Sam Kidd's thoughts on business

Well this year is flying by, and yet again after saying to myself to write more blog posts I find myself 20 odd days into this new year and still no bloody posts.

I'm finding it hard to get time to write posts, but I do think a lot of this is down to the fact that I find it harder to get down on paper (screen) what it is I want to say. Writing has never been my stong point so I look for any excuse to get out of it, and being too busy always sounds great in my head.

So far this year is looking good, we are flat out in Digital Crew with work and hope to have a few big jobs coming up sson. TeamworkPM is also really starting to go places now, It's getting very close to the point that we are going to have to look at getting a full time person on board to deal with feedback and questions and just general chat with our customers. We even had one of the major film studios in the States onto us last week about using TeamworkPM, it will be great to have a big name on board.

On a totally different front now, Sam&Dan's is now finally open at nights. We started the late openings towards the end of December and it's been going great inside there. I have to say I enjoy working nights there when I get the chance, the chatting to the customers there at night is always a good laugh and we have been getting a great amount of positive feedback as well.

I know all the talk on the radio and newspapers at the moment  is all doom and gloom, but I can't help but feel really excited about the changes in the economy.  The world was starting to get a bit crazy and it just seemed like it was going to be fecking impossible to move up the ladder in business at times because everything had gotten so bloody expensive, and the barrier to entry just seemed so high at times.  Now it's fair game to anyone with the balls and vision to take this recession on, things are cheaper, people are looking to do deals now as businesses are fighting for work and I think it could be a very interesting year ahead.

It is the year of the OX and as they say about Oxen, they were used in farming because they were able to pull harder and longer than horses, particularly on obstinate or almost un-movable loads, so here's to hoping we can all be Oxen and start to pull our businesses out of this recession and  on to great things

I can't believe how many days it has been since I updated the blog. The days have just been flying by since we opened Sam and Dan's. The official opening, on the 4th of July, went really well. A big thanks to Fuzion for helping out with the launch as well. The weather for the day was bloody shocking but still we had a great turn out and everyone was kept happy with their free Hot Dogs and Donuts we were serving along with a glass or 2 or wine as well.(Now before another person says it, we do realise that Donut is the American spelling of Doughnut. We had a long debate about this, but we thought people are so used to seeing the American spelling of it on TV shows and the fact that it's really an American product in the end. So we have decided it's spelled DONUT in Sam&Dan's)

So what's been happening since we opened, well we have had a leak in our Donut machine we have had a Bain-marie unit that was overheating and all sorts of teething problems that you always run into when you open something new. Thankfully none of these have been too bad at all and we are now
well under way with most of the small bugs worked out now. (I hope)

We have been having a great response from people coming into the shop and everyone has been really complimentary on the Hot Dogs, thank God, other wise we went into the wrong business. I still can't get over that loads of people have never tried the American mustard, they all think that it is English mustard that is on the dogs. Once we twist their arm them to try it they really like it. You just can't have a dog without mustard, it's just so wrong.

The other side of the shop, the Donuts have been the real surprise for us I guess. We got the machine in not knowing what sort of demand there would be in Cork and they have been going really well. We often get people in saying they were walking by and the smell was just killing them so they had to call in to get some donuts. The only problem I have with the Donuts is for me to stop eating them. I'm having to use unreal restraint when I'm in there not to just test (one as quality controller) every 2 mins.

Also I would like to say a big thanks to the team we had construct the shop I would give my fully recommendation to these guys. If anyone is looking for a team of builders and supplies to start their own place at a great price try the guys below:
The builders&painters and the whole Project was managed by a really nice guy Denis McCarthy 086 2778428
The sparky was M-Power Electrical 087 6536419
The Kitchen was with Quipman 021-4210433

Yesterday was manic inside the new Sam and Dan's shop, at one stage we had 9 people working away in there and space is tight with the kitchen sitting in one corner.
Yesterday, the counter we have running around the shop was finished off, all that is left now is to have it varnished a few times.

The back store room was worked on and all the holes patched up. The ceiling throughout the shop was also painted. We then had the hoods for the kitchen installed and all the steel work on the walls behind where the kitchen will go finished off as well.

