Make Hay While the Sun Shines...
So it seems we are back in a Celtic Tiger, Celtic Tiger part 2 if you will – at least in some parts of the country anyway, certainly not nationwide. It has sort of crept up on us, after several years of doom & gloom, then some rays of hope, and now it’s a full-on tiger roar. Were those darker years a bad dream? Unfortunately not. Did we learn anything from that time? I'd like to think so.
The evidence is all around us, plenty of 2017 registration plates, many of which stuck to cars which one cannot say are cheap. ‘For Sale’ signs pop up outside houses, only to become ‘sale agreed’ a few days later, quickly switching to ‘sold’… queues for houses, designer labels all over the city centre, packed restaurants, bars and nightclubs, tourists everywhere and of course a buoyant job market in many sectors. This is of course fantastic, it’s great to see a thriving economy again after such difficult times. While the signs are good for the moment, it really doesn’t take much for this to change, we need only review the news on any given day and read of global political and economic factors that are likely to impact Ireland at some point. I really hope it lasts and that we’ve learned some lessons in the years since and it’s on this point that I felt compelled to write a few words.
‘Make hay while the sun shines’ is an old wise proverb that most if not all of us in Ireland will have heard at some point. In a few short words, it cleverly instructs us to take advantage of good conditions – make the most of an opportunity while the opportunity is there, plant seeds to ensure we’ve a good crop, develop our business so that it can prosper and carry us through more challenging times, which as sure as night follows day, will eventually come. We don’t have perpetual summers, and the short few months of ‘summer’ that we do have, often don’t deliver – it’s a bit of a lottery in Ireland as to what the weather will do. Managing our business though is less unpredictable – there is a lot we can control and with money being the core of every business, it should be an absolute priority for us to ensure this is managed well and that we consistently look for ways to manage costs.
We have met with many businesses over the years, from small independent to large multinationals with significant Irish presence. It has been an interesting, surprising, fascinating and ultimately rewarding journey for the team at We Can Save You Money. Interesting because we’ve met with so many diverse companies – we’ve got to know owners of numerous businesses who in some cases have become acquaintances or even friends. Surprising because there has been resistance from many businesses over the years – a sense of disbelief as to our claims of saving them money, an initial resistance to engaging to even consider the possibility that they might be paying more than necessary for utility bills. Fascinating is a good way to describe the response when these same businesses take a leap of faith and provide us with some bills – the disbelief when we revert with a savings analysis – anything from a few hundred euro per year to multiple thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands. This is an incredibly rewarding service to provide, we love to see the value we deliver to businesses and the several million euro (upwards of €15,000,000 over the last 8 years) saved – money that can be reinvested to the business. Going back to making hay – now is that time. It’s not something you leave till it’s too late – we’ve already learned those lessons. Stay lean, find opportunities to save money and put back into your business – use it towards digital marketing, additional staff, advertising or maybe just paint the office - but most importantly, remain vigilant towards costs and plan for the future while being mindful of the past.
We can comfortably say we are experts in this field, pardoning the somewhat relevant-to-hay pun. Our business was borne out of a need, a classic problem solved scenario. Over 8 years later, we have clocked up almost 20,000 hours working with at least 6,000 businesses all over Ireland, saving several million euro per year. We offer a free service - we do of course get paid by the utility providers, we are a business too after all... But what's important to is that our service is free - there is zero obligation and we are absolutely impartial. All you need to do is send us a copy or copies of bills, we analyse and revert with our findings - it's that easy. We've included our new video which in less than 90 seconds tells you more about what we do and how. Please invest this small amount of time, get in touch, and learn more about how you can reduce costs and reinvest in your business.
