Keeping On Top Of The Game

Elite sport is a serious business and requires as much attention and focus off the pitch as it does on. For sports managers and coaches, helping their athletes avoid injury is a key element of their job, especially in the high pressure environment of professional sport where an injury can mean losing, or worse, the abrupt end to a promising career.

Currently sports managers from all disciplines collect a vast amount of data on the athletes under their care but the time spent at the desk analsying the data means less time working with the athletes, preparing them to perform.

Kitted Out For Success

This week's featured business Kitman Labs is a new athlete management software designed to help sports managers make more of the data they hold. Co-founded by Stephen Smith, a rehabilitation coach with the Leinster Rugby team, Kitman Labs' new technologies are designed to aid elite sports organisations reduce injuries amongst their athletes and get them ready to perform.

Software That's Simple To Use

Too often software developers forget one simple fact when designing their system. Software needs to be easy and simple to use. Otherwise the product will end up creating more rather than less work for the already time constrained customer.

Kitman Labs needs to demonstrate very quickly to their customers that their product can be used intuitively and easily by any of the sports management team that will need to imput and analyse the data.

Over To You

How can Stephen and the team at Kitman Labs show on their website that their software is easy to use? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm and is available on Playback at Kickstart Your Business).

Juice Your Way To A Healthier You

"I give myself very good advice but I very seldom follow it." said Alice in Wonderland. When it comes to good eating habits, most of us are very aware of the importance of establishing a healthy, regular eating routine but it's another thing to go to the trouble of sourcing and preparing great food and then taking the time out of our busy day to eat at leisurely pace, ensuring the optimum release of nutrients. It's all great in theory, but in practice, we fall very quickly back to old eating habits.

A Solution That's Juice Right!

Featured on the show this week is GreenValu, a new business co-founded by John Price and Ciaran Farrell. John was introduced to the concept of juicing organic fruit and vegetables shortly after he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer and lymphovascular invasion and so set about developing a range of juicers that are easy to use, clean and affordable. The GreenValu masticating juicer range extract healthy juice full of flavour, freshness, antioxidants and enzymes from fruit, vegetables and wheatgrass.

Educating The Customer

With so many juicers available to their target customers already, the challenge for John and Ciaran is to demonstrate early to potential customers, the difference in their offer. As John explained to George and Gerard on the show, their juicer masticates the food slowly, ensuring no loss of nutrients, unlike the more common centrifugal juicers on the market. And even more importantly, as part of their unique customer service, Green Valu offer Healthy Living & Juicing Workshops to ensure customers learn all they need to know about the how and why of healthy eating. As Gerard pointed out, it is this level of expertise that will set GreenValu apart from the competition.

Over To You

How can John and Ciaran ensure the difference in their offer is immediately obvious to their target customers? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm and is available on Playback at Kickstart Your Business)

Advertising That's Streets Ahead

Over the years, outdoor advertising has played a major role in promoting Irish businesses and products but for many small local businesses, the cost of advertising on a large billboard or bus shelter is prohibitive and will not result in the necessary return on  investment.

Then we have the problem of litter which, for any local community, business or residential, provides a year-round challenge of keeping streets clean and attractive.

Bin There, Seen That?

This week's Kickstart Your Business feature Renegade.ie  tackles both these problems with their high quality attractive bins that feature low cost advertising spaces to local businesses. Founded by Rick O'Brien and Liam Gore, with backgrounds in graphic design and engineering respectively, Renegade is a media company offering 'clean street' advertising in high profile local areas where footfall is at a premium.

Think Big

As Gerard pointed out on the show, any street furniture that adds to the overall attractiveness of the locale is more likely to be valued and used regularly. Recommending that Rick and Liam 'think big' for their business and start to look at the national opportunities for their product, he cited the Tidy Towns competition as an example of how to catch the nation's imagination when it comes to thinking about our local area.

He also suggested the importance of ensuring that the bins themselves are attractive and eye-catching, and there is quality and consistency in the production of the featured advertisements. 

Over To You

How can Rick and Liam take more advantage of the national opportunities for their product? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm and is available on Playback at  Kickstart Your Business)

Make It Your Business To Konnect

Nowhere is the old adage 'It's not what you know, it's who you know that matters' more relevant than in the world of business. Plugging ourselves into a relevant network and engaging with the process effectively can be the difference between success and failure. 

One such network may be our collge alumni. Whilst Irish universities and colleges are only beginning to wake up to the power of a well maintained alumni network, colleges Stateside have long harnessed these hugely significant connections. From an administration point of view however, many of these alumni networks, both here and abroad, are still maintained using a cut and paste system of excel sheets and mailing lists.

A Powerful Konnection

Our featured business this week KonnectAgain, was founded by Jayne Ronayne who, on a work placement with Ernst & Young, saw first hand the power of enterprise and a network of peers. She decided to develop a software solution to help colleges and universities solve the challenge of maintaining their large and ever growing network of alumni. The software helps alumni relations officers to manage, engage and support their alumni and provides a platform for universities and colleges to unlock the potential of their alumni networks.

No More A Novice

In the start-up phase of any business,  owners are looking to influence the investment community and playing the bright eyed and bushy tailed novice often works to the businesses advantage. However, as Gerard suggested, once the business is attracting paying customers, it's time to drop the novice tag and start looking and acting like an established and successful business. Jayne is launching a second phase of her website in the Autumn and intends to lose all the current messaging around start-ups in favour of their fast growing business credentials.

Over To You

How can Jayne show on her website that this is a serious business that's here to stay? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday & is available on Playback on Kickstart Your Business)

Bye Bye Bad Boys, Hello Happiness

There are two pivotal 'Girlfriends discussing bad boys' scenes in the brilliant film 'When Harry Met Sally'. Both involve Sally's best friend Marie who is dating a married man. The dialogue in both scenes goes something like this;

Marie-" He just spent X on his wife. I don't think he's ever going to leave her. The point is he's never going to leave her."
Sally-"So what's new? You've known this for two years."
Marie- "You're right, you're right. I know you're right."

Both scenes illustrate the painful truth for many women; it's not enough to know you are in a relationship with a bad boy. You have to do something about it. You've got to be the one who makes the behavioural changes.

All Systems Go

This week's featured business Badboybreakthrough.com was set up by Lorna Poole who found herself dating one bad boy too many and hit rock bottom in her personal life as a result. Determined to develop a system that would enable her to break this damaging behaviour and armed with a coaching qualification and her own hard earned experience, Lorna set up in business earlier this year, helping others to break with the bad.

Making It Her Business

The idea of developing a system to support behavioural changes is nothing new but it takes a lot more than a great sytem to build a great business. What Lorna has done is develop a brilliant tagline and a website that attracts and pulls in visitor with a free ebook and a line-up of bad boy profiles that we all can recognise.

Once on the site, the visitor can be converted to a paying customer with an on-line assessment and four coaching packages designed to help a girl break from the bad and get with the good.

Over To You

What other steps can Lorna take to build the business? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think.

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm)