Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
How To Start A Computer Business on the Correct Managed Service Model
I've been doing a lot of forum participation lately where it seems every other post is from a tech asking how to start a computer business by running around town fixing all the neighbor's computers. And ultimately, they all seem to ask the same question... "How much should I charge per hour?"
I can tell you, from over 16 years of personal experience running my own computer consulting firm that the fastest way to guarantee failure as an independent computer consultant is to:
A) Charge hourly rates
and
B) Serve residential customers
If you want to run a successful computer consulting business, then you must serve the small business market. Residential customers will typically be one-shot-deals, they will be very price-conscious and they will have technology ranging from Windows 95 workstations to machines so infected with spyware and viruses that there's no way to do an effective cleanup in a timeframe the client will be willing to pay for.
Tech-savvy business owners however will budget properly to have their systems properly maintained, they will desire regular monthly maintenance to ensure reliability and maximum performance and they will have standardized, up-to-date technology that will be a pleasure to work on.
But just because you start a computer business supporting small businesses exclusively, doesn't guarantee automatic success. You will still need to follow the correct business model.
1. You NEED to charge Flat-Rates for a Managed Service Plan. You must not charge hourly rates for break/fix support.
Hourly rates:
* Will be feast-or-famine. Some months you'll be busy. Some months will be dead.
* Busy months mean your clients are having lots of problems. Lots of problems mean unhappy clients.
* If you get a big check, chances are your client is writing it after experiencing some significant problems. Think they'll feel happy about cutting that check?
* Every time you walk through the door, the client is getting billed. Think they want to see you often?
* Since they want to see you as little as possible, you're going to need more clients to keep yourself busy.
* If several of those clients have problems at the same time, it'll be hard to take care of them all. Again... you've got some unhappy clients.
* And if nothing is breaking, you'll be calling around to propose some projects to get the income flowing... and they'll be saying, "Not now... cash is tight. Can we hold off on the upgrade till next month?"
* It's a constant "You need to do more / They want to see you less" relationship. Very Win/Lose for both of you.
Flat-rates:
* You will get paid consistently and reliably.
* You'll know on the first of the month exactly how much money you're making.
* You will get paid to keep your client's systems running smoothly. The better they run, the better your income (less work / same money).
* The less your clients see you, the happier they are to write you your check ("Things are working great! Let's keep it that way! Pay the man.")
* You charge a fair, predictable rate, they get reliable, productive computing. Win/Win.
2. So if you're doing Maintenance Plans... how do you keep things running smoothly?
You monitor the systems around the clock using inexpensive utilities like GFI Max. For about $13/mo per server, you can get instant alerts for just about any problem that's occurring on the server.
Then, when a problem pops up, you log in remotely using a cheap or even free utility like LogMeIn to resolve the issue from your kitchen table.
When users have problems, you log in remotely the same way and help them instantly. They get instant support (much better than waiting for you to make an office visit) and again, you can work in your pajamas.
With constant monitoring and remote access, you can definitely keep the problems in a small office environment to a minimum.
3. What happens if a problem occurs where you MUST get down there? You go down there and charge an additional hourly rate for any calls that must be performed on-site. You want to keep these to a minimum (the bulk of your income comes from your flat rates. You don't rely on these extra hours to survive). They want you to keep these calls to a minimum too. The less they occur, the happier everyone is.
4. How many clients will you need? One of the most important considerations you'll need to work out when figuring out how to start a computer business that charges flat-fees is deciding exactly how to structure your pricing.
As an example of what works for me, if you offer a maintenance plan where you charge a flat-fee of $149 per server and $49 per workstation per month, plus $125/hr for on-site work (these are the rates I charge in NY - scale for your area and needs accordingly), you're looking at a monthly income of about $1389 for each 10-workstation client.
For each client of this size, you should expect to dedicate about 3 hours work per week. That's about 1.5 hours on-site and an average of 15 min. per day remote work.
Get yourself 4 clients, and you're looking at a salary of over $66K working around 10 hours a week.
If you learn how to start a computer business on the correct model of providing managed support to small businesses, you are setting yourself up for some very fast, enjoyable success! If you would like information on how to properly market your business to get these initial clients very quickly, I've put together a ton of excellent, free resources on my IT Marketing website.
I invite you to discover the massive rewards that await you when you start your own highly successful computer consulting business. Give yourself the ultimate advantage by arming yourself with the exact same tools, IT marketing materials, IT templates and personalized training that have helped hundreds of Independent Computer Consultants to fire their bosses and create a life of personal and financial freedom.
Get FREE instant access to 9 of our most powerful training videos... and for a very limited time, receive a massively effective Sales Prospecting Letter written by one of the industry's top copywriters, valued at $597... just for visiting http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com.
I can tell you, from over 16 years of personal experience running my own computer consulting firm that the fastest way to guarantee failure as an independent computer consultant is to:
A) Charge hourly rates
and
B) Serve residential customers
If you want to run a successful computer consulting business, then you must serve the small business market. Residential customers will typically be one-shot-deals, they will be very price-conscious and they will have technology ranging from Windows 95 workstations to machines so infected with spyware and viruses that there's no way to do an effective cleanup in a timeframe the client will be willing to pay for.
Tech-savvy business owners however will budget properly to have their systems properly maintained, they will desire regular monthly maintenance to ensure reliability and maximum performance and they will have standardized, up-to-date technology that will be a pleasure to work on.
But just because you start a computer business supporting small businesses exclusively, doesn't guarantee automatic success. You will still need to follow the correct business model.
1. You NEED to charge Flat-Rates for a Managed Service Plan. You must not charge hourly rates for break/fix support.
Hourly rates:
* Will be feast-or-famine. Some months you'll be busy. Some months will be dead.
* Busy months mean your clients are having lots of problems. Lots of problems mean unhappy clients.
* If you get a big check, chances are your client is writing it after experiencing some significant problems. Think they'll feel happy about cutting that check?
* Every time you walk through the door, the client is getting billed. Think they want to see you often?
* Since they want to see you as little as possible, you're going to need more clients to keep yourself busy.
* If several of those clients have problems at the same time, it'll be hard to take care of them all. Again... you've got some unhappy clients.
* And if nothing is breaking, you'll be calling around to propose some projects to get the income flowing... and they'll be saying, "Not now... cash is tight. Can we hold off on the upgrade till next month?"
* It's a constant "You need to do more / They want to see you less" relationship. Very Win/Lose for both of you.
Flat-rates:
* You will get paid consistently and reliably.
* You'll know on the first of the month exactly how much money you're making.
* You will get paid to keep your client's systems running smoothly. The better they run, the better your income (less work / same money).
* The less your clients see you, the happier they are to write you your check ("Things are working great! Let's keep it that way! Pay the man.")
* You charge a fair, predictable rate, they get reliable, productive computing. Win/Win.
2. So if you're doing Maintenance Plans... how do you keep things running smoothly?
You monitor the systems around the clock using inexpensive utilities like GFI Max. For about $13/mo per server, you can get instant alerts for just about any problem that's occurring on the server.
Then, when a problem pops up, you log in remotely using a cheap or even free utility like LogMeIn to resolve the issue from your kitchen table.
When users have problems, you log in remotely the same way and help them instantly. They get instant support (much better than waiting for you to make an office visit) and again, you can work in your pajamas.
With constant monitoring and remote access, you can definitely keep the problems in a small office environment to a minimum.
3. What happens if a problem occurs where you MUST get down there? You go down there and charge an additional hourly rate for any calls that must be performed on-site. You want to keep these to a minimum (the bulk of your income comes from your flat rates. You don't rely on these extra hours to survive). They want you to keep these calls to a minimum too. The less they occur, the happier everyone is.
4. How many clients will you need? One of the most important considerations you'll need to work out when figuring out how to start a computer business that charges flat-fees is deciding exactly how to structure your pricing.
As an example of what works for me, if you offer a maintenance plan where you charge a flat-fee of $149 per server and $49 per workstation per month, plus $125/hr for on-site work (these are the rates I charge in NY - scale for your area and needs accordingly), you're looking at a monthly income of about $1389 for each 10-workstation client.
For each client of this size, you should expect to dedicate about 3 hours work per week. That's about 1.5 hours on-site and an average of 15 min. per day remote work.
Get yourself 4 clients, and you're looking at a salary of over $66K working around 10 hours a week.
If you learn how to start a computer business on the correct model of providing managed support to small businesses, you are setting yourself up for some very fast, enjoyable success! If you would like information on how to properly market your business to get these initial clients very quickly, I've put together a ton of excellent, free resources on my IT Marketing website.
I invite you to discover the massive rewards that await you when you start your own highly successful computer consulting business. Give yourself the ultimate advantage by arming yourself with the exact same tools, IT marketing materials, IT templates and personalized training that have helped hundreds of Independent Computer Consultants to fire their bosses and create a life of personal and financial freedom.
Get FREE instant access to 9 of our most powerful training videos... and for a very limited time, receive a massively effective Sales Prospecting Letter written by one of the industry's top copywriters, valued at $597... just for visiting http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What You Need Before You Start Your Own Computer Business
You’ve got the skills necessary to maintain a small business network. And you've even got a little bit of start-up cash. But you’re wondering if it’s enough. What exactly do you need to Start Your Own Computer Business?
Are certifications absolutely necessary? Will you have to invest in expensive equipment or software? Will you need to borrow some capital to get started?
My answer to these question is you really don’t need very much at all. In fact, the new technology available today makes it incredibly easy to offer extremely reliable, very profitable maintenance services using inexpensive, or even completely free software.
The days of jumping from one crisis to the next, relying on enough problems to occur during the month so you can pay the bills are long gone… The profitable model of providing IT Support is to offer on-going managed solutions to small businesses at a flat-rate. This basically means you prevent problems from affecting your small business clients... before disaster strikes.
So, the short answer is if you can maintain a small business computer network, then you’ve got what it takes to start your own computer business, easily one of the best IT Employment career choices you can make.
With this said, of course, more certifications and training means you can offer more solutions to your clients. So, while certifications aren't absolutely necessary to get your business running, continued training can only serve to improve the level of service you can provide.
On of the best parts of running your own business is you get to choose exactly what you want to become an expert in. Rather than being forced into a role as an employee or as part of larger team, when you're the boss, you call the shots.
On top this, another bit of advice for when you’re just starting out is to partner with an established IT firm or another experienced computer consultant. This way, if you find yourself faced with a problem that seems to be beyond your abilities to resolve, or if you just find yourself with a temporary work-overload, you have another professional you can bring in to assist. You can then arrange a referral fee or even just pass along your fee to your partner. This way, the client remains happy and you’re still perceived as the professional support provider that your client knows they can count on, no matter what the issue.
The point is that you do need to be competent… but you DON’T need to be the world’s most qualified expert. There are always ways to make up for where your expertise might be lacking.
Now, what about funding? What do you need to buy to start your business?
Sure, you do need some money. You’re running a business after all. There are basic expenses you will need to cover.
First, you'll need to consider your basic living expenses. Depending on your prospecting strategy and your plan for getting your clients, it might take some time before you have the client base you need to generate the basic income you need to pay your bills.
On top of your regular living expenses, the largest investment you'll need to make (other than a car if that's one of your requirements for getting to your customers) would be a laptop computer with broadband Internet access. You need this so that you can support any of your clients remotely, regardless of whether you're home, on the road or at another client site.
