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    Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?

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    • DashrenderD
      Dashrender @Dashrender
      last edited by

      @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

      I'd be willing to bet that the majority of IT shops like @guyinpv are VARs. Can they do consulting? of course they can. But in reality most SMBs don't want to pay for it... they call you up and say I want X, so you sell them X.

      You can try to "do the right thing" as @BRRABill mentioned, but you really have to ask - is it the right thing? If they just ask you to sell them something, why assume they don't know what they want? of course as IT people, we know that 9/10 they really don't, but it's not our job to correct them.

      BRRABillB scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • BRRABillB
        BRRABill @Dashrender
        last edited by

        @Dashrender said

        You can try to "do the right thing" as @BRRABill mentioned, but you really have to ask - is it the right thing? If they just ask you to sell them something, why assume they don't know what they want? of course as IT people, we know that 9/10 they really don't, but it's not our job to correct them.

        That's where I disagree. I think it IS our job.

        Talk about unethical. Knowingly selling someone something they don't need, I feel, is unethical. Though it sounds like it is also the definition of sales.

        For me, personally, people have come to me because I have helped others, and they want the help and advice I can give. They WANT me to say "no that's not what you need" or "hey if you switch to this, it'll give you more features and be half the price".

        Am I a VAR? Sure. I have no problems with it. I'm not pegging myself as anything.

        JaredBuschJ DashrenderD scottalanmillerS 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • JaredBuschJ
          JaredBusch @BRRABill
          last edited by

          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

          @Dashrender said

          You can try to "do the right thing" as @BRRABill mentioned, but you really have to ask - is it the right thing? If they just ask you to sell them something, why assume they don't know what they want? of course as IT people, we know that 9/10 they really don't, but it's not our job to correct them.

          That's where I disagree. I think it IS our job.

          If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
          In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
          In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

          Talk about unethical. Knowingly selling someone something they don't need, I feel, is unethical. Though it sounds like it is also the definition of sales.

          NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

          But they did not come to you for discovery and research on what is needed.

          For me, personally, people have come to me because I have helped others, and they want the help and advice I can give. They WANT me to say "no that's not what you need" or "hey if you switch to this, it'll give you more features and be half the price".

          Those are all good qualities of a VAR. But the point is they came to you with specs known already. At least fairly close to what was needed.

          BRRABillB DashrenderD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • DashrenderD
            Dashrender @BRRABill
            last edited by

            @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

            @Dashrender said

            You can try to "do the right thing" as @BRRABill mentioned, but you really have to ask - is it the right thing? If they just ask you to sell them something, why assume they don't know what they want? of course as IT people, we know that 9/10 they really don't, but it's not our job to correct them.

            That's where I disagree. I think it IS our job.

            Talk about unethical. Knowingly selling someone something they don't need, I feel, is unethical. Though it sounds like it is also the definition of sales.

            For me, personally, people have come to me because I have helped others, and they want the help and advice I can give. They WANT me to say "no that's not what you need" or "hey if you switch to this, it'll give you more features and be half the price".

            Am I a VAR? Sure. I have no problems with it. I'm not pegging myself as anything.

            If they really want you to tell them No that's now what you need - then they should hire you to do that. You shouldn't do that for free.

            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • BRRABillB
              BRRABill @JaredBusch
              last edited by

              @JaredBusch said

              If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
              In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
              In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

              Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

              NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

              So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

              JaredBuschJ DashrenderD scottalanmillerS 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DashrenderD
                Dashrender @JaredBusch
                last edited by

                @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                @Dashrender said

                You can try to "do the right thing" as @BRRABill mentioned, but you really have to ask - is it the right thing? If they just ask you to sell them something, why assume they don't know what they want? of course as IT people, we know that 9/10 they really don't, but it's not our job to correct them.

                That's where I disagree. I think it IS our job.

                If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                Talk about unethical. Knowingly selling someone something they don't need, I feel, is unethical. Though it sounds like it is also the definition of sales.

                NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                But they did not come to you for discovery and research on what is needed.

                Even more so, they didn't come to you to have their decision questioned on if they need a server or not.
                That's obvious in the case of the example non-profit because you say they are still arguing with you over it.

                scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • JaredBuschJ
                  JaredBusch @BRRABill
                  last edited by JaredBusch

                  @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                  @JaredBusch said

                  If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                  In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                  In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                  Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                  NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                  So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                  No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                  DashrenderD scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 5
                  • DashrenderD
                    Dashrender @BRRABill
                    last edited by

                    @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                    @JaredBusch said

                    If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                    In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                    In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                    Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                    NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                    So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                    Who are you to say any of that is true? You would have to ask several questions, none that have anything to do with the server itself to come close to knowing that's true. So you start your relations as follows:

                    Customer walks in:

                    Customer : Hi I want to buy a server, here are the specs.
                    You: oh hold on a second, do you really need a server?
                    Customer: yes
                    You: are you sure? how do you know?
                    Customer: because I know what servers are and I know I need one.

                    really, how could it have started much different from that? How did you learn they are a three person shop? You're questioning their server purchase without other information first just seems odd.

                    now if it went more like this:

                    Customer: Hey I'm a three person shop, we have 150 GB of data on my laptop that I want to share with the other two, I've heard I need a server, what do you think?

                    Now you can question them, but really, now you should also be on the clock.

                    scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • DashrenderD
                      Dashrender @JaredBusch
                      last edited by

                      @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                      @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                      @JaredBusch said

                      If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                      In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                      In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                      Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                      NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                      So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                      No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                      JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                      JaredBuschJ BRRABillB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • JaredBuschJ
                        JaredBusch @Dashrender
                        last edited by JaredBusch

                        @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                        @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                        @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                        @JaredBusch said

                        If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                        In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                        In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                        Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                        NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                        So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                        No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                        JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                        Well because I do not sell, I would then spec it out on Dell.com or something and have them buy it themselves.

                        Well actually, because they are a church and likely a 501c, I would recommend a VAR to them for the purchase that I know handles 501c all the time. That or TechSoup.

                        And then tell them I will gladly set things up for XX hours @ $X/hour.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • BRRABillB
                          BRRABill @Dashrender
                          last edited by

                          @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                          @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                          @JaredBusch said

                          If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                          In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                          In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                          Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                          NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                          So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                          No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                          JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                          Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                          Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                          They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                          You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                          Done.

                          I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                          JaredBuschJ scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • JaredBuschJ
                            JaredBusch @BRRABill
                            last edited by

                            @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                            @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                            @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                            @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                            @JaredBusch said

                            If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                            In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                            In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                            Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                            NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                            So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                            No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                            JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                            Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                            Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                            They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                            You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                            Done.

                            I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                            That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                            BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • BRRABillB
                              BRRABill @JaredBusch
                              last edited by

                              @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                              @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                              @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                              @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                              @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                              @JaredBusch said

                              If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                              In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                              In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                              Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                              NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                              So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                              No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                              JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                              Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                              Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                              They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                              You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                              Done.

                              I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                              That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                              Yeah, perhaps that was too dramatic an example. 🙂

                              JaredBuschJ scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JaredBuschJ
                                JaredBusch @BRRABill
                                last edited by

                                @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                @JaredBusch said

                                If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                                In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                                In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                                Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                                NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                                So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                                No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                                JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                                Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                                Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                                They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                                You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                                Done.

                                I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                                That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                                Yeah, perhaps that was too dramatic an example. 🙂

                                What I think you were driving at is no, I do not charge everyone for a conversation like that. I charge it to marketing internally. I will get paid. I did work. But I also know I have to balance what I actually bill with my marketing.

                                BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • BRRABillB
                                  BRRABill @JaredBusch
                                  last edited by

                                  @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                  @JaredBusch said

                                  If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                                  In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                                  In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                                  Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                                  NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                                  So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                                  No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                                  JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                                  Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                                  Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                                  They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                                  You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                                  Done.

                                  I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                                  That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                                  Yeah, perhaps that was too dramatic an example. 🙂

                                  What I think you were driving at is no, I do not charge everyone for a conversation like that. I charge it to marketing internally. I will get paid. I did work. But I also know I have to balance what I actually bill with my marketing.

                                  I mean, I can say with 99% certainly no 3 person church needs a server. At least none I have ever worked with. Is there a white unicorn out there? Sure. But I'd like to think I could detect that.

                                  travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • Minion QueenM
                                    Minion Queen Banned
                                    last edited by

                                    Most churches (have setup many) need a NAS (a place to store files) but because they know they need to store their files they THINK they need a server (they heard it somewhere).

