Nubie Blog

You want to be your own boss and now you’re wondering just how to get the business rolling. Regus, the world’s leading provider of flexible workplaces, has had decades of experience helping entrepreneurs work the way they want, where they want. Michael Barth, Vice President at Regus, shares his top ten tips for anyone starting a new business.
1. Write a proper business plan. It will help to focus and define your goals and business targets for year one.
2. Research your market. This will tell you whether your business has the potential to grow and if there’s demand for your product or services.
3. Talk to the experts. Get as much information and advice as you can.
4. Open a business account. It’s essential to keep your personal and business banking separate.
5. Choose the right company name. Make sure it’s memorable, professional, unique and fits your market.
6. Find the best location. Whether you are working from home, on the road or from an office, consider a virtual offices to ensure that the address and location is right for your business.
7. Project the right business image. Create a good impression with a professional telephone manner, welcoming receptionist and efficient message handling service.
8. Recruit the right team. Choose professionals who are efficient and reliable, and present a quality image.
9. Meet clients in the right place. Choose a venue that’s dedicated to business, with onsite support services that aid productivity.
10. Make sure your workspace grows with you. Find one that can be scaled up or down to meet your business needs.

Regus is the world’s leading global provider of flexible workplaces, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world’s largest network of video communication studios. It has operated in Ireland since 1996 and has 4 business centres across the country in Cork and Dublin.
For more information on Regus and our products please visit www.regus.ie

“There’s no safety net – being self-employed is the reward, and the risk.”

Snap is one of Ireland’s longest established franchises and through the years, the Group Office has tons of experience with people starting in business for the first time. There are 24 franchises now all over Ireland and some have changed hands along the way. Most new franchisees have never been self employed or been responsible for running their own business and come from a diverse range of backgrounds. However, they all have the same concerns and challenges and John Eager CEO of the Snap Group shares his top ten tips for anyone starting in business whether it is with a franchise or going it alone.

1. It will be harder work than you think – be prepared for long hours. Running your own business particularly in the early years takes a huge amount of your time and effort.  No matter what amount of work you think you might need to do, there is always more. So just be prepared to put a huge amount of effort and time in and it will pay off.

2. It will take longer than you think – stamina and tenacity are needed in spades.  If you have the energy and enthusiasm to start your own business, keep it up and stick with it.

3.  It will cost more money than you think – plan well, financially. A good business and financial plan is well worth the time and effort and continuously monitoring your finances is essential.

4. There’s no safety net – being self-employed is the reward, and the risk. A lot of new business owners find the biggest challenge is going it alone. Many will have worked in organisations where salary is paid every month, pension is looked after, admin support is there – when you start your own business, you do everything. However, there are huge rewards and a huge sense of achievement.

5. Choose a good brand – it will help with recognition as a new business.

6. Sales, sales, sales – this is the No. 1 activity. Remember that this is what will keep your business alive. You need a strong sales plan and you must keep it going. You need to be constantly marketing and selling your business. Looking after your existing customers and recruiting new ones. Don’t be tempted to take your foot off the pedal when your sales get strong, it is an ongoing process and will be the mainstay of your business.

7.  Be prepared for mistakes and missteps – success is carved from experience and experimentation. Don’t expect to get everything right but also don’t be hard on yourself when things don’t go to plan. You will learn from your mistakes and the experiences will drive your success.

8.  Have a good financial adviser. Probably one of the most important people you will need in your business so choose wisely.

9.  Keep healthy, keep your spirits and energy levels up. If you are going to put your heart and soul into your business, you need to stay healthy. The old adage that a healthy body is a healthy mind has been proven time and time again. Make time for your activities, see your friends and family, get those rich personal experiences, they are vital.

10.   Have fun. This is the best piece of advice we can give you. Enjoy your business; it will form a big part of your life in the early stages. Laugh and have fun.

Snap is a national brand, founded in 1984 by Irish businessman, Michael Kearney and employs 160 people across its 24 Irish franchises.  The company also has a production facility in Baldonnell, Dublin employing an additional 20 people.

Snap offers a comprehensive range of products and services including, marketing communication advice, graphic design, direct mail, hundreds of promotional products, point of sale, personalisation and fulfillment services, web site design, on line marketing and all forms of digital and litho printing.

