Thinking about starting my startup

[clayb226]

Well, I am back to thinking about starting a business up, first a little back ground. I have been work along, as a network administrator, for the last 3 years and 8 months. Money was OK, and I had some time for my large family. I was taking on a lot of side work, at one time, but has since stopped, to ensure some time with my wife and kids. So back in March, I get a call from one of the managers at a location about 30 minutes away, he needs to talk to me. I head down, and am informed that they are going to start working on my exit strategy, OK, no big deal. Then they ask if I will stay around for 5 weeks, to help train my replacement, to get him up to speed on our networks, I was down to 5 networks, which I also agree to. So my 5 weeks were up on May 1st. They tell me that I did not do anything wrong, but are going a different direction with their networks, and need someone to build relational databases, and complex web apps to connect to them, which I was not instructed to gain that skill set, nor was I interested in trying to learn all that info in 5 weeks.

Now, I have been unemployed for a couple months, and there are just not really any IT jobs in my area, unless I want to drive 2 hours or so one way, which I am not really able to pull that one off at this stage of life. I am also not good at not working, I have bills a large family, and have been employed all my adult life. Anyway, I decided to start writing a business plan, and try to execute it in a couple weeks, or so. I live in a very small rural area, and have about 10-12 competitors in the 35 mile radius I plan to service, and maybe 30,000 people or so, and a few hundred businesses. I will likely start out servicing residential, as well as businesses, until I can gradually move away from the home user, and get mainly to MSP model.

The part that I find the most difficult, is the market research in this area, as I have a hard time finding any real market info for my area, but have lived here all my life, and feel I know the area pretty well. Anyway, I would love to hear some our the war stories from people thrown in similar situations, as I am forced to pull this off with a "VERY" limited budget.

 

[gadgetfixup]

My advice is to secure another job even if it's not in your preferred line of work. You need income and can't bank on a new start-up giving you that. You're setting yourself up for a major fail as the odds are against you trying to start a new business sufficient enough to support a large family. Secure work to support your family which might even include working two jobs. Regardless, starting a new business isn't recommended if you're out of work.

10-12 competitors in a 30K radius? You'll be lucky if there are any crumbs left for your plate. That is way too many shops for that small population.

Essentially, you'd have better odds walking into the nearest Casino with all your money and placing a bet.

 

[joydivision]

This is a very difficult market to crack these days, I am struggling and been trading for nearly 10 years. If I was a startup I would have no chance.

 

[clayb226]

My advice is to secure another job even if it's not in your preferred line of work. You need income and can't bank on a new start-up giving you that. You're setting yourself up for a major fail as the odds are against you trying to start a new business sufficient enough to support a large family. Secure work to support your family which might even include working two jobs. Regardless, starting a new business isn't recommended if you're out of work.

10-12 competitors in a 30K radius? You'll be lucky if there are any crumbs left for your plate. That is way too many shops for that small population.

Essentially, you'd have better odds walking into the nearest Casino with all your money and placing a bet.

This is a very difficult market to crack these days, I am struggling and been trading for nearly 10 years. If I was a startup I would have no chance.

Thanks for the feed back guys, I had the same thoughts, and have been applying for jobs in my previous career, but no luck their either. I still have two more places that are considering me for employment, and hope at least one of those pan out. I do think that I will go ahead and start the business, after I get another job, so I can start working it. Two of my kids are getting close to the age, where I can start training them to work in the field, if I want to, so I may be able to use that for quality time, as I try to be very proactive in my kids lives.

 

[cypress]

@clayb226 I am hoping you can secure a job soon, that can' t be fun having a large family and being unemployed with bills and expenses piling up. Best of luck to you in any area. I would still continue to do side work regardless to generate some income with the computer work.

 

[altrenda]

The hard truth is that this is a tough business to break into now.

Look at your skills, look at your competition, and look at your potential customers.

If you can't bring something unique to the market, something that your customers need and the competition isn't providing, then you will have tough time sustaining a business.

Unfortunately, doing better work, or even cheaper work, isn't enough to start and build a business right now.

 

[Martyn]

I started up 5 years ago and made it work but that was because I had virtually no overheads. No mortgage, family grown up and left home, redundancy package etc. But for that I would have failed. For you to succeed you need to have at least 18 months wages to support your family or a hell of a lot of luck. Sorry but it's not easy starting off and to make the business grow you need to feed money you earn back into the business. Good luck with your endeavours.

 

[clayb226]

@clayb226 I am hoping you can secure a job soon, that can' t be fun having a large family and being unemployed with bills and expenses piling up. Best of luck to you in any area. I would still continue to do side work regardless to generate some income with the computer work.

Thanks cypress, I have not took on any side work in about a year, but am getting ready to start drumming up some sort of work, about time to buy all the kids new stuff for the beginning of school. I think that this time, while I am working at my next position, I will start to build my business up. That way I will be a little more known in the area, by business owners, so it will be an easy transition. I just did not want to spend all my time working, when the kids needed a Dad, someone to lift them up when they needed it, and the such.

