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How To Start A Computer Consulting Business PDF
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Contents
6 Proven Ways to Build Your Initial Client Base ...................................................................... 3
What are the first few steps in starting up my new business? ............................................... 3
How much capital do I need to start up a technology service provider business? ............... 5
Summing Up ............................................................................................................................ 13
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
Have your Logo, Business Cards, business. You may need to budget for
Letterhead and Envelopes Designed around $250 to $500 each month for
and Printed. Your starter set should be legal and accounting fees. Talk to them
professionally-made, with consistent about your personal and business
branding. Once you have them, you can financial situation. Tell them what your
start sending out letters and proposals goals are and the kinds of clients that
and handing out business cards. you are seeking. Ask them for advice on
how you should organize your business
and what business entity is most
How much capital do I appropriate.
need to start up a These professionals can also be a
technology service tremendous source of referrals to
provider business? introduce you to their clients who could
utilize your services. They may also give
The good news is that most startup IT you some ideas on how to create
service providers need a relatively low awareness of your new company in your
capital investment. Look to grow local community.
organically and without taking on huge
financial risk. There are several expenses Nominal Expenses. Many other
that you need to fit into your budget. expenses are nominal. These in total
Some are recurring while others are one- may set you back about $1,000:
time deals. The expense estimates
below, although listed in U.S. dollars, Establishing your business entity
can easily be converted to your local may cost you less than $500
currency by visiting a Web site such as dollars.
CNN’s Currency Converter
Registering a domain name and
(http://money.cnn.com/data/currencies/)
setting up a Web site and e-mail
or iGoogle (www.google.com/ig).
hosting should be about $100 per
Marketing. For small IT startups, year.
marketing usually ends up being more
Setting up a business phone
time-intensive than financially-intensive.
number using a virtual auto
A marketing budget of $250–$500 a
attendant type of service or VOIP
month can go a long way if you are
that can provide call forwarding
planning and spending it judiciously in
and answer in your business
the right places.
name will only cost between $50
Professional Services. Find a good to $200 annually.
attorney and accountant in your area
when you are first setting up your
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
Get your logo and business most budget items in this area will be for
identity designed professionally channel program memberships.
for $100 to $200 dollars.
Branding is very important in Training and Certifications. Unless
how your target market perceives you are selling to IT professionals or a
your professionalism and can more sophisticated IT manager, do not
make an enormous difference in spend a lot of time and money collecting
how easy it is for you to get initials and logos to put after your name
through the sales cycle and or on your business card. Advanced
command the level of hourly certifications are not required for landing
billing rates that you desire. typical small business clients.
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
Apply for a Credit Card Merchant that you would very much appreciate
Account. You probably think that giving any referrals to small business owners or
up two to four percent of credit card managers that may need your services.
transaction fees from your threadbare Give each contact five business cards
profit margin is not exactly a way to and tell them what services you provide
keep your costs down. However, would as well as your coverage area. Ask your
you rather have 96%–97% percent of the contacts to make referrals either by
invoice sitting in your bank account in letting you know about someone worth
three business days or spend sleepless contacting or by passing along the
nights because forty-five to sixty days business cards that you provided them.
later, a client has paid you nothing? Do
not tie up your precious capital in Set Up Profiles on LinkedIn,
accounts receivable, especially not for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for
low-margin product reselling Your Company that Link to Your
transactions. Web Site. Put your logo in each profile
and start building meaningful local
connections. Start with your friends,
How do I obtain an initial family members, and professional
colleagues. Social networking is an
client base for my new effective viral marketing tool to create
start-up? visibility and a powerful way to grow
your connections.
It is important to know your target
market so that your marketing activities Record a Short Video of You
will be focused. Your target market will Introducing Your Company. Set up a
have been identified during your one or two-minute video for your
business planning process. The steps that YouTube account. Either record the
you use to obtain your initial client base video with a digital camcorder
are generally the same kind of (preferable) or record a screencast.
marketing, promotional, and lead Mention what services your company
generation activities that you need to provide, your coverage area, and the
repeat to keep your client base growing unique value proposition that you bring
and your business profitable. Consider to the table. Include a call-to-action with
these proven actionable tips to obtain your contact information and add
your initial client base: testimonials, if available.
Send Out a Letter or E-mail to All of Then put a link to the video, or place the
Your Friends, Family Members, embed code on your other social
Former Co-workers, and Professional network profiles and on your Web site.
