Tell us your story

[matt@fintekweb]

I saw a similar thread to this on boards.ie about how entrepreneurs started up their businesses.

So how did you all get started in business? How is business going for you now? Do you have any tips for new startups?

I'll start with a short one. I moved back from London to Dublin 6 months ago to work for myself. Before that I worked for two internet based businesses, one who sold subscriptions to family history records, and the other who sold expensive clothing and jewelry online.

I was bored working on the same thing day in day out so I decided to take the plunge and go into business myself. Two things which might have discouraged me at the time, the first being the looming recession. I thought to myself that there is never really a good time to go into business and so I might as well do it now.

The second thing was the competition in the web design market. Would there be room for somebody like me? There are hundreds of companies out there doing what I do, but I believed only a handful of them actually knew what they were really doing. Quite a few of them had extensive portfolios and were well established in business, but their designs were tired and their code was awful. I felt I could take a good thing and make it better. I could bring something good to the table and make a difference. I thought and I still do think that there is demand for high quality websites that satisfy both client and user.

So far, I have completed and launched 4 websites since I have come back, and I am on the lookout for more work. I can't say it has been easy, given the climate, but I always try to stay positive and work hard.

Thanks for reading and if this becomes popular enough can we make it a sticky? Cheers

 

[mneylon]

I'll probably blog about how we started at some point, but it will require some effort

Basically I ended up where I am more or less by accident

 

[link8r]

I was bored working on the same thing day in day out so I decided to take the plunge and go into business myself.

I know what you're saying ... but is that a good basis for which to set up a company? What about demand and the marketplace etc? Just advice for any entrepeneur, base your business around how much demand you think there is for your business and your competitors, work out how you will get business - and don't count on friends or family. Don't base your business on something because you like it or because you think you only need to do 1 or 2 projects per month or something like that, as that can be quite dangerous.

Services companies (consulting, web design) can be difficult to manage. Try to develop a product - there is more support and it be easier to measure and manage. That's my 2c in then...!

 

[matt@fintekweb]

I have a few products I'm working on at the moment to get a solid stream of cash coming in once they're online.

 

[garycocs]

Would ye not be (or were ye) nervous of leaving a career path to take the plunge into Business? I just see so many web developers out there I just would worry about what happens in 5 or 10 years time??

 

[hosting365]

I started off doing a little webdesign (when I wasn't in my day job as a teacher) and realised that recurring revenues from hosting were 'nicer'

Thus hosting365 was born with a little money borrowed from family and grown organically to where it is today, lots of stress, fun, growing pains and blood/sweat/tears.

Running any business is hard, but my advice is (in order of importance)
- watch the cash
- hire good people around you
- keep the passion burning

Any one of those three missing and you will probably fail.

 

[matt@fintekweb]

I was certainly nervous. I had left a well paying job in England to come back home, but I was so bored in my old jobs and I love the work that I do now. I get to meet loads of different people, work on different projects and learn a lot about how different businesses work.

The drawback to all this of course is not getting that monthly paycheck, but as long as you work very hard and with the right people then you have a better chance of survival.

I see myself as being on a better career path now than I was in the past. I had just come out of college having studied computer science and business and I was working in entry level software engineering positions before I discovered what I really liked.

 

[n3tFl0w]

I don't think I'll ever give up the day job... and yet, I know I wont be able to make serious money unless I do.

Strange thing is though, that I love my job. As a systems administrator I see a huge range of issues every day, I support a huge number of users and servers and I've come a long way in my few years. I've also been able to bring more development into what I do after proving what I could do on the scripting and web development side.

One day I hope to open a full time development house, as I'm frustrated at the minute by not being able to work as much as I would like on my personal projects.

 

[link8r]

Would ye not be (or were ye) nervous of leaving a career path to take the plunge into Business? I just see so many web developers out there I just would worry about what happens in 5 or 10 years time??

You mean 5 or 10 months surely!