Yanky will have copies of his book with him for anyone to buy.

Fire in the Belly, An exploration of the entrepreneurial mindset

EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:

• Fire in the belly is the fuel that drives you. With fire in your belly, you’re invincible
• With so many people now considering self-employment, it’s critical to make the emotional transition from employee to self-employed.
• Every entrepreneur has chutzpah – it’s in our DNA. Encourage your chutzpah genie to escape.
• The goal of the education system is to produce employable people who will fill society’s jobs.
• Families are incapable of giving “Recovering Employees” emotional support.
• Feeling lonely can be the number one challenge.
• To be your own boss, you must undergo deprogramming to ditch your employee mindset.
• People say that unless you are prepared to work hard, you should not start a company. Wrong. Unless you already work hard, don’t even think of starting your own business.
• Some employees should never be tempted to leave the employment world. Others should never have been employed in the first place. Asking whether entrepreneurship is for you is the wrong question. The real question is whether you are right for entrepreneurship.
• You’re never too old or too young to start a business.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK:

• Essential reading. Ruari Glenn, amazon.co.uk
• My business bible. Briain Smyth, Irish Independent
• Fire in the Belly tells anyone still beholden to employers how to discover whether they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Sandra O’Connell, Sunday Times
• A truly comprehensive treatment of the topic. I read things that no one mentioned in all the years I studied entrepreneurship. Feargal Byrne Lostjobstartbusiness.com
• I have witnessed this book’s ability to change peoples’ lives. David Harrington, amazon.com
• I learned more from your book than from 4 years in college. Trevor Gillespie
• Reading your book gave me the confidence to start up my business with my eyes wide open. Everything you said was true. Cathie Clifford, Clifford Marketing & Associates
• Sorry to phone you at midnight. I’ve just finished the book. Now I know that in the morning I will give in my notice. CR
• The best book I have ever read on the neglected subject of entrepreneurial values. This will now be essential reading for all our business advisors. Gerry Moan
• It’s ironic and absurd that the issues tackled in the book were never even touched on during my MBA studies. What planet are these business schools on? Gaby Posen

Retail price: €15.99 + p&p

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR BUSINESS NETWORKS: €10 +  €1.50 p&p

10+ copies: €10 including p&p

ORDERS: yanky@eircom.net, 086 8575162

For anyone not familiar with the area, here is a link to the Blackrock castle on Google Maps http://short.ie/
bcomap. There is parking around the corner from the castle gates.

Clair McSweeney, Facilities Manager of the Blackrock Castle Observatory has kindly invited us to gather in the The Castle Bar and Trattoria, which is on the right as you enter the castle gates.

Clair will also give a tour of the castle at noon for anyone interested and would also like to highlight some of the great upcoming events in the castle including:

• Tweet in to Blade Runner (Movies by Moonlight Film Club) Saturday the 29th
• Space Camp 2010 (Summer Camp July and August)
• The Castle Bar and Trattoria Summer Bar-B-Qs

Any blogging / Tweeting / Foursquare’ing about BCO or any of its event is greatly appreciated! Further events in the BCO can be seen on their events page or sign up their newsletter.

Cork Open Coffee Sponsorship

David Reilly, from Reilly & Co. Solicitors in Cork has generously offered to sponsor several of the upcoming Open Coffees which means we can bring in some excellent Coffee from Mr. Cotton coffee for a few of the upcoming Open Coffees in the Rubicon. If youd like to Thank David (or maybe get some legal advice!) you can follow him on Twitter.

Cork Open Coffee E28093 After Dark

Also taking place this coming Friday is Cork Open Coffee E28093 After Dark. This is an evening version of the Open Coffee for those who cant make it in the mornings.

It is very informal and takes place in The Bodega from 8pm onwards. Follow Ronald on Twitter for more details or questions.

Bizcamp

Bizcamp Dublin takes place this Saturday in the Guinness Storehouse. Check out their line up of speakers (PDF) C2A0and others attending the event. A fantastic event for businesses.

If you are among the many that aspire to starting your own business but don’t know where to start, then the Discovery Zone could be just the launching pad you need.  The programme has been specifically developed to assist experienced professionals, who for a variety of reasons find themselves at a crossroads in their career.

