Declining a Job Offer with Grace

Declining a Job Offer with Grace Declining a Job Offer with Grace Is there an approach to dismiss a proposition for employment, establish an extraordinary connection, and keep every one of your extensions unblemished? You wager there is! When you're searching for work, declining a bid for employment may feel like an extravagance. In any case, there are times when you complete the meeting procedure, just to understand the open door isn't directly for you. Whatever the explanation, there are a couple of steps you can follow on the best way to dismiss a proposition for employment without destroying the business relationship. 1. Do it instantly. While bosses perceive that you need time to thoroughly consider it or talk about it with your family, it's significant that you decrease a proposition for employment when you realize you would prefer not to take the position. The more you hold on to let them know, the more exertion (and cash) they will have devoted to your enlistment and onboarding. On the off chance that you would prefer not to cut ties and future open doors with the association, it's ideal to burn through as meager of their time as could be expected under the circumstances. 2. Follow the style of your place of contact. Have your correspondences been totally by means of email? Has the employing administrator or enrollment specialist considered you a few times? Consider this while picking how to decay the offer. Truly, it's a lot simpler to turn the situation down through an email; in any case, if the individual you've been addressing has set aside the effort to keep you educated via telephone, behavior directs that a call is the most ideal approach to break the news. 3. Reject the offer, not the organization. At the point when you're declining a proposition for employment, it's imperative to clarify that, while the offer doesn't work dependent on your requirements as of now, you'd prefer to stay in touch with those you've met during the meeting procedure. Cutting off ties is the most exceedingly awful thing you can accomplish for your profession. Keep the relationship open since no one can tell whenever another open door may open up that is important to you. Clarifying why this job, and that's it, is certainly not a fit for you is vital to keeping that relationship flawless. 4. Don't oversell it. Individuals are genuinely aware of when somebody is simply attempting to cause them to feel better, so speak the truth regarding why the open door doesn't work for you. In any case, don't spout about the organization just to dismiss the offer except if you would not joke about this. You can be clear and expert without being negative. It's smarter to give fair criticism as opposed to discharge guarantees. On the off chance that you oversell it, you risk having the enrollment specialist attempt to alter your perspective after you've just chosen it's not the correct fit. 5. Try not to anticipate that them should ask. Declining a bid for employment under the expectation that they will offer more cash or a superior arrangement is a poorly conceived notion. There were likely different competitors arranged for the job, and any of them could be called to fill the position you don't acknowledge. It's likewise discourteous and even amateurish from multiple points of view. In case you're keen on the position yet sincerely can't bear to take it or there is one component that keeps you from taking it, share that data. Maybe they will have the option to get the job done bat for you yet go in expecting they won't and can't. At the point when you choose to decay, it ought to be a 100 percent decrease dependent on the data as of now accessible. 6. Trustworthiness is vital. Whatever the condition, consistently be amenable, proficient, and legitimate when you react. Is it accurate to say that you were offered more cash to remain in your present job? Did another offer come in while was somewhat increasingly alluring? Did you understand in your last meeting that there would be an excessive amount of movement or that the position wasn't actually what you thought it was? Tell them why you experienced the procedure and chose to decrease at long last. Similarly as you would like to get accommodating input when you are dismissed for a job, recruiting chiefs will value recognizing what made you decay their offer. Related Articles:

How To Be A More Courageous Manager

