If you’re new to small business consulting, you may think there is no such thing as a prospect or client being too enthusiastic about jumping headfirst into a major IT project. Enthusiasm is a good thing when it comes to signing your firm’s small business consulting contract, right? Well, not always.
Manage Clients’ Optimism
Although hype isn’t exactly a sales obstacle, you need to manage client expectations regarding "unjustified" optimism at your earliest opportunity. During small business consulting projects, there is often a need to combat hype with vertical industry software solutions.
Keeping Client’s Expectations Realistic
The small business owner or manager may return from a trade show with a gorgeous glossy brochure (and mouse pad) for an industry-specific application. Since your small business consulting client thinks the application is the best software since Lotus 1-2-3, he is ready to open up his firm’s checkbook -- but wants to run the application by the internal guru and your small business consulting firm, first.
Although the ISV’s marketing literature and Web site seem quite professional, upon further investigation you learn this $5,000 per seat package is built on an MS-DOS-based Clipper database engine (circa 1991).
The Bottom Line about Small Business Consulting
While your client might have been impressed initially with the demo at the trade show, you need to overcome the hype surrounding the application and save your client from making a sizable investment in an application that should’ve been retired or supplanted years ago. Otherwise, your prospect or client may end up squandering scarce IT budgetary resources that could be better invested in the network solution that you’re recommending.
small business grants | grants for businesses
Friday, September 3, 2010
Great Part Time Small Business Startup Goals
There is a trend growing in America's workforce of a large number of people who want to try their skills at a small business startup company. With the flexibility and lucrative rewards available with your own small business startup, you can devote more time with your family, attend all of your kid's recitals and team sporting events without the need to ask your boss for the time off. Those people who begin a small business startup will also have more potential income than what they would have if they work at a normal job. Today, the internet and many other technological advances, entrepreneurs have many more options for starting their very own business with little cost.
Gift baskets are a superb idea for a small business startup. Being that you can build gift baskets at home and then have them delivered anywhere in the world, it is the perfect way to enjoy the luxuries and responsibilities of owning your own business while still owning the potential for a good deal of income. The internet along with websites such as eBay have helped to contribute to the popularity of this small business idea since people, your customers, can shop for gift baskets from the convenience and comfort of their own home. If you have creativity and you can turn these creative juices into product which is sent out in a timely manner, you the qualities to be successful with this kind of small business startup for many years.
Selling new and used items on eBay has become another one of the many popular business start up small information resources in recent past years. If you are a person who can sniff out something valuable at rummage sales, yard sales or in the attic, putting these items for sale on eBay can be a very profitable small business start up. Basically, you buy the items at various sales, clean them up, and turn an easy profit by selling it on eBay for a higher price. If you are good with crafts, you can make your own things to sell on eBay. If you know basic product marketing and how to attract customers, you are very much on your way to making a moderately to excellent good income by selling things on eBay from your home.
Other opportunities people have decided to start include a cleaning service that they manage on their own. Only a few cleaning supplies are required along with a little basic know-how, and a cleaning service can be a very nice profitable small business start up for self starters and motivated individuals. With societies busy lifestyle nowadays, more professionals and even multi-income non-professionals are hiring services to clean their homes for them and you can quickly cash in on this trend with very little or no training. This is an excellent idea because you can schedule your clients on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis so you can have a regular, steady income. If your business continues to grow enough, you can hire employees who will do the services for you while you manage the company from home.
Working at home with your very own small business startup is fast becoming the new standard in today's electronic society. People are worn out from the busy lifestyles and long work weeks and have chosen to pursue different opportunities. If you have small business startup ideas with a strong desire and motivation, you can create a profitable business which could eventually take the place of your normal "day" job. Or maybe you simply want to keep it part time to supplement your regular income. However, depending on your levels of motivation, experience, and passion, it is possible to create a small business startup which could generate an unlimited amount of income for you and your family.
small business grants | grants for businesses
Gift baskets are a superb idea for a small business startup. Being that you can build gift baskets at home and then have them delivered anywhere in the world, it is the perfect way to enjoy the luxuries and responsibilities of owning your own business while still owning the potential for a good deal of income. The internet along with websites such as eBay have helped to contribute to the popularity of this small business idea since people, your customers, can shop for gift baskets from the convenience and comfort of their own home. If you have creativity and you can turn these creative juices into product which is sent out in a timely manner, you the qualities to be successful with this kind of small business startup for many years.