Aside from these basic expenses, the remainder of your startup investment requirements can be kept extremely low when you start your own computer business as an independent consultant.
In fact, sometimes it can be counter-productive to have too much capital because you end up buying a lot purchases you don’t really need before you have the clientele to justify the investments.
You see, what’s great about this business is you’re not providing the equipment, your merely maintaining or repairing what others have already bought.
This means that by choosing your initial services wisely and using new technology, you don’t need a fortune or a massive loan to get started. Your office might even be your kitchen table.
Put simply, this is as good as gets when it comes to a low-cost, low-risk business. When you make the decision to become your own boss and start your own computer business, you can finally get paid what you know you're worth for your expertise.
The biggest challenge you'll likely face is finding your initial client base quickly. Fortunately, this too is a challenge easily overcome with a solid, proven marketing strategy... and luckily, this too can be done for very little cost. I can show you the exact IT Marketing strategies I use every day to continuously build my own successful computer consulting business when you sign up to my newsletter at: http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
Are certifications absolutely necessary? Will you have to invest in expensive equipment or software? Will you need to borrow some capital to get started?
My answer to these question is you really don’t need very much at all. In fact, the new technology available today makes it incredibly easy to offer extremely reliable, very profitable maintenance services using inexpensive, or even completely free software.
The days of jumping from one crisis to the next, relying on enough problems to occur during the month so you can pay the bills are long gone… The profitable model of providing IT Support is to offer on-going managed solutions to small businesses at a flat-rate. This basically means you prevent problems from affecting your small business clients... before disaster strikes.
So, the short answer is if you can maintain a small business computer network, then you’ve got what it takes to start your own computer business, easily one of the best IT Employment career choices you can make.
With this said, of course, more certifications and training means you can offer more solutions to your clients. So, while certifications aren't absolutely necessary to get your business running, continued training can only serve to improve the level of service you can provide.
On of the best parts of running your own business is you get to choose exactly what you want to become an expert in. Rather than being forced into a role as an employee or as part of larger team, when you're the boss, you call the shots.
On top this, another bit of advice for when you’re just starting out is to partner with an established IT firm or another experienced computer consultant. This way, if you find yourself faced with a problem that seems to be beyond your abilities to resolve, or if you just find yourself with a temporary work-overload, you have another professional you can bring in to assist. You can then arrange a referral fee or even just pass along your fee to your partner. This way, the client remains happy and you’re still perceived as the professional support provider that your client knows they can count on, no matter what the issue.
The point is that you do need to be competent… but you DON’T need to be the world’s most qualified expert. There are always ways to make up for where your expertise might be lacking.
Now, what about funding? What do you need to buy to start your business?
Sure, you do need some money. You’re running a business after all. There are basic expenses you will need to cover.
First, you'll need to consider your basic living expenses. Depending on your prospecting strategy and your plan for getting your clients, it might take some time before you have the client base you need to generate the basic income you need to pay your bills.
On top of your regular living expenses, the largest investment you'll need to make (other than a car if that's one of your requirements for getting to your customers) would be a laptop computer with broadband Internet access. You need this so that you can support any of your clients remotely, regardless of whether you're home, on the road or at another client site.
Aside from these basic expenses, the remainder of your startup investment requirements can be kept extremely low when you start your own computer business as an independent consultant.
In fact, sometimes it can be counter-productive to have too much capital because you end up buying a lot purchases you don’t really need before you have the clientele to justify the investments.
You see, what’s great about this business is you’re not providing the equipment, your merely maintaining or repairing what others have already bought.
This means that by choosing your initial services wisely and using new technology, you don’t need a fortune or a massive loan to get started. Your office might even be your kitchen table.
Put simply, this is as good as gets when it comes to a low-cost, low-risk business. When you make the decision to become your own boss and start your own computer business, you can finally get paid what you know you're worth for your expertise.
The biggest challenge you'll likely face is finding your initial client base quickly. Fortunately, this too is a challenge easily overcome with a solid, proven marketing strategy... and luckily, this too can be done for very little cost. I can show you the exact IT Marketing strategies I use every day to continuously build my own successful computer consulting business when you sign up to my newsletter at: http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Best IT Technician Jobs to Have During a Recession
Times are tough. And for computer support professionals, finding IT Technician jobs has only gotten tougher.
It's no wonder though, is it? After all, companies that are in need of IT support for their computer networks are on the hunt for more affordable ways to maintain their systems than ever before. And outsourcing the management of the network, particularly for small businesses, is a more affordable and attractive option than any other.
That's why I say... If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and become the outsourced IT solution that so many small businesses are searching for now. If you're out there investigating the IT Technician Jobs that are available to you, I'd say the best one you can land is to become your own boss and start your own computer consulting business.
I know plenty of IT Technicians that would love to jump at the opportunity to become their own boss and support their own base of small business clients. Why wouldn't they? You set your own hours, you have no boss looking over your shoulder, you can't get fired or laid off, you have no limits on your growth potential (as you can install and learn any new technologies that you want to install for your clients) and you get to work with a variety of companies, keeping the work day varied and interesting.
But I also know that the main fear that keeps computer techs from taking a shot at fulfilling the dream of starting a consulting business of their own is not knowing how to go about finding the clients needed to ensure a steady, recurring income.
Well, to ensure an income you can count on, it's important that when you start your own computer business, that you support your clients on a managed service model. This way, you're able to charge clients a flat, monthly fee for the majority of the services you provide, which would include round-the-clock network monitoring and remote support of the users.
The utilities available today that allow a computer consultant to provide these services are incredibly affordable, and in some cases, even free!
So, once you're set up on the proper managed service model of support, you can charge small businesses a fair, competitive rate for your services that you can count on receiving on a set date each and every month.
By following this model, it's very easy to achieve a full time income supporting a client base as tiny as four small business clients, which can be maintained in as little as two hours a day. Hard to dispute that this is one of the most desirable IT Technician jobs any computer tech with network administration skills could ask for.
I've put together a series of videos that describes in exact detail how to start a computer business on the correct managed service model and how to acquire the entire client base needed to ensure a steady, permanent income in just 60 days or less. You can access the entire video series for free, right here at http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
It's no wonder though, is it? After all, companies that are in need of IT support for their computer networks are on the hunt for more affordable ways to maintain their systems than ever before. And outsourcing the management of the network, particularly for small businesses, is a more affordable and attractive option than any other.
That's why I say... If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and become the outsourced IT solution that so many small businesses are searching for now. If you're out there investigating the IT Technician Jobs that are available to you, I'd say the best one you can land is to become your own boss and start your own computer consulting business.
I know plenty of IT Technicians that would love to jump at the opportunity to become their own boss and support their own base of small business clients. Why wouldn't they? You set your own hours, you have no boss looking over your shoulder, you can't get fired or laid off, you have no limits on your growth potential (as you can install and learn any new technologies that you want to install for your clients) and you get to work with a variety of companies, keeping the work day varied and interesting.
But I also know that the main fear that keeps computer techs from taking a shot at fulfilling the dream of starting a consulting business of their own is not knowing how to go about finding the clients needed to ensure a steady, recurring income.
Well, to ensure an income you can count on, it's important that when you start your own computer business, that you support your clients on a managed service model. This way, you're able to charge clients a flat, monthly fee for the majority of the services you provide, which would include round-the-clock network monitoring and remote support of the users.
The utilities available today that allow a computer consultant to provide these services are incredibly affordable, and in some cases, even free!
So, once you're set up on the proper managed service model of support, you can charge small businesses a fair, competitive rate for your services that you can count on receiving on a set date each and every month.
By following this model, it's very easy to achieve a full time income supporting a client base as tiny as four small business clients, which can be maintained in as little as two hours a day. Hard to dispute that this is one of the most desirable IT Technician jobs any computer tech with network administration skills could ask for.
I've put together a series of videos that describes in exact detail how to start a computer business on the correct managed service model and how to acquire the entire client base needed to ensure a steady, permanent income in just 60 days or less. You can access the entire video series for free, right here at http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Number One IT Employment Option for A Network Administrator
The Number One IT Employment Option for A Network Administrator
If you're a computer professional with the skills to maintain a small business network... and you're considering the IT employment options available to you, I urge you to consider the following...
An Independent Computer Consultant who supports small businesses will have greater income potential, stronger job security, greater options for technical and professional growth and much more freedom with your time than with just about any other IT Job available.
The key to success in building a successful Independent computer consulting practice is to operate on the managed support model, where you provide flat-rate service for proactive monitoring and remote support.
Supporting small businesses affords a computer consultant with a steady, regularly recurring stream of revenue.
Small businesses rely heavily on their computer systems for the daily operations of their company and therefore are more than willing to pay a fair price to have the systems properly maintained.
With the monitoring technologies available today, you will be able to monitor your clients systems around the clock, with instant alerts sent to you via email or SMS messaging for literally pennies a day.
By receiving early alerts to any problems that arise, such as failed backups, failed software updates, faulty hardware, etc., you will be able to prevent problems from escalating to the point of disaster... keeping your clients functioning more reliably and keeping you from spending countless hours doing reactive repair work.
The remote support utilities available to you today are also extremely affordable, allowing you to address most of the daily occurring issues instantly, from just about anywhere you have access to the Internet. This instant level of support keeps your clients functioning with minimal downtime and keeps their satisfaction levels at maximum.
If you're starting a consulting business and operating on the correct, flat-fee billing model, your monthly revenue will be generated for keeping things running smoothly, rather than the old hourly-rate model where you only made money if things were breaking (and your clients were suffering). And you no longer have to worry about having a "slow month". On a flat-rate model, the slower, the better... for both you and your clients.
If you're properly monitoring your clients and supporting them remotely, the amount of actual weekly support work will be minimal, allowing you to generate a reliable, full-time income while working part-time hours. Because the work-load is easily managed, you can scale up at your own pace, essentially making your maximum income level limitless.
And let's not forget about the fact that you'll be making the recommendations to your clients as to what technology would best benefit them. Therefore, you have unlimited options as to the systems, peripherals and software you will be able to gain exposure to, continuously increasing your own personal technical knowledge-base.
When considering the IT employment options available to you, it's hard to imagine any other job where you could have the freedom, growth and financial potential that you could have by becoming your own boss and starting a computer consulting business of your own.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Ideal Computer Careers for a Computer Consultant with Network Administration Skills
If you are a computer consultant with the skills to support a small business network, then you have several computer careers open to you.
You can become an in-house network administrator for a mid to large size company, where you support either a portion of or even the entire IT infrastructure...
You can work of a larger IT support firm or Managed Service Provider, where you support the company's clients, earning a small fraction of what your boss is charging his clients for the work you do...
You can work on a help desk, fielding phone support calls from a large corporation's end-users all day long...
But in my opinion, none of the computer careers available to you come anywhere close to providing you with the income potential, growth opportunities, job security or general freedom than you will get when you become your own boss and start your own computer business as a computer consultant serving local small businesses.
Just think of all the benefits you'll get when you become your own boss running your own computer consulting business...
You'll have excellent income potential - Small business owners are glad to pay a fair rate to have a reliable computer consultant maintain the systems that they rely on so heavily to operate their companies. If you set up your billing structure properly, you can generate a full-time income supporting just a handful of clients that will take only a couple of hours a day to maintain. Expand your client base and you can easily make a generous six-figure income while still working less than the standard 40-hour work-week.
