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I’VE HAD TWO previous careers and neither of them are even vaguely related to what I’m doing now – which is setting up a pet travel review site for people who want to travel with their dogs.
My first career was in contract flooring. I was the owner and manager of a small company, but when my main debtor very unexpectedly went into receivership I had to undertake a voluntary liquidation.
The timing was unfortunate as I was within weeks of starting my 60% share of the tiling contract in The Square in Tallaght – one of the largest construction projects in Ireland at the time – but had to pull out of it.
While it was a shock, it also presented an opportunity. To be honest, I was looking for a way out of contract flooring at the time.
Ireland in the late 1980s was on its knees and the rates you were working for were ferociously competitive. It was very hard to make any decent margin and cash flow was a day-to-day challenge.
Back then, you would have to spend a significant amount of time chasing payments which was an unnecessary distraction from actually managing your business. You weren’t getting easy access to credit from the banks back then either.
I walked away broke and in debt, but I saw other subcontractors who were one- or two-man operations that got wiped out for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
You take your positives where you can – this gave me the opportunity to upskill at that stage on the computer side which has led me to where I am today.
New career
It was around 1990 when my tiling company folded and after that I took the time to learn a bit about computers to make myself employable.
At the time I genuinely didn’t know what a computer could do or even what a hard disk was – I knew absolutely nothing about how technology could be applied in business.
So I did a course in Bray to learn about computer business application and in the end, it got me a job. It was only supposed to be on a part-time basis in a private security company but they were growing rapidly so they had more work for me.
It was the land of the blind and with my newly acquired computer skills, I had way more knowledge than anyone else in the company, so my role evolved.
I ended up as a director in what was a very profitable and successful company, which was eventually bought by a group of investors that also acquired 15 other companies.
After the crash in 2008, they sold off parts of the group but couldn’t service the debt and eventually it all went into receivership.
Applying for jobs
In the aftermath, I did a course in global trade because I was looking at a career related to exporting before I launched WoofAdvisor.
Ireland had buckled and the export markets were the only things showing any signs of life, but in the end I decided this wasn’t going to be for me.
I also did the ‘Business Innovation Programme’ at the DCU Ryan Academy that spanned an academic year and a ‘Springboard’ course on web design, which was another full-time academic year.
In between, I banged out applications for hundreds of advertised jobs and probably got two or three acknowledgements – that was it. You can feel like you’re climbing a cliff and you don’t realise how much of your confidence has been eroded.
I remember one of the guys on a course with me had applied for every job under the sun. One of the mentors told him not to do that: “You’re not going to get the job anyway and it’s going to wreck your head.”
They were right. They said, ‘Think realistically about what jobs you’re a fit for and if you’re completely overqualified, they’re probably not going to talk to you anyway.’
I’m 63 in a couple of months and back when I was doing that course, I had to come to terms with the fact that – at my age – I was unemployable.
I did a lot of serious courses to make my skills relevant, but I was of a certain age where regardless of experience or skills, it didn’t matter – companies wouldn’t consider me.
Even other professionals and former business owners who were on those courses with me in their forties reckoned they were unemployable because of their age.
That’s why you have to look at making yourself self-employable. It’s the only realistic option.
The idea
So I knew I was going to have to become self-employed and also focus on starting a business that was online.
I trained in web development, social media, digital marketing, graphic design and how to start your own business, but I still didn’t have a business idea.
In the end, the lightbulb moment came over a pint with my siblings. Both of them talking about being back from a trip with their dogs to the west of Ireland and not having a great experience.
It showed me that there isn’t a resource out there for showing dog owners the quality of places they are going to bring their pets. Pretty much from that night on, I’ve been researching or working on WoofAdvisor.
I’m not from a travel background, I’m not a techie and I don’t have a skillset in a related area – so I’m learning as I go.
But all my training so far has given me the confidence and competence to project manage the website development, while not actually developing it myself.
Plans
The site is live over a year at this stage and I’ve bootstrapped it so far, but I am looking to raise finance and recruit some staff now – but there are some challenges.
WoofAdvisor is a two-sided market model and ultimately I want to sell listings to hotel chains or do deals with sponsors – that’s the business-to-business side. But to get that I have to build the traffic, users and the community.
