Accountants: Five Tips to Improve Your Online Profile
Have you googled your name or your practice name recently? If so, do you like what you see? More importantly, would a client like what they see? The importance of your online profile has never been higher, as now even phone numbers are googled. Clients do search for accountants online, in the same way as they research other suppliers, customers and even employees. The need to manage your online reputation has never been greater, as your clients now increasingly turn to the online world for business intelligence. Over the next few weeks, I am speaking at the Chartered Accountants Technology Seminars […]
Read MoreTop Twenty Business Tips as voted by you
Last week we asked twitter for top business tips for our tourism business group. We got more than one hundred tips in less than one day, and here are the top twenty tips as voted for by twitter users. The twitter hashtag #wexbiz was created for the “Business Planning” module of the training and mentoring programme that we are delivering for Wexford Local Development at the moment. Top Twenty Business Tips on #wexbiz The tweets are in no particular order. Twitter Name Top tip – #wexbiz 1. @RHVCottages “Cashflow projections” is king, keeps us steady & focused @RHVCottages. Target Market & Segments […]
Read MoreMaking the Most of Mobile
We looked at the basics of building and improving a tourism website in our weekly tourism start-up workshop this week. A number of the businesses on our training and mentoring programme are engaged in outdoor activities, and could use mobile apps to enhance customer experience and capture word of mouse. Geocaching Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online. The “treasure” is always really random stuff, like be a pencil, a shell or a used bus ticket. This hobby is all about the […]
Read MoreGetting PR for your business
It was a bullet point on a PowerPoint slide I didn’t realise would interest my audience so much: “You do not have to pay for coverage if you have a good, interesting story to tell.” A Guest Post by Elaine Larkin The audience was a group of people in the tourism business. The talk was on how to write a press release for the How to Build a Strong Tourism Business programme delivered by Xcel Business Solutions for Wexford Local Development. Having worked as a journalist and editor for a little over 10 years I’ve seen many a press release. I’ve […]
Read MoreWhat does the Jobs Initiative mean for Irish consumers?
Why Business Pricing Can’t Be Personal Attendees at our most recent pricing workshop had lots of practical experiences to share and questions to ask. One question was quite intriguing; “If you charge a high price for something, and feel you are ripping off your customer, does this mean you shouldn’t be in business?” Popcorn Why is cinema popcorn so expensive? Most people agree that cinema popcorn is expensive. And yet it continues to sell well and make good profits for cinemas the world over. The reasons for the high price include: captive audience limited selling time high fixed costs of […]
Read MoreFinance 101 for Startups
Many new entrepreneurs focus on their product or service so much that they forget about the two basic requirements for staying in business: Cash Profit Your business needs both cash and profit to survive. If you don’t have these, you don’t have a business. Make sure you are able to plan, record, monitor and respond to your financial situation every day. It is easy to get side-tracked with other numbers, but the business numbers that matter most are cash and profits. In our second week of the training and mentoring programme for Wexford tourism businesses, it was all about finance. Financing […]
Read MoreHonestly – is your company priceless?
Why You Don’t Need a Superhero For Your Startup to Succeed Being a startup business is tough. It’s hard to get every cog in the wheel working in unison. It’s hard to get the product right, to find customers, make sales and to earn profits. It really is. Do you need to have superhero talents to get it right? Absolutely not. Last week we started a three month training and mentoring programme for tourism startups on behalf of Wexford Local Development. There are twenty five businesses in the programme, all at different stages of development; from idea stage to product […]
Read Moretwitter for beginners
Twitter is not work. (For most of us). It’s a network. And it can be a great business tool.
Read More10 Top Tips for Getting Paid
Training and Mentoring available for Tourism Businesses A training and mentoring programme, supported by Wexford Local Development, is starting for tourism busineses in Wexford in September 2011. How to Build a Strong Tourism Business: We have developed this training progamme for tourism businesses, in conjunction with Wexford Local Development, based on feedback received from attendees at our How to Start a Tourism Business workshop last November. Programme objective: This programme will enable attendees to develop the skills required to build and operate a strong tourism business. Programme Components: Twelve 3 hour training workshops One field trip to visit Wexford tourism […]
Read MoreHow to be a Business Leader like Richard Branson AND an Eco Warrior
What does the Jobs Initiative mean for Irish consumers? Yesterday the Irish government announced their jobs initiative to stimulate employment and improve Ireland’s competitiveness. As the tourism industry has suffered an approximate loss of earnings of 30% over the years 2007 -2010, many of the measures are designed to stimulate this sector. The reduction in VAT on tourism related services from 13.5% to 9% is very welcome. What does this mean for the consumer? The Minister stressed that the VAT reduction must be passed onto the consumer, and that the government will be monitoring these prices. Here are some examples […]
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