Two Lessons Learned in a Little Over A Year In Business

Wait… it’s been a year already?

That is correct. It’s been just over a year since I started my business (Southwest Tech Solutions). If you aren’t already aware, it’s basically a tech support and managed service provider (MSP). I provide on-site and remote services to business and residential customers in the local area. I’ve recently been branching out a bit and have started working with customers further away as well.

When I started out, I had planned on providing the typical office IT type support to my customers. You know the type of stuff I mean. Microsoft Office / Office 365, Entra ID / Active Directory, Teams, etc. While this has been partially the case, I tend to find that I am also doing a number of other things that I had not anticipated. For example, I’ve been installing a fair number of cell phone boosters and video surveillance and security systems for residential customers. I was also recruited by a company from Ontario to go do “boots on the ground” type work for a business security system in a retail store.

What lessons have I learned?

I think there a really two big take aways so far.

1. Unexpected types of work. – This is definitely a bit of a surprise. Albeit a nice one. It turns out that the work I never anticipated doing like cell booster and video camera installations. I’ve also done a fair bit of network cabling (which I did expect) but that is also fun. More in line with traditional IT work, has been some business phone system deployments and building specialized servers for certain use cases.
2. Marketing and Advertising – This is a big pain point for a lot of organizations and certainly has been for me. To be honest, the only thing that has worked for me at all is networking. I’ve tried radio ads, newspaper ads and posters (anywhere I can put them). While the posters have brought me a few one off jobs, the rest have fallen flat. The most success for me has come from joining organizations like the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce (Richard is amazing), working with the CBDC, and hanging around folks from Ignite Atlantic. I try to attend as many local business events as I can. I talk with people and hand out business cards. That helps me get in the door but the real magic happens when people refer you. There’s nothