Anyone care to share their story? Part 2.

bobbymoore1 · 23-08-2012 4:39pm

ColHol wrote: »

Just on your website, you should have an option to filter by club. If Im a Liverpool fan I dont want to trawl through tons of other clubs to get to Liverpool stuff.

Other than that best of luck with the business, its a catchy name. Good luck!

Hi Col

Thanks for the feedback. I'll discuss that with the web designer. At the moment though if you search Liverpool, it should pull up the Liverpool only stuff, but if you search Liverpool mug, it will pull up other team mugs like Arsenal, Leeds United etc. I'll see what we can do on it to make it easier though.

Thanks again.

skafish · 20-04-2013 1:39am

Some great stories on this thread. Any updates to maybe bring some rays of light to these gloomy days?

malibu4u · 20-04-2013 1:17pm

skafish wrote: »

Some great stories on this thread. Any updates to maybe bring some rays of light to these gloomy days?

+1. I'm a long time lurker, but some of those stories are great.

Rhys Essien · 12-05-2013 11:53am

A very inspirational story here for the budding entrepreneur.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/from-two-saucepans-of-milk-to-farm-business-with-37m-sales-29259807.html

Dazzler88 · 13-05-2013 12:01am

Rhys Essien wrote: »

A very inspirational story here for the budding entrepreneur.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/from-two-saucepans-of-milk-to-farm-business-with-37m-sales-29259807.html

A truly inspirational story.

wildflower · 17-06-2013 10:08am

Hi all, this is a very inspirational thread! I am just starting to set up my own massage therapist business. I like a lot of people came straight of of college 10 yrs ago and starting working for "the man", I'm still in that very same job 10yrs later and even though I don't mind it- it's a depressing thought to be there for next 40 yrs!
So for the last few yrs I've been trying to think of a business idea that will work but in the current climate and very little start up money I struggled to get inspired and I'd get a great idea then see someone else doing it and kinda lose interest.
But 2 weeks ago- the planets must have been aligned for me or something!!!- this business just appeared really, I had trained as a massage therapist straight out of school but never really worked in it much and retrained again in a completely different area. I just happened to be in the right training when one of my bosses said they needed a massage therapist as the one they had was too expensive for people to use anymore. The next day I happened to bump into this woman again and said to her I would be interestd in the job, she directed to me someone else, and as I speak they are preparing tender forms and they said I'm a good bit cheaper than anyone that's ever done it for them before so I should have no problem getting it.
Just wanted to post and say sometimes ul be driving urself nuts to think of something and nothing feels right, I met my accountant who's a friend and had heard all my other hair brained schemes and she just said- it's perfect because of the simplicity of it. If u have an idea just try and simplify it down to basics first and then build on it.
My plan is to keep my full time job for 2 years and fingers crossed have built up enough of a client base to go part time for another 3 years, then go out on my own after that. My long term plan was always to not work nights which I do now in my full time job, and with a small child at home and a husband I never see, I'm desperate for this to work to give me a better standard of family life. I will keep u updated as I'm just starting and might fail miserably, but I'm very optimistic this time :-))))

tacofries · 17-06-2013 8:15pm

best of luck wildflower. hope it works out for you

Hanley · 19-06-2013 12:00am

Good luck Wildflower!!

Operating in a similar industry to you, my advice would be to be very careful about entering a race to the bottom on prices because as passionate as you are, working hard for a low return sucks.

And be aware of the VAT and tax implications that may arise for you

Kevhog1988 · 09-09-2013 10:58am

This is my favourite thread on boards. I will fill you all in on my various ventures after work

I am pie · 11-09-2013 6:07pm

At the brainstorming stage, we moved abroad a year ago and have decided that we want to get out away from our current jobs and get something of our own off the ground. Right now we are in the "no idea is a bad idea" brainstorming stage and will soon start filtering those ideas based on more research and thoughts on costs and feasibilty.

Will keep you posted! ....and will gladly accept all advice, especially related to evaluation and making the decision to go for a particular idea !

sandin · 19-09-2013 11:04pm

2007 - bust for over half a mil (mainly landlords who hiked rent up by 200% - so no apologies) and owed over 100k personally.
2013 - 3.5m t/o over 40 employees, decent profits each of past 3 years.

