last couple of weeks I’ve jotted down the total amount of hours I intended to work in that week. I divided the time into hours spent on client work, hours spent marketing the business, and hours spent on self-promotion. Then I recorded where my actual time went…
An hour on the phone to my mobile provider querying an exorbitant bill. A couple of hours researching printers and learning the spec’s of what’s on offer. A half day trip to the accountant….
The list goes on.
So today, in a bid to help with the marketing work and develop a killer contacts database I have someone starting work for me. His name is Adam, he’s deadly keen, and I’m sure he’s going to be very good. He’s due to arrive in 35 minutes, so excuse me while I nip out to buy some croissants and put the coffee pot on!
Time spent briefing Adam in – aagh!
The Nuns Were Right!
August 13, 2003
As a past pupil of a convent school I always hated the over-extreme emphasis on discipline and worrying about school values. Bearing the uniform carried with it a responsibility, or so we were constantly told. There would be regular announcements on the intercom about girls being spotted around the area in various stages of ‘undress’ – socks down, blouse buttons open, with eyeliner on! These reports always ended with a statement about how important it was to look good and to wear the uniform with pride, because with it we carried the reputation of the entire school.
Looking good is so important. Working for yourself, you are free from having to wear suits to the office. Like every other business decision, you decide what approach you’re going to take and live with it. I have a large wardrobe of grey and black suits (and matching court shoes) that I’m delighted to have retired. Suits were never my thing.
Working in an office where you have to wear a suit is draining on your clothes budget. I always felt I was shopping for 2 people – the soberly dressed week-day suit person, and the colourful strappy dress, low cut top weekend person. And never would the two meet, ie. I never quite managed to cross over clothes from my casual wardrobe to the work one. And when Casual Fridays came in – I had to run out and buy another wardrobe, the smart casual. My version of casual just wouldn’t have been suitable.
Now I can wear whatever I like. However, I do make a point of getting dressed up every day. Not for me, the dressing gown and slippers! Even if I’m not having a meeting I still look sharp. The difference is that for me now, sharp means a feminine skirt with a – dare I say it – sexy low cut blouse, finished off with a pair of strappy sandals that never would have made it to the other office. I still look good, but in a way that I can express myself.
And this is so important. The amount of times in the past few weeks alone that I’ve simply bumped into people that I need to engage for business. How glad I’ve been that I’m not in a tracksuit. And how I’ve noticed that they take in how I look.
Dublin is a small city, and my advice to any aspiring entrepreneur is to remember that and dress for success every morning. The nuns were right. You are carrying a reputation on your back. And Brightspark is a definitely a well cut trousers, high heeled sandals, shimmery blouse kind of company. If you want to work with an egg-stained T-shirt, polyester tracksuit kind of firm, please log out.
Skanger City
August 11, 2003
The good weather over the weekend brought out much of Dublin’s skangers. For the few frequent readers of this blog from overseas, a skanger is Dublin slang for a knacker, which is slang that has become part of the vernacular. A knacker is like poor white trash, only worse.
Over the weekend Sky News showed scenes of the heatwave all over Europe. Beaches throughout the continent were packed as people tried to cool off. In London people were throwing themselves into the fountain in Trafalgar Square. Even the chic Parisians were to be seen standing under water sprays.
In Dublin, the good weather brought the skangers out, and they celebrated by getting pissed. On Saturday afternoon I passed a woman who was crashed out on a bench outside the Gaeity Theatre, can of beer in hand, large white belly protruding, hardly an appetising view for the diners at the Gaeity cafe. Two men were leaning against a wall, empty beer cans lying around them, near Stephens Green. They couldn’t just let me walk by unnoticed, they had to harass me, calling lewd comments as I attempted to go about my business. And a group of skangers had even taken to dining al fresco – leaving their empty pizza boxes, chip containers, and plastic bottles on the newly pedestrianised street at the bottom of George’s Street. This slice of skanger life was all in the space of about 10 minutes. There’s plenty more out there, believe me.
