Archive for the ‘business’ Category
Why I work for myself
Monday, July 12th, 2010Best trailer for a conference ever? Dotconf
Saturday, July 10th, 2010The young lad Traynor’s accent is spot on there!
Newswalls and all that
Saturday, June 5th, 2010Some thoughts on The Times and their paywall as relayed to a journalist recently, though in a slightly expanded and modified form.
Isn’t it sad that it’s 2010 and only now are papers doing something in this always-on multimedia world to up their game? Now we are told we’ll get some quality content after all the years of decline in quality and readership. Something is needed to bring back quality, maybe it’ll be the idea of paywalls that will bring it back and then maybe a different model to retain quality will happen. This recent presentation from Hal Varian from Google actually shows newspaper revenues have been under attack since the 50s.
Google has never been a threat. Terrible content has been. Looking at the media these days, you can’t tell which news site you’re on as every story is the same. Far too many pieces are just copied and pasted from press releases, especially the breaking news sections of sites.
It’s been a race to the bottom for years with newspapers cutting back on journalists and editors, relying too much on using news feeds that all other papers use and taking less and less risks to break stories. No longer have newspapers been setting the news agenda but covering it with a slight timeshift.
Paywalls won’t work if you are hiding the bland content that is also on so many other websites out there. The internet has been designed to route around “damage” or blockages so if you are blocking your content that’s based on a press release, it will be available elsewhere.
Initial reports from the Times are that there are “value adds” behind the paywall. More images, more insight, access to journalists etc. This is value and it is unique and I think people will pay for that.
Instead of charging for this content, other alternatives would be to sell historic data, to give free access to the main site but analysis type reports which can be used to enrich a company would be sold. Imagine having the Irish Times create a report on the state of technology in Ireland and opinions from their most experienced journalists on what are areas to punt on? Charge a few hundred euros for the report. Same for all the other industries they cover and tie it in with pass historical records from their archives.
There’s also way more money to be made from advertising if they made it more targeted and more automated. Instead of charging for banner impressions which makes both sides lazy, they should be working with advertisers on a cost per conversion model. Get direct custom from a newspaper site, pay more.
There are also sorts of additional streams too like business conferences, sport events with their pundits and the sports stars they know. Bands make less from album sales and more from touring these days apparently, a working business model, why not the same for newspapers? Too much hard work. I watched a documentary about UK dockers and in particular the Liverpool ones who resisted the cargo boxes for years and the shipping world passed them by. The print model worked for a while but it’s very odd that it really has not changed in decades despite all the warning signs being there.
Irish Business Against … Goatse?
Saturday, May 8th, 2010I notice that the Irish Business Against Litter have an interesting logo:
Here’s SuperGorm getting his Goatse on.
Start
Friday, April 23rd, 2010Worst recession ever. Banks not lending money. Ireland is all sorts of fucked. Nobody is spending a penny. Stealth redundancies en masse. House prices are plummeting.
And with it…
Office space is dirt cheap.
Every price can be negotiated.
Deals are much easier to do if you are someone with cash.
There are oceans of talented graduates looking for work and who’ll work damned hard to retain their position.
Colleges are throwing interns at companies.
People have more free time (unfortunately for some) to beta test your products or services.
The media want good news stories.
It’s cheaper to fail now.
Some great companies started in a recession, Google wasn’t one.
Events event events
Monday, April 19th, 2010Public events where I’ll be in the next wee while:
Still some spaces for the Branding and Communications workshop on Thursday 22nd with it@Cork. Free for members.
Also a few spaces have opened up for the Online PR Course in Dublin on May 4th.
Measure It! meanwhile is on May 5th in Dublin. Two hour event from 10-12 in the Odeon. For PR people, marketing people and those in digital who want to share practical solutions on issues they are having with social media.
Media2020 is booked out. My 5 min talk on gadgets might have me show off my iPad. Using Keynote for iPad to design the preso.
Social Media for Business with Limerick City Enterprise Board. June 9th. Massively subsidised for members.
Notes from my TEDx Liffey talk
Friday, April 16th, 2010And these were my notes from TEDx Liffey.
Accidental Business Man
A few years back people asked me to show them how to blog. They offered me money to train them. It went from there to online marketing training to whatever it is I do today. I never saw myself as a business person. Right now, in this time slice of my life, I happen to be someone with a gob that has a business
Jacked in the day job
So as I trained more people and companies, I eventually and after a bit of protest from myself, left the day job and started a business. Goodbye gourmet chef, 9-5 , 5 days a week job, hello just me, alone without support. So I told people I was in this business lark and worked flowed in. Pretty much still works like that. I don’t seek work.
Waking up not wanting to go to work
In the past few years of working for myself I’ve maybe woken up 3-4 times not wanting to “go into work”, mostly this was because I thought I hadn’t prepped enough for this. Compare that to my old job where I made up bullshit excuses so many times about stomach bugs, colds and whathave you because the place at times just got to me
I don’t have a business plan
Right now, invoices go out, money comes in. My accountant whips me when I’m late with accounts. At a previous talk a chap from Enterprise Ireland got quite upset with me when I said I didn’t have a business plan. My plan, not formalised is I won’t be doing this type of work in 3 years. I’ll probably shut down the company. I don’t want to be acquired, don’t want to buy anyone.
Accidently happy
So I might not have a business plan but I do have an idea about business and happiness. I do work because it makes me happy, not because it provides me money to buy myself happiness. I used to be someone that worked in a job that I disliked, waited for payday and bought myself shiny things. Now I pay myself less than the old job, get up usually when I like and can decide with very short notice to head for a break to Iceland or somewhere. I love my job, the last job I loved was working for 2.50 an hour in Pund City when I was 15 16 17, stacking shelves and the like.
