I started entirely where you were. It was the only skill I really had that people were willing to pay for. I could diagnose, fix and permanently repair/prevent future issues, whether it was software, hardware, networking, IT support/consulting, fixing viruses. Back then the tools weren't so good, though.
One of the big 'aha' moments I had was when I didn't have to bill my customer minimum 1 hour to drive to their site if they were in town. I offered to bill in quarter hour increments if I could try addressing it remotely, and if it didn't work, I'd come in. Having the keys to everyones offices is something I didn't enjoy, remote access made it a bit easier.
The other key 'ahas' that helped me transition from IT work to more software work were:
- Work to always replace myself. Most IT / developer types are of two categories. The ones that make you dependant on them, and the ones that make you independent. The consultants that charge you to do windows patches every month on purpose do it because that's often the ceiling of their talent. The consultants that are bored to tears by doing windows patches but do it to get other work with the customer often automate it to a point that they can say "spend the money you would on patching on other projects with me instead and I will always automate IT as much as possible".
- Solid Email based Case manager - This is the only piece of software that changed my life. One item per case number, tie it to a billing system. If you do go this route, make sure you use a solid email based case manager like Fogbugz (or anything) that is well suited to keeping your work visible in their inbox since they don't see your face much. For me, Fogbugz found me when I juggled too many things manually and I've been loyal since. There are several other capable tools too, find which one speaks to you the best.
The toolsets for managing things centrally (remote access, antivirus, firewalls) are so much more polished and integrated, if you can get your business doing remote IT support/maintenance, there is a good business there.
If this is a field you enjoy and want to continue growing, feel free to hit me up, I'll totally give you everything I've ever learnt or known about this so you can scale up to a .5-1 million/year revenue business pretty easily.
One of the big 'aha' moments I had was when I didn't have to bill my customer minimum 1 hour to drive to their site if they were in town. I offered to bill in quarter hour increments if I could try addressing it remotely, and if it didn't work, I'd come in. Having the keys to everyones offices is something I didn't enjoy, remote access made it a bit easier.
The other key 'ahas' that helped me transition from IT work to more software work were:
- Work to always replace myself. Most IT / developer types are of two categories. The ones that make you dependant on them, and the ones that make you independent. The consultants that charge you to do windows patches every month on purpose do it because that's often the ceiling of their talent. The consultants that are bored to tears by doing windows patches but do it to get other work with the customer often automate it to a point that they can say "spend the money you would on patching on other projects with me instead and I will always automate IT as much as possible".
- Solid Email based Case manager - This is the only piece of software that changed my life. One item per case number, tie it to a billing system. If you do go this route, make sure you use a solid email based case manager like Fogbugz (or anything) that is well suited to keeping your work visible in their inbox since they don't see your face much. For me, Fogbugz found me when I juggled too many things manually and I've been loyal since. There are several other capable tools too, find which one speaks to you the best.
The toolsets for managing things centrally (remote access, antivirus, firewalls) are so much more polished and integrated, if you can get your business doing remote IT support/maintenance, there is a good business there.
If this is a field you enjoy and want to continue growing, feel free to hit me up, I'll totally give you everything I've ever learnt or known about this so you can scale up to a .5-1 million/year revenue business pretty easily.