WHILE MEETING FOR LIMERICK OpenCoffee I saw some telltale signs of failed enterprises of my past. It's not something unique to OpenCoffee because I get pangs of failure as Christmas approaches every year. It was early October 2003 that our small start-up failed to get payment on a large contract. When that happened, we realised there would be no Christmas bonus and no wages coming into the house for the manager. Within a fortnight, we learned our bank manager would not honour our commercial overdraft and by late November, we were well into wind-down. Then we started looking for things to do that would pay us one day's wages for each week. It was tough going but we got those litte jobs. But something else happened--we got seen and heard and discovered friends who knew friends who had real opportunities to offer. One casual meet-up resulted in a soft interview, then a purpose-built job description and almost magically a job appeared at a wage rate nearly double that paid by the start-up. In OpenCoffee sessions around Ireland, I know there are proud entrepreneurs in search of one day's wages. They're doing the right thing by seeking out networking opportunities, rekindling past connections and sharing their expertise.
Sent mail2blog using free wifi at the Absolute Hotel, Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick.
Sent mail2blog using free wifi at the Absolute Hotel, Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick.