Investors are wary of these types of business models as they take longer to build and are a heavier lift.
The other issue is that I’m on my own, hence I’m looking at recruiting a tech co-founder to help me bring that aspect of the business back in-house, and make WoofAdvisor more investor-friendly.
At the moment I’m also trying to push into the UK to build traffic in the country. It’s not just that it’s a bigger market than Ireland, the challenge for me here is that there’s hardly any pet travel here.
It’s a vicious circle in Ireland. The half a million households with dogs don’t think it’s a feasible option to bring their pets on holiday with them so they don’t bother asking hotels if they take pets. This means hotels think there is no demand.
I’d have to nearly create and educate the market here to make it work and all the startup mentors I’ve talked to have said, “If you need to create or educate the market, walk away and look to the UK.”
Gerry Molloy is the founder of WoofAdvisor. This article was written in conversation with Killian Woods as part of a series on unlikely entrepreneurs.
If you want to share your opinion, advice or story, email opinion@fora.ie.
Written by Gerry Molloy and posted on Fora.ie
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Good.
We all owe farmers a huge debt of gratitude for working morning, noon and night to feed us.
Farmers own and look after the land. They do it silently and without fanfare.
The Greens know nothing about the land yet they pontificate about it endlessly from their suburban mansions
If the Greens had their way there would be no farming and society would collapse.
Next time a Green politician or an environmentalist tried to spoof you look down and ask them : “Where’s your wellingtons then? Go on with yeh”
@Tommy Haze: Well said spot on
@Tommy Haze: they work for profit and we don’t buy their good with credit, so there’s no debt.
@Tommy Haze: I grew up on a farm. We worked on it to make money. We didn’t do it just to supply food, and I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t have given free food to those who couldn’t afford to pay for it. Farming is a job, just like nursing, carpentry, teaching etc etc.
@Tommy Haze: It’s funny how Aviation and it’s expansion according to the Greens and the government is an economic necessity and is off limits when it comes to carbon emissions, the wealthy airlines benefit from Zero tax on aviation fuel, Zero binding emission target, government subsidised routes and have no realistic way of decoupling growth from emissions. It seems to be one set of rules for the DAA and wealthy airlines and another for the farmers, turf cutters and the rest of us or maybe the DAA a Semi-state company just like RTE has a barter account to compensate the media for greenwashing their industry.
@brian o’leary: If you were to factor in the hours worked, it’s definitely not a profitable business. One of the few industries that don’t get to set their own prices and charge what is fair, or indeed profitable. It’s below minimum wage if you factor in hours worked. More work related deaths than any other job in Ireland. It accounts for approx 7.1% of employment and that doesn’t factor in the jobs in the construction industry related to agriculture. They mind the land, hoping the next generation will do so too. So I think Tommy is spot on when he says we owe them a debt of gratitude. But then again, some people will always have these false and lazy ideas about farmers.
@Helen Murphy: markets don’t deal in “fair”, if the going is too tough, sell up, and let someone else “mind” it.
@brian o’leary: Really? Your grasp of agricultural economics seems to be either poor or purposely biased. Tell nurses, teachers, shop workers that this is what you’re getting, shut up or someone else will do it. If farmers were to charge the cost of production plus a small % for profit, or as you say “not deal in fair” , and charge what the like, you would be moaning your hole off about the price of food. Why doesn’t the EU set the prices for other industries? The grants are a sly way of allowing multinational food processors make huge profits, whilst those with no knowledge of rural Ireland think farmers are coining it.
@Helen Murphy: “it’s definitely not a profitable”
Dairy farms made a record average profit of €148,000 last year.
@Helen Murphy: “it’s definitely not a profitable”
“The CSO’s final estimate of agricultural Operating Surplus for 2022 shows an annual increase of €1.0bn (+28%) to €4.7bn. The value of Agricultural Output at Basic Prices rose by €2.8bn (+28%) to €12.9bn.”
Thus Irish farms made a profit of €4.7 billion last year.
Average Operating profit per farm in 2022 according to Teagasc:
Dairy €151,000 (and 53% higher than 2021)
Cattle rearing farms: €9,400
Cattle finishing farms: €18,800
Sheep: €16,500
Tillage: €77,000
Mixed livestock: €84,340
Average faming family income: €45,800 (increase of 32% from 2021, mostly because of rise in income on dairy and tillage farms).