Book Karin & David Today How to Be a More Courageous Manager I will always remember this sarcastically brave, closed-door conversation, which sealed my belief that managerial courage is among the most difficult management competencies to search out and develop. Even highly effective, seemingly confident individuals often concern the results of doing what’s right. My boss stated: Karin, the distinction between you and me is that you are keen to stay to your values no matter what, even when it'd jeaoporadize your career trajectory. How do you respond to a press release like that? We each stood there in awkward silence for what appeared like an hour however was most likely a minute and a half. I knew what she was actually saying. “Karin if I had been you, I would let this one go. It’s not worth the political capital to battle this. But I’m not you, you’re you, and I know you’re not going to again down, and I kind of admire your courage, sister.” Of course, there are lots of occasions when backing down is exactly the proper factor to do. Many battles are worth dropping. There’s a severe difference between braveness and stupidity. But not this time. I had to stay the course. And because it seems, she showed up and had my again. Courageous is usually contagious. And right here’s the excellent news. Most of the time you’re not going to be confronted with some massive career difficult position. Most moments of managerial courage come down to the micro-decisions you make if you’re just a little bit scared, and the stakes aren’t actually that top. Show up with only a bit extra courage when it would be easier not to, day after day, week after week, and watch what occurs to your influence and impact. So how do you show up courageous? Address Performance Issues Nothing drives high performers crazier than a boss who appears the other method and lets slackers slide. Have the courage to provide consistent efficiency suggestions and tackle efficiency points head on. If you do that early and often, the possibilitie s of you having to take care of a really robust issue (like having to fireside the man) cut back considerably. If you don’t know the place to start out, right here’s the way to begin staff accountability whenever you never have earlier than. Give Credit Have you ever worked for a boss who took credit score in your work? What do you assume they had been afraid of? You know what they should be afraid of? Karma. The different shoe virtually at all times drops on people like this, and so they end up with exactly what they fearedâ€"diminished credibility and trust. Have the braveness to raise different individuals up early and often. Start small. How can you show up with just a bit extra courage this week? Pick one space you wrestle with and start there. Advocate for Your Team Often when employees complain that “My boss is a wuss,” it’s because their boss lacks the courage to advocate for the team’s concepts or needs. The minute their boss or a peer asks for extra clarificati on or challenges an concept, they back down. Or they find it simpler to only lay low and never problem the status quo than to raise a priority. If you'll be able to’t influence others, your team may begin to surprise why they need you. If that is tricky for you, start small, and discover little ways to advocate in your group. Be Willing to Experiment Another large grievance I hear from employees who say their boss lacks courage is their unwillingness to experiment with new ideas or approaches. If “It ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is your favourite mantra, studying the art of a properly-run pilot can go a good distance in upping your courage whereas managing your stress. Show a Bit of Vulnerability This was one of the hardest for me to study. Employees wish to know they’re working for an additional human being. Having the braveness to let folks see a bit extra about who you really are, and to admit whenever you’re incorrect or don’t have all the answers, can go a long wa y in building trust and connection. Here’s the story (see video) of how I realized this. Make Timely Decisions No one desires to work for a waffler. Have the braveness to make choices and stick with them. If you struggle with this, get your team to help you. Your flip. What’s your greatest recommendation for displaying up as a extra courageous manager? Karin Hurt, Founder of Let’s Grow Leaders, helps leaders around the world achieve breakthrough results, with out shedding their soul. A former Verizon Wireless executive, she has over twenty years of expertise in sales, customer service, and HR. She was named on Inc's record of 100 Great Leadership Speakers and American Management Association's 50 Leaders to Watch. She’s the author of several books: Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates (Harper Collins Summer 2020), Winning Well: A Manager's Guide to Getting Results-Without Losing Your Soul, Overcoming an Imperfect Boss, and Glowstone Peak. Post navigation Your e-mail address is not going to be revealed. Required fields are marked * Comment Name * Email * Website This website uses Akismet to scale back spam. Learn how your comment knowledge is processed. Join the Let's Grow Leaders group free of charge weekly management insights, tools, and strategies you should use right away!

Learn How Writing Resume is So Important!

