Kevin Mc

Going off at a tangent from the "Changing careers" thread...

I have always wondered about starting up a business on my own, but would never be able to take the risk of not getting a steady income.

However, I was made redundant at the end of last month, and the payout is enough to last a few months without any income at all.

This is the perfect chance for me to go out there and give it a go.

Only thing is, now I've called my own bluff, I'm a bit scared. Not of actually doing the work (IT for small companies), but scared of actually going out there and getting the work. I'm no salesman - so how did others who've had the ***** to do this get on - what did you do?

Is it a case of cold calling? I would have thought that most mail shots would end up in the bin. Can't see advertising on the internet doing much either. How do I even know if, and what these companies would be willing to pay? I'd have thought if you aimed too low, they'd assume you were cr4p, and too high - you'd get nothing.

The easy way out of this is to go contracting (if I can get something!!!) though I would far prefer to work for myself.

Is there any advice out there on this sort of thing, or is it suck it and see?

Cold Turkey

Like many trades, word of mouth and reputation counts for a lot.

what type of work is it ?
development ? support ?

TBH you don't seem too sure of your market - you don't know who is going to give you work or what the going rate is. Maybe try some short term contracts and build up a base of contacts.

Kevin Mc

It'd be Techie Support / System Admin / DBA........ You're right - I haven't got a clue about my market. I think you're right about "word of mouth" too - it's just getting the first few thats the problem. May well be a good idea to build up some contacts through contracting.

ProperCharlie

Trouble is there are sh*tloads of geeks out there trying to do excatly the sort of stuff that you are thinking of. Unless you can get yourself a decent relationship with a prosperous small business (or ideally a few small businesses), you are going to have a hard time getting off the ground. Doing support as a one man band is also hard, as if businesses are depending on you they will want solutions PDQ when something goes wrong, but you can only be one place at a time.

NotoriousREV

I'm a few months into doing this myself, when I figure it out, I'll let you know

Seriously, it's about getting yourself out there and making contacts even if it doesn't bring you any work immediately, just make a few cold calls a day and back them up with a letter then a follow up call in a few months.

Contacts can be funny things, I've even got work through this site because of a conversation had about 3 years ago! (Still owe ChrisB a pint or 3 )