Bizstartup.ie - NewsFrom ‘The Apprentice’ to business owner

Speaking to Bizstartup.ie, O’Dowd says she knew from the age of 10 that she wanted to run her own business. “I used to sell sandwiches at local festivals and was involved in raising horses, plus my family owns O’Dowd’s Cafe and Trinity Island Lodge in Killashandra.

“You learn a huge amount growing up in a family business, especially interaction with people, for example, how to upsell when dealing with them. I was left to look after the place myself for a week in my teens. You learn so much more with practical hands-on experience.”

Being unemployed for a while recently presented O’Dowd with the perfect opportunity to set up her business in September, Ruth O’Dowd Marketing Solutions.

The main thing she has taken from being on ‘The Apprentice’ is self-belief, which spurred her on in going it alone, she says. “We are all terrible critics of ourselves, but being on ‘The Apprentice’ showed me that I could be involved in a multitude of tasks and be competent at them. I realised that in business we can make mountains out of molehills.

“The programme has given me a foot in the door with people, but you have to have the knowledge, experience and ‘go get it’ attitude to back this up.”

There are three aspects to the business, she explains. “Firstly I want to work locally with small and medium-sized businesses helping them to pull together their basic marketing material and work with printers, for example. Quite often, you will find a great beautician or bed and breakfast but they may struggle with the marketing side.

“There is a variety of businesses around Cavan – already I’m working with a woman who owns a saddlery shop, along with a teddy bear company and a tourism and conference centre.”

The second aspect of her company is to work on short-term projects with larger organisations, drawing on her international experience with the likes of Glanbia and Unilever. “I have identified a need in this area as a lot of companies need short-term gaps filled following redundancies.”

Thirdly, O’Dowd aims to build up a training and development arm, having worked as a volunteer with Lucca Leadership, a personal-development programme for young adults. She is getting certified as a business coach and is working with local enterprise boards and business networks to this end.

‘The Apprentice’ is very different than normal business, O’Dowd notes. “In normal business, you have support around you generally and people credit you as well as criticise you. We were effectively in a luxury jail – I used to walk down to the sea and get into the water to try and clear my head!”