Charge less for fun
So this is what I do when I do work. If it’s fun I’ll charge less. I’ll move money out of the motivation equation as much as I can so the before, during and after is fun. Not about a mechanism to pay a credit card bill. I’m not sure you can give 100% to work when you despise it and almost are in some kind of drug addict relationship with the drug.
Buffet to A la carte
So plenty of work comes in and it was as if I was at a buffet. Sample it all, there was so much that I was interested in trying that I was saying yes to an awful lot. Tummy ache for that. Happiness can make you ill too though. So I’m starting to go a la carte now. Wiser decisions, less work but more time to enjoy and appreciate it
Now the song is nearly over…
So my parting thought is that we can all earn a living but maybe we can do it and be happy and appreciate the journey to payday as much as payday instead
Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
Still there’s a light I hold before me
You’re the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams
IIA’s Digitise the Nation
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010The IIA are running a week-long event called Digitise the Nation. It takes place from the 16th to 21st May 2010. The idea is everyone chips in and does a little to get people using the web more effectively. Workshops, discounts, art using tech etc. etc. While an IIA initiative, I’m told they’ll highlight non-members too that run events for it.
Lots of ideas on the Digitise the Nation page. Here are some more that were sent on:
* In Dundalk, we have a member who is filming from the Museum and streaming to 5th and 6th class students as basis for history homework and projects.
* Kavaleer (award winning digital animation business based in Digitial Hub) showing primary school students how digital art is created… showing children how cartoons are made and inspiring the next generation of Brown Bag Productions and oscar winning “Avatar” creators
* Received a call from Barge Heritage group who are bringing barges to Dublin on the same week and want to learn how to run a podcast, live-streaming as they are upstream on the Liffey and canals
* Two girls with their own computer training business have successfully approached their local “Golden Oldies” community group and are showing them how to make skype calls and send emails
Contact the IIA if you want to suggest some ideas or run an event.
Marc Coleman’s letter to the Sunday Tribune
Saturday, April 10th, 2010An article last week in the Sunday Tribune entitled “The Blame Game” questioned where were the realists during the past few years. Marc Coleman (former Irish Times writer and Newstalk economist) was mentioned in the article in this paragraph:
Outside the political spectrum, former Irish Times writer and Newstalk economist Marc Coleman published a book titled, The Best is Yet to Come. And Bank of Ireland economist Dan McLaughlin slammed negative reporting about the economy. He was adamant that we were in for a “soft landing”.
Note: Profits of said book were donated to the Forgotten Irish fund
Subsequent to this he has sent a letter into the Sunday Tribune and CC’d a copy to a large number of people in the Irish Media, check out the dig at the end too, here’s the letter:
Dear all,
Below is a letter written to the Sunday Tribune by myself in a personal capacity in response to an article published on Sunday 4th April last.
Kind Regards,
Marc Coleman
Dear Editor,
“What did you do in 1916, fight? Cower under the bed? Or side with the Brits?” To distract from their own inaction, sleeveens would asked this question of others after the Easter Rising. On the anniversary of it a similar question is being posed now. “What did you do during the boom, warn us of disaster or hob nob with the bankers?” The loudest answers come from self-promoting “Boys who cried wolf”. Those who did the real fighting don’t feel we need to justify ourselves. Until that is, lies are told about us. Last Sunday you insinuated that I was a “player” (causer, presumably) of the recession because I had written a book entitled “The Best is Yet to Come”. Only fools judge a book by the cover. Here is my war record, of which I am proud:
Only a few days in the media after leaving the ECB to become Economics Editor of the Irish Times, I wrote on 13th July 2005 that lending threatened the economy. On July 29th 2005, I wrote that growth was “not sustainable”. On August 19th 2005 I wrote that construction was “hugely disproportionate” in the economy. On March 31st 2006 in a piece that began “Stop the economy I want to get off” I warned that financial regulation had broken down. On July 6th 2006 I warned of an imminent collapse in public finances. On July 17th 2006 at a Fianna Fail conference I challenged Brian Cowen to draw up contingency plans for a possible recession. In October 2006 I told ISME’s annual conference (chaired by George Lee) that a downturn would start in 2008. In the 2007 election campaign I relentlessly wrote about how all party manifestos were based on illusory growth assumptions.
Later that 2007 – in a book praised by TK Whitaker and others – I warned again of the downturn but added that our population would keep growing. With the right policies we could restore prosperity by 2020, which I still believe. The first two predictions have come true. To offset the books short term pessimism, I called it “The Best is Yet to Come”. Judging by Tribune figures, though, I’m sorry to say it won’t apply to the Tribune unless you restore the paper’s reputation for fact based reporting and analysis.
Sincerely,
Marc Coleman
The Filthy, flirty, fooling around Irish
Friday, April 9th, 2010Fun survey from LastMinute.com in the PR box today. They surveyed us Paddys on their website. Bloody hell, I’m shocked at some results.
- 9% of those asked “Did you ever hook up with someone on a social media website such as Facebook?” answered yes.
- One in 3 have cheated on a trip abroad
- One in 5 have had a secret hotel rendezvous
- Six in 10 have had a holiday romance
- 85% believe in monogamy in marriage
- 38% have engaged in sexting
- 70% of 18-25 year olds are sexting on the sly with someone they’re not married/partnered with
That 9% one has to be much higher than that or maybe we use Twitter now?