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

Leitrim Business Network Meetings take place on the first Tuesday of every month at 6pm SHARP in the The Ramada Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo.

Next meeting: Tuesday - September 2nd.

James Martin
Director & Head Trainer/Facilitator
TeamLife Training
21 Ard Na Si,
Attyrory,
Carrick on Shannon,
Co. Leitrim
Mobile: +353868502159

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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.

Buying or Selling in Leitrim? Make ShopinLeitrim.Com Your One Stop Shop

Believe it or not it is now possible to buy and/or sell Leitrim products and services on line through the dedicated website shopinleitrim.com established by Garreth McDaid who also runs web development company ‘Night Blue Fruit’ from his home in Drumshanbo. Currently on the website you can, from anywhere in the world, and in the one transaction if you wish, book and pay for training courses or buy seeds from The Organic Centre, you can also buy the Leitrim Guardian, other books, crafts, set dancing music, wedding stationery and luxury wine and food hampers.

The site has also sold tickets for various draws. Services can also be sold through the site as long as they have a fixed price so basically any Leitrim based company can contact Garreth who will come out and meet with you to go through the process, terms and conditions and who will manage everything for you from that point.
The idea for the innovative site came to Garreth at an event run by Leitrim County Enterprise Board at which a presentation was been given on selling online and what facilities/packages are needed to do this. Garreth felt that for several reasons the most efficient and effective way of doing this would be for a number of small businesses in the county to band together and sell through one dedicated site that would significantly reduce not only the costs involved but also the red tape and importantly the risks. Cost wise to sell online a business needs digital security, an online credit card facility and their own software and systems then there’s the complexity of setting something like this up. ‘Because of fraud issues the rules are very strict and prohibitive for small business as for example they have to be able to demonstrate evidence of previous online sales,’ says Garreth. With all the fear associated with online fraud the shopinleitrim.com business takes away the fear and the risk as everything is managed for you for a small cost of 5% commission and there are no other associated costs so it’s a fantastic opportunity for companies to sell locally and globally. Garreth approached Leitrim County Enterprise Board with his plan for the business and they provided him with an invaluable grant in the setting up stages. The site has now been up and running successfully since December 2007.
Of course the other side of the coin is that the site allows Leitrim people around the world to support and sustain small business in the county by buying from the site. ‘A lot of the market so far is the ex-pat community’ says Garreth who feels there is a lot of untapped potential for small businesses in selling online and that perhaps not everyone is aware of this. ‘Every small business wants opportunities to sell and the online market globally, the potential in the sheer scale of that market is there to be tapped into so there’s no reason why Leitrim businesses shouldn’t be selling beyond Ireland.’
If you would like to contact Garreth for more information on selling your product or service through the shopinleitrim.com website you can email info@shopinleitrim.com or call 071 9641544. For Night Blue Fruit, Garreth’s company that specializes in advanced web development and sms integration as well as providing a range of consultancy services to businesses the same number applies.
To talk to someone in Leitrim County Enterprise Board about available supports and services for your business call 071 9620450.

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 Business Network Meetings take place on the first Tuesday of every month at 6pm SHARP in the The Ramada Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo.

Next meeting: Tuesday August 5th.

Agenda: 6pm Welcome

6.05: Speaker: Johnny Beirne - Leitrim Business Network Facilitator

Topic: Getting the most out of Leitrim Business Network & Using LinkedIn to generate Business.

6.20: Q & A

6.30: Networking

6.50: Discussion

7.00: Close

ICT Network Meeting

7pm to 8pm

Today on the Tuesday Push, it is the turn of Pix.ie.

Pixie is a popular photo sharing site based in Ireland. Launched in August 2007, Pixie has registered users from over 120 countries and is currently storing millions of images on their behalf. Pixie’s free service which includes an upload quota of 500MB/month, is used by both professional and amateur photographers, families, friends, students, charities and photo bloggers, i.e. everyone!

Thanks Damien.

In this interview I speak with Eamon McGrenaghan of WSI Web Excel about the importance of having a website and also making it esy to find in Google.

Via Damien, 1time is featured on his Tuesday Push.

1time is a web-based time and expense tracking application that allows you to easily keep track of real time project costs. It reduces non-billable time in your company and keeps everyone up to date. Each employee gets their own login and reminders so you don’t have to micro-manage recording timesheets. It is ideally suited to anyone who has a need to record time for billing or project cost analysis.

Damien invites you to fill in this form if you would like your company mentioned in the Tuesday Push

Here you can ask questions and discuss a range of topics including search engine optimization, blogging, eBay to name but a few. I suggest you check it out.

It’s a Mans World

Gerard Anthony is a name everyone in the county is familiar with, a name many of us have grown up with. With 21 years of trading under their belt, having recently completed a massive expansion plan and moved into a brand new premises that is seven times larger than the original store Gerard Anthony and their new wing aimed at younger clientele GA2 are a model of business dynamism and success in an uncertain time.

Gerard Fitzgerald is not one to shy away from change or progress. Every month he hires a mystery shopper to basically ‘spy’ on the business and report back on everything from service to stock and display. In addition he is entering the business in retail competitions such as the FBD Retail Excellence Ireland Awards as it keeps the business on its toes and motivates ever increasing standards. When it comes to stock Gerard knows what the customer wants and works to balance this with what the brands want which is to be stocked with brands of a similar standard. ‘Right now we have everyone we want brand wise and our electronic point of sale allows us to monitor the popularity of the various brands/items. You have to continually ask questions of yourself and your choices for example is a brand selling because of the brand or because of placement in the store. All these things keep us on top of our game as Ireland’s largest menswear only store.’

