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Advice on How to Start an IT Business (Video)
Lee Drake owns a small IT service and sales company in Rochester, New York, called OS Cubed. He was a cubicle denizen many years ago, and didn't like it. So he started his own business, first with a partner and later as the sole owner. Rochester may be part of the infamous "rust belt," but Lee seems to be doing well, to the point where he's happy to pass on some tips about how to start and grow your own IT business. While Lee's company specializes in "Microsoft solutions," his advice applies to almost any IT business -- and almost any other kind of business, too.
What the hell is wrong with you, Slashdot? Autoplaying video is incredibly annoying and an insult to your readers (who, by and large, know how to play a video they want to watch).
But, what's worse, you've managed to make it even more annoying than normal!
1. The video doesn't autoplay right away - there's a delay of several seconds, plenty of time for someone to scroll down to the comments only to then have the video start playing out of view.
2. With Flashblock on, the audio plays, but there's no video (mind you, in this case the video is largely superfluous)
3. There's no volume control
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
For what it's worth, I've been co-owner of a small software-as-a-service business focused on libraries for the last five years. A week or so ago, I wrote a blog post on our experience and financial situation.
Basic summary: by keeping costs low and our expectations reasonable, we're thriving even without a huge revenue stream.
I thought I was losing my mind, there was an odd voice telling me to start an IT company coming from behind my testing server. Thankfully it turned out to /. with an autoplay video. Seriously, this is not a Geocities site. Act like professionals make disable the fscking autoplay!
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
To become financially independent.
Several people have looked into how people become wealthy, and they divide the methods into 5 broad categories.
The categories(*) change depending on how you slice them, but generally the two which are accessible to everyone are: 1) Commission sales, and 2) Starting a business.
Commission sales is for things like IBM mainframes, telecom equipment or movie scripts, where a single sale can net you 6-digit commissions. A number of people have become independent doing this.
If you can run a successful business you get to build up equity using tax breaks and the productivity of your employees. It's not unusual for someone to start a business and sell it 10 years later for several million dollars. (BTW: The most common business that makes one a millionaire (as of the several years ago, may have changed) is dry cleaning.)
Being financially independent requires roughly $1 million in assets. If you put that in a long-term equity fund, account 1% for management fees and maybe 2.5% for inflation, then you can retire and pull out $50,000 a year for the rest of your life.
Different people have different needs (family, kids, lifestyle), and different levels of economic risk (I'll need $2 million, just to be safe), but that's the basic formula: Figure out how much you need for a comfortable lifestyle, figure out how much you need in the bank to supply that lifestyle, start a business and build up equity until you get that much, then retire.
More info: 80% of first businesses fail, but only 40% of *second* businesses fail, and the percentage goes down fast after that. Having business experience is apparently a strong predictor of future success.
(*) Other categories are: Inheriting it (3/4 of the buillionaires), marrying it, *other* (really rare things like winning the lottery or finding an unknown Botticelli in the attic), and so on.
I've tried to "slide away" from Microsoft solutions over the years, but the bottom line is that Microsoft-related work pays the bills. When the bottom fell out of the IT market after the dot-com bubble popped, Microsoft shops kept me afloat when pickin's were slim.
Maybe that's the selfish point of view, but I have a family and bills. I don't know exactly why, but MS work just "pays". Some say it's comparable to being in a boy-band: no dignity, but you get a decent check.
Table-ized A.I.
Specializes in does not mean we ignore other solutions. It means when we encounter an issue outside our area of expertise we collaborate with experts in those technologies. Or we refer them out if we are not able to contribute meaningfully.
Doofus, my income has varied widely. It depends on many factors. Believe me there were years when I wondered if I wouldn't have been better off working for someone else. Other years i have been extremely happy with my paycheck. Income isn't everything of course. Day to day happiness counts for more than the bottom line.
I would count myself solidly middle class. Not Rich.