Posts Tagged ‘new business’
Bray Area Partnership Start your own Business Courses!
Bray Community Enterprise are registering names for a new course specifically designed for unemployed people living in the Bray area who want to set up a business. Courses range from the 7-week Considering Self-employment (next one starts on 2nd June) to the more intensive 22-week Pre-enterprise Training programme.
The services provides support to long-term unemployed people, short-term unemployed people, dependent partners of unemployed people, lone parents, early school leavers, people in receipt of a disability payment, non-Irish nationals and individuals working in the home.
The services and support we offer include:
Advice and support on business set up and planning;
Start Your Own Business Courses;
on-going support and advice once you have started trading;
computer training at basic and ECDL level;
information and advice for all entrepreneurs.
Our Start Your Own Business courses
We run the following Start Your Own Business courses for people who want to explore the option of self-employment, whatever stage you may be at:
Considering Self-Employment: Exploring Options
If you are thinking about self-employment, this programme will give you an introduction to the concept of self-employment and will help you to:
identify your own skills and interests and how you could use them in self-employment;
explore the elements needed to set up and run your own business;
build confidence;
learn to identify business opportunities.
Pre-Enterprise Training Programme
If you are long-term unemployed and have a business idea this course will help you to develop that idea and bring it to the stage where you can set up your business.
Course run over a 22-week period, as a CE scheme with support from FAS;
Structured training programme (group and individual mentor sessions) covering such topics as book-keeping, marketing, IT skills and management;
You may be eligible to progress to the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (DSFA).
For further information and to book your place on a course contact
Bernard Dromey, Enterprise Development Worker
Tel: 01 205 0111 Email: bernard@braycommunityenterprise.ie
Blanchardstown Area Partnership – Start your own Business Courses 2010
Business Workshops 2010 Series of Morning Workshops:
Blanchardstown Area Partnership offers in a variety of workshops and seminars to help people gain the knowledge necessary to develop and run a successful business.
All seminars are from 10am to 1pm unless stated
€10 per seminar.
To book your place contact the Enterprise Dept,
Ph: 01- 820 9550 / 824 7819
Email: enterprise@bap.ie
All classes take place at Dillon House (beside Power City), Unit 106, Coolmine Ind Est, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.
Click here for directions & map >>
26 February
Bookkeeping
Why it is vital to keep the books straight
Recording data in a systematic manner in the books
Tailoring the record keeping to meet your needs
Bank reconciliation
How to use the information recorded
5 March
VAT
Who must register for VAT and why
How to assemble data for VAT and how to completed the returns
What VAT is allowed and disallowed and why
How imports and exports are treated for VAT purposes
Why VAT is the most lethal of all the various taxes
12 March
How To Market Your Business On-line
The concept of on-line marketing
The new media and on-line platforms
Irish consumers and the internet
On-line advertising objectives
Outline internet marketing plan
Types of on-line marketing
Case studies of best practice on-line marketing
The pros and cons of being on-line.
18 March
A ‘How To Guide’ To Designing & Delivering Effective Promotional Material
Promotional Materials within your business
Importance of effective promotional materials
Types of promotional materials and uses
Logo & Corporate Stationery, Newsletters, Brochures, Website
Price Lists/Quotations
Good design practice –v- poor design practice
Real-life examples of strong, effective design
Real-life examples of poor, ineffective design
How to properly brief a designer
Printing options available to your business
How to ensure that your promotional materials get into the right hands!
Hard-copy Delivery (eg direct marketing / An Post)
Electronic Delivery (via newsletter or e-mail)
Top Tips for getting the most from your designer and/or printer
Measuring effectiveness of promotional materials.
26 March
Getting Your Message Across
Effective Communication, Confidence Building and Assertiveness
Understanding Communications
Challenge your understanding of communications
Introducing you to new communications thinking
Being aware of how you communicate
Being confident in your communications
Having confidence in your own communication
What is your message
Know what you want to say
Choose how you want to say it
Exercises for gaining confidence
Tools for communicating
Know the tools, understand the kitbag
Choosing the right tool for the right task
The media – how to make best use of a very diverse market
Practical preparation
Discuss & Rehearse with partner
Listen to feedback
Reverse roles
Presentation
Building confidence
Group communication
Assertiveness
Feedback
30 March
Idea Generation
What is creativity and idea generation;
Creativity exercises;
Brainstorming;
Idea generation techniques;
How to assess your ideas.