Now we just have the painting of walls, Kitchen to be installed, and the second fix of the electrics to be completed and also jacks to be plumbed in. We are hoping (praying) to have most of the work completed by Tuesday so we can open during the week.

We also have our first shipment of Hot dogs arriving from Germany tomorrow as well, I have to say I wish we were finished with the construction in the shop, because we have stuff stored all over the place such as, bar stools, donut machines, donut mix, T.V's. Ahhhh so much to get sorted and so little time.

Work in Digital Crew is manic as well at the moment I was in Galway on Friday looking at the new Galway webworks building, we are doing the website for it, nice place all very modern. 

The days are very long at the moment with trying to do loads of Sam&Dan's work during the day along with Digital Crew and AREA51  trying to get all my written Digital Crew work done at night. Still I have to say I am enjoying but also finding it a bit stressful too.

Below are the latest pics from the shop.

People there is no magic website making button, no one is hiding it on you, honest!
Working in Digital Crew I'm starting to see that a lot of companies out there that still don't realise what is involved in making a good website these days.
It's not as simple as drawing a picture, pressing a few button and then 'wham' a lovely site appears that runs your business and sells loads of their products! (Hell I wish it was like that)

I just can't believe the amount of companies out there that have unrealistic ideas and budgets for making a website. A website that they want to use to help their company generate sales worth thousands and sometimes millions of euro.  One thing I wish people would realise is that to build a really good site does take time and no, your uncle Dave who got a computer last year and said it was really easy to make a website, may actually not really know what he's talking about.

Then again there are the companies out there that are fantastic to work with. They know how long it takes and what is required to make a site that works for them.  One thing I'm trying to get across to people all the time is that, setting up a website is like creating a real shop or office. If you were to open a shop in the morning you wouldn't just walk into a place bang up some shelves and open the door and expect people to take your seriously and buy your products. You would want to spend some time designing the shop, you may even get a shop designer to help you get this right. Then you would get a builder in, because he has the right skills and tools to get the job done well.  You're going to want the public to come into your shop, and you want to create a good impression, you want it to look professional and you know if you get the look and feel right this will help sales.

Well folks it's the same with websites, instead of using wood and plaster to build your shop or office your using programming and software. Both the real and the virtual shop take time, expertise and a lot of hard manual labour. 

If you're looking to create a web based business or you want to extend your real world one I would just like to say, take some time and really think about what you want to achieve with your site. It's like opening another premises. If it's a shopping site remember how long it took you to open the one you have now, and how much work went into it. Because the same amount of work can go into the online one as well.  Remember your website may be the first and only experience a potential customer may have with your company, so you can't afford to get it wrong, because you're not standing behind the counter in this shop, and you can't win them over with your charm.

 

Yes I'm still alive incase anyone was wondering. I have just been working away flat out the last few months. I keep meaning to post here but I have been finding it hard to find the time.

So what have I been up to thats made me ohh too busy? Well I have joined the Crew, I'm now working away with my friends Dan and Topper in Digital Crew. I have been in and around their office for years now and we have AREA51 between us as well. So now I have moved in and am working away pretty much full time inside. It's been a bit mainic getting myself up to speed. I'm now the new business development manager inside. Dan and Topper are still the programming nerds.

Digital Crew has been up and running 9 years, and they have some top class clients on the books now, so it has'nt really been a hard job for me yet to bring in the sales. It's been a nice change for me to do something different for a while and I do believe a lot in the products and sites that we are developing here. The Skills thats the guys have now is class and we must have the best CMS (Content Management System) out there now.

We are also, as I have said in an early post,  TeamworkPM. We have been using TeamworkPM inside Digital Crew now for the last 5 months I would say and it's really changed the way we work inside. It's made us much more orginised and it's really helped us stay on top of clients needs. There is a free version for anyone to try so I would say, give it a go ;-)


Right I must get out of the office and head home, I'm really going to try to get back into my blogging from now, I'm always coming across things and thinking shite, I should have a little rant about that but I just have'nt gotten around to it, so I hope to get back in the game again.

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial Property, I know I have had a rant on here before about leases for commercial property and because of this I have found people coming to the site that are searching for info on leasing of commercial property. I was also talking to a few people about this as well and I forgot what it was like when you’re first looking for a property to rent to start a shop or business. So I thought I would put down just a few basic things that might help people out.

