support

Support in Business is Key

BNI is hardly a new organisation in Ireland and I had heard of them before but hadn't joined. After sitting in on a couple of meetings I quickly realised how beneficial it could be. Having been a member now for about 5 months I can definitely say it was a great decision. Benefits include:

Grow in confidence to highlight your business and why you should be hired
Referrals to potential clients, rather than cold-calling these are warm referrals where the person is already told about you and usually has a need for your services / products
Accountability, it's not all about what you take but also what you give and being held accountable is good for business
Business growth is, of course, a big plus

There's many chapters all over the country and you can find out more at www.bni.ie or give me a call.

Not long before lockdown in March there was a BizExpo on in Dublin and that's where I came across ActionCOACH. Due to a special offer I had some sessions with a Coach who asked all sorts of questions that really made me think more about my business and where I was going with it. A course of 12 sessions was coming up that looked at businesses from all sorts of angles - financial, systems, teamwork, marketing, and more - which I knew would be really beneficial. With the support of a grant from the Local Enterprise I was able to sign up to the course. It covered a lot of information and while I'm only a new business I still gleaned a little nugget from each session, and banked away many more that can be used as I grow. I can also bring what I've learned to my clients so they're businesses can grow and be more effective too.

If you'd like to get the benefits of a Coach you can contact them ActionCOACH or give me a call and I'll put you in touch directly.

Throughout the last six months the Local Enterprise office has been brilliant with support both financially and informationally. They run great courses and everyone should be signed up to the newsletters which bring out information pertinent to businesses, as well as upcoming events.

Skillnet also run great courses. One I completed was in Data Analysis & Business Intelligence which was based on using Excel to full advantage for businesses. These are skills I can now bring to my clients.

5 Apps for Better Business

1. Adobe Scan

This is one of absolute favourites. With it you can scan any piece of paper and save it directly into OneDrive, GoogleDrive, or just on your phone. You can send it immediately to whoever needs it by email, text or WhatsApp. I like many things about it such as the quality of the scan, even faded print on receipts comes out clear and those big long till receipts you get from some shops - it can snap it in one scan and still keep it clear! Did I mention it's completely free too 🙂

2. Microsoft To Do

I mentioned in last weeks blog about keeping a notepad by the bed at night time for all those late night ideas and to dos you remember. Well I also keep To Do on my phone and PC. They are linked so whatever I put in one place is synced in the other, it has reminders and you can set tasks to repeat periodically - such as Monthly Invoices. It's super simple to use and keeps all your tasks in one place.

3. Evernote

I used this app before when I was working for a Multinational CEO and it worked a treat. He would scan all his receipts, etc into it, save them into the relevant folders and then I could log in and pick them up. It's like having a digital filing cabinet and you can even lock some of the drawers if they're private stuff too.

4. OneNote

Ok this one I don't use but it was recommended by someone who does. This app works as a note taker, collaborator and recorder. So if you're working on a project with other people this is a great app for gathering great minds together and you can all your bits into it.

5. OfficeLens

Another recommendation from a friend. This app allows you to scan whiteboards and documents making them readable and savable to storage such as OneDrive, OneNote or Evernote. You can also save the files as PDF, Images, Word or PowerPoint (this is where Adobe Scan falls down - you can only save as PDF).