A Unique Perspective on Work Life Balance

A Unique Perspective on Work Life Balance

By Niamh Quinn, Quinn Communications

The reconciliation of work and personal life has become increasingly important in recent years and work life balance is now to the fore in contemporary human resource management debate in Ireland and throughout the EU.

I started my own PR business, Quinn Communications two and a half years ago, based in Limerick City and serving clients primarily in the Midwest. Whilst I would love to say I started a business because I harboured a burning desire to do so from a very early age, it is not entirely true. I am certainly passionate about what I do but the reality is that I also wanted to improve my work-life balance and achieve a greater degree of flexibility which is often unavailable in many full time, nine to five agency roles.

The idea of work-life balance is different for everybody, for example, a working mum will have different priorities to a single guy or girl in their twenties or thirties or a person in their fifties or sixties working towards retirement.

For me, self-employed and in the working mum category, work-life balance is about flexibility. It’s about keeping it all going, working extremely hard and staying focused when you are working, whilst fitting personal priorities around this in any given day. It’s also about being positive, recognising your achievements each day both at home and at work and enjoying those achievements.

According to the theory, when the demands of work and life exist in harmony, then work-life balance is achieved. Therefore, it is important that we all try to find a sense of balance and satisfaction between our work and personal lives. Some of the key things which I have found to be critical in attempting to achieve this are :

Be organised and manage your time - Procrastinating , doing nothing and being disorganised can lead to an unbelievable amount of stress. It’s critical to be organised as you will tackle work more effectively. Set goals, write to do lists, plan ahead etc. Also, from my own perspective, I have a three year old and I like to be there for her in the evenings as much as possible, so to ensure this happens, I have to be organised !

Manage your finances - I manage the finances of my business day to day, develop cashflow projections, bookkeeping, submit my tax returns etc. I have found this to be critical in terms of reducing stress and worry, planning ahead and allowing me to focus on managing all important client business instead of worrying whether I’ve paid this or that bill.

Learn to let things go – I have learned not to beat myself up over things and I think that this is critical to getting the balance right. It’s too easy to sweat the small stuff and lose sight of what’s important each day. I love to spend time with my daughter and watching her grow is brilliant for putting things into perspective.

Focus on achievements – The reality is that nobody really pats you on the back so you need to do it yourself! I focus on the positives and look at what I’ve achieved, much more so now that I work for myself as I find it to be quite motivational.

Learn to switch off – In today’s world of continuous connectivity, social media etc, it is hard to switch off, even on holidays. Many small business owners (me included!) will continue to check emails etc on the iphone. All that aside, generally speaking I do find that if I try to switch off at the end of day that I am better equipped to tackle the next day’s challenges.

Share the load – In these challenging economic times, it’s difficult to justify paying for help with household chores etc. I have learned to delegate to partner and family when it comes to some family responsibilities and some daily tasks. Women in particular try to do everything and it’s simply not possible so once they realise it, it gets easier!

I can conclude by saying that the satisfaction I get from working for myself is enormous. By no means has the PR business been immune from recession, the larger agencies have seen business fall by 20% or more in recent years and this is true of smaller sole traders also so it’s a challenge to survive. However, I genuinely believe that a huge part of Ireland’s economic recovery will be a thriving SME sector. As long as I can continue to develop my business each year, then I regard that as having achieved a successful work-life balance.

Niamh Quinn, Quinn Communications, mob: 087 122 0119, email: niamh@quinncommunications.ie http://www.quinncommunications.ie

References:

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living & Working Conditions (2002)

Plato Midwest now welcoming new members

Are you an owner manager looking to develop your business skills as part of a unique, collaborative network?

If so, Plato Midwest the Region’s leading business support forum for SMEs may be for you.

Plato aims to support and develop Owner Managers by providing a unique, collaborative forum in which the members develop their businesses through peer to peer learning, training and facilitation in small groups of 10-12 companies.

Each group is mentored and facilitated at monthly meetings by two Group Leaders who are seconded from ‘Parent’ companies, typically multinationals, a feature which is unique to the Plato Network. Confidential advice is also provided by Group Leaders to individual companies outside of the group meetings where difficult business situations may arise.

The Plato network has the full support of the Enterprise Boards in the Region and has gone from strength to strength in recent years. There are four groups in the Midwest, three in Limerick and one in Clare with a further two groups coming on stream. As a Plato member myself, I can say that the programme has been excellent in terms of the mentoring support particularly.