I remember when we were first looking for a shop to rent for AREA51 and going into all the property places to ask about commercial property or retail units.The first time I met with a property auctioneer they asked me was I looking to buy a lease or just looking to rent. I was think to myself, well aren’t they the same thing. Well they are and they aren’t.  The easiest way to explain buying a lease is before you can pay rent you must buy the right to pay rent. I know this sounds crazy when you’re first starting out into the retail world that you must pay to rent.

So the basic story is, lets say you have found a shop you like. This shop has the sign lease for sale. You ask the auctioneer how much it is. They say it 90k; you then cough up a lung and need a seat. So what’s going on here, well the shop you are looking at is owned by a landlord. He owes the building. Then he decides he wants to rent the building or part of it for retail. Now to protect that persons business they get a lease, which is the right to rent and run a business. Now the landlord can’t just say get out of my building I want it back now. So the person has their business protected, but if they want to close up shop they can sell on this lease to someone else so they can run a business there. So if you wanted this shop for yourself you will have to pay 90k cash to the person who’s business is closing down. The other down side to this is it is just like buying a house. In the way that it goes to the highest bidder, so there may be a bidding war ahead for a retail property.

Ouch I hear you say. I know this is a pain, especially if you are a start-up business. The only good thing is you now own a bit of an asset. If you then decide in a few years time you need a bigger shop or that shop didn’t work out for you, well then you get to sell the lease. You may make more or less, it all depends on demand and other factors with the shop.
Even though I feel the lease is an asset the banks don’t look at them this way. Not a huge shock there really. I wrote a bit here about trying to get a loan using the lease as equity before. Bloody banks!!

This is a really basic look at retail leases but it may help you get a better idea of how it works. If you have any question just email me or write it into the comments.

Just rang another property crowd today that I'm dealing with. I'm waiting for the rent on this property to be set, as it has just come to market at the time of a rent review.  I spoke to them about this 2 weeks ago and it still has not been agreed it. WHY???

How hard is it to sit down with the 2 parties in a room and say, hey what about this? Lets have a bit of a discussion here and now, and agree on an amount, and save us all a load of time.

In business are we trying to make things harder and seem more complicated than they need to be?  Days seem to fly by so fast, so each day waiting for a simple decision, in my mind a bloody waste of time.  Why can't business people shake up this system and say 'we are sick of waiting for months to do deals and waiting for solicitors to get back to us' Lets cut the crap and do deals now.

We are still trying hard to find a location for Sam&Dan's at the moment. We are talking to a few people about certain locations in Cork City. Unfortunately it’s just taking more time than we would like.
It's been a very painful few months, filled with so many ups and downs.  We had a massive bidding war to get the property that we wanted.  This was a really stressful time, and went on for bloody ages. It was so hard having to wait for days, and sometimes a week to hear if you were going to be out bid. Never knowing what’s going on was so frustrating, it's like your life is on hold. painful!

Anyway after a month came the big high, we won the bidding war and finally got the property. After all that bidding I was think ‘great now lets get moving’. Yea right! Now we had to stall as the waiting for legals with the lease began.
This is the part that really gets me. I don't understand why solicitors don't just say, “Hey lets get all parties into a room together and knock this about for an hour”. This going back and forth while each solicitor writes love letters to each other does my bloody head in. 
Ok I know why the solicitors don’t want to do this, but I don't understand why people don’t just say screw this for a laugh, lets get the business under way, or kill it now, and save some time and money. Lets meet up and talk face to face like real people. The only people who do well out of this love letter set up is the solicitors with their 'lovely' fees. 

I think a story I heard about a while ago from New Zealand summed out how I feel about this whole drawn out process.

A Mobile radio network operator TeamTalk is trialling a new technique for dispute resolution.
The Wellington based telco (19.9% owned by Telecom NZ) has been in dispute with MCS
Digital RT Ltd over access to their networks but there won't be any lawyers and protracted
legal proceedings in this argument. TeamTalk has challenged MCS Digital RT Ltd to settle
this with an arm wrestling contest.

"We can battle on and on and the only winners will be lawyers. This way we can have some fun and get on with doing business" says Mr Ware. You can read the full story here.

