Do you have what it takes? See if you check off any or all of the qualities listed in the list below!
1. Clarity
Having ambition and vision are important drives when trying to break the mould to entrepreneur "status" but having clarity of that ambition and vision is even more vital. Obstacles will try and demount you. The road to success will be long and at times unwelcoming. You will need a clear eye of your ambition and vision to reach the summit of your journey.
Ask yourself continously:
What do you want to achieve?
What do you want to achieve by it?
How will you go about achieving it?
2. Communication
You need to be able to communicate - both verbally and in writing - decisively. What idea are you trying to sell to the market? If people don't understand your product why would they waste their time engaging with it? Communication is key. Communication is the gateway to success.
3. Motivation
Match your ambition with your work ethic. What separates the talented individual from the successful individual is hard work.
4. Persistence
Success doesn't happen overnight. You will fall. You will fail. You will wonder is it worth getting back up. Yes it is. Persistence always pays off, eventually. Achieving your goal, fulfilling your dream; the reward will be worth it.
5. Passion
The Digital Marketing Institute blog post lists passion as the most important trait on their list. Passion will beat money and ideas all day, everyday. This is because passion is belief in yourself, your goal, and your capabilities. You need passion because you need to be able to sell your ideas or make a success out of them.
The passionate entrepreneur is always thinking about new ideas, reading resources, and looking for new opportunites.
For more information on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur check out this YouTube clip of Mike Stelzner talking about what he considers to be important traits in a budding entrepreneur.
In a recent blog post the Digital Marketing Institute recommended the following three steps as essential components in maximising the benefits of your digital marketing use.
1.Familiarise yourself with Digital Marketing publications
Websites such as Econsultancy and The Drum are excellent sources of knowledge to keep your company's digital edge sharpened.
Regarding more specific channels, check the following for a more focused insight:
A solid strategy for a digital marketing campaign is vital for your business and the Digital Marketing Institute recommends focusing on social media, mobile and search as this allows you to have a two-pronged approach, both desktop and mobile devices, in your strategy.
Given that so many people have their mobile phone within an arm’s reach at any given time (91%, according to Forbes), mobile marketing is key. This also ties into social media marketing; with well over 1.2 billion between them, Facebook and Twitter have a massive reach for digital marketing strategies.
Customer Minds has a list of the best practices for digital marketing strategies.
3. Keep up with your competitors
You are in direct competition with so many businesses now that you need to optimise your digital marketing strategy. If you don’t, they will. If they do, they’re stealing your customers.
Digital marketing is essential for the longevity of a business. Utilising it will offer you a measurable, solid basis to develop any new marketing strategies.
Don't forget, Dungarvan Enterprise Centre is hosting a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing course ran by the Digital Marketing Institute, starting on September 25th! The course will run for ten weeks, every Thursday night from 18:30 to 21:30.
The cost of the course is €1,500 per person but as part of a special offer on the Diploma, the Local Enterprise Office is running a competition that will sponsor one free place on the course.
To avail of the competition applicants must fill in an application form along with a short, two page strategy document outlining their business' case for taking this course. To receive an application form, email Dungarvan Enterprise Centre at dungarvanec@gmail.com.
Closing dates for entries to the competition is July 24th and the winner will be announced on July 28th.
Dungarvan Enterprise Centre is also offering an early bird discount of €250 for all bookings made before July 31st.
To avail of this discount, payment must be made in full when booking.
Are you interested in making the most of your child's summer holidays?
Have you heard about the Coding Camp for kids coming to Dungarvan at the end of July?
Every morning from 10AM to 1PM between Monday July 21st to Friday July 25th, the Dungarvan Enterprise Centre, in association with the Local Enterprise Office, will be hosting a camp where children aged between 8 and 14 can come to learn and develop their computer skills.
The camp will be run in association with Darock Media - a local company that specialises in web design and app development.
The aim of the camp is to teach children skills such as coding websites and building apps as well as developing efficiency in writing HTML,
creating themes and publishing fully functional websites, all in a fun and simple manner.
This camp has the ability to greatly impact and benefit your child's future as Ireland's economy becomes ever more reliant on the digital sector. Experts predict our country's digital economy is set to surge to almost €22 billion alone by 2020 - a figure that will demand 150,000 news jobs in the digital market as a result. Add to this the current 20,000 shortfall of software engineers in this country and the advantages for learning computer coding at a young age is obvious.
But besides the bonuses of your child getting a head start in a skill that looks set to dominate the future economic market, learning code will enable your child to perform complex tasks on a computer - an art form that will allow them to build adventurous virtual worlds with no limits to their imaginations.
Cork teen Harry Moran is such an example of this. In 2011, the then 12 year old Moran, who learned to write code at a CoderDojo computer camp ran at his local primary school in Glasheen, created an app game called PizzaBot.
The game topped the Apple charts that year and beat off stiff competition from internationally recognised popular games such as AngryBirds and the Call of Duty app. The app made Moran Apple's youngest ever Mac app developer and he followed up on his orginal success with another game called RobotRun.
