Need a motto/slogan

[lone wolf]

Ok I finally went and did it. I got tired of working for "the man" and decided to open my own consulting company. And unfortunely for my previous employer, the clients that i had with him decided to go with me directly, so i already have a client base
I am needing a slogan or motto, kinda like a sig, I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

thanks in advance

 

[lone wolf]

i guess that would help, been a long day!

I offer network/computing consulting services to businesses/personal clients. I offer everything from setting up databases, web design, mail servers to large corporate network design, construction to cabling.

Hope this helps more.

 

[SJConsultant]

Check your employment contract or agreement with your previous employer for any clauses that you legally agreed upon when you were hired. You may be setting yourself up for a lawsuit if you agreed to not service, dissuade, contact, e.g. his customer base if you decided to cessate employment with him. If such a clause or provision is indeed applicable, then it does not matter his clients chose to use you to service them, you'd be in violation of an agreement and subsequently be held in a breach of contract.

Keep in mind I'm not a lawyer by no means, however my employees sign a "no compete" agreement when they are hired and I'd file a lawsuit if they tried that crap with my clients.

Not to be harsh, but it sounds like your going at this "blind" with no business plan or concept by asking people to help you with a "motto" or "slogan" without providing any kind of details about your business model and why your unique to anyone else in your area. Your description is way too generic and not to mention it sounds like the same old stuff everyone else does.

Furthermore you can't possibly be "everything" to all clients, so you need to take a step back and rethink your business model. You can't possibly know it all or do it all. Hiring a jack of all trades / master of none has burned many a business.

 

[lone wolf]

Check your employment contract or agreement with your previous employer for any clauses that you legally agreed upon when you were hired. You may be setting yourself up for a lawsuit if you agreed to not service, dissuade, contact, e.g. his customer base if you decided to cessate employment with him. If such a clause or provision is indeed applicable, then it does not matter his clients chose to use you to service them, you'd be in violation of an agreement and subsequently be held in a breach of contract.

Keep in mind I'm not a lawyer by no means, however my employees sign a "no compete" agreement when they are hired and I'd file a lawsuit if they tried that crap with my clients.

Not to be harsh, but it sounds like your going at this "blind" with no business plan or concept by asking people to help you with a "motto" or "slogan" without providing any kind of details about your business model and why your unique to anyone else in your area. Your description is way too generic and not to mention it sounds like the same old stuff everyone else does.

Furthermore you can't possibly be "everything" to all clients, so you need to take a step back and rethink your business model. You can't possibly know it all or do it all. Hiring a jack of all trades / master of none has burned many a business.

I really appreciate your honesty and helpfullness. Maybe I should have been more "open" in what i was trying to get. The company that I left is preparing to go out of business within the next 2 months, he has already advised the current clients of his intentions. He is aware that a good majority of the clients will be continuing to do business with me.
He is ok with that.
I do have a business plan in place. This is something that I have been working towards for the past 6 months since i was aware of the employers intentions.
You are right, I can't be "everything" to all clients, this is why I already have some consultants that specialize in various fields ie databases, web design, etc. I don't know it all, no one does. In 19 years I have only had one negative comment, and i worked like the dickens to rectify the wrong.
All that I was asking for is something simple, the wife and I can't seem to agree on one thing

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'll tell ya what I focused in on..."SMB Network Consulting". Small to Medium Business.

In my opinion..this is a market that's begging...BEGGING...to be filled. Any business that has a network of at least several PCs.....up to 50-75 or so...and ideally at least one server. This "size" generally requires at least a decent peer to peer setup, hopefully a server...but isn't so large...that the business will have their own IT staff. Enter the SMB Consultant.

Microsoft Small Business Server...hit up SMBNation.com
Microsoft is doing the advertising and incentives in this area for you.

Stay away from the "home" users...they're a waste of money. You'll just spend lots of time cleaning malware junk...that you can't justify good hourly rates for. Basic break-fix it..you'll never get ahead. The only thing it's good for..is your first year of work in this field...to learn it..and move on up.

You want to focus on business networks with a server...that way you can justify the 100 - 125 dollars an hour your can easily command in this field. And Small Business Servers take someone with a "bit" more know how than some vanilla Win2K3 Server box that any kid can setup AD on and use for file storage. Further making your hourly rate of more value.

Try not to do everything yourself...get "Strategic partners". Get a deal together with a good web hosting company...a quality one, one that removes spam and viruses from e-mail they host. Find someone who's good with database stuff..let them do it, outsource them. Get a good...REALLY good wiring guy..(one who's really anal about their setups, fully tests the his jobs with Fluke equipment..not just useless link lights) use him for doing data runs. You can't make 100-125/hour doing cable runs...so why spend the time doing it...spend your time taking care of your clients and getting more clients. You can sub him on jobs..so you can collect "bus fare" on the job.