When you walk down Patrick St these days you can’t help but notice the amount of retail property that is for rent. Now you would think that because it is the city centre that people would be fighting to get into these places. But this does not seem to be the case. It’s not just Patrick Street either where you see vacant property. If you walk down Oliver Plunkett St and other surrounding streets in town it’s the same story. There are quite a few places for rent. Some of which have been sitting empty for over a year now.

I can’t help but feel it has a lot to do with greedy landlords.

These days a shop in Cork City is not just competing with the shop down the road anymore. Local competition has increased with the new large shopping centres out of town, and their offer of free parking. Now if that wasn’t hard enough., you are also competing with the rest of the world as well. Online shopping has grown massively in the last few years. Now it's not uncommon to purchase every day items online, and from other countries, and have it arrive at home the next day.

I keep hearing people giving out about the price of things in Ireland, and how the shops are ripping us off, and how expensive it is to eat out in town, and “man how the shops must be cleaning up”. I’m sure some are ripping us off, but I do feel that a lot of them are just trying to survive. To do this your going to need massive volume, and goods that have a high mark up on them. 
Everyone is blaming the shops for ripping us off but are the shops being ripped of first? The fact is, the reason most shops are charging so much is because they're being screwed from the top. Rent in town is nuts, rates are huge, of which I have yet to work out what they actually pay for, because you have to pay for rubbish charges, and soon water charges. Customers have to pay for parking in town as well, and if they're not careful could be clamped or towed. This does nothing to encourage people to come into town to shop.

I can’t help but wonder how the shops in town can survive.

Recently I have been looking at a lot of property in town, and the rent is just nuts. 40-50K a year for a place you couldn’t swing a cat in,and that’s for propertys that are not in prime locations. Most property in top locations are from 70k to 90k for better spots.

As an example say you had to pay rent of 50k.
You have to pull in €60,600.00 to just pay the rent. That’s because once you get hit for 21% VAT on the 60k it leaves you with $50,082.64. So that’s your rent covered.

You will have rates of around €8000 so that’s another €9500 you must pull in.

So before you pay any bills and have any staff or pay high insurance costs you must pull in profit of €70,100.00

That’s €192.00 of profit a day.

You can see why so many shops in town must stay open 7 days a week. €192.00 doesn’t look like much but when you have all the other bills on top it sure adds up.

If you look at a coffee shop as an example. It would take about 90 cups of coffee a day to make this.
It will be interesting to see if Cork City centre can survive and if the council will do anything to help traders. Now that Cork City centre is starting to look really nice it would be a shame for it to become a ghost town of retail units.

 

Myself and Dan were sitting down having our morning coffee, when we got talking about the fact that there are casino's popping up everywhere in Cork City. There is the Macau club, and a few doors up from that there is the VIC. There is also a casino at the top of Winthrop street, which has been given a face lift, and now there is the new one the on Father Matthew St, The Bank. I know there are a few more around the city as well.

They are now the new type of business to set up by the looks of it. Hopefully it's taken over from the "lets set up an Internet shop" craze that's been going on since we set up AREA51. Cork must have some amount of Internet cafés now. They all open, need customers fast so offer crazy low prices, and this in turn ends up making them no cash at all in the long term. I'm never quite sure why people want to set up a business,  drop the price so much to try get customers and end up killing off their business.

As we have found out, the price doesn't seem to be as important for most people as you would think. So long as you're not too much more, and if you offer a great service, and you build up a good loyal customer base that's the most important thing.  

Looking after your customers, going beyond what they expect is the most important thing.  I believe whole heartily in 'the customer is always right' mentality.  A good experience for a customer is just worth so much to a business. Because a happy customer is the best sales person you can have. (And they work for free)
 I'm sure people just aren't doing the maths on how much a place costs to run these days. Rent, rates,repairs and power all add up fast once you're up and running. If I look back at our business plan that we had for AREA51, we would have died a death so fast if we had only brought in what we had put down in that.  It's amazing how much you actually have to pull in to survive.

Still this happens in every business type I imagine. I haven't been into the casino's here but I bet there is a load of price wars and bitching of other casinos happening here at the moment. I wonder how they are all doing, and if there are the amount of people around to keep them all going.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  I must one of these days actually go into one for a look.

