We LOVE carving pumpkins at Halloween. Working left to right is mine, Gabe’s and Lisa’s.

Time to roast the seeds for tomorrow night’s “horror” triple feature. Mothman Prophecies (which none of us have seen), Alien and Nightmare on Elm Street.

Last evening, Sean Gallagher spoke in the IT Sligo Innovation Centre to a packed room. He had many wise things to say, but the biggest impression was the positivity that exuded from the man, and his belief in the “resilience of the Irish entrepreneurial spirit.” That was infectious. My summarised notes, his quotes:

• Success leaves clues.
• You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with
• You are not your business
• A customer acknowledge is a customer half served. Service is about feeling valued.
• In year one you CAN’T control your revenues, but you CAN control your costs
• Action. You can’t plow a field by turning it in your mind.
• The only thing you have is your effective energy. (Sean only concentrates on five things in relation to his business and ignores all other activity.)
• Be brave if you don’t know know the answer
• I’m not a fan of advertising but I love PR.

One nice aside from the Q&A session was the advice to always say your name and your company when asking a question in an audience. Take advantage of every opportunity.

A great event in Dublin on Saturday. Certainly the most robust communities anywhere in the world are supported by the community itself. It’s even more heartening that the North West is starting to rally around similar events (Open Coffee Sligo & Mayo, Leitrim Business Network, North West Connects, among others) so it is no longer imperative to travel two hours to network with like-minded business people.

Quote of the day goes to Jerry Kennelly.

Sack the gobshites.

You only need to look to the public sector to see what a demotivated and unincentivised workforce can “accomplish.” I can also draw on my own work experience in the private sector. The worst mistake I made was not getting rid of a highly-productive, but toxic employee in my own group. Now, even in the private sector, the law seems to be on the employee side with enforced multiple stays of execution and fear of lawsuits tying your hands while your team looks on and begins to question your ability to lead. It wasn’t entirely my decision. But if you’re running the show, you must make the call.

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It’s a known fact that more people talk about a bad service experience than a good one, so it makes even more sense to give a shout out to a great example of stellar service. I had come across moo cards, but it wasn’t until last week that I finally made an order. This post will be long enough without walking through all the service design steps (Entice, Decide, Use, Support, Extend), so lets just stick with the moment the new cards arrived.

Yay! That’s right. This is an exciting moment. Just a sticker, but it sure beats a box with your first card taped to the top.

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Last night Gabriel and I DJ’d a set for the Native Speaker Summer Junior Camp at The Crib in Sligo. Gabe won a free spot at the camp for two weeks through an essay writing contest. When he heard they had a weekly disco on Friday nights, he volunteered to do it. Needless to say, it looks like we have a gig for the rest of the summer.

I used to DJ throughout high school and into college. I couldn’t imagine life without music, and would likely sacrifice my eyes before my ears, which is bizarre since I make most of my living through sight. Gabe has been developing his skills on the decks and today we officially launched GNET!C.

I’m digging the brand I whipped up this morning. What do you think? The last thing I need right now is another web project, but I made up little tent business cards; registered a domain at djgnetic.com and got us up on Twitter.

Most importantly, we dropped a hot set last night for a mainly Spanish and Italian crowd. At one point they were actually dancing on the tables. No joke. Can’t wait until next Friday …