Something I have noticed is that many computer consultants place a high value on time. Each minute of each day is either billable or it’s not.

That’s true and it’s also very false. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. You don’t get anymore and neither does anyone else. I personally don’t choose to look at each moment as either billable or not. For me, that would be an easy way to drive myself crazy.

It is important to set goals and strive to exceed them, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to figure out ways to keep squeezing more billable time out of the same 86,400 seconds. You will quickly become a slave to your business if you try this.

What has also been observed is how much time computer consultants and business owners will spend trying to save small amounts of money. Payroll and anti-spam companies come to mind.

I have seen very small businesses waste dozens of hours trying to choose a payroll company to run payroll for two employees. Dozens of hours. What are dozens of hours worth in a time is money type business? It’s hundreds of dollars or more. Would you spend hundreds of dollars of billable time so that you could save $10 per month on your payroll? Now that I point it out like this, you would probably say no. But, the next time you get caught up spending large amounts of time trying to save a small amount of money, take a step back and make sure its actually worth it.

Time is money and this is true to a certain extent, but there are plenty of ways to increase your revenue without becoming a slave to your business.

Time is precious and it is the one thing that is irreversible and you will never get back. You have a limited supply of time and it is the most expensive thing you can give up.

Choose wisely.

Zachary M. Morvik

I can’t tell you how often I used to get burned by a Windows service unexpectedly terminating and the wrath that can follow. What I have searched for on many occasions is a very simple application that would monitor selected services on a specified interval. If any of the monitored services are not running, I want an email.

I don’t just want the service to restart. That’s little more than a bandaid. Why did that service stop? There was a reason and that reason should not be ignored. I want to know when the service stops.

Since I couldn’t find an application like the one I have described, I wrote one. It is simplistic which is exactly what I wanted. It does exactly what it needs to do and it does so flawlessly.

I’ll be releasing this application here on the blog soon. If you would like to be notified when this application becomes available, just signup for annoucements up there at the top right.

Take care,

Zachary M. Morvik

When using SRS, if you set a report to save to a file on a share on a remote machine, you may get logon related errors and impersonation errors.  These are fixed by adding the user who the report is run under to the Allow Log On Locally policy.  Remember to use Domain Controller Security Policy if the server is a Domain Controller.

I won’t even tell you how long it took to figure this out.

-Zachary M. Morvik

Ever heard of this book? No? Most haven’t. Order it right now.

http://tinyurl.com/22evxw

-Zachary M. Morvik

This is a true a statement as you will ever read.

It is taught in sales, service, management, and every other aspect of business and life.  Whoever is is contact with a person or organization always has a stronger relationship than those with little contact.

Translation:  Contact you clients ALL THE TIME.

Contact them to say hi.  Contact them to ask how they are doing.  Contact them to ask how your last service visit went.  Contact them to tell them about developments and offerings from your company.  Contact them by just sending them an interesting article related to their industry.  Contact them by sending them information about a new technology that will soon arrive.  Contact them, contact them, contact them.  And after you do, contact them again.

Have I made my point?

-Zachary M. Morvik

It’s a simple concept and very few IT consultants do it.

You must use customer surveys. There is no way you are going to really know when, specifically, you did something right or wrong without them. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and the rewards are massive.

Here is a site full of articles on customer surveys

http://www.isixsigma.com/vc/surveys/

Start using them today!

-Zachary M. Morvik

When it comes to computer services, hiring the right staff is beyond the needle in the haystack. For many business owners, it seems downright impossible. However, have a little faith because high quality employees are just around the corner.

Computer services companies run into two basic issues, a lack of retention of the good staff and ineffective performance from the other half. Many business owners that deal in computer services are a good springboard for those who are still receiving their education or who are looking to break into the field.

When hiring quality computer services staff, most business owners make the mistake of looking at solely what is down on paper. While a resume is an important part of expressing knowledge base, the skills to deal with customers and become an all around asset to the company are also vital. A large number of computer services owners and managers complain that while their staff looks great on paper, they falter big time when it comes to dealing with the actual customer. When looking over a resume, the computer services industry is best served by those with the obvious necessary computer knowledge for the job, combined with alternative job experience, such as previous customer service positions, management, or even of all things, sales. Even if it is not related to the computer industry.

This is where many computer services business owners and managers fail to see the benefit, and tend to hire those with only computer related job histories. Some owners and managers get lucky and find a great employee, while others find themselves dealing with only half the skills required for an all around excellent employee.

The computer services industry is growing by leaps and bounds. Anyone interested in the computer services field is going to need to continue their education and grow with the computer industry. Hiring those who are more than just fresh out of college usually realize the value of a continuing education while those who are just leaving college are feeling as though they have placed their entire life into and education and now deserve a break, at least generally speaking.

High quality employees can not be determined by what they put down on paper. While a resume or an application can determine whether or not they are capable of basic requirements, what it can’t discern is their personality and their ability to be flexible in their approach to computer and customer related issues. Thus, every manager or computer services business owner needs to be willing to invest the time into finding the type of employee that will suit their needs rather than stack the odds by hiring warm bodies that look acceptable on paper.

Every manager and computer services business owner is going to learn from their mistakes. Gut instinct can play a significant and vital role in the hiring process, and only time will tell if the gut instinct that was followed panned out.

