4 PC Consulting Tips for New IT Business Owners

Wondering how you can make it in the PC consulting world?

Making a success of PC consulting, when you start up your new IT business, is not as difficult as it might seem. If you follow some basic rules when targeting your market and choosing the services that you are going to provide, then you’ll have a much higher chance of success. Here are my top four tips to help you do precisely that.

1. Don’t Take On the Residential Client Market

There are businesses that are successful supplying PC consulting to the residential market, but it is not one that I suggest you entertain. This advice holds particularly true if you are transitioning out of an IT role in the corporate sector. My reasoning behind this:

• Margins are low.

• Stress levels are high.

• Most residential clients are not used to paying for IT services.

2. Offer a Broad Range of Services

In order to maximize your earning potential with a PC consulting business, you need to offer your clients a broad range of services. This will help them to perceive you as their virtual CIO.

If you are offering non-specialized PC consulting, then you should consider diversifying your income stream with inventory audits, system audits, backups, data recovery, installations, upgrades, networking, security, hardware, technical support, cloud-based technologies, CRM implementations, overarching IT strategies, and so on for businesses that hire you.

3. Pinpoint the Geographical Location of Your Clients

You need to define the area within which you are willing to travel.

When you have one or two clients, it does not matter so much. But once your portfolio grows, then having clients in too large of an area will be a drain on your resources.

So in order for you to not risk running into this situation, make that criteria part of your lead qualification process.

4. Raise Yourself Above the Competition

You can easily put your business in a much better position by making sure that you target a business sector that matches your areas of expertise.

You’d be surprised by how many companies do not do this. If you have in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of the sector that you are going to service, then you can get a jump on the competition.

Are you hoping to make it in the PC consulting world? If so, why not share the story of your start-up in the Comments section.

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on How to Start a Computer Consulting Business: 6 Proven Ways to Build Your Initial Client Base.

Creative Commons Image Source: flickr stephenhanafin