Bill Cullen - Ssangyoung - New Business

highlandseoghan

Just interested in hearing what people think about Bill Cullen being back in business. I know a lot of people don't like Bill mainly due to his attitude but I am one that actually likes Bill and thinks he is a very smart and good business man.

I see he has got a franchise from Ssangyoung and has reopened a garage on the Naas road. Like him or not I think this shows a lot of business people / entreprenuers that even if your business fails and you hit rock bottom, you can still gather yourself together and get back up fighting.

I remember a lot of reports when Bill was starting to loose everything people said ah look at him now and ran him into the ground and kept saying he would never get back up. It looks like he has got back up and is rebuilding himself.

I would like to wish Bill all the best and would love to see his new motor company grow.

jj58

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Just interested in hearing what people think about Bill Cullen being back in business. I know a lot of people don't like Bill mainly due to his attitude but I am one that actually likes Bill and thinks he is a very smart and good business man.

I see he has got a franchise from Ssangyoung and has reopened a garage on the Naas road. Like him or not I think this shows a lot of business people / entreprenuers that even if your business fails and you hit rock bottom, you can still gather yourself together and get back up fighting.

I remember a lot of reports when Bill was starting to loose everything people said ah look at him now and ran him into the ground and kept saying he would never get back up. It looks like he has got back up and is rebuilding himself.

I would like to wish Bill all the best and would love to see his new motor company grow.

Rock k bottom.? He still had loadz of casb to set up again. That's how he got set up again

highlandseoghan

I don't believe he had loads of cash ye he might have had some but I think he borrowed money from family and friends to get back up.

K.Flyer

I think you are right, best of luck to Bill. Our countries attitude is if you fail once, thats it, you are a failure!
Most other countries look at a business failure as a lesson to learn from, dust yourself down and get going again, just try not to make the same mistakes again.
Good luck Bill, hope it works out well for you.

relaxed

highlandseoghan wrote: »

I don't believe he had loads of cash ye he might have had some but I think he borrowed money from family and friends to get back up.

That's what they all say. He can hardly say, "well actually we had €XXXXXXX stashed here and there over the years so the receivers wouldn't get it"

Fair play to him for taking it on again when in his 70's.

debabyjesus

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057143572

zetalambda

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Just interested in hearing what people think about Bill Cullen being back in business. I know a lot of people don't like Bill mainly due to his attitude but I am one that actually likes Bill and thinks he is a very smart and good business man.

I see he has got a franchise from Ssangyoung and has reopened a garage on the Naas road. Like him or not I think this shows a lot of business people / entreprenuers that even if your business fails and you hit rock bottom, you can still gather yourself together and get back up fighting.

I remember a lot of reports when Bill was starting to loose everything people said ah look at him now and ran him into the ground and kept saying he would never get back up. It looks like he has got back up and is rebuilding himself.

I would like to wish Bill all the best and would love to see his new motor company grow.

What's not to like about Bill Cullen and his attitude. Never understood why so many people dislike him. It's the typical Irish begrudgery thing. If you're successful in this country, people take aim and wait for their chance to take a shot at you.

maryishere

zetalambda wrote: »

If you're successful in this country, people take aim and wait for their chance to take a shot at you.

+1. And most of the people who take a shot at Cullen would work less hours and take less risk and not work as hard as Cullen, in all fairness to him. I think its sad to see someone being passionate and entrepreneurial and extremely hard working, and yet having to start over at the age of 72 ( he was born in '42 I think ). Reports say he paid 14 million in tax in his lifetime, now he has nothing and is entitled to nothing.
Yet we see some people froim the government and quangos and banks walk off with massive pensions after only a few years "service". Ex county managers even get a pension of 70k a year plus a big lump sum. Very uneven country.

Peterdalkey

I am delighted to see him trying to get back on his feet. I admire his tenacity and courage to get back on the horse, but suspect that it was those same characteristics that got him to the heights he reached in the past. Winners never quit.

sparksfly

He is a car salesman like many others. Some survive, some fail. They give employment but import industries overall don't generate wealth. He has an attitude that exceeds his abilities that gets up some peoples noses. That's it really from my perspective

Having lived around the world the begrudgery thing is not an Irish trait, as far as I can see its everywhere. Its more if you put yourself out there people like to tear you down if they can get a chance. Id say its water off a ducks back to Bill either way.