<h1>Learn How Writing Resume is So Important!</h1><p>Learning how to compose continue is one of the most significant parts of pursuit of employment. It's anything but difficult to overlook, however a resume isn't only your CV. It's a record of all that you've at any point accomplished for your manager or organization.</p><p></p><p>One botch that individuals make when composing resumes is accepting that they're simply one more approach to account for themselves. They're definitely not. You have to give data in your resume that is novel and useful about what you are searching for in a job.</p><p></p><p>Here's a case of what you ought to say in your resume: 'I would be keen on the accompanying employments at this current organization's opening: Sales Representative, Account Executive, Sales Associate and Inventory Expert.' All three positions would require work involvement with deals, in account the board and in stock adm inistration. The posting of these obligations is basic to your resume since it furnishes the peruser with the data they have to think about what sort of position you're applying for.</p><p></p><p>If you work superbly on your resume, you'll go far towards making sure about the position. You can include explicit aptitudes, training, affirmations, and so forth. That is actually why figuring out how to compose continue is so important.</p><p></p><p>The first and most significant segment of the resume is your introductory letter. Your introductory letter ought to incorporate a synopsis of your vocation objectives, why you're searching for a new position, and why you would be a solid match for the position. Remember to thank your future manager for considering you.</p><p></p><p>If you need assistance composing a resume, there are continue working administrations out there that will do the legwork for you. Along these lines you don't need to invest your energy making a resume by hand. Much the same as when you go after a position, you need to feature explicit aptitudes and capabilities, so on the off chance that you have them, use them. Try not to go over the edge with your resume and neglect to incorporate these things.</p><p></p><p>Not just do organizations and spotters use resumes, at the same time, lamentably, managers once in a while use introductory letters while recruiting new representatives. An introductory letter is basically a letter routed to a specific representative expressing your aim to recruit them and to enlighten them regarding your past encounters. You can figure out how to compose resume and introductory letter at the equivalent time.</p><p></p><p>Remember, figuring out how to compose resume and introductory letter together is basic for progress. Try not to disregard these basic segments of your resume and introductory letter, o r you'll be burning through both time and cash. Assembling these parts will assist you with finding the activity of your dreams.</p>

Retire How to Ease out of Work Gradually

Resign How to Ease jobless Gradually More established specialists are an interesting issue among HR experts nowadays, particularly since the portion of the work power of individuals 55 and over is anticipated to ascend to 25% by 2020. That discussion will progressively move toward updating corporate advantages for themâ€"particularly helping more established representatives stage into retirement. Be that as it may, what are firms really doing to facilitate this change and what would it be a good idea for you to do in the event that you'd like yours to let you progressively move from full-an ideal opportunity to low maintenance and in the end no-time? Specially appointed Deals for Phased Retirement Commonly, inspired more seasoned laborers have needed to take a stab at haggling impromptu courses of action with HR or their supervisor for continuous exits out of the organization, maybe with low maintenance contracts close by. In the event that businesses would quicken the drive for adaptable work game plans, everybody would be in an ideal situation, says Richard Johnson, work advertise master at the Urban Institute. Adaptability is significant. Be that as it may, a few firms have gained ground toward extending to their workers more noteworthy employment opportunity adaptability. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch review of 650 C-level administrators and HR and advantage plan pioneers found that half of the businesses offer adaptable or tweaked work calendars to hold more established specialists. A third offer proceeding with instruction and advancement openings, while 22% let representatives work remotely and 21% offer stretched out advantages to more seasoned workers, for example, cafeteria designs that consider fitting advantage bundles. How Employers Are Changing Until decently as of late, the term retirement in the working environment flagged the day a more seasoned representative left the association to enter a way of life of relaxation. At any rate that was the picture. Yet, various far-located administrations currently perceive that the work-and-retirement isolate is less obvious today and that acknowledgment will probably influence the structure of worker benefits. A valid example: Intel. Like all large, powerful organizations, the Silicon Valley behemoth offers its workers a decent advantages bundle, including retirement reserve funds. Be that as it may, Intel likewise bolsters representatives staging into retirement. As of late, the organization has tried different things with a few new experimental runs programs. For example, U.S. representatives qualified to resign from Intel can apply for an Encore Career Fellowship. That encourages them slip into the following phase of their lives by utilizing