Sinéad O’ Driscoll is the founder and CEO of Web Journey, a digital marketing consulting firm specialising in inbound marketing and sales, content creation, websites, graphic design and is a HubSpot Solutions Partner.
Sinéad started her journey as a software developer in global financial services companies. She was a Software Development Manager for 20 years and during this time, she loved working on User Experience.
This is closely aligned to marketing and encouraged Sinéad to complete a digital marketing diploma along with other marketing and graphic design courses at the same time as having a job.
Learning these new skills at the same time as having a job gave Sinead the confidence to eventually set up her own business.
Why start your own business?
When Sinéad was working in her last contract role, she got an offer to join a company permanently. She had been considering setting up her own business and decided the time was right instead of taking the permanent job. She wanted a better work/life balance, more variety in her work, and not limit herself to one industry.
As well as being able to choose the work you do, Sinéad loves the flexibility and the challenge of running your own business.
“Life’s too short to be spending 4 hours a day commuting. And yes, you still have to work long hours as a Startup but it’s different when it’s your own and you’re passionate about it – it doesn’t feel like work!”
What about the challenges?
When Sinead started her business, she’d done the marketing and graphic design courses, but she had no experience in sales. So, she had to learn on the job, make mistakes, and learn from them.
Challenges are inevitable and they are an opportunity for continuous development.
“I’ve made many mistakes, but I’ve always learned from them and they’ve made me better. Fail fast – learn fast.”
“From my own experience, the best advice I can give other founders, particularly ones with no sales background, is to not underestimate sales and the value of putting a solid sales process in place at the start that can scale as the company does.”
The other big challenge Sinead had to overcome was getting on top of her accounting. It wasn’t something she was prepared to take on herself so she needed someone competent she trusted to take care of it for her and the business.
Finding the right support
Sinead came to Accountant Online because she felt her first accountant wasn’t a good fit – they didn’t provide enough good advice at the beginning of her journey, didn’t speak to her about her accounts in a way that she could understand and she had ongoing problems getting answers to questions. So, this prompted her to move.
Eager to find the right support the second time, Sinead spoke to a lot of different companies.
Before Sinead joined Accountant Online, she had a call with one of our accountants, Tom. Remembering the call with Tom, Sinead explained how immediately she knew “Accountant Online was the best fit after speaking with Tom.”
“It’s vital to have an accountant that you can talk to, who can explain things in plain English to you and you can trust to get the most done for you.”
Web Journey has recently launched a brand-new website to offer more information and new services for her clients. She’s continuously developing her knowledge in the industry and growing her business alongside it.
We’re delighted that Sinead is very happy with Accountant Online and would be happy to recommend us. Everyone here at Accountant Online wishes Sinead the best with her business and we’re here to support her each step of the way.
We hope you feel encouraged by Sinead’s story to start your own business in Ireland. If you would like to talk to us about our accountancy services, feel free to get in touch with our Client Services Team today.