You'll have an unmatched level of job security - When you're the boss, there's no danger of getting laid off or terminated. Sure, you can potentially lose a client, but if you structure your business properly by having a diverse number of clients, where no single customer represents a significant portion of your income, then losing a client can be fairly painless and relatively easy to replace.
You'll have flexible work hours - If your business is modeled on providing managed support and remote service, then the actual number of hours you'll need to dedicate on-site to your clients will be minimal. Monitor your clients properly and you'll know in advance what problems you need to address. Use remote access technologies and the typical day-to-day issues can be fixed quickly from your kitchen table. Do these things right and you'll be able to support your entire client base on just a few hours a day. Plus, if a client needs you after-hours for a specific issue, you have the flexibility of charging overtime rates to compensate you fairly for your time.
You'll have unlimited opportunities for technical growth - Unlike when you work for a company that dictates what technologies you will be installing and supporting, when you run your computer consulting business, you make the decisions on what technologies you want to recommend for your clients. You'll get to learn the new systems that interest you most and that will best contribute to your personal growth and interest.
You'll have excellent opportunities for professional growth - When you're the boss, your clients will interact with you differently than if you're just an "employee". You'll have networking and referral opportunities open to you that you just wouldn't have otherwise. Plus, working with a diverse number of small business clients, you have an excellent opportunity to expand your social circle with smart, successful, professional peers.
Plus, you'll have many other opportunities as a business owner, such as tax and investment benefits that are only available to self-employed individuals. You'll get to make your own decisions as to what kind of heath benefits you'll select for you and your family (as opposed to just accepting whatever your employer offers you). You'll also be able to choose exactly who you want to work with. If you prefer working with a particular industry, you can target them as your customers... or if you decide a client isn't what you would consider a "healthy" environment, you can choose to eliminate them from your client base.
When deciding on the computer careers that are available to someone with your skill set, it's hard to dispute that becoming your own boss would be the best choice you could make.
The challenge that prevents most computer professionals from pursuing this IT career choice is the fear of not knowing how to obtain the clients they'd need to generate a reliable, sustainable income.
This is a fear that can easily be put to rest when you have a tested and proven IT Marketing plan in your hands that can essentially guarantee you'll be able to pull in all the clients you need within 60 days or less.
You can become an in-house network administrator for a mid to large size company, where you support either a portion of or even the entire IT infrastructure...
You can work of a larger IT support firm or Managed Service Provider, where you support the company's clients, earning a small fraction of what your boss is charging his clients for the work you do...
You can work on a help desk, fielding phone support calls from a large corporation's end-users all day long...
But in my opinion, none of the computer careers available to you come anywhere close to providing you with the income potential, growth opportunities, job security or general freedom than you will get when you become your own boss and start your own computer business as a computer consultant serving local small businesses.
Just think of all the benefits you'll get when you become your own boss running your own computer consulting business...
You'll have excellent income potential - Small business owners are glad to pay a fair rate to have a reliable computer consultant maintain the systems that they rely on so heavily to operate their companies. If you set up your billing structure properly, you can generate a full-time income supporting just a handful of clients that will take only a couple of hours a day to maintain. Expand your client base and you can easily make a generous six-figure income while still working less than the standard 40-hour work-week.
You'll have an unmatched level of job security - When you're the boss, there's no danger of getting laid off or terminated. Sure, you can potentially lose a client, but if you structure your business properly by having a diverse number of clients, where no single customer represents a significant portion of your income, then losing a client can be fairly painless and relatively easy to replace.
You'll have flexible work hours - If your business is modeled on providing managed support and remote service, then the actual number of hours you'll need to dedicate on-site to your clients will be minimal. Monitor your clients properly and you'll know in advance what problems you need to address. Use remote access technologies and the typical day-to-day issues can be fixed quickly from your kitchen table. Do these things right and you'll be able to support your entire client base on just a few hours a day. Plus, if a client needs you after-hours for a specific issue, you have the flexibility of charging overtime rates to compensate you fairly for your time.
You'll have unlimited opportunities for technical growth - Unlike when you work for a company that dictates what technologies you will be installing and supporting, when you run your computer consulting business, you make the decisions on what technologies you want to recommend for your clients. You'll get to learn the new systems that interest you most and that will best contribute to your personal growth and interest.
You'll have excellent opportunities for professional growth - When you're the boss, your clients will interact with you differently than if you're just an "employee". You'll have networking and referral opportunities open to you that you just wouldn't have otherwise. Plus, working with a diverse number of small business clients, you have an excellent opportunity to expand your social circle with smart, successful, professional peers.
Plus, you'll have many other opportunities as a business owner, such as tax and investment benefits that are only available to self-employed individuals. You'll get to make your own decisions as to what kind of heath benefits you'll select for you and your family (as opposed to just accepting whatever your employer offers you). You'll also be able to choose exactly who you want to work with. If you prefer working with a particular industry, you can target them as your customers... or if you decide a client isn't what you would consider a "healthy" environment, you can choose to eliminate them from your client base.
When deciding on the computer careers that are available to someone with your skill set, it's hard to dispute that becoming your own boss would be the best choice you could make.
The challenge that prevents most computer professionals from pursuing this IT career choice is the fear of not knowing how to obtain the clients they'd need to generate a reliable, sustainable income.
This is a fear that can easily be put to rest when you have a tested and proven IT Marketing plan in your hands that can essentially guarantee you'll be able to pull in all the clients you need within 60 days or less.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Independent Computer Consultant - Using Flyers to Market your Business
Using a flyer can be a very effective sales-support tool – if it’s used properly for your specific business.
Businesses that are looking for dozens, or even hundreds of new customers (like a cleaning service or a copier repair center) can invest heavily in printing and mailing tens of thousands of flyers in the hopes of getting a return of just a small percentage of interested customers.
But for you as an Independent Computer Consultant, the cost to embark on a large campaign where you’ll print and blindly mail hundreds of flyers (especially if you're just starting a computer consulting business) would not generate the sales quickly enough to justify the large expense.
Your flyer WILL be effective however if used to support your other sales efforts.
Primarily as either:
- A leave-behind (along with your business card and a note) when making a door-to-door cold call.
- An attachment to an email following an initial phone conversation with a prospective new client.
- As A follow-up mailer to a prospective client who's requesting “more information”.
- or even as an offer for something like a free on-site evaluation of their computer support needs.
(A great way to sell them exactly what they might need - which isn't always the same as what they THINK they need)
Because you will be handing or mailing your flyer to a limited number of recipients, your production costs can be kept very low. You can print your flyers inexpensively on your own inkjet printer (assuming you have a decent printer and use quality, heavyweight paper),or you can have small production runs produced by a web-based printing service.
The purpose of your flyer is to get your prospective customer to take a specific, desired action.
Just as with your other sales and marketing efforts, your intention is to help your target recognize that they have a problem in need of a solution and Show them how your service will solve their problem.
The components of an effective flyer are:
1. A Compelling Headline - This is where you’ll either capture their attention, or have your flyer deposited in the trash bin.
Your headline should contain a benefit or it should generate interest. How about...
"5 Reasons why John Smith Should be Your computer consultant!"
“Here’s How You Can Have a Full-Time IT Department for Less Than a Part-Timers Salary!"
"If You're Tired of Worrying About Unexpected Computer Problems Hurting Your Business… Then One Simple Phone Call Can Prevent Them From Ever Occurring in the First Place!"
"The Secret To Having A Trouble-Free Computer Network In Your Office…"
2. YOUR MESSAGE
This is your list of services, which can be presented in comparison to other types of service solutions.
Your job is to show what your Unique Selling Proposition is. What makes you the best option available?
3. A PROMOTIONAL OFFER
This is where your flyer becomes an effective marketing tool.
Direct your reader to take action by giving a specific instruction and providing a compelling offer, such as one of the following examples:
“Call before Oct. 31st and receive 30 days of server monitoring absolutely free!”
“Call now for a FREE 27-Point Network Evaluation”
“Until Oct. 31, get 5 free hours of on-site support when signing up with our Daily Monitoring Plan”
While the content is key when creating your flyer, design is equally as important. A photocopied flyer with black courier text and some clipart isn’t going to cut it. A very professional flyer can be designed inexpensively and easily in any of today's standard desktop publishing or word processing applications. But if graphic design isn't your strong point, there are many options available for outsourcing the work to a freelancer (check elance.com) or a web-based printing and design service.
And fortunately, these outsourcing options are generally priced within the budget of the Independent Computer Consultant who's just starting a computer consulting business of his or her own.
Businesses that are looking for dozens, or even hundreds of new customers (like a cleaning service or a copier repair center) can invest heavily in printing and mailing tens of thousands of flyers in the hopes of getting a return of just a small percentage of interested customers.
But for you as an Independent Computer Consultant, the cost to embark on a large campaign where you’ll print and blindly mail hundreds of flyers (especially if you're just starting a computer consulting business) would not generate the sales quickly enough to justify the large expense.
Your flyer WILL be effective however if used to support your other sales efforts.
Primarily as either:
- A leave-behind (along with your business card and a note) when making a door-to-door cold call.
- An attachment to an email following an initial phone conversation with a prospective new client.
- As A follow-up mailer to a prospective client who's requesting “more information”.
- or even as an offer for something like a free on-site evaluation of their computer support needs.
(A great way to sell them exactly what they might need - which isn't always the same as what they THINK they need)
Because you will be handing or mailing your flyer to a limited number of recipients, your production costs can be kept very low. You can print your flyers inexpensively on your own inkjet printer (assuming you have a decent printer and use quality, heavyweight paper),or you can have small production runs produced by a web-based printing service.
The purpose of your flyer is to get your prospective customer to take a specific, desired action.
Just as with your other sales and marketing efforts, your intention is to help your target recognize that they have a problem in need of a solution and Show them how your service will solve their problem.
The components of an effective flyer are:
1. A Compelling Headline - This is where you’ll either capture their attention, or have your flyer deposited in the trash bin.
Your headline should contain a benefit or it should generate interest. How about...
"5 Reasons why John Smith Should be Your computer consultant!"
“Here’s How You Can Have a Full-Time IT Department for Less Than a Part-Timers Salary!"
"If You're Tired of Worrying About Unexpected Computer Problems Hurting Your Business… Then One Simple Phone Call Can Prevent Them From Ever Occurring in the First Place!"
"The Secret To Having A Trouble-Free Computer Network In Your Office…"
2. YOUR MESSAGE
This is your list of services, which can be presented in comparison to other types of service solutions.
Your job is to show what your Unique Selling Proposition is. What makes you the best option available?
3. A PROMOTIONAL OFFER
This is where your flyer becomes an effective marketing tool.
Direct your reader to take action by giving a specific instruction and providing a compelling offer, such as one of the following examples:
“Call before Oct. 31st and receive 30 days of server monitoring absolutely free!”
“Call now for a FREE 27-Point Network Evaluation”
“Until Oct. 31, get 5 free hours of on-site support when signing up with our Daily Monitoring Plan”
While the content is key when creating your flyer, design is equally as important. A photocopied flyer with black courier text and some clipart isn’t going to cut it. A very professional flyer can be designed inexpensively and easily in any of today's standard desktop publishing or word processing applications. But if graphic design isn't your strong point, there are many options available for outsourcing the work to a freelancer (check elance.com) or a web-based printing and design service.
