Your thoughts please....

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Hi all!

I would like to run an option that I'd like to pursue very soon past you all...I'd like to start my own IT Business in my spare time - mainly weekends! I'd like to work with local businesses who cannot afford to pay the support contract costs that the local IT mob provide!

I feel that I'm at a point in my career where my experience in IT could be worth a lot to small local businesses. I've been working in IT Support for going on 9 years now - but more importantly I feel that my confidence in meeting and dealing with people has come on leaps and bounds in the past 2 years. Everybody in my new job has commented that I have made a great impression with senior branch managers that I travel to see in my area...so far so good!

Anyway, it is my intention to get into contracting at a later point and this is why I've been thinking about getting a small part-time IT Business up and running. I can go ahead and register the company and educate myself on the ins and outs of tax etc - the hope being that I'll have an established IT Ltd company when it comes time for me to branch out into contracting etc!

Please don't get me wrong here, I'm not interested in working for Joe Public fixing PCs - I want to do this to:

* Earn some spare cash - big motivation of course!
* Educate myself on different company situations/setups i.e. bespoke systems, email, networking, leased line/WAN links etc
* Work out the ins and outs of running a business
* Work on improving my confidence further by dealing with a wider range of people...

So what do you think! Has anyone else done such a thing?? I look forward to your replies and hope you will all rip me to bits!! At least you lot will make me think harder about this!!!

Cheers

P.S. I already have a company name - just need to register it as it is not in use...already bought the domain name about 2 years ago when this name popped into me head whilst trying to get some shut eye at 3am! I dived out of bed and registered it straight away...lol!!!

 

I agree with sparky, I am actually thinking the same thing at the moment. To me its a great experience to have.

I know I wont be making a lot of money doing this but at least I'll be getting the experience not just in IT but also in business management. The way I see is there isnt much to lose and the experience could be valuable.

 

drum_dude,

What is your current field of employment?

 

This is what I hope to get to be honest! My previous experience in IT has not only been with 2000/2003 Server with AD Domains, but also with Netware 3,4 & 5 with GroupWise too, Windows NT, Exchange 5.5, 2000, & 2003 and Windows NT 4. Getting into the infrastructure side of IT is also what I'd like to do too - the cabling all the way up to the routing etc.

I deffo will look into a good accountant!

I have the domain name and the space with the usual 30 mailboxes blah blah blah! I'll be getting to work onto it soon as I do have in mind a clear idea of it's look and content! Fortunatley I'm quite good with Dreamweaver and Fireworks so it should be quite a good but simple looking site )

The area I'll be looking to cover would be at first West Midlands i.e. Dudley, Worcestershire etc.

At first it'll be a part time venture but everything has to start somewhere and if I want to get into self employed status contracting then I have to have the business practices in place in my brain! And this is what I hope to acheive by setting up on my own on a part time basis - I don't expect to earn ££££s a month but the practice and skills that one can pick up has to be priceless!!!

As for advertising, well I hope to get into the local business directories...and perhaps target small private schools and businesses with some mailshots...I have an idea of what needs done, but any suggestions are welcome!

Thumbs up to you guys 'n' girls for your support! Thanks!!!

 

Good luck.

I set my website up yonks ago but haven't had any work from it because I just don't have the time to do it

That Computer Bloke

I've got the experience and, if I had more time, I'd certainly pursue it. However, as it is - I barely get enough spare time to do anything I want to do - there's no way I could justify spending EVEN MORE of my hours working!

 

My official title at work is PC & Network Support Specialist in the construction industry...my role includes supporting/rolling out/building/troubleshooting the following:

W2K3 File and Print Servers and Domain Controllers
PCs and Laptops
Switches/Routers and IPStream and IPClear WAN links
Orange SPVs and XDAs (mNotes and Intellisync)
Installation/Monitoring of LAN/WAN monitoring hardware such as Packeteer will be a new feather to my cap
Email services such as Lotus Notes (Domino servers are looked after by another team)
IP Telephony system

My previous job of 2 years was more or less the same as above but included supporting/administrating the following:

Exchange 5.5/2003
Netware 5
NT 4 Server

Over the years I've been involved with working for schools, IT outsourcing companies and even did a spell of IT support with a big catalog firm! All in all approx 9 years

 

Oddly enough I see IT as being very enjoyable...I just love it believe it or not! I get a good buzz from helping/advising people, sad I know! But I've never tired of this sector...

