If you want to start a computer consulting business, and you'd like to join the majority of your colleagues who have already tried and then struggled for an average of less than a year before calling it quits, then do like they do and follow these three simple steps.

1. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Computer Consultant Community
The Independent
Consultant
How to FAIL in 3 Easy Steps
By Robert Peretson
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
Start a Computer Consulting Business on the wrong business model,
and Failure is essentially Guaranteed!
I've met a lot of Independent Computer excellent level of support that costs less
Consultants over the course of my than alternate solutions like in-house
career. While a few continue to thrive employees or larger IT Support firms.
in their Independent
So with such a strong potential market
practice, and a few
and with the Independent Computer
others have grown
Consultant able to provide a much
their business into
needed solution, why is success for
larger, successful
Independent Computer Consultants so
computer support
rare?
firms, the vast
majority will give it Because they follow a standard, but
less than a year wrong, hourly support billing model. If
before they give up and begin actively you want to join the majority of your
searching for a job again. colleagues and struggle briefly before
you decide that being your own boss is
Almost every small business today that
to difficult and unstable and decide to
relies on computer systems, needs
call it quits, do like they do and follow
someone qualified to maintain them.
these three simple steps.
The demand for affordable solutions
for maintaining and supporting small
business computer systems is huge.
Today, every small business owner is STEP 1: Bill By The Hour
looking for ways to reduce costs, and Ask 100 Independent Computer
the Independent Computer Consultant Consultants what their hourly rate is
is perfectly positioned to offer an and almost every one of them will be
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 1
The Independent Computer Consultant Community

2. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Consultant Community
able to give you one, probably ranged the door to work on other issues, these
somewhere between $75-$150 per daily occurrences are generally the
hour. items that can make up the foundation
of the hourly, computer consultant's
How many will tell you, "I don't charge
salary. But with the client often
by the hour. I charge flat, monthly
looking to reduce these hours, this
rates."? I'm betting not many.
conflict can make it difficult for the
Basing your income around how many consultant to properly maintain the
hours you're able to accumulate on a systems and generate a reliable income.
regular, monthly basis is a challenging
And when a BIG problem occurs, such
and generally unstable situation.
as a server or major email outage, your
Due to the very nature of hourly rates, client's stress will be compounded by
a cost-conscious client (and what client the fact while they're productivity is at
isn't cost-conscious today?) will always zero, they're spending hundreds, if not
be aware of the time you spend on-site. thousands of dollars to have you fix the
And they'll be hoping to reduce it problem.
whenever and wherever possible.
Billing by the hour creates a win-lose
They'll hold off on addressing environment. The client has computer
"smaller" issues, judging if an item like problems, they're unhappy, but the
connecting a user to a network printer consultant makes more money. Fewer
justifies having you in for your hourly problems means a happier client, but a
rate. Unfortunately, these little poorer consultant.
problems have a large negative effect
on your client's productivity. When
their productivity suffers to the point STEP 2: Provide Reactive Support
where it hurts them financially, they'll
If you're billing by the hour for on-site
notice. And they'll be quick to blame
support, you're generally waiting for
the systems that you're responsible for
someone to call you with a need or
maintaining.
problem for you to address. Hopefully
Even if these small issues only amount you'll be able to strike a balance where
to a few minutes a day for you to you'll have enough clients with service
address, because they can get you in requests to keep you busy, without too
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 2
The Independent Computer Consultant Community

3. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Consultant Community
many clients demanding you low disk space, hardware failure alerts,
simultaneously for "critical" requests etc. This will reduce unexpected
or unexpected emergencies. emergencies and allow you to schedule
your time much more reliably.
This is a difficult balance to find, and
the downfall of many new computer Monitoring will also let you identify
consultants. If you have too few issues that might have gone unnoticed
clients, with few problems and a until they escalated into a real problem.
minimal budget for improvement You don't need to wait for your client
projects, keeping busy enough can be a to tell you what work needs to be done.
challenge. When things are working You can review the server logs and let
smoothly, you may be tempted to call your client know what problems exist
your client just to "check in". But this and need to be addressed.
can often be viewed negatively by your
The problem with proactive monitoring
client as you possibly "fishing" for a
under the hourly billing model is...
few extra billable hours. Hitting a few
what if it works?
slow months in a row can make for a
very unreliable income. What if you're able to clean up their
systems to the point where problems
Land yourself too many clients though,
are rare? Will you still be able to
and you might be busier than you
maintain a busy enough schedule with
bargained for. Find yourself unable to
only the day-to-day minor user issues
provide support fast enough and you'll
to address?
have dissatisfied customers. Fail to
respond to a client during a real What if the opposite is true and you
emergency because you're addressing find problems popping up almost
another client's emergency, and odds daily? While it'll be easy enough to
are high that you'll lose more than just bring these problems to your client's
a few billable hours. attention and hopefully they'll
appreciate you identifying the problem
If you put a good server monitoring
early, there's also the probability that
system in place, you can potentially
they'll question why all these problems
eliminate most of these problems. If
are occurring and why suddenly you
you monitor the server proactively, you
need to spend so much billable time on
can catch items like failed backups,
their systems.
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 3
The Independent Computer Consultant Community

4. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Consultant Community
And of course there's the question of you to survive. Which for a computer
how to charge for proactive system consultant hired to keep things running,
monitoring under an hourly-rate is career suicide.
support model. Whether you charge an
hourly, partial-hour or flat-rate for your
monitoring service, unless the client STEP 3: Provide On-Site Service
sees regular, clear evidence of the
effectiveness of your work, they're Naturally, you'll need to visit your
going to question whether this extra clients on a fairly regular basis. As an
expense is a necessary one. hourly-support consultant, if you don't
see your clients, you don't make
If monitoring helps to identify money. If your business is built
problems and keeps you busy, your primarilly around having to be at your
clients will potentially be asking why client site to be able to support them
they're spending more money now than and to generate your income, then it's
before you started monitoring their in your best interest to be there as often
systems. "Wasn't the monitoring as possible. Of course, your client
supposed to reduce problems and save wants to see you there as infrequently
me money?" as possible. This conflict alone is
enough to prevent someone who’s
If it helps to keep their systems
starting a computer consulting business
operating at peak performance, they'll
from ever succeeding.
be happy, but your income will suffer.
And there's always the possiblity that
Being proactive is a real challenge
two of your clients might need support
when operating under the hourly-rate
at the same time. If you're not
business model. It can have a negative
monitoring your clients proactively as
impact on your immediate income, but
discussed above, the chance for
it gives you the best chance for
unexpected problems to arise is high.
satisfied clients. Yet another conflict
Two simultaneous emergencies happen
that the hourly-rate computer
often enough when you're supporting
consultant must figure out how to
multiple, unmonitored networks.
overcome.
What if it's not even an emergency, but
Reactive support however, is basically
a simple request to clean up a
waiting for things to break in order for
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 4
The Independent Computer Consultant Community

5. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Consultant Community
workstation that's been getting pop- So unless you're billing for remote
ups. But the call comes in while you're support, you'll be losing some income.
working on a project and you have
But under the hourly rate billing
another service call waiting and you
model, how do you charge for remote
won't be able to make it down until a
services? By the hour? In 15 minute
day and a half from now. This doesn't
increments? What if the support call
do much for customer satisfaction, let
takes 10 minutes to resolve? Do you
alone the possibility that your client
charge for it, or do you chalk it up to
may not want to wait for you and finds
providing "good customer service"?
another way to resolve their problem,
How many billable hours might you be
which will lose you some billable time
giving away over the course of the
at least (and maybe lose you a client at
month? How many of those calls could
worst).
have led to additional billable time had
A simple solution would seem to be to you have gone on-site to provide the
provide remote computer support. service? By not having to go on-site to
Doing so gives you the ability to resolve the day-to-day, minor issues,
essentially be at two places at once. would you still be able to maintain
You probably won't attempt to do an enough hours of on-site work per week
SBS migration remotely, but you for each of your clients?
certainly can start a malware scan
Let's say you charge $125/hr. and you
remotely at one client while onsite at
have four clients for who you provide a
another (of course, if you’re billing by
total of 2 hours of work each, per week
the hour, you need to be very careful
remotely. This would be a fantastic gig
about who’s clock you’re on when
for you... for the remote work alone,
you’re doing remote work from a client
you’d be making $48K annually, while
site).
working about 8 hours a week, mostly
Providing remote computer support while wearing your pj's.
could definintely improve client
But I guarantee you, if you consistently
satisfaction. In addition to being able to
send your client an invoice for 8 hours
provide nearly instanteneous support,
a month, and they can't recall the last
your clients will also be seeing you less
time they've seen your face for more
often, which we know is what they
than a few hours, it won't be long
want when being charged by the hour.
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 5
The Independent Computer Consultant Community

6. SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
The Independent Computer Consultant Community
before questions or suspisions arise as can get you started on the right path
to the need or validity of your service. today!
Whenever you provide remote support,
stellar recordkeeping and reporting is Robert Peretson is
critical. However, even with detailed the founder of Perry
reports, if your client is paying for a Consulting, a New
substatial numbers of hours each York based
month for work they don’t actually see computer consulting
you doing, they're going to want a very firm, started in
1996. Today, Perry
high level of communication or other
Consulting enjoys a
supporting evidence of your work and reputation as the
the time involved. premier provider of
computer consulting
Once again, you’re faced with another services to many of
conflict where you're trying to do your New York City's most progressive and
work, and the very nature of your prestigious small businesses.
billing arangement causes your client
to question your work. In 2009, Robert founded the website
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com, a
If you want to fail as an Independent training and support portal for IT
Computer Consultant, it's very simple professionals who would like to start a
to do. Just follow the examples laid out computer consulting business as an
by the countless other failed Independent Computer Consultant.
consultants before you and create a
business built on charging hourly rates
to put out fires at your client's sites as
quickly and as often as you're able to.
If however, you want to start a
computer consulting business that
follows a business model that's been
proven and guaranteed to succeed, then
visit
http://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com
for free step-by-step video training that
SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com | 6
The Independent Computer Consultant Community