Where can I find resources to help me become a freelance IT pro for small businesses?

September 10, 2006 1:24 AM

I think I have the kind of "jack of all trades" IT skillset which would be useful to those small businesses, say those with less than 5 staff, who are unlikely to have their own "IT guy" in-house. I'd like to find any resources/websites/communities that would be able to help me move towards being that IT guy who can support these small businesses.

Those who aren't IT professionals would, I think, consider me quite useful. I have a degree in Networking & Communications and experience with designing, creating and maintaining websites and databases. I know my way very well round the Microsoft desktop OSes, use Linux at home and have been a Solaris sysadmin for a couple of years so when it comes to OS types I have a pretty broad knowledge of them (except Mac, though I hope to work towards that). I'm comfortable with PC and server hardware too. Like many people who have an interest in all things computery, I can turn my hand to most things required on a technological level.


I have my own small sideline company and am currently the general IT guy for one client, a hospital's janitorial department staffed by mainly over-50s who are frankly a bit scared of computers. They have their own overworked bread and butter IT support department, but if they have a special little project such as tidying up an old Access database, or creating an internal website, or archiving all their old data, I'm the man they call. I got the client (and then started the company) after doing some agency office work for them, which was originally supposed to be photocopying and ended up playing with VBA for the week once they realised I had some IT skills.


Anyway, I'd like to try and do this for a living, but before I give up the day job (actually an office-bound night job) I have a ton of questions I need to try and get answered. Such as: what job title is the one I've just described and would put on the business cards ("general IT guy"?/freelance IT contractor?), what are the issues with regards to insurance (i.e. what happens if I inadvertently do damage to a company's IT system), what's the best way of attracting new local businesses, how do you pitch a service like this to potential new businesses, how do you price up your services (per hour, per task, per day)? Do you charge companies solely for work done, or charge them an annual fee for being ready to be called out? Those are just a few off the top of my head. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who does the kind of general freelance job I've described. So, apart from the eternally wonderful and useful askMeFi, does anyone know of any specialised resources, websites and especially online communities where I could ask these kind of questions, get advice and answers from others and hopefully one day also contribute towards? Many thanks.

posted by uk_giffo to work & money (7 comments total)

Read "The Computer Consultant's Guide" by Ruhl.

Start there. I'll try to write more later.
posted by Wild_Eep at 7:21 AM on September 10, 2006

In a cursory search, I'm not finding the article discussed on this Slashdot thread, but I bet you can, and the discussion's interesting in its own right.
posted by Eater at 9:27 AM on September 10, 2006

I can't offer you any resources, but just wanted to mention that the last couple of places I've worked (construction firms) have had 30+/- employees and used a couple of jack-of-all-trades IT guys. So don't just look at tiny companies!
posted by jamesonandwater at 10:33 AM on September 10, 2006

Yeah, don't just look at tiny companies. And think about job switching as well. One of the most successful IT consultant guys I know works during the day as an on-call Diebold ATM technician. They put him through technician school, and then gave him a company truck and whatnot, and he sits at home and works on people's computers most of the day ... and gets paid his salary + his consulting fees, with no out of pocket costs for visiting clients as long as he manages to combine his client visits with service calls. ;)

The way you'll *get* these clients is word of mouth... church, social events, handing out business cards to anyone you know to give to their friends, etc. Most of these places have a guy that does their stuff already. Your job is to be better than he is and to be able to demonstrate quickly that you are.
posted by SpecialK at 10:59 AM on September 10, 2006

Too bad you're in London. If you were in LA, I'd say come in for an interview. I'm one of these types myself, though I work at one place which could use a couple more.
posted by hoborg at 12:17 PM on September 10, 2006

Well this may be different in the UK but smallish libraries/cooperatives are good places to look.
posted by dagnyscott at 3:54 PM on September 10, 2006

Wild_Eep, I'll try and track down a copy of that book at the library - I had a quick scan of its contents on Amazon and it looks very useful. Everyone else, be prepared for a slow drip-feed of questions once a week as I move towards maybe taking the plunge towards self-employment! Thanks for all your answers :)
posted by uk_giffo at 1:41 AM on September 11, 2006