Posts Tagged ‘own business’
VAT – What’s The Deal! – Advice Starting a Business in Ireland
David Branigan has 15 years experience in practice and is accredited by the ACCA.
In the first of a series of Blogs for www.startups.ie David tackles the basics of VAT…..
continue reading
New Business Startup Idea. Where do I start ??
All Businesses start with an idea!, How do you find the right one??
continue reading
10 tips to consider before starting up a new business
continue reading
Warren Buffet – Great quotes to get you thinking when starting a business!
I am enjoying the autubiography of Warren Buffet at the moment (reviewed in our book review section). It tells the story of how he accumulated his fortune at a relentless pace.
continue reading
Company: MyChildcare.ie
Website: www.MyChildcare.ie
Founders: Adrian and Regina Graham
Age: 33
Based: Dublin
Staff Number: 1
Date started: March 2009
Tell us what your business does?
We help childcare providers in Ireland fill empty childcare spaces whilst saving them a fortune in advertising! We help parents find childcare all over Ireland in their area and give them advice on what childcare options are available, how to choose childcare and other parenting tips and advice.
Where did the idea for your business come from?
When looking for childcare for our 2 children we saw the need for such a website that allowed childcare providers showcase their business in an easy to use, one stop web site.
Have you always wanted to run your own business?
Yes
What planning did you do before you started up?
We investigated the market. As a user of the site we knew there was a need from our own experience and from the experiences of our friends. We called some childcare providers in our area and outlined what we had planned and the feedback was very good. We sized the market and pitched our pricing very low accordingly.
Which entrepreneurs do you admire?
Bill Cullen for his drive and success and now public profile. Micheal O’Leary for being the most entertaining yet one of the most successful business people in Ireland today.
What challenges have you faced how have you overcome them?
Getting the word of MyChildcare.ie out there was the biggest challenge. We realised that having a good idea and a good website was only the beginning, but if people didn’t know about it then how would it succeed? We spent money on Google AdWords and became advertising partners with MyHome.it who wanted childcare information for their users. We reached 100,000 visitors last year as a result, but the advertising spend as meant we put everything back in to keep promoting the website.
How have you promoted your business?
Oops, I probably asnwered this in the last question but mainly by means of press release, google AdWords, MyHome.ie and banner advertising. We also use Twitter, Facebook and Blogger.com where we now have hundreds of followers.
What has your growth been like?
We can measure our growth in 2 ways. Number of visitors and content. We started with 100 visitors per month a year ago and now average about 8,000 per month now. We started with only a handful of pages on the site and a few childcare providers to having over 160 childcare providers now and over 400 pages on our website.
What’s the impact on your home life been like?
having 2 kids is busy enough but having MyChildcare.ie has made things even busier! We spend alot of our free time updating and managing the website as well as promoting it to both parents and childcare providers a like.
Thanks Adrian…Best of luck with it…Startups.ie
Duncan Bannatyne one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs, grew up in Clydebank, in his early teens Duncan joined the Navy. At the age of 19 after having a disagreement with his commanding officer Duncan left the Navy.
continue reading
Blanchardstown Area Partnership – start your own business courses
Anyone living in or around Dublin West should take note of the great value courses available from the Blanchadstown area partnership. For as little as €10 per person you can learn some key skills and gain valuable information on business essentials such as the Bookeeping and Vat Seminars outlined below.
Places are available for upcoming Bookkeeping seminar (on 26 Feb) & VAT seminar (on 5 Mar)
To book your place, simply reply or email: enterprise@bap.ie with your contact details.
(if you are already registered to attend, please ignore this email)
Both €10 per participant
Bookkeeping (10am to 1pm)
26 February
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
VAT (10am to 1pm)
5 March
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
To book your place, simply email: enterprise@bap.ie with your contact details.
There are many other upcoming seminars and courses.
More info @ http://www.bap.ie/bus_wshop_sched_2010.html
Market Research – 19 Feb
Bookeeping – 26 Feb
start UP – 1 Day Business Seminar – 10 Mar
How To Marketing Your Business On-Line – 12 Mar
A ‘How To’ Guide To Designing Effective Promotional Material – 18 Mar
Getting Your Message Across – Effective Communication – 26 Mar
Principles of Employment Law – 31 Mar
start UP – 1 Day Business Seminar – 14 Apr
Guerrilla Marketing – 16 Apr
What You Need To Know For Importing & Exporting – 28 Apr
Sage Business Planning Software -help starting up a business
Getting started is often the hardest part of any task. When looking at taking the leap into setting up a new business it is essential to have a road map i.e a business plan to help you along the way. How can you lead if you don’t know where you are going is another way of putting it.
