Well Spring has arrived, evenings are getting longer. Business is always hectic at this time of the year. Our current group of Start Your Own Business participants are really motivated. The range of businesses are broad, the experience people are bringing to the table is strong and I am looking forward to seeing them hit the market later this year. With a considerable amount of market research completed, a detailed gap analysis and a personal SWOT analysis they are working hard to identify the best market position. Once they are ready to launch we will be posting about these businesses on Social Media so keep an eye out.

So, we are coming to the end of January (where is this year going?) and most of the people who came to me over the past few weeks are very focused on the need for goal setting. They are driven to set financial goals for the year, personal goals, business goals.All very admirable but when we get into discussion, what I find is that for most service based businesses they struggle to define what it is they offer to their customers. It is difficult to achieve a goal if you are not 100% sure what you are selling/offering to customers, or what are you going to achieve for them. So, before you get to the stage of goal setting, define very clearly what it is you achieve for your customers and work from there! If you have set your goals, go back and review them having reconsidered your product/service offering and determine how achievable are they.

Its been a while since I posted up news. Work sometimes gets in the way of our updates! Last week saw the second ‘Meath Enterprise Week’ take place. It was a really great event bringing together all the organisations supporting new business – Meath LEO, Meath County Council, Microfinance Ireland, the banks and of course all the new businesses. Really enjoyed being part of it and looking forward to an even bigger and better event next year.