What would be a good technology to learn to assist in setting up a small business?

dazl1212

Hi all,

As above what would be good to learn to setup my own small business. Im not looking at mega bucks income, enough to replace my full time job so around 30k pa. Especially at first when I'll be doing it as a side income. Ideally something that can be done at home remotely. Obviously some travel is going to be involved. Currently studying for my CCNA.

I looked at web hosting but that seems to be flooded at the moment.

Any advice is appreciated.

Fulcrum45

Were you considering an MSP type business? If so you may have to be a jack-of-all-trades with at least half of what you do focusing on individual users and their workstations. The rest will be networking, systems and interfacing with their primary software vendor. To ease things you'll eventually want to focus on a particular business type to target: doctors offices, stores, restaurants, etc. In the beginning however it may not be that simple and you could end up taking on businesses of all types. This was my experience anyway.

dazl1212

I'm not too sure if I'm being honest, looking at my current skill set I would say so but again I think the area I live has plenty of those already. I do have a very broad skill set at this moment in time. My biggest asset according to recent employers is how personable I am, how good a talker I am, enthusiasm and how quickly I pick things up.

I'm not sure how useful this info is, however .

dazl1212

Maybe I dont have the skill set yet to do what I want.

Fulcrum45

Sorry, forgot to follow back up. It sounds like you have a good grasp on people skills. Maybe take on a partner or someone you can lean on more for the technical side of things and you handle sales and customer relations? Then again, this is assuming an MSP type of business. There isnt much you can't do when you have good interpersonal skills- it's going to boil down to what you want to do ultimately. Maybe get really good with printers and do a printer repair service with regular clients? We have huge companies around here that do that but some businesses want "their guy" who they call and not a big company who pays them no mind.

BlackBeret

Well most businesses have their own sets of technology, so you'd have to know what business you're going in to first. The exception is that every business ultimately revolves around sales. Learn GOOD CRM/marketing/sales software and you'll be golden for any future small business endeavor. You can sale your services to other small businesses as well. Everyone needs it.

dazl1212

Thanks for the advice guys. I might look at Microsoft dynamics and sage certifications when I finish my CCNA.