For more information, please visit the IIA.

Blacknight are selling .com’s for €4.95 (ex. VAT).

Via Damien – Joe Drumgoolge has set up a custom Google search which is “a website to link all government bodies that are relevant to Irish Entrepreneurs together”.

Click here to search.

Are you thinking of Starting a Technology Business? (Engineering, ICT, Life Sciences or Food)

Free Information Evening

Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo, Tuesday 23rd September 2008

Programme

6.00pm Refreshments and Registration

6.30pm Enterprise Ireland Dept Manager: John O’Dea

“Traits of successful start-up companies”

7.00pm Liam Birkett

“Branding and Marketing” Title t.b.c.

8.00pm Philip Martin, Cora Systems

Starting a Technology Business

8.30pm Heinrich Arnold

“From Enterprise Start to HPSU” Title t.b.c.

9.00pm Discussion / Q & A

For further details and to register:

e-mail: mary.boyle@enterprise-ireland.com | Tel: + 353 (0) 71 9159724

Autumn 2008 Training Courses

Leitrim County Enterprise Board is currently inviting enquiries for the following Business Development Training Programmes.

Start Your Own Business

This programme is geared towards those who are considering establishing their own business or who have recently done so.

Programme Content includes:

• Self Assessment / Start You Own Business
• Legal Issues for Start Ups
• Preparing a Business Plan
• Marketing for the Small Business
• Researching the market.
• Finance
• Funding Sources.
• Basic Book keeping
• Sales
• ICT & the Small Business

Duration: 7.00-10.00pm for six Wednesday evenings.
Start Date: September 2008 Cost: €40.

Managing Finances

This programme is suitable for owners/managers of micro-businesses.

Programme Content includes:

• The bookkeeping System
• Maintaining Books of Accounts
• VAT Registration
• PAYE/PRSI

Duration: 7-10pm for four Tuesday evenings.
Start Date: September 2008 Cost: €30.

Headspace & Strategy

This is a progression workshop for business Leaders and Owners.

As part of this workshop you will discover:

• How to move your business forward rapidly without sacrificing your life completely!
• You will learn how you can move beyond survival towards sustainability, and on to financial freedom.
• Develop clarity of purpose, identifying your strengths, becoming effective rather than busy.

Duration: One day & two evenings.
Start Date: September 2008.
Cost: €50

Tas Books

This programme will assist micro-enterprises to computerise their accounting systems. Participants should have IT skills and knowledge of manual accounting systems. One to one support will be provided to assist you get up and running.

Duration: 5 workshops plus one to one support.

Start Date: September 2008 Cost: €100.

For further information and a booking form for any of the above courses please contact Nicola Mc Manus on 071 9620450 or book online at www.leitrimenterprise.ie and go to the events calendar.

The above training programmes will be available at venues in both the Manorhamilton and Carrick on Shannon areas of County Leitrim depending on numbers.

On the Tuesday Push, it is the turn of Toddle.

Toddle helps you build and send great looking email newsletters. Simple idea, amazingly simple way of designing them. They do have a design company as their daddy so that’s got to help. This week they’ve also signed up their 1000th user.

Thanks Damien.

I constantly advise people to join this network using LinkedIn.

Here are some usful tips from Guy Kawasaki (Author of the excellent book The Art of the Start)

1. Increase your visibility.

By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results (which is a major plus if you’re one of the 52,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.

2. Improve your connectability.

Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.

You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as an attachment.

3. Improve your Google PageRank.

LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.

To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web> For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.

4. Enhance your search engine results.

In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.

If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”

5. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks.

LinkedIn’s reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data.

Companies will typically check your references before hiring you, but have you ever thought of checking your prospective manager’s references? Most interviewees don’t have the audacity to ask a potential boss for references, but with LinkedIn you have a way to scope her out.

You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you’re interviewing for. Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck “Current titles only.” By contacting people who used to hold the position, you can get the inside scoop on the job, manager and growth potential.

By the way, if using LinkedIn in these ways becomes a common practice, we’re apt to see more truthful resumes. There’s nothing more amusing than to find out that the candidate who claims to have caused some huge success was a total bozo who was just along for the ride.

6. Increase the relevancy of your job search.

Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find people with educational and work experience like yours to see where they work. For example, a programmer would use search keywords such as “Ruby on Rails,” “C++,” “Python,” “Java,” and “evangelist” to find out where other programmers with these skills work.

7. Make your interview go smoother.

You can use LinkedIn to find the people that you’re meeting. Knowing that you went to the same school, plays hockey, or shares acquaintances is a lot better than an awkward silence after, “I’m doing fine, thank you.”

8. Gauge the health of a company.

Perform an advanced search for company name and uncheck the “Current Companies Only” box. This will enable you to scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key people are abandoning ship. Former employees usually give more candid opinions about a company’s prospects than someone who’s still on board.

9. Gauge the health of an industry.

If you’re thinking of investing or working in a sector, use LinkedIn to find people who worked for competitors—or even better, companies who failed. For example, suppose you wanted to build a next generation online pet store, you’d probably learn a lot from speaking with former Pets.com or WebVan employees.

10. Track startups.

You can see people in your network who are initiating new startups by doing an advanced search for a range of keywords such as “stealth” or “new startup.” Apply the “Sort By” filter to “Degrees away from you” in order to see the people closest to you first.

11. Ask for advice.

LinkedIn’s newest product, LinkedIn Answers, aims to enable this online. The product allows you to broadcast your business-related questions to both your network and the greater LinkedIn network. The premise is that you will get more high-value responses from the people in your network than more open forums.

For example, here are some questions an entrepreneur might ask when the associates of a venture capital firm come up blank:

* Who’s a good, fast, and cheap patent lawyer?
* What should we pay a vp of biz dev?
* Is going to Demo worth it?
* How much traffic does a TechCrunch plug generate?

Leitrim County Enterprise Board is pleased to announce that website grants are now available at a maximum level of 50% subject to a maximum level of €1,000. The grant covers web design, hosting and other related costs. These grants are subject to budget availability and are not available all year round however we are now accepting applications. Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday August 22nd 2008. For eligibilty criteria and an application form please contact the office on t: 071-9620450, email: info (@) leitrimenterprise.ie.