Happiness Hero for Buffer for Business Users, Danny Mulcahy

Hello everyone!

Today, we have Danny Mulcahy, Happiness Hero for our Buffer for Business users with us for our weekly Live Chat! 🎉

Here’s more from Danny:

“Hey hey! I’m Danny :) I joined Buffer back in May 2015 as part of the Happiness team. Ever since then, I’ve been learning & laughing everyday thanks to my amazing colleagues and the inspiring Buffer community we’re lucky to be a part of.

I’m from Manchester, UK, and in July 2015 I relocated to London, UK, to live with my fiancée whilst she is attending medical school. I’m at my happiest when I get the chance to make others smile.

Outside of Buffer, I am pretty obsessed with football (soccer) and will take any opportunity to play / watch / listen and talk about it :) I have a fondness for exploring and trying new experiences (recently had the chance to go shark cage diving with Alfred and it was incredibly good fun). On top of that, I have a great passion for food and trying to find the perfect burger — if you have any recommendations please let me know!”

Hey ​Danny​, thanks for joining us today! 😊

Hey hey! Thanks so much for having me 😄

Buffer Journey

Hey Danny! Can you talk a little bit about your background and how you came to Buffer? — Sabine

Howdy Sabine, I would love to chat to you about my background and how I found Buffer. 😄

It was a bit of a fun journey for sure!

I grew up in Manchester and went to uni there too, studying Business Management. I ended up getting a working placement opportunity in my 3rd year working for an employment law firm. I started off by doing their Press & PR. It was a fun opportunity for me and I great experience doing lots of writing and marketing based things there

I ended up working for that company for 3 years, until my girlfriend (now fiancée) went to move to San Francisco for a year. So I quit my job and went to live with her for a while 😄 which was the best summer ever.

After that and it was time to come home, I managed to get a job running the marketing for an online accountancy firm in Manchester. It was here I met Buffer for the first time, and fell in love right away.

Hey Dan — That’s quite a lot of changes to go through in one year and if you’re like me there are probably certain aspects of the North you find yourself missing. Anyway with that in mind what’s one of the big things you have learnt this year? — Chris Joyce ⚡

That’s such a great question! I think the biggest thing about the north I miss is the people. Leaving my family and friends has been a little tough — especially as my sister has just had a baby who I would love to see more. I think the biggest thing I would love to pass on is to keep in touch with those you care about the most, and don’t be afraid to jump into new scenarios to meet plenty more new people too.

Can you remember one thing that made it clear for you that you wanted to work for Buffer? — Sabine

I fell in love with everything about Buffer. For the start up I was working with, the speed of things was unusually slow in the environment we were in. When I found Buffer, I thought it seemed like the perfect place for me, everything about it — even down to the job title. 😄

I’m curious to know what your day looks like as the happiness hero for businesses at Buffer. What your role and responsibilities are. 😊 — Vikash Koushik

That’s such a great question! Days can look very different each time! At the moment my main responsibility is the customer support for the business side of things. Right now I’m the only one in the Europe timezone focussing in the area, and as a result can be quite heads down helping our awesome customers for most of the day. 😄

It’s super fun and I get to speak to so many different industries and types of people. On top of that we have lots of fun in slack with the Buffer team, and daily video calls to see what is happening in other areas. My role allows me to set which hours I work, so I tend to start around 9am and finish around 6:30 pm, with a break for lunch in the middle.

Hey Danny! So what is the most challenging part of your role in Buffer, the thing you find hardest/need the most motivation to achieve? — Stephen’Bern’ Banham

Really fun question, and I think this varies from day to day. My role is quite reactive depending on how many emails comes in throughout the day. I always try to leave the inbox in at least single figures when I log off. On top of that, if I can help others on my team learn something new, I think I’ve done a good day.

Could you give us a brief synopsis of what your tasks look like as a business support person for Buffer? — Joshua Price

Sure thing! Predominantly, if a user on a business plan has a question or any problems, if they shoot over an email I will dig into their query. Look at their account, figure out what is going on and try to get back to them as quickly as possible. Sometimes it might take a few emails to ask some more questions to get to the bottom of things.

We’d also love to check users have everything running smoothly in Buffer in every aspect of their accounts, not just whichever area they emailed in about.

Startup and Remote Life

I’ve not had the opportunity to work for start-up company yet. But I find it highly intriguing, what would be your best advice to someone who’s not been exposed to that environment yet? — Joshua Price

Ooooh, so much fun in this one! I think my advice would be to dive in. I’m not quite sure what the ‘start up scene’ is like in Montana, yet in the places I live, there have been weekly drink socials and meet-ups; co-working spaces and lots of opportunity on Twitter to dive and be part of the start up community.

My advice would be to reach out to a few others in that community, go along and meet them and really see if it’s something you love. If it is, then there are plenty of startups looking for someone to help out — even if it is on a volunteering basis to start.

Do you think working remotely requires a lot of self discipline? I’m curious about this as I’ve not worked in a remote environment. 😊 — Vikash Koushik

I think self discipline is a big factor, as is trust! You know in yourself if you haven’t had a productive afternoon or morning, and in a small team, that can be telling. You need to be driven and flexible and know your limits of the environments you can work in.

Have you ever worked remote other than your house? My friend worked going down the M6! 😄 — Calum

Hehe — I have worked in trains, planes and in beer gardens on occasion too. That was very fun. 😄

What are some of the struggles/limits for you regarding the environments you can/can’t work in? — Sabine

Oooo I like that. For me I will struggle to concentrate if the tv is on for instance. Also, if there’s music I like in the background I will probably end up singing along or even type out the song in an email or something. So I know that the quieter the place, the better I will work.

That being said, I always find it such a boost too whenever I get to work with some of the Bufferoos in person. I’m super lucky to have a few close by in London and we meet up quite regularly, and that is a great environment to work in.

Are you therefore usually working from home or have you found other quiet spots? — Sabine

Most of the time I do work from home. When the weather is a bit nicer, there are a few lovely cafes around Greenwich to visit. I’m also lucky to have a co-working membership at a place called Central Working, which has 5 venues around London and one in Manchester, that I can pop in anytime I want a change of scenery. 😄 It’s great and I get to meet a lot of people at the co-working spaces too.

Pre-Buffer Life

Am I right to say that you worked in marketing all along before joining Buffer? I was wondering how much do you think your role at buffer currently intersects with your marketing skills. — Vikash Koushik

I always had a huge passion for marketing. In my first job I was more involved in talking to the press than creating campaigns, yet I overlapped wherever I could. I think marketing is a huge factor in how I found Buffer and came into contact with it. And it helps so much on my side of customer support, as I can resonate and relate with a lack of the people who reach out to us. I feel like that could have been me 1 year ago.

I feel like I’ve experienced what they are going through, and what they are working towards, and hopefully I can help them to reach their goals in one way or another. Does that help answer your question?

Yeah. So awesome to hear this, Danny. Do you miss creating marketing campaigns and talking to PR guys? (So sorry for asking sooooo many Qs, Danny 🙈) — Vikash Koushik

Such a great question! And please keep them coming. 😄 At the moment I miss maybe the creative writing side of things a little. Other than that I don’t miss it; I love what I do and my days go so fast, I feel like I found a place where I belong better than the roles I used to do. 😄

Just for Fun

Are you having any side projects at the moment? — Vikash Koushik

At the moment I’m in the very beginnings of doing a coding course to try and learn the basics. That’s about as far as my side projects go. Would be pumped to jump into one fully over the next few months!

Heya! Thanks a ton for doing this, Danny. 😊 Is Manchester red or blue? 😉 — Vikash Koushik

Hey Vikash — Manchester is very clearly red 😁 all the way!

Along with one-off thrills like shark diving etc, what else do you do to help unwind? — Chris Joyce ⚡

Hehe, the shark diving comes up in special scenarios. I think my day to day relaxations are more regular. I have an unlimited cineworld card, so love heading up to the cinema. Try to get to the gym a few times a week. Watch and play as much football as possible. Cooking!! Cooking is a great way for me to be creative and relax too.

Then when the time comes to it, I love a good adventure; in the past I have done skydiving, bungee jumping, white water rafting, canyon swinging and a few other crazy things in that nature.

Do you see yourself starting up a company someday? — Vikash Koushik

Ooo — amazing question! At the moment, I’m thoroughly enjoying the Buffer journey and learning as much as I can from it. In the future I could totally see me working on my own thing, whether or not that would be full time away from Buffer, that would be tricky right now. Yet I am inspired by so much going on in the digital space around us, and would love to try my hand at bringing as much joy to others as Joel (and the rest of the Buffer team) has to me!

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