Just throwing this out there for some thoughts. As many of you know, I've been looking for a job since I was laid off in July. Over the years however, I've provided IT support for many small companies in my spare time. I am pretty darned good at the technical side of things and working with my customers and I've even saved one company from having to close its doors when a their only developer walked out one day without documenting anything.
Lately I've been taking on more and more work, it's still very part time and sporadic but word of mouth is slowly growing the number of hours I'm spending doing this each week. I've also been responding to some of the posts in the craigslist 'computer gigs' section. Hasn't amounted to a ton of work from that, but right now every little bit counts.
A couple of my customers have made comments like 'why don't you do this as a full time business instead of getting a full time job.' and 'if you get a full time job, i don't know what we'll do without you'. Even with a full time job, I wouldn't go away, but I wouldn't be available on a moment's notice which is one of the things they love. But if I were to do this as a full time business, if I took on enough customers, I couldn't always be available to everyone at a moment notice anyway as I might be doing work elsewhere.
I'm terrible at marketing and actively going after business, but at the same time, IT companies are charging $120/hr and up around here and the small business simply can't afford it, so there is a need for someone that can do it at a lower rate. I have been offered two gigs that I will definitely need some help on and I'm sure I can get that help with the network of people I have.
It's a tough call because I am the only income for my family and there is also the cost of medical insurance to consider. It's very risky to pursue this instead of the 9 to 5 full time job I've been chasing down. I can keep doing both for now, but I guess what I'm asking of you guys is should I choose to pursue this, what pro-active means would you follow to grow your business that doesn't require much capital outlay? Word of mouth is working, not that was my intention, but it's slow. What's the best way to speed up the process for the lowest cost? I've done postcard mailings before to local businesses and didn't get a single call or email (though that was about 7 years ago).
Anyway, this is the sort of babbling I do after too much Le Fin du Monde .
Thanks for any ideas or thoughts.
Lately I've been taking on more and more work, it's still very part time and sporadic but word of mouth is slowly growing the number of hours I'm spending doing this each week. I've also been responding to some of the posts in the craigslist 'computer gigs' section. Hasn't amounted to a ton of work from that, but right now every little bit counts.
A couple of my customers have made comments like 'why don't you do this as a full time business instead of getting a full time job.' and 'if you get a full time job, i don't know what we'll do without you'. Even with a full time job, I wouldn't go away, but I wouldn't be available on a moment's notice which is one of the things they love. But if I were to do this as a full time business, if I took on enough customers, I couldn't always be available to everyone at a moment notice anyway as I might be doing work elsewhere.
I'm terrible at marketing and actively going after business, but at the same time, IT companies are charging $120/hr and up around here and the small business simply can't afford it, so there is a need for someone that can do it at a lower rate. I have been offered two gigs that I will definitely need some help on and I'm sure I can get that help with the network of people I have.
It's a tough call because I am the only income for my family and there is also the cost of medical insurance to consider. It's very risky to pursue this instead of the 9 to 5 full time job I've been chasing down. I can keep doing both for now, but I guess what I'm asking of you guys is should I choose to pursue this, what pro-active means would you follow to grow your business that doesn't require much capital outlay? Word of mouth is working, not that was my intention, but it's slow. What's the best way to speed up the process for the lowest cost? I've done postcard mailings before to local businesses and didn't get a single call or email (though that was about 7 years ago).
Anyway, this is the sort of babbling I do after too much Le Fin du Monde .
Thanks for any ideas or thoughts.