Read one Irish entrepreneur's blog as she operates a business in Dublin
A Little Bit Of New York
May 20, 2005
Yesterday I experienced a little bit of New York in the centre of Dublin city.
I'm on a Committee where two of the members had to make time to meet each other. Their work diaries were relentlessly full of appointments, it wasn't looking good. Apart from being talented marketers, generous givers of their time, and fun people, they are both marathon runners. So, when all of the slots in the diairies were looking full, one of them suggested they conduct their business over a run!
They say the big thing in NYC now is to conduct business meetings while power walking through Central Park. Sure aren't we all so hip now in Dublin that we're on to it already?
Phoenix Park, next week sometime around 7pm. There you'll see two fit bodies jogging through that central park of ours and if you listen closely, you'll hear them talk about more than minutes per mile and Asics runners.
Somehow I can't see this trend taking being taken on throughout this fair city of ours. It will be a long time before the workers spill out onto Stephens Green or Merrion Square for some fresh air and negotiation!
Paperless Office My Foot!
May 17, 2005
You'd think Brightspark would be one, but I can tell you - we are not!
I do try to keep it that way, but there are times when you simply have to have the paper. Like for example, when you must print and sign a form in order to join an association. Or when you must print a really long document out because it's written so poorly your poor eyes can't take it in from the screen. Or when you need to print out cover letters to go with a really interesting offer that you're marketing. I could go on, but I won't.
Brightspark has been 'sans printer' since the move to Sandymount back in April. The printer and computer had been carried out to the transport van in the way they warrant, ie. like they are the most precious things on earth - yes they are! So it has utterly confounded me in the last 6 weeks as to why the printer won't work.
In true IT helpdesk style, I worked through the possibilities. No. it wasn't a fault with the printer because it still printed out that test page. It wasn't the connectors either because I got them to work on other pieces of equipment. It was definitely the relationship between the laptop and the printer...
Was the printer jealous of the laptop's new position in the sunny spot of the office? Was the laptop feeling cheapened by its perch on a pile of encyclopedias for height while the printer resided on an antique cabinet....all these potentials and more crossed my mind.
[if you're reading this and thinking she's finally gone mad, I urge you not to lose faith, it's just a bit of poetic license]
Anyway, today was the day. I was not going to let this thing get the better of me. I rang the Apple technical support helpdesk to be told that everything I needed was in the troubleshooting part of the site. Then I began to read through the troubles.
There are a lot of things that could go wrong I can tell you....it's kind of like reading the health section of a Lonely Planet book - you start to read and you think that you've got everything they mention. In fact, now that I think of it my printer could be exhibiting signs of malairia...
In a moment of despair, I rang the good guys at iSolutions, they're the Mac Doctors I wrote about not too long ago. Pleasant Gavin asked me a few questions to make sure I had been through all the right moves and you know what? I hadn't downloaded the new drivers from HP.
Seemingly HP bring out new drivers every so often and they put them up on their site, and we the customers are just supposed to know that this kind of thing happens...so, next time you have something wrong with your printer and you can't live without it any longer, visit the manufacturer's site and you might find the answer to your prayers.
Now I type to the sound of a busy printer. My laptop and printer are in perfect harmony again. The sun is shining outside and my world is at peace once more.
Local Search Engine
May 12, 2005
I came across a local search engine called The Owl. They have listed Brightspark and in recriprocal fashion I'm linking to them also. I think it's brave to be starting a search engine off in these days of Google and Yahoo! saturation. But then people have many reasons for doing such things....
The Owl Search Engine
We are listed in The Owl search engine.
I Want A Phobile
May 09, 2005
It's better than a mobile and it's seriously retro! Check out the latest gadget that all the cool kids have, the phobile
It's an exact replica of a Western Electric 500-series model phone handset from the 1940, added to a 21st century mobile phone. My birthday is in 6 months, and I'm getting worried about the heat coming off my mobile....I want one now.
Quality Websites On The Increase
May 06, 2005
While preparing for a Write For Web workshop I was delivering for The Marketing Institute the other day, I noticed that the number of really badly written websites is on the decrease. There are less examples for me to use in my training course. Makes it a bit harder for me, but it's a good thing for the user.
When I returned to Ireland in 2001 the web industry in Ireland was a totally different place. Web Designers ruled the roost and were able to get away with charging extremely high prices. Many websites were over-designed, few were written for the user.
It's got to be "All About Me" online, not "All About Us - the business".
Nowadays, websites tend to be more marketing orientated. Businesses aren't just leaping into the online environment as part of the pack. Rather they are choosing to publish material on their websites that has a specific purpose, that sells product or provides meaningful information about the service offered.
So the quality of websites has gone up.
And that's a good thing.