And fortunately, these outsourcing options are generally priced within the budget of the Independent Computer Consultant who's just starting a computer consulting business of his or her own.
The Independent Computer Consultant - 3 Benefits of Proactive Monitoring
For many Independent Computer Consultants who continue to operate on an hourly-rate billing model, being proactive in maintaining their client's networks can be a challenge.
Rationally, the small business owner is aware that to get the most out of the network, it should be monitored and maintained. But when there's an hourly fee involved to do extra work when everything seems to be working just fine, emotions overtake rationality and proactive maintenance is often put off.
Proper proactive maintenance of a network will improve your client's productivity, increase the reliability of the systems, and quite possibly save them money in IT support costs.
For me, my Proactive Maintenance Plan includes:
- monitoring all server event logs
- monitoring for proper AV updates and activity
- monitoring backup status, whether on-site or remote
- monitoring firewall activity, hack/spam relay attempts
- monitoring system bottlenecks (system processes, processor/ram utilization, etc.)
- monitoring application services (Exchange, ISA, IIS, etc.)
- Real-time Inventory collection and web-based reporting
- remote support for most issues
Monitoring is performed 24x7x365 by configuring the hosted software that you select to perform these tasks to send you an email or sms alert whenever an event occurs that needs your attention. The software I use, GFI Max, performs all of these tasks as well as provides many more features not listed above for a low monthly fee.
The benefits your client gets from having this level of monitoring is:
1. Improved productivity - Most problems display warning signs of some sort before becoming critical issues. Check the event logs of any unmonitored server and I would bet good money that they'll be more than a couple of red X's that warrant some level of attention. Same goes for the odds of an unmonitored backup system having more than an acceptable amount of failed backups. Or an AntiVirus system that hasn't updated in weeks. Or even the possibility of having a hard drive in a drive array completely failed without anyone being aware.
Any one of these examples, or countless others, if gone unchecked could easily develop into a crisis situation where there could be very serious and possibly unrecoverable losses to productivity and to the finances of the company. Proactive monitoring gives you the ability to prevent these unexpected emergencies.
Besides being able to save the day from disaster, you'll also be able to improve performance on a day-to-day basis.
Too often, performance of equipment is allowed to degrade to the point where the device is no longer functional or usable. You'll be improving your client's productivity by more closely examining inventory reports for outdated or inadequate equipment or applications and performing upgrades before productivity can suffer.
2. Improved reliability - If you can identify and correct small problems early, before they have a chance to develop into larger problems, and most small problems are addressed by you remotely and therefore immediately, your client will have very few complaints about their systems. Providing that you keep your client constantly informed about the status of their network and the services your providing through excellent reporting (a MUST!), they will have little reason to ever consider replacing you (and a lot of reasons for recommending you to someone else).
3. Save them Money - Hourly based, reactive support for a small business customer is typically unstable. There will be very busy months, often off-set by quiet periods where everyone (including the computer consultant) is just happy that things seem to be working nicely for a change. And once in a while, one of those crisis situations I mentioned earlier will occur and the consultant delivers an invoice that could be relationship changing. This is a tough pill for the client to swallow after suffering through whatever downtime was just experienced.
Average out the cost of hourly support long-term, taking into account both the good and the really bad times, and the average monthly costs should actually be somewhat reasonable from both the computer consultant and the customer's viewpoint.
If proactive monitoring can be delivered at a similar cost to hourly, reactive support, there is little reason for a small business owner to opt for the old model of hourly support.
Factor in any financial benefits as a result of increased productivity, or the prevention of a single disaster, and a flat-fee, proactive monitoring plan should be easily justified as a valuable and cost-effective solution.
If you can convey this to your potential customers when starting a computer consulting business of your own, you should be well on your way to expanding your client base.
Rationally, the small business owner is aware that to get the most out of the network, it should be monitored and maintained. But when there's an hourly fee involved to do extra work when everything seems to be working just fine, emotions overtake rationality and proactive maintenance is often put off.
Proper proactive maintenance of a network will improve your client's productivity, increase the reliability of the systems, and quite possibly save them money in IT support costs.
For me, my Proactive Maintenance Plan includes:
- monitoring all server event logs
- monitoring for proper AV updates and activity
- monitoring backup status, whether on-site or remote
- monitoring firewall activity, hack/spam relay attempts
- monitoring system bottlenecks (system processes, processor/ram utilization, etc.)
- monitoring application services (Exchange, ISA, IIS, etc.)
- Real-time Inventory collection and web-based reporting
- remote support for most issues
Monitoring is performed 24x7x365 by configuring the hosted software that you select to perform these tasks to send you an email or sms alert whenever an event occurs that needs your attention. The software I use, GFI Max, performs all of these tasks as well as provides many more features not listed above for a low monthly fee.
The benefits your client gets from having this level of monitoring is:
1. Improved productivity - Most problems display warning signs of some sort before becoming critical issues. Check the event logs of any unmonitored server and I would bet good money that they'll be more than a couple of red X's that warrant some level of attention. Same goes for the odds of an unmonitored backup system having more than an acceptable amount of failed backups. Or an AntiVirus system that hasn't updated in weeks. Or even the possibility of having a hard drive in a drive array completely failed without anyone being aware.
Any one of these examples, or countless others, if gone unchecked could easily develop into a crisis situation where there could be very serious and possibly unrecoverable losses to productivity and to the finances of the company. Proactive monitoring gives you the ability to prevent these unexpected emergencies.
Besides being able to save the day from disaster, you'll also be able to improve performance on a day-to-day basis.
Too often, performance of equipment is allowed to degrade to the point where the device is no longer functional or usable. You'll be improving your client's productivity by more closely examining inventory reports for outdated or inadequate equipment or applications and performing upgrades before productivity can suffer.
2. Improved reliability - If you can identify and correct small problems early, before they have a chance to develop into larger problems, and most small problems are addressed by you remotely and therefore immediately, your client will have very few complaints about their systems. Providing that you keep your client constantly informed about the status of their network and the services your providing through excellent reporting (a MUST!), they will have little reason to ever consider replacing you (and a lot of reasons for recommending you to someone else).
3. Save them Money - Hourly based, reactive support for a small business customer is typically unstable. There will be very busy months, often off-set by quiet periods where everyone (including the computer consultant) is just happy that things seem to be working nicely for a change. And once in a while, one of those crisis situations I mentioned earlier will occur and the consultant delivers an invoice that could be relationship changing. This is a tough pill for the client to swallow after suffering through whatever downtime was just experienced.
Average out the cost of hourly support long-term, taking into account both the good and the really bad times, and the average monthly costs should actually be somewhat reasonable from both the computer consultant and the customer's viewpoint.
If proactive monitoring can be delivered at a similar cost to hourly, reactive support, there is little reason for a small business owner to opt for the old model of hourly support.
Factor in any financial benefits as a result of increased productivity, or the prevention of a single disaster, and a flat-fee, proactive monitoring plan should be easily justified as a valuable and cost-effective solution.
If you can convey this to your potential customers when starting a computer consulting business of your own, you should be well on your way to expanding your client base.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Independent Computer Consultant - How to Sell Clients on Managed Services
If you're an Independent computer consultant, you know by now that you need to be charging flat, monthly rates for proactive maintenance through a Managed Service Plan and should no longer be relying on how many hours you can bill in a month to generate an income.
But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?
You need to show VALUE!
What will they get for this predictable and affordable monthly fee?
- Greater reliability from their systems.
- More productivity.
- Less losses due to downtime.
- For about the same or less than they'd pay for hourly, reactive service.
You'll be able to accomplish this by monitoring their systems and providing remote computer support.
Monitoring your client's systems 24x7x365 is easily done with low cost software like GFI Max, which is able to collect real-time inventory reports as well.
Through monitoring, you can immediately identify problems such as failed backups, system event errors, virus activity, hacker attempts, etc. By preventing errors, you will reduce unexpected problems and increase their productivity.
You can provide remote support to all of your client's workstations and servers for free by using software like LogMeIn Free. By providing remote computer support, you can increase your response time to most issues, large or small by about 100%.
The biggest complaint small businesses have when it comes to their computer consultant is having to wait for him or her to arrive, and not being notified when the consultant is going to be late.
With remote computer support, as long as the computer (or user) with the problem has Internet connectivity, you should be able to log on and work as if you were deskside. You can actually respond faster than an internal IT admin could make it across the office.
When you start a computer consulting business, by providing basic proactive maintenance and support, you can generate an income based on predictable and reliable monthly fees, while dedicating a greatly reduced number of work hours on site at your clients. They honestly don't want to see you very often anyway. And they'll be happy to pay a fair rate to ensure that the less they see you, the better.
For complete information on how to succeed at starting a computer consulting business as an Independent Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com.
But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?
You need to show VALUE!
What will they get for this predictable and affordable monthly fee?
- Greater reliability from their systems.
- More productivity.
- Less losses due to downtime.
- For about the same or less than they'd pay for hourly, reactive service.
You'll be able to accomplish this by monitoring their systems and providing remote computer support.
Monitoring your client's systems 24x7x365 is easily done with low cost software like GFI Max, which is able to collect real-time inventory reports as well.
Through monitoring, you can immediately identify problems such as failed backups, system event errors, virus activity, hacker attempts, etc. By preventing errors, you will reduce unexpected problems and increase their productivity.
You can provide remote support to all of your client's workstations and servers for free by using software like LogMeIn Free. By providing remote computer support, you can increase your response time to most issues, large or small by about 100%.
The biggest complaint small businesses have when it comes to their computer consultant is having to wait for him or her to arrive, and not being notified when the consultant is going to be late.
With remote computer support, as long as the computer (or user) with the problem has Internet connectivity, you should be able to log on and work as if you were deskside. You can actually respond faster than an internal IT admin could make it across the office.
When you start a computer consulting business, by providing basic proactive maintenance and support, you can generate an income based on predictable and reliable monthly fees, while dedicating a greatly reduced number of work hours on site at your clients. They honestly don't want to see you very often anyway. And they'll be happy to pay a fair rate to ensure that the less they see you, the better.
For complete information on how to succeed at starting a computer consulting business as an Independent Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
IT's EASY to be a Successful Independent Computer Consultant. Really!
It used to be very difficult being an Independent computer consultant. When you didn't have enough clients, finding enough billable hours in a day could be a real challenge. And when you had "enough" clients, way too often you would be needed at two places at once. Either there's too many emergencies going on, or you're working on a decent project that could bring in a chunk of hours that prevents you from giving other clients the attention they demand. Make one client happy, another is getting angry at you.
But starting a computer consulting business today as an Independent Computer Consultant is one of the best career choices an IT Professional can make. All because you can now monitor and service your clients remotely. All the things that made running a consulting business difficult in the past (too many unexpected emergencies, can't be in two places at once), are eliminated by using cheap or free utilities (I use GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting and LogMeIn Free for remote desktop and server support).
Using these tools can help you to:
a) catch problems early, minimize emergencies, downtime and unexpected problems.
b) identify weak spots so that you can make recommendations for (profitable) improvement projects
c) Fix "little" problems (change passwords, find lost files, etc.) instantly, without having to go on-site.
d) Start addressing "MAJOR" problems instantly (address a complete email outage, start an AV scan on an infected machine) without making the client wait for you to arrive.
