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

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.