The one where I went to LUHQ

Sorry for the prolonged absence (to all those who missed me!), but some aspects of my private life had to take the front for a while. But, I'm back now! I've made my way back to Dublin for a couple of months and this trip has afforded me my first visit to LadyUmbrella headquarters. The unassuming suburban exterior belies the thriving hub of activity that awaits beyond. I was greeted by Rob and promptly shown to the engine room of LadyUmbrella and it was more than I had expected! It's a bedroom-cum-office-cum packing/store room. Suffice it's to say, LUHQ is, while unassuming, a place of serious business. The business of t-shirts.

As Rob showed me the packaging and the sample shirts I couldn't help but get the feeling that it was all starting to come together. Actually seeing the shirts after such a long time of imagining what they would look like, after many months of hard slog, everything was beginning to fall into place. But the last time I was here, LUHQ was nothing like this. Because I was abroad spreading the good LadyUmbrella word I had completely missed the metamorphosis that was happening within the company. As he excitedly told me about how things were going to be done, the special surprise extras we have in store for the people lucky enough to own a LadyUmbrella

The shirts are due to arrive tomorrow. So we tweet, and facebook and e-mail with real intent. Soon will be go-time. But none of you guys will see the hard-work, or really appreciate the change that has been going on behind the scenes in this Dublin back-bedroom. But having said that, maybe that is just for us to savour.

Soon the pre-ordered shirts will be whizzing to all corners of the world. I like to think about the happy and expectant faces that await our babies (yes, the shirts) as they reach their final destination, because only a few will now what has REALLY gone in to them.

We all hope that you love your LadyUmbrella shirts (if and when you get one)

Be Happy

Richard

How about the power to compel?

So, it's not enough that to have a successful blog you need to remember stuff like back linking, SEO stuff (which can be an arduous task to say the least), as well almost constant tweeting, facebooking and myspacing, but you ALSO have to have "compelling content"...shesh... Programs like tweetdeck can ease the workload of the social network admin but compelling content is another issue....You mean I have to be interesting?...hmph..

So what do I talk about? My penchant for cheesy 80's music, and my guilty pleasure that is walking around looking very focused and serious when really I have "I'm so excited" by The Pointer Sisters satisfying my every musical whim on my headphones!?!? I don't think so...after all, I'm looking for credibility here. I am reminded of another song that tackles a very similar topic. "My first born for a song"-Bell X1 is a song that deals with the creative difficulties that are intrinsically linked to making art/being interesting (you should check that out actually, maybe you can relate to it too?)

I guess the way to be interesting is to be interested. As part of this skill you need to be able to find what is interesting in everything i.e. you've got to be good at noticing things, perhaps on many different levels. If you find people (and things) interesting they'll find you interesting. In my experience the most interesting people were the ones who were good at sharing. For example, it is very difficult to be interested in somebody who doesn't tell you anything.

It's also important to mention that sharing is not the same as talking for talking's sake. It means that you become good at the skills of sharing and illustrating your ideas. This can also mean if you're comfortable with the idea of sharing you can let people mentally play with your idea(s) and who knows? maybe they can offer some sound advice or "grow" (I hate using business lingo) your idea, which can only be good, right?

We all know that we are living in a radically and constantly changing world, right? We hear it and see it everyday. But perhaps the most revolutionising thing to happen in the last fifty years is the internet. The options it affords are limited only by the amount of work you put in, how interested you are and how bad you want to be successful. There are some great tools for sharing ideas and generating interest in your venture within your niche community. Why not use them? Things like social networking sites, blogs and forums are all great ways to have your say and share your ideas with the movers and shakers who can help you get to where you want to be. Put yourself out there, share your experiences about your venture, or otherwise. The point is, you're out there mixing it up, getting your idea, name and your face around.

So, I guess the simple solution to the problem of being interesting is to be interested!

What do you think?

Rob and Elena got to go to Spain to do some...

Rob and Elena got to go to sunny Spain to do some reccy on the potential shops for the new LadyUmbrella ladies t-shirts. Sound’s good right? Guess where I got to go! …….You guessed it…Bergen, Norway!

Norway's well earned reputation for beautiful scenery precedes it. And I had heard a lot about Bergen. So I was expecting something like this

LadyUmbrella certainly wouldn’t keep you dry in Bergen, I think the only thing that would is a roof over your head! But even the rain couldn’t really take away from the character of Bergen. It is a beautiful place and a place I really hope I get to see more of ( i.e personally delivering all the t-shirt orders we get!!). I believe my trip was a success and identified a couple of funky shops that LU t-shirts would feel right at home….More on that later..

The work “behind the scenes” in LadyUmbrella continues apace. We top google searches for combinations of “ladies t-shirts”, “quirky” or “Dublin”, which is a sign of the international ground-swell of support and popularity for LadyUmbrella which can ONLY be good.

Thanks to the tireless work we have been featured in quite a few popular (t-shirt) blogs such as: Mums Day Out

This is really a quite humbling turn of events. Our website views as well as Facebook fanpage numbers continue to grow. LadyUmbrella says be happy, Oh I am.

My first blog.

Hello all. I’m a complete “noob” to blogging, and I have to admit for a long time I was quite sceptical and a little bit allergic to the notion. Well no, I was more unclear as to the point of a blog. Who cares what I think? Then I had other notions of having a blog as being like something from “sex and the city”. But then I remembered I’m not quite the man about town, a well-to-do, single thirty something professional with a lot of time of their hands to be curious about and explore the in’s and outs (sometimes literally) of singledom/life.I guess the most interesting thing about me (if you must know!) is that I’m (delighted to) be part of a new company. I admit, it’s not in a business I thought I would find myself in, but who can say their life went exactly according to plan. I’m working with LadyUmbrella, and we make pretty cool (if i do say so myself) designer t-shirts. Don’t worry! I’m not giving you the hard sell or anything, but it is something in my life i’m excited about.

Anyway. It's pretty late in Oslo now, and I really should hit the hay. I like this blog so far. I have nicely eased myself into this blog party. So let's just leave it at that for now

Take Care

Sláinte

Richard

Lady Umbrella Ltd.,

Designer Ladies T-Shirts,

Website - www.ladyumbrella.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/ladyumbrella

Twitter - www.twitter.com/ladyumbrellaltd