Small town techs

[glennd]

Almost all of that is true. But the fact is that while I know I don't come close to your revenue, my business is profitable, and growing though slowly. If the choice came to close up shop and stay here, or move and have 4 storefronts, I'd stay here. Period. It's that important. I know almost everyone, even those I don't I know would help me out if needed. It's honestly more important that I keep this lifestyle than I build an empire.

I'm in a similar situation. I came to this town by choice knowing that it'll never be a big money spinner. While the business is growing I've made the decision to make sure it doesn't impact on the rural lifestyle. Given that there's no overhead to speak of, I can't envisage a situation where I'd have to "close up shop". I can keep going til they cart me off...

 

[PCX]

Almost all of that is true. But the fact is that while I know I don't come close to your revenue, my business is profitable, and growing though slowly. If the choice came to close up shop and stay here, or move and have 4 storefronts, I'd stay here. Period. It's that important. I know almost everyone, even those I don't I know would help me out if needed. It's honestly more important that I keep this lifestyle than I build an empire.

I completely understand and I was not coming against your decision --I apologize if it seemed as if I was, that was not my intention. I was mostly posting for those who were considering opening a shop in a small area and pointing out a few things that they may not have considered in hopes of saving them some valuable time and money. Even though I am in a larger area, it has been a difficult ride getting to where I am now and even now we have rough patches. I can only imagine how much harder it would be in a smaller area, especially if that area was also depressed. That said, I want a business that is self sustaining, meaning that it does not require my presence for the day to day activities that can be accomplished by employees. And even if I lose a key person, I want contingencies in place that allows the business to go out without me, without severely hurting me financially. Not only do I want this for my own comfort and lifestyle, but I also want to be able to leave a self sustaining business behind that will provide for my family, should I die or become disabled. That is hard to do when you do not have enough business to justify the additional staff that would have to be in place to make this possible. Anyways, I understand that everyone has different goals, but if someone has similar goals, there are things to be considered.

 

['putertutor]

I completely understand and I was not coming against your decision --I apologize if it seemed as if I was, that was not my intention. I was mostly posting for those who were considering opening a shop in a small area and pointing out a few things that they may not have considered in hopes of saving them some valuable time and money. Even though I am in a larger area, it has been a difficult ride getting to where I am now and even now we have rough patches. I can only imagine how much harder it would be in a smaller area, especially if that area was also depressed. That said, I want a business that is self sustaining, meaning that it does not require my presence for the day to day activities that can be accomplished by employees. And even if I lose a key person, I want contingencies in place that allows the business to go out without me, without severely hurting me financially. Not only do I want this for my own comfort and lifestyle, but I also want to be able to leave a self sustaining business behind that will provide for my family, should I die or become disabled. That is hard to do when you do not have enough business to justify the additional staff that would have to be in place to make this possible. Anyways, I understand that everyone has different goals, but if someone has similar goals, there are things to be considered.

Totally understand. I didn't think you were coming at me that way.

 

['putertutor]

I NEVER WANT TO MOVE BACK TO THE CITY! Moving here after living all my life in the city was kind of like the feeling you get when you are trapped for a long time in a crowded sky scraper elevator. Then you get that huge relief when you finally get out of it. It just seems to me like so many people in the city are going absolutely nuts and have gotten incredibly rude in recent years. Almost everybody you pass going down the road here waves at each other and the don't have their middle finger up while they are doing it and they are not trying to see how close they can come to your bumper.

Moving here was not a choice for me. My wife essentially tricked me into it (I was away on a months long business trip, setting up a new business branch) and while I was gone, she moved here. We had come to visit her father on several occasions, and while I always thought it was beautiful, I didn't know what I would do here. The sidewalks roll up at 5, there's no mall, theater, or even a quality restaurant, and I had a good possibility of being killed by the first bunny rabbit that came along. Nope. We could visit but never live in a place this small.

Now? I'll never go back, and I sometimes even think even this town is too big. Over the summer sometimes I have to wait for 5 or even 6 cars to go by before I can turn onto main street!! Sometimes I see a movie where someone moves into a new corner office in a high rise building and look out at a wall of concrete and steel and calls it an incredible view and just shake my head. Even though I used to be that guy and did exactly that when I got the corner office, now all I can do is shake my head and be grateful for my wife's ability to make my best decisions for me.

 

[callthatgirl]

I'm living in a town that has around 2000 in town and 8000 for the county. I don't know if I could open a shop here and survive to be honest. The next closest big town is 20 miles away and I think there is one shop there. I feel weird driving around this town with my truck wrapped all pink and black, big "billboard". Thinking of removing the wrap and leaving the windows adverts on.

But I will say, I really have a lot of support for the local businesses as I know they depend on us to survive. I am not fond of the 20-30% price spike for my boozy booze

 

[Nerm]

I live in a small town of less than 15,000 but the county is estimated at around 50,000 I think. It honestly doesn't feel like a small town though as we are 30min NE of a 1million metro area, 30min SW of a 2million metro area, and 90minutes S of another 2million metro area. I grew up in a town of only 300 so definitely know the advantages/disadvantages of small town living.

Don't let the small town keep you from learning server environments if that is something you are interested in. Setup your own server environment or even a lab so that when the day comes that a client needs that kind of work you are ready.

