Dallas - Houston - San Antonio

Herb Kelleher sat with Rollin King in a bar in San Antonio and over cocktails they sketched out the business model and the concept for a low fares airline on the back of a napkin. Introducing us to Southwest Airlines and Ryanair.


Hugh MacLeod started drawing on the back of business cards sitting in bars in New York in 1997, he now sells his prints for upwards of $10,000 he has also written an excellent book "Ignore Everybody"

So what?

Today I had lunch with a friend and to work on their CV, we started with a version dating back to Windows 97, we then moved on to reams of no carbon emissions spared templates and just as lunch arrived we had not made much progress. As we eat Herb, Dan Roam and Hugh came into my mind, so with the raw materials to hand, unused napkin and pen we started to sketch. Working with a napkin provides great constraints, you have to keep it really simple. Ink and napkins are not compatible, it has to be clear, concise, and legible. Working with such raw materials makes it a very natural process, no spell checker no thesaurus just what you want to say and of course there are restraints. You try writing your life story on a napkin.

The end result... a concept for a business card, a one page no nonsense life story and updates for a Linkedin profile all in 30mins.

Ignore Everybody......grab a napkin(blank piece of paper) and start creating

Stuck.........

Not sure what you want to do now? How do I present my years of experience? Where do I start with my CV? What's the best approach to a cover letter? Just like an artist or writer, worksearchers can hit a block when it comes to producing self marketing materials.

Hear from some creatives and how they overcome creative block, be prepared to

Slice and chop 2 medium onions into small pieces.
Put a medium sized pan on a medium heat with a few glugs of Olive oil.
Add the onions to the pan, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Chop finely three varieties of fresh chilli (Birds Eye, Scotch Bonnet & Green/Red).
Add the chilli’s to the pan........

Overcoming Creative Block..

Information Gathering

A previous guest at Worksearch, Conor Cunneen based in Chicago shares some insights on information gathering in this ebook

Information Gathering

Interview with Denis O'Brien - Guest Blogger Noel Broderick

I attended an interview with Denis O’Brien in UCD on the 4th of February, 2010 and here follows some notes I took which may be of interest to work-searchers.

He started reading the business pages of the Irish newspapers & Irish business magazines at 12 years of age. At the age of 15 he started following the career of Tony Ryan in these publications. Ryan co-founded Ryanair and before that formed Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA). After graduating from UCD in 1980 with a B.A. in History & Politics he wrote to Tony Ryan and told him that he had been following his career for a number of years and that he would like to work for him. He added that he could meet him anytime & anywhere. He ended up meeting him off a flight from Italy to Shannon at 6am one wet, cold & windy Monday morning! The “interview” lasted about a minute & he started work more or less straight away! He lived on Ryan’s country estate and did everything & anything, at one stage doing veterinary surgeon duties at the birth of some calves!

One good business habit that he picked up from Tony Ryan was list-making & he extolled the importance of this for efficient work.

O’Brien made his initial fortune from the sale of Esat Digifone to British Telecom but it wasn’t all plain sailing with Esat. The company went within a whisker of going under at one stage and in order to keep the show on the road a loan with an interest rate of a whopping 40% was entered into. O’Brien knew that the return on this investment would be greater than this percentage!

He was asked at one point about his work style and he gave these three tips:
• Have a sense of urgency about your work to make the best use of your time. Instil urgency into company culture.
• Feedback on employee performance is essential. It’s ok to make mistakes once but mistakes shouldn’t be repeated if feedback has been given.
• Avoid tiredness at work. It will lead to bad decisions & irritability with colleagues, clients, etc which is obviously not good for business.

He mentioned at one point that he thinks that there will be massive telecoms opportunities, especially with regard to the internet, in Africa in about 3 years time when technology has moved on a certain amount.

As regards employment creation in Ireland, he sees third & fourth level “education tourism” as being the number one opportunity for the country. He thinks that the Irish Colleges have some existing capacity and also should expand somewhat to cater for the increased numbers of international students that would come if the idea was marketed properly by the Government. Our Unique Selling Propositions in this regard would be the high quality of the education itself and indeed the Irish lifestyle also. He added that he doesn’t think that green technologies or cleantech will be as big in this country as some people are leading us to believe.