You may be a middle to senior manager who has a wealth of experience running a business for someone else, but would now like the chance to run your own business! You may not possess a business idea, but have the experience and motivation to successfully establish and run a new business, with some training and guidance.  The programme will encourage new idea generation and will also explore commercial opportunities, through partnership with other entrepreneurs or academic institutions.

Run as a full-time twelve week programme in the Rubicon Centre, located on campus within CIT, the Discovery Zone will harness the ability of participants as they immerse themselves in the programme. A number of key topics will be discussed, including idea generation, viability testing and the various routes to commercialisation. Practical guidance will be on hand from individuals on how they successfully changed from manager to entrepreneur.

Not only will they examine in depth the potential of their own idea, but upon completion, participants will also acquire an understanding of what will be required should they wish to convert their idea into a viable business.  Alternatively, if their preference is partnership, they will be equipped with the knowledge of how to develop successful partnership arrangements.

The Programme will commence in March 2010 and places will be offered to 10 suitable participants, selection by means of an interview. The participants will be based in the Rubicon Centre, for the duration of the programme. Each participant will be expected to attend the Centre 5 days per week where they will receive guidance both individually and in groups to assist in the progression of their ideas.

A dedicated Programme Manager will act as a resource for the participants. Additionally they will have access to the expertise of Rubicon staff, CIT Researchers and the CIT Technology Transfer Office. As the Discovery Zone is part funded by Enterprise Ireland, each project will be allocated the services of an Enterprise Ireland Mentor who will provide specific guidance to all projects.

To apply for a place on the programme, please log onto the Rubicon Centre website.  Closing date for receipt of application is 5pm on Friday 19th March 2010.

Further details on the Programme can be obtained by contacting Paul Healy, Rubicon Centre Manager – 021 4928901 or email paul.healy@cit.ie.

The site contains plenty of information about the range of services offered in the Rubicon. If you’re a start up business take a look at the Enterprise Start programme and the Genesis Enterprise programme.

Keep an eye on the Latest News section of the site for enrolments for these programmes and other goings on in the Rubicon. The Enterprise Start programme is taking enrolments right now.

The Admin section allows us to book the conference room for Friday mornings for Open Coffee demos, we’re booked in for the next few months so we’re well prepared for the next few meetings.

Rubicon Center Conference Room

Participants will learn new sales and marketing techniques. They can also bring their promotional materials and website address and get individual help to improve them.

The workshop will run from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm, Wednesday the 29th of July in the Regus Centre the City Gate in Mahon. (Directions and map to City Gate here)

Places are limited. For more details including a course overview PDF, visit the World Class Solutions website or contact Bridie on 021-4373283

Toms talk, directed at Entrepreneurs encouraged those aiming to create a business to put their idea to the test as early as possible. Embed a pre-start entrepreneur in a host customers site for a fixed period of time and only launch a start-up once proof of concept has taken place within a host customer.

It was an excellent presentation and sparked plenty of conversation after the presentation. The slides of the presentation are below, thanks to Tom for sending them on.

Tom also mentioned an initiative he is running in Waterford called ExploreTech where a select number of technical people are brought together to focus on a specific objective. Based on the level of interest he is considering exploring this in Cork.

If you are interested, Contact Tom now as places are limited – Make direct contact with Tom Doherty at tom@beyondtargets.com or phone 0862574332 for an initial ExploreTech Cork meetup

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Apart from the fact that it’s a fabulous service, there are some strong lessons to be learned from the TwitterFone development.

• Do it, do it, do it do it. Don’t talk about it, just do it! Pat has had such amazing successes because he executes brilliantly
• Partner with like-minded companies. If your offering is going to be stronger combined with someone else’s, then don’t be afraid of working closely with them.
• Use your networks to find people who can help you build your vision and get it launched more quickly
• If you are a service provider, focus on mutual value not price. Even at the simplest level, think of the free publicity you’ll get with the launch of something you helped build.
• Demo and solicit feedback as early as possible. Keep the vision but stay open to suggestions of your peers.

I know of two OCC regulars who have kicked into high-gear on their app development as a result of Pat’s Demo and advice in Luigi’s. I hope we see even more.

Well done Pat!