The company is a franchise business and is wholly Irish owned and funded. The Snap brand operates in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and China. Each Snap business is owned and operated by individual franchise owners.

The spectacular collapse of Enron and WorldCom forever changed business particularly with the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The demand for more transparent and high value service was what Comms-Online recognised as part of our core values, so getting in at the ground level RocTel International was introduced as part of the Comms-Online Group; bringing to the Irish and UK markets our transparent and high value service.

The first couple of years were very challenging but with determination and resolve and a customer centric approach we delivered telecoms solutions to leading businesses in Ireland. Our ethos has been to allow the technology take the strain and your work force deliver your business as you planned it. Investing in the right technology is one of the key pillars of business success and can sometimes be overlooked.

Established in 2002, RocTel a wholly owned Irish company with the vision of becoming the best in class service provider to business customers in the Irish and UK marketplace. We provide a range of high-quality, low-cost telecommunications services to our customers across all industries. Our suite of telecommunications services includes; Voice, Broadband, IP Networks, Cisco Unified Communications Systems and Managed services.

Now close to 10 years old and still going strong, we have always based our service ethos on Integrity, Excellent Service, and Excellent Pricing, delivered by world class infrastructure, all of which is underpinned by our people, who put the customer first. Why wait for someone else to do, what you can do right now – begin today – give us a call – make your mark. RocTel 1850 222 444 sales@roctel.net

I started out in my own business 18 years ago with a Company I called Irish International sales (IIS) I chose the name because I felt it made us sound bigger than a two man operation! The initial goal of the company was to provide Office Machines and IT equipment to any small business. With youth, energy and very little working capital, myself and my partner set off in our newly leased company vehicles (one car & one van!) to try to conquer the small business market. It was very tough at the start, heading out every night to hand deliver promotional leaflets into business letter boxes throughout Dublin, hoping that the following day the special offers would attract new business! I found that in the early months selling time was curtailed due to administrative duties, deliveries and loads of paperwork. So where I had been used to selling for most of my day with a sales support person backing me up on the paperwork when I worked in a Company, now working for myself everything to be done was up to me. This is hugely underestimated by new start up Companies.

After two years in business my all new and exciting business venture nearly came to an abrupt end, after a very serious meeting with our Auditors they told me I had to close the business down because we had built up a considerable loss and needed to repay some outstanding Tax and Vat. I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. We had not been taking care of the invoicing, Statements and Debt collections properly and as a result were facing closure. It also became apparent that I was achieving 77% of the sales compared to my business partners 23% yet we were both taking the same salary. So I sat down with him and agreed a deal whereby he left and I assumed the full debt in return for 100% ownership! I managed to negotiate a payment plan with the revenue commissioners and paid them back over a three year basis, thus giving me breathing space to build the business.

This situation became a “tipping point” in carving out the future for my business. I realised that every small business needed proper Software to control their Accounts and Payroll. It lead me to become a reseller for Take Five a leading supplier of Accounts and Payroll in the market at the time. I quickly grew the business through hard work, employing great staff, luck and acquiring other Take five resellers, this lead my business to becoming the largest reseller of Take Five in the Country.

The ability to change direction in business is key to the success and survival of any small business, for us that meant supplying goods and services around the core business of Accounts and Software, such as PC’s, Printers, Servers, Cabling, Networking and Web Design etc all these supplemented our turnover throughout the years.

In 2001 along came another tipping point, I realised I was always going to be vulnerable and dependent on a supplier such as Take Five if I didn’t own my own Software. I managed to get an introduction to the owners of Big Red Book who at the time were losing money, had to pay back a BES investment and had a customer base of 3,500. I did a deal with them whereby we merged the two Companies and I became the majority shareholder. Within six weeks I had turned the business around to be profitable and we paid back the BES investment. We added the purchase of a Payroll product to our offering to SME’s the following year along with enhancing our suite of Accounting/Bookkeeping solutions, we also made the hard decision to drop products and services that were not core to our business such as the sales of PC’s, Printers, Servers etc while at the time this was a massive risk it paid off because we had more time to concentrate on what we were good at; provision of Accounts and Payroll solutions with a high standard of Support and back up.

In 2003 as a result of our track record in the field of Accounts Software, we were appointed by SAP (third largest Software Company in the World) as a Channel Partner for their SAP Business One product. This presented us with a serious challenge because of the size of the businesses we now found ourselves dealing with. Luckily with the right staff we rose to the challenge through hard work and by acquiring fledgling channel partners both in Ireland and the UK, by 2006 it resulted in us becoming the largest Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). This was an incredible achievement for a small Irish Software Company.