 

Oh - don't get me wrong - I loooove my job. I just spend far too much time doing it - and not other things. I need to start getting more of a balance back in my life - and touting for more work won't help that

 

drum_dude,

How are you going to handle the potential conflict of interest problem when one or more of your side job client(s) needs your services at the same time that conflicts with your current job?

 

That is where I'll be most clear with potential customers - in that I'll inform them that I do have a full time occupation but can offer my services on a part time basis. It has worked for a friend that I worked with at a council - he had a few private schools that he supported after work. A lot of the stuff he had to do was pretty mickey mouse that only required him to go in 3-4 hours a week at 30 quid an hour! A few times he worked weekends at £50 an hour...those schools didn't have a problem with this. And when there was a major issue i.e. a server keeling over or the network dying he was always able to troubleshoot over the phone and liase with someone on the site on what needed to be done i.e. a reboot of the server or switch or ADSL/ISDN modem...

My intention is to work with businesses and schools whose systems aren't critical to there functions! They're plenty of these organisations about who are happy to wait for someone to get to them but are also happy that they are not tied into support contracts from IT companies in the area. A lot of these places like to have someone that they're confident with; I believe that I'm that person.

I will make my position clear with anyone I deal with, but I know not to bite off more then I can chew and WILL advise those that I cannot support! As I said previously this will be step forward into the functions and requirments of managing a limited business - the next logical step will be to get into a contracting role using the Ltd company. This first step will also confirm that I can walk into new surrondings and hit the ground running...I hope

 

Many thanks for your support Arroryn; it is most appreciated!

 

Great advice there Sparky - cheers!

 

One of the key traits of a good entrepreneur is knowing when to pass the buck
a lot of people (especially sole traders) make the mistake of trying to do everything themselves, the old adage of 'if you do it yourself, you only have yourself to blame' sort of thing

If if got to that point, it should be easy to find people more than willing to assist in the casual work for say, 15ph / 25ph weekends
your now earning money whilst not directly working
and the 4 hour week moves ever closer to reality!

 

That's great... but realize that many businesses want someone who is available on the weekdays, during business hours, when things are likely to go wrong.

...as long as your current employer is OK with you taking (sometimes extremely long) calls while they're paying your wage. Some are flexible. Many are not.

Systems are critical to just about every business these days. They just aren't often seen as critical until a computer goes down and/or important data is lost.

All this said... I think it's certainly worth pursuing (as long as everyone's aware of the situation). I still do IT work for my last employer, as well as a couple of eye doctors in town.

 

Yes agee with you there BM - I am aware that it could turn into a balancing act of sorts! But I can only go by example from previous collegue's experiences...especially the one chap I worked with who did a lot with schools. All their WAN links were managed by a 3rd party company but the IT support was dealt with by him - he only really worked with them during the evening and at the weekends their systems were setup very well by him so very rarely tripped over! He was clever enough to implement fault tolerance at their sites with multiple domain controllers etc...Yes I know that IT stuff can be classed as critical but again alot of this stuff on small business/school sites have been setup in a bad way...I want to deal with those who have got a raw deal from others. My goal in this is to get those that are having difficulties up and running and on the right track - once that is achieved the support workload will/should drop to a few hours a week if any...after that I'd like to deal with them on a consultancy basis. Advise them on support contracts etc help them with the things that they don't understand or don't have the time to read through etc

As for long phonecalls, well that is at the forefront of my mind and I do not want this to spill over into working life as that'll cause grief for everyone! But I'll have to take it as it comes and be professional enough to have contingency plans i.e. draw up what ifs and what i'd do!

It's going to be tricky, but nothing can be achieved by doing nothing! I have to try this and I firmly believe that I can do it, and if needs be I can delegate work to my retired father...but if things really did kick off and it proves that I can make a full time occupation out of it then wouldn't that be a good thing????

One can only try!

Keep up the questioning please as it's really making me think and at the same time giving me new ideas! Cheers