Starting my own IT Support company for small and medium size businesses?

I've had it with the frustration of keeping long term IT jobs around here. I get good jobs in good places, but they are always contract assignments. So in 3-6 months, no matter how good things are going, I'm then out looking for a new job again. In the past month I interviewed for 3 datacenter jobs, and didn't get any of them.

This BS is getting old.

I've run my own PC repair business on the side for years, and it does ok. 99% of my work is taking care of whatever problem the typical home user can create. But with only a few exceptions, I have no small business clients.

One thought I've had is to start my own IT Support company for this. And beyond the long tern viability of it, the part that worries me is all the things I don't know how to do.

For example:

1. I am not a salesman, nor do I want any part of it. So I would need someone to contact companies and create customers for us to go do work for.

2. I am not a sysadmin person. I do not know how to do.... ANYTHING in Linux, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, making or maintaining an email system, server admin, active directory, setting up user accounts, passwords, permissions, anything to do with security or data backups and tape drives, etc.

I am a network person. I can install the computers, the server rack, set up the routers and switches, and handle all the cabling, battery backups, and other hardware things like that.

Can anyone offer any insights? What have I left out, which is probably a lot? I'd need at least a sales person and an experienced system administrator at the very least. As for taxes and social security and business licenses and employee benefits and all that bookkeeping nonsense, I'd prefer to keep it an all-cash business for now.

I need to win the lottery and retire. This whole "work" thing is overrated.

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Comments

tedjames

1. Create a business plan.
2. Is your credit good? If not, do what it takes to raise your score.
3. Talk to your bank about getting a small business loan. You may qualify for a loan or a personal/business line of credit.
4. Find out what it takes within your city government to get a DBA (Doing Business As).
5. Talk to your state comptroller's office about getting a tax ID. You may not be required to pay quarterly sales tax if you operate a service-oriented business. Don't quote me on that. The laws vary from state to state. In Texas, if the state comptroller's office finds out that someone is running a business without a proper tax ID, they may incur serious penalties.

Meanwhile, think about partnering with a business-oriented person to handle the money/contracts side of things. Just be careful about the person you choose to work with. Choose your business partner more carefully than you would your spouse. I've known too many people that got screwed over by a less than ethical business partner.

I've run a small business (not IT-related) for almost 20 years. I've had to learn certain things out of necessity, mainly because I didn't have the money to pay somebody to do them. I'm also a DIY kind of person. You may have to consider learning a little about business or promotion/advertising, etc.

Remedymp

Join the SBA in your local area and they will walk through the whole process and you'll even receive a grant if your business plan is in place before arriving. I've heard of people recieving anywhere from $5k up to $50k for their business and they didn't have to pay it back at all. (because it's a grant)

fmitawaps

Good information, but what I was asking was more on the technical side of things. What sort of things should my employees be able to do that wasn't listed in my first post? Like if the company uses Mathcad or Solid Edge or other programs, it has to be on the server and maybe individual PCs, etc.

rsutton

I would worry less about specific 3rd party apps - you can rely on vendor support for most of those; although I do recommend setting that expectation with the client. I think the main areas of expertise for a small MSP are desktop support, network management and server side support. Related to those areas, your competencies would include Windows desktop, Mac OSx, Windows server, general networking knowledge.

UncleB

fmitawaps wrote: »

Can anyone offer any insights? What have I left out?

Start your thought process with thinking about things from your customers point of view.
What do they need help with? What is going to be the bread and butter of your work?

From my experience of doing this freelance for small companies, the majority of the work is for laptops/desktop issues and user mess-ups. For example:
A small company is growing fast and the staff have been buying laptops, using the webmail setup by someones friend and now need to get help because stuff isn't working. Half the time they want to have shared folders but don't have a clue about capacity, backups, security etc so you need to be able to give them advice that fits their budget.
Virus infections through staff being idiots are a common call - you need to know how to limit the damage, recover the files and stop it happening again.
Setting up network stuff is rare for small companies and medium sized companies often have only occasional need for help here. If they need help then setup remote monitoring and access and charge them a small monthly fee for it.

You are probably going to have to learn sysadmin and desktop support stuff as this is the bulk of SME work. Using the excuse of "I'm only a network person" will not get you much business or fix many issues. To be successful you need to be able to do anything - the good news is that you can get online and get friends to help where you are struggling or where Google cannot help.

Also get used to using the cloud for more stuff - this is very much the way things are going and most services are more effective for clients when using cloud storage and apps for team use when they may not have a domain and domain connected computers in the office.

Just my 2p - it was always good for a challenge and rarely easy, but it gave some nice spending money.

thanks
Iain

Danielm7

fmitawaps wrote: »

1. I am not a salesman, nor do I want any part of it. So I would need someone to contact companies and create customers for us to go do work for.

2. I am not a sysadmin person. I do not know how to do.... ANYTHING in Linux, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, making or maintaining an email system, server admin, active directory, setting up user accounts, passwords, permissions, anything to do with security or data backups and tape drives, etc.

I am a network person. I can install the computers, the server rack, set up the routers and switches, and handle all the cabling, battery backups, and other hardware things like that.

A few things, #1 is HUGE. Getting clients is the hardest part of starting out, trust me I've been there and I'm not a salesman either. For #2, this wouldn't be as big of a deal if you were a cabling contractor or something, but if you're trying to be a SMB general IT support person, this is probably going to be an issue. I'm not sure how many places want a networking only person for really small companies when they can get the local MSP to do everything for them.

Look at your market, there are likely MSPs already, see what they offer. They'll be your competition, they can probably do the job you're hoping to do better, have more staff, etc. You could probably undercut them, but do you want to only compete on price?

Nemowolf

So i happen to be doing just this and can tell you that you dont have to be a used car salesman but you MUST be willing and able to sell yourself and your services. If you can't convince someone to pick you over a more established company, your never going to make it.

That aside, you dont need to know everything about every topic from Linux, Windows Server, etc. but you should have a firm enough understanding so when your looking to do work for someone you can translate those needs to someone that does know those things.

Check out LegalZoom for pricing on starting an LLC, from there use the higher tiers with legal help to get your contracts and other legal documents done. Worry about taxes until you MAKE money, until then your going to get bogged down by details before you have even started.

techfiend

This seems incredibly risky on paper. In a perfect scenario you'd hire a sucker that can sell and perform a majority of the work if MSP is your focus. I'd suggest focusing on developing system skills maybe by way of vmware or aws where there's plenty of networking then on to microsoft while working on selling at toastmasters or something like it.

alias454

You say your not good at sales and don't plan to get good at it. You should rethink that statement. Man cannot live by tech alone. What I mean by that is partner or no partner, you better be able to sell yourself, your company, and you broken down old refrigerator to someone who needs something. People aren't just going to break down you door because you're there. You don't want to trust your future to someone else!

After you put some serious thought into your plan (ya you need a plan). Just like with anything, you have to set goals and try to achieve those goals. Your employees should be able to do whatever it is you are going to task them with. So once you figure out what you are going to be doing, you can hire based on those requirements. I mean, there is no point in hiring a guy that knows Linux if all your work is Windows based. No point hiring a good couch salesman if you want them to sell UCS environments.