Business Builders – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Tom Rowan, founder of Rowan Engineering, shares a grounded and refreshingly honest account of how he built a forensic engineering and environmental consultancy from one customer and no grand plan into a 30-person business working with insurers, public bodies, and major Irish organisations.

Rather than chasing hype or overnight success, Tom explains how his ambition evolved gradually — from simply replacing his salary, to hitting €250k, then €1 million, and beyond. Along the way, he reflects on leadership, culture, setbacks, and why values like integrity, professionalism, and balance matter more as a business grows.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– How Rowan Engineering grew one step at a time
– Why ambition changes as a business scales
– The reality of hiring when there’s no money in the bank
– How to build a values-led culture without ego
– Why slow, deliberate growth often wins

Whether you’re running a small business, thinking about scaling, or questioning what growth should actually look like, this episode offers a calm, thoughtful perspective from someone who’s lived it.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

After losing his engineering job during the 2008 crash, Daniel Plewman found himself unemployed, on the dole, and unsure what came next. A chance moment — his wife struggling to source quality scrubs from the US — sparked the idea that would eventually become Happythreads, an e-commerce scrubs and healthcare uniform business now operating across Ireland, the UK, France, Spain, Germany and beyond.

In this episode, Danny shares how he built Happy Threads from a spare room in Stoneybatter, going door-to-door with samples, and why launching an e-commerce scrubs business long before it was obvious became his unfair advantage. He opens up about the early years of survival, cashflow tricks, moments of being “technically bankrupt,” and the burnout and hospitalisation that forced him to rethink how he worked and led.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– Spotting overlooked opportunities and creating a new market
– How e-commerce cashflow helped the business survive
– Building a 25-person team across Europe
– Burnout, lifestyle choices, and the high-dependency hospital wake-up call
– Leadership, culture, and moving towards a business that can run without you


🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube

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In Series 10, Episode #89, I interview Michael Flynn, famously known as Mattress Mick. Michael shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Dublin's Pearse Street, working in a bank, and taking over the family business, to experiencing significant business failures and ultimate success. After his furniture business crashed during the 2009 recession, Michael invented the Mattress Mick persona, which propelled him to become Ireland’s leading mattress retailer through innovative marketing strategies. Michael discusses the importance of resilience, believing in oneself, and leveraging social media for business growth. He also touches on personal experiences, humanitarian efforts, and the role of faith and community support in his ventures. 

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Discover EO Ireland—part of an international network designed specifically for entrepreneurs. EO Ireland connects business owners for networking, mentorship, and shared learning experiences. Take your business to the next level and join a community of like-minded leaders today at eoireland.org. Empower your entrepreneurial journey!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Lory Kehoe is an adjunct associate professor at Trinity College Dublin and Founder of BlockChain Ireland.

Being an accountant, I thought I knew a little about blockchain and cryptocurrency before my chat with Lory, but as you’ll hear for yourself, his depth of knowledge about the subject is fantastic. He is also very excited about the possibilities of this emerging tool. 

We talk about Blockchain and its real-world application, why Lory left a global consultancy partnership to start his own business, and how teaching has helped develop his leadership skills. 

Find out more and connect with  Lory Kehoe here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lory-kehoe/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I had an inspiring chat with Barbara Turley, Founder and CEO at The Virtual Hub. The Virtual Hub provides virtual, remote assistants to businesses all over the world. 

Barbara has an astounding work ethic and draws a hard line between work and life. She doesn’t let work get in the way of being a fantastic mother to her children and living the lifestyle she wants. 

Having started the business 5 years ago, she has scaled it to 150 staff. Delegation is key for Barbara, and she gives us some very useful insights into avoiding being consumed by your business. 

Find out more about Barbara Turley here:  https://www.thevirtualhub.com/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Vincent Carton’s story reaches back into the 18th Century, where the Carton family began a poultry business involving breeding, feeding and selling in the Dublin area. This is one of Ireland’s oldest surviving companies!