The hard truth is that this is a tough business to break into now.

Look at your skills, look at your competition, and look at your potential customers.

If you can't bring something unique to the market, something that your customers need and the competition isn't providing, then you will have tough time sustaining a business.

Unfortunately, doing better work, or even cheaper work, isn't enough to start and build a business right now.

This is some good insight; the one major thing I see, right off the bat, is nobody really advertises Linux support, except one competitor. I prefer Linux over Windows, especially for my server environments, but to businesses that do not really know what Linux is, or what it does, they may have a hard time finding the advantage to it. Especially if no one else has ever recommended it. It is going to an interesting ride, that's for sure!! As far as the work goes, I plan to do better work, and provide better service, but also plan to charge right in line as to what the established businesses around here are charging; except there will be a discount of services for my contract accounts.

I started up 5 years ago and made it work but that was because I had virtually no overheads. No mortgage, family grown up and left home, redundancy package etc. But for that I would have failed. For you to succeed you need to have at least 18 months wages to support your family or a hell of a lot of luck. Sorry but it's not easy starting off and to make the business grow you need to feed money you earn back into the business. Good luck with your endeavours.

Thanks Martyn, sounds as though you seen an opportunity, and capitalized. Unfortunately, I am in the exact opposite boat, but I no longer believe in luck, as God has always taken care of my family and I. I will work on getting my business up, and expect to have a job soon, and then I may be able to start working on the building aspect of it. I am rather excited about this chapter of life, but typical of me, it seems to take me a while to turn the page to get the next chapter started!!

 

[clayb226]

I live in a very small rural area, and have about 10-12 competitors in the 35 mile radius I plan to service, and maybe 30,000 people or so, and a few hundred businesses. I will likely start out servicing residential, as well as businesses, until I can gradually move away from the home user, and get mainly to MSP model.

Spent some time in a town about 20 minutes away the other day, getting some market analysis info. I went to a few businesses, they were not very receptive of any questions I had, and really did not want to talk. But, I finally walked into one location, and there was their IT provider. I went over and introduced myself, and began to ask him a few questions. He did not introduce himself, and I did not ask his name, but he stayed very vague in his answers, almost like he did not appreciate me doing that?? Anyway, it would seem that he holds most of the businesses in the town, so it looks like I really only have one competitor in that town, as the other shops must be catering mostly to the residential sector. I will be expanding to other locations in the coming weeks, as I have to go to the towns to apply for jobs anyway.

 

[kwest]

I strongly feel if I moved to a new state and town I could have my phone ringing the next day. I agree you need some money saved but a good website and budget for Adwords and you could get business.

 

[clayb226]

I strongly feel if I moved to a new state and town I could have my phone ringing the next day. I agree you need some money saved but a good website and budget for Adwords and you could get business.

I am trying to work on my website, but it would seem that I have no design skills. One main issue is getting enough income to survive, I am mainly looking for a full time position, then start off part time, so my day job will pay bills for a while, another problem is lack of jobs in my area, as most are small businesses that outsource. I really need steady income at this moment, due to life's expenses. I had a false since of security at my last job, due to the owner assuring me that my job would not be in jeopardy, so I was no longer working on side work, in an effort to spent more quality time with the family. This may not be a luxury I can afford when I get things rolling again. Anyway, I have all my insurance quotes together, and am getting market analysis info gathered, and will have to bring her up slowly. I feel that there is room for me in the market here, but may take a while to get established. Exciting times ahead, and thanks for the reply, because I feel that I could also get things going quicker, but must tread lightly, to ensure the foundation is established correctly, then start to build it from there.

 

[kwest]

Get insurance after you get clients. Go pound the pavement and introduce yourself to small businesses instead of wasting time with marketing analysis. If you need income you should be out meeting people if you are not doing billable work. Just my opinion.

 

[clayb226]

Get insurance after you get clients. Go pound the pavement and introduce yourself to small businesses instead of wasting time with marketing analysis. If you need income you should be out meeting people if you are not doing billable work. Just my opinion.

I am using my market analysis as an opportunity to introduce myself to the managers of these small businesses, and get my name out there. I do have a registered DBA name, but will convert when I get enough business. I also have a good skillset, but will have insurance before I touch business systems, as I feel not could be foolish, especially as a sole-proprietor structure. I do have some residential stuff starting to flow in, and I will do that without insurance for a while, but feel insurance is a must.

 

[clayb226]

Well y'all, I may be on my way now, was offered a full time position, that could help fund my startup, as a side gig. I enjoyed taking the summer off with my kids, but that's not me, I have always had a job and worked, and it feels good to know that I will be back in the work force very soon. I will though, do things a little differently; as I have mentioned in the past that I would turn my back on my career for my family, this is still something that I would do, but hope it never comes to that, due to lack of decent paying jobs in my area. Anyway, finishing up the details this next week, and hope to be at it before the weeks end.