IMO you don't need a slogan, you don't need to do heavy advertising, this market is begging to be filled with quality peeps. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with the load...I'm at a comfort level..I don't want 10 hour days every day..sometimes having a couple of 4-6 hour days is nice. You already have a client base..that's the best starting point you can have. I was in the same boat...I'd worked for an old computer chain for a couple of years (Computerland) before the local franchise went down (the partners split..had a bad falling out). I took my armload of clients...and went into a 2x person consulting LLC with someone I'd done a few jobs with...was able to hit the ground running. Been doing it for quite a few years in my area. No advertising needed, word of mouth is the best. Going to local Chamber events now and then is also great....most communities have local business chambers that have frequent "After hours" social events, where you wine 'n dine with local business peeps. Show up a couple of times a year to those.

 

[PopeKevinI]

I'll tell ya what I focused in on..."SMB Network Consulting". Small to Medium Business.

In my opinion..this is a market that's begging...BEGGING...to be filled. Any business that has a network of at least several PCs.....up to 50-75 or so...and ideally at least one server. This "size" generally requires at least a decent peer to peer setup, hopefully a server...but isn't so large...that the business will have their own IT staff. Enter the SMB Consultant.

I second that. Some of you best potential clients will be offices with 20-40 employees that rely heavily on technology. Doctors, lawyers, and real estate offices have been lucrative clients in the past for me. They tend to have more advanced needs than a tyipcal office, and usually don't have even a hobbyist on staff who can do basic work.

Stay away from the "home" users...they're a waste of money. You'll just spend lots of time cleaning malware junk...that you can't justify good hourly rates for. Basic break-fix it..you'll never get ahead. The only thing it's good for..is your first year of work in this field...to learn it..and move on up.

Home users should, at most, be low priority and just used to fill in open gaps in your schedule...it's better to be making $30-40 an hour doing malware fixes than making $0 an hour waiting for someone to call.

I do work like this on the side; there aren't enough SMB customers in this rural area to support me full-time since there are already two small computer businesses and a couple of freelance guys established here. I generally pick up home users' PCs and take them to my house and work on them "when I can". I won't turn down the extra money, but I won't give them the same priority treatment I give businesses.

Try not to do everything yourself...get "Strategic partners". Get a deal together with a good web hosting company...a quality one, one that removes spam and viruses from e-mail they host. Find someone who's good with database stuff..let them do it, outsource them. Get a good...REALLY good wiring guy..(one who's really anal about their setups, fully tests the his jobs with Fluke equipment..not just useless link lights) use him for doing data runs. You can't make 100-125/hour doing cable runs...so why spend the time doing it...spend your time taking care of your clients and getting more clients. You can sub him on jobs..so you can collect "bus fare" on the job.

Also, partner both ways. Not only should you find people who will basically work for you (like the wiring guy), but you should also find people who will bring you in for things they don't care to do.

I have a "partnership" with a local company that only uses hardware work and networking to pay the bills. They're a software house that makes ends meet by taking on other jobs when they need to. When they get more work than they need or they get something that is over their heads on the hardware/networking side, they call me in.

IMO you don't need a slogan, you don't need to do heavy advertising, this market is begging to be filled with quality peeps.

Definitely don't bother with a slogan. It just screams "I'm trying too hard". My last run of business cards simply said something like "professional computer and network services". People want to know what you do. If you're looking for something to grab their attention, create a company name and a decent logo. They'll remember that before they'll remember your slogan.

 

[Nate7311]

I second that. Some of you best potential clients will be offices with 20-40 employees that rely heavily on technology. Doctors, lawyers, and real estate offices have been lucrative clients in the past for me. They tend to have more advanced needs than a tyipcal office, and usually don't have even a hobbyist on staff who can do basic work.

Just be careful with Lawyers as clients. Make sure you feel them out first. I've had 2 firms that I've had issues with. the first took the attitude that "We're lawyers and we know the legal system and we're not going to pay you." The second attempted to twist the signed Scope-of-Work around to include much more than it originally did. But every field of work has their schmucks too... It just happens that the schmucks in our field keep the rest of us in business

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I second that. Some of you best potential clients will be offices with 20-40 employees that rely heavily on technology. Doctors, lawyers, and real estate offices have been lucrative clients in the past for me. They tend to have more advanced needs than a tyipcal office, and usually don't have even a hobbyist on staff who can do basic work.

Yeah...that describes it well....those mid sized networks. The very tiny ones with under 10 PCs..generally will be some peer to peer network. Any kid with basic skills can handle those fine, or even the "hobbyist on staff", and you can't command decent hourly rates for doing those basic jobs. Shoot for the larger ones...that have a server or two.

Climbing on board with Microsofts Small Business Server program...starting this past winter...Microsoft is really advertising it hard...they're doing 1/2 the work for you. Most of the amateur wannabe network consultants who are $50/hour, or the "hobbyist on staff"..don't know how to properly set these up. This is where the more experienced person comfortable with SBS can step in and command the higher rates. These are the situations you want.

Learn how to sell SBS..learn how to set it up, learn how to get your clients using it...and it will sell itself via word of mouth. Once users get used to VPN'ing to the office...remote desktop to their PC, use Sharepoint, use OWA...get hooked on the public folders in Exchange, get hooked on fax from desktop, get hooked on the instant remote support SBS has built in...

The word of mouth works very well. Their friends and colleagues..see them VPN to the office, do remote desktop, webmail, all those "big company fancy things"...and they want it.

Business cards...yeah...keep those simple, with a decent logo. I have the bare minimum text on mine..but our company name is in fancy letters...and I have the business cards printed with a really cool colored background...dark, with a diagonal view of a 10/100 switch with different colored patch cables plugged in..with the dataports lit up. It's sharp looking...and the background itself describes what I do..."networking".

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

But every field of work has their schmucks too... It just happens that the schmucks in our field keep the rest of us in business

Yup....a forum colleague of mine summed it up well when he said..."I love other consultants...they're my best source of business!"

The entry level guys...let businesses who want to be cheap hire them. They'll literally get their monies worth...the entry level, cheap rate, consulting wanna-be's will go in...try to get stuff going..and screw it up. The business will get a taste of "you get what you pay for"...and eventually turn to the pro.

I like law firms...their network needs are easy...the software they run is easy to manage. (Needles is a common one, PCLaw, TimeSlips, etc). I've had good experiences with them...except one. That one didn't go bad..they were just...very "cheap". Whining about bills, time, etc. I set them up on SBS2K years ago. Eventually he comes up to me..."I found an IT guy that charges just $65/hour...I'd like to keep you..will you match that rate? I said "Nope!"

Several months later....I get a call from that cheap IT guy they hired..he had an issue setting up stuff in Exchange. It was not anything unusual in the setup I had..it was completely standardized...just his fault for getting in over his head. I helped him...and sent them a bill! ROFL.

 

[jeffmoss26]

YeOldeStonecat:
Good advice. I just graduated from HS and have been doing cabling/networks/computer work for a few years on the side. Most of my work is cleaning up computers: removing spyware and viruses. It gets boring after a while...I am going to Toledo to study computer network administration. I want to learn more about small business networks, servers, and the like. I have also studied 2 of the 4 sections for Cisco CCNA and am probably going to get A+ certified by the end of the summer.
-Jeff

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

YeOldeStonecat:
Good advice. I just graduated from HS and have been doing cabling/networks/computer work for a few years on the side. Most of my work is cleaning up computers: removing spyware and viruses. It gets boring after a while...I am going to Toledo to study computer network administration. I want to learn more about small business networks, servers, and the like. I have also studied 2 of the 4 sections for Cisco CCNA and am probably going to get A+ certified by the end of the summer.
-Jeff

Gotta go through those steps..definitely don't want to skip them. They're valuable building blocks..build that solid foundation. Mixed with the "hands on" that you're doing now...IMO you can't get any better than that.

I started out self taught..doing turnkey networks for a point of sale software developer. I cut my teeth on Artisoft LANtastic networks back in the transitional days from Win3.x to Win95a. Quickly got bored with that cookie cutter job..moved on to work at a Computerland franchise. Moved into helping a senior engineer do larger networks...NT 4 domains, WANs, etc. As well as helping out the break/fixit service department during my "down...not on the road helping the engineer" time. They put me through schooling/certs. I was bored as heck with the A+ and N+ and S+ stuff..but it's good do go through...you gotta do it.

 

[Kaos]

YeOldeStonecat:
Good advice. I just graduated from HS and have been doing cabling/networks/computer work for a few years on the side. Most of my work is cleaning up computers: removing spyware and viruses. It gets boring after a while...I am going to Toledo to study computer network administration. I want to learn more about small business networks, servers, and the like. I have also studied 2 of the 4 sections for Cisco CCNA and am probably going to get A+ certified by the end of the summer.
-Jeff

dude....keystones ftw.

Keep the lab set up, and dont forget to dabble in linux/mac.

 

[Blitzrommel]

Definitely don't bother with a slogan. It just screams "I'm trying too hard". My last run of business cards simply said something like "professional computer and network services". People want to know what you do. If you're looking for something to grab their attention, create a company name and a decent logo. They'll remember that before they'll remember your slogan.

Bam. QFT!