31 March
Principles of Employment Law
Summary of relevant Acts, Equality, Unfair Dismissals etc.
Practical application of Acts for the small business
Contracts of employment
Managing poor performance
Policies & procedures
13 April
Business planning
What is a business plan & why write one
Business plan template (workbook will be provided)
Self assessment, background & experience
Legal structures
Your Product/service
Target market, Market research and marketing strategy
Financial projections, cash flow, profit & loss account
16 April
Guerrilla Marketing
Definition of guerrilla marketing
Online examples
Suggesting and using guerrilla marketing for clients
Building guerrilla marketing into a marketing campaign
Case studies
How to do it yourself – brainstorming
20 April
Taxation For Self Employed
Tax registration – sole trader / partnerships / limited companies
VAT – registration / thresholds / cash v accruals accounting for VAT / filing requirements / Year end reporting / penalties
PAYE – registration / filing requirements / year end reporting / penalties
Income tax – calculation / payment dates / allowable expenses V’s disallowable expenses / capital allowances / penalties
Revenue Audits
ROS
How to save tax.
23 April
E-commerce
Payment packages
Shopping carts
Things to watch out for
What works and why.
28 April
What You Need To Know for Importing / Exporting
Speak the language
Know who you will talk to: customers, customers of your customers
Regulations & customs
Logistics.
7 May
How To Create & Use Social Media
What is Social Media?
Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, bebo, my space, blogs
How to create and use Social Media to benefit your business
Raising your profile
11 May
Market Research
What is Market Research
Aims of Market Research
Primary and Secondary Sources of Market Research
Conducting Market Research on a Budget
14 May
Copywriting For Online and Offline Media
How to write attention grabbing headline
How to use the words that sell, (and avoid those that don’t)
Headlines, the rules you must obey
Proven and effective openings you can use NOW!
What are copy connectors and how to use them
POWER words
Live workbook exercise
What’s your most wanted response
18 May
Idea Generation
What is creativity and idea generation;
Creativity exercises;
Brainstorming;
Idea generation techniques;
How to assess your ideas.
21 May
Setting Up And Managing AdWords Campaigns Effectively
4 questions you must ask about YOUR OWN website
How to avoid the “Newbie” learning curve
What does Google think of you?
How to get results at no or low cost
Outperform your competition – find out what they’re doing
Banner ads – how to get other people selling for YOU
Split-testing your return-on-investment
How YOU can find the best keywords
3 June
Bookkeeping
Why it is vital to keep the books straight
Recording data in a systematic manner in the books
Tailoring the record keeping to meet your needs
Bank reconciliation
How to use the information recorded
11 June
VAT
Who must register for VAT and why
How to assemble data for VAT and how to completed the returns
What VAT is allowed and disallowed and why
How imports and exports are treated for VAT purposes
Why VAT is the most lethal of all the various taxes
15 June
eBay for Sellers
Introductions, How eBay works
How Feedback works
How to Search, Bid, Buy & Pay (PayPal)
Registering as a Seller
Photos & Descriptions
Listing an Item for Sale – Live Demo
Pop Quiz – revision of learning
Tactics & Pricing Strategy
Moving Beyond the Basics
Cross Border Trade
Top 10 PowerSeller Tips
18 June
A ‘How To Guide’ To Designing & Delivering Effective Promotional Material
Promotional Materials within your business
Importance of effective promotional materials
Types of promotional materials and uses
Logo & Corporate Stationery, Newsletters, Brochures, Website
Price Lists/Quotations
Good design practice –v- poor design practice
Real-life examples of strong, effective design
Real-life examples of poor, ineffective design
How to properly brief a designer
Printing options available to your business
How to ensure that your promotional materials get into the right hands!
