Read one Irish entrepreneur's blog as she operates a business in Dublin
Internet is no more
August 30, 2004
It's official - referring to the internet with a capital I is no longer grammatically correct!
I subscribe to a nifty little texting service that is run by a company called Smartnote. The service is called WordNerd and if you're like me and you care about the English language and are passionate about its correct use, then you too should subscribe. Twice a week at about 6pm, I receive an SMS with interesting news from the world of words.
Today's was a case in point. "Big news for nerds: no longer will "Internet" be capitalised. Why? It's become a communications medium rather than an entity. No one refers to The Telephone now do they?"
True. I know I blogged about it ages ago - the internet is not a proper noun, it is not a place or name so it doesn't warrant the upper case.
Marketing communications people take note!
Beauty Site for TV's?
August 27, 2004
In the continuing quest for reciprocal links for my beauty site clients, I came across this Australian site the other day. I'm not sure, but is it perhaps a beauty spa for transvestites? See for yourself.
Also, my accountant thinks I'm spending far too much time on this blog. He thinks it might be distracting me from my other work. But I've just timed this entry and it has taken me all of 2 minutes.
If there was an Olympic sport for updating blogs, I think I've just won gold!
Time To Brag
August 23, 2004
Very prolific today with not 1 but 2 blogs!
I just had to brag - one of the pages we're targeting for Butlers is grandparents day, that's a celebration in the US. We are ranked not 3rd, no not 2nd either, but NUMBER 1 globally for our keywords.
Yes, I'm quite pleased. Brightspark for Search Engine Optimisation - your only man!
An Post Price Increase
I just heard that An Post are seeking to increase the price of a stamp yet again. This time from 48 cent to 53 cent. For non-Irish readers, An Post raised the price of a stamp only last August and since then, many Irish-based direct marketing companies actually send their juniors over to the UK on the car ferry to do their mailings from there. It is cheaper to send post from the UK to Ireland, than from Dublin 7 to Dublin 2. Crazy.
Small businesses like Brightspark will wait with bated breath to see what ComReg the regulator comes back with. But I fear it might go through - An Post seems to me to be managing its media releases very well (probably the only thing it's doing well). Last week we heard about how they're going to lay off lots of workers at SDS, it's loss-making delivery arm, this week it's upping the price of a stamp. Sounds to me like "we'll take a hit on SDS and let everyone else take a hit on the stamps".
But it might mean that more businesses turn to email marketing as a way to communicating and they'd do well to turn to the email marketing section of this site to find out how to do it properly!
WIFI World
August 20, 2004
A typical Friday morning in Dublin?
I'm sitting in the Morrison Hotel sipping a nice strong cappachino. Glen Hansard from The Frames has just sauntered by - early I think for a *rock star* - and there's a German guy selling some gigabit laden product to 2 Chinese guys. Apparently they have a business in China that they're trying to run from here while they study English. Everyone at that table looks under 25.
A little early yet for all the big-time property guys who do their meetings here as well. I tell you, it's all happening at the Morrison! where they give you free WIFI by the way.
Change This Blog? Nah!
August 19, 2004
It has been brought to my attention that I can be a bit moaney in these blogs! I'm sorry for that and I am aware of it - the thing is, in a lot of cases of good news, I'm bound by confidentiality agreements of one sort or another, so I can't publish all the good stuff. But the bad stuff, no-one binds me on them.
One of my clients made a comment that they are a bit scared of featuring in this blog as one of the baddies. My response to that is - don't worry, you won't. It's only the real nastys that get named and shamed. So long as we have a harmonious working relationship, there is nothing to fear!
The same client asked me was the blog proving a little negative for my business? To which I answered a resounding NO. In fact, the first thing that most new people mention to me is the blog. It seems that when people find the site - either through search engines, or personal recommendations, they all tend to have a good read through the blogs first. Lots of people appreciate the honesty, and many say they really like my style of writing. That's good as a lot of the work I do is for clients is writing based, so if they like it good.
It's also kind of funny because I find people referring to things like the skangers on Dollymount beach or The Battle of Meteor...like they were there too. I love that, it reaffirms my belief that online environment is a truly powerful one.
But all this talk of restraining one's thoughts and opinions reminded me of how glad I am to be working for myself! It took about 8 years for me to realise that I love being the one in control. Now that I am - I wouldn't swap it for the world!
The Animal Games
August 15, 2004
I watched the funniest, most creative, and educational TV programme on BBC the other night - "The Animal Games".
It was the olympics of the animal world and instead of nations competing against one another, it was mammals, birds, insects, and herbtiles. When a bird performed well for example, there was a shot of the crowd - all these parrots and macaws and other exotic birds cheering and flapping their athlete on.
Delivered in the deadpan style of BBC sport shows, with two commentators talking up the performers that included Bush Baby the kangaroo, the Rhino Beetle (competing in weight lifting), the fruit fly maggot (archery), golden eagles, elephants, jaguars, sockeyed salmon.
The programme featured real footage of the creatures in action. First we saw how they performed at their chosen sport as themselves, then we saw them perform scaled to human size! Elephants and sharks didn't fare so well in human size, but wow - you'd want to see the Fruit Fly Maggot go!