Considering all of this it perhaps comes as no surprise that Gerard Anthony’s decided to apply for the innovative Tech-Check programme from Leitrim County Enterprise Board. The aim of the programme is to help owner managers of small businesses to take a fresh look at how they can use technology to improve their productivity and gain a competitive edge. Gerard says the programme appealed to him as they were right on the verge of their expansion at the time and hoping to triple the business so he was keen to learn about ways they could do tasks more efficiently and embrace technology that would streamline the day to day functions.
The independent expert advisor assigned to Gerard Anthony came out on site for just one day. She assessed the current technology use identifying key issues, strengths and weaknesses relating to their existing use of technology and using this analysis she outlined a clear, action orientated and realistic plan for developing and implementing ICT skills, systems, hardware and software with the aim of delivering real and sustainable competitive advantage.

Gerard found the programme excellent and is quick to recommend it to other companies. ‘It’s simple and obvious in many ways but often these things need pointing out. We had an idea we were on the right track but Tech Check helped us with a load of issues and the expert made sure we were on the right track for now and into the future.’

In 21 years Gerard has seen a lot of changes in the way that men shop! ‘Tastes have changed, the men are getting more discerning and it’s not always the women shopping for them!’ says Gerard. ‘Years ago men bought clothes based on need but now they will simply treat themselves so that’s a big change.’ Gerard says that men want a different experience from shopping than women, ‘the men want to be dressed well and they want access to brands but they want an easy and quick experience so the clothes need to be clearly and well displayed. Gerard Anthony’s and the new GA2 that caters for the younger set are trying to create a shopping experience where people are confident of getting access to the widest selection, value and help – if they want it, plus parking! The car park at their new store is a major asset that makes a trip to the store completely hassle free.

So what does the future hold for Gerard Anthony’s and GA2? ‘The plan or vision is to continually increase standards and the portfolio of brands. We will give the current expansion 2 years to consolidate and then look to expand again. In the meantime we will continue to work to get things right. We are still charged with the enthusiasm and adrenaline from opening the new store. We know we have a ‘wow’ factor shop and a unique business. There is nothing around that can compete with us.’

Gerard Anthony and GA2 are based at Mulveys Centre, Boyle Rd, Carrick on Shannon. They cater for men and boys from the age of six and also for Communion, Confirmation and Wedding Hire. In addition they offer a full tailor service.

For more information on the Tech-Check programme and how to apply contact Leitrim County Enterprise Board on 071 9620450.

Tech-Check is an exciting new programme, designed to assist small businesses identify ways to boost productivity and profitability through better use of technology.
Available through Leitrim County Enterprise Board, Tech-Check consists of one full day’s mentoring with an independent expert, who together with yourself will look at your existing technology and identify opportunities for improving the technology in your business.

Tech-Check is available to all business in County Leitrim with less than 50 employees so it enables us to expand the scope of our support.

If you would like further information or an application form please contact Nicola Mc Manus on 071 9620450 or email info[@]leitrimenterprise.ie

If you wish to receive the slides from this presentation or would like more information on IGOpeople.com, please email info@leitrimbusinessnetwork.com.

The GreenMe Blog Team are a passionate bunch of individuals who give entertaining, factual and informative insights into their green area of expertise. If you would like to become a GreenMe.ie Blogger we would love to hear from you.

GreenMe.ie Blog

Blue Hills Consulting would like to invite you to the launch of their new website and also to their revamped facilities at Carrick-on-Shannon.

We value the importance of the Internet and the Web to advice people on the work we are doing to provide the best service that we can to our Clients. Our web site allows you to look inside our business and see how we propose to keep ourselves at the edge.

So grab a tea/coffee, have a seat and take a few moments to join us in launching our new office and website.

Many thanks for your time.

Best of luck with the new site Carol.

As per an email I sent out yesterday, I would like to introduce our new Promotional Offers section. Here you can offer discounts to other networks members by leaving your details in the comments section below.

To start things off, I received the first offer from Leon Quinn of Reverb Studios.

Reverb Studios Multimedia & Web Site Design would like to offer Leitrim Business Network members the opportunity to add a BLOG to their existing site at a heavily discounted flat rate of €350.

Blogs are a fantastic way of communicating with your customers and target market and offering them your latest news and valuable information on your market sector. Think of a blog as an online diary but with a business slant rather than personal.

Blogs are also VERY useful in attracting website hits and Google rankings and can indirectly increase your enquiries and sales as my own one has, see www.reverbstudios.ie/blog

For those without a site or hosting, having a blog can still be arranged, please contact us for details. info[@]reverbstudios.ie - 087-6147538 - Leon.

Please contact me if you need anymore information about this discount section and feel free to leave your promotional offer in the comments section below.

……all your digital stuff. Putplace lets you “secure, organize and share your digital life”.

I use it and I really like it.  I wish it was around when a laptop turned against me in 2001 and an external hard-drive in 2004. Be warned. Use this service and start today.

From Damien

This is the first of the companies to be covered on The Tuesday Push. PutPlace, as their blurb states does this: “secure, organize and share your digital life”. Think about all the media that you have all over the place: On cameras, iPods, memory cards, portable drives, that old battered laptop you’ve kept as there are some docs on it that you might use someday…

So imagine all of that data was nuked/wiped/drowned. Well PutPlace allows you firstly to see what you have, then sort it, then back it up. Then if you want to push that stuff to another place, you can do that.

That PutPlace feeling is knowing all those digital bits and bobs are sorted. I do like the case studies part of the site. PutPlace is currently in Beta so it’s free to use. They recently opened up to public beta so are looking for testers. So you’ll get 2 gigs of unlimited space (during beta) to back up all your digital pieces and they’ll be backed up in a sensible way, not you just mass uploading stuff from folders.

Please consider trying out and reviewing PutPlace or talk it up on your blog.