This is a very depressing post for me to write. It looks like Sam&Dan's has hit a bit of a bump in the road. Well more like a huge mountain actually. The landlord of the property we were taking will not give his consent to a change of use. This is something I have to say that I was not expecting. I was expecting a bit of a fight with the planning board from the city, but this has really come out of left field and knocked me for six.
>>It's been a very depressing week with that news.  This property has consumed about 4 months worth of work so far, so to get this news at this stage has been a killer.

So I guess it's back to trying to find a property that will suit and to keep pressing on. I will keep you posted.......

Well it looks like the opening date for Sam&Dan's is going to be pushed back at the moment. We unfortuantly are still at the legals stage of the lease.  I have to say this part is taking an age. It's a good thing I have other work to keep me sane and to take my mind off the painful wait. It's becoming very frustrating waiting for people such as solicitors and their clients to get back to us.

It's definitely killing the buzz at the moment.  I would love to write here when we are to open but I at this stage have no bloody idea.  It does make me realize how luckly we were with AREA51 when we opened that.

 

Here is the logo that we have decided to go with for the new shop.

We wanted to go with something fun and bright, plus the whole USA Red, white and Blue hotdog thing has been done to death.  I would be interested in seeing what people think of this one.

Things are really taking there time at the moment. We were hoping for a mid September open but it’s not looking like that at the moment. I love the thrill of starting a new business but the waiting round for people to get back to you is painful.

I know this is a bad time of year with people away on holidays, and then when they get back it’s to a desk full of work. So they need a week to catch up that’s always the down side of taking a break, when you get back you get swamped down with work. Then you need a break to recover. Hmm I see a pattern forming here.

Anyhow things are moving on nicely with the new place and soon I will put up here the new logo and concepts we have done. We are hoping/praying that we can open at the start of October, but we will have a better idea of how we are fixed in the next few days as we find out order times and actually have people get back to us.

I’m looking forward to getting my hands dirty and starting to rip the place apart. I will post up pics of the new place soon, along with the before and after shots, as well as the work in progress.

Just finished our first ever AREA51 Cork CS Fest. I'm still wrecked after it.
It was a 24 gaming competition held in AREA51. We teamed up with the guys at -=VIA=- to hold it.
It was the first time we held an international gaming event, and I have to say it went really well.
All the guys that turned up were top class and we had no trouble at all.

All the computers held up during the event which was a mini miracle, as it gets so hot in AREA51 that the machines can crash every now and then. I have uploaded all the photos from the event to flickr so you can check it out for yourself.

Me (front right) and Chris (in the green) with the winning team.

Right, I could do a rant on what I think of banks in this post but I will restrain myself as best I can.

I thought I would post this blog on banks in case any one else was out there looking for money from Irish banks.  Recently I went to three banks looking to get 35,000 euro to part fund a new business idea. I was approaching the banks looking or an unsecured loan, but I wanted to use this money to help secure a lease, so I was hoping to use the lease of the property as some form of security, as I figured this would have a value.

The first bank I called on was AIB. Now, this is the bank that my current business banks with  We have a great account with them so I thought this a good place to start. I rang up my bank manager, who was away so I left a message, I asked could I get an unsecured loan for 35k using the lease as a form of security. A few days past before I got a brief call."I'm sorry but AIB does not do look at a lease as a form of security. By the time I got this phone call I was already talking with two other banks so I just thought I would  just leave it at this.

 

The second bank I talked to was Bank of Ireland. I arranged a meeting with the Patrick St. branch and met with the lady in charge of commercial lending.  I had my business projection and trade history from my current business with me. The meeting went well  and she seemed to like the idea and felt it was a sound business, but of course in the end she had no final say in the loan and she would have to write to Dublin to find out what they think. So two days later I rang up to ask if there had been any news.

There was she said, Dublin had come back with a report saying that my running costs for the new business were to high , and so the loan would not be approved. This wound me right up. I then started my attack down the phone to her. Iwent on about the fact that I have a retail business up and running now, AREA51, which she knew, so the figures I had were based on experience. I asked if she would like me to redo the figures so that the world would look beautiful and fluffy where everyone I hire would want to work for nothing and Mr. ESB would only charge me half price cause I'm such a nice guy, and so on. I stuck to my orginal figures and argued that they were right. In the end she seemed to agree with me. She said she would get back to Dublin and fight my corner but she could not promise anything.