Hard-copy Delivery (eg direct marketing / An Post)
Electronic Delivery (via newsletter or e-mail)
Top Tips for getting the most from your designer and/or printer
Measuring effectiveness of promotional materials.
22 June
Idea Generation
What is creativity and idea generation;
Creativity exercises;
Brainstorming;
Idea generation techniques;
How to assess your ideas.
25 June
Credit Management
Principles of Credit Control
Before You Make the Call
The 4 reasons people wont/cant pay
Strategies to achieve payment and maintain
For further details, and to register for any of the above workshops, please contact:
Niall Comber
Enterprise Development Officer
Phone 01 820 9550 / 824 7819
Mobile: 086 354 5210
E-mail ncomber@bap.ie.
All classes will be held at Partnership offices:
Dillon House
Unit 106
Coolmine Industrial Estate
Clonsilla
Dublin 15
Viral Loop – From Facebook to Twitter
If you are interested in using the Internet to grow your business virally, then “Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves” is a must-read.
continue reading
Company: www.theclothesline.ie
Website: as above
Founders: Tammy Darcy
Age: 30
Based: Waterford
Staff Number: Just me so far!
Date started: February 10
Tell us what your business does?
The website offers parents the opportunity to submit their outgrown or unsuitable kids, babies and maternity clothes in exchange for credits which can be applied towards the purchase of more suitable items
Where did the idea for your business come from?
As a mother of three, the idea actually evolved over a number of years, and I decided to go for it when I lost my job.
Have you always wanted to run your own business?
No! There are obvious pros and cons to running your own business but I feel passionate about what I am doing so I don’t have a problem staying motivated
What planning did you do before you started up?
I researched the idea for six months and tested every aspect of the business before I launched.
What challenges have you faced how have you overcome them?
The biggest challenge is balancing work and home life. When you run your own business it’s very hard to switch off at the end of the working day.
How have you promoted your business?
Because the business is very much a public interest subject, I have received a lot of media interest. Apart from that I have done a lot of online promotion through social networking sites. It really works, and its free!
What has your growth been like?
I’m very happy, we’ve been live for less than a month and it’s hard to keep up with the growth. But its testament to the power of word of mouth amongst parents.
What’s the impact on your home life been like?
I’m lucky to be able to plan my time around my family demands. There are times when it’s a challenge but it’s great to be able to collect them from school, something I wasn’t able to do when I was in full time employment.
Startups.ie road tests Sage’s Free Small Business Tools
There is no such thing as a free lunch or so they say!!. In an effort to save on accountancy costs and to have a greater understanding of my business I have decided to take a accountancy for small business course which is run by my local county enterprise board (a bargain at €100 for a 6 week course!).
With my newly acquired financial wizardery I should be filing my own VAT returns, pondering my own cashflow forecast reports and generating my own employee payslips in no time. At least that is the theory anyway!
Like most men embarking on a new hobby or interest the first thing I normally do is rush out and buy stuff, a room full of fishing gear will attest to this. However the clever people at Sage are offering their entry level accountancy and payroll software for free!. They have also developed some business planning software to help you map out your business. As your business grows you can upgrade to the more professional versions of the software.
Over the next few weeks I will be taking these products for a test drive to see if they are easy to use and will report back on the features available. The business that I will be testing the products on has 5 employees so it should be the right size for the basic TAS books and Quickpay packages.
If you want to check out these free downloads for yourself click on the link below, now I am off to play with my new toys!
Looking for an alternative source of investment capital? Check out first step microfinance.
The goal is the creation of enterprise through self employment and they provide loans of up to €25,000 to start up or expanding new businesses.
First-Step provides loans to people who want to create their own enterprise and who cannot access funding, or sufficient funding, from other sources.
The core goal is to help finance start up and expanding Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to provide job opportunities. They have an application and screening process which evaluates the applications received and stress tests them for likely success based on information received.
First-Step is a private not-for-profit company. First-Step receives funding from Enterprise Ireland through the EU Seed and Venture Capital Fund and the Social Finance Foundation. First-Step is the beneficiary of an SME Guarantee Facility created within the framework of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) of the European Community.