If you maintain your clients properly, they will have minimal problems and maximum productivity. This is EXACTLY what they want for you to provide as their consultant, and they're happy to pay for it.
But if you're billing by the hour, and they hardly need you on-site, how do you make an income?
You stop billing by the hour!
Charge your customers a flat rate for your monthly monitoring and remote support and you'll know every month exactly how much you'll be making even if you never have to leave the house. In the video link below, I give a clear breakdown of how a total of 4 small business clients can provide a steady income of about $66K, with you dedicating a total of about 10 hours of work per week. Once you obtain your initial client base, you'll never again have to worry about another paycheck, lay-off or sending out a resume.
So the trick of course is to get those first few clients, and get them quickly. How? That's a big topic (so big in fact that I have about 2 hours of video on my website dedicated to it).
In a nutshell, my top three methods for finding new clients are:
1. Getting Referrals
2. Business Networking
3. cold-calling (I prefer door-to-door with flyers).
You definitely don't have to spend a lot on sales and marketing to do it effectively. All the methods I use are very inexpensive or free. The biggest challenge isn't financial. It's having the confidence and determination to go out and do it.
If you live near a metropolitan area, I can guarantee you that there are many small businesses out there right now who are open to finding a way to improve the reliability of their systems and/or lowering their current support costs. You, as an Independent Computer Consultant can provide this solution, and you can find these potential customers through networking, asking for referrals and knocking on doors (among several other ways).
Once you get in front of these potential customers, you need to show them that as a professional Independent Computer Consultant, you're their best possible solution. You do this by delivering a good sales pitch and by presenting yourself as a professional (seen through marketing materials - your business cards, website, newsletter and flyers if you use them).
Developing an effective sales pitch will take time and practice. But if you're not currently using a scripted sales pitch and you prefer to "wing it" when talking to a potential customer, you need to evaluate how successful you've been with that approach. All successful sales people use a carefully scripted and practiced sales pitch (practiced to the point where it's delivered very naturally). If you've never done any sales, I recommend reading "The Sales Bible" by Jeffrey Gitomer. It's a fast and easy read and it should get you motivated to learn more.
As for the marketing materials, they need to look professional, but don't need to be expensive to create. I recommend VistaPrint for business cards. You can create a very professional website using WordPress (free) and Artisteer ($50). Flyers can be done in MS Word using inexpensive graphics. Same with your newsletter.
While creating these materials and sales scripts don't have to be expensive, they can be very time consuming if you try to create them on your own. And unless you have a background in sales, marketing and design, you also have to be realistic about how effective you expect them to be the first time you use them.
Of course, if you have the capital to invest, you can outsource the creation of these materials. But depending on who you outsource to, you may need a lot of capital, and be prepared to deal with missed delivery dates and "not-quite-what-you-were-expecting" results.
Or you can check the link at the end of this article for info on how to get all of these materials ready to use, right now.
However you go about obtaining your sales and marketing materials, you're going to need them if you're an Independent Computer Consultant looking to land new clients.
Fortunately, when you start a computer consulting business on the correct model of flat-fee, managed support, you need very few small business clients to create a significant and reliable income.
For free, step-by-step instruction on how to earn $66K while working 10 Hours a WEEK as an Independent Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
But starting a computer consulting business today as an Independent Computer Consultant is one of the best career choices an IT Professional can make. All because you can now monitor and service your clients remotely. All the things that made running a consulting business difficult in the past (too many unexpected emergencies, can't be in two places at once), are eliminated by using cheap or free utilities (I use GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting and LogMeIn Free for remote desktop and server support).
Using these tools can help you to:
a) catch problems early, minimize emergencies, downtime and unexpected problems.
b) identify weak spots so that you can make recommendations for (profitable) improvement projects
c) Fix "little" problems (change passwords, find lost files, etc.) instantly, without having to go on-site.
d) Start addressing "MAJOR" problems instantly (address a complete email outage, start an AV scan on an infected machine) without making the client wait for you to arrive.
If you maintain your clients properly, they will have minimal problems and maximum productivity. This is EXACTLY what they want for you to provide as their consultant, and they're happy to pay for it.
But if you're billing by the hour, and they hardly need you on-site, how do you make an income?
You stop billing by the hour!
Charge your customers a flat rate for your monthly monitoring and remote support and you'll know every month exactly how much you'll be making even if you never have to leave the house. In the video link below, I give a clear breakdown of how a total of 4 small business clients can provide a steady income of about $66K, with you dedicating a total of about 10 hours of work per week. Once you obtain your initial client base, you'll never again have to worry about another paycheck, lay-off or sending out a resume.
So the trick of course is to get those first few clients, and get them quickly. How? That's a big topic (so big in fact that I have about 2 hours of video on my website dedicated to it).
In a nutshell, my top three methods for finding new clients are:
1. Getting Referrals
2. Business Networking
3. cold-calling (I prefer door-to-door with flyers).
You definitely don't have to spend a lot on sales and marketing to do it effectively. All the methods I use are very inexpensive or free. The biggest challenge isn't financial. It's having the confidence and determination to go out and do it.
If you live near a metropolitan area, I can guarantee you that there are many small businesses out there right now who are open to finding a way to improve the reliability of their systems and/or lowering their current support costs. You, as an Independent Computer Consultant can provide this solution, and you can find these potential customers through networking, asking for referrals and knocking on doors (among several other ways).
Once you get in front of these potential customers, you need to show them that as a professional Independent Computer Consultant, you're their best possible solution. You do this by delivering a good sales pitch and by presenting yourself as a professional (seen through marketing materials - your business cards, website, newsletter and flyers if you use them).
Developing an effective sales pitch will take time and practice. But if you're not currently using a scripted sales pitch and you prefer to "wing it" when talking to a potential customer, you need to evaluate how successful you've been with that approach. All successful sales people use a carefully scripted and practiced sales pitch (practiced to the point where it's delivered very naturally). If you've never done any sales, I recommend reading "The Sales Bible" by Jeffrey Gitomer. It's a fast and easy read and it should get you motivated to learn more.
As for the marketing materials, they need to look professional, but don't need to be expensive to create. I recommend VistaPrint for business cards. You can create a very professional website using WordPress (free) and Artisteer ($50). Flyers can be done in MS Word using inexpensive graphics. Same with your newsletter.
While creating these materials and sales scripts don't have to be expensive, they can be very time consuming if you try to create them on your own. And unless you have a background in sales, marketing and design, you also have to be realistic about how effective you expect them to be the first time you use them.
Of course, if you have the capital to invest, you can outsource the creation of these materials. But depending on who you outsource to, you may need a lot of capital, and be prepared to deal with missed delivery dates and "not-quite-what-you-were-expecting" results.
Or you can check the link at the end of this article for info on how to get all of these materials ready to use, right now.
However you go about obtaining your sales and marketing materials, you're going to need them if you're an Independent Computer Consultant looking to land new clients.
Fortunately, when you start a computer consulting business on the correct model of flat-fee, managed support, you need very few small business clients to create a significant and reliable income.
For free, step-by-step instruction on how to earn $66K while working 10 Hours a WEEK as an Independent Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
IT's EASY to be a Successful Independent Computer Consultant. Really!
It used to be very difficult being an Independent computer consultant. When you didn't have enough
clients, finding enough billable hours in a day could be a real challenge. And when you had "enough"
clients, way too often you would be needed at two places at once. Either there's too many emergencies
going on, or you're working on a decent project that could bring in a chunk of hours that prevents you
from giving other clients the attention they demand. Make one client happy, another is getting angry at
you.
But starting a computer consulting business today as an Independent Computer Consultant is one of the
best career choices an IT Professional can make. All because you can now monitor and service your
clients remotely. All the things that made running a consulting business difficult in the past (too many
unexpected emergencies, can't be in two places at once), are eliminated by using cheap or free utilities
(I use GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting and LogMeIn Free for remote computer
support).
Using these tools can help you to:
a) catch problems early, minimize emergencies, downtime and unexpected problems.
b) identify weak spots so that you can make recommendations for (profitable) improvement projects
c) Fix "little" problems (change passwords, find lost files, etc.) instantly, without having to go on-
site.
d) Start addressing "MAJOR" problems instantly (address a complete email outage, start an AV scan on an
infected machine) without making the client wait for you to arrive.
If you maintain your clients properly, they will have minimal problems and maximum productivity. This is
EXACTLY what they want for you to provide as their consultant, and they're happy to pay for it.
But if you're billing by the hour, and they hardly need you on-site, how do you make an income?
You stop billing by the hour!
Charge your customers a flat rate for your monthly monitoring and remote support and you'll know every
month exactly how much you'll be making even if you never have to leave the house. In the video link
below, I give a clear breakdown of how a total of 4 small business clients can provide a steady income
of about $66K, with you dedicating a total of about 10 hours of work per week. Once you obtain your
initial client base, you'll never again have to worry about another paycheck, lay-off or sending out a
resume.
So the trick of course is to get those first few clients, and get them quickly. How? That's a big topic
(so big in fact that I have about 2 hours of video on my website dedicated to it).
In a nutshell, my top three methods for finding new clients are:
1. Getting Referrals
2. Business Networking
3. cold-calling (I prefer door-to-door with flyers).
You definitely don't have to spend a lot on sales and marketing to do it effectively. All the methods I
use are very inexpensive or free. The biggest challenge isn't financial. It's having the confidence and
determination to go out and do it.
If you live near a metropolitan area, I can guarantee you that there are many small businesses out there
right now who are open to finding a way to improve the reliability of their systems and/or lowering
their current support costs. You, as an Independent Computer Consultant can provide this solution, and
you can find these potential customers through networking, asking for referrals and knocking on doors
(among several other ways).
Once you get in front of these potential customers, you need to show them that as a professional
Independent Computer Consultant, you're their best possible solution. You do this by delivering a good
sales pitch and by presenting yourself as a professional (seen through marketing materials - your
business cards, website, newsletter and flyers if you use them).
Developing an effective sales pitch will take time and practice. But if you're not currently using a
scripted sales pitch and you prefer to "wing it" when talking to a potential customer, you need to
evaluate how successful you've been with that approach. All successful sales people use a carefully
scripted and practiced sales pitch (practiced to the point where it's delivered very naturally). If
you've never done any sales, I recommend reading "The Sales Bible" by Jeffrey Gitomer. It's a fast and
easy read and it should get you motivated to learn more.
As for the marketing materials, they need to look professional, but don't need to be expensive to
create. I recommend VistaPrint for business cards. You can create a very professional website using
WordPress (free) and Artisteer ($50). Flyers can be done in MS Word using inexpensive graphics. Same
with your newsletter.
While creating these materials and sales scripts don't have to be expensive, they can be very time
consuming if you try to create them on your own. And unless you have a background in sales, marketing
and design, you also have to be realistic about how effective you expect them to be the first time you
use them.
Of course, if you have the capital to invest, you can outsource the creation of these materials. But
depending on who you outsource to, you may need a lot of capital, and be prepared to deal with missed
delivery dates and "not-quite-what-you-were-expecting" results.
Or you can check the link at the end of this article for info on how to get all of these materials ready
to use, right now.
However you go about obtaining your sales and marketing materials, you're going to need them if you're
an Independent Computer Consultant looking to land new clients.