 

[Mike McCall]

One of the (many) lessons I learned from my previous business is to be aware of the reason I'm in the business. If what I truly want for myself in my business is to make lots of money running multiple shops in multiple locations, I should be honest with myself about that and make business decisions accordingly. If, however, I just want to keep busy enough to make a comfortable living and enjoy life, then I'll make business decisions based on those goals. Since we're all different in our desires and personalities we're going to have different goals for our businesses.

I've had enough of the limelight in my previous business and don't really care about it anymore. My business grew farther and faster than I ever intended or planned for. The stress of running something that sold physical product from New Zealand to Bulgaria, while being everything from product development, design, engineering, R&D, manufacturing, distribution, sales, support, literally everything pertaining to the business nearly killed me. I have absolutely no desire to ever go there again! It is also the primary reason I was so reluctant to open a computer business. I have few illusions regarding what it takes to get a business off the ground under the best of circumstances, and with substantial financial backing. That is certainly not the case with me now, and I doubt that most of you started off with a sizable war chest either. That brings us back to the reason you're in business in the first place. You gotta wanna! But it's good to know why you wanna, and what you wanna. You can save yourself a ton of trouble by sorting out those two things. Once you do, you'll make much better business decisions, and be more comfortable in them.

 

[alluseridsrejected]

If, however, I just want to keep busy enough to make a comfortable living and enjoy life, then I'll make business decisions based on those goals.

This ^^^

I was a mainframe systems programmer for over 30 years. I have other income coming in but I am not fully set for retirement and just need to keep some income coming in. This is allowing me to not have to put up with big corporations anymore!

 

[Krilus]

Apologies for reviving an old thread. I am looking to get information about bigger chains in small towns, I know they have their own franchise tech team but what about on-site support? Has anyone had luck securing bigger chain clients? If so what is a good way to approch them.

Right now I have my web deisgner/graphics working on my logo and a brochure to hit the pavement hard. I'm looking at dropping into every business that will let me in the door

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

There is something to be said for small town life.
While computer sales/break/fix ...doing residential only, may be difficult, because yeah that can be a bit more dependent on volume, what about doing fancier setups, and SMBs....you don't need volume for that, and it's waaaaaay more profitable than residential break/fix. Granted..super small towns don't have a lot of SMBs...but you can get some recurring revenue for some services.

Granted I live in a larger town, with around 20k, and most neighboring towns are 'tween 10k - 20k.

But for example, I was pretty much the exclusive tech that went out to service an island of ~350 people. Higher end ritzy island, populated with summer homes from some big old silver spoon names that many people would recognize. Small town's doesn't always have to mean "depressed". At least not where I am...many small towns are very niche and have people with quite a bit of $$$.

Being older...I'm done with working 20 hour days, and through weekends. We've reached some good goals for the business, certainly want it to grow more, I know our hittin the 1 mil mark last year isn't a lot to some here with multiple storefronts and stuff, but for someone like me who really likes just working 6-7 hour days on average...my focus is time at home with family and traveling more....so working my nails to the bone 20 hours a day to make tons isn't high on my priority list. Kicking back and enjoying life is. The town I'm in now....I'd rather scale down to a more quiet town in the thousands range for population. I've lived in a very small fishing village for a bit...loved it!

There's definitely something to be said for small town life...not all of us embrace a huge city. It's not always just about money. For some of us, the more relaxed pace, laid back life style, easy going neighbors that know everyone..there's a value to that which can't be replaced by money and sacrifices of city life.

 

[Martyn]

This ^^^

I was a mainframe systems programmer for over 30 years. I have other income coming in but I am not fully set for retirement and just need to keep some income coming in. This is allowing me to not have to put up with big corporations anymore!

Same for me. Was an IT Consultant travelling the UK, away in hotels. Already paid the house off and got redundancy at 58. Love working for myself and answering to no one oh except for my wife

 

[Barry Mossip]

I think right now I'm the winner.. less than 200 people in my town but the area has 2 larger towns. break fix is very slow. I want to start up a resi MSP to off set the slow days. some times I can go 3 to 4 weeks without a single call.. makes paying rent hard some times.

 

[Mike McCall]

There is something to be said for small town life.
While computer sales/break/fix ...doing residential only, may be difficult, because yeah that can be a bit more dependent on volume, what about doing fancier setups, and SMBs....you don't need volume for that, and it's waaaaaay more profitable than residential break/fix. Granted..super small towns don't have a lot of SMBs...but you can get some recurring revenue for some services.

Granted I live in a larger town, with around 20k, and most neighboring towns are 'tween 10k - 20k.

But for example, I was pretty much the exclusive tech that went out to service an island of ~350 people. Higher end ritzy island, populated with summer homes from some big old silver spoon names that many people would recognize. Small town's doesn't always have to mean "depressed". At least not where I am...many small towns are very niche and have people with quite a bit of $$$.

Being older...I'm done with working 20 hour days, and through weekends. We've reached some good goals for the business, certainly want it to grow more, I know our hittin the 1 mil mark last year isn't a lot to some here with multiple storefronts and stuff, but for someone like me who really likes just working 6-7 hour days on average...my focus is time at home with family and traveling more....so working my nails to the bone 20 hours a day to make tons isn't high on my priority list. Kicking back and enjoying life is. The town I'm in now....I'd rather scale down to a more quiet town in the thousands range for population. I've lived in a very small fishing village for a bit...loved it!

There's definitely something to be said for small town life...not all of us embrace a huge city. It's not always just about money. For some of us, the more relaxed pace, laid back life style, easy going neighbors that know everyone..there's a value to that which can't be replaced by money and sacrifices of city life.

/\ This!!!