Indicators On For Great Parking

Ever been tempted to knock on a stranger's door and ask if you can park in their vacant driveway for a couple of hours whilst you do your shopping? Or wondered who owns the reserved but always-empty space in the busy office park? For many of us, particularly those whose car journeys regularly take us into congested parts of the business and retail centres of our cities and towns, the vacant space seems to cry out for an occupant. But who to ask?

Space, The Final Frontier

Whilst home for Christmas in 2011, English language teacher Liam Farrell found the shopping centre car parks full up, and noticed lots of empty driveways where he could easily have parked for a few hours if he only knew who to ask. Having used AirBnB on his travels, he decided to set up a similar service for parking, that would enable owners to easily lease their space and drivers to just as easily rent it, whether for a few hours, a few days or on a more permanent basis.

Liam, our featured guest this week on Kickstart Your Business, launched ParkingMotel.com in Ireland in 2015, and plans to roll out his online booking engine in cities across the world later this year.

On Air Space

Our host this week, Bobby Kerr immediately warmed to the notion of a readymade parking solution for travelling fans heading to Dublin's Croke Park this Sunday to cheer on his beloved Kilkenny, and thinks that Liam is on to a winner.

Meanwhile, I suggested that Liam has very smartly parked his idea on a proven model, and is likely to motor past many of the mistakes that pioneers of the peer-to-peer commercial model, such as AirBnB, have made. At the same time, I stressed the importance of carving out that space for ParkingMotel on an international level as soon as possible, before one of the giants in peer-to-peer solutions reverses into Liam's great idea.

Park Your Views Here

How do you suggest Liam get car drivers everywhere parking quickly and without fuss using Parking Motel?

Listen back to Kickstart Your Business and tell us what you think? We'd love to hear from you.

Kickstart Your Business is broadcast at 6.25pm every Thursday on The Right Hook on Newstalk, and is available immediately afterwards on playback on Newstalk.com.

To The Waters And The Wild

After a slow start, the return to nature in what we eat is finally well-established as both a lifestyle choice and a viable market, with all of the major supermarket retailers now featuring a substantial 'free-from' section or aisle. Those of us who care a little or a lot about what we put into our bodies are now better catered for than ever, with the allergic or intolerant less likely to be dismissed as cranks.

However, the revolution in the food we eat hasn't been matched by similar changes in the perfumes and other toiletries we put onto our skin, many of which contain harmful chemicals and additives. Free-from in this case usually means avoiding their use entirely, which means missing out on the extraordinary range of delicious fragrances offered up by Mother Nature.

Come Away O Human Child

This week's featured guest on Kickstart Your Business, Joan Housden, offers Mother Nature a helping hand in bringing some of those natural fragrances into the mainstream. Although her own background is originally in music production, June's interest in natural health and nutrition prompted her to team up with her friend Joan Woods to develop Ireland's only certified organic range of fragrances, Waters + Wild. Made in an ancient stone barn in West Cork, Waters + Wild are a range of scents inspired by the pristine nature and beauty of their location using age-old traditions of perfume making with a 21st century twist.

If I Could Save West Cork In A Bottle

Both Bobby (standing in for George) and I were suitably impressed by the smells and sights of Waters + Wild's fragrances and packaging, agreeing that the fairly minimalist bottling and labelling supported by inspirational images of locations and ingredients worked well.

However, I suggested that June and Joan might go even further in helping potential customers online and elsewhere 'smell' the choice of products through sight when introducing the individual fragrances, which are currently presented without the related imagery. Rose & Oud for example could really be brought to pungent life with the assistance of some of the beautiful pictures that appear elsewhere on the Waters + Wild website.

The Sweet Smell Of Succes

What do you suggest June and Joan do to send the gorgeous fragrances of Waters + Wild wafting across the world to potential customers everywhere?

Listen back to June on Kickstart Your Business (with thanks to Energia), and tell us what you think? We'd love to hear from you.

Kickstart Your Business is broadcast on The Right Hook on Newstalk every Thursday around 6.25pm, and is available for playback immediately afterwards at Newstalk. com.