Fortunately, when you start a computer consulting business on the correct model of flat-fee, managed support, you need very few small business clients
to create a significant and reliable income.
For free, step-by-step instruction on how to earn $66K while working 10 Hours a WEEK as an Independent
Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
clients, finding enough billable hours in a day could be a real challenge. And when you had "enough"
clients, way too often you would be needed at two places at once. Either there's too many emergencies
going on, or you're working on a decent project that could bring in a chunk of hours that prevents you
from giving other clients the attention they demand. Make one client happy, another is getting angry at
you.
But starting a computer consulting business today as an Independent Computer Consultant is one of the
best career choices an IT Professional can make. All because you can now monitor and service your
clients remotely. All the things that made running a consulting business difficult in the past (too many
unexpected emergencies, can't be in two places at once), are eliminated by using cheap or free utilities
(I use GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting and LogMeIn Free for remote computer
support).
Using these tools can help you to:
a) catch problems early, minimize emergencies, downtime and unexpected problems.
b) identify weak spots so that you can make recommendations for (profitable) improvement projects
c) Fix "little" problems (change passwords, find lost files, etc.) instantly, without having to go on-
site.
d) Start addressing "MAJOR" problems instantly (address a complete email outage, start an AV scan on an
infected machine) without making the client wait for you to arrive.
If you maintain your clients properly, they will have minimal problems and maximum productivity. This is
EXACTLY what they want for you to provide as their consultant, and they're happy to pay for it.
But if you're billing by the hour, and they hardly need you on-site, how do you make an income?
You stop billing by the hour!
Charge your customers a flat rate for your monthly monitoring and remote support and you'll know every
month exactly how much you'll be making even if you never have to leave the house. In the video link
below, I give a clear breakdown of how a total of 4 small business clients can provide a steady income
of about $66K, with you dedicating a total of about 10 hours of work per week. Once you obtain your
initial client base, you'll never again have to worry about another paycheck, lay-off or sending out a
resume.
So the trick of course is to get those first few clients, and get them quickly. How? That's a big topic
(so big in fact that I have about 2 hours of video on my website dedicated to it).
In a nutshell, my top three methods for finding new clients are:
1. Getting Referrals
2. Business Networking
3. cold-calling (I prefer door-to-door with flyers).
You definitely don't have to spend a lot on sales and marketing to do it effectively. All the methods I
use are very inexpensive or free. The biggest challenge isn't financial. It's having the confidence and
determination to go out and do it.
If you live near a metropolitan area, I can guarantee you that there are many small businesses out there
right now who are open to finding a way to improve the reliability of their systems and/or lowering
their current support costs. You, as an Independent Computer Consultant can provide this solution, and
you can find these potential customers through networking, asking for referrals and knocking on doors
(among several other ways).
Once you get in front of these potential customers, you need to show them that as a professional
Independent Computer Consultant, you're their best possible solution. You do this by delivering a good
sales pitch and by presenting yourself as a professional (seen through marketing materials - your
business cards, website, newsletter and flyers if you use them).
Developing an effective sales pitch will take time and practice. But if you're not currently using a
scripted sales pitch and you prefer to "wing it" when talking to a potential customer, you need to
evaluate how successful you've been with that approach. All successful sales people use a carefully
scripted and practiced sales pitch (practiced to the point where it's delivered very naturally). If
you've never done any sales, I recommend reading "The Sales Bible" by Jeffrey Gitomer. It's a fast and
easy read and it should get you motivated to learn more.
As for the marketing materials, they need to look professional, but don't need to be expensive to
create. I recommend VistaPrint for business cards. You can create a very professional website using
WordPress (free) and Artisteer ($50). Flyers can be done in MS Word using inexpensive graphics. Same
with your newsletter.
While creating these materials and sales scripts don't have to be expensive, they can be very time
consuming if you try to create them on your own. And unless you have a background in sales, marketing
and design, you also have to be realistic about how effective you expect them to be the first time you
use them.
Of course, if you have the capital to invest, you can outsource the creation of these materials. But
depending on who you outsource to, you may need a lot of capital, and be prepared to deal with missed
delivery dates and "not-quite-what-you-were-expecting" results.
Or you can check the link at the end of this article for info on how to get all of these materials ready
to use, right now.
However you go about obtaining your sales and marketing materials, you're going to need them if you're
an Independent Computer Consultant looking to land new clients.
Fortunately, when you start a computer consulting business on the correct model of flat-fee, managed support, you need very few small business clients
to create a significant and reliable income.
For free, step-by-step instruction on how to earn $66K while working 10 Hours a WEEK as an Independent
Computer Consultant, visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
Sunday, January 24, 2010
How to FAIL as an Independent Computer Consultant in 3 Easy Steps
I've met a lot of Independent Computer Consultants over the course of my career. While a few continue to thrive in their Independent practice, and a few others have grown their business into larger, successful computer consulting firms, the vast majority will give it less than a year before they give up and begin actively searching for a job again.
Almost every small business today that relies on computer systems, needs someone qualified to maintain them. The demand for affordable solutions for maintaining and supporting small business computer systems is huge. Today, every small business owner is looking for ways to reduce costs, and the Independent Computer Consultant is perfectly positioned to offer an excellent level of support that costs less than alternate solutions like in-house employees or larger IT Support firms.
So with such a strong potential market and with the Independent Computer Consultant able to provide a much needed solution, why is success for Independent Computer Consultants so rare?
Because they follow a standard, but wrong, hourly support billing model. If you want to join the majority of your colleagues and struggle briefly before you decide that being your own boss is to difficult and unstable and decide to call it quits, do like they do and follow these three simple steps.
STEP 1: Bill By The Hour
Ask 100 Independent Computer Consultants what their hourly rate is and almost every one of them will be able to give you one, probably ranged somewhere between $75-$150 per hour.
How many will tell you, "I don't charge by the hour. I charge flat, monthly rates."? I'm betting not many.
Basing your income around how many hours you're able to accumulate on a regular, monthly basis is a challenging and generally unstable situation. Due to the very nature of hourly rates, a cost-conscious client (and what client isn't cost-conscious today?) will always be aware of the time you spend on-site. And they'll be hoping to reduce it whenever and wherever possible.
They'll hold off on addressing "smaller" issues, judging if an item like connecting a user to a network printer justifies having you in for your hourly rate. Unfortunately, these little problems have a large negative effect on your client's productivity. When their productivity suffers to the point where it hurts them financially, they'll notice. And they'll be quick to blame the systems that you're responsible for maintaining.
Even if these small issues only amount to a few minutes a day for you to address, because they can get you in the door to work on other issues, these daily occurrences are generally the items that can make up the foundation of the hourly, computer consultant's salary. But with the client often looking to reduce these hours, this conflict can make it difficult for the consultant to properly maintain the systems and generate a reliable income.
And when a BIG problem occurs, such as a server or major email outage, your client's stress will be compounded by the fact while they're productivity is at zero, they're spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to have you fix the problem.
Billing by the hour creates a win-lose environment. The client has computer problems, they're unhappy, but the consultant makes more money. Fewer problems means a happier client, but a poorer consultant.
STEP 2: Provide Reactive Support
If you're billing by the hour for on-site support, you're generally waiting for someone to call you with a need or problem for you to address. Hopefully you'll be able to strike a balance where you'll have enough clients with service requests to keep you busy, without too many clients demanding you simultaneously for "critical" requests or unexpected emergencies.
This is a difficult balance to find, and the downfall of many new computer consultants. If you have too few clients, with few problems and a minimal budget for improvement projects, keeping busy enough can be a challenge. When things are working smoothly, you may be tempted to call your client just to "check in". But this can often be viewed negatively by your client as you possibly "fishing" for a few extra billable hours. Hitting a few slow months in a row can make for a very unreliable income.
Land yourself too many clients though, and you might be busier than you bargained for. Find yourself unable to provide support fast enough and you'll have dissatisfied customers. Fail to respond to a client during a real emergency because you're addressing another client's emergency, and odds are high that you'll lose more than just a few billable hours.
If you put a good server monitoring system in place, you can potentially eliminate most of these problems. If you monitor the server proactively, you can catch items like failed backups, low disk space, hardware failure alerts, etc. This will reduce unexpected emergencies and allow you to schedule your time much more reliably.
Monitoring will also let you identify issues that might have gone unnoticed until they escalated into a real problem. You don't need to wait for your client to tell you what work needs to be done. You can review the server logs and let your client know what problems exist and need to be addressed.
The problem with proactive monitoring under the hourly billing model is... what if it works?
What if you're able to clean up their systems to the point where problems are rare? Will you still be able to maintain a busy enough schedule with only the day-to-day minor user issues to address?
What if the opposite is true and you find problems popping up almost daily? While it'll be easy enough to bring these problems to your client's attention and hopefully they'll appreciate you identifying the problem early, there's also the probability that they'll question why all these problems are occurring and why suddenly you need to spend so much billable time on their systems.
And of course there's the question of how to charge for proactive system monitoring under an hourly-rate support model. Whether you charge an hourly, partial-hour or flat-rate for your monitoring service, unless the client sees regular, clear evidence of the effectiveness of your work, they're going to question whether this extra expense is a necessary one.
If monitoring helps to identify problems and keeps you busy, your clients will potentially be asking why they're spending more money now than before you started monitoring their systems. "Wasn't the monitoring supposed to reduce problems and save me money?"
If it helps to keep their systems operating at peak performance, they'll be happy, but your income will suffer.
Being proactive is a real challenge when operating under the hourly-rate business model. It can have a negative impact on your immediate income, but it gives you the best chance for satisfied clients. Yet another conflict that the hourly-rate computer consultant must figure out how to overcome.
Reactive support however, is basically waiting for things to break in order for you to survive. Which for a computer consultant hired to keep things running, is career suicide.
STEP 3: Provide On-Site Service
Naturally, you'll need to visit your clients on a fairly regular basis. As an hourly-support consultant, if you don't see your clients, you don't make money. If your business is built primarily around having to be at your client site to be able to support them and to generate your income, then it's in your best interest to be there as often as possible. Of course, your client wants to see you there as infrequently as possible. This conflict alone is enough to prevent someone who’s starting a computer consulting business from ever succeeding.
And there's always the possibility that two of your clients might need support at the same time. If you're not monitoring your clients proactively as discussed above, the chance for unexpected problems to arise is high. Two simultaneous emergencies happen often enough when you're supporting multiple, unmonitored networks.
What if it's not even an emergency, but a simple request to clean up a workstation that's been getting pop-ups. But the call comes in while you're working on a project and you have another service call waiting and you won't be able to make it down until a day and a half from now. This doesn't do much for customer satisfaction, let alone the possibility that your client may not want to wait for you and finds another way to resolve their problem, which will lose you some billable time at least (and maybe lose you a client at worst).
A simple solution would seem to be to provide remote computer support. Doing so gives you the ability to essentially be at two places at once. You probably won't attempt to do an SBS migration remotely, but you certainly can start a malware scan remotely at one client while onsite at another (of course, if you’re billing by the hour, you need to be very careful about who’s clock you’re on when you’re doing remote work from a client site).
Providing remote computer support could definitely improve client satisfaction. In addition to being able to provide nearly instantaneous support, your clients will also be seeing you less often, which we know is what they want when being charged by the hour.
So unless you're billing for remote support, you'll be losing some income.