their aptitudes, bringing out their interests, and having an effect in their networks through a transient spell at a neighborhood philanthropic. Making a culture that bolsters our representatives as they get ready and plan for retirement is significant, says Amber Wiseley, Intel Retirement Benefits Strategist. Our representatives are searching for various choices to reconsider retirement and are looking for chances to keep on affecting society. Employments With Built-In Flexibility A tantamount discussion is occurring a long way from Silicon Valley, at Herman Miller in Zeeland, Mich., where about a fourth of the organization's workforce is 55+. Does that mean in five years Herman Miller will endure a gigantic surge of workers heading into retirement? Far fetched. The old model that individuals will resign at 62 and they'll get together their assets and move to Florida is truly dated, says Tony Cortese, Herman Miller's senior VP for HR. I don't believe that is the truth we go up against. All things considered, Herman Miller executives stress over losing their more seasoned workers' aptitudes and information too rapidly. So the organization has founded programs with worked in adaptability. For instance, laborers get the opportunity to take six to 12 sequential weeks off during the year. Workers aren't paid during that time, yet keep their advantages and length of administration toward their annuity. Says Cortese: We've had individuals who are 55 or more established state, 'I don't have a clue whether I'm prepared for retirement, yet I'm going to attempt this.' Herman Miller likewise as of late revealed a flex retirement plan, permitting a worker who's 60 or over and has in any event five years of administration at the organization to design an exit more than a half year to two years. The retirement choice is irreversible and, as an end-result of the arranged decrease in hours, the flex-retirement representative assembles an information move intend to show the ropes of their business to a substitution. Watches Cortese: They state, 'I'm prepared to resign, yet I'm not all set today.' Letting Full-Time Workers Go Part-Time At Baptist Health South Florida, the biggest not-revenue driven human services association in the area, representatives who are at 59-and a half year who have been with the organization for a long time or more can start drawing on their retirement reserve funds and still work low maintenance. AGL Resources, a gaseous petrol conveyance organization situated in Atlanta, Ga., lets its resigned laborers return on low maintenance or undertaking premise and partake in organization benefits, for example, its 401(k) plan. The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., which Next Avenue as of late said might be America's best manager for more established laborers, is celebrated for its adaptable work routines and working from home chances. A basic activity that will educate the Unretirement development is the government's new staged retirement program. Beginning in November, some full-time government laborers with in any event 20 or 30 years of administration who are approaching retirement age can apply to work low maintenance plan while drawing halfway retirement benefits. The program likewise expects members to spend at any rate 20% of their time tutoring more youthful workers. What's in store Bosses like these speak to simply the start of a pattern that will assemble energy as Unretirement and reprise professions become some portion of the normal and wanted lifecycle among a maturing workforce. Advantages like these are useful for workers and bosses. Says Joseph Coughlin of MIT's AgeLab: sooner rather than later, the 'new child down the corridor' may, truth be told, be somebody's grandma in the following phase of her multi-demonstration life. Be that as it may, the Unretirement development could largerly affect the expert experience sometime down the road with a little consolation. Take lawyers 65 and more established. A progression of changes in the legitimate commercial center has decreased the interest for maturing boomer lawyers. The development in legitimate administrations has been driven by enterprises and associations that utilization huge firms less dependent on senior legal counselors, and the requests for lawful guidance by people who generally enlist littler firms to speak to them is down. Subsequently, exactly when the socioeconomics of the lawful calling have delivered an extremely enormous pool of senior legal advisors, the extent of the legitimate calling that is expected to stay in senior situations to manage paid work and to be all around made up for this work is declining, watch Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Esther Lardent, Reena Glazer, and Kellen Ressmeyer in Old and Making Hay, an exploration paper for the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University, Bloomington. The arrangement, these legitimate specialists state, is for law offices to build up second act programs for their senior lawyers. Senior legal counselors would focus quite a bit of their energies on the association's free work. The researchers compute that regardless of whether a simple 5% of rehearsing lawyers more than 65 partook in a free second act, the quantity of lawyers working essentially on open intrigue work would twofold. The arrangement would be that more established attorneys tolerating the second demonstration way would place in less hours and get saved money. The legitimate calling has a brilliant chance to do well by its individuals, itself, and society everywhere, the paper's writers compose. The most effective method to Get a Phased Retirement What would you be able to do as a representative