A lot of a respect for a guy who can start again at 70

mickdw

Dis people get sung for money when he went out of business?
If so, it is quite sickening that he would be able to finance a main dealer outlet. They obviously have some cash hidden away and the family and friends story is bull****.

flutered

why did he open a few yards down the road from a same brand dealership, why did the brand make allow this, its not as if the make is a minor player even, the number of units the brand sell is rather small, talk a little sense folks, this thread looks like both a publicity stunt, plus a shot at making cullen a candidate for sainthood, my farthings worth folks.

mickdw

mickdw wrote: »

Dis people get sung for money when he went out of business?
If so, it is quite sickening that he would be able to finance a main dealer outlet. They obviously have some cash hidden away and the family and friends story is bull****.

He owed money to banks and they foreclosed on him as far as I know. I hope he owed them billions, and when he gets back on his feet making a few quid he will laugh at them as he makes his deposits :pac: "Thanks Lads!"

Zascar

I normally hate begrudgery and I think its an awful thing in Ireland - but in the case of Bill Cullen I had no sympathy when I heard his business went under. The way he used to go on especially referring to Ireland's youth was ridiculous and patronising.

downonthefarm

jj58 wrote: »

Rock k bottom.? He still had loadz of casb to set up again. That's how he got set up again

Sure the lads had a whip round for him.best of luck to him anyway.can't have been easy to start again

flutered

flutered wrote: »

why did he open a few yards down the road from a same brand dealership, why did the brand make allow this, its not as if the make is a minor player even, the number of units the brand sell is rather small, talk a little sense folks, this thread looks like both a publicity stunt, plus a shot at making cullen a candidate for sainthood, my farthings worth folks.

Have no idea whether his new business is a good idea or not. Seems like a tough one to be honest. Not exactly a thing of beauty the cars he is trying to sell.

But this is an entrepreneur forum, and I applaud anyone who goes bankrupt and has the balls and energy to start it all again, especially a pensioner! No calls for sainthood whatsoever, just cudos to his entrepreneurial spirit. Any business person here love or hate Bill can learn something from his kind of attitude.

MagicMarker

Deleted User wrote: »

He owed money to banks and they foreclosed on him as far as I know. I hope he owed them billions, and when he gets back on his feet making a few quid he will laugh at them as he makes his deposits :pac: "Thanks Lads!"

Meanwhile you'll be paying back the bank on his behalf.

Nixer Jim

Don't know if any of you saw the two of them on yesterday's Saturday Night Show but all I can say is we're only getting one half of the story.

As regards the man himself. At heart, I think he's really a good guy and from those I spoke to who know him, they all say that's exactly what he is, a properly good bloke.

It's the bullish!t though, I just can't stand the bullish!t. Up every morning at ten to two or something, 40,000 press ups a day, trials with United was somewhere in the book. Christ if he did everything he was supposed to have them he'd be a 107 year old - Iron Man Champion - Billionaire.

Good luck Bill, hope you make it. Less of bullsh!t please and a touch more humility. I don't see you working for nothing, don't expect others to do the same.

downonthefarm

What does the wife do?
She strikes me as wearing the trousers there?

MagicMarker

MagicMarker wrote: »

Meanwhile you'll be paying back the bank on his behalf.

Well Im not in the country so its not the case.

But if I was its hardly Bills fault our banks needed a bail out is it? Plenty of other things led to that debacle.

lucky john

I bought his second book to read a few years ago. Read a few chapters and binned it. Looking in the mirror at 4am and tell yourself how fantastic you are was a bit to cringe for my liking.

Apart from that I have great admiration for Bill. No matter what you say about him he walks the walk.

The reason the bankruptcy law here have been reformed lately is to give people like Bill Cullen the chance to start again and not sit sulking and feeling sorry for themselves for years. I hope the likes of Sean Quinn does the same thing some day as well.

