Getting into IT/Networking consultancy?

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Oh, and you'll need a good accountant. Obviously

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Paul, you may well be able to fix all types of IT problems but can you run a business? If you have to think for one moment before answering that question then following the advice from Alex may be a good idea.

You might wish to consider joining a local business group along the lines of this FT offering as "word of mouth" is one of the better ways of drumming up paying customers.

Roy T

The breakfast club that brings home the bacon
By Jonathan Moules
Published: September 14 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 14 2004 03:00

At 7am every Friday, a rat catcher, a dentist, a mortgage adviser and about 40 other budding entrepreneurs meet at the club house of Rickmansworth golf course. But they are not there to discuss their putting technique.

Rickmansworth was one of the first British chapters of Business Network International (BNI), a business referral organisation founded in California that has now spread to 18 countries.
Built around the mantra "givers gain", meaning that helping others will encourage them to help you, the BNI has generated millions of pounds of new business through members' personal recommendations of local companies.
Each meeting starts with a round of "elevator speeches", in which members get 60 seconds to explain their business to the group. No two businesses in a BNI chapter are allowed to be in the same category, so members come from all walks of life.
The meat of the event, however, is the swapping of client leads. During the week, members look out for people who might want to use their fellow networkers' services, and even carry colleagues' business cards in case they come across a potential customer.
At the weekly meeting, the group will then break into rapturous applause if a member passes on more than three new business leads. This rises to a standing ovation for five such recommendations.
The mood might be described as American: it is one of open confidence and mutual support. However, Britons appear equally at home with the organisation's principles.
In a little under eight years, the UK franchise has expanded to about 500 groups from Bournemouth to Inverness. The 66,000 members range from sole traders to executives from large companies, such as RBS, the banking group.
Over the past 12 months, the BNI's UK chapters have generated more than 467,000 business referrals, amounting to more than £150m of business.
Nick Simmonds, a motivational speaker, whose Dynamic Coaching business provides personal and professional counselling, claims to get 70 per cent of his sales from BNI leads. The format relies on a certain element of guilt, he says. "If you end up getting business from a certain person, you feel obliged, so you go out of your way to give them business."
Members must attend every weekly meeting or send a replacement. Questions are asked if a member fails to offer business leads, a potential recruit or customer testimony. For example, a member of the Rickmansworth chapter was asked to leave for having a poor record on business referrals.
Others feel the demands of the group are too much, according to Jon Pentel, who runs Nova, a business telecommunications business. "We had a woman who was a dog walker," he explains. "She got a lot of business from the chapter, but in the end it didn't work for her because she realised she was always doing the dog walking when the meetings were being held."
The BNI is not for everyone, especially if you are not a morning person. Others feel more attracted to networking events run on more traditional lines, such as the chambers of commerce, which often organise lunchtime events.
Steven Pursey, a principal at Mastersons, an independent financial adviser, says that he was wary of the BNI's style at first. "It seemed a bit evangelical," he explains. However, he says the group has taught him a lot about the importance of networking around the room and presenting yourself clearly. "It is like a sales meeting," he says. "You come away enthused and refreshed."
Although there are many rules to the BNI, female members claim that it is one of the more accessible networking groups. Michelle Fisher, a partner at Sobell Rhodes, a chartered accountancy, is Rickmansworth BNI's big success story. To date, her company claims to have generated £1.6m of business from BNI leads.
"There are very few formal networking groups available for women. As a woman in business, it is difficult for you to establish yourself. People often think of you as someone's other half," she says. Martin Lawson, the BNI's UK national director, claims the secret of the British chapters is the training provided outside the weekly meetings. Members are encouraged to take these classes to improve their presentation skills and networking techniques.
"BNI as a business doesn't generate business - the members do that," he says. "We are actually more of a training organisation."

Thanks for the replies. The answer to "can you run a business?" is probably not, like I said it's a thought that keeps rearing it's head from time to time and one of these days I'm sure I'll look at it much more seriously.. like Alex said, never hurts to do a little groundwork.

It's the sort of thing that in some ways could be a nice little sideline from the dayjob, but of course there's a few issues, not least of which is that you can't exactly have your mobile going off all day at work with private stuff can you!

Paul

Paul

I am an old man of 55 who took early retirement from the Post Office. I was a Purchasing Manager.

I left, spend 3 weeks on a cruiser and touring California and returned home and spread the word that I wouldn't mind doing a bit of locum work.

My phone has not stopped ring with job offers. I have done a couple of short term contracts and my only regret is not doing it years ago. It is bloody lucrative.

If you have a skill, you will be in demand, so go for it.

Regards

Mick

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I'm not overly interested in selling hardware or PCs as I don't think there's any money to be made, I'm thinking more of the services angle.