On Sunday, at Dollymount beach, the HB kite-surfing and MTV dance event took place. What could have been a great day out for Dublin’s teenagers turned into riots thanks to the proliferation of drunken skangers. The sand-dunes were set on fire and bottles were thrown at the few police who tried to keep the peace. On buses back to the city afterwards, whole families of skangers were there – elated after their brushes with the law, drunk and stoned – what a fine example for their poor kids who were with them.
Skangers are a part of Dublin life that I never missed when I was away. How refreshing to live in cities where public events do not turn into fights with the law. Where large numbers of people can gather outdoors and leave no trace and remove all their litter with them. Where simple bus journeys are not filled with skangers smoking and making rude comments. If it’s the sun it takes to bring them out and roaming around the city, let there be rain. Let there be misty grey skies and low dense clouds. Let there be snow.
Networking in Dublin
August 07, 2003
There has been a lot of press lately devoted to Good Networking Skills. Tips, techniques, what to do, what not to do, the whole process analysed in great detail. I attended a recent Marketing Institute seminar on building your own brand, tips on good networking given by Marc Thornton and Adrienne Regan. But before we all take everything to heart and become obsessed with how much a success we are at networking, I’d like to state that Irish people are pretty good at networking.
Networking in London is too class ridden. You could have the sharpest, wittiest person approach with the perfect banter – but there’ll always be someone lurking who’s quick to make a mockery of the ‘wrong’ accent, or school attended after they’ve gone. (Hello, didn’t we all leave school a decade or more ago?)
In Sydney, networking functions tend to be too cut-throat and calculating. “What can you do for me? Nothing? See ya”. Plus, they have them at the most ungodly hours of the morning – before 7am. This might sound racist, but in my opinion it’s because so many of the women at these functions are the most arch ambitious individuals you’ll ever come across. And yes, in Sydney, the majority of professionals in marketing are women. Amongst Greek-Australian, Italian-Australian and some Eastern European-Australian families, there is a tremendous pressure on girls to get married. For the ones who resist it, the pressure converts to one of success. For these women, if their families aren’t going to bask in the glory of a successful marriage, they’ve got to be provided with a successful career. Consequently, there is a generation of women who refuse to allow themselves to develop friendships in work. Everyone is a potential threat and someone to be conquered. How sad.
Refreshing Dublin, on the other hand, sees us all nattering away, nodding and smiling, albeit with one eye on that person you really want to speak to. We are polite and pleasant, but not time wasters. I’ve had introductions made for business opportunities by people who are in completely different industries, but they just happen to know someone I need to speak to from somewhere. People are generous with their contacts, and I like that.
Of course it works both ways. I had a meeting the other day in which I managed to secure work for three of my very talented friends. I left the meeting feeling excited and pleased, looking forward to sharing the good news.
Networking when you’re in business for yourself is kind of like interviewing when you work for an employer. Time spent listening to what they are looking for and then talking up your skills and abilities, while at the same time allowing a little personality to slip into the equation. But I’ve never had an interview for a job where I’ve been sipping a cool Chardonnay and nibbling on a piece of smoked salmon! Yet another reason why being in business for oneself rocks!
Choosing The Right Name
August 05, 2003
The Tuesday after the August bank holiday and I feel relaxed and refreshed. Decided to avoid the crowds and stay in Dublin this weekend, what a great decision that was! Dublin, minus the August weekend holiday-goers, is a wonderful city. It reminded me of Dublin 15 years ago, before the boom when not every household had 2 cars. A gracious city styled for pedestrians.
Walking down Westmoreland Street or crossing the quays can be so pleasant when there are no noisy, heavy, polluting trucks and cars to stop your conversation and keep you stranded waiting for a green man for an intolerably long time.
On Saturday night, I was at a great party – perhaps one of the best of the summer season. There I met someone who has recently shared the same angst as me regarding creating a name for something special. This guy was a member of a heavy metal band. The group had taken the decision some time ago to change their name from one that wasn’t working for them to something new. They had the same worries about message and brand as I had, and they went through the same process of disregarding English words to make up their own, only to go back to English once again.
And so, under a clear summer night’s sky, we toasted our cocktails and agreed what a good thing it was to come up with a name that is new and one to be proud of. So if anyone comes across a band called God’s Hellish Affair gigging at a venue near you – know that this was arrived at after a long process of deliberation. And please give them your support.