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Hey Spice Heads,

So I have finally made the decision to really dig in and spend the time, money and effort into starting up my own business. I am looking for ideas, tips and thoughts from you guys on what TO do and what NOT to do. I appreciate any feed back.

I am looking to start a small business IT solutions and support company. Ideally helping setup networks, Implementing new servers and tech as needed and supporting them in any IT needs they will have. There are alot of small businesses in the area and I already have two that are willing to use my services once I get started.

The things I know:

I am ready and willing to invest ALOT of time to get the business off the ground.

I have to build contracts based on the needs of the business

I need a way to prove my knowledge and build brand recognition.

I will need to do alot of initial marketing to get my initial clients. Door to door as needed.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

12 Spice ups
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Best of luck with the venture.

Maybe you can get Small Business to move to the Cloud and use services like GMail or Office 365 for Business and all.

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That is a good idea because ideally I will specialize in something to draw in potential clients.

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Create your own Youtube channel to market what you do, how you would do it, and show the success.

Another thought would be to create a little QR code onto the back of your business card linked to a website/Youtube videos if they wanted to check your work out.

My 2 cents,

Good luck!

2 Spice ups
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Good - because you will!

Best of luck!

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Great to hear that you’re kicking off a new endeavor, Matt! I spend a lot of time over in the IT Service Provider group and there are very similar threads there that you might find useful as you get your feet wet. Here’s a recent thread: http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/843856-advice-for-starting-independent-it-work

With your initial marketing plan, you mentioned going door to door if you have to - it will definitely take a lot of effort to build up your client base. However, there’s no shame in starting small. My piece of advice to you would be work your network! See if you have any friends or connections that would be willing to be one of your first few clients. This will help get you off the ground and give you the opportunity to work out the kinks in your business. From there, word of mouth will be your new best friend :slight_smile:

I hope this helps you out! Good luck!

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This.

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Respect the people you hire and the people that hired you. Never pay someone less than a healthy living wage for your community. Respect holidays, birthdays, and deaths. Everything is an emergency to someone. Prophylactics are a good way to open jars with stubborn lids. Bring a towel. Spend time with family whenever possible. Taxes are important. Setup your benches wisely, efficiency is your profit. If you get into web work, outsource the crap out of it. Remember to have fun.

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  1. Don’t listen to people who’ve never had a business.

  2. Don’t listen to people who had one business but it failed; I’m sure they’ll find a way to blame someone else, though.

  3. Don’t listen to people who’ve never had a business where it was their only business and their only means to support themselves and their families.

Start with that and you’ll be OK. Especially #3, someone who repairs crap on the weekend or still lives with their parents can’t really give you insights into the stress and uncertainty of “this is my only option or my family will be homeless.” They can’t offer good insight really into anything. As someone who owns two businesses without a backup plan (well, I have a lot of money saved now, but originally I didn’t), I can tell you the biggest problem you will run into is all the terrible advice from people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

Speak to a lawyer with experience in LLCs/corporations/etc about the proper way to do it, some people will say speak to an accountant, but come on… Take their advice, don’t take the advice of people who’ve never done it, etc.

Speak to experts who can show their experience, not just speak from the perspective of someone who watched The Profit on CNBC or Sharktank or whatever.

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