Having the right level of Insurance in place is critical for your new business. For the same reason that you would not drive your new car without insurance, do not open any business without insurance in place – Mr. Murphy’s law could be just around the corner. Most of the below insurance is more relevant to retail type businesses but employees are more and more aware of their rights and the courts are very intolerant of any business that have not followed the correct procedures when hiring, firing etc. With people ever more protective of their jobs and employers under more pressure to cut overheads (Read: people) the liklihood that you will find yourself being sued is on the increase.
Types of Insurance
Employers Liability Insurance
Employers Liability Insurance protects your business from claims made by staff who have suffered injury or illness at work through the fault of your business.
Public Liability Insurance
Public liability insurance protects your business from claims made by customers who suffer injury on your premises.
For example, a customer is likely to claim compensation if he / she suffered injury by slipping on a wet floor, tripping on a discarded box etc
Public Liability Insurance covers the total cost of such claims including the associated legal expenses.
Stock Protection
Most retail businesses will have a significant level of stock on the premises you should arrange cover for your stock to protect it against fire, flood and theft etc.
Contents & fittings Insurance
It is important to cover your contents, fixtures & fittings such as counters, shelving etc.
Money & Cash Cover
Money & Cash at your premises can be insured againts break ins and money being robbed in transit to the bank. The limits available depend on your security arrangements, type of business etc
Buildings
If you own the premises that you operate from you can include cover for the premises and also,
‘All Risks’ on specified items
Cover for specified items for loss or damage away from your business premise
Business Interruption
Covers the loss of profits from your business, arising from insured events.
For example, if you were unable to trade because of a major fire at your premises, business interruption insurance could pay for your lost earnings and costs during the period of interruption.
Company: Storage Plus Ltd
Website: www.storageplus.ie
Founders: Barry Rabbitt
Age: 29
Based: Ashbourne, Co Meath
Staff Number: 3
Date started: March 2009
Tell us what your business does?
We offer a range of logistical services. Our most popular is the fulfillment service for online sellers. We store our clients products in our fully racked and shelved 7000sq foot warehouse. When orders are placed on their sites we pick and pack each individual order and dispatch it the same day for delivery anywhere in the world. In most cases we can do all this for less than the customer was previously paying for carraige only, so its a no brainer really! By us handling all the fulfillment it leaves our customers to concentrate on other aspects of their business. We also improve delivery time in most cases, which helps to attract repeat business for our clients.
Our other services include general packaging requirements, for example a recent client asked us to pack 5000 units of a laptop accessory along with installation CDs and plugs into new packaging ready for sale.
We also offer a cross docking service for businesses who may not hold a quantity of stock but simply order from their suppliers ‘just in time’. The goods are delivered to us in bulk, we then break this bulk order down and send out the individual orders.
Where did the idea for your business come from?
Due to my background in the logistics industry and access to warehousing space and good courier rates I started thinking that I should open an online store as I had the delivery aspect of the business sorted. Then one day I thought to myself that I should let someone else worry about the selling, and I would simply create a service that took all the logistical headaches away from these sellers, who in a lot of cases run their ecommerce sites as a sideline. After talking to a friend who described the packaging and shipping end of his ecommerce business as the most hassle, I knew I was onto a good idea.
Have you always wanted to run your own business?
Yes, other than packing shelves of the local supermarket while in school I have pretty much always worked for myself in a sense. Being involved in the family transport business www.deliverance.ie meant that I was to a greater or lesser extent my own boss.
What planning did you do before you started up?
I did some tests to evaluate how long it would take to pick, pick and prepare for shipping an average order. I divided that time into a fair hourly rate and that determined the labour charge I should apply along with courier and packaging charges per box. This figure came up as €8.50 which I felt was a great value price for the complete service I was providing. I ran the idea past some non biased people who mostly thought it was both a good idea and a fair price. So, apart from that basic research I didn’t go into too much detail, I feel that too many people think about things far too long – go with your gut feeling, there is nothing wrong with failing once you try and try again!
Which Irish Entrepreneurs do you admire?
I have a lot of time for Michael O Leary, though I wouldn’t like to come up against him in negotiations – which is probably a compliment in itself!