It was so funny. The tongue in cheek commentary, the mirroring of the dramas that could happen in an olympics - such as Bush Baby the Kangaroo knocking the bar off the high jump - with his tail!! There were no drugs though.
It was also very educational. I think I've probably got more enjoyment out of that show than I will from the (dope-ridden) olympics! Well done BBC. Well done to the producers, directors, animators, and of course commentators.
Seth Godin is always on the look-out for purple cows - things that are done in an innovative way, the purple cow way. This was indeed a purple cow even though cows didn't feature!
VHI Are Go!
August 12, 2004
Just back from delivering a half day's training to the VHI ebusiness team. What a lovely bunch of individuals they are too. I love delivering training to a group like that because they are well aware of what email marketing is and why we should do it - what the Brightspark Email Marketing training does is how to do it - well!
Frankly I don't see the point in covering off "what is email marketing" to a group of people who are obviously web and email savvy and know that already.
So, that training was delivered today and there is another session tomorrow of web writing training. I love delivering that, because it's lots of hands-on work for them and not so much talking for me!
Also, I was in the Independent today - in the Careers & Business section, with piccy. It was a piece about how I use networking to grow my business. A few little misquotes here and there but nothing too bad.
No More 30 Days Credit
August 09, 2004
Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to all of those who emailed directly to give their feedback on the telly decision! I never realised there were so many shy blog readers out there. I will not be going on that TV show - the risk of coming across badly outweighs the prize, so that's that decision made.
I'm writing today about the amount of credit that is given to clients. I had been giving 30 days credit from date of invoice. And I normally only produce the invoice when the job is complete.
That's all about to change.
There is an EU Directive that has been written into Irish law which states that small businesses no longer have to give 30 days credit. Why is this? Well, the 30 days and the rest that it takes for companies to pay up was found to be killing small business. There are many cases of companies going under, despite having large amounts of debtors.
I have changed the Brightspark terms & conditions to reflect that change in law. Clients are still expected to pay on receipt of an invoice but payment is expected immediately. Am also bringing in a clause which states that an invoice will be generated after 2 months regardless of whether the site is complete or not. This is because I am finding many clients putting off their website marketing activity to suit their schedules, even though Brightspark has put in the hours of planning and preparation.
I wish I'd brought these in before completing a recent website (note: this used to name the company but since they paid up I've removed their name). That site has the dubious honour of being the longest outstanding debtor in the history of Brightspark. The invoice was sent in early June and we still haven't been paid for it. I know the reason why - there's a sign-off procedure in that company and the person that needs to sign off just hasn't bothered yet, despite repeated reminders from myself and even the Managing Director! But that's what you're up against.
If anyone reading this has any tips or advice on how you handle invoice periods, payment, and credit terms, I'd love to hear from you. You can either contact us using that button on the top navigation bar, or add a comment below.
Hallelujah I've Found The Answer!
August 05, 2004
The following is on "Entertainment.ie as today's horoscope for scorpio:
Even if you've never felt like an actor, consider taking a stab at it in your usual routine. Try to ease into a high-pressure situation as if it were the most natural thing in the world. When your thinking is clear, calm and levelheaded, the best possible results may come. Try to get all the facts beforehand. Be careful not to overindulge while under stress. Make an effort to consume things that are healthy. Trust yourself that you can pull off even a high-wire balancing act.
Should I Go On Telly?
I have an opportunity to go on telly! It's a new show being made for Network 2, hence it has the ability to be quietly cool like "The Panel" or anything with Dara O'Briain....or very naff.
Without wishing to give the game away, it's about a group of people being thrown together for an evening. Each one is interviewed at the end of the night about the others. And the winner is chosen on another night - in quiz show format - the one who guesses the most right about what was said about them.
Prize is good. There are high odds of winning it.
But the prize itself isn't so luring that I'd be willing to risk my good reputation to go on something that could go horribly wrong.
That said, it could be fun!
I would quite enjoy meeting a group of new people over a nice meal and some good wine. Being encouraged to talk and chat and share some experiences, while at the same time sharing an experience!
But I know that these shows just aren't interesting to watch unless something antagonistic happens.
Someone gets drunk and makes a show of themselves
There is an argument between two very opinionated people
Producers edit it to highlight their predefined "characters" to maximum advantage
I'm not saying that it would be me that would do any of the items above, but I would worry about the last one as it's outside of my control. And sure, if nothing fiery happened at all, then it would be a very boring show to be on indeed.
I have to make up my mind before Saturday. If any regular readers feel they have an opinion on whether I should go for it or not, I'd love to hear from you.
Shifting Expectations
August 02, 2004
That's what I'm at today.
I've come to the conclusion that I have created a great job for myself over the past 12 months. Now I'm going to focus on creating a great business!
Brightspark is ready to move up a gear and I'm spending today (the bank holiday Monday) planning for that. I am going to write down my goals and the steps I need to take to achieve them.
Did you know that 3% of the world's population holds most of the wealth? I say "most" because I can't remember the percentage, but trust me: it's high.
Did you know also that only 3% of the population has goals that are clearly stated and written down?
See the link? I don't think it's a radical assumption to make that it's probably the 3% who have their goals written down that are the ones that hold most of the wealth.
I am not in that 3% now. But I will be. And the beginning of it starts now with the August bank holiday planning...