Noel Broderick

Bookmark this page and do one a day for the next 120 days

What will you look like? and How will you feel on the 4th June 2010



120 ways to boost your brain power!

Be Inspired with Dr. Chris Horn IONA

The 2010 Be Inspired series kicks off with Dr. Chris Horn, co-founder of IONA Technologies. If you have registered already, please ignore this mail.

DIT Hothouse in conjunction with Dublin City Enterprise Board (DCEB) present a series of live interviews with successful entrepreneurs who have included; Sarah Newman, Patrick Cooney, Denis O’Brien, Eamonn Fallon, Bill Cullen and Brody Sweeney.

Dr. Chris Horn - IONA Technologies

Dr. Chris Horn is co-founder of IONA Technologies which was once one of the largest top ten software companies by revenue in the world and the 5th largest IPO in the history of Nasdaq in 1997. Chris is currently President of Engineers Ireland and a member of the Innovation Taskforce.

Chair Conall O’ Móráin, Sunday Business Show, TodayFM interviews Hothouse entrepreneurs;

Andy Hirst CEO itabs, a music software company providing quality tab notation for stringed instruments.

Matt Norton, MD of Sentry Wireless, an award-winning provider of mobile security solutions.

Date: Wednesday 10 February 2010

Where: Gleeson Theatre, DIT Kevin Street Map; http://pininthemap.com/pp62e1f7b04c47f0607

Time: 12.45 - 2.00

Places are limited so email hothouse@dit.ie to register.

What Matters Now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

What Matters Now

Free Webinar opening doors and closing deals on linkedin

Site for more useful Linkedin Info www.linkedintelligence.com

Small Firms Association - Better Business Show

The Better Business Show returns for the fourth time in 2010. The show will be a FREE 'bootcamp' for your business, making it fit for purpose and ready for the upturn. It will be held in 18 locations throughout Ireland.

Dublin Event - click here

The Trinity Alumni Career Network

In response to the Trinity Alumni Careers Support Survey conducted in December 2009, Trinity College Dublin is delighted to announce a new initiative: is a six-week programme of panel discussions, workshops, career advice and networking opportunities open to all Trinity alumni, with a focus on unemployed alumni.

Guest speakers from various industries will share their experience and advice on where the opportunities lie in the current and future job market. Facilitators, with experience in job placement and career advice, will provide group and one-to-one support in workshops on the various steps to seeking new employment.

Where - Innovation Academy, Foster Place, Dublin 2

When - The six-week programme starts 9th February, running from 9 am to 12 noon every Tuesday and Thursday until 18th March.

Register - For full programme details and to register, visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/careers.

Numbers are limited, so sign-up today.

Contacts

Alumni Relations Office: alumni.relations@tcd.ie, +353 1 896 1379

Bridget Noone, Programme Manager: bnoone@tcd.ie, +353 1 677 5655

We understand that this programme may not be directly applicable to you, however if you know of any alumni who would be interested, we would appreciate if you could pass on this message. Thank you.

For those who cannot make the programme we plan to post materials on the different events to www.tcd.ie/alumni in the coming weeks.

The Trinity Alumni Career Network is supported by Alumni Relations, the Careers Advisory Service and Trinity Research & Innovation.

PECHA KUCHA Night is Back

Pecha Kucha Night #4 will take place on Thursday 4th February in the Sugar Club in Dublin. Doors at 7pm. First speaker at 8pm.

The formula:
10 speakers. 20 slides each. 20 seconds per slide. 6 Minutes and 40 seconds and it’s done.
Admission is €5 and all profits will go to 1 worthy cause - Red Cross Haiti Emergency Fund.

The presenters:

Brian Ward - Lecturer in Architecture, DIT
Detail - Graphic Designers / www.detail.ie
Elizabeth Hatz - Architect and Curator ev+a 2010
Fergal Brennan - Animator / www.mynameisfergal.com
Gemma Tipton - Writer on Art and Architecture
Hugh Campbell - Professor of Architecture, UCD
Ivan Twohig - Artist / www.ivantwohig.com
Keith Walsh - Lord of t-shirts / www.turtelhead.ie
New Graphic - Graphic Designers / www.newgraphic.ie
Steve Simpson - Illustrator / www.stevesimpson.com

Irish Architecture Foundation

Unemployment Discussion Groups: Invitation to Participate

This UCD research study, in which you are invited to participate in, is focused on examining the well-being of the unemployed in Irish society.

The study has an over-arching aim of capturing what it is like to be unemployed in Ireland at the beginning of 2010 – of putting a human face on the recession. In listening to your thoughts, perspectives and lived-experiences of joblessness, a snapshot of how a period of being out-of-work can affect your well-being will be acquired. In painting a picture of unemployment, your participation in this research will, it is hoped, shed light on how material, emotional, psychological and physical well-being is being affected during this period of your life.

Participation in this research takes the form of a group discussion (focus group). A focus group should be viewed as a form of guided conversation, where, you, the participant, facilitated by a researcher, have the opportunity to discuss issues which are important and meaningful to you at this time.

If you would like to take part in a forthcoming discussion, or you would like further information, please feel free to get in touch…

Researcher: Michael Egan

Tel: 01 7164646

Mobile: 087 7665993

Email: michael.egan@ucd.ie

10 Questions you should have prepared

Guest post from PJ, thanks for the input....

Here are a list of 10 questions every interviewee should have prepared. You may not get asked word for word but they will come up in some form and a difficult question can be turned to you advantage with just a little preparation.

* Why are you interested in this position?
* What areas of your work do you feel most confident doing?
* What areas of your work do you find most difficult?
* What gives you the greatest satisfaction at work?
* What has been your greatest achievement in your current role?
* What is it about you, or what you do, that has enabled you to succeed in your current role?
* How would you describe yourself?
* What things frustrate you the most? How do you usually cope with them?
* If you were your manager, is there anything you would want to change about you?
* What support would you need to become fully productive in this role?

Now write them down and prepare at least a one sentence response to each.

Tom Peters

If you read today's business section in the Independent you will have come across an abridged version of Tom Peter's "Recession 46". Here is the full list of "Forty Six Secrets and Clever Strategies for dealing with the recession 2008 - xxxx" Read, print, carry around with you, read and read again!!!

Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion

Rule Number 6

Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in, apoplectic with fury, shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him: "Peter" he says, "kindly remember Rule Number 6", whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologises and withdraws. The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by an hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying. Again the intruder is greeted with the words: "Marie, please remember Rule Number 6." Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology. When the scene is repeated for a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague: "My Dear friend, I've seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this. Would you be willing to share with me the secret of Rule of Number 6?" "Very simple," replies the resident prime minister. "Rule Number 6 is 'Don't take yourself so g-damn seriously.'" "Ah", says his visitor, "that is a fine rule." After a moment of pondering, he inquires, "And what, may I ask, are the other rules?"
"There aren't any"

Business Camp Dublin

Location is the O’Reilly Building on the Trinity College Dublin campus. Starting time is 10 am and talks will end at 5pm.

Evert will be putting more details online over the next few days but in the meantine you can register here to attend.


REMEMBER! The event is about sharing information, knowledge & experience in the first place. It is *not* a venue for people or companies who just want to sell themselves or their products/services. Business Camp is about supporting new businesses and creating a better ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship!

Bill Gates....In the real world

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this!
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a high school, about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.
He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self- esteem.
The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school.
You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it ‘opportunity’.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now.
They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll allow you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer.
This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that in your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.


If you can read this, thank a teacher!

Hellfire Toastmasters

Hellfire Toastmasters is a public speaking club in Dublin. We are part of Toastmasters International, a non-profit organisation with more than 200,000 members in 80 countries.

We meet every Tuesday at 19:45 at the D4 Hotel in Ballsbridge (directions).

Visitors are always welcome! Contact us to find out more or just show up to a meeting.

Hellfire Toastmasters

Learning that is free!

I read recently on Chris Morgan's blog "Learn 2 Develop"
about an article in the Sunday Times discussing the learning resources available through download, video and audio. Chris went one step further and added some links, commentary and suggested programmes. Well worth checking out! Learning that is free.... and there is no catch