With so much experience and wisdom to share, we’ve brought this conversation to you in two parts. Following on from Part One, where you heard how Vincent came to own the business and how he nearly lost it, in Part Two you'll find out how Vincent and his team got the business back on track and the strategy they used to grow profits from 500 thousand to 13 million in just 7 years!

Check out these videos I mentioned in the episode:

The Whirl Wind
The concept that top management can’t focus on growing and scaling the business if they are caught up in the day-to-day work of the business. Getting out of the Whirl Wind was critical for Manor Farm implementing their strategic plan.
https://youtu.be/ahH2WdrovPg?list=PL7B1E1664C5352A7

First Follower
In order get all employees rowing in the same direction, the board needed to communicate the strategy of the business to everyone in the organisation. To do this, they appointed 23 “first followers” to champion the strategy in their own divisions. It only took 23 people to change a company of circa 830 people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ&list=LL4t6dGleRcIkHHwCqBARENQ&index=73

The Five Monkeys
This was the main problem that Vincent and the board came up against when they tried to create change in a 230 year old business. People will always follow “the way we’ve always done it” rather than embrace change. Vincent and his first followers showed this video to their staff who quickly understood the concept and bought-in to the idea of going back to the facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZeiSKnhOBc

Find out more about Vincent Carton and Manor Farm here:
https://chicken.ie/about-us

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Vincent Carton’s story reaches back into the 18th Century, where the Carton family began a poultry business involving breeding, feeding and selling in the Dublin area. This is one of Ireland’s oldest surviving companies!

Family businesses can be slow to evolve,  as decision making can span several generations. Vincent and his brother Justin saw this and bought out all of the shareholders. They focused on understanding new customer needs, streamlining the organisation and selling off underperforming divisions. 

With so much experience and wisdom to share, we’ve brought this conversation to you in two parts. In Part One, you’ll hear about the history of Manor Farm, how Vincent almost lost the business and how an old college friend helped him turn things around. 

Find out more about Vincent Carton and Manor Farm here:

https://chicken.ie/about-us

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Jack Pierse is the co-founder and CFO of Wayflyer, a revenue-based financing service for ecommerce companies.

Wayflyer’s business is a simple one, they lend money to businesses, so that they can buy more online advertising to grow their sales

In under 24 hours, businesses can connect with Wayflyer, connect their online marketing platforms and receive funds towards their online marketing campaigns. 

Unlike a bank who would review a customers’ ability to pay back a loan, based on standard accounting and cashflow reporting, Wayflyer plug in seamlessly to their customers online marketing platforms such as Facebook, Google, Instagram etc, to assess which specific advertising campaigns are performing well.

Dive in to hear about Jack’s revolutionary business model, how he raised venture capital in the US and the importance of thinking big!

Find out more about Wayflyer here:
https://www.wayflyer.com/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Welcome to Season 2 of Irish Business Builders!

On today's episode I chat with Mick Kearney, whose life in business has taken him down many paths since he started out in the early 1980's.

Mick brought Snap Printing to Ireland in 1984,  which quickly grew to be the largest Print and Design group in the country. A position it still holds today.

Then in 2005, Mick and his business partner Ed Murphy, launched another Franchise in
Ireland – Home Instead Senior Care. Their philosophy is to provide a trusted service to older people, allowing them to stay independent and to continue to live in their homes for longer. Over the following 12 years, Mick and Ed grew Home Instead to €70 Million
euros in revenues before selling a majority stake in 2017.

Mick also managed to find time to become Manager for the Irish Rugby team,
a position he held passionately and successfully for for 5 years, alongside colleagues Declan Kidney and later Joe Schmidt.

Mick is open and generous with the lessons he has learnt, his business philosophies and insights. Enjoy!

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Thanks for listening!

Hello dear listeners,

Thank you for tuning in to Season One of Irish Business Builders.

I'm very excited to return with Season Two on Monday the 21st of September!

You can use this time to catch up on any episodes you've missed, and if you know an Irish Business Builder you'd like to hear from on the show, email me at conor@jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

My deepest thanks once again to everyone who has tuned in. 

See you all on Monday 21st of September!

Conor