IT Consulting: Use Proving Ground Projects

If you want to see whether or not you will get along with prospective IT consulting clients you need to test them out with proving ground projects – essential steps on the road to long-term agreements with clients.

What Are Proving Ground Projects?

Proving ground projects are your initial IT consulting projects with new customers that are not yet steady clients. They are your chance to prove you know your stuff, are dependable and easy-to-get-along with and offer value-filled services.

Proving ground projects in IT consulting are also a chance for customers to prove that they have reasonable expectations, are compatible and that the customer wants to pay for professional IT services at top rates.

Be Observant

If everything goes well during the proving ground project phase of IT consulting relationships, you are on the right track to having a new steady client. But you need to be really observant during this phase to make sure you are not dealing with a nightmare client. Often an IT consulting professional will be so excited at the idea of getting a new customer that he/she will not see obvious warning signs with prospects, including the following harbingers:

1. Prospects change their minds constantly;

2. They are late for meetings;

3. They verbally abuse employees;

4. They don’t believe the rules of your business or of IT consulting in general apply to them.

The Main Idea about IT Consulting and Proving Ground Projects

You can’t rush into relationships without deciding whether or not the prospects are a good fit by engaging in well-planned proving ground projects.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit

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Posted in: IT consulting,proving ground projects

IT Consulting: Micro Small Businesses?

The small business arena is really one of the best for IT consulting. But there are different small business sizes with many different needs. What do you need to know in order to provide services to micro small businesses?

Micro Small Businesses: A Definition

Micro small businesses in IT consulting have anywhere from 1 – 10 computers that usually use Windows operating systems. These companies usually have between one and ten employees and their revenues will be between $100,000 – a million annually.

The difference between micro small businesses and others in terms of IT consulting is that they don’t have a dedicated server. They are probably running a P2P server and are bringing you as an IT consultant in to help. You shouldn’t be confused about your skills in this arena. You will be able to start your IT consulting business easily by working with micro small businesses as a starting point.

Hardware for IT Consulting and Micro Small Businesses

You will need to know desktop PC support, notebooks, PDAs (palm-based) and Windows CD-based PDAs, printers, server set-up, dial-up modems, DSL and cable modems and how to deal with surge protection, data line protection and entry-level battery backup devices in order to work with micro small businesses in IT consulting.

Software for IT Consulting and Micro Small Businesses

Get to know the most popular desktop and notebook operating systems. But you will mostly use Microsoft Windows on the desktop, notebooks and on PDAs.

Micro small businesses will be looking for desktop office automation applications support, basic PC and notebook support on the family of Microsoft Office. They will also want to know about Intuits Quickbooks accounting software and the Best Software’s ACT management system.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit

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Posted in: IT consulting,micro small businesses

Target the IT Consulting Sweet Spot

IT consulting professionals in the small business arena often market to sweet spot small businesses. These are the businesses that typically give those in the IT consulting over $100 per hour.

Focus on Their Needs

Sweet spot small businesses have usually outgrown P2P networks and need one or more dedicated servers. This can really help IT consulting professionals because the competition they had when targeting smaller firms is no longer applicable.

When clients need a dedicated server, they also need professional help. They can no longer exist with a low-budget mentality and non-existent options, which means they need to charge higher prices for more sophisticated solutions.

Sweet Spot Business Size

If you are in small business IT consulting, you need to know that sweet spot small businesses have 10 – 50 computers and 10 – 100 employees. If you want to target companies with direct mail and other types of marketing, you should remember that they have between $1 million and $10 million in revenue annually.

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: IT consulting

What Are Hidden IT Consulting Costs During Startup?

While $75 - $85 per hour might seem like enough to sustain you in the IT consulting business, you need to think ahead when setting your rates during startup. If you keep charging those low rates beyond your grand opening special, your business will not become successful enough to last long term.

Think about Overhead Expenses

While when you first do the math, $75 an hour seems to be $150,000 per year in IT consulting it does not really work that way. You can’t bill 2,000 per year. IT consulting professionals just starting out often forget about overhead expenses that develop as their businesses grow. You just can’t handle 40 hours per week every week of billable work if you want to run a computer consulting business.

