Writing for life

I’ve been a member of the West Cork chapter of SohoSolo since 2005. Writing can be a lonely business at times, and I always enjoy getting out to the SohoSolo meetings and interacting with other people who are running their own businesses from home. It’s also led to work — both directly and indirectly — and has provided me with an invaluable list of contacts in a mind boggling array of fields.

The West Cork meetings had tailed off earlier this year when the then coordinator, Mary Claire O’Regan, left CorkBIC for pastures new. Now they’ve been resurrected under the stewardship of new project coordinator Kathleen Coltherd. This morning was the first of the “new” meetings I’ve attended — and I have to say it was great to be back.

A SohoSolo is defined as:

a person who has migrated to a rural region bringing with them their own income generating activity and works at least partially from home

If that’s you, and you’re within the south west catchment area, check out the SohoSolo website and add your profile. It’s free, so you’ve got nothing to lose and plenty to gain by joining the project.

Oh, and don’t forget to tell Kathleen that I sent you!

Guest speaker at this morning’s meeting was Conor O’Neill, who provided a great introduction to blogging for business. Conor’s talk introduced us all to the concept of blogging, and how the creative use of blogs could help small businesses to flourish. I particularly liked the way he used real-world examples of successful Irish blogs to illustrate his points.

As well as his personal blog, Conor is also involved in Louder Voice, the blogging review site, and it’s corporate parent site Argolon — both of which are worth a look.

I think everyone at the event agreed that this was an extremely worthwhile presentation — it provided blogging newbies with plenty of food for thought, and those of us with existing blogs picked up plenty of tips from this experienced denizen of the Irish blogosphere.

So thanks Conor for a well thought out, well delivered presentation. If this is a taste of things to come, then roll on next month’s meeting!

Technorati Tags: blogging, SohoSolo, business, West Cork, Conor O’Neill