Waterford entrepreneur Jordan Casey is another fine
example of the benefits of learning digital language from a young age. The 14
year old Waterford entrepreneur is the CEO of his own company, Casey Games – an
award winning independent video game company.
The
teenage tech prodigy’s company has had huge success developing apps for mobiles
and the web such as Greenboy Touch, Alien Ball versus Humans, and Food World.
In the YouTube clip below watch Casey discuss one of his latest apps, TeacherWare, at the 2013 Dublin Web Summit. The app is designed to help teachers stay organised.
Two more recent success stories from Coding Camps in Ireland are 13 and 14 year old Cian Martin Bohan and Cormac Kinsella who this week launched their app Open Share. Open Share allows users to share a post across several social media networks simultaneously.
The
week long camp will be delivered by a teacher and an industry professional who
also volunteers at the Enterprise Centre’s Coder Dojo.
The camp is suitable and will be beneficial
for children with an interest in computers, gaming and coding or children who
have a keen interest to develop skills in these areas.
With the recent news that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is looking to introduce computer coding as a subject at both primary and secondary schools - in some cases as early as this September, participation in this camp can offer a huge advantage and insight for your child.
If that is not enough reason for your child to participate in this wonderful and exciting full filled week then check out this short YoutTube clip entitled, Why Our Kids Must Learn to Code, where inspirational figures in the technology industry such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg and Microsoft creator Bill Gates talk about the importance and value of children learning to code.
The cost of the week long camp is €99 per child. For
further enquiries or to book now, call 058
23598 or email dungarvanec@gmail.com.
June is Digital Month here in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre
We have a busy month ahead here in the Enterprise Centre, the following events are planned:-
E-commerce Clinics
Introduction to Digital Marketing
Open Evening with Digital Marketing Institute
E-commerce Clinics
We are starting off the Month with an E-commerce Clinic on the 5th of June, these one-to-one clinics are for anyone who needs help with strategy and marketing. These clinics are being run by Niall McCann who is the founder and owner of a highly successful online business thewoolshop.ie
The cost of these clinics will be €20 per person for a private consultation.
(image courtesy of www.fbw.cpa)
Introduction to Digital Marketing
We are then hosting an Introduction to Digital Marketing, this is a two day programme being hosted by Justin Kearns of Shadow Marketing, who are the sole distributor for Purple Wifi in Ireland
The skills that will be obtained will be:-
Ability to identify each basic component of online marketing
Understand how to create content & engage with a customer on each social media platform
Design a basic email marketing campaign
Recognise the importance of search engine optimisation
Be familiar with the various free tools used to measure the success of online marketing
Create an outline for a Digital Marketing Strategy
This will be held here in the Enterprise Centre on the 23rd and 24th of June, The cost for the two days will be €90.00.
(image courtesy of www.askingsmarterquestions.com)
Open Evening with Digital Marketing Institute
In Business it is now more important than ever that we understand how to maximise the digital tools that are available to us.
On the 26th June at 6:00 pm we will be holding an open evening in conjunction with the Digital Marketing Institute. The Institute are the leading providers of Digital Marketing education globally.
This open evening will be particularly useful for anyone who is considering taking the Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute.
This course has been over subscribed each time it has been held in Dublin so we are delighted to be able to run it here in Dungarvan.
We are also happy to announce that we now have a easy payment plan available to anyone who would like to spread the cost of the course over several weeks.
The open evening will be held here in the centre and is free to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the people behind the course as the Representatives will be on hand to answer any questions you might have.
Further information about any of these events or if you wish to book any of the above you can contact us on 058 23598 or dungarvanec@gmail.com.
As the song says “Children are the future teach them well
and let them lead the way”
All kids now seem to be whizz kids when it comes to using iPad and laptops to play games. Would it not be great if they could put all that time to better use?, The Coder Dojo programme does exactly that, it teaches kids the skill of computer programming so that they can create their own websites and games and even design apps. Coder Dojo is a non-profit programme that relies solely on volunteers. This is a global movement and there are currently 420 Dojos in 43 Countries. The Ninjas will learn to use HTML, CSS and PHP. Bill Liao who has been involved in the set- up of the Coder Dojo movement encourages us to empower children to be creators rather than consumers, to get the children to start thinking about how these games work as opposed to just swiping screens. This is a free programme open to kids from 8-11 years of age. The Eircom Junior Spider awards have seen a 45% increase in participants, many of these kids are or have been Coder Dojo Ninjas.
Dungarvan Enterprise Centre has been involved in the Coder Dojo programme since 2012, and so far has put eighty Ninjas through the programme so far. The Ninjas from the 2013 programme will receive their belts on the 31st of May 2014.
If you have a programming background and are familiar with HTML, CSS and PHP and can give the kids two hours of your time every second Saturday during the school term we would love to hear from you. Without the help of volunteers this programme can't go ahead, thus preventing the kids from discovering their potential which may set them on a career path that may never have been explored without Coder Dojo.