Expect Inconsistencies

You need to bill higher rates from the beginning, because starting an IT consulting business is not as easy as it might seem on the surface. While your overhead might be low, especially if you are working from home there will still be expenses, and you will have an inconsistent work schedule.

Your Utilization Rate

You need to always keep your utilization rate in mind. This is basically the reality of only being able to bill out about 75% of the 40 given hours each week. If can take you six months to a year to even get to this level.

The Main Idea about IT Consulting Startup

What happens when your IT consulting business grows and you want to scale up? Keep this in mind when setting your rates appropriately in the beginning.

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: IT consulting

IT Consulting and an Introduction to the Sweet Spot

If you are going to work in the sweet spot of IT consulting, you need to have more skills than if you decide to work with micro businesses. Sweet spot IT consulting clients will have between 10 and 50 computers and are the ideal spot to focus your efforts and attention.

Sweet spot businesses typically will use Microsoft Windows-based systems and have between 10 and 100 employees. In U.S. Dollars, the annual revenue for these businesses will be from $1 million to $10 million. All sweet spot businesses have at least one dedicated server (instead of P2P networks).

The Sweet Spot and Your Hardware Skills

To work with sweet spot clients, you will need IT consulting skills required for the micro small business world, but also 8-10 other skills. You need to know server hardware such as multi-processor servers. You have to know about RAID, Zero One Five and how multiport communications applications adapters are used to set up remote access servers and serial port sharing. You should also know attached storage systems, network attached storage and some complex back-up solutions.

Additional Sweet Spot Skills

You also need to know about battery back-up solutions, routers, CSU/DSUs that connect you to telecommunications lines and some more sophisticated Y-5 hardware.

IT Consulting Networking Skills

With networking software, you have to know basic desktop software; but you also have to know how to do networking skills required for micro small business. For the sweet spot of IT consulting, you also have to know some popular server operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Small Business Server, Novell NetWare, Novell Small Business Suite and Linux.

The Bottom Line about the Sweet Spot

Keep your skills in check when you are starting to venture into the world of sweet spot IT consulting and make sure you have what it takes to fulfill these small business needs.

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IT Consulting: Why the Sweet Spot?

When you work with the sweet spot in IT consulting, you will be handling all a company’s IT needs. You have to know a little about many different topics. You will need to be able to get answers for clients when you don’t know everything ad work to make multi-vendor platform projects work easily.

The Sweet Spot Helps Get You Started

The sweet spot in IT consulting is a great idea for those starting out in the field. If you don’t have great technical skills, you may want to start an IT consulting business at first based on micro small businesses.

Once you get more comfortable with these peer-to-peer accounts, you will start to evolve with their growth and start giving them small business servers, small business suites and others. Eventually your new clients will get bigger and you will ease your way into the sweet spot.

Create a Balance with the Sweet Spot

Your portfolio in IT consulting should be a mixture of big small businesses and sweet spot businesses.

Technical Skills

When starting to ease into sweet spot IT consulting clients, look through your skill list and make notes about strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself which skills are important and work on them a little bit at a time. Your technical skills in IT consulting can’t be your main focus at the beginning if you really want to grow and get paying clients. Your technical skills can be honed later.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

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Posted in: IT consulting

Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Web site updated

The Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Web site has been updated and now includes information on

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Making Sure You Get Paid for IT Consulting

Getting a deposit check for major IT consulting projects is incredibly important. No IT consulting professional should begin a large project based on a handshake.

IT Consulting: Don’t Let Others Take Advantage

Many small business owners will not even think twice about using you for your IT consulting services without proper payment. If you let them, you risk the future of your IT consulting business. Don’t let anyone take advantage of you and always secure a proper agreement and deposit check when starting any major project.

IT Consulting: The Importance of Payment Schedules

Payment schedules can protect your IT consulting business from harm. You should set up a payment schedule that demands at least 25% down before any work begins. If anyone objects, you might want to think twice about starting a relationship.

IT Consulting and Getting Paid

Bill clients weekly and not just when you feel like it as part of your IT consulting procedures. IT consulting invoices need to go out every week.

Created By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

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Posted in: IT consulting