SOHO Solo West Cork

Calvin December 15th, 2008

Catching up with my feed-reader after three weeks of forced internet abstinence, I stumbled across a great post by Damien Mulley called simply “And?”. It’s an interesting piece that challenges the Irish tendency to focus on excuses when it comes to starting a business.

Its true… both here and in Britain we’re not short of great ideas… it’s just that we tend to litter the path ahead of us with self-created obstacles to hinder our progress. Instead of focussing on the benefits of pursuing a good idea with drive and conviction, we instead ponder the reasons NOT to do it. We keep churning out the excuses until we find one that resonates, and that’s the end of that.

I have to admit that I’m as guilty of this as the next man. I have so many things on the back-burner at this stage that I’m in danger of snuffing out the flame. A more adept procrastinator you’re never likely to meet. In fact I’m doing it now… working on this blog post instead of the website project I should be concentrating on.

While it is scary striking out into the unknown on your own, I absolutely agree with Damien’s assertion that there’s no better time to take the plunge. Yes times are challenging, but challenging times are laced with hidden opportunity. You just have to be creative and tap into it.

Look at it this way: if you can make a go of your idea during the hard times, imagine the confidence and success you’ll achieve as things start to pick up.

As Damien says in his post:

You can always go back to living in mediocrity, taking s**t from a boss who is flailing about in a bumbling along industry. You’ll have learned more practical stuff in one week working for yourself or in a small startup than you’ll ever learn in a lifetime in that pensionable job.

So go on, make 2009 the year you take the plunge; follow your dreams, and don’t forget, if you happen to be located in South West Ireland join SOHO Solo!

Tags: business, entrepreneur, opportunity, startup

• Home Working , Membership , Networking , Small Business , Soho Solo , West Cork
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Calvin October 14th, 2008

At the SOHO Solo West Cork meeting today Jim Flynn of MTS Consulting gave a very interesting talk on Time Management for Small Business Owners.

Here are the slides from Jim’s presentation:

Jim covered a fair bit of ground in his presentation… including tips on organising your contacts and a history of your interaction with them, and focusing on the tasks that add real value to your business. He suggested keeping a log of your time for a week, then analysing it with a critical eye to see where you could improve efficiency.

Some of the highlights included:

• Identify the tasks that are really productive (focus on them) and those that are just making you busy but deliver little return (reduce, eliminate or delegate them)
• Look at ways you can speed up your regular tasks – set yourself deadlines and strive to meet them
• Organise and plan your workload with prioritised to-do lists
• Keep your promises to yourself
• Focus
• Monitor and manage stress
• Under promise and over deliver
• Know yourself – how do you work most effectively?

Jim certainly offered plenty of food for thought… and I think everyone at the meeting went away with at least one thing they could apply that would be of tangible benefit to their business.

If you have any feedback, or some time management tips, techniques or tools that you’d like to share – please dive right in and add your comments at the bottom of this post.

You can download Jim’s Time Log and To-Do-List templates (PDF files) using the links below.

Time Management: Time Log (62)

Time Management To-Do List (90)

Tags: Meetings, productivity, Resources, time management, tools

• Meetings , Networking , Presentations , Resources , Small Business , Soho Solo , West Cork , tools
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Calvin October 6th, 2008

Just posted to the main SOHO Solo blog about a series of FREE succession planning seminars being hosted by the SFA at different locations around the country.

Unfortunately the cork seminar was today, so we’re a bit late for that, but if succession planning is something that’s on your mind… or is likely to be any time soon… it might be worth checking out one of the other locations around the country.

Tags: SFA, Soho Solo, Succession Management

• Events , Small Business , Soho Solo
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Calvin October 3rd, 2008

Image via Wikipedia

The inspiration for this post was a tweet (a post on Twitter) by Cork blogger, columnist and digital media commentator Damien Mulley back in August which extolled the virtues of pants being optional when working from home (that’s trousers, for you American readers out there, not underwear… at least I hope that’s what he meant ;-)).

Here I’ve compiled a small selection of the less conventional benefits of working from home: the stuff you don’t see on your regular “small business” advice forums or pro-teleworking web sites.

