Looking Ahead to 2010

Next Open Coffee – Tue Jan 5th 2010, 10am, Springfort Hall, Co. Cork – all business owners welcome

Well, we are nearly at the end of 2009!

For some businesses, it will be the end of a bleak year. For others, they will be looking forward to planning for a better year ahead.

It’s official, we are finally heading up and out of recession, but there is a long way to go yet. It is a known fact the largest providers are the small businesses of Ireland, so it’s more important than ever that we support each other, and let each other know that collectively, we will grow this country again, with or without the assistance of state bodies.

We have been rejected and turned on over the past two years, and small business are being choked by cash flow problems. So the message to larger firms could be to ensure they pay the small firms who they contract work with – ON TIME, so the small businesses can maintain cash flow and have a better chance of surviving the metaphorical storm!

Networking is going to be more important than ever in 2010 for small business owners. As well as the Open Coffee Mallow, there are other opportunities to network for FREE in Munster. Some of them include:

Open Coffee Cork – http://corkopencoffee.org/

Open Coffee Limerick – http://opencoffeeclublimerick.com/

Open Coffee West Cork – http://www.westcorkopencoffee.com/

Open Coffee Tralee – http://kerrysmallbusiness.com/2009/10/open-coffee-tralee/

Cork 121 Networking – (you must be signed in to LinkedIn to see this)

Other ways to get yourself known locally:

Social Media - Twitter —   Facebook —   MySpace

Free Blogging – WordPress.com –  Blogger

Professional Personal or Company Directories – LinkedIn –  Igo People —   Loopthing –  Facebook Pages –  Google Profiles — LinkedIn Company Profile (beta)

Free Advertising of your company / events – Whatswhat.ie –  CityLocal_Cork –  CorkBusiness –  MyTown –  Gumtree

If you would like to include another in the list above, please send us an e-mail and give us the link.

Happy Season to you all and get rested for the new year ahead!

Elaine & Gráinne

Mallow Open Coffee growing nicely

Next Open Coffee – Tuesday, December 1st 10am

What a week!

The rain would be enough to wash all of North Cork down the Blackwater into Waterford.

Despite the heavy downpours, we were delighted to see new faces at Open Coffee on Tuesday. Everything was discussed, from the “Apprentice” and “Dragon’s Den” to blogging,  Social Media and Current Affairs. And, of course, the weather – always a topic of discussion in Ireland!

After attending multiple networking events over the past weeks, we are very pleased with the relaxed layout of Open Coffee Mallow, and are working hard to keep it casual but relevant.

We are planning in the new year to invite seasoned business owners to give short talks on various aspects of running a business in Ireland today and in the future. We feel these would be of benefit to any budding entrepreneur or local business owner, especially those who do not get to meet like-minded people often in the course of their business.

So come along on Dec 1st and celebrate the beginning of the festive season with us while looking toward a brighter 2010 (is that two thousand and ten, or twenty ten?).

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mallow Star, The Corkman and C103fm for allowing us to spread the word over the past few months about this great initiative.

Thank you also to Mallow Print for featuring us in their Christmas edition of PROMO MAG.

Special thanks to all who are braving the elements to join us for coffee!

Yours respectfully,

Elaine & Gráinne

November Open Coffee

Hi all,

Our next Open Coffee is:

November 3rd, Springfort Hall, Newtwopothouse

Baltydaniel Bar 10am – 12pm.

We look forward to seeing you there, and combating this wintry feel that has enshrouded us the past few days sine the clocks have gone back.

Regards,

Elaine & Gráinne

Mallow Open Coffee on the Radio

Many thanks to C103 FM for having us on the radio this morning, giving us the chance to let North Cork and surrounding areas know about the Open Coffee monthly sessions.

You can listen to it here:

I had no sooner come off the phone with the presenter, and my phone was ringing with enquiries about the location and times.

We are doing our best to promote Open Coffee and it’s concept in our local areas, so if you have any suggestions as to how we can reach small businesses, please let us know. We truly want this to grow and grow so that it becomes an integral part of many people’s monthly schedule and ask you to help us spread the word. Tell your clients, friends, family members and associates about a great FREE resource available at their doorstep.

Happy Networking!

Elaine & Gráinne

Welcome to Autumn

Welcome to Autumn !

Hi everyone ,

We look forward to welcoming you to Mallow Open Coffee Club’s next meet-up

As things are settling down after the long Summer , kids are settled back to school ,  now is the perfect time to join us at one our networking meetings of Mallow Open Coffee ,  your routine is back in order and networking in a relaxed informal atmosphere is the ideal way to focus on you and your business , you will meet others to discuss issues that you may have or not !! you never know you might actually have fun too !! which is what Open Coffee is all about .