Believe in what you do and make sure you get and keep the best possible team with you. And even in the worst situation, be upfront and honest with all your suppliers. Even if they don't like what they hear, they'll appreciate you telling them.

skafish · 19-09-2013 11:07pm

sandin wrote: »

2007 - bust for over half a mil (mainly landlords who hiked rent up by 200% - so no apologies) and owed over 100k personally.
2013 - 3.5m t/o over 40 employees, decent profits each of past 3 years.

Believe in what you do and make sure you get and keep the best possible team with you. And even in the worst situation, be upfront and honest with all your suppliers. Even if they don't like what they hear, they'll appreciate you telling them.

WELL DONE

Great to see a sucess story for a change. Keep up the good work

The Pontiac · 21-09-2013 9:19pm

theemigrant wrote: »

This is my favourite thread on boards. I will fill you all in on my various ventures after work

That's a long shift you're working.

rendy78f9b194 · 06-10-2013 7:51am

I was very interested to read this post, read the various experiences written. I was new to the business and I'm just starting a business one year earlier. still a lot I need to improve to be good and growing

Lobby Con Shine · 06-10-2013 7:53pm

sandin wrote: »

2007 - bust for over half a mil (mainly landlords who hiked rent up by 200% - so no apologies) and owed over 100k personally.
2013 - 3.5m t/o over 40 employees, decent profits each of past 3 years.

Believe in what you do and make sure you get and keep the best possible team with you. And even in the worst situation, be upfront and honest with all your suppliers. Even if they don't like what they hear, they'll appreciate you telling them.

More details please.

I need a pep talk that'll have me kicking down the dressingroom door.

L.Jenkins · 15-10-2013 1:53am

So I've finally decided to bite the bullet and set up my own business in IT. It will be a challenge considering the market seems swamped with giants, but I feel I can offer my own experience and I'm committed to doing so. I've progressed with developing a business plan, but the cash flow projections get me every time, so a chat with an Accountant or Start Up advisor is in order.

I'm looking forward to the challenge instead of being a back seat driver with an opinion and want to forge my own path through the business world for a change.

The Pontiac · 15-10-2013 7:53pm

Itzy wrote: »

So I've finally decided to bite the bullet and set up my own business in IT. It will be a challenge considering the market seems swamped with giants, but I feel I can offer my own experience and I'm committed to doing so. I've progressed with developing a business plan, but the cash flow projections get me every time, so a chat with an Accountant or Start Up advisor is in order.

I'm looking forward to the challenge instead of being a back seat driver with an opinion and want to forge my own path through the business world for a change.

Best of luck, hope it works out!

Honestcars · 23-10-2013 4:03pm

Hi All

Ive just started my own business. Im struggling to get customers to use my services and get the word out:mad:. Can anyone give me some constructive criticism of anything i need to change on my website or tips how to get my business out there with a small marketing budget. link for website http://www.honestcars.ie

Thanks.

jimmii · 23-10-2013 5:01pm

Honestcars wrote: »

Hi All

Ive just started my own business. Im struggling to get customers to use my services and get the word out:mad:. Can anyone give me some constructive criticism of anything i need to change on my website or tips how to get my business out there with a small marketing budget. link for website http://www.honestcars.ie

Thanks.

Hi,

The website looks nice but two things just from looking at it quickly. One is I get what you are trying to do with the name but my first thought when seeing the name Honest Cars is that it is trying too hard to come across as legit the other is when you click on "why sell with us" the first word you read is scam even though its crossed out its still the first thing you see as the page loads and that is going to stick in the mind. With the name what you want is something that sounds like it has a lot of history behind it and is a name you can rely on. I must say for a start-up the website does look really well.

jimmii

Honestcars · 23-10-2013 5:16pm

Ok thanks jimmi i think i will change the image to something else, on the name though i thinks its really good it says exactly what we are about in one word.

tacofries · 23-10-2013 6:19pm

Very nice and professional looking website. I have to say I like the slick robotic like layout. The whole thing reminds of the movie I AM Legend, don't know why! But that's a good thing. Well done.

