Its our first proper family holiday since the little fella graced us with his presence.  We have decided to stay within Irish territory.  Mainly so we can bring the other members of our little family namely Cooper n Mojo…see below. They have been enjoying the beach, mountains and sun.

It was a long journey down…6 hours!  But we all took turns, Ruairi even drove for a little while.

We had an exciting first day, we found a cafe with a Enchanted Garden, a diver at the Bell tower, drove up a mountain to admire the Valentia views (car almost didn’t make it).   We even found a secluded little beach where Ruairi discovered sand and the cold sea for the first time.  Exciting times and more to come this holiday.

The Enchanted Garden

The first adventure into the sea…not too happy

Sand…interesting substance

Dave the Diver…random

The Blue Lagoon

We had amongst our arsenal an actual toboggan (thanks to Cillian), black sacks (thanks to Dan) and several types of surfing/boogie boards.  I provided the camera and below is some of our mishaps, adventures and near misses.  We started out rather un-adventurous but by the end we were piling people on, breaking distances records and even surfing down (well some of the way).

First we have Cillian and Colm attempting a duo, they manage to hit some children along the way too.

As my courage grew from each attempt I finally decided to try Surfing…while standing.  It did not go quite according to plan

Next up we have the ladies who attempted 3 on a board (impressive).

Finally the lads tried to top that with 4 on board and in case you miss me saying it in the video…I wasn’t ready!

In conclusion although the snow has probably cost the country millions, made us sit in traffic for many many many hours and caused damage to our cars and homes, don’t worry about it.  Every cloud has a silver lining and this one you can slide down!  So grab the shiniest tea tray you can find…and join in the fun!

Fins Graduation

I was never big into the idea of college. I liked it and I always knew I’d give it a go but deep down from the age of 5 my greatest desire was to own and run my own business.   So after a year at UCD that’s exactly what I did, took a “year out” and setup Damson, best thing I ever did. Education didn’t seem important until one day when we decided to go on a training course “Growing Your Business” run by Dublin County Enterprise Board.  It was 8 weeks long and told us all we needed to know about business, finance, marketing, sales etc.

The course had two affects, the first was for us to rethink the strategy and plan for our business.  It gave us the knowledge we needed to bring about the changes necessary to move our business to the next level.  The second affect it had was on ourselves.  We realised that education was key to our success and as they say knowledge is power.  So a new area of the Damson business plan was born, education.

So what has happened since then, well we have done alot more training:  from business training to Business Analysis to technology.  All have benefited ourselves and our organisation. Donal has been studying hard through Open University to complete a degree.  I went to the National College of Ireland and completed my Diploma in Business Analysis and Consultancy.

So now almost a year later we attended my Graduation, it was exciting to finally have a piece of paper to my name and the sense of achievement was great.

I think overall this year has been eventful between finishing my diploma and getting used to being a parent it has been tough but rewarding.

I really enjoyed my short time at the National College of Ireland, the facilities were world class and the staff go above and beyond to ensure you have the best educational experience possible. I would recommend the NCI to anyone considering further education.

I now believe in life long learning and although this is my first academic achievement at third level I can say without hesitation it will not be my last

I recall a friend once saying as we were growing up, that we were running out of firsts. By that he meant everything from your first step as a baby to your first kiss as a teenager.  At the time I thought he was probably right as I left my teenage years behind and we were becoming adults I thought yeah soon we’ll have just done everything…right?

I know what your thinking, of course he wasn’t right but we were young.  I guess it all depends on what you do with your life whether you stop experiencing firsts.  If you get one job, never go on holidays, have kids or possibly leave your house then your unlikely to experiencing anything new but not only is that unlikely it is almost impossible.

I think the most amazing firsts happen when we are kids.  There is something wonderful about discovery, the first time you see an amazing view or watch a fireworks display.  As I watch my son experience all of his firsts (which happen almost everyday) I think to myself it must be amazing to see such wonder in the simplest things. Whether its the taste of broccoli (yuck) or seeing a dog for the first time.  To him everything is an experience to be immersed in.  However, he is not the only one having first times, because its my first time being a parent.  So I get to see him experience all these amazing little adventures for the first time too.

It does something else too, it pushes me to do more, to experience all there is out there.  Whether its being a parent or going parachuting it doesn’t matter, if its a first then its exciting.

I suppose the truth is no matter how old, wise or worldly we get there is always something we haven’t done. Something that will be a first for us. So this is just a thanks to Ruairi for not letting me forget about how amazing and terrifying it can feel to do something you’ve never done before.

You only get one life, live it!

I am a huge supporter of Educate Together having gone through their education system and come out the other side a better person for it.  Educate Together offers a real alternative to parents who do not wish to send their children to a religious school.  My days at ET were spent learning about many religions, cultures and ethical backgrounds.  My classmates were Christians, protestants, Quakers, Hindus, humanists and much more.  It was here I learnt to accept people for who they were.  It was a school where bullying didn’t happen, parents were actively involved and we called all the teachers by their first name. In short it was a school that respected you even though you were a kid and because of that simple fact I respected my school.

So this is to all past pupils of ANY Educate Together School, any ET supporters, please give generously to these brave women who will be fighting the cold hard tarmac of Dublin for their cause.

