Monday, March 30, 2009

Organ Donor Week

This week is Organ Donor Awareness week. I was reminded of this very important week and the life-saving contributions that families and people make becoming Organ Donor's by Sian from www.GiftsandVouchers.ie - the Irish Gifts website - through reading her very brave and touching story that she's shared on her gifts and vouchers blog.

So, I'll take this opportunity to encourage everyone to register as a donor and get a donor card.

Source: http://blog.giftsandvouchers.ie/

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Bizcamp Limerick

Bizcamp Limerick was an outstanding success by all accounts. Many thanks to the people who attended, talked and organised the event, which was held at the fantastic Kemmy Business School, which is a brilliant, world-class facility of higher education.

First of all, a big thank you to the Dean of the Kemmy Business School, Prof. Donal Dineen. It was a great space and very apt to have the Bizcamp here. The next big thanks and congratulations go to Stephen Kinsella, Evert Bopp, Ger Hartnett, Shane McAllister, Gabriela Avram and Mark Cahill. Also all members of Limerick Open Coffee Club who got together after the fall out from Dell and other large scale redundancy notices.

With nearly 200 people attending, a wave of media coverage and much buzz, it was a fantastic day altogether. Thank you to everyone again!

I gave a talk on SEO and how it works. I'll post up the presentation when I get back from Milan. Thanks to everyone who sat in, asked questions and the plenty of positive feedback I got.

I also met a lot of twitter buddies. Twitter is working out fantastically - it's how I got involved in Bizcamp in the first place. I've also found an exciting new business to invest in - but more about that in April.

Was delighted to meet great minds like Anton Mannering, Tony Frattaroli, Chris Byrne, Joy Redmond, Derry O' Donnell and many others I've already forgotten. Mail me if I met you and forgot you!

Reacations from the blogsphere: ShaneyMac's photo series on Pix.ie, Bizcamp Limerick, Limerick Blogger's coverage, Mark Cahill, Anton Mannering, Mike Quilligan, Reva Health.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Quick Post: Curious FBD ad

For some reason, FBD Insurance have this ad, which I spotted on the Limerick Leader website. I found this quite curious. They're trying to advertise a fast motor insurance quotation service - which hardly sounds unique given that this has been around for years but, anyway, they've used a speedometer clearly racing up and down to the maximum possible speed (120) in Ireland to demonstrate this. This sends a worrying unclear message given the change in attitude to driving fast. Also, driving at 120km/h is only possible on a handful of motorways in Dublin.








Also, even more curious, is that FBD refused me a quotation on my safety-loaded SAAB because it's a HPV. Since when is the size of a car's engine a basis for safety? My car has 6 breaks on 4-discs with ultra-wide tyres. Keeping within the legal and safe speed limits this gives me a huge advantage over smaller cars with cheaper to replace narrow tyres and inferior drum and disk shoe breaking setups.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tuesday Push & other announcements

Tuesday's push is for MyMunster.com, a networking site for Munster Rugby Supporters. Tuesday Push is a coordinated spread of an idea launched by Damien Mulley.

Adrian Wreckler thinks that Irish Tech companies should get Government Aid. I don't agree fully. While I do think SFI is a bloated money black-hole, I think there Seed Capital is missing in Ireland. A lot of people seem to think European companies are over-government reliant - and while I do agree, I think they're forgetting that the US Government was extremely interventionist until the private sector took over. The US Government established the Small Business Investment Fund in 1958 as a precursor to VC. The EU followed suit in 1994. Private sector VC took off in the US in the 1970's. However, Seed capital funding is far easier to get in Europe and the US than it is in say, Limerick or Cork Or Tipperary or Dublin. I think the Government has a big role to play, particularly in the recovery in 2009. Have your say here.

Bizcamp Limerick, the business startup site for Limerick, now has 123 sign-ups! The Bizcamp is taking place on the 21st March this year and looks like it will be a cracking event. The RTE news video on the Dublin Bizcamp, which was an outstanding success is also on the site. Well done to the organisers of both!

We've been appointed SEO providers to Munster Energy Solutions with their new website, www.mes.ie. Munster Energy Solutions are BER Assessors in Limerick, Cork and Kerry. They are also able to assess commercial buildings, which not all BER Assessors are certified to. All new houses/apartments sold in 2009 will need a BER Certificate as will any existing house or apartment let in or after 2009.

World Vision Ireland announce a new blog for their mini-marathon fund-raiser. Best of luck!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

While the EU, US and UK cut rates, taxes...

...we're too busy finding new ones or raising old ones. Raising new taxes, existing ones and VAT will dry up the spare money we have, contribute towards deflation (which sounds good but really, really isn't) will result in more domestic companies closing - particularly consumer related like food, retail, property and so on...Yet nothing is being done about economic stimulation. Training will not help. New jobs are not being created. We have too many solicitors, accountants, architects, IT professionals, teachers. And these are quite well educated people.

Actually the government has just confirmed my worst fear: apparently SME's can't help themselves - we need the councils to help (although they already have Enterprise Support): http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0305/sfa.html. What a dire waste this will be.

Limerick Open Coffee Club was a great success. I met Tony Frattaroli, the Limerick Entrepreneur who went on to the Dragon's Den and shared the behind the scenes experiences of the grueling 1hr30's he spent discussing his ideas with the Dragon's as well some other insights we as an audience don't get to see. Tony is a dynamic, determined and self-motivated person - a perfect entrepeneur - just the type we need to be encouraging more of in Ireland.

We were appointed SEO to www.PolskiQuote.ie, which has a fluent Polish brokerage team (Ubezpieczenie samochodu).

We're also doing the SEO for accomplished beauty clinic, www.Akina.ie, who provide a range of treatments include skincare treaments, laser treatment and beauty treatments among others!