1. Pants are optional

Let’s start with the inspiration for this post. When you work from home you really can wear (or, indeed, choose not to wear) whatever you like.

You can check early morning e-mail in your bathrobe, take clients’ phone calls while lounging around the garden in your shorts and t-shirt, participate in a conference call in your boxer shorts… or whatever else takes your fancy. Okay, you might have to dress up for client meetings, or attending the next SOHO Solo event, the rest of the time, anything goes!

2. Rise and shine any old time

When you work from home you can get up pretty much whenever you like, and you don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself (well… okay, the wife and kids too… but you get the idea).

3 Traffic report heaven

Listening to the radio traffic reports in the morning is perversely satisfying when you’re sitting with a steaming mug of coffee contemplating a 20 second commute to the home office.

4 Family ties

A bit of a double edged sword this one… but on balance, for those of us with children, being around for breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family most days is a huge boon.

5. Fridge is always open

When you work from home the fridge is always handy if you’re feeling a bit peckish mid afternoon… which can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective… but I think on balance it deserves to be here.

Got more to add to this list? Get commenting below and let us know your favourite thing about working from home!

Tags: home office, Home Working, Twitter

• Home Working , Soho Solo , Twitter
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Calvin October 3rd, 2008

Part of the reason the SOHO Solo West Cork blog exists is to encourage and promote social media engagement by Small Office Home Office (SOHO) workers and Solo entrepreneurs in the region.

To that end we’ve decided to launch a brand new competition for the best blog post and best blog comment of the month by a SOHO Solo member. (Hat tip to Trevor Kingston of Lasertech Southwest Cork, who suggested this idea in a discussion over on our LinkedIn group).

To kick things off I’m offering two professionally written press releases to the SOHO Solo who contributes the best blog post in October, and Trevor is offering a €50 Lasertech voucher for printer consumables for the best blog comment by a SOHO Solo member.

So… if you’re a SOHO Solo member, sign up and join the conversation. If you’re a home based worker or solo entrepreneur in Cork or Kerry who hasn’t joined SOHO Solo yet – add your profile on the SOHO Solo Ireland site and get involved.

Unfortunately I’m not eligible… which means that David Hollingworth of CTS West Cork is currently in the driving seat as the only other contributor. So come on, how about giving David a run for his money?

I’m looking forward to reading all your posts.

Competition Rules

Pretty simple really:

1. The competition is open to ALL SOHO Solo Ireland members, regardless of which network chapter they belong to

2. Only entries from SOHO Solo members with current active profiles on the SOHO Solo Ireland members directory at the time of judging can be considered for this competition

3. The decision of the judges (Network Coordinators Jackie Gowran and Calvin Jones) is final

Winners of the October competition will be announced at the SOHO Solo West Cork meeting in November, and afterwards on this blog.

If you would like to sponsor this competition by contributing one of the monthly prizes please drop us a line using the contact form.

Our thanks to this month’s sponsors:

Tags: Blogging, competition, Membership, sohosolo

• Blogging , Competitions , Soho Solo
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Calvin September 26th, 2008

Catherine Wall of IT@Cork sent an e-mail earlier this week offering SOHO Solo Members free entry to the event “Media and Marketing in the Digital Age” with prominent Irish Blogger, columnist and digital media commentator Damien Mulley:

Where: Webworks, Albert Quay, Cork
When: Thursday October 16 at 11am
Registration: To register please email admin@itcork.ie or call 021 2307011 (don’t forget to mention you’re a SOHO Solo Member).

Should be a great event – here’s an excerpt from Catherine’s e-mail to whet your appetite:

Damien Mulley will go through tips and techniques on how to deal with the media in 2008 and then explain how companies can market themselves online. Can Bebo, Facebook and LinkedIn actually get you business?  Damien will explain how they can.

Damien Mulley organises the Irish Blog Awards which has now been running for 3 years. He teaches business blogging, PR skills and Online Marketing to private businesses, Universities and has given public training classes on business blogging to WIT, Wicklow County Enterprise Board, Galway Skillnet and the Irish Computer Society.  He is a trained technical writer, former technology columnist for the Sunday Tribune and holds a diploma in Law from UCC.