All Proceeds go towards the “Learn Together” Ethical Curriculum Training.

http://short.ie/floramini

http://short.ie/learntogether
—”Learn together to live together” Educate Together—

We were heading back from Cork, having had a brilliant weekend (see previous post). We had to stop off in Mountmellick on our way back to collect Ruairi as he was staying with his grandparents. As we came into town past the hospital the car lost grip on a bend. The back of the jeep began to rotate, so I slowed down.   Suddenly the vehicle regained grip and jolted to the right. Now we were still skidding towards the opposite side of the road with the ditch getting closer. To correct this I rotated the wheels back towards the left and the whipped around in a slingshot motion slamming us into a wall on the opposite side of the road with a tremendous BANG!

We had stopped there was silence. “Is everyone ok I asked” Tho a little shaken, no one was hurt. We all got out of the Jeep, I was forced to climb out my window as the vehicle was pressed up against what was once a wall. I hugged Lesley just to know she was safe and reassure both of us that we were ok. A few people gathered and a man appeared from a nearby house offering us tea and somewhere to recover. We gladly accepted. I decided to move the jeep and also see if she was still working.

I turned the key not expecting much but I had under estimated this little jeep. She roared into action not bothered by the fact that she had just brought down a wall and managed to sustain only minor structural damage considering the impact.

So now that my family is safely home and I can look back on this quite traumatic event there are two things to consider, what have I learnt and what am I thankful for.

Well starting with the latter, I am thankful for my son Ruairi not being with us at the time, this thought has been in my mind since the accident and will probably stay there for some time.  I am also thankful that no one was in the garden or walking past at the time of the accident as it scares me to think of what could have happened. A far worse aftermath then just a banged up jeep.

Finally, we were discussing it afterwards and reckoned that the impact would not have been sustained by a car so easily. The height of the wall would have meant a car would have been impacted at a higher point, perhaps smashing windows, crushing doors and possibly sending debris into the car itself. The Jeep on the other hand made contact below the level of its door handles and simply took the wall out from its foundations with one feld swoop, saving us in the process.

This leads onto my conclusion, why I will always have an SUV. We discovered from the nice folk that shared their home and looked after us that this was not the first time a car had crashed here.  No, infact as far as he could remember I was the sixth accident in recent years and that the wall I had destroyed had been rebuilt more than 5 times!   They have been asking the council for years to but up a sign or a ramp to avoid this but their cries have gone un-answered.  I will always have an SUV for one reason and one reason alone, cars can be repaired, walls can be re-built but families…these are the most precious things of all.

We cannot be responsible for other drivers on the road, for the lack of initiative by our government and local councils, nor the simple act of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  You only get one chance to do it right. we must do everything in my power to keep our friends & families safe.

- Drive safley folks -

In these so called recessionary times we hear a lot of talk of doom and gloom. Over the past few months I have received numerous emails from people and companies claiming to have the one thing that will get my business through the recession.  If these people did in fact have the golden cure for recession blues they should probably be contacting they’re local bank.

Though not claiming to have the ultimate recession killer I do have a few things that have helped our business through a hectic 2008 and that will hopefully help us to grow in 2009.

Making a plan and sticking to it

We all know we should have a business plan. But active business plans can be few and far between. If you haven’t at least referred to your business plan in the last six months then it’s not doing you any good. A successful business man once said,

“I can get there without a plan, but a plan gets me there faster”

I think this is of the utmost importance in a recession because getting there slower could mean your not around for long. The second point is to actually stick to you’re plan. If you’ve sat down and thought this business plan through it is likely to be better then any decision you make under pressure. I learnt this lesson recently. When we were about to make a decision based off of cash-flow even though it went completely against our well laid plans.

Stay Positive

My third pearl of wisdom is the most obvious, stay positive. Try to ignore all the bad news and joy killers. If you’re doing well tell everyone. Pass on your positivity. I heard a great line once about a famous person who didn’t like all the bad things people said about him in the papers. One of his friends told him, if you don’t like what the papers say, don’t read them.

Easier said then done I suppose but the idea is good. If you read more positive news you will feel more positive about your business and your own life.

Networking

This leads onto my final thought which is networking.  It is one of my all time loves in life. Put me in a room with a bunch of people I don’t know and I am in my element! I have been to a lot of networking events in my short time in business but in 2008 I came across the greatest networking organisation of them all, BNI. This stands for Business Networking International. Many of you longtime entrepreneurs out there have probably heard of BNI before. I had come across it a few years ago but never truly appreciated its potential. BNI is made up of chapters all over the world.  Each chapter only allows one person from each profession to join, thus preventing any conflict when passing business.  Referrals are the currency of BNI.  As each member goes about their weekly business they keep an eye out for work for other members. If they see potential business they let that member know at the next meeting.

This is the main purpose of BNI to help its members gain more business

However having been a member of BNI Bridge now for almost a year I have found something else in these weekly breakfast meeting.  Not only does my business benefit from thousands of euro worth of business. I also benefit from simply being around my fellow members.  It is their willingness to say I don’t care if this country is bankrupt my business is stronger then this.  That we truly are greater than the sum of our parts.  For me it is standing in a room full of people who believe that they’re business is here to stay.

So while each week many people read about job losses, bank closures and countries going bankrupt.  I surround myself with positive friends, positive family and positive businesses.  My suggestion is simple, you should do the same.

The party started early, at 12ish we moved onto the Com for a few hours then back to the house for a proper session.  There was guitars and singing and then, then someone found a banjo and well, I let the video explain the rest.