The Plato CORE training programme consists of a number of management training sessions and covers topics such as IT, Sales & Marketing and Planning. In addition, individual group training seminars based on group feedback are provided throughout the programme covering topics such as Branding , Leadership Skills & Customer Service.

Plato in the MidWest is an initiative funded by Limerick City and County & Clare County Enterprise Boards in association with IBEC, FAS and the Limerick Chamber of Commerce.
Membership of the Plato Network is open to companies in all areas of commercial activity. Members typically employ between 2 and 50 people and have been in business for 18 months or more.

The Plato Network has been operating in Ireland since 1993, has over 1500 member companies and is part of a European wide network of over 10,000 SMEs and 500 parent companies. Membership gives companies access to the wider Plato Ireland Network and also the dynamic European Plato Network across 11 countries.

Plato is now recruiting members for its new programme commencing in the Autumn. Please contact Eoin Tynan O’Mahony at 086 303 5664 or email eoin@platomidwest.ie. Further information is available at www.plato.ie .

Midwest Pop Up Bank, Thomond Park, 31st May 2011

On the 31st of May, the Region will see its first Pop Up Bank held in Thomond Park between 11 and 4. Its free to attend, you can register at popupbank@odcl.ie, by calling 061 411000 , further info on www.odcl.ie/popupbank.html .

For businesses seeking credit or capital for their viable business, start-up idea or plan, come to the Pop Up Bank and meet the lending institutions and support agencies and capital investors.

The initiative is being driven by Limerick based accountancy firm O'Donovan Caulfield Lavin who, having seen the first Pop Up Bank being run in Croke Park by RTE's George Lee on The Business Show, decided that they wanted to hold a similar initiative in the Midwest. Thomond Park Stadium have very kindly provided the Thomond Suite for the event which will be opend by Mayor Maria Byrne.

George Lee has given his full support to the event, speaking to Jim O’Donovan of O’Donovan Caulfield Lavin, George Lee of The Business said, “It's great that the Midwest has decided to run with a Pop Up Bank, we got a great response in Dublin, it’s amazing what can happen when money and ideas come together.”

The Minister for Finance has also given his support to the initiative:

Minister Michael Noonan TD commented, “I very much welcome the initiative being taken by O’Donovan Caulfield Lavin in conjunction with Thomond Park Stadium, to provide a Pop Up Bank to assist those businesses in the Mid West Region who are struggling to find credit or capital for viable businesses and start up ideas. The forum whereby the Banks, State Support Agencies and Seed Capital providers will come together at Thomond Park Stadium for one day will hopefully assist those entrepreneurs to maintain and create jobs”

The list of participants includes AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, KBC Bank, Enterprise Ireland, the County and City Enterprise Boards of the Midwest Region, Shannon Development, the Chambers of Commerce of the Midwest, Pinnacle Horwath (BES), First Step, The Business Angel Partnership and Cork BIC, the Paul Partnership, Limerick Institute of Technology including The Enterprise Acceleration Centre (EAC) and Limerick Enterprise Acceleration Platform (LEAP) programme at LIT and Franchise Acceleration Start-up Training (FAST) programme involving LIT & Limerick Chamber of Commerce , The Tipperary Institute, Office Ireland, University of Limerick Technology Transfer Office, O’Donovan Caulfield Lavin, The Revenue Commissioners, The LEDP (Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership), the LEADER Groups of the Midwest, Clann Credo, The Referral Institute & The Credit Review Office.

All of the exhibitors will be looking for those businesses attending to pitch their ideas to them. While investment is not guaranteed and business ideas must be viable, this is an opportunity for businesses to meet with prospective lenders and investors to discuss their requirements.

As stated above, attendance at the Pop Up Bank is free but organisers are asking businesses to register in advance by contacting ODCL on 061 411000 or by email at popupbank@odcl.ie.

PR on a Shoestring, a Half Day Workshop

I am delighted to announce that I have put together a half day workshop entitled 'PR on a Shoestring' and I am planning to run this on the 25th March and again on the 11th April 2011.

There are PR opportunities all around us and with the doom and gloom of negative publicity swamping us every day, it is important to put the positive stories out there as well and highlight all the good that's going on in business today.

How can this be done?

'PR on a Shoestring' is a workshop designed specifically to cover the basic skills which you the small business would need to acquire to conduct a PR campaign.