In 2008 I sold the SAP business in a Management buyout and have since re-concentrated on Big Red Book, building the brand and the customer base. We now have over 16,500 registered users running in excess of 35,000 businesses on Big Red Book and 5,500 Companies using our Payroll Software. We are the largest Irish owned supplier of Accounts and Payroll software and all as a result of me not keeping proper books and records in the early days!

The key to success is surrounding yourself with the right people, I got very lucky 15 years ago when I was introduced to my current Finance Director and fellow shareholder. I have also had the pleasure of working with some really great people over the years (and still do) that have been pivotal in the success of our business. Another key to success is seizing opportunities that come your way, taking risks and don’t be afraid to change direction and last but not least a whole lot of luck!

Marc O’Dwyer

Managing Director

Big Red Book

Create quotes, orders and invoices through Nubie.

“Your Invoices” is now up and running…  Easily create quotes, orders and invoices for your new business.

Email the invoices to your customers.  Get paid quicker.

All the best,

The Nubie Team

We have just updated our on-line tutorial for nubie. com

The new tutorial shows your how nubie.com can help you start, fund, manage and grow your business.

It can be accessed at:

http://www.nubie.com/Tutorials/Tutorials.aspx

We will be adding new tutorials all the time…

All the best,

The Nubie Team

We have just  loaded new roadmaps within Nubie for

- Holistic Therapy
- Marketing
- Web Development
- Teaching

Take the journey with our help at www.nubie.com

We are adding new roadmaps all the time… if your roadmap is not available right now… request it from us and we will upload it…

All the best,

The Nubie Team

We have just added our first on-line tutorial for Nubie.  It covers the “Are you Ready?” self assessment tool.

The new tutorial shows you how to profile your skill-set and check your readiness to start your own business.

It can be accessed at:

http://www.nubie.com/Tutorials/Tutorials_AreYouReady.aspx

We will be adding new tutorials all the time…

All the best,

The Nubie Team

Today, we announced more details about Nubie.com to the wider public. We hope to constantly improve and enhance the service over time,  but we’re delighted to have received some strong funding and support from various people who have a lot of passion about the potential of small businesses in Ireland. Below is the text of our press release which we issued today to the wider world and of course we welcome your comments or feed-back on the service at anytime.

Irish-based Nubie.com secures €150,000 in funding and launches Ireland’s first web-based business “start-up” service

August 11, 2010 – Nubie.com, a new web-based service which helps Irish entrepreneurs to start, fund, manage and grow their business was launched today.

The web-based service will meet the immediate business needs of Irish “start-ups”, over 13,000 of whom are formed in Ireland each year.[1]  It will provide start-ups with customised roadmaps tailored for the Irish market and online tools to research their idea, develop a business plan, check grant eligibility, seek funding and get off the ground quicker.  As well as business planning, funding and forecasting, Nubie will also provide a range of related services including invoicing, customer relationship management and marketing.

Nubie has secured an investment of €150,000 from private investors and Wicklow County Enterprise Board to provide the service and can be accessed at www.nubie.com

“Whether you are starting a coffee shop or software company, Nubie can help guide you through the process, from writing a business plan to selling your product or service” said Loughlin Nestor, Director, Nubie.  “We will provide every start-up with a tailored roadmap of what they need to get done, when and how, as well as related services.  These services can now be easily and conveniently delivered online at very low cost, helping new Irish business to get off the ground successfully”, he added.

Commenting on the launch, Sheelagh Daly, CEO, Wicklow County Enterprise Board said: “We are really pleased to see Nubie being launched as it provides valuable additional support for fostering new businesses at local level around the country.”

The cloud-based service is now available with a free trial period and costs €20 per month thereafter.  It will also offer useful information and content for start-ups including an online library, new business cafe, discussion forum and special guest blog posts.

Nubie.com is also offering a EUR 10,000 prize consisting of customised mentoring , business and marketing services for one Irish start-up. Entry can be made at www.nubie.com and is open to start-ups which have commenced operations in the last 18 months.

ENDS.

[1] Bank of Ireland Business Start-Up Barometer 2009, published on January 22, 2010