@David Jordan: There’s no validity to your argument. Dairy farmers start at 6am every morning and don’t finish until late in the evening. Early hours of the morning at certain times of the year. 7 days a week. Might get to take a weeks holiday in the summer if their lucky. Per hour worked its an absolute pittance. Do the maths.
@Helen Murphy: then sell up, move on and let someone else at it.
FFG are destroying our agri sector . We should be pushing for self sufficiency , especially now in the days of supply uncertainty. It would appear though the government are pushing reliability on other countries and being at the mercy of international markets .
Why do we import broccoli, veg etc from Kenya . Potatoes from the uk etc
@BL Music: we import food because it’s cheaper. We produce the best quality beef, with the toughest regulations in place, in terms of antibiotic use, herd health etc. Beef is then imported from Brazil where there are no regulations, because as much as people preach about buying local, it comes down to price.
Same with our barley, wheat etc, certain chemicals/pesticides banned here for use in their production, but not on the cheaper grains that we import.
Green agenda throughout the world is ruining agriculture. Billionaires are buying up land (Dyson is biggest farm owner in UK, bill Gates one of the biggest in USA) solely to use the land to offset carbon credits for their own non agri business, so they can claim they are producing Carbon Zero products
Farming is becoming more industrialised and less family owned or ran. In a few decades, you’ll see managers running about 5 farms and sub contractors doing the ploughing/silage/milking! The family farm, will become rare and die out eventually.
@John John: Why would you want to see it die out?
@John John: over 7% of the population are employed in the agriculture sector and you’d like to see all those people with families and mortgages lose their jobs? What’s your problem with farming? Did a farmer’s son bully you in school or take your place on the football team?
Just teach them not to destroy hedgerows, and stop washing the slurry tanks in the rivers.
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: washing slurry tanks in the rivers?? Where did you come up with that?
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: why would a farmer wash a slurry tank? Ireland ranks 1st in Europe on how little nitrogen is in our rivers thanks to our farmers. If you ate today you should thank a farmer for that too.
@Mike Looney 88: maybe their custom could be their thanks?
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: where are going with absolutely crazy statement! I have never in my life even heard of a farmer washing a slurry tanker in a river. Have you ever been on a farm? The Irony of your made up user name is off the charts.
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: I agree, and what are they hiding inside those big sheds that no one else is allowed in?
What is the difference between this and the green cert? Or even the farm relief who are finding it hard to source labour?Just looks like people who don’t work on farms looking to get paid to work behind a desk coming up with this idea.
Will Eamon Ryan and his Green Party be doing this course, considering they keep telling farmers they’re farming wrong? So will it be Eamon Ryan Green Party and Rte learning curriculum ?
I want to know because nature has respected farming and horticultural practices for centuries. The infestation of Ash tree die back disease is a notifiable disease yet our local council in Fingal will do nothing .
The muck spreader was often washed in the river, hedges taken out, round up under the electric wire along the drain, wet bales stacked 3high near the drain, old plastic and tyres buried when the digger was in, New weanlings bought in given a shot of antibiotics as a preventative….many of above done by me and my neighbouring farms, and not 20years ago either
@hi from heaven: so tell me about washing the muck spreader in the river..maybe start with why? In all my years on farms, never heard this being done
@Martin Kenny: We would drive into the river and start filling with buckets as quickly as possible, due to leaks.then drive up the Field and empty it out… this was done 2-3 times
@hi from heaven: side muck spreader not back empty one
@hi from heaven: right, learn something new every day. Think you should give up farming, you’re doing it wrong
So some Gombeen wants to create more low paid jobs in the farming industry…. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys…. It’s called Slave Labour
If farmers really cared about the land (and not just income) the IFA would not object to every environmental Idea that is floated
Maybe farmers should pay more if they can’t get workers?
Crikey, so many keyboard warriors leaving comments – most of whom demonstrate their ignorance in a magnificent way. Farming, is hard, dirty, difficult, and underpaid. But its hard with to compete with those “clean boot experts” who know oh so much better.
We would drive into the river and start filling with buckets as quickly as possible, due to leaks.then drive up the Field and empty it out… this was done 2-3 times
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