Sage the software people have launched a free business planning tool that is really user freindly and is perfect for helping you to get going. The programme which can be downloaded at www.sage.ie/sage-planning-for-business is as good as some of the business planning software that you normally have to pay for. I presume the logic behind offering the programme for free is that the planning software can integrate with the Sage accountancy packages when you have set up your business.
My only difficulty with this programme was downloading it in the first place, maybe my laptop is to blame but I had to jump through hoops to finally get the programme installed. This may not be Sage’s fault but I must admit it did try my patience a bit.
Features & Benefits
It’s easy to use:
Flexible input options tailored to your experience
Questionnaire helps you identify key tasks
Worked examples show you how things should look
It’s easy to manage your time:
Tasks grouped into logical business areas
Diary, tasks and planning tools to help make the best use of your time
Keep all your information in one place
Fill out your business plan as you go
Format your business plan using templates provided
It’s easy to manage your finances:
Understand and manage your cash flow
See how much you need to take to cover expenses and be in profit
Works with Sage Instant Accounts
The Three Pillars Of Entrepreneurship
Whether you are starting a new business or already running an established one, there are three pillars of entrepreneurship that can make the difference between running a business that just pays the bills – or one that truly thrives. So what are they?
Research
While “research” may seem like a boring word – and can conjure up countless hours in the library or on the internet, or days poring over reports and financials – this should be the foundation for many decisions you make in business. While it may sound glamorous or impulsive to say that you act on gut feel – it’s even better to combine your natural instincts with robust research into the issue at hand.
Apart from talking to people about your business idea, you can conduct market research into whether your product or service will fly. If you have the funds to engage a market research company, that’s great. But, if not, you can still get useful feedback on an informal level. For example:
* Meet with people to gauge their interest in your product or service.
* Hold focus groups where you can discuss any issues associated with your idea.
* Conduct online surveys or polls. You can do this easily with tools such as Survey Monkey or Ask Database.
The results from your research may throw up a range of issues that may impact everything from how you structure your business, how your product is delivered, your pricing – or even whether your idea is feasible at all.
Action
After you’ve done the research, it’s time to take action. The good news is that if you’ve bothered to do the research in the first place – an act that requires some planning and organisation – you will probably have the impetus to take the next step and turn your business idea into reality.
The wheels actually usually fall off in the research stage. I meet so many would-be entrepreneurs who continually talk about their Great Business Idea but never do anything about it. That’s often because the research stage is not the sexy part. They want to go straight from Great Business Idea to an entrepreneur living The Four-Hour Work Week. It doesn’t work that way – and I don’t care what anyone says, you have to put in the hard yards if you want to experience the pay-off.
In order to motivate yourself into action, it’s useful to break down what you need to do into bite-sized chunks. The obstacles appears when we have an item on our “to do” list that looks like: “Research viability of muesli bars for children”. That’s way to big. Instead, sit down with a cup of coffee for an hour and break it down. So your task lists may look like this instead:
1. Visit Dunnes to note down all muesli bar brands.
2. Look up Yellow Pages to find manufacturers of muesli bars.
3. Do online research for manufacturers of muesli bars.
4. Make appointment with nutritionist specialising in children’s diets.
5. Develop list of “must haves” in muesli bars.
6. etc
Then diarise each of those tasks – which are all small enough to be “do-able” – and make a commitment to complete them.
Commitment and belief
If you can be bothered to research and take action, then the final pillar of entrepreneurship is an unswerving belief that you can achieve what you have set out to do. The reality is that this commitment may sometimes be rocked so it’s important to create a supportive environment to buoy you through these times. How can you do that on a practical level?
1. Minimise the time you spend with naysayers.
2. Surround yourself with other enthusiastic entrepreneurs.
3. Join a mastermind group of like-minded business owners.
4. Find yourself a business mentor.
5. Read inspirational business books where you can get ideas and motivation.
Entrepreneurship is a journey. It’s one that can be filled with challenges but can also be very rewarding. Whether you simply want to open a hair salon, transform the diets of children in Ireland (through your muesli bars) or change the behaviour of some of the country’s largest companies (through your consulting) – it can be done. Just remember: If you believe you can change the world – and you act on that conviction – then, chances are, you probably will.
