It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.
It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
Mark Twain
Alan’s Story
Having become recognised in Ireland and beyond as a highly effective business networking expert, Alan has consistently demonstrated how reducing down your network – not expanding it – is the most reliable way to grow your business. This may sound counter-intuitive, but just ask any of his clients who have actively put in place this strategy – working closely with a small number of carefully identified, key individuals results in spectacular success stories.
A graduate of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Alan has worked in marketing, design and communications for almost three decades.
At the cutting edge of business networking for entrepreneurs in Ireland for over 15 years, he discovered the power of the Asentiv content himself somewhat by accident (under the banner of Referral Institute at the time). He became the first person to established these programmes in Ireland, along with an active community of passionate, driven entrepreneurs building relationships together and having a major impact – not just on each other’s businesses – but on any aspect of their lives they care to share within the community.
Alan was one of the first professional web designers in Ireland, at a time when the internet was barely known to the business world. He continues to innovate using modern communications technology to develop overseas business opportunities and unique ‘virtual’ networking strategies.
Passionate about nature and the outdoors and all the ‘big concepts’ that go along with that – conservation, biodiversity and all those good things – his ‘big vision’ is to increasingly work with businesses and other organisations that contribute to the well-being of the planet, using his experience and expertise to help them fast-forward their own goals and vision. Along the way, he does his bit to influence small business practice to be environmentally friendly or at least less damaging.
He loves travelling, sport, the arts, great food and keeps his hand in with photography. He has had particularly memorable experiences diving with sharks in Fiji and at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada and lives in a remote part of Co. Tipperary in Ireland.
He can throw – and catch – boomerangs.