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Hi Paul

I would not be quite so quick to dismiss sales, with your technical background you would probably make an excellent System Engineer, these are the people that contain all of the technical and ethical skills that the Salesman lacks

It would give you an opportunity to work on a number of customer sites working in pre-sales, configuration and post sales support. You also get to see a number of clients and build relationships that could very well be useful when the next career change beckons.

My 2p's worth, good luck with whatever you decide.

Cheers

Andy

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Originally posted by Paul Hutchings:
I'm not overly interested in selling hardware or PCs as I don't think there's any money to be made, I'm thinking more of the services angle.

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Paul,

I don't really understand this.

Example. A company wants to network seven PCs together. What company are you going to call that will supply all the bits (seven network cards, a router & seven bits of cable - oh and a server) but not expect to fit them together.

Alternatively, you will tell the company to just go off to Ebuyer.com, buy seven cheap network cards, all the right cables (how?) & whatever router is currently on offer cos it's last years' model, and then you'll guarantee to get it working after it's delivered?

I can see that there's no money in setting up a low-cost hardware business competing with the internet majors. Surely the money has to be in providing a solution, though. This might include instructions to "buy this server from Dell" (giving them a spec that Dell will unambiguously understand), but I'd have though you would have to supply the rest of the miscellaneous bits?

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.

Paul

I took the plunge 6 months ago and now own & run a small IT security consultancy.

The only thing that ever realy matters is a source of revenue. You will need deals.

You don't have to be a salesman, in fact the appeal for your potential customers is that the advice is 'direct'.

You say you have been thinking about this for a while. My 2p worth

1. Make the most of your time now to make personal contacts. Dig out old friends, colleagues, associates, etc and talk to them about what you are thinking.
2. Consider short term contracts - Plenty of 3-6 month contracts on jobserve.co.uk - rates are reasonable -but you need to be very flexible often on locations, etc (make sure if you have a family that they are bought in). Seriously though contracting can be a good stepping stone to a consulting business if you can stay sane during the contract!

Send me a PM with yout skill sets and geographical location if you wish, I often come across ad hoc work that needs fulfillment. I would have a great contact if you have WinRunner experience and prepared to work in Scotland for 3 months ...?

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Where do they go?

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Short answer: they go to a salesman. If you want to start it off, be prepared to sell sell sell.

0.02

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

I'm not sure there's really a market for such a service...think who your target market is - companies of less than 10 people. Now ask yourself:

- are they going to pay for IT services? And how much?

-- woody

I could have worded things better, "not overly interested in selling hardware or PCs" meant I've no interest in actually building the things when the likes of Dell do it cheaper, better looking, and with decent onsite backup, I imagine sourcing and speccing is something I would be expected to do.

Woody - albeit in more detail I think Alex has said pretty much what I was going to say, being blunt but most folks are pretty clueless with how their home PC works, let alone how to get seven or eight of the things talking to each other, sending receiving email etc etc..

regards,
Paul

I was lucky because I took voluntary redundancy and got hired back in to do my old job. That has since dried up and like AG said, things can go busy and slack - you need nerves of steel and money in the bank when your clients aren’t biting.

For me the benefits of working for myself far outweigh the disadvantages. Most of my income comes from word of mouth. I worked for many years in an insular, incestuous industry so people knew me and approached me. Because I’m a one person show, my overheads are low and I can usually quote low enough to get the business without actually having to harm myself in the process. The key for me – and the reason I walked out of my old job is the fact that in my sector, many companies don’t have resources in house for the sort of stuff I do. I knew this before I jumped and did the rounds to check that work would be available for me to pitch for.

I do plenty of prospecting. This has produced little work. Like I said, people I know tend to push business or new clients my way. I’ve also got a lot of prospective clients (some from cold contact but most from referrals) who aren’t ready yet but who need to have time and resources spent on so that when they sign off, it comes my way.

In my sector being self employed is both at times lucrative and a complete lottery. So far I’ve been lucky enough to pull in enough work month on month to make it worth wile. The holy grail is a set of steady clients who pay up each month. I’ve never been able to make enough money to be comfortable from such ‘ticking over’ work. But one offs come in frequently and my steadies often need additional development work or short projects. The other perfect scenario is the big job that pays me for a year. I’ve missed several of these but there are plenty out there and one day I’ll get my first one.

Like all businesses, my clients have good times and thin times. When things are thin I’m among the first of the cut backs. But when things are good they just throw it about! I’ve found that having five full time accounts in various stages of dynamic expansion and contraction is enough for my needs.

It’s also interesting that about half my income comes from jobs that I didn’t set myself up to take on. I started out with a very focused idea of what I would pitch for and deliver, but as relationships developed I’ve ended up doing stuff that was never envisaged – by me anyway.

The two most important things you’ll need to do are get one or two clients signed up who are committed to give you a few months work and get a really good accountant. I can’t stress enough the importance of the latter. It could make the difference.

Just my 0.02. For what it’s worth.

Cheers

Harry