We have had a steady flow of new people every month since we first launched back in June , and the response has been very positive , and lots of connections have been made !

We look forward to welcoming you in Springfort Hall , on Tuesday the 6th of October , from 10 am until approx 12 pm  in the Bar /Lounge area .

This month we will be discussing the advantages of having a web presence for the small business owner in Ireland; whether it is a website, blog, facebook page, twitter account or being listed on one of the many directories. We will look at the available options from freebies to paid advertising.

If you have any questions you would like answered please forward them to either Elaine or Grainne

If you would like more information contact either : Grainne on 086 2119326 or Elaine on 086 1955660

September Open Coffee

Hi Folks ,

Septembers Open Coffee is being Held  On Date :  Tuesday the 1st of September in the Baltydaniel Bar , Springfort Hall , Mallow , Co. Cork . Time : 10 am to 12 pm pop in at any time and stay for as long or short as you want  !!

Its hard to imagine it is September already !

September is the start of a new season , kids are back at school , leaves begin to fall off the trees .

For some businesses it is a time to think about the up coming christmas season , for others it is a time to think about the future and what you would like to do , expand your business , receive further education , run strategic courses for your employees to expand both knowledge and expertise . I know you are wondering what point i am making but it is this , what about you ??

Mallow Open Coffee gives you time to reflect about you and meet like-minded people with basically the same , problems , concerns , and future goals of growth and problem solving requirements , Open Coffee is the perfect environment to discuss these and other issues with individuals who understand  .

If you would like more information please feel free to contact us at any time :

Grainne Sherlock : 086  2119326

Or Elaine Rogers : 086 1955660

Another Successful Open Coffee

Next Open Coffee Tuesday September 1st, 2009

Despite it being the tail end of the Bank Holiday weekend, myself and Gráinne were not left sitting alone at the bar in Springfort Hall, despite the fact we were enjoying the tasty scones and perfectly made coffee!

So another successful informal meeting was had, and again, thank you to everyone who turned up and gave their support. We are very confident that this group will grow month on month, and we really need everyone’s help in order to spread the word off-line as a lot of the possible attendees are not on-line yet, and need to hear through word of mouth.

So we will keep talking about Open Coffee Mallow, and we will keep turning up every first Tuesday of every month, so come join us for a coffee and let all those entrepreneurs out there know that there is an informal meet up so people can make new contacts, re-establish contacts and share their stories while fostering the entrepreneural thread that is growing fast in Ireland today.

Thanks again to all involved,

Elaine & Gráinne

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August Open Coffee Mallow Meet-up :

The next meeting of Open Coffee Mallow details :

Date : Tuesday 4th August

Time :  Anytime from 10 am onwards

Place :  Springfort Hall Hotel, Baltydaniel Bar, Newtwopothouse, Mallow, Co. Cork

Phone : 022 21278

Directions : http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=52.1821423200368,-8.65001678466797

We are  looking forward to another  great turn-out !

To contact us for any more information ring either Elaine @ 086 1955660 or Grainne @ 086 2119326

We have a winner!

It is true that we are all winners!

We were enjoying ourselves so much on the day of the Launch that it was only when some people had left, did we realise that we hadn’t done the draw.

Open Coffee Mallow are delighted to announce that the winner of the draw for a Gift Voucher for Springfort Hall is Eddie Finn of Torus Recruitment.

Well done Eddie and Congratulations!

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Springfort Hall for providing the draw prize for the Launch.

We will upload the media footage later today so keep an eye out!

Cheers,
Elaine & Gráinne

OCC Mallow Launch News…

The launch of the first Open Coffee Mallow took place on Tuesday, July 7th 2009 at Springfort Hall, north of Mallow town.

The next OCC Mallow meeting is Tuesday, 4th August 10am, Springfort Hall

As it turned out, the location was a perfect choice. People commented that they actually began to relax driving up the entrance surrounded by beautiful mature trees and perfectly maintained gardens. Springfort Hall also provided everything we needed on the day, including a last minute request for a projector screen.

We were greeted very early in the morning by the wonderful Roland Steinmetz of Shared Visions, who so generously offered to try out an innovative streaming of the meeting on-line so that people could join in “virtually”. The concept was interesting and fun, but an adequate broadband connection is required and we just weren’t “up to speed” so to speak.

However, there was great interest in what he was doing from the other attendees, and we are proud to be the first attempt of Roland’s new #vocc (virtual open coffee club). It will be run again at the