if the executives hasn't gotten the Unretirement message yet? Make some noise. Presently, I for the most part feign exacerbation when somebody suggests that workers should campaign the board. Good karma with that, isn't that so? However there are valid justifications for presenting the defense in this condition. For a certain something, Unretirement is a hotly debated issue among ranking directors. For another, the recommendation isn't coming out of fantasy land. Many driving edge organizations are embracing advantage strategies that urge workers to stage into retirement. An intrigue to corporate self image, by calmly dropping a portion of those names (Intel, Herman Miller… ), might conceivably work. Different Benefits to Aid Your Transition There are likewise a couple of corporate advantages worth misusing that aren't carefully designed for Unretirement however could assist you with your change. For instance, exploit any money related help your boss proposals for preparing or instruction that could situate you for your next part. Also, a few organizations have associations with charities where representatives can chip in during endorsed time. In case you're considering moving from the for-benefit to the philanthropic division, seek after these chipping in chances to do great and make conceivably significant associations that could pay off for you later on. What's more, with the present more advantageous occupation showcase, in case you're thinking about searching for another position somewhere else, ask the recruiting director whether the business offers Unretirement-type advantages, for example, staged retirement. Assets That Can Help Keep in mind: you're a long way from alone. Systems of similarly invested boomers looking for their Unretirement are jumping up everywhere throughout the nation. A significant asset for investigating choices and contacts is Encore.org, which keeps up a rundown of reprise associations around the nation and backers the Encore Fellowship Networks. Other supportive assets incorporate The Transition Network, ReServe, Retired Brains and Next Avenue. Significant work and life advances are infrequently simple, even with authoritative help. In any case, what's energizing pretty much all the staged retirement experimentations is that they will develop. Boomers are evaluating various thoughts, basically observing which Unretirement business and way of life

Gavin Duffy Lessons From a Life in Business

Gavin Duffy Lessons From a Life in Business Gavin Duffy: Lessons From a Life in Business Image Source: MediaTraining.ieIRISH media guru, recruitment specialist andâ€"a term he regards with some bemusementâ€"“serial entrepreneur”, Gavin Duffy has become  a true household name in Ireland, thanks to his role as the ‘father figure’ in  the Irish version of global television franchise, Dragon’s Den.While the seven seasons of the show has given  a flavour of the sheer pleasure Gavin Duffy  takes in business and people,  playing the ‘master of the den’ in many ways downplays his formidable business reputation and track record, and certainly belies the restlessness of his  business spirit.In a recent telephone  interviewâ€"as he emerged from  one meeting,  en route to anotherâ€"Gavin Duffy, a master raconteur as well (we could have listened to him all day!), recalled his career at length for AGENT.Business permeates every corner of his life and, talking as openly about  the hard lessons dealt out by tough experiences as he does about achievements, it’s clear that Gavin Duffy’s success is largely attributable to his ever-vigilant openness  to business’s  â€˜lifelong learning’  opportunities.“It’s a strange thing,” he told AGENT, “but I have never, ever, once thought, ‘What happens if this goes wrong?’, even though it has gone wrongâ€"many times!” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Beginnings of A Life in Business“When we sat down for dinner in the evening, it sort of became a boardroom table…”FOR those who have not seen the RTÉ  Dragon’s Den, Gavin Duffy’s genuine enthusiasm for business, particularly entrepreneurs  at early start-up stage, is abundant. So it proves off-camera too. He displays an  interest in people, and in business, that has not been learnt from books, but instilled at a more profound level.So it’s no surprise to learn that the Duffy  business smarts were forged during childhood in The Gemâ€"the pub and ‘short-order’ restaurant his parents ran in Naas, County Kildare. Du ffy looks back on a childhood with no  dividing lines between work and private life. The Gem was beloved of Irish business travellers and day-trippers in the 1960s and 1970s journeying  between the capital, Dublin, and regions to the south and west of the country. Business was brisk. “The more up-market people would go to Lawlor’s Hotel in the town, but happily for us, many of the people who travelled regularly in those days came to The Gem for their rest stops, and so we did really phenomenal business.”Family mealtimes, Duffy recalls, “sort of became a boardroom table. My parents would be talking about business, and I’d be listening to this stuff going back and forward across the table”.He vividly recalls his first major responsibility. “I was aged about eight, and one of my jobs was to follow my mother  as she took the wads of cash out of the tillsâ€"when I say ‘wads’, there wasnt that much actual cash, but this was in the late 1960s, so the notes were much large râ€"my job was to bring  the cash upstairs, and put it in a drawer in my mother’s bedroom,  and that’s where it stayed until the night lodgement was done later on.”As the business grewâ€"the family opened another Gem pub/restaurant to the north of Dublin in Droghedaâ€"Duffy