Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business - Are you thinking of starting a business in Ireland? Well, Startups.ie is here to help. We know that starting a business can be daunting. That’s why Startups.ie contains all the information, advice & tips you need to successfully start your own business. Established in 2005, we are the longest serving, largest & most comprehensive advice platform covering everything you need to know start, buy, run or sell a business in Ireland. Many people dream of starting their own business. Startups.ie is dedicated to those who get up and get started!

Website Design Introduction When setting out on any business venture you want to give yourself every chance of success. Whether you are a start up or an established business looking at new opportunities many things will go against you that you can’t control. The key to success is to at least do well the things you can. And that starts with your website. Make no mistake it’s your Website Make no mistake no matter what anyone tells you in 99% of cases your website is still your most important digital tool. I hear some people say Facebook pages are but this is complete rubbish. Your website is your

A Guest Blog from the smart people at : The HR Department (www.Thehrdepartment.ie) Creators of the Egyptian pyramids understood teams, as did every military leader in recorded history, which is why it’s rather astonishing that the concept of teamwork in business is so recent. Anyone who is interested in history will know that the term “teamwork” wasn’t really used in the organisational vernacular until the 1970s. It’s not known why it appeared so late, perhaps the turbulent economy or the shattering of social unity caused researchers to look into why some teams fail and others succeed. It has been said that two large pizzas should be enough to

“Try reading a book while doing a crossword puzzle. That’s the intellectual environment of the Internet.” In his book, “The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” Nicholas Carr describes what we have long suspected–that our use of the Internet is creating neurological changes in the brain, affecting our ability to remember facts, or pay attention long enough to fully understand what we read. Now, what was that again? Though many disagree with Carr, the research he cites in his book has important implications for content creation. Among the findings: The more links there are in an article, the lower the comprehension of the reader. This may be

Hand Print Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark and Canon have touted their web-enabled printers for years–but the hardware wasn’t all that useful or necessary. That has changed. Now, thanks to the current crop of mobile devices, you can send documents to printers directly from your smartphone or tablet. Instead of lugging along a load of collateral materials on your next business trip or stuffing a lot of just-in-case papers into your briefcase, you can store the documents on your device and print them as needed. “Whether it’s a real estate agent on the move who needs printed copies of contracts or an insurance agent who needs to print several forms quickly, printing without

1. Where can I find current and past examples of your work? Experienced candidates should readily share links to examples of their work that clearly demonstrate their capabilities, says Jason Hong, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science and chief technical officer of Wombat Security Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based cyber security training company. “Carefully examining their portfolio and work samples can help you assess their overall style and skills,” he says. Their work samples also can be a jumping off point to discuss their more technical skills, including HTML5, UNIX, JavaScript and database management. 2. May I have a list of your current and past clients? Candidates should

For small-business owners, working with sales reps for the first time can be a frustrating experience. But establishing expectations early can go a long way toward heading off misunderstandings. Business owners should be able to tell potential new hires how many prospecting calls they’ll be expected to make in their first month, how many appointments they’ll be expected to go on during their first business quarter and how long before the new sales representative is expected to start selling. Anyone charged with managing a sales force needs to be able to answer those questions. Yet, because they aren’t sure how to set appropriate sales goals for the new hire, many

Sales meetings are a critical component of a great sales culture — an opportunity to build the skills of the entire team and motivate them. In each meeting, if you provide your team with just one idea, strategy or tactic that will improve their game, and motivate with some positive reinforcement or reward, you will see a gain in productivity and sales results. Here are six keys that guarantee your next sales meeting will help deliver the results: 1. Start with an energizer. Begin your meetings on time and start with some fun. Reward those who are punctual to help eliminate the lateness factor. From week to week you’ll find

After creating her fashion jewelry line KiraKira in 2006, Suzanne Somersall Allis knew her year of design school and dual degree in English and art history hadn’t prepared her to run her own business. What she needed was real-world sales experience. So Allis created her own sales apprenticeship, juggling three part-time retail jobs for a year. “Working at the stores helped me understand how much money people were willing to spend,” says Allis, 28. “I started to learn the psychology of people who buy my product.” Today, KiraKira is sold in 15 stores around the country, and last month, Allis opened her first storefront at the Dekalb Market in Brooklyn,

Why do we choose one brand over another? Brand loyalty is not a mental act, but an emotional one, and brand loyal customers have an emotional relationship with the brands they’re faithful to. And like Woody Allen explained in Annie Hall, “A relationship, I think, is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies.” The challenge for many brands is how to spark that emotional relationship and then keep it going. How does a brand get that first date and turn it into a long, happy marriage? Here are eight steps to creating a successful brand-consumer relationship online. Determine your type. In today’s social media age,

Back in the old days, when the primary form of networking was face to face, there were simple, universal standards that people used to judge you. Now, in the age of online networking, there is another set of rules, and not being aware of them can close you off from valuable opportunities. For in-person networking, the rules are pretty much common sense. If you smell funky, dress sloppy, have bad breath or are unfriendly, you won’t do very well at a networking event. Fortunately, there is a ton of information, from books to full courses, on how to be a good networker, so there really is no excuse for making