Honestcars · 23-10-2013 6:42pm

Thanks tacofries

Pj! · 25-10-2013 12:38am

jimmii wrote: »

One is I get what you are trying to do with the name but my first thought when seeing the name Honest Cars is that it is trying too hard to come across as legit

First thought was similar to this. Despite your best intentions it instantly adds some doubt to the mind of the potential customer. It has them asking the question is this guy honest when they should be admiring your site and reading things like '50 years experience in the motor trade' (which is hidden down at the bottom of the page).
A salesman would never come to the door and tell you straight off that the bat that he's honest.

Can understand you trying to get the message across but think you have to be more subtle.

Honestcars · 25-10-2013 11:37am

I see what your saying start off maybe we are trying to hard with the name but when we get more established and people trust us i feel its a good name for what we do. We are not your average used car website we offer people reassurance when choosing to buy or sell privately.Its just getting to that stage, thats the hard part:mad:

Thanks for the feedback

L-M · 28-10-2013 4:14pm

I personally wouldn't use the site on the basis that you do not disclose the price and for such an "Honest" site, everything seems to be very secretive.

You won't give out a price guide. Is it done on percentages? Is there a flat fee? I really feel this should be on the site in view.

Hiding the registrations I don't agree with, every other site in the country displays registrations, I think your site should too. If someone wants to scam a car they will, but you'd have to be very unlucky.

Also, if you supply a cartell check with every car, why don't you link it in the advert?

The site screams paranoia to me.

Honestcars · 28-10-2013 6:37pm

Hi
Our prices are listed in the F.A.Q section, we will list our fee in more pages throughout the website to make it clearer, this was done unintentionally. With the registration plates we have asked all vehicle owners if they want to hide or show the plates before we upload the ad, and they all preferred them hidden. So we just decided to hide them all from now on. If someone wants to know the reg number they can just ring us. Because I have a trade account the link for the cartell.ie report does work unless I am logged the whole time which I can’t be. A printed version of the cartell.ie report will be shown when a buyer comes to view the vehicle.

L-M · 28-10-2013 6:52pm

You should be asking what the buyers prefer, after all that is the point of the website!

I thought you could link to a cartell report?

Honestcars · 28-10-2013 7:08pm

You’re right in what you’re saying but if the vehicle owners don’t want their reg plates shown there is not a lot we can do. Maybe we will change it and not hide them all, let the owners decide. We planned on having all ads linked to their Cartell report, it only works if you do a regular check, when I insert the link it goes to the login page with a trade account.

L-M · 28-10-2013 7:29pm

Makes sense, I've see you've already added in the price.

Should also try and improve on the written text information on the ads, it seems very minimal and whom ever is taking the photos really needs to improve there skills. Try and have the same angle for each one of the main photos, and then proper shots of each corner of the car. If you're taking interior shots sit in the back seat and tilt the two front seats back a bit. Have the steering wheel straight etc.

The website is very good but IMO the input of the adverts lacks professionalism.

Best of luck with it.

Honestcars · 28-10-2013 7:45pm

Its something we can work on.

Thanks for the feedback

Animord · 31-10-2013 11:11am

Only glanced at your site, but under the Our Promise section

At Honestcars.ie we promise to ensure that every vehicle advertised on our website has been independently inspected by one of our experienced mechanics and each vehicle has a full history data check from Cartell.ie. All details of each vehicle posted on our website have been written and verified by us. Honestcars.ie takes pride in insuring honesty and transparency when advertising vehicles on behalf of sellers on our website.

It should be ensuring honesty not insuring.

Honestcars · 31-10-2013 11:38am

I noticed that i have been on to the web designer to change it

tricky D · 06-11-2013 3:56pm

This needs a lot of work.

Some techinical points:

The Responsive layout needs fixing as the Details button for listings is almost fully hidden under the right hand side. Multiple browsers.

The homepage slider panel has some text treated as a graphic which would be much better off as text.