But under the hourly rate billing model, how do you charge for remote computer support? By the hour? In 15 minute increments? What if the support call takes 10 minutes to resolve? Do you charge for it, or do you chalk it up to providing "good customer service"? How many billable hours might you be giving away over the course of the month? How many of those calls could have led to additional billable time had you have gone on-site to provide the service? By not having to go on-site to resolve the day-to-day, minor issues, would you still be able to maintain enough hours of on-site work per week for each of your clients?
Let's say you charge $125/hr. and you have four clients for who you provide a total of 2 hours of work each, per week remotely. This would be a fantastic gig for you... for the remote work alone, you’d be making $48K annually, while working about 8 hours a week, mostly while wearing your pj's.
But I guarantee you, if you consistently send your client an invoice for 8 hours a month, and they can't recall the last time they've seen your face for more than a few hours, it won't be long before questions or suspicions arise as to the need or validity of your service.
Whenever you provide remote support, stellar record keeping and reporting is critical. However, even with detailed reports, if your client is paying for a substatial numbers of hours each month for work they don’t actually see you doing, they're going to want a very high level of communication or other supporting evidence of your work and the time involved.
Once again, you’re faced with another conflict where you're trying to do your work, and the very nature of your billing arrangement causes your client to question your work.
If you want to fail as an Independent Computer Consultant, it's very simple to do. Just follow the examples laid out by the countless other failed consultants before you and create a business built on charging hourly rates to put out fires at your client's sites as quickly and as often as you're able to.
If however, you want to start a computer consulting business that follows a business model that's been proven and guaranteed to succeed, then visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com for free step-by-step video training that can get you started on the right path today!
_____________________________________________________________
Robert Peretson is the founder of Perry Consulting, a New York based computer consulting firm, started in 1996. Today, Perry Consulting enjoys a reputation as the premier provider of computer consulting services to many of New York City's most progressive and prestigious small businesses. For professional computer support in New York City, visit www.perryconsulting.com.
In 2009, Robert founded the website SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com, a training and support portal for IT professionals who would like to start a computer consulting business as an Independent Computer Consultant.
Almost every small business today that relies on computer systems, needs someone qualified to maintain them. The demand for affordable solutions for maintaining and supporting small business computer systems is huge. Today, every small business owner is looking for ways to reduce costs, and the Independent Computer Consultant is perfectly positioned to offer an excellent level of support that costs less than alternate solutions like in-house employees or larger IT Support firms.
So with such a strong potential market and with the Independent Computer Consultant able to provide a much needed solution, why is success for Independent Computer Consultants so rare?
Because they follow a standard, but wrong, hourly support billing model. If you want to join the majority of your colleagues and struggle briefly before you decide that being your own boss is to difficult and unstable and decide to call it quits, do like they do and follow these three simple steps.
STEP 1: Bill By The Hour
Ask 100 Independent Computer Consultants what their hourly rate is and almost every one of them will be able to give you one, probably ranged somewhere between $75-$150 per hour.
How many will tell you, "I don't charge by the hour. I charge flat, monthly rates."? I'm betting not many.
Basing your income around how many hours you're able to accumulate on a regular, monthly basis is a challenging and generally unstable situation. Due to the very nature of hourly rates, a cost-conscious client (and what client isn't cost-conscious today?) will always be aware of the time you spend on-site. And they'll be hoping to reduce it whenever and wherever possible.
They'll hold off on addressing "smaller" issues, judging if an item like connecting a user to a network printer justifies having you in for your hourly rate. Unfortunately, these little problems have a large negative effect on your client's productivity. When their productivity suffers to the point where it hurts them financially, they'll notice. And they'll be quick to blame the systems that you're responsible for maintaining.
Even if these small issues only amount to a few minutes a day for you to address, because they can get you in the door to work on other issues, these daily occurrences are generally the items that can make up the foundation of the hourly, computer consultant's salary. But with the client often looking to reduce these hours, this conflict can make it difficult for the consultant to properly maintain the systems and generate a reliable income.
And when a BIG problem occurs, such as a server or major email outage, your client's stress will be compounded by the fact while they're productivity is at zero, they're spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to have you fix the problem.
Billing by the hour creates a win-lose environment. The client has computer problems, they're unhappy, but the consultant makes more money. Fewer problems means a happier client, but a poorer consultant.
STEP 2: Provide Reactive Support
If you're billing by the hour for on-site support, you're generally waiting for someone to call you with a need or problem for you to address. Hopefully you'll be able to strike a balance where you'll have enough clients with service requests to keep you busy, without too many clients demanding you simultaneously for "critical" requests or unexpected emergencies.
This is a difficult balance to find, and the downfall of many new computer consultants. If you have too few clients, with few problems and a minimal budget for improvement projects, keeping busy enough can be a challenge. When things are working smoothly, you may be tempted to call your client just to "check in". But this can often be viewed negatively by your client as you possibly "fishing" for a few extra billable hours. Hitting a few slow months in a row can make for a very unreliable income.
Land yourself too many clients though, and you might be busier than you bargained for. Find yourself unable to provide support fast enough and you'll have dissatisfied customers. Fail to respond to a client during a real emergency because you're addressing another client's emergency, and odds are high that you'll lose more than just a few billable hours.
If you put a good server monitoring system in place, you can potentially eliminate most of these problems. If you monitor the server proactively, you can catch items like failed backups, low disk space, hardware failure alerts, etc. This will reduce unexpected emergencies and allow you to schedule your time much more reliably.
Monitoring will also let you identify issues that might have gone unnoticed until they escalated into a real problem. You don't need to wait for your client to tell you what work needs to be done. You can review the server logs and let your client know what problems exist and need to be addressed.
The problem with proactive monitoring under the hourly billing model is... what if it works?
What if you're able to clean up their systems to the point where problems are rare? Will you still be able to maintain a busy enough schedule with only the day-to-day minor user issues to address?
What if the opposite is true and you find problems popping up almost daily? While it'll be easy enough to bring these problems to your client's attention and hopefully they'll appreciate you identifying the problem early, there's also the probability that they'll question why all these problems are occurring and why suddenly you need to spend so much billable time on their systems.
And of course there's the question of how to charge for proactive system monitoring under an hourly-rate support model. Whether you charge an hourly, partial-hour or flat-rate for your monitoring service, unless the client sees regular, clear evidence of the effectiveness of your work, they're going to question whether this extra expense is a necessary one.
If monitoring helps to identify problems and keeps you busy, your clients will potentially be asking why they're spending more money now than before you started monitoring their systems. "Wasn't the monitoring supposed to reduce problems and save me money?"
If it helps to keep their systems operating at peak performance, they'll be happy, but your income will suffer.
Being proactive is a real challenge when operating under the hourly-rate business model. It can have a negative impact on your immediate income, but it gives you the best chance for satisfied clients. Yet another conflict that the hourly-rate computer consultant must figure out how to overcome.
Reactive support however, is basically waiting for things to break in order for you to survive. Which for a computer consultant hired to keep things running, is career suicide.
STEP 3: Provide On-Site Service
Naturally, you'll need to visit your clients on a fairly regular basis. As an hourly-support consultant, if you don't see your clients, you don't make money. If your business is built primarily around having to be at your client site to be able to support them and to generate your income, then it's in your best interest to be there as often as possible. Of course, your client wants to see you there as infrequently as possible. This conflict alone is enough to prevent someone who’s starting a computer consulting business from ever succeeding.
And there's always the possibility that two of your clients might need support at the same time. If you're not monitoring your clients proactively as discussed above, the chance for unexpected problems to arise is high. Two simultaneous emergencies happen often enough when you're supporting multiple, unmonitored networks.
What if it's not even an emergency, but a simple request to clean up a workstation that's been getting pop-ups. But the call comes in while you're working on a project and you have another service call waiting and you won't be able to make it down until a day and a half from now. This doesn't do much for customer satisfaction, let alone the possibility that your client may not want to wait for you and finds another way to resolve their problem, which will lose you some billable time at least (and maybe lose you a client at worst).
A simple solution would seem to be to provide remote computer support. Doing so gives you the ability to essentially be at two places at once. You probably won't attempt to do an SBS migration remotely, but you certainly can start a malware scan remotely at one client while onsite at another (of course, if you’re billing by the hour, you need to be very careful about who’s clock you’re on when you’re doing remote work from a client site).
Providing remote computer support could definitely improve client satisfaction. In addition to being able to provide nearly instantaneous support, your clients will also be seeing you less often, which we know is what they want when being charged by the hour.
So unless you're billing for remote support, you'll be losing some income.
But under the hourly rate billing model, how do you charge for remote computer support? By the hour? In 15 minute increments? What if the support call takes 10 minutes to resolve? Do you charge for it, or do you chalk it up to providing "good customer service"? How many billable hours might you be giving away over the course of the month? How many of those calls could have led to additional billable time had you have gone on-site to provide the service? By not having to go on-site to resolve the day-to-day, minor issues, would you still be able to maintain enough hours of on-site work per week for each of your clients?
Let's say you charge $125/hr. and you have four clients for who you provide a total of 2 hours of work each, per week remotely. This would be a fantastic gig for you... for the remote work alone, you’d be making $48K annually, while working about 8 hours a week, mostly while wearing your pj's.
But I guarantee you, if you consistently send your client an invoice for 8 hours a month, and they can't recall the last time they've seen your face for more than a few hours, it won't be long before questions or suspicions arise as to the need or validity of your service.
Whenever you provide remote support, stellar record keeping and reporting is critical. However, even with detailed reports, if your client is paying for a substatial numbers of hours each month for work they don’t actually see you doing, they're going to want a very high level of communication or other supporting evidence of your work and the time involved.
Once again, you’re faced with another conflict where you're trying to do your work, and the very nature of your billing arrangement causes your client to question your work.
If you want to fail as an Independent Computer Consultant, it's very simple to do. Just follow the examples laid out by the countless other failed consultants before you and create a business built on charging hourly rates to put out fires at your client's sites as quickly and as often as you're able to.
If however, you want to start a computer consulting business that follows a business model that's been proven and guaranteed to succeed, then visit http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com for free step-by-step video training that can get you started on the right path today!
_____________________________________________________________
Robert Peretson is the founder of Perry Consulting, a New York based computer consulting firm, started in 1996. Today, Perry Consulting enjoys a reputation as the premier provider of computer consulting services to many of New York City's most progressive and prestigious small businesses. For professional computer support in New York City, visit www.perryconsulting.com.
In 2009, Robert founded the website SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com, a training and support portal for IT professionals who would like to start a computer consulting business as an Independent Computer Consultant.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Is the Independent Computer Consultant Destined for Extinction?
The IT Support landscape is rapidly changing, with new, inexpensive tools being developed for proactive maintenance and remote support that allow support to be delivered faster and cheaper than ever before.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Independent Computer Consultant? Or can he evolve to become the preferred option for affordable, reliable Small Business IT Support in the coming decade?
With almost 30 million small businesses in the US alone, there is no shortage of a need for new innovations in technology. Every major technology developer... Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Apple, IBM, HP, Sony, BlackBerry, Intel and so on, as well as the thousands of smaller, but no less significant tech companies will continue to invest billions of dollars year after year developing new and innovative products for the immense and continuously growing small business market.
The way data is created, accessed and shared, the way communication will continue to expand our personal networks while shrinking our planet, the new and stronger methods we'll need to protect ourselves and our information, the way we sell and market our services and ourselves... All will change, and will continue to change for long into the foreseeable future.