                                    dafyreD BRRABillB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • dafyreD
                                      dafyre @Minion Queen
                                      last edited by

                                      @Minion-Queen said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                      Most churches (have setup many) need a NAS (a place to store files) but because they know they need to store their files they THINK they need a server (they heard it somewhere).

                                      And then they forget that they need to backup that NAS somewhere else.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • travisdh1T
                                        travisdh1 @BRRABill
                                        last edited by

                                        @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                        @JaredBusch said

                                        If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                                        In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                                        In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                                        Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                                        NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                                        So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                                        No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                                        JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                                        Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                                        Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                                        They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                                        You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                                        Done.

                                        I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                                        That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                                        Yeah, perhaps that was too dramatic an example. 🙂

                                        What I think you were driving at is no, I do not charge everyone for a conversation like that. I charge it to marketing internally. I will get paid. I did work. But I also know I have to balance what I actually bill with my marketing.

                                        I mean, I can say with 99% certainly no 3 person church needs a server. At least none I have ever worked with. Is there a white unicorn out there? Sure. But I'd like to think I could detect that.

                                        I know of a couple around here that do live streaming around here, one installation I know of actually has a live switching board and 3 or 4 PTZ cameras. Still, none of them require an on-site server.

                                        Actually, it would be possible to make good money around here and with short (30 minute) drives to specialize in doing IT consulting for churches. It takes a minute to drive by some of the properties they're so large.

                                        JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • JaredBuschJ
                                          JaredBusch @travisdh1
                                          last edited by

                                          @travisdh1 said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @Dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @JaredBusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                          @JaredBusch said

                                          If it is your job, you should be getting paid.
                                          In order to get paid, you have to bill people.
                                          In order to bill people you have to not do things for free.

                                          Agree 100%. I mean, a 5 minute discussion is OK, I think, but anything more needs billing.

                                          NO one said sell them something they do not need. It was stated that they came to you for a server. So sell them the server they asked for, verify the basics, yes. You are a VAR, that is your job.

                                          So if a 3 person non-profit church comes in and wants a $5K server. No questions asked you just sell it to them? Not me. Because I know they do not know what they need. They know the term server, but have no idea what it means, and what it is for. And how for 1/100th or less of the cost they can have a much better solution.

                                          No one comes to me just to buy a server, so I am never in this position, but if I was, I would tell said church person, that they have no idea what they need and they need to hire someone to actually figure that out. Me or another company I don't care, but hire someone who knows wtf they are doing to make sure you are not getting jipped.

                                          JB, what do you do when said church person tells you they don't care about that.. that they just want you to sell them a server? Would you?

                                          Or even better, when they say "yeah I'd llke to hire you"
                                          Then you say "OK. Tell me about yourself."
                                          They say "We are 3 people, with about 1GB of data stored"
                                          You say "You don't need a server. Get Office 365."

                                          Done.

                                          I can do that in 5 minutes without needing to charge them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees.

                                          That is impossible to do in 5 minutes. You just screwed them because you did not do proper discovery.

                                          Yeah, perhaps that was too dramatic an example. 🙂

                                          What I think you were driving at is no, I do not charge everyone for a conversation like that. I charge it to marketing internally. I will get paid. I did work. But I also know I have to balance what I actually bill with my marketing.

                                          I mean, I can say with 99% certainly no 3 person church needs a server. At least none I have ever worked with. Is there a white unicorn out there? Sure. But I'd like to think I could detect that.

                                          I know of a couple around here that do live streaming around here, one installation I know of actually has a live switching board and 3 or 4 PTZ cameras. Still, none of them require an on-site server.

                                          Actually, it would be possible to make good money around here and with short (30 minute) drives to specialize in doing IT consulting for churches. It takes a minute to drive by some of the properties they're so large.

                                          Have had bad luck with churches over the years.

                                          BRRABillB travisdh1T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • BRRABillB
                                            BRRABill @Minion Queen
                                            last edited by

                                            @Minion-Queen said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:

                                            Most churches (have setup many) need a NAS (a place to store files) but because they know they need to store their files they THINK they need a server (they heard it somewhere).

                                            You would go NAS these days over Office 365?

                                            DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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