Homepage first paragraph should be made into a snappy list of pros. Welcome to... line should be just removed.

Your text treatment wrt capitalisation of honestcars.ie is inconsistent.

Typography could do with some work.

There are many spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. Proofread properly and/or preferably get some one else with good english/copyrighting skills to to this.

There are links to pages like ?page_id=51. These should be descriptive hence more SEO-friendly.

There's far too many javascript calls (40) under the bonnet for what's going on over the bonnet.

Where is the FAQ?

I can understand to a certain extent why you don't sell directly off the site, but how about being able to book a viewing for buyers and something similar for sellers.

The 'Why sell with us' and 'Why Buy With Us' are leading to dead-ends of a sort. A call to action should be put after their content.

You main selling point is trust but too much is missing on that area: testimonials, full address, names, photos, CRO info, how you make money and typical costs/fees, privacy policy.

As simple and clear how it works for both buyers and sellers is needed.

hth/gl

TonyMCI · 15-01-2014 1:54am

We have been doing business in construction in Dublin for years. I have built up my own client base most of which are people I have grown up around. All this web Jargon is very confusing , so I recruited my nephew to do all this internet donkey work , so I leave most of that to him . He recently set up our site. We will begin testing his work soon with some advertising , which might pick up some work to a higher level.

JustLen · 18-01-2014 1:41am

Honest Cars, I think you could well be onto something there with your business. It still needs work but keep at it!

Honestcars · 23-01-2014 3:41pm

JustLen wrote: »

Honest Cars, I think you could well be onto something there with your business. It still needs work but keep at it!

Hi JustLen. . I really do think we have a good business, we still have lots of work to do with marketing and improvements in our website but were getting there.

Cheers for the feedback.

Honestcars · 23-01-2014 4:00pm

tricky D wrote: »

This needs a lot of work.

Some techinical points:

The Responsive layout needs fixing as the Details button for listings is almost fully hidden under the right hand side. Multiple browsers.

The homepage slider panel has some text treated as a graphic which would be much better off as text.

Homepage first paragraph should be made into a snappy list of pros. Welcome to... line should be just removed.

Your text treatment wrt capitalisation of honestcars.ie is inconsistent.

Typography could do with some work.

There are many spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. Proofread properly and/or preferably get some one else with good english/copyrighting skills to to this.

There are links to pages like ?page_id=51. These should be descriptive hence more SEO-friendly.

There's far too many javascript calls (40) under the bonnet for what's going on over the bonnet.

Where is the FAQ?

I can understand to a certain extent why you don't sell directly off the site, but how about being able to book a viewing for buyers and something similar for sellers.

The 'Why sell with us' and 'Why Buy With Us' are leading to dead-ends of a sort. A call to action should be put after their content.

You main selling point is trust but too much is missing on that area: testimonials, full address, names, photos, CRO info, how you make money and typical costs/fees, privacy policy.

As simple and clear how it works for both buyers and sellers is needed.

hth/gl

Hi Tricky D

I have shown your post to our web designer and will be making improvements shortly, also i have updated some of the content that was missing on the website.

Thanks for the feedback.

bizinchina · 28-01-2014 12:45pm

Hay this Dan here from Businessinchina.ie, we are Sino Irish agency that helps Irish companies get started in the Chinese market. We cater to a lot of services that will help any Irish company develop in China.

Some of the cervices that we have include , Chinese Translation , Chinese Business Workshops and Chinese Website and Website Development. We are confident in our team and our ability that we can provide the best possible service to any Irish company that is interested in the Chinese Market.

