Seems to focus very much on the practical thinks you need to know about running a business in the hospitality sector. Very good as a reference tool.

As I was in the area I called out at lunchtime. When I arrived I was told that a guy had been installing a broadband connection the previous day and had done something to stop the main printer working. I quickly established that the new broadband connection wasn’t linked to the network and assured her that this had nothing to do with the problem. I then discovered that the printer had lost it’s network address and working with the printer supplier, reallocated the printer address and the printer started to churn out the queued print jobs.

I thought, great, it’s all working and was about to head out the door when the secretary stopped me and asked what was the cause of the problem. I quickly checked with the printer supplier and explained that we didn’t know, but it was all working now. The secretary then quietly but forcefully insisted the problem was caused by the broadband installer  as the last time somebody worked on the broadband the printer also stopped working and that we needed to find out or it would happen again.

Reluctantly I investigated further and low and behold discovered that the broadband installer had indeed disconnected one of the servers and not only was this the cause of the printer problem, but was also causing the backup to fail among other things.

Tail between my legs I headed back into the office to explain to the secretary that she was quite right and it was the installer that had caused the problem and it would have caused a lot more problems if we had not found the Root Cause of the problem.

While this was a relatively minor incident in a small school, if the same approach was taken in a larger organisation, there could have been much more serious consequences. No matter how small the problem is, it’s critical that you find out what caused the problem and put systems in place to insure it doesn’t happen again. Not just because it’s Good Practice but because it will save your business a lot of time effort and most of all money.

A wise man once told me that We have two ears and one mouth and they were designed to be used in those proportions. If I had listened to the secretary in the first place I could have saved everyone a lot of time and effort.

This very much backs up what I’ve been hearing from several SME’s, that they are generating more business from Facebook than any other form of advertising. So get your business on Facebook now and start building your contacts.

Well the 10 billionth entry (commonly referred to as a Tweet) recently went up on Twitter. Below is a graph showing the dramatic rise in the use of Twitter. Note how high Ireland is on the list of regions.

So now we know that Twitter is popular, who uses Twitter? Well you would be suprised to know that most Twitter users are over 30. That’s the age profile of most of the business owners in Ireland.

While Facebook and Bebo are favoured by the younger age group, the business community has adopted Twitter.

So now that you know that you should be using Twitter, where do you start. Here is a simple guide from Adrian Wreckler on how to start using Twitter.

Twitter for Beginners

Now that you are up and running with Twitter, check out some Businesses in Gorey and North Wexford who are on Twitter.

Well done Eugene and Gorey Chamber. Eugene of Daly & Associates can be contacted at eugenedaly@ireland.com

They can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bnifalcon, send them a Direct Message if you want to find out more.

When people arrived  she asked them where they had heard about the open day and the results were as follows. The vast majority said Facebook, followed by Google Ads and finally in last place by a long shot was the National Newspaper. The interesting thing is that the most expensive was the National Newspaper, the second most expensive was Google Ads and by far the cheapest was Facebook.

The next time you’re marketing your business think very carefully how you spend your money.

http://www.prospectpark.ie/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gorey-Ireland/Prospect-Holiday-Leisure-Park/132589957710

I was recently contacted by a sales person for a local business directory here in Gorey, GoreyBiz, who wanted me to pay €300 exVAT to be listed. The first point he made to me was, that the cost of the annual listing in the online business directory was comparable  to the cost of one ad in the local newspapers. While this is very true, it only represents value for money if your business can be found on the Internet. So the first thing I did was get on to Google and type in “computers gorey” to see how effective the directory was. Now I had expected GoreyBiz to show on at least the first page, but to my surprise GoreyBiz still had not appeared after 10 pages, at which point I gave up. I then typed in “accounts gorey” and GoreyBiz only showed up on page 4.

So I would not regard paying €300 ex VAT for a directory entry that cannot be found on the first 4 pages of Google, at best, as good value for money.

While I was doing these searches on Google I noticed that in all cases another online business directory, GoreyLinks, always came up in either 1st or 2nd place. When I checked the price, I discovered that a listing on GoreyLinks cost €40 ex VAT annually.

Now €40 exVAT for a listing on GoreyLinks, that always shows up in 1st or 2nd place on Google, IS great value for money.

The most important point is that, if you are going to spend money getting listed on an Online Business Directory, then check out their claims before you part with any money. If you are unsure, then contact your local Independent Computer Services provider.

This is a variation on the World Directory Scam. You are being asked to pay a recurring annual charge of €958 to participate in an Internet directory that has no real value.

The company is registered in Germany and the gray letters are posted from Hong Kong.

One of the biggest risks children face is the approach to and lack of knowledge of parents to the real dangers of the internet. Now don’t get me wrong, I am one of the biggest fans of the internet and all my children go online daily. When used correctly the Internet is a fantastic resource and represents tremendous opportunities for our children into the future, but there are risks and by taking a few simple, common sense steps, we can eliminate a lot of the risks.

For a lot of parents they think their children are safe and secure when they are in the house as opposed to when they are out on the streets, but they fail to realise that via the broadband connection in the house they can potentially be exposed to many more dangers.

Here are some simple precautions that you can take to protect your children;

• Don’t let your children use the Internet in their bedrooms. If the computer is located in a public space then your children are much less likely to try and access questionable sites.
• If you have young children, then I would recommended using some parental control software such as Net Nanny. It’s not that ten year olds are going to look up porn on Google, but sometimes an innocent search can produce questionable results.
• Educate yourself about the Internet. If you feel that all this computer stuff is too complicated then do a course. There are evening computer courses in every town and ECDL courses are widely available.
• Talk to your children, ask them about BEBO, Facebook, MSN etc.. and get them to show you how it works. Better still get an account for yourself and see first hand how it works.

There are also some good guides and programs in secondary schools that give some Good practical advice like Teen Safe Computing and childwatch.ie

I also came across an article in the Irish Examiner which said that primary way kids are being bullied  is not face to face but is through social networks such as BEBO and Facebook, so it’s in your interest to find out more.