EIREHotspur

Nixer Jim wrote: »

As regards the man himself. At heart, I think he's really a good guy and from those I spoke to who know him, they all say that's exactly what he is, a properly good bloke.

It's the bullish!t though, I just can't stand the bullish!t. Up every morning at ten to two or something, 40,000 press ups a day, trials with United was somewhere in the book. Christ if he did everything he was supposed to have them he'd be a 107 year old - Iron Man Champion - Billionaire.

Good luck Bill, hope you make it. Less of bullsh!t please and a touch more humility. I don't see you working for nothing, don't expect others to do the same.

Best post I seen in a long while.......Balanced!!!

I just think people who are successful get away too much with the retelling of the hard luck story on the way up.
You will never hear an interviewer say to them "well the growing up and selling apples on Moore Street from a pram at age 11 months when you were teething is such a great story but Bill you now live in a mansion and fly a helicopter....the hard luck routine was decades ago... what is it like to be Rich now?".

EIREHotspur

EIREHotspur wrote: »

Best post I seen in a long while.......Balanced!!!

I just think people who are successful get away too much with the retelling of the hard luck story on the way up.
You will never hear an interviewer say to them "well the growing up and selling apples on Moore Street from a pram at age 11 months when you were teething is such a great story but Bill you now live in a mansion and fly a helicopter....the hard luck routine was decades ago... what is it like to be Rich now?".

All the bluff and bluster is just marketing though really. Possibly from the Ryanair school of thought some of it, ie. any publicity is good publicity. Trump is the most glaring example of this, even going back to the eighties he was always outspoken and we'll say 'controversial' in the press. But that very PR style is what got him the Apprentice gig, something he gets $6m bucks an episode for or something in that region. Probably what kept him going during his various skirts with bankruptcy! He created a business out of his personality, Bill did something similar, to sell his books and get his own apprentice gig. Quite clever I think.

EIREHotspur

Deleted User wrote: »

All the bluff and bluster is just marketing though really. Possibly from the Ryanair school of thought some of it, ie. any publicity is good publicity. Trump is the most glaring example of this, even going back to the eighties he was always outspoken and we'll say 'controversial' in the press. But that very PR style is what got him the Apprentice gig, something he gets $6m bucks an episode for or something in that region. Probably what kept him going during his various skirts with bankruptcy! He created a business out of his personality, Bill did something similar, to sell his books and get his own apprentice gig. Quite clever I think.

Your dead right on all of that.....it is very clever!!

On Trump do you ever notice how he namedrops all the celebs he comes in contact with as "..a really good friend of mine".
He once had a tip in one of his Books I read years ago which was "ring someone at lunchtime when you know they won't be in the office....that way you only have to spend 30 seconds to a minute on what might have been a 5 minute call".
Really cynical.

I do admire Bill for his up and at them attitude and I would say he is a nice guy...so more power to him!!

Nixer Jim

lucky john wrote: »

I bought his second book to read a few years ago. Read a few chapters and binned it. Looking in the mirror at 4am and tell yourself how fantastic you are was a bit to cringe for my liking.

Apart from that I have great admiration for Bill. No matter what you say about him he walks the walk.

The reason the bankruptcy law here have been reformed lately is to give people like Bill Cullen the chance to start again and not sit sulking and feeling sorry for themselves for years. I hope the likes of Sean Quinn does the same thing some day as well.

Good luck to Bill. All he did was bust a company. Quinn on the other hand crys the poor mouth despite being minted. His crime wasn't to bust a company, he busted a country. Don't mind their "we could trade outta this" rhetoric. They should be in prison fir the contempt they showed with their position of control within a company. More so their utter contempt they're showing us as a people now is disgusting. Honour your debts, you took the chance and by god it went tits up. The rest of us are paying for it now while he runs from the law with millions in stashed assets. Hanging is too good imo.

lucky john

Nixer Jim wrote: »

Good luck to Bill. All he did was bust a company. Quinn on the other hand crys the poor mouth despite being minted. His crime wasn't to bust a company, he busted a country. Don't mind their "we could trade outta this" rhetoric. They should be in prison fir the contempt they showed with their position of control within a company. More so their utter contempt they're showing us as a people now is disgusting. Honour your debts, you took the chance and by god it went tits up. The rest of us are paying for it now while he runs from the law with millions in stashed assets. Hanging is too good imo.