Having worked in PR for over 20 years now, I have experience both from an internal communications perspective and as a PR consultant. I have worked across many industry sectors and serviced both multinational and indigenous businesses. Since starting my own consultancy business two years ago, I now have first hand experience of the myriad of challenges facing the small business sector in Ireland.

There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and interaction during the half day workshop and by the end of it you will be ready and armed with the basic tools to carry out your first campaign!

Please see details below and to register contact me on 087 122 0119 or email me, niamh@quinncommunications.ie :

‘PR on a Shoestring’

Half day workshop which will provide participants with the necessary skills to carry out local

Public Relations campaigns successfully

Dates: There are two alternative dates available, the 25^th March or the 11^th April, 2011

Time: 9.30am to 1.00pm

Location: Absolute Hotel, Limerick City

Cost: €99 ( incl tea/coffee on arrival, soup and sandwich lunch in the Riverbank Bar)

Course Content: Overview of media landscape locally

PR & new media , overview

Coming up with an angle for the perfect press release

How to write the perfect press release

'A picture does really sell a story' - organising quirky pictures & arranging photocalls

Testimonials: “Niamh's PR Masterclass was clear and concise. On completion of the Masterclass I have gained exactly what I was looking for, a clear overview of the Irish media, how to write a good press release, how to approach journalists and the appropriate approach for my specific needs.
Thanks Niamh." Moira Geary, Mind Experts Academy

"I attended a course given by Niamh called PR Masterclass. As PRO of a voluntary group and running my own business I have to write press releases and get information out and into the media. Niamh's course has made that whole process far more structured for me now - with lots of valuable trade secrets and contact details. Niamh is an excellent PR consultant, is a lovely person and I have no hesitation in recommending her." Elaine Sparling,QFA, Moore Stephens Patrick McNamara

Limited availability, please book now to reserve your place

Payment required in advance to secure booking

Contact Niamh Quinn, 087 122 0119, email: niamh@quinncommunications.ie

‘My business is telling the world about your business’

Top PR Tips for the New Year

Top Ten DIY PR Tips for SMEs for 2011

Every business function right now, from HR to PR, has to be carried out with zero budget whilst at the same time providing added value. So how are businesses supposed to do all of this with limited or no resources, particularly in the case of the SME?

I would strongly enourage all businesses and in particular SMEs to embrace PR for 2011. PR is often seen as a no go area by small businesses, either because they think it’s too expensive or because they don’t understand how to do it for themselves.

In fact, PR can add tremendous value when considered strategically as part of a company’s overall marketing and advertising spend.

It is often referred to as ‘free publicity’ because it is not paid for space but PR is not free in that it takes time, either a business owner’s or that of a consultant, to do it properly.

In these challenging times, companies can generate valuable PR to promote themselves without it costing the earth by considering some of the following Do It Yourself tips:

Decide on target publications

Be familiar with the types of magazines and newspapers that you wish to target and which are read by your particular industry.

Know your media

Understand and know how each publication or media outlet operates, whether they are broadcast, print or online. Know their style and most importantly, know their deadlines.

Develop an angle for your story

Develop the angle to suit your media, for example is it a business angle suited to the business press, is it a trade related story for say the technology trade or is it a local news story with a community angle to it?

Write a press release

Your press release must be written as a news story, covering who, what, where, when and why. Keep it short and to the point covering facts only and keep flowery language and hyperbole to a minimum.

Develop a good headline

A good headline is essential and will pull the reader in but be mindful that the headline which you write may not appear in print. This is because headlines are written by sub-editors and more often than not they will re-write your headline.

Target the media correctly

Pitch your story to the media before sending your press release. Remember to observe media deadlines and do not ring up journalists when they are on deadline. Press releases should be emailed to journalists, preferably within the body of the email rather than as attachments.

Build relationships with journalists

Good PR is about relationship building and if you know the journalist you are sending a press release to, it will have a much greater chance of coverage. Newspapers and the media in general literally get thousands of press releases each day so the more personalised your approach the better.

A picture speaks a thousand words

A picture literally does tell a story and all media love to get good pictures. Pictures need to be of a certain quality and emailed to picture editors with appropriate captions.

Persistence is key!

Have a plan, devote time and energy to being creative and coming up with interesting story angles and target them appropriately. A one off effort is fine but you need to work at building profile as it does not happen overnight. Above all, avoid hassling the media to print your story and send out newsworthy, relevant information in a timely and efficient manner.

www.quinncommunications.ie