What challenges have you faced how have you overcome them?
Probably generating sufficient finance! I approached a number of banks for very modest business loans and they just aren’t available so I have used my own limited savings….and made sure they went as far as possible. My next biggest challenge was juggling setting up Storage Plus alongside running the family business.
How have you promoted your business?
I have done limited promotion so far, in fact most of my customers have come to me despite not having a very well indexed website. In the last few weeks I have set up a google adwords campaign which is generating some leads. Promotion is at the top of my list for the new year! We have everything running smoothly now so we’re in a good position to sell our service.
What has your growth been like?
Steady but controlled. We are currently shipping approx 40-50 orders per day, but already we have had to move to a new warehouse as we have filled our old unit to bursting point. Come the new year I would hope to grow the business at a consistent steady rate.
What’s the impact on your home life been like?
I suppose thats a question that would be better pointed towards my partner, Andrea! From my point of view it has had limited impact other than being there less. I think its important to try keep both aspects of your life seperate.
As the list of marketing options grows to include social networking, email marketing and whisper campaigns, small- and medium-size businesses must have a solid marketing strategy.
But the truth is that more than half of new businesses don’t bother. A recent survey found that 58.9 per cent of small-business owners don’t prepare an annual marketing strategy or attempt to identify the benefit and cost of marketing. This could be why the failure rate of small businesses is so high in the first year.
The director of Marketing News, Mary Brennan is not surprised by the research.
“A lot of businesses don’t put much thought into a marketing plan and as a result, it’s often done ad hoc,” she says.
“Businesses need to realise that marketing isn’t an expense but a legitimate business-building activity.”
But a lot of small businesses don’t know how to develop a marketing strategy.
“Often they will try a marketing technique based on their own ideas or what may seem like a bargain only to realise it only reached a small percentage of their target market, by which time their budget is blown,” she says.
The classic first step for Irish businesses is something like a leaflet drop or taking an ad out in the local paper. Often this course of action is taken in the absence of any other ideas!
A marketing plan should look at how a business will promote itself to its target audience, usually over a 12-month period.
Brennan says a marketing plan should include a detailed budget and examine the best ways to promote the business.
“You want [it] to take in analysis of your competitors and to have specific goals,” she says.
“It also needs to break down how much you’ve set aside for marketing, how you’re going to spend it, look at who your target audience is and how you tackle internal and external communications.”
A marketing plan for a small business might be only a few pages long but larger businesses often require a more-detailed plan.
The plan needs to be revisited monthly – or, at the very least, quarterly, Brennan says.
Business owners can write their own plan or if they have no experience in Marketing should contact an expert, even having a chat with one or two marketing companies will give you new ideas and an insight into how professionals appraoch marketing. You may not end up hiring anyone but I guarantee you will pick up some valuable tips along the way.
“We found that companies are either too busy to stop and write a marketing strategy or simply don’t place enough value on having a plan in place,” according to Brennan.
Like other key aspects of developping a successful business your marketing activity must be relevant and effective. If marketing is an area of weakness for you find a solution / person to manage it. You may have the best product or service in the world but unless the right people (your target market) know about it you are dead in the water. Do not ignore marketing your business and if your efforts to date have not been succesful it means one of two things …your idea sucks or you are no good at marketing…so which is it?
Twitter is poised to close a $US50 million funding round that values the microblogging startup at a staggering $US1 billion, according to TechCrunch and AllThingsD. Since closing its last venture round in February, the startup’s value has grown fourfold.
Grown, that is, in the eyes of Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists, slaves to the technology fashions for which Twitter is the leading model: real-time, micro, iPhone friendly and acquisition bait for Google. Twitter might say it’s in this for the long haul—someone is spreading word the company has $US30 million, or most of its last funding round, sitting in a bank account—but the company has proven far more adept at finessing moneyed suitors than in groping for reliable revenue streams.
Twitter’s trend hopping founders, whose project management company began their blogging company, which led to their podcasting company, which began Twitter, seem more likely to seize on the easy exit of the former rather than the long grind of the latter.
Especially when, as these charts of their past investment rounds show, they’re so very good at jacking up their price:
