Happy Heart Weekend falls on the 13th, 14th and 15th of May 2010. This campaign which is managed by the Irish Heart Foundation has been running for 20 years raising vital funds to continue the Irish Heart Foundation's fight against heart disease and stroke. They collect all around Ireland in shopping centres and on street collections and hope to raise 650,000 euro for their CPR programme to promote emergency lifesaving skills in every community in Ireland. Their message is simple, the more people who know how to perform CPR, the more lives can be saved.

So why am I blogging about this weekend? Well the good news is that you can help. How?
Volunteering can be a valuable way to work within a community and gain some life experiences. For many people who are finishing work or want to contribute to a great cause, this is a great way to make a difference.
They are always looking for new volunteers to join the Happy Heart Team! You could have some fun, be part of a great team and meet new people. Here are just some ways you can get involved.

Become a volunteer - If you have a few hours to spare, they would be delighted to have you as part of the Happy Heart Weekend team on the day! If you volunteer, all you have to do is show up at the agreed time and collect those pennies. So sign up and they will be in touch soon.

Become a coordinator - this role would involve a more committed approach to Happy Heart Weekend Weekend but it is very rewarding! As a coordinator you would work closely with the regional manager and local volunteers in your area.

So be a good egg and help out Happy Heart Weekend, volunteer, donate some money and join them on Facebook.

So it's about half way through the season of series 2 of RTE's Dragons' Den. I'm a little ambivalent about the show, I guess I do think it offers excellent exposure, potential investment and super mentoring for your business but on the other hand reality TV, by its very nature, tends to be a little nasty to the underdog. My argument would be why have the terrible projects on the show, just edit them out or don't let them make the short list but instead we watch some poor guy or gal or group being ridiculed and that's the part I don't like.

Having said all of that, I try not to miss the show particularly for the twitter chat among hundreds of other people also watching the show. Just add the hash tag #ddire to the end of your tweets and join the conversation. If you want to expand the conversation beyond your own followers, use a service like Twission (built by Dublin company WebStrong) where you enter the hashtag and your twitter handle to be met with a screen showing all the posts about the show from anyone using the hashtag. Usually it's a bit of fun, we give our own critique and worry and celebrate the decisions of the panel and those pitching. See you there on Thursday.

So you're still looking for work so maybe some of these online tools/services will help:

I suppose the first step in the search for work is dusting and shining up the CV. Well then maybe CV Cafe - a free tool that allows you to build your CV in minutes using a selection of templates might be the answer.

If you're looking for professional help then perhaps you might consider outsourcing the task to make sure that first impression lasts. Ruadhri McGarry from MyNewCV.ie is one just service and although the 125 euro might seem a little steep, it might just prove to be the best money spent in the long run.

So you get the interview, well done so now it's time to prepare as the saying goes 'to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail' so why not try out SonruVIP - an online interview preparation tool. They offer a range of services from free trial to full review and feedback on your performance so again worth a shot.

And don't forget to check out the corporate fashion code. Best of luck and happy job hunting.

Labels: FlexiTips, jobs, work

Came across a pretty good scheme run by Department of Social Welfare in conjunction your Area Partnership Company which provides supports to people who've been in receipt of social welfare. The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance provides a cushion for those embarking on the road to self employment as it allows you to maintain 100% of your social welfare payments for year 1 and 75% for year 2. Of course there are strings attached and rules and regulations but it's certainly worth checking out.

Labels: contracting, Redundancy, self-employed

Came across this post by Mary Mulvilhill entitled 'How much for a day's work?' via Damien Mulley's round up of today's fluffy links.

Mary presents 2 ways of working out your fees.

Method 1
1.3 x desired salary/n days
Multiply your desired salary by 1.3 (yes the 30% should cover your overheads) then divide that by the total number of days you want to work during the year perhaps 2 per week term time only.

E.g. 1.3 x 50k/80 days = €812.50 per day

Method 2
Set a target daily rate, and then calculate the number of days work needed to reach a target turnover. Mary's example is as follows:
If you plan to charge €200 per day then, apart from allowing yourself 20 days holidays in the year (bank holidays included!), you will need to be sure of getting work for literally every working day in order to hit a gross turnover of €47,000. And if you’re paying your own overheads, that translates into a net salary of €36,000.


To be honest I've a problem with both methods as they are focussed on what the freelancer wants and doesn't take other factors into consideration such as level of competition, market demand and its effect on pricing, comparisons between freelance and SME service costs etc. but it's an excellent starting point.
I think the real merit of this work is to use method 2 to demonstrate to prospective customers what actual equivalent annual salary arises from your daily freelance rate (if working at full capacity - we wish!). This might just help you make the case for your rate when people can directly compare it to their own monthly or annual salary.

Personally I use the opportunity cost method, which is the minimum I'm willing to accept for a project ranked against the other things I could be doing with my time i.e. is it worth it for me to put myself out to do x, y or z? That's of course when things are flying and I can afford to be fussy but as all freelancers out there know, there have been times that I've taken projects at sub-optimal rates for cash flow. Anyway, for me the most important thing is to do a job well and over deliver so there's less price sensitivity. I have clients who can ring me, brief me and be sure that a good job will be done without too much hand holding and they're invariably willing to pay more for that.

If you've been thinking about starting a new business but are not sure where to go next, perhaps you'd consider looking at the M50 Enterprise Start Programme run by the LINC (Learning and Innovation Centre) at Institute of Technology Blanchardstown.
The 6 week program promises to help you work through the steps required to start a business while also giving you the support and advice which will help you decide how to develop your business idea.

For more information please contact Claire Quigley on 01 8851502

I see motivational speaker Jack Black founder of MindStore is coming to Dublin next week. Basically he's a positive thinker and has created an empire around personal development and performance excellence. We Irish tend to be sceptical about personal development and reaching one's potential, but I believe more good than bad can come of positive introspection. I know I could easily write a blog post every day about the latest and greatest guru in this field but the reason I'm bringing it to your attention is because I've attended one of his seminars. Back in the dotcom days when companies had lots of VC with little or no revenue streams, motivating and retaining staff was paramount and so 12 of us (half teckies half marketing/sales) we were duly packed off on the train to Belfast for a 2 day junket to attend one of his MindStore workshops. However cynical I may have been to begin with, by day's end I was converted and really believed I could do whatever I wanted in life (now that's value for money). He's extremely charismatic and a weird blend of Billy Connolly and maybe Michael O'Leary - extremely funny, great showman but with serious business savvy. Anyway, it was a great trip, needless to say the sales and marketers thought it fabulous, the coders just wanted to get back coding with less of yer 'I want to change the world and buy everyone a can of coke.' I don't remember much about the intricacies of the course but I do remember at the time writing on my wish list that I wanted to work less (part time), earn more and have more QT with my son and a few other personal wants. Anyway, needless to say weeks after the course, I mislaid my notes and got back on the treadmill of work work work. Then a few years later I was giving a class on management thinking when I was a lecturer in DIT and one of the topics was motivation so I went digging around and found the notes, I found my wish list and realised that I'd achieved every single one of them. So it's now time to write a new list almost ten years later. So I think I'll be popping along to see Mr. Jack Black's 'Prepare for the Upturn' in Dublin in the NCH in Dublin next Wednesday night (September 9th). For more information and online booking click here. Hopefully see you there. Or perhaps it's more fitting if I finish with a positive affirmation and sign off by saying 'I WILL see you there.'