-Zachary M. Morvik

It’s the cream of the crop, the dreamy queen of all self employment, and the golden ring on the merry-go-round of computer services companies. Running a computer consulting business is the ultimate goal of nearly 50% of all IT professionals. Computer consulting businesses, especially those which can be cultivated around your schedule, your time, and your pace, are the white puffs on the puffy clouds of dreams. So how do you get there and what do you need to know?

Rule number one is all about the cash. There will be times when business is very lean. While most new consultants expect this to happen in the beginning, the majority of new businesses go under after they’ve been around for a few years, created a reasonable name for themselves, and then hit a dry period. It’s a painful lesson to learn, but no matter how good you are or how experienced you’ve become, dry seasons are bound to happen. This means that you need to be a professional and handle your money with confidence and extreme frugal caution, even after you got your feet up off of the ground.

Rule number two is learn to be flexible. When the dry seasons are over, there will most likely be multiple clients banging on your door for multiple services. That means that your skills need to be honed as sharply as your ability to switch gears as often as necessary in order to perform the jobs presented to you and to do it well. If you find yourself overwhelmed, and unable to perform, it’s going to hurt your business not only immediately with the loss of income but overall, as word of mouth can be a powerful advertising statement, especially when the word is negative.

Consulting is a business of opinion. You are there to offer your expertise and to complete a job as it has been specified by the client. This means that rule number three, know what you’re talking about before you open your mouth, and rule number four, back up your opinion with proven facts, can each be combined into rule number six, learn to delegate, negotiate, and mediate. These three skills will come in handy more often than your computer network skills. Whether you have employees or are a one man or woman show, your ability to come through for your own business is in part about understanding the clients’ needs as well as know when the client needs a lot more direction in order to accomplish their goals.

Computer knowledge is obviously the strong basis of any consulting business that you are considering, however, business skills are vital regardless of whether you are running a hot dog stand or a computer consulting business. The skills you can develop that enable you to deal more effectively with clients and potential clients are about the relational aspects of business than the technical aspects of business. You can’t have a consulting business without the technical skill. You can’t have a consulting business without the personable skills.

-Zachary M. Morvik

The title says it all on this one.  If you are going to be in this business, product and license sourcing is involved.  Among others, you want and need an Ingram Micro account.

They will charge a credit card $100 during signup and if you purchased $1,500 worth of product in the first 60 days, you will be refunded the $100.

Go signup today.

www.ingrammicro.com

-Zachary M. Morvik

If you have never heard of GrandCentral, you definitely need to go check it out.

www.grancentral.com

They were great before Google bought them.  In time they will be as unstoppable as many other Google services.

You basically get a phone number and they will forward that number to multiple other numbers or take voicemail…FREE of charge.  In addition some of the features include screening callers, listen to them leaving a message and jump in if desired, save calll recordings with the push of a button, block callers, ringtones, personal greetings, CallSwitch (very cool), and more.

With CallSwitch, you can change phones without dropping the call. Let’s say you take a call on your cell phone, but you would really rather use your office or home office phone.  No problem, CallSwitch will make the change and your caller will never even know it.

-Zachary M. Morvik

Computer services are the next wave of small business. From technical support to IT security, the computer services industry is loaded with possibilities and exciting new trends. Many people on the fast track are looking to start up their own one or two person computer services business rather than go through the steps that lead to the higher paying computer services jobs.

Is it possible to step out into the world as your own computer technician, security expert, or helpdesk specialist? Yes, it is. It is a bit risky, but for those who weather the risk well, the pay off is definitely worth it.

Stepping out on your own should be a process, unless you have the capital on hand to build up clientele and survive for about a year without much work. It takes time to get a good business going, and without a lot of capital, it can take even longer. Your marketing and sales techniques are going to determine how well you do, as will your skill set, your demographic region, and your ability to perform various functions (or learn them) in a reasonable time frame.

Not enough new business owners pay enough attention to the geographic demographics before trying to launch a new small computer services business. However, there are some areas of the United States that the demand for these services is very low if not non-existent. Then there are places that are so oversaturated that the likelihood of stepping in front of the big guy is relatively slim. The Lancaster-Reading area of Pennsylvania for example, is nearly devoid of computer technology and services openings and demand. Security specialists from this area have been forced to move at least as far as Philadelphia if not farther. Norfolk, Virginia is oversaturated with technology, as well as a high number of computer specialists coming out of the Armed Forces with a pre-existing security clearance. Again, a tough thing to step in front of when building a business.

Alternatively, places like Columbus, Ohio are just now starting to bloom into the advanced technological age, requiring specialists in all sorts of arenas. Just a little side note, security experts find numerous roadblocks unless they are dealing with governmental facilities. A vast majority of the companies that should have heightened security don’t put the money into it until after an incident has occurred.

Placing your plaque out into the business world is a developing process. Anyone with the appropriate education, skill set, and determination can build up a nice computer services company for themselves, they just can’t expect overnight success. These things take a lot of market research and a lot of sheer determination. This is why that great many are more successful when they take a few years to build up their computer services business on the side and then leap in with both feet after they have established a clientele.

-Zachary M. Morvik