We rewiew the good, the bad and the ugly of business books. Do you have a favourite business book? why not review it on Startups.
Entrepreneurs –Autobiography/ Biography
Business Stripped Bare – Richard Branson (Virgin Books)
This is a sort of update on Sir Richard’s business empire taking a more philosophical view on what makes a business successful. This is not a patch on Losing My Virginity and in fact many of the same stories are repeated. Unless you are planning to take over a chain of banks, buy a railway monopoly from the state or build a spaceship you can live without this one. 2/5
Anyone Can Do It – Building Coffee Republic From Our Kitchen Table – Sahar and Bobby Hashemi (Capstone Publishing)
Sahar and Bobby Hashemi are the sister and brother team who built Coffe Republic the UK high street coffee chain. Giving up highly paid professional jobs, she as a lawyer in London and he an investment banker in New York, they staked everything on their dream. This is a great little book and well worth a read. It takes you step by step through the process of building Coffee Republic , from the original idea and brainstorming to Growth and customer service. 4/5
Making Bread – Brody Sweeney (Liberties Press)
A refreshingly honest, direct and jargon free book, Brody shares his experiences, good, bad and difficult of setting up O’Briens Sandwich Bars. This book is well worth a read as it offers good practical advice from an Irish perspective. The chapter on bank finance is particularly relevant i.e ‘Banks only like lending money to those who don’t need it’ and how to get around this. 4/5
Anyone Can Do It – My Story – Duncan Bannatyne (Orion Books)
Grumpy dragon Duncan tells his story from a tough upbringing in Clydebank, Scotland to multi millionaire entrepreneur. Duncan was a self confessed dosser until he finally set his mind to making money in his thirties. Starting with an ice cream van business he built business after business each more profitable than the last. This book also shows Duncan’s charitable side which is pretty inspiring stuff. 4/5 This book is also reviewed by FiscalStudent (See post below)
Enter the Dragon – Theo Paphitis (Orion Books)
Theo Paphitis has built one of the most successful retail empires in the UK. Theo founded his first company at 23 and his big skill is in seeing untapped potential in loss making business which he then makes profitable. Of particular interest to anyone in retail this is worth a read although there is a big middle padding section where he covers his period in charge of Millwall football club, this is just boring. 3/5
Tycoon – How to turn dreams into millions – Peter Jones (Hodder & Stoughton)
I hated this book and to be honest could not finish it. From the arrogant title ‘Tycoon’ to the incredibly annoying ‘Tycoon Tips’ throughout the book you get the impression of someone who is a bit too dizzy in the glare of fame. Tycoon Tip – Avoid. 0/5
Business Nightmares – When Entrepreneurs Hit Crisis Point – Rachael Elnaugh (Crimson)
A novel approach from the fallen dragon. After the high profile loss of her business ‘Red Letter Days’ and subsequent removal from Dragon’s Den, Rachael interviews other high profile contacts such as Jeffrey Archer and Doug Richard. The book has a pretty bitter and angry tone particularly towards some of the remaining Dragon’s. Despite this it is relevant to see the dark side of business when things go wrong as they do more often than not. There is also some good advice and tips that could save you lots of money and heart ache. 3/5
Dragons’ Den – Success from Pitch to Profit – Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis, Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan (Collins)
This book is a bit of a con. Someone got an hour interview time with each of the Dragon’s and turned it into a lightweight mish mash in order to cash in on the show’s popularity. You will walk away none the wiser. 1/5
How They Started – How 30 good ideas became great businesses – David Lester (Crimson)
This is a great little book, each chapter is a perfect bite size, just long enough to tell each story while maintaining your interest. The book covers businesses such as Bebo, Moneysupermarket.com, Pizza Express and Cobra Beer and gives a brief outline of how they got going and the challenges that they faced along the way. 4/5
Marketing
Purple Cow – Transform your business by being remarkable – Seth Godin (Penguin)
A good ‘Loo’ read. Marketing Guru Seth Godin urges everyone involved in creating, designing or selling to think in new ways about their market. By adopting alternative approaches to your business, you and your company will survive to innovate another day. 3/5
Online Marketing Heroes – Michael Miller (Wiley)
Terrible and boring. Interviews with 25 ‘succesful online marketing guru’s’. If you are having trouble sleeping, this one is perfect for you. 0/5