So register now, and I’ll see you there.

If you’re not a SOHO Solo member yet you can still attend the event at a cost of €30 – or why not take this opportunity to join and attend the event for free?

Our thanks to IT@Cork for extending this invitation to SOHO Solo members.

Tags: Events, IT@Cork, Membership, Social Media

• Events , IT@Cork , Membership , Social Media , Soho Solo
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Calvin September 24th, 2008

Last week’s SOHO Solo meeting was an open discussion on how Social Media Can Help Your Small Business hosted by yours truly. Despite some very rusty presentation and facilitation skills on my part (an occupational hazard of spending long hours tapping away at the keyboard), we covered some interesting stuff – and it was great to hear SOHO Solo’s sharing their own experiences of Social Media with one another.

As promised, I’m posting an outline of the “Social Media Rules of Engagement” taken from the social media chapter of my book “Understanding Digital Marketing”. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and every form of social media is subtly different, but if you follow the guidelines below you’ll soon find your feet.

Ready to engage? Enjoy:

THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Social media offers a wealth of opportunities for consumer engagement and building brand awareness, but in such an open and dynamic space it’s critical to consider what you’re doing carefully. Social media is consumer driven, and the very characteristics that make it such an enticing proposition for marketers – the interconnected nature of online consumers, and the staggering speed at which information traverses the network – can just as easily backfire.

The ‘rules’ of social media are really about applying a bit of common sense to what are essentially human relationships. The key thing to remember is that this is social media – people are going online to interact and exchange information and content with similar, like minded people. They’re unlikely to be interested in your latest sales pitch, and they’re certainly not interested in promotional hype. They want interesting, fun, informative, quirky, addictive… whatever turns them on. When it comes to social media, you’re not just sending out a message, your inviting a response, and what you get might not be quite what you’re expecting. You need a plan to engage in social media marketing, but you also need to be flexible and respond to the community.

• Draw on what you already know: you already have a wealth of knowledge about your customers – who they are, what they like to do, where they hang-out online. Okay, so one of the main reasons you’re getting involved in social media is to get to know them a little better – but the point is you’re not going into this blind. Use that knowledge: apply what you already know about your customers, your business and your brand to your social media strategy. As you learn more, refine what you’re doing accordingly.
• Don’t jump in unprepared: have a clear plan before you start – know who you’re trying to engage with and what you want to achieve. Define ways to gauge and measure your success, with frequent milestones to help keep you on-track. But remember to be flexible, and modify your plan as necessary in response to community feedback.
• Look, listen and learn: before you engage in social media marketing spend some time ‘lurking’ (hanging around without contributing). Familiarising yourself with the different types of social media sites that you plan to target. Go and use the sites, read the blogs… immerse yourself in the media. Look, listen and learn. Just like in real life, every online community is different. Familiarise yourself with the various nuances before you dive in.
• Be open, honest and authentic: nowhere is the term ‘full disclosure’ more appropriate than in social media. Don’t go online pretending to be an independent punter extolling the virtues of your brand. You will get found out, and when you do your company will go ‘viral’ for all the wrong reasons. There are some high profile examples of companies getting this spectacularly wrong, with disastrous results. Never pretend to be someone or something you’re not.
• Be relevant, interesting and entertaining: everything you do should add value to the community, as well as moving you towards your business goals. Be helpful, be constructive be interesting and entertaining – join the conversation, offer valuable, authoritative and considered advice. Make a real effort to engage with the community on their terms, and you’ll usually find them more than happy to engage with you in return.
• Don’t push out a spammy message: don’t join social media sites just to submit a tonne of links and push information about your own products, or flood the community with posts on why your company is the best thing since sliced bread. It smacks of spam, and ads nothing to the conversation. At best the community will ignore you… at worst, well, we’re back to the negative viral effect again.
• Respect ‘rules’: if the site you’re frequenting has policies, guidelines and rules, read them, and abide by them.
• Respect people: always be respectful to your fellow community members. That doesn’t mean you always have to agree with them; healthy debate is good in any community. When you do disagree, though, always be polite and respect other people. They have as much right to their opinion as you do to yours. Don’t get personal.
• Respond to feedback: if users give you feedback, that’s invaluable. Let them know that you appreciate it, that you’re interested in what they have to say. Be responsive, and show them how you’ve used that feedback constructively.