 I have to say she was great and she was straight up with me. But in the end I'm fighting with her and shes fighting with Dublin, and when it gets to Dubin everything is just entered into the computer and it like in the show Little Britain "computer says no!" After a few more days Dublin came back, the best they would offer is 25k. Well at least it was some sort of a result and it proved that if I stuck to my guns and could prove the business I could fight to get results.

A few years ago if the bank had said sorry no to me, I would have just said ok thanks bye. I let her know I was talking to another bank so I would not accept the offer yet and I would get back to her. I also asked about free banking if I went with it. She said they wouldn't do it, but if they look back on how much activity there was during the first year they would look at what they could do for me. Not really good enough!

The 3rd bank I went to was Ulster Bank. I had a meeting booked there and went in to meet the Commercial Manager.  He was really nice and I talked to him about my business idea and showed the figures that I had done.  I told him I had no security but hoped to use the lease as the security. He was open to this but said they this is not the norm. He also said this would have to go up to Dublin for approval, I thought, oh great here we go again 'computer says no' started replaying in my head. I handed over all my documents, he said he would get back to me in a few days. 

A few painful days later, of which during this I was fighting with Bank of Ireland, I was praying for some good news. His business partner rang back and said he would now like to meet with me to get a bit more info about my business idea. So off I went again.  He looked back over everything I had done out and offered some great advice, such as, if I could get an accountant to redo my figures it would look better for the guys/ computers in Dubin, and it would help my chances. So off I ran, I got hold of my accountant ,who in fairness, in no time re-did all my figures and made them look professional as well as print them on their headed paper. This is something I would recommend to anyone do before you talk to a bank. I took them back to the bank and that day he sent off all my stuff to the dreaded Dublin.

The wait was painful, people were away on holidays, so they were short staffed in Dublin so everything was taking longer than normal. Then the phone rang... "I'm sorry We couldn't get the loan for 35k " was the news. My heart sank.. "but you have been approved for 30k". Sorted!! Thank god! I went back to the bank to go through all the documentation.  I noticed that the loan rate was fantastic. I can't remember what is off hand,  but it was below 5%. I think it was round 4.5% but I will have to find out for sure. (compared to what I'm paying on another business loan it's a hell of a lot better) They also gave me 2 years free banking with this as well. I have to say Ulster Bank had out done themselves. I found everyone I was dealing with in the bank really nice. Even in the few times I have been in there, the girl in customer support remembered my name, which is something I love in a business and try to do myself in AREA51. It's small things like this that builds customer loyalty. I will be interested to see how I get on with Ulster Bank once I start using them on a daily basis. I will keep you posted.

I have to say Ulster Bank have come out on top by miles. I was talking to someone at a wedding not so long ago who works in Ulster Bank in Dublin. He said that they had said they want to start to help out new businesses and in turn become the best bank in Ireland. Well so far they got my vote.

UPDATE: the Loan rate is 4.9% Ulster bank have a startup offer which is the 30k plus free banking and the good loan rate. If you looking to start up a business I would recommend going and chatting to Ulster Bank.

Right something I don't get is Leases....How the feck can you charge people so much to take over a lease of a failing business. Then be expected to pay rent then set up the whole shop.

To me it doesn't make sence. Surely if your business was sucking ass you would be happy to get rid of paying rent. But hey it's greedy Ireland where it costs you an arm and a leg to do anything.

If you take AREA51 for example we got that place as the first tenents. So we paid our months rent and a few months up front and away we went. Now If we decided we have had enough, or if we were going under I'm sure we would be bloody happy to get rid of the place so we don't have to pay rent and rates and everything else that goes with a place or is it just me.

The reason I say this is I was looking at a place in town for another idea I have and they wanted 85k to buy out the lease then 18k a year. Dam thats alot of cash to spend just to get rid of a business that has failed before you spend a penny on your new business.

Ok so I might be being a bit harsh or missing something but come on if your business is hitting the wall cut your losses and move on. Why make it so bloody hard for a new venture to start up.  It's hard enough to start up a business  get the cash and the idea together and make it work without this.

Well thats me I have ranted enough...for now,