Not going to disagree with you on your sentiments about Quinn. I read the ian Keogh book about him over Christmas and it make sorry reading. His obsession with Anglo and pure greed was his downfall. He did it to himself and is now playing the woe is me card and feeling sorry for himself. He badly needs to attend one of thoes meetings where he sits around in a circle and says "my name is Sean Quinn and I'm a greedy b**** ".

However, hanging him won't get taxpayers money back. If he would just "hold his hands up" for real this time, admit his faults, and like Cullen set about changing his legacy he (and us) would benefit from his undoubted qualities as a business man. Don't forget thousands of jobs still exist because of him. There's no reason why he couldn't make amends by adding more.

Boom__Boom

Only ever heard a variety of negative stories about Bill and Jackie in Killarney; I literally never heard anyone who had any sort of dealings with them say anything positive about them, even including some of the most mild-mannered individuals I know.

However even more than the various negative different stories, the fact that they managed to lose over €10m on the whole hotel escapade is mind-boggling to people in Killarney especially people connected to the hospitality trade.

Anyone I've ever talked to regarding this (including people who worked there) agrees that with it's location if you had anyone half capable running it, it should be a goldmine. It's no wonder that there are a host of interested parties lining up to take it over.

Listening to one of their staff explaining how inept they were and the litany of just awful decisions they made day after day and how awful they were to staff (in an industry where working conditions aren't the greatest to start with), I've massive difficulty reconciling the PR image of Bill and Jackie as being intelligent operators and hard workers to the countless off-the-record stories I've heard.

Also it wasn't just the banks that were left owed money. Bill and Jackie stung a fair few businesses too before word got out.

Lord TSC

Zascar wrote: »

I normally hate begrudgery and I think its an awful thing in Ireland - but in the case of Bill Cullen I had no sympathy when I heard his business went under. The way he used to go on especially referring to Ireland's youth was ridiculous and patronising.

Yeah, this is what I was going to say. Fair play to him for trying to be an entrepreneur, but I've read things over the years where he comes across as very arrogant.

Nuttzz

Boom__Boom wrote: »

Only ever heard a variety of negative stories about Bill and Jackie in Killarney; I literally never heard anyone who had any sort of dealings with them say anything positive about them, even including some of the most mild-mannered individuals I know.

However even more than the various negative different stories, the fact that they managed to lose over €10m on the whole hotel escapade is mind-boggling to people in Killarney especially people connected to the hospitality trade.

Anyone I've ever talked to regarding this (including people who worked there) agrees that with it's location if you had anyone half capable running it, it should be a goldmine. It's no wonder that there are a host of interested parties lining up to take it over.

Listening to one of their staff explaining how inept they were and the litany of just awful decisions they made day after day and how awful they were to staff (in an industry where working conditions aren't the greatest to start with), I've massive difficulty reconciling the PR image of Bill and Jackie as being intelligent operators and hard workers to the countless off-the-record stories I've heard.

Also it wasn't just the banks that were left owed money. Bill and Jackie stung a fair few businesses too before word got out.

I think this can happen when you move away from your core business, it always seemed to me that it was a case of "oh look that sector is doing well lets jump in there"

When people do that they take the model that works with them in their existing business and try to apply it there, you can probably put car sales reps under lots of pressure, but you cannot apply the same type of pressure to someone who is taking hotel bookings etc.

I found him a pain in the ass in the last few years of the tiger with the endless press but I'd never wish a venture of fail on anyone, as there is more than just his livelihood at sake once he starts employing people

uck51js9zml2yt

The guy stung the banks and local businesses for millions and is able to walk away from it and set up again debt free. How is that ever right?