Paul Coughlan

This morning we had our first mentor come in and share his expertise. Paul has a range of roles including working with Tom Walsh (shot putt world champion) and helping him to gain sponsorship etc.  He came to talk about commercial viability - making a business work.

Paul talked about the advantage of doing what you love doing and getting paid for it!

• Firstly you need that good idea
• Ideally that should be something you are passionate about
• This may not make you a lot of money!
• If you are going to make money out of something, what do you need?
• You need people!
• Advertising
• Customers - someone to buy or want your product
• How do you know what people want?
• If it is something that people want, how do you make money out of it? Getting people to buy
• Event promoters - how many of you have taken part in the Weetbix Tryathlon?
• How do you get sponsorship?
• How much money do I want to make? What are my costs? How do I make a profit?
• Could you survey potential customers to check costs? Look at competition products?
• How do you find out how many potential customers you might have?
• Using a website or Facebook page can tell you how many people have clicked on it
• How do you advertise in a place that will attract the right market for your product?
• How might you advocate for something that is important?
• Could you redesign somehow to make your idea more viable?