The biggest problem with entrepreneurs is their complete fixation on their product or service. They are passionate about the idea they have come up with. But how do you know if it is a good idea? Here's how to determine if you have a good idea for a business:

It's hard negotiating the world of business and achieving success. Reputation really is everything. Here are 9 simple things that can prevent you from being successful:

Are you looking for market intelligence? Do you need to carry out market research? A significant amount of market intelligence can be built through inexpensive secondary market research. Free databases/sources can be used to identify competitor companies, branded positioning(s), customer types and needs and market size. Here are some good sources of market research information:

It can be a lonely place at the top. The buck stops here, there can be few people to truly rely on and it’s often a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog environment too around the highest boardroom in an organisation. There are good reasons to make sure managers are recognised just the same as employees. Here are 4 reasons why employee recognition is important for managers too:

Focus group market research is a good way to get prospective customer response and feedback. Presenting a product as a "strawman" is a good way to get feedback. Here's how to use a strawman for focus groups to get answers:

The next Dublin Chamber Momentum event for businesses takes place Tuesday 29th January at Dogpatch Labs, supported by Ulster Bank. We asked the Chamber to tell us a bit about the upcoming event:

If you have an online store and are looking for ways to increase online sales then here are some tips for increasing your e-shop conversion rate. Here are 5 simple tricks to boost your online sales today:

The concept of on-demand food-delivery is expanding convenience and choice, allowing customers to place an order from their preferred restaurants or food business quickly and easily from their smartphone. Here are reasons why on-demand delivery can help your food business:

Have you recently returned to Ireland and have you been thinking about starting your own business? Do you know someone who is? The Back for Business programme might be of interest and they have a call for applicants to apply before 25th January 2019:

Consumers and businesses are bombarded daily with promotional and advertising noise; they receive hundreds of textual and auditory messages from morning until night, 24/7 and 365 days a year. Here are some tips for how to get your brand message across:

Cyber security is an ever-growing concern for small businesses, particularly given that 58% of malware attack victims fall in the small business category. Unfortunately, protecting oneself against these threats without the benefit of a large security budget or a dedicated IT team can pose a significant challenge. Here's how small businesses can protect themselves against data breaches:

While banks and other financiers are in the business of lending and providing myriad forms of financing, they tend to shy away from start-ups, considering such enterprises risky. In the case of firms that provide services rather than products, they are even more unlikely to take a chance. Here's why making good financing choices could be the difference for business survival:

Have you been wondering about using content as part of your marketing strategy? Before you start out on the content marketing journey, you need to do some planning and research. Here are 5 steps in building a successful content strategy for your business.

Building trust in your company and its product amongst prospective customers, often in other countries, is one of the biggest marketing challenges for the rapid growth stage entrepreneur. There is significant brand benefit in having a key prospective customer or group of customers visit your company premises, meet your key management, staff and advisors/suppliers. Here's why holding open days for your business can pay off:

Paul O’Regan is chief operations officer and harbour master at Port of Cork. We caught up with Paul to ask him a few questions about his views on exporting, Brexit and for his tips for those looking to export. Read on to find out his top tips for exporters in the latest piece in our Chain Reaction series:

Are you running an E-Commerce site? Are you entering product data regularly? Here's why you should outsource e-commerce data entry services for your business:

As your company develops, you will need different sets of skills. The skills you used several years ago to propel your company through the start-up and early growth phases are not the same as the skills you now need for growth and maturity. Does your management team have the skills for growth?

Choosing a domain name for your business is one of the most important decisions you will have to make as a business owner. And because it is as important as the business name itself, it requires a lot of consideration. Your domain name will be the identity of your business on the internet, so it is vital that you get it right the first time. The key is to get something that fits your business perfectly and, at the same time, is easy to identify and promote. Here are 14 tips for choosing a domain name for your business: