Getting started in the IT business

[hmig89]

Hi Guys,

It's been a while, I am posting today because I would like some advice and industry tips on getting started in the IT industry, I have done IT jobs and freelanced as a 'word of mouth' engineer so to speak when I was younger. I went to someone's house removed a virus's etc and they paid me or replaced ram sticks & hard drives etc and so on. I have mostly kept up with some trends but know its always changing and needs constant research.

I am now working for company who offers a range of services to the NHS, I work as an analyst but have had a chance to see how their business works and what they offer.

I would consider myself to already have a good knowledge of IT but this job has taken me to an even higher level.

What I would like to do is offer a service mainly to small businesses and possibly home customers as well as well as having a pay as you go as well as an emergency rate.

I plan to offer remote support ( rescue me, team viewer look good options)
Desktop visits for issues that can not be resolved via remote, there would be a standard call out fee plus repair fee.
Monthly support plans
Cloud solutions and hosting - maybe white label or partner up.
VoIP solutions with soft phone
Servers, windows server and Linux.

I would also like to know what certificates that would help such as Microsoft certified partners, ITIL and IM&T qualified etc.


I have seen some companies use Zendesk to keep track of issues raised( I don't think this would really work, it terms of ITIL and CMDB) At work we use Landesk, I have been looking and there are some good alternatives.

There is prober lay some stuff I have missed out as it is late but I will post when it comes to me, I look forward to your advice and support.

Thanks
Hugo

 

[leemason]

In my experience small businesses never ask for certifications (Microsoft or any other). I have been working in IT consultancy since 1995 under my own company and before then for others and have rarely been quizzed about this sort of thing. Medium and larger businesses may we want to know that they are dealing with an authorized reseller or someone who has certified engineers in one thing or another. Most small businesses that I have dealt with tend to go on recommendation and/or by speaking to reference sites. So the critical thing is to get some customer under your belt and to make sure they are happy.

How you get these initial customers is up to you but if you have some contacts at the moment then use them as much as possible to get recommended. Once you have a small based of customers then you can use these as a springboard to get more. It's not easy starting in this sort of area as there is a lot of competition but once you get a decent and reliable customer based it's not too bad a living.

 

[hmig89]

Thanks Lee,

I will be getting a web site designed shortly and putting myself out there and as you say use any connections I already have.

From what I have seen there are a lot of IT support firms out there a lot catering for small to medium businesses, however a lot of their websites looks quite corporate something that may put small business off?

I have typed up a lot of content for the site and laid out the categories but think I may have to dim down the offering a bit to attract the clients first.

I think I wi also set up a separate 1 page site or get business cards to promote myself as a freelance engineer too, that will help me get more connections.

 

[leemason]

Don't try to make the web site too complicated or have too much on it. Make you offering as concise and to the point as possible. Like for example if you want to target smallish businesses with SBS servers then make SBS the dominant theme.

 

Don't forget to put some sample prices on the site.

 

[hmig89]

Thanks once again Lee,

I will take that on board and get some feedback on the design posting it here.

In terms of offering prices on the site I can not offer this for all services as different businesses wi have different needs.

Some of the will will be project contract which I will have to quote the business.

 

Thanks once again Lee,

I will take that on board and get some feedback on the design posting it here.

In terms of offering prices on the site I can not offer this for all services as different businesses wi have different needs.

Some of the will will be project contract which I will have to quote the business.

Thats why I said sample prices ,people like to know if you are in their ball park.

 

[hmig89]

Thats why I said sample prices ,people like to know if you are in their ball park.

I knew that was going to be your answer lol.

But yes in short I should be able to do some ball park figures base on x number of users with a server.

I am still struggling with a good company name and theme for the site, any advice on this?

I have been looking around think I can really trim the costs with a WP theme, im sure there must be something, I must be looking in the wrong place lol.

 

[iclebyte]

Hey Hugo,

I started in the IT field much the same as you fixing PC's for friends and family. One thing my Dad convinced me to do back then was to place an advert in the back of the local news paper saying "Computer Problems? Call Jamie on xxxxxx". I got quite a few calls, £20 or £30 quid here and there some times I'd take the machine away for a few days and bring it back for £100 if it needed more extensive work.

I would say that's a good place to start, then when you're at the customers house give them your business card. If your good it'll grow from there.

Good luck with your new career!

- Jamie

 

[Alan]

At least initially, you will be selling you as a person, rather than a company, so your website should reflect you as an individual rather than some faceless organisation.

Your website(s) will not pull in a lot of business directly, you'll have to find clients through networking with people, friends of friends etc at first and local adverts. But most people will have a glance at your website to see who you are and see if you are the sort of person they can trust.

Good luck with your venture, I'm sure it will take off.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Good Luck.

Whilst you will make a few quid fixing peoples PC's for £20-£100 the real money is advising clients on which solutions they can use to meet their company demands (Servers on-site, cloud, hosting etc.), for this you can make some serious money but have to really understand what technology is available and what is best suited to each business.

 

[leemason]

A very important factor also is recurring business. It's great to sell a product or service to someone once or twice a year but getting them to pay a small amount regularly for support or other services and well worth the extra effort (you might want to consider reselling other products, for example: anti-spam and anti-virus services, online backup services, VoIP services, etc).

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Good advice Lee, the IT support firms I know who have done well have concentrated on getting firms to sign with them for a monthly support fee. That way they have an regular income stream.

 

[hmig89]

Hey Guys,

Didn't see all the posts. Thanks for all the advice just over 6 months ago I was jobless and now 6 months later im employed and doing my thing on the side.

I am also looking to get my Comptia qualification - This is more a personal goal rather than a business goals.

I have been doing research all week see and what kind of services are offered, a lot of remote fixes, anti virus removal, server monitoring and instillation. Also pas as you go fixes and contracts which is more like what im used too with SLAs in place.

I have been networking more and more, and my girlfriend does dance classes so she will help spread the word to people in her lessons too. As said I will starting offering home fixes first and some of that income can even go towards the business.

I will check newpapers ads in my area and see how much they cost, also we some local shops will see if they let me put a flyer on their window or something.

I have planned to look at voip, broadband and backup partners and I be glad to partner up. Im confident this will take off and have confidence in my skills. There are other area i do need to improve such as servers and PBX solutions, but in terms of pc/software virus removals and solving issues I am confident and I do this daily, I have managed to learn about lots of different systems and software provides dealing with 3rd parties, so this will come in handy if I do any consulting or rccommend solutions to the business.

 

[hmig89]

On another note I am still struggling to come up with a new business name?lol Tried brainstomring using theasurus and go the basic way, cant really come up with anything that sound okay and ahs a domain available

 

[Paul_Rosser]

You don't really need a name to start with as I'm guessing you will start as a sole trader and then possibly move limited once you have enough clients.

So you can invoice in your own name and use your existing bank account, however you may need to check with your bank that they allow you to use personal accounts for business purposes.

 

[Alan]

hmig89.co.uk is available

 

[hmig89]

Yeap will start as a sole trader first wont bother setting up a LTD yet.
I will do some brain storming over the next few weeks, sure I can come up with something handy.

Think I will pick a Wordpress template just to advertise myself as a working for myself first and then get the company website up a running.

Ref hmig89 I really do need to change my username lol.

 

[hmig89]

what about....

computagurus
computaguys
computatechs

any good?

I have been have issues my bank everyday this week, spends hours on the phone, didn't even start my diet lol