I am going completely left field today and not going to talk about anything tech related at all. You see on 1st April 2016 ComTech is going to be 6 years old. During that time I have made mistakes (same as everyone else) and learnt so much about myself and what I do that I thought I would share some snippets with you.
I am not a business development coach and this is not meant to be a guide on how to run a small business. These are just the thoughts of a rambling Welshman who has made mistakes and learnt to run a business over the last 6 years, nothing more.
So lets go;
1.If you want to start a small business DO IT!!! I dipped my toe in the water for quite a while before I started but once I took the “leap of faith” I found I was more focused on what I was doing and how I would make my idea work. Running ComTech alongside my “paid work” meant I was splitting my time and energy which didn’t really work for me.
2. Get your pricing right at the start. I didn’t and had to change my pricing structure 3 times in 2 years which looks bad in the eyes of your clients.
3. Don’t spend money at the start unless it is essential. You are not going to have lots of money coming in from the off so keep your outgoings as small as you can. If you do have to purchase business essentials (eg PC, laptop, manufacturing equipment etc) don’t skimp on the money as you will end up replacing them sooner than you think.
4. Network, network, network!!! Word of mouth is fantastic for any business and mine is no different. I get most of my work through networking but people have to know you, and more importantly trust you, so get out there and meet people. One word of warning though don’t try to sell to people whilst networking as they will switch off very quickly. Get to know the person and trust me work will follow.
5. Be patient. I am not the most patient person in the world so in the early days I wanted instant results which of course didn’t happen. Success doesn’t happen overnight it takes time.
6. Finally peaks and troughs in your normal workload are natural. I used to get really worked up and stressed when work went quiet and then really excited when it started again. I would look at my account data for the month and wonder where my next job would come from. I learnt that when work goes quiet this is the time to catch up on social media, studying and all those other things you hate doing (I’m looking at you paperwork).
Like I said at the start this is no HOW-TO but rather some insight into what I have learnt running ComTech for the last 6 years and hopefully in 6 years time I can redo this post with even more tips!!
About the Author
Hi I’m Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Cisco, Windows, OS X and Linux based IT Support to small businesses throughout Scotland.
Follow @Comtech247 on Twitter
Very very valuable!
Thank you.
Keep writing please.
Cheers Ian. Hopefully can re-write this blog in another 6 years!!
Great stuff and mostly my experience as well. I jumped straight in and didn’t share my time as I knew it would distract me. I priced Ok and have raised prices once in the 5 years. I still panic at the highs and lows, but not as much now. that was probably the most difficult learning curve….to let go of the regular income.
Greta advice mate. Ian