Any questions about the services that we provide visit our website to get a consultation to find solution to your companies needs.

dgerryd · 28-01-2014 1:32pm

Anything on English translation. Your Site looks well I don't know if your link will last long there though have you been in Ireland long or are you actually in China ?

bizinchina · 28-01-2014 1:55pm

Thanks for the heads up about the link. Yes we have both a Chinese and Irish based offices with staff that help businesses from both sides of the world. Our Irish offices is based The Guinness Enterprise Center Taylor’s Lane, Dublin 8. The Company has been around since 2012. If you have any more questions feel free to ask our team for a consultation from our website.

ewilliams · 09-02-2014 1:24am

What started out as another way to make ends meet, took on a life of it's own. As I look back, what I valued and enjoyed the most, working for myself was the flexibility it afforded me, allowing me to be able to adjust my schedule instantly depending on my children needs. Being part of their development early, on a day to day basis, as well as the adolescent and late teen years was critical.

david147 · 26-03-2014 7:06pm

I am also thinking about setting my own company, great to read so many stories

JoePie · 28-03-2014 11:48am

My second attempt at starting a thing. This time: a shop in Cork City.

Got approval for a lease for machinery yesterday. Will be hearing about the business loan today. The wait is killing me. These people have been in work for almost two hours now. AM I NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THEIR LIVES!?

EDIT:
Bank came through. Can't wait to get into massive debt. Or become a millionaire. Let's see what happens.

NabyLadistheman · 20-05-2014 10:11am

Hi Guys would appreciate if anyone could give me some feedback on the following please.

I am currently in the process of setting up a small out-sourcing call-centre. I have funding for equipment and also a premises. Web-site should also be up and running shortly. Main issue I am having is getting in contact with potential clients. We would be looking at something along the lines of customer service.

Has anyone got experience in this? Any places online where I should register. Advice greatly appreciated

montec · 20-05-2014 5:37pm

Hi folks, I am a mature student currently studying for my Masters of Science in Innovative Technology Engineering at Waterford Institute of Technology. For my thesis I am proposing to develop a Strategic Architecture for Innovative, Irish, Hi-Tech Start-Up Companies. The outputs of this project are expected to be of interest to hi-tech innovators and are aligned with key outputs of Ireland’s National Development Plan.
As part of my Thesis I am hoping to conduct short interviews with Irish Innovators and Entrepreneurs with regards to their perspectives on setting up Hi-Tech innovative companies in Ireland. This in-turn will form the basis for the proposed strategic framework which is hoped will lead up-and- coming innovators and entrepreneurs on the paths to future success.
If any of you could spare a few minutes to answer some questions, I would very much appreciate it.

Many thanks,
Victor.

Demo2011 · 23-05-2014 9:43am

montec wrote: »

Hi folks, I am a mature student currently studying for my Masters of Science in Innovative Technology Engineering at Waterford Institute of Technology. For my thesis I am proposing to develop a Strategic Architecture for Innovative, Irish, Hi-Tech Start-Up Companies. The outputs of this project are expected to be of interest to hi-tech innovators and are aligned with key outputs of Ireland’s National Development Plan.
As part of my Thesis I am hoping to conduct short interviews with Irish Innovators and Entrepreneurs with regards to their perspectives on setting up Hi-Tech innovative companies in Ireland. This in-turn will form the basis for the proposed strategic framework which is hoped will lead up-and- coming innovators and entrepreneurs on the paths to future success.
If any of you could spare a few minutes to answer some questions, I would very much appreciate it.

Many thanks,
Victor.

Hi Victor,

Is that the MSc in Business, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship @ WIT ? If so, is it any good. Seriously thinking of giving it a go in Sept. ( if the course actually runs...)

Thanks & sorry I couldn't help with your actual question though !

montec · 23-05-2014 6:36pm

Hi there, no, its actually the MSc in Innovative Technology Engineering @ WIT. Very good course but it is geared towards the medical device industry.

martindoran · 01-06-2014 10:40pm

well im only after starting mine , can i ask for some help in this or do you not want this on your thread ? thanks

Gloomtastic! · 01-06-2014 10:57pm

martindoran wrote: »

well im only after starting mine , can i ask for some help in this or do you not want this on your thread ? thanks

This thread is probably not the best place to post general business queries.

Just stick a new topic on here http://touch.boards.ie/forum/106

martindoran · 01-06-2014 11:02pm

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

This thread is probably not the best place to post general business queries.

Just stick a new topic on here ]

thanks thought it best to ask first glad i did

Anyone care to share their story? Part 2.

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