was left with few illusions about the commitment necessary for success: “It was incredibly hard work. That’s the main memory I have… of my parents both working very, very hard. But I presume from seeing that, I was destined to go into business myself.”Becoming a ‘Serial Entrepreneur’“The only reason I was a serial entrepreneur was that I don’t think anybody would employ me!”AS A young man, a couple of things were obvious about the young Duffy. “In later years, someone described me as a serial entrepreneur, and I always found that funny. To be honest, I think the only reason I was a serial entrepreneur was that I don’t think anybody would employ me! Whilst I was a very good employee, if I saw that there was a better way to run the business, I would tell  my manager or boss that, and sometimes that doesnt endear you to people. So I think it was inevitable that I was going to do things for myself.”Through the  family business in he had begun building networks , and, perhaps unsurprisingly for an opinionated young man with a lot to say, he  developed a passion for news and media, and the pirate radio movement that was sweeping Ireland in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Instead of going to university, Gavin joined Local Radio Drogheda, or ‘Swinging Radio Drogheda’ as it was known, and within months, at the age of 18, he was at the helm of Boyneside Radio/Community Radio Drogheda, a pirate station with an emphasis on news, heading up a team of 30 full-time and part-time people. Here is a flier, advertising his Lunchtime Special show, and proclaiming his as “the first voice heard on 225”. The image is some distance from the polished media  professional of subse quent years, but the blurb gives a sense of a young man who was going places:Image Source:  THE DX ARCHIVEFor Duffy, pirate radio was a springboard to a media career, but he has never stood still or worked to a linear narrative. By his mid 20s, he was a presenter on the national broadcaster, RTÉ, but at the same time, he filed the first successful application for a licensed provincial radio station, LMFM. He remained at the helm of LMFM and presented the daily 12-2pm programme, from 1990 to 1992.At least two significant things happened to Duffy as a result of his establishment of LMFM. When this business was sold to UTV in 2004, it did so for a reported €10m, a sum that Duffy claims is the Irish and UK record for a broadcast or publishing asset.The second is that he met his future wife, Orlaith Carmody, who had approached the station seeking work as a researcher. Duffy left day-to-day business at LMFM, and founded the media and management consultancy Mediatraining.ie in 1992.“O nce Id set up LMFM and it was running for 18 months to 24 months, I wanted to move on. And I learned from that time that my abilities are best suited to the startup phase. So what I have done since then with my own businesses is, I start them up, work with them independently for 12 to 24 months, and then I look to do something else,” he explained.“Serial entrepreneur” may be a description that makes him chuckle, but it’s this approach that has seen him involved in more than 40 start-up businesses, and become one of Ireland’s most  respected  authorities on business and the workings of the media. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Mysteries of Success FailureIMAGE SOURCE: MEDIATRAINING.IEFOR Gavin  Duffy, there is no scientific formula for business success;  it comes down to a number of things. Hard work, focus, and, perhaps most importantly of all, resilience and common-sense over self-defeating passion.AGENT has  previously reported on  Duffy’s war ning to committed entrepreneurs, “don’t go down with the ship”,  and to ensure that whatever business you are engaged in sufficiently rewards the passion and effort you expend  in.But he admits that there are no easy answers.  From time to time  on Dragon’s Den,  the successes and failures of products that Duffy and the other Dragons either have invested in, or chosen not to, has astounded them.Even a successful investment such as Tan Organic, the world’s first and only ECO-certified 100 percent natural, organic sunless tan, completely astounded the veteran Duffy: “Noelle O’Connor came into the Den and she projected in Year Three she would have a turnover of €780,000. But within 16 weeks of launch, we had a million euro in sales!”Another product that achieved success beyond Duffy’s wildest imagination was the Aurora Hair Band, invented by Dublin hairdresser Lindsey Byrne and her partner Alex Purcell. “That was the worst prototype I have ever seen in my life,† Duffy splutters: “It kind of looked like a wire brush in a pink sock, and all the other Dragons started laughing. But I invested in it because I’d recently been asked by a large retailer to keep my eye out for ‘gadgety’ stuff that could be put on their tills. I knew I could get this thing on the counterâ€"it was just about making it presentable and putting it in the right box. A €50,000 investment was a no-brainer for me.”“However, Id warned Lindsey and Alex  to manage their expectations, as I thought  the product would have an 18-month life cycle. But the thing we underestimated was the influence of Game Of Thrones. All the female characters in it have long hair and wear it in interesting ways. So every time that comes back on television, the Aurora Band tends to  sell tens of thousands more in the UK alone. It’s a very, very successful business, and Alex and Lindsey have gone on to generate literally millions of euro selling Aurora bands.”This contrasts with th e experience of Graham and Cassandra Kelly, who secured €30,000 investment from Gavin for their business First Steps Forever. “I thought their idea, where they would frame people’s first baby shoes, was great,” Duffy recalled, “But no matter what we did, people just wouldnt buy them in the numbers they needed to buy them in.”Mistakes, Close Calls, and the Slender Gap Between Survival Failure“Ive been literally bust on about three occasions, but luckily for me, no-one else realised it. Thats how close I came…”AGED just 19 or 20 while at the head of his radio station in Drogheda, Gavin Duffy had his first brush  with something that he has encountered  several more times during his career. It was a matter of cash flow, and, Duffy recalls, the question of the station’s survival or failure came down to the sum of IR £900.“I can remember a local businessman gave me a loan, and that kept the station going. That man becameâ€"I wouldnt have used the word then, but it†™s now a popular termâ€"a ‘mentor’,” Duffy reveals.There was a similar close call  around 10 years later in 1992. “I’d made all of the mistakes that one makes, you know? Id set up with a very flashy office in Dublin, with a big rent, and then a very large client, sort of… well, there’s no other term I can use, “stiffed” me, for IR £27,000…”The memory suddenly reached across two decades and struck Gavin Duffy  like a hammer blow during a Dragon’s Den episode, when a young businessman Jason O’Reilly, who’d  just been offered an investment of €20,000 in his business, broke down in tears, recalling how an investor who promised him €20,000 had left him high and dry, and recounting the hardships he and his family had to endure as he clawed his way back from the abyss.The tears streaked Gavin Duffy’s face during O’Reilly’s breakdown. “Yeah… look, to be honest, I cry at movies as well, but yes, Jason told  his story and it just hit me like a hammer. Were still great pals. He’s a great guy, and Ive done everything I can to encourage him to become a standup comic, because he is one of the funniest people I knowâ€"he has a great sense of natural timing, and demonstrates comedic genius.”“But what I do say to people is this: I’ve been literally bust on about three occasions, but luckily for me, no-one else realised it. That’s how close I came. Ive had situations where the figures have been hundreds of thousands of euros. But you havent been in business until youve dealt with those kind of situations. I suppose now I am much more able to deal with them. I don’t lose sleep. The approach is: look, we have a big problem, we have to sort it out.”“In all cases, there was always a cash-flow issue. The underlying business was solid and the order book was good, but there was over-trading. You always have to cut your cloth to measure. You have to be very careful, and I think one of the problems with me is that because Im very good at selling, I’ve always felt that you solve the problem by going out and selling more. But cash-flow is always a problem for business. You have to watch it 24-7, and no matter how wealthy you are, it’s a problem that doesnt go away.” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Human Face of InvestmentImage Source:  MediaTraining.ie“I just love the inventors. Were privileged that someone like that comes on the programme.”COMPARED with Shark Tank or other international variants of the Dragon’s Den franchise, the Irish version is notable for its humane quality. When the idea for an Irish programme was  first floated, Gavin Duffy recalls, the franchise owners Sony Pictures  were keen for  the Irish investors to adhere to the tried and tested  formatâ€"in which the Dragons “either invest or chop the entrepreneurs head off”.For Duffy and the others, fully aware of the ravages wrought on their homeland by “the mother of all recessions” at the time of t he programme’s inception in 2009, the Sony approach did not feel right.“I certainly felt that anyone setting up a business, maybe somebody whod lost a job and were resilient enough to take their redundancy money to invest it and set up  their own little business, I think that chopping the head of a person like that would have been grossly unfair, and also grossly damaging to our own reputation.“So we worked out our own system. Television demands jeopardy, and in the early days of the show, we had the Sunday night slot on the other half of the year to the crime drama Love/Hate, which had huge ratings, and people were shooting and killing, and there was all sorts of mayhem. So we decided to make the drama out of us having a go at one another, and create novelty by having some craic and banter with each other. In the very beginning, Sony had arranged for us and our production company ShinAwil to meet with the UK Dragons, for advice. But after we completed the first series, Sony b egan sending our DVDs to the BBC, saying, “Notice how these guys in Ireland, they don’t have the same pool to fish in as you, but if somebody comes in and theyre not great or they have a bad idea, they either have some fun, or knock sparks off one another about it, and thats what you guys need to start doing.”“I missed out on meeting the BBC  Dragons at the time, because I was away on business, but my colleagues back then on the Den told me that this  was the end of our communication with the BBC Dragons… apparently they did not like being told to follow the lead of the RTÉ Dragons,” Duffy laughs.From time to time, the Dragons show a more irritable side. “We record the  shows back to back, day after day, for two to three weeks, and  if youve been there eight days in a row, recording from 8  in the morning  until 9  at night, and somebody comes in offering five per cent for an investment of €200,000 in a business that has no sales, well, you can be exhausted and just respond, ‘WHAAAT???’ And that will go in the promo, because the producers will look for a type of TV aggression. But we feel that people who are starting a business in a recession should certainly be respected.”Horses, Work-Life Balance Working With A SpouseNOW aged in his middle-50s, Gavin Duffy continues to see none of the traditional conceptual lines drawn between work and private life. In many ways, life is just the same as it was when he was an  eight year old boy listening to his mother and father talk business during family mealtimes at the kitchen table.He’s continually busy with his investment portfolio, his commitments as part owner of the HRM Group of Companies, one of Ireland’s most prominent players in recruitment, and remains at the helm of his media consultancy Dorland (which owns his influential www.mediatraining.ie business), along with his wife and business partner Orlaith Carmody, whom he married in 1993. How difficult has  it been for the couple to ac hieve any work-life balance in such a situation?“Well…” he responds, “Orlaith is not my partner… shes the boss! I dont say this jokingly. Orlaith runs the consultancy business, I work for Orlaith, and thats the way we operate. Working with your spouse is strange, and it’s not something Id recommend to just anyone. Were together 24-7, of course, and thats not for everyone. But the good thing is, we’re on the same wavelength, all the time, so it has its advantages. But  sometimes I feel a right charlatan, because we could be having a screaming row about something at home, and then go straight into a business meeting, and there we are, smiling at one another! But Ive realised that when that happens, it actually helps to fix the situation. If we werent working together  and we had a row, it might fester, and then youd come home that evening and it would be ‘all picture, no sound’, you know? So even when we fall out, we fall in again every quickly, and for some reason, that has worked for us… it has done for 23 years of marriage anyway!”He  confesses that he has a tendency common to all people who are considered workaholics.“My family say Im a workaholic, but Ive always thought that if you really love your work you dont feel like youre working. But all workaholics think theyre really lazy, and believe me, theres no better man to sort of just flop onto a couch during the weekend. Im a sports nut, so I watch everything from UFC through to camogie, am very big into rugby and soccer. I follow Arsenal, so thats a bit disappointing at the moment, and follow GAA.”He reveals that his favourite pastime is horse riding. “When I really want to unwind, I love to go out on a horse, or even spend time with them. It’s a type of disease I haveâ€"not matter where I am or what Im doing, every night when I come home, I go up the yard to the stables and… and I think this is for my own well-being, I have to smell a horse every night before I go to bed… it’s inexplicable, but its just something I have to do.” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Advice for Young Entrepreneurs“Sometimes you give it the best shot…  but the market just doesn’t go for it.”GAVIN Duffy is often asked for advice from people working in steady jobs, but who have the urge to try something else. “I often feel very sorry for them,” he reveals, “because  I have to say to them, if you don’t  do it now, you’re not going to do it.  I always encourage people to consider change.”It’s an approach that gets him into trouble with extended family when he dispenses advice to nieces and nephews. But he insists that people can be “risk averse” to their own detriment. “I’m not basing this on me and my experience, because I truly don’t know what happened in my caseâ€"it’s a strange thing, but I have never, ever, once thought, ‘What happens if this goes wrong?’, even though it has gone wrongâ€"many times!”In taking t he “go for it” approach, Duffy acknowledges two things. “Firstly, there are lots of people who have a difficulty in that regard, whatever way they were conditioned in their schooling or their family. For me, from an early age I was in that milieu of business, and so going into business was the natural progression, the next step. However, I do believe that people who are always thinking ‘what if this doesn’t work out?’ are going to find that if they keep thinking like that, then it’s not going to work out.”“But secondly, it is important for startups to consider very carefully whether they in the right place for their skills and energy. I always worry about this,” Duffy  admits. “You see it a lot on Twitter, where people tweet quotes, like, Walt Disney failed 110 times, and Henry Ford failed 42 times, but stuck at it. Now, I’m convinced that Disney and Ford, whatever number of times they failed, each time they tried it again, they tweaked it and reiterated it, and improved it.“But sometimes you give it the best shot, and you  see this on Dragon’s Den all the time, where there’s national TV exposure, a Dragon mentoring you, the investment, but the market just doesn’t go for it. What I advise there is to learn from this, and use your skills for something else. Don’t go down with the ship!”“I think people sometimes mix up resilience for stubbornness and staying with something, so in  Dragon’s Den  this is why I never ask questions like, ‘What are you projecting over the next three years?’. It does my head in, watching people trying to guess the figures and remember what the accountant told them. The reality is that you know after three months whether this has potential.”image source: mediatraining.ieGavin Duffy is the senior Dragon on RTÉ’s Dragon’s Den, produced by ShinAwil Productions. Previous episodes of Dragon’s Den season seven  are available on RTÉ Player.