An EU study on entrepreneurship has revealed that Ireland has an above average entrepreneurial spirit when compared with the rest of Europe.

The EU Survey looks at entrepreneurship and employment preferences across Europe and some of the other major world economies.

31% of those surveyed in the Republic who are employees felt that they could become their own boss in the next five years. 23% of respondents said that they were taking steps to start a new business or had done so, while a further 13% were thinking realistically about it. …

When new entrepreneurs are trying to get their business off the ground, they are juggling so many balls in the air, that putting structured policies in place may not be the first thing on their mind.

However, when the time comes to hire their first employee, most entrepreneurs spend the time needed to put a formal contract in place – including a written holiday policy. …

O2 has just released results from a survey conducted by Behaviour and Attitudes with over 300 SMEs. Interestingly, the results indicate that the number of SME directors teleworking or working from home has doubled in the last five years.

According to Alan Brown, business sales director with Telefónica O2 Ireland, “We may be witnessing a perfect storm of better mobile office solutions, more flexible attitudes to working and the need for greater productivity, which is creating this upsurge in teleworking,” …

They say that you can tell a lot about a society by its advertising. If this is true, Irish society has shifted in the past twelve months as ‘staying in’ is becoming the new ‘going out’. You may have seen brands capitalise on this with changes in their messaging such as the new Smirnoff ‘Dress up and Stay in’ ads.

TV stations are also updating their programming with new shows such as RTÉ’s ‘Take on the takeaway’. This new show features celebrity chefs such as Kevin Dundon compete against the contestants’ take-aways to try to beat them in the area of price, speed of delivery and taste.

As consumers demand better value on their weekly shop, they are turning to review websites and forums to find out where to shop and what products to buy. One website that is catering for this effectively is CheapEats – a blog about eating well in Ireland while getting value for money.

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If you have ever bought anything online, you’ll know that it can be tricky to get your package delivered on time, especially if you live in the countryside. If your parcel is not being handled by your local post man, the courier company may not know where your house is located in a particular townland.

Irish entrepreneurs that sell products online are only too aware of these delivery issues and have long campaigned for the introduction of Zip codes into Ireland.

This week, SMEs received some good news as our version of the Zip code “the All-Ireland digital address code system” went live. The new address code provides precise address information and will be invaluable to businesses that need to deliver products and services across the island.

The initiative has been developed by Cork-based company Loc8 Code Ltd in collaboration with Garmin Europe. One of the benefits of the system is that it can deliver considerable savings in transport costs because of the precision of the address when used in conjunction with a satellite navigation device.

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Ok, so you have found that great business idea – you’ve researched the market and written your business plan – but what are you going to name your company?

Some Irish companies name their business after the founder’s surname, e.g. O’Doherty Meats or Ryanair. Often people use the initials of their name or the type of business that it is, i.e. CRH stands for Cement Roadstone Ireland.

Here are some examples of interesting company names and the backstories behind them.

1. Google: The name started as a joke about the amount of information the search engine could search, or a “Googol” of information. (A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a presentation to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to “Google.”

2. Reebok: Reebok is simply an alternate spelling of “rhebok,” an African antelope. The company founders found the word in a South African edition of a dictionary won by Joe Foster, son of the Reebok founder J.W. Foster.

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Today’s customers have more choice, are better informed and are more demanding of value when they are spending their hard earned cash. They look not only for the products and services that meet their needs at the price they are willing to pay, but for the merchant that recognizes, appreciates and rewards their custom. So what is beyond price, convenience and service?

If you put on your consumer hat, you’ll understand that it’s the little things that matter most. Little things like looking a customer in the eye, greeting them, smiling, and carrying on a human conversation go a long way towards marketing a company as friendly and welcoming. Even thanking people for their business is something that doesn’t cost the business owner and is valued by the customer.

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Foursquare, a location based social network that incorporates gaming elements, is planning to distribute a free analytics tool, which will give business owners access to a range of information about visitors to their premises.

With the new analytics dashboard, businesses will be able to see a range of real-time data about Foursquare usage, including who has “checked in” to their place via Foursquare, when they arrived, the male-to-female customer ratio and which times of day are more active for certain customers.

According to the New York Times, a test customer, P.C.C. Natural Markets, a Seattle-based organic foods company, saw a large number of new Foursquare users coming to its stores over the weekend and used the analytics tool to figure out where they were coming from.

“By using the Foursquare dashboard, we figured out that they were coming for a new organic doughnut that had been advertised on TV,” said Ricardo Rabago, social media specialist for the company. …

Some people who would like to work for themselves are stuck looking for ‘the big idea’ that will make them lots of money. However, many entrepreneurs who started up their own business often had a very simple idea initially.

Here is a list of different home-based businesses that have a relatively low start up cost and barriers to entry. You never know, it might spark something off in yourself and give you the inspiration that you need to open up your first business! …