As long as technology continues to evolve, there will continue to be a need for a qualified support person to install it, configure it, monitor it, maintain it, and yes, fix it when it doesn't work as it should.
And of course there will always be a need for a knowledgeable professional to show an inexperienced user how to get the most out of their systems.
To get the greatest long-term financial return from a technology investment, a small business owner will need to properly maintain these systems that are so critical to the daily functionality of their operations.
Qualified Computer Consultants who can keep their client's systems current, working at peak performance levels and that operating with minimal problems will always be in high demand.
This is where an Independent Computer Consultant has an advantage over larger IT Support Providers or MSP's. Thanks to the development of affordable system monitoring and remote support utilities, the independent computer consultant can provide the same reliable and immediate support response as a larger provider, yet, can be very price-competitive due to much lower overhead.
As long as the computer consultant's business is created on the correct business model, success can be easily attained.
What is destined for extinction is the old support model of being the on-call computer "repairman", who runs to the client's office whenever a problem occurs... at high, hourly billing rates. This reactive method of support relies on having systems fail for the consultant to make an income. The worse the systems perform (and the more dissatisfied the customer becomes), the more money the consultant makes.
This business model is guaranteed to fail. It's heavily reliant on having problems to resolve, keeps your clients continuously associating you with greater expenses to their business and provides a very unstable income.
For a computer consultant to succeed in supporting small businesses, they need to provide proactive monitoring to keep their customer's systems functioning at peak performance levels and operating as reliably as possible. They also need to provide instant response to critical support requests. Fortunately, these things can easily be accomplished by using today's affordable IT support utilities, such as GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting, and LogMeIn Free for reliable... and free, remote computer support.
When a computer consultant builds a business on a proactive support model, they can charge affordable, flat monthly rates to their clients. This is much more preferable to billing high, hourly rates that the consultant is always looking for more of, while the customer is simultaneously trying to cut them down.
By being proactive and reducing problems, a computer consultant will have a much more satisfied customer base, a more predictable and reliable income level and will be able to support many more computer systems in far less time.
The Independent Computer Consultant can be the ideal support model for providing efficient and cost-effective IT Support to today's small businesses, who are more cost-conscious than ever before.
Starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant can be one of the most lucrative and rewarding career choices an IT professional can make today.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Independent Computer Consultant? Or can he evolve to become the preferred option for affordable, reliable Small Business IT Support in the coming decade?
With almost 30 million small businesses in the US alone, there is no shortage of a need for new innovations in technology. Every major technology developer... Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Apple, IBM, HP, Sony, BlackBerry, Intel and so on, as well as the thousands of smaller, but no less significant tech companies will continue to invest billions of dollars year after year developing new and innovative products for the immense and continuously growing small business market.
The way data is created, accessed and shared, the way communication will continue to expand our personal networks while shrinking our planet, the new and stronger methods we'll need to protect ourselves and our information, the way we sell and market our services and ourselves... All will change, and will continue to change for long into the foreseeable future.
As long as technology continues to evolve, there will continue to be a need for a qualified support person to install it, configure it, monitor it, maintain it, and yes, fix it when it doesn't work as it should.
And of course there will always be a need for a knowledgeable professional to show an inexperienced user how to get the most out of their systems.
To get the greatest long-term financial return from a technology investment, a small business owner will need to properly maintain these systems that are so critical to the daily functionality of their operations.
Qualified Computer Consultants who can keep their client's systems current, working at peak performance levels and that operating with minimal problems will always be in high demand.
This is where an Independent Computer Consultant has an advantage over larger IT Support Providers or MSP's. Thanks to the development of affordable system monitoring and remote support utilities, the independent computer consultant can provide the same reliable and immediate support response as a larger provider, yet, can be very price-competitive due to much lower overhead.
As long as the computer consultant's business is created on the correct business model, success can be easily attained.
What is destined for extinction is the old support model of being the on-call computer "repairman", who runs to the client's office whenever a problem occurs... at high, hourly billing rates. This reactive method of support relies on having systems fail for the consultant to make an income. The worse the systems perform (and the more dissatisfied the customer becomes), the more money the consultant makes.
This business model is guaranteed to fail. It's heavily reliant on having problems to resolve, keeps your clients continuously associating you with greater expenses to their business and provides a very unstable income.
For a computer consultant to succeed in supporting small businesses, they need to provide proactive monitoring to keep their customer's systems functioning at peak performance levels and operating as reliably as possible. They also need to provide instant response to critical support requests. Fortunately, these things can easily be accomplished by using today's affordable IT support utilities, such as GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting, and LogMeIn Free for reliable... and free, remote computer support.
When a computer consultant builds a business on a proactive support model, they can charge affordable, flat monthly rates to their clients. This is much more preferable to billing high, hourly rates that the consultant is always looking for more of, while the customer is simultaneously trying to cut them down.
By being proactive and reducing problems, a computer consultant will have a much more satisfied customer base, a more predictable and reliable income level and will be able to support many more computer systems in far less time.
The Independent Computer Consultant can be the ideal support model for providing efficient and cost-effective IT Support to today's small businesses, who are more cost-conscious than ever before.
Starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant can be one of the most lucrative and rewarding career choices an IT professional can make today.
Is the Independent Computer Consultant Heading for Extinction?
The IT Support landscape is rapidly changing, with new, inexpensive tools being developed for proactive maintenance and remote support that allow support to be delivered faster and cheaper than ever before.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Independent Computer Consultant? Or can he evolve to become the preferred option for affordable, reliable Small Business IT Support in the coming decade?
With almost 30 million small businesses in the US alone, there is no shortage of a need for new innovations in technology. Every major technology developer... Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Apple, IBM, HP, Sony, BlackBerry, Intel and so on, as well as the thousands of smaller, but no less significant tech companies will continue to invest billions of dollars year after year developing new and innovative products for the immense and continuously growing small business market.
The way data is created, accessed and shared, the way communication will continue to expand our personal networks while shrinking our planet, the new and stronger methods we'll need to protect ourselves and our information, the way we sell and market our services and ourselves... All will change, and will continue to change for long into the foreseeable future.
As long as technology continues to evolve, there will continue to be a need for a qualified support person to install it, configure it, monitor it, maintain it, and yes, fix it when it doesn't work as it should.
And of course there will always be a need for a knowledgeable professional to show an inexperienced user how to get the most out of their systems.
To get the greatest long-term financial return from a technology investment, a small business owner will need to properly maintain these systems that are so critical to the daily functionality of their operations.
Qualified Computer Consultants who can keep their client's systems current, working at peak performance levels and that operating with minimal problems will always be in high demand.
This is where an Independent Computer Consultant has an advantage over larger IT Support Providers or MSP's. Thanks to the development of affordable system monitoring and remote support utilities, the independent computer consultant can provide the same reliable and immediate support response as a larger provider, yet, can be very price-competitive due to much lower overhead.
As long as the computer consultant's business is created on the correct business model, success can be easily attained.
What is destined for extinction is the old support model of being the on-call computer "repairman", who runs to the client's office whenever a problem occurs... at high, hourly billing rates. This reactive method of support relies on having systems fail for the consultant to make an income. The worse the systems perform (and the more dissatisfied the customer becomes), the more money the consultant makes.
This business model is guaranteed to fail. It's heavily reliant on having problems to resolve, keeps your clients continuously associating you with greater expenses to their business and provides a very unstable income.
For a computer consultant to succeed in supporting small businesses, they need to provide proactive monitoring to keep their customer's systems functioning at peak performance levels and operating as reliably as possible. They also need to provide instant response to critical support requests. Fortunately, these things can easily be accomplished by using today's affordable IT support utilities, such as GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting, and LogMeIn Free for reliable... and free, remote computer support.
When a computer consultant builds a business on a proactive support model, they can charge affordable, flat monthly rates to their clients. This is much more preferable to billing high, hourly rates that the consultant is always looking for more of, while the customer is simultaneously trying to cut them down.
By being proactive and reducing problems, a computer consultant will have a much more satisfied customer base, a more predictable and reliable income level and will be able to support many more computer systems in far less time.
The Independent Computer Consultant can be the ideal support model for providing efficient and cost-effective IT Support to today's small businesses, who are more cost-conscious than ever before.
Starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant can be one of the most lucrative and rewarding career choices an IT professional can make today.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Independent Computer Consultant? Or can he evolve to become the preferred option for affordable, reliable Small Business IT Support in the coming decade?
With almost 30 million small businesses in the US alone, there is no shortage of a need for new innovations in technology. Every major technology developer... Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Apple, IBM, HP, Sony, BlackBerry, Intel and so on, as well as the thousands of smaller, but no less significant tech companies will continue to invest billions of dollars year after year developing new and innovative products for the immense and continuously growing small business market.
The way data is created, accessed and shared, the way communication will continue to expand our personal networks while shrinking our planet, the new and stronger methods we'll need to protect ourselves and our information, the way we sell and market our services and ourselves... All will change, and will continue to change for long into the foreseeable future.
As long as technology continues to evolve, there will continue to be a need for a qualified support person to install it, configure it, monitor it, maintain it, and yes, fix it when it doesn't work as it should.
And of course there will always be a need for a knowledgeable professional to show an inexperienced user how to get the most out of their systems.
To get the greatest long-term financial return from a technology investment, a small business owner will need to properly maintain these systems that are so critical to the daily functionality of their operations.
Qualified Computer Consultants who can keep their client's systems current, working at peak performance levels and that operating with minimal problems will always be in high demand.
This is where an Independent Computer Consultant has an advantage over larger IT Support Providers or MSP's. Thanks to the development of affordable system monitoring and remote support utilities, the independent computer consultant can provide the same reliable and immediate support response as a larger provider, yet, can be very price-competitive due to much lower overhead.
As long as the computer consultant's business is created on the correct business model, success can be easily attained.
What is destined for extinction is the old support model of being the on-call computer "repairman", who runs to the client's office whenever a problem occurs... at high, hourly billing rates. This reactive method of support relies on having systems fail for the consultant to make an income. The worse the systems perform (and the more dissatisfied the customer becomes), the more money the consultant makes.
This business model is guaranteed to fail. It's heavily reliant on having problems to resolve, keeps your clients continuously associating you with greater expenses to their business and provides a very unstable income.
For a computer consultant to succeed in supporting small businesses, they need to provide proactive monitoring to keep their customer's systems functioning at peak performance levels and operating as reliably as possible. They also need to provide instant response to critical support requests. Fortunately, these things can easily be accomplished by using today's affordable IT support utilities, such as GFI Max for server monitoring and inventory reporting, and LogMeIn Free for reliable... and free, remote computer support.
When a computer consultant builds a business on a proactive support model, they can charge affordable, flat monthly rates to their clients. This is much more preferable to billing high, hourly rates that the consultant is always looking for more of, while the customer is simultaneously trying to cut them down.
By being proactive and reducing problems, a computer consultant will have a much more satisfied customer base, a more predictable and reliable income level and will be able to support many more computer systems in far less time.
The Independent Computer Consultant can be the ideal support model for providing efficient and cost-effective IT Support to today's small businesses, who are more cost-conscious than ever before.
Starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant can be one of the most lucrative and rewarding career choices an IT professional can make today.
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