Selling new and used items on eBay has become another one of the many popular business start up small information resources in recent past years. If you are a person who can sniff out something valuable at rummage sales, yard sales or in the attic, putting these items for sale on eBay can be a very profitable small business start up. Basically, you buy the items at various sales, clean them up, and turn an easy profit by selling it on eBay for a higher price. If you are good with crafts, you can make your own things to sell on eBay. If you know basic product marketing and how to attract customers, you are very much on your way to making a moderately to excellent good income by selling things on eBay from your home.
Other opportunities people have decided to start include a cleaning service that they manage on their own. Only a few cleaning supplies are required along with a little basic know-how, and a cleaning service can be a very nice profitable small business start up for self starters and motivated individuals. With societies busy lifestyle nowadays, more professionals and even multi-income non-professionals are hiring services to clean their homes for them and you can quickly cash in on this trend with very little or no training. This is an excellent idea because you can schedule your clients on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis so you can have a regular, steady income. If your business continues to grow enough, you can hire employees who will do the services for you while you manage the company from home.
Working at home with your very own small business startup is fast becoming the new standard in today's electronic society. People are worn out from the busy lifestyles and long work weeks and have chosen to pursue different opportunities. If you have small business startup ideas with a strong desire and motivation, you can create a profitable business which could eventually take the place of your normal "day" job. Or maybe you simply want to keep it part time to supplement your regular income. However, depending on your levels of motivation, experience, and passion, it is possible to create a small business startup which could generate an unlimited amount of income for you and your family.
small business grants | grants for businesses
Small Business Computer Consulting: Appropriately Setting Your Rates
In small business computer consulting, $100 an hour can be a reasonable and livable rate. Why can setting your rates at $100 an hour make all the difference in the world?
Take the $100 an hour and multiply it by 1,500 hours a year. This is reflecting a 75% utilization rate; or 75% of a typical forty hour work week as billable time. Now you’re at $150,000 a year gross.
Salary and Affordability
As a small business computer consulting firm, you will want to take a third of the gross and plow it into sales and marketing. Therefore you can afford a $40,000 base salary for your sales account executive. So, of that one third of your gross small business computer consulting income, $40,000 can go to the base salary and $10,000 can go to related marketing expenses.
Additionally, one third will take care of taxes, insurance and overhead items for the most part, and you have a third of it or $50,000 left to pay a technical staff salary.
Surpassing $100 an Hour
You may be considering exceeding a rate of $100 an hour for your small business computer consulting firm. At that point, you can hit what we call the not-so-imaginary-hourly-billing-rate ceiling.
Needless to say, if your small business computer consulting clients are paying $110 to $125 an hour, it gets even easier to be able to afford really bright, motivated, highly qualified sales and technical staff.
Higher Rates Equal Bigger Businesses
However, if you want to charge above $100 an hour in your small business computer consulting firm, you’ll almost always need to move above and beyond sweet spot small business clients into really large small businesses, medium size businesses and enterprise-sized accounts that require a different business model and technical skill set.
Once you do that, you’re going to be operating under a completely different type of business model. And you will need even more polished and seasoned salespeople to be able to handle those accounts.
small business grants | grants for businesses
Take the $100 an hour and multiply it by 1,500 hours a year. This is reflecting a 75% utilization rate; or 75% of a typical forty hour work week as billable time. Now you’re at $150,000 a year gross.
Salary and Affordability
As a small business computer consulting firm, you will want to take a third of the gross and plow it into sales and marketing. Therefore you can afford a $40,000 base salary for your sales account executive. So, of that one third of your gross small business computer consulting income, $40,000 can go to the base salary and $10,000 can go to related marketing expenses.
Additionally, one third will take care of taxes, insurance and overhead items for the most part, and you have a third of it or $50,000 left to pay a technical staff salary.
Surpassing $100 an Hour
You may be considering exceeding a rate of $100 an hour for your small business computer consulting firm. At that point, you can hit what we call the not-so-imaginary-hourly-billing-rate ceiling.
Needless to say, if your small business computer consulting clients are paying $110 to $125 an hour, it gets even easier to be able to afford really bright, motivated, highly qualified sales and technical staff.
Higher Rates Equal Bigger Businesses
However, if you want to charge above $100 an hour in your small business computer consulting firm, you’ll almost always need to move above and beyond sweet spot small business clients into really large small businesses, medium size businesses and enterprise-sized accounts that require a different business model and technical skill set.
Once you do that, you’re going to be operating under a completely different type of business model. And you will need even more polished and seasoned salespeople to be able to handle those accounts.
small business grants | grants for businesses
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