Irish Business Advice from O'Mahony Donnelly» Business Advice http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog Michael O'Mahony with business news and advice for those that do business in Ireland Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:31:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Business News Online 19-30 April 2011 http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/business-news-online-24-30-april-2011/ http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/business-news-online-24-30-april-2011/#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 11:53:02 +0000 anndonnelly http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/?p=421 Business NewsHere’s a compilation of interesting online business news, tips and resources we found online during the last week.

Currrent Business News:

Is NAMA flooding the London Property Market?
Guardian UK, 28 April 2011
The Irish once battled with Arab buyers for London’s landmark properties, now these trophy sites are being dumped on the market by the National Asset Management Agency. But is the timing right?

US Federal Trade Commission Surveys Internet Companies on Google’s Dominance
 Financial Times UK, 30th April 2011
The signal that the regulators may be weighing a fuller antitrust investigation of the search group came late this week, these people said.

Govt revises growth prospects down, and deficit prediction up
BreakingNews.ie, 30th April 2011
The estimates contained in the report forecast growth at just .75% in 2011, a full percentage point lower than the growth expected at the time of the Budget in December.

Developer Grehan allowed to regain control of assets from Nama
BreakingNews.ie, 30th April 2011
The State assets agency has given him until the close of business on Tuesday to repay some €650m debts owed by the Glenkerrin Group.

Valuations for Online Gaming Companies Going Up Fast
Business Insider, 28th April 2011
Traditionally most game companies either earned money through advertising, through a one-time payment (”download this game for USD 19,99″) or by charging a monthly subscription fee. But social games changed that completely, suddenly free-to-play games became massively profitable because players were willing to make small payments for virtual goods. Leading social game developer Zynga makes tons of money on virtual items and is currently valued between USD 7 and 10 billion.

It’s Growth, but not as we know it
Reuters, 23rd April 2011
Before the recession, the consumer and financial sectors benefited from huge credit expansion. Not so any more.

Business Tips:

“Built to Sell” – Even Better If You Don’t Want to Sell
SmallBizTrends.com, 30th April 2011
“The point is that the best businesses are sellable, and smart businesspeople believe that you should build a company to be sold even if you have no intention of cashing out or stepping back anytime soon.”

You Can’t “Feature” Your Way to Success
Market-By-Numbers.com, 28th April 2011
Despite Dave McClure’s imploring to “kill a feature” and Eric Ries‘ urging to “cut your product in half, then halve it again,” most startup founders I encounter are trying to work their way toward Product-Market fit by planning and building new features. The analytical mind of an entrepreneur, both engineer and business-side, naturally tends toward solving problems and ostensibly, features solve problems. But it’s the wrong approach for most startups.

Does it make business sense to NOT offer a free version of your software/app?
Marco Arment (Creator of Instapaper), 28 April 2011
Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended holiday

Lessons from 175 Years of Innovation: Proctor & Gamble
Forbes, 27th April 2011
They grew the company with their own innovations and through (un-named at the time) open innovation with other technology makers and companies.  These partnerships were the foundation of P&G’s growth into 300 brands in over 180 countries, 24 billion dollar brands and most importantly, one of the most trusted names in the world.

How Good Designers Think: Learning to be innovative in your business
Harvard Business Review, 26th April 2011
I find it helpful to look at my experience of how good designers think (and do) at each stage of the innovation process: insights, inspiration, and action.

Brainstorming for New Startup Ideas: A Framework to Spur Creative Thinking
forEntrepreneurs.com, 25th April 2011
The idea for this framework came to me when I realized that all of my early startups had been triggered by the following ingredients: an unmet customer need (or pain), and some disruptive new technology that had allowed that pain to be solved in a new way.

Hard Economic Lessons for News
Jeff Jarvis @jeffjarvis, 25th April
I continue to be astonished at the economic naiveté I hear in discussions of the business of news.

Professional Services vs. Scalable Business
Inc. Magazine, 19th April 2011
Building a scalable business as a professional service provider may require that you change the role you play in your business.

Managing Change in Your Business “The Times, They Are A-Changing”
AllAboutBusiness.ie
I’ve been in the pretty unique position of having to perform change management at a relatively early stage in my career, and having to have done so for a couple of companies as well – and while I’m grateful for the experience, I’ve also been exposed to how utterly difficult it can be to have a team embrace change…

Success of DropBox shows why you should invest in the team not specific ideas
@cdixon, 21 March 2011

Business News Compilations:

The week’s top 10 videos on MarketWatch.com 30th April 2011
From iPhones, to Chinese economy, to royal toilets

This Week’s Top Funding & Investment Stories Mashable, 30th April 2011

Business People & Resources to Follow/Connect with:

What online business resources do you use to keep up to date?  Please share with a comment below.

]]> http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/business-news-online-24-30-april-2011/feed/ 0 Business Permission Available for non EEA Nationals http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/i-had-an-exellent-meeting-with-a-new-client-this-morning-in-dublin-who-is-in-the-processwith-my-assistance-of-making-an-application-for-business-permission-to-the-fepartment-of-justice-dublin/ http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/i-had-an-exellent-meeting-with-a-new-client-this-morning-in-dublin-who-is-in-the-processwith-my-assistance-of-making-an-application-for-business-permission-to-the-fepartment-of-justice-dublin/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:16:54 +0000 michaelomahony http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/?p=248 I had an excellent meeting today in Dublin with a new client who Iam helping with his ‘business permission’application. The client is a non EEA national I.e. from outside the EU plus Norway,Iceland & Liechtenstein.

Our role involved the preparation of business plans for the proposed retail business in central Dublin, along with qualifying the businesses potential for providing employment for two EEA nationals and initial capital transfer to the state of €300,000, being the minimum requirement.

One of the positives of investing at this time in an Irish retail business is that property prices, rents & leases are at a low which should add potential for future gains and/or increased trading profits.

If you would like assistance with a new business start-up see our contact details.

]]> http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/i-had-an-exellent-meeting-with-a-new-client-this-morning-in-dublin-who-is-in-the-processwith-my-assistance-of-making-an-application-for-business-permission-to-the-fepartment-of-justice-dublin/feed/ 0 Adapting to Recession – Business Advice for SME’s http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/adapting-to-recession-business-advice-for-smes/ http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/adapting-to-recession-business-advice-for-smes/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:43:20 +0000 michaelomahony http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/?p=55 The lastest issue of Business Plus magazine for September 2009 contains a survey on the above subject with advice and contributions from a selection of small to medium business owners, including myself.  The topics covered include advice on cost savings, credit control procedures, how to generate new markets/turnover, bank support and desired government tax incentives for hiring new employees. Below, I link to PDF copies of this article in full where Iam quoted on pages 16 & 18.

Business Plus September 2009:
“Adapting to Recession: Advice for SMEs” page 14
“Adapting to Recession: Advice for SMEs” page 15
“Adapting to Recession: Advice for SMEs” page 16
“Adapting to Recession: Advice for SMEs” page 18
“Adapting to Recession: Advice for SMEs” page 19

]]> http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/blog/adapting-to-recession-business-advice-for-smes/feed/ 0