Colleagues. Let them know that you This video provides your prospective
have launched your new IT business and customers and partners with more
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
standards that you are comfortable IT needs, offer them competitive price
supporting long term. quotes, and give them options. Place the
order on their behalf, follow-up on the
Annual Service Agreements. After order, and inspect the goods when they
successful proving ground and arrive. Then go ahead and customize,
remediation projects, you will want to configure, and install the products and
migrate your new clients onto your get them fully integrated into their
company’s annual service agreement networks.
program.
You can charge by the hour for these
Discuss the value proposition of having procurement related services in the same
your IT support on an ongoing basis way that you charge for your other
through your annual service agreement. technical services. Not only does this not
As long as you are doing a reasonably require a lot of capital, but it also
good job, this ongoing support service provides transparency, eliminating
should become a long life cycle event, possible friction and resentment in
where most of your clients remain with connection with product reselling
your company for many, many years to between you and your clients.
come.
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
long and hard about your marketing Google Calendar. This Web-based
strategy as well as a very proactive, calendar is an indispensable tool for
focused, and deliberate plan of attack for keeping track of your appointments. It
your business. also allows you to invite other attendees
and send reminders to your prospects,
In the first six to twelve months of your customers, clients, partners, and
startup phase, you will need to work subcontractors about upcoming
smarter to navigate around entrenched meetings.
competitors, and one of the easiest ways
to stand out from the crowd is to come Social Media Marketing. Social
up with original and innovative ways to networking sites such as LinkedIn
reach your market. (www.linkedin.com), Facebook
(www.facebook.com), Twitter
QuickBooks. Without a doubt, you need
to keep track of the money that is (www.twitter.com), and YouTube
coming in and out of your business. It is (www.youtube.com) are a great way
important to have solid accounting to stay in touch with your contacts,
software. Aside from the gold standard expand your network, display your
of accounting software—Intuit’s line of expertise, and build up your reputation.
QuickBooks software and services Social media marketing can be a great
(http://quickbooks.intuit.com/)—you vehicle and cost-effective way to grow
may want to also look into the rapidly your business.
growing Web-based service, FreshBooks
(www.freshbooks.com/). Content Management System (CMS).
Use a content management system like
Customer Relationship Management WordPress (www.wordpress.org) to
(CRM) Software. Make sure you have a run your Web site. A CMS makes it easy
good follow-up mechanism in place to not only to update it but also to delegate
keep track of all opportunities from your the task of updating your Web site. A
prospects, customers, clients, partners, regularly updated Web site gets more
and subcontractors, so that you do not attention from search engines.
end up giving away your leads to WordPress also has thousands of
competitors who are more aggressive. different plug-ins and themes that allow
Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) is you to customize and add features.
one such popular Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) Web-based Virtual or VOIP Phone Provider.
program. Another popular CRM Make sure your business phone answers
platform is Microsoft Dynamics CRM with your business name to keep the
(http://crm.dynamics.com). level of professionalism in your
business.
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
Smart Phone. You will need a mobile you can when they need you, having a
phone and plan with a large amount of reliable car is another important tool for
minutes, access to e-mail, and web most owners of IT service provider
browsing that can act as an extension to businesses.
your office. Any time that you are sitting
at your desk in your office is generally
not revenue-generating unless you are Summing Up
doing off-site billable work.
Many small business organizations and
Mobile Broadband. The ability to have government statistics say that eighty
constant access through mobile high- percent of small businesses fail in the
speed Internet broadband on your first five years. Make sure that you do
notebook, netbook, or MiFi (personal not become a statistic.
WiFi hot spot) is an extremely important
productivity tool as your work requires In this white paper on starting up your
you to be out of the office most of the new IT business, we looked at six
time. proven ways to build your initial client
base. The answers to these six most
Credit Card Merchant Account. This frequently asked questions will guide
is another tool many overlook, especially you in establishing your company. In
if they are involved in product reselling addition, these strategies will ensure that
for which you will need credit risk your business remains profitable and
protection. Otherwise, you are taking on viable in the long term.
inherent risks of accounts receivable for
low product reselling profit margins. Make sure you have a clear picture of
what you need to do to make your
GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. business successful. Do not take
Another easy way to extend your anything for granted. Be proactive, have
productivity is scheduling online a deliberate plan of attack, and take
meetings, classes, and seminars with action now.
prospects, customers, clients, partners,
and subcontractors. One very popular
solution is from Citrix Online and their
GoToMeeting
(www.gotomeeting.com) and
Copyright © 2012, SP Home Run Inc.
GoToWebinar services.
SP Home Run is a trademark of
Reliable Transportation. Because your
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work requires you to be out in the field
most of the time, and because you need All Worldwide Rights Reserved.
to be able to get to your clients as fast as
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How to Start a Computer Consulting Business
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