Taking the biggest step in IT

I was wondering has anyone here opened/started his/her own business or is thinking of opening a business that offers IT services?
Do you guys ever think of using your skills and experience to invest in your future?
Anyone here planning to invent/build/create something that you think is going to rock the Technology market (don't have to sell out your idea just want to know if there are any)?

I am asking this because TE has so many skilled and experienced engineers and professionals, so many people here talk about working for a big company and some interesting companies or having an important role and moving into management, I just want to know how your plans turned out in terms of investing in a business or promoting your own product and what are the things to look at when you want to start a Tech business. If you thinking about those ideas what kind of business would you start in IT and what would be your target market? i.e corporate market.

So are there any Steve Jobs in here?

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jibbajabba

Any Steve Jobs here is too busy and rich to post of message boards

I was contracting having my own 1-man limited company .. So I guess I owned my own business ...

Snow.bros

I know that Jibba, I am asking if there are any who thinks they have/had or hope it's going to be a million dollar idea not necessarily the Steve Jobs but the ones of the future, after all we are in the Tech industry I am sure we all don't want to be stuck on the maintenance side of things.

So how do you plan on implementing continuity in your business on the long run?

Cyberscum

@ Snow.bro

Well to answer your question I just started my own IT security business (Cyberrio.com) with a couple of other IT gurus from the DoD. We are just fresh out of developing our business plan and have made a couple of contacts in the security field for partnership opportunities. We have a lot of interest from local investors, businesses and a unique business lobbyist group lol.

I just received a job offer doing some crazy cool stuff and working with amazing technologies and we have decided that we might align the business into this security domain once I get trained and proficient in the technologies.

My ultimate goal is not to work for anyone but myself. Every job I have taken my goal was to extract any information I can use for a business. I finally have acquired enough skills to start my own business and that is what I am doing.

Oh and you asked about ideas… we are working on developing a new spin on tor routing and email privacy available to the public.

yzT

I've been considering it. What always make me step back is... "what if I fail and need to move back from CEO to employee? how does it impact my resumee"?

Future employers may take two decisions:
a) this guy has ballz, so let's invest in him
b) this guy is a fail, better look for another candidate.

Cyberscum

I think in business (or starting your own) you either have it or not. If you are already thinking about what you are going to do when you fail you will fail. I know a couple of people that started a business and failed and a couple that started and succeeded. The only difference between them was that the ones that succeeded were passionate about starting a business. That is all they would talk about. They knew that it was in their future to own a business and it never crossed their minds that they would fail. Some did fail initially, but jumped back and started another once and used it as a learning lesson.

The reason that so many people fail at businesses (in my opinion) is that they are not passionate about what they are trying to accomplish. A pre-requisite of a successful business owner is the tenaciousness to succeed no matter what the circumstances.

jamthat

Cyberscum wrote: »

@ Snow.bro

Well to answer your question I just started my own IT security business (Cyberrio.com) with a couple of other IT gurus from the DoD. We are just fresh out of developing our business plan and have made a couple of contacts in the security field for partnership opportunities. We are not taking on any clients at this time, but have a lot of interest from local investors, businesses and a unique business lobbyist group lol.

I just received a job offer doing some crazy cool stuff and working with amazing technologies and we have decided that we might align the business into this security domain once I get trained and proficient in the technologies.

My ultimate goal is not to work for anyone but myself. Every job I have taken my goal was to extract any information I can use for a business. I finally have acquired enough skills to start my own business and that is what I am doing.

Oh and you asked about ideas… we are working on developing a new spin on tor routing and email privacy available to the public.

Ugh, this looks amazing..let me know if you ever need any more help - I bring plenty of energy-sector (DOE) cyber and Big 4 consulting experience!!!

Seriously though, good luck to you and OP!

Side note - with your location, hopefully you've gotten into some stuff at LANL. One thing I do miss working with the labs

markulous

The biggest question I'd ask myself is why would someone come to me? Do I offer anything unique? It's a competitive market out there and without the network and/or not having a niche, it seems like it would be pretty difficult.