If YOU can help keep this programme in Dungarvan or have kids interested in becoming Ninjas please contact us on 058 23598 or dungarvanec@gmail.com
So, you have a great idea and need the funds to make it
happen? Alternative Funding is now providing entrepreneurs, business people
and athletes, sports clubs, arts, film and drama groups alike
with the means to get that project up and running.
In partnership with the Local Enterprise Office, we
have decided to run an Alternative Funding seminar to inform people about what other
options are available to them.
The speakers at the seminar are a representation of some of
the Alternative Funding services that are available in the Waterford area. This
is a free seminar which aims to arm you with the knowledge you need to make
your dream a reality. The speakers at
this event will be;
Lorna Coleman : from
MicroFinance Ireland has spent many years as a
self-employed training consultant working with SMEs, business start-ups, and
enterprise development agencies in Ireland and the USA. Now working fulltime with Microfinance
Ireland, she manages the stakeholder relationship and business development
functions. www.microfinanceireland.com
Marc Rafferty: from
Linked Finance Marc is an entrepreneur
with 12 years’ experience in US, Holland and Ireland setting up and running
SMEs. Marc looks after all aspects of business development as well as heading
marketing at Linked Finance. www.Linkedfinance.com
Aidan Shine: is Assistant CEO of South East BIC. His role is to advise entrepreneurs and small companies on all aspects of business planning and development, with a special emphasis on financial planning and sourcing funding. As part of its remit in sourcing funding for start-ups, South East BIC manages the Halo Business Angel Partnership (www.businessangels.ie) in the South East region
David O’Shea: is
a former athlete and co-founder of nTrai, who hopes to provide an easy way for
athletes to raise money for their training and equipment needs. nTrai provides an on-line funding platform to encourage
family and friends and supporters to invest in the athlete’s future by pledging
to their crowdfunding campaign. www.ntrai.com
There will also be an opportunity to hear some case studies
from local business that have used alternative funding and how they got on,
such as Justin Collery from Multipath Networks, a huge success story based here
in Waterford, Justin will talk about his experience with CrowdFunding. To give us some insight of their experience we are delighted to welcome other local business such as Jitterbeans and M&D Bakers also Chia Bia who have all had experience in Alternative funding.
This is a free event open to all, for further information and
bookings please contact us on 058 23598 or email: dungarvanec@gmail.com Booking Essential and can be done by clicking here: Get your free ticket
Crowdfunding is now constantly in the media, lots of success
stories of projects that are now up and running like Hello Ruby that managed to
get 9,258 backers and funding of $380,747! We needed to know more.
Last Thursday we had a very enjoyable workshop on
Crowdfunding given by a very entertaining and informative Lorna Sixsmith. Lorna
has written and successfully used crowdfunding to publish her own book entitled “would you marry
a Farmer?”
Lorna talked us
through her own crowdfunding campaign , it gave us a working insight into the
whole crowdfunding process from how she established and achieved her goals, set
her rewards, right through to putting her
books in the post.
From the start of the workshop Lorna captured our attention
with her witty examples of good and not so good crowdfunding pitches and
through this we learned what makes a successful crowdfunding campaign
What did we Learn?
·A great video - The video is king to entice
prospective pledgers, you need to introduce the product and the people behind
the campaign, people need to feel your passion before they are enticed to
pledge to your campaign. Using the likes of u tube to host your video means you only have a few minutes to grab peoples attention so make the most of it!
·Itemise spending - Do your homework on the finances, pledgers need to know where their money is going. Give a clear and concise breakdown of what your expenditure is going to be.
·Put up some funds yourself - You need to invest some of your own money in to the project, this shows
that you have confidence in your own campaign. Pledgers like to see that you are prepared to "put your money where your mouth is" so to speak
·Set realistic targets – you need to plan your
campaign carefully, send press releases, tell family and friends to spread the word and remember
hidden costs such as postage.
·Rewards - Rewards are very important, also keep them relevant to your project and
even better if the reward is something that money can’t buy like naming a character in your film after them!!
·Pledges - The importance of correctly gauging
your pledge amounts, the most popular is €40 – €50. Get your family and friends to get the pledging off to a good start, solid pledging entices others to pledge.
·Use positive language - Staying positive even when things get tough is vital to the success of the campaign. To entice your followers give out little tit-bits like a chapter of your book or a trailer of your film.
·Keep in constant touch -Use social media during your
campaign to engage with your pledgers, by using tweets, engaging
in light positive conversation, and keeping your blog and Facebook current.
Some of the crowdfunding websites that should get your crowdfunding project up and running are:
Fundit.ie
ifundit.ie
Linkedfinance.com
Kickstarter.com
indiegogo.com
There are two types of funding:
All or nothing and flexible funding
Consider your options carefully and read the terms and conditions and charges carefully before you decide which option is best for you.
If crowdfunding has got you thinking, on the 14th
of May we are holding a workshop on Alternative Funding which will definitely
inspire you to get that project up and running.
.jpg)