Know a few more rules you feel should be on this list? Feel free to share them in the comments :-)!

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Tags: Meetings, Presentations, Resources, Social Media

• Meetings , Presentations , Resources , Social Media , Soho Solo , Web
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Calvin September 24th, 2008

If you were in any doubt at all about the power of blogs to help your search engine rankings here’s a fairly compelling piece of evidence to convince you that they really can make a difference.

This domain was registered, and the blog was created and launched in August of this year. That’s just last month… and very little time to see any real results in terms of organic search engine rankings.

When we launched, the search results on Google.ie for the term “Small business West Cork” were dominated, unsurprisingly, by the West Cork Enterprise Board – the regional Irish Government agency charged with fostering local enterprise.

Just a month-and-a-half or so later, from a standing start, our embryonic SOHO Solo West Cork blog has surged into the top two slots on Google.ie for that same keyword phrase, and five of the 10 page 1 results relate to this site.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a fairly impressive and unequivocal affirmation, if one were needed, of  the power blogs have to hit the right “buttons” with the search engines.

Tags: Blogging, Google, Networking, Search, SEO, West Cork

• Blogging , Networking , Social Media , Soho Solo , West Cork
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Calvin September 16th, 2008

Quick post to mention that although things have been a bit slow over the past week or two (other work pressures, and the fact that at the moment I’m all on my lonesome writing here… sniff :-() they should pick up some momentum over the coming weeks as we start encouraging more SOHO Solo members to sign up and start contributing.

The whole point of this blog is as a resource for SOHO Solo’s – members and non-members – but for members it also offers an opportunity to get their feet wet in the blogosphere, and to get some guidance and support on posting here before they set up their own blog. Once they’ve tried commenting and posting to the blog, we’ll also be encouraging members to try other social media resources like Twitter, LinkedIn and others to see how they might apply to their particular business.

SOHO Solo West Cork Group on LinkedIn

As more members contribute articles about their SOHO experiences and share their expertise the blog should evolve into a valuable repository of information for Small Office / Home Office workers not just in South West Ireland, but around the world.

So, things might be plodding along at the moment, but stick around… because it’s about to get interesting!

Tags: Blogging, Social Media, Soho Solo, Twitter

• Blogging , Soho Solo , Twitter , internet
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Calvin September 2nd, 2008

We’ve all done it at one time or another… used our desktop e-mail client to send a group e-mail to a list of people in our address book. But how many of us stop to consider which address field we put the list into? Unfortunately if it goes into the To or CC field when you hit send you essentially share all of those e-mail addresses with everyone else on the list without the owners’ permission to do so.

And that’s a BAD thing!

Using BCC keeps people’s e-mail addresses confidential

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using your regular e-mail client (the application you use to manage your day-to-day e-mail) to send messages to small groups of people. It’s quick, convenient and most mail clients make it incredibly easy to set up and manage e-mail distribution lists precisely for this purpose.

But when you’re dealing with other people’s confidential information (and yes, e-mail addresses fall into that category) you have to be careful.

Consequences of not Using the Bcc field

1. Sharing people’s e-mail addresses without their permission is wrong, it damages trust, tarnishes your reputation and could be against the law.
2. If anyone on the list hits “reply to all” instead of just “reply” their unsolicited message (Spam!) is sent to everyone on the list.

By putting your mailing list into the BCC field you simultaneously solve both these issues.

Here’s how you use the BCC field on two popular desktop (Mozilla Thunderbird) and web-based (GMail) mail clients. Others will vary slightly but in practice the process should be very similar:

Continue Reading »

Tags: BCC, data protection, e-mail

• Resources , Soho Solo , tools
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