Cyberscum

@Jam
Funny, one of our co-founders is a LANL employee ha ha small world. Anyway our efforts are concentrated on a number of things in the gov sector.

There are very substantial changes in motion and we are trying to position the company to be ahead of that curve and provide services that WILL be needed in the gov sectors. BTW the website is a very rough start (So dont hate too much lol), we are making changes to align with our current business plan.

We will eventually be a small disadvantaged, veteran owned, minority owned business. (Paperwork is insane)

I will keep you in mind as we progress into a more focused version of our business, we will eventually be looking for people.

Cyberscum

markulous wrote: »

The biggest question I'd ask myself is why would someone come to me? Do I offer anything unique? It's a competitive market out there and without the network and/or not having a niche, it seems like it would be pretty difficult.

Also questions to ask are
1. Would I be willing to put in 60+ hours a week into my business
2. Would I be willing to NOT make money for a few years
3. Would I be willing to NOT receive paid time off, vacations, 401k/retirement anymore
4. Would I be willing to hustle and go from business to business to SELL your product/service EVERYDAY

Even if you have a niche business is hard. Like I said, you either have it or you don't. To tiptoe into a business is a mistake and if you have any doubts, or lack of confidence it will be much harder and painful for you.

One the contrary if you are like a damn tiger and want it so bad you can taste it and are willing to do WHATEVER it takes, you will succeed....That pretty much goes for anything in life.

markulous

Cyberscum wrote: »

Also questions to ask are
1. Would I be willing to put in 60+ hours a week into my business
2. Would I be willing to NOT make money for a few years
3. Would I be willing to NOT receive paid time off, vacations, 401k/retirement anymore
4. Would I be willing to hustle and go from business to business to SELL your product/service EVERYDAY

Even if you have a niche business is hard. Like I said, you either have it or you don't. To tiptoe into a business is a mistake and if you have any doubts, or lack of confidence it will be much harder and painful for you.

One the contrary if you are like a damn tiger and want it so bad you can taste it and are willing to do WHATEVER it takes, you will succeed....That pretty much goes for anything in life.

Very good points. If it's just a hobby or a way to "not have a boss" it's going to be a rude awakening.

They definitely need to have that drive and the right mindset on top of a solid business plan.

Snow.bros

jamthat wrote: »

Seriously though, good luck to you and OP!

Oh no not me at least not at this point in my life

. I am only starting out in the IT business but when I get a good grasp of the business day to day management I will start considering it, it's just an idea I have been thinking about when I am thinking about working for someone for the rest of my life and when I am asking myself when am I going to own something of my own (assets) that would make me a truckload of money, but thanks any way!

Cyberscum wrote: »

@ Snow.bro

Well to answer your question I just started my own IT security business (Cyberrio.com) with a couple of other IT gurus from the DoD. We are just fresh out of developing our business plan and have made a couple of contacts in the security field for partnership opportunities. We have a lot of interest from local investors, businesses and a unique business lobbyist group lol.

I just received a job offer doing some crazy cool stuff and working with amazing technologies and we have decided that we might align the business into this security domain once I get trained and proficient in the technologies.

My ultimate goal is not to work for anyone but myself. Every job I have taken my goal was to extract any information I can use for a business. I finally have acquired enough skills to start my own business and that is what I am doing.

Oh and you asked about ideas… we are working on developing a new spin on tor routing and email privacy available to the public.

That's exactly what I wanted hear, it looks pretty awesome and very professional so I wish all the best of luck I am sure you will do your best growing it to it's full potential!

Cyberscum

@ Sno
If you are really considering starting a business PM me and I can give you information about it. BTW, you do not need any IT experience to start a business in IT, you can partner with technical providers or hire the people you need.

Snow.bros

Thanks will do!

darkerosxx

Be careful telling people they don't need experience in the area of business they're trying to start. Hiring other people to handle your core competencies in a small business is dooming yourself for failure in a majority of cases. Only the very skilled at business will succeed in that endeavor. Many case studies available to support that.

Cyberscum

That goes without saying. If anyone is naive enough to think they can start a business with no business exp and no competency in their field then they are a future small business failure statistic.