Irish-Language

There are so many opportunities for setting up your own business

<b>FIONTRA&Iacute;:</b> Steve Jobs was of course one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world and he invented the laptop on which the Bluffer is writing this page but not all entrepreneurs have to be as ambitious
FIONTRAÍ: Steve Jobs was of course one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world and he invented the laptop on which the Bluffer is writing this page but not all entrepreneurs have to be as ambitious FIONTRAÍ: Steve Jobs was of course one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world and he invented the laptop on which the Bluffer is writing this page but not all entrepreneurs have to be as ambitious

Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh, welcome back grafters and couch potatoes to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.

Last week, we looked at the jobs that are no more.

Nowadays with the loss of so many manufacturing jobs, everyone is being encouraged to be a fiontraí - an entrepreneur.

Fiontraíocht is entrepreneurship and it means setting up your own company and many are forced to do it due to dífhostaíocht - unemployment but what kind of company would you set up if you had to?

Of course, it depends on the scileanna - skills you have and if you have a paisean - a passion for doing something.

The most common business idea is setting up a food outlet, from greasy spoon to haute cuisine.

D’oscail Sharon caifé i mBeannchar - Sharon opened a cafe in Bangor or bhunaigh Peadar bialann in Ard Mhic Nasca - Peter set up a restaurant in Holywood.

You could go for a saincheadúnas - a franchise and manage a McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut or Subway or you could cater for something more quirky and offer a menu of deep-fried insects or open a Peig Sayers-

themed restaurant with a turf fire in the corner and boxty and colcannon on the menu.

Sticking with food and drink, there is a new trend where people are making the own booze for professional profit.

Have you ever thought of opening your own micreaghrúdlann - microbrewery?

Grúdlann is the Irish for a brewery and there are over 30 small breweries in the north and over 60 in the south and with Irish people being the sixth biggest beer drinkers in the world – in 2012 anyway – there is a big market out there, although the Bluffer admits the letters IPA have never passed his lips.

He is lucky however in being fluent in Irish and English and has a fair smattering of French and Spanish so he could set up a seribhís aistriúcháin - a translation service and the demand for aistritheoirí Gaeilge - Irish-speaking translators is getting bigger all the time. An tAontas Eorpach - the European Union (EU) are looking for 72 of them at the minute.

When we were young, we were told to study hard and to get cáilíochtaí - qualifications that would get us a job for life at the end of it.

But the days when a céim ollscoile - a university degree was the passport to untold riches and membership of a golf club and free tickets to the All-Ireland finals but those days are gone.

As we moved into the “Information Economy” and glamorised sexy media jobs we forgot that real life goes on and What people need now are ceardaithe - tradespeople, people to fix our leaks and our power outages and fit our electric showers and pave our driveways.

Where would we be without the small ads where you can find people who have set up business collecting stuff from your house and bringing it to the dump, or who will clean your windows because you don’t have a ladder and are afraid of heights.

And because of the internet you can make money by selling your services  – not the ones above, of course, to anyone anywhere in the world.

You don’t need to be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to be a successful entrepreneur in this world.

CÚPLA FOCAL

fiontraí(fintree) - an entrepreneur

fiontraíocht(fintreeakht) - entrepreneurship

dífhostaíocht(jeeawsteeakht) - unemployment

scileanna(skilana) - skills

paisean(pashan) - a passion 

D’oscail Sharon caifé i mBeannchar(duskil sharon cafay i manaher) - Sharon opened a cafe in Bangor 

bhunaigh Peadar bialann in Ard Mhic Nasca(wunee pader beealaan in ard vik naska) - Peter set up a restaurant in Holywood

saincheadúnas(sainkyadooniss) - a franchise 

micreaghrúdlann(meekragroodlaan) - microbrewery

grúdlann(groodlaan) - a brewery

seirbhís aistriúcháin (sherveesh aashtroohkaan) - a translation service 

aistritheoirí Gaeilge(aashtrihoree gaylicka) - Irish-speaking translaters

An tAontas Eorpach(un tayntiss orapakh) - the European Union

cailíochtaí(caalee-akhtee) - qualifications 

céim ollscoile(caym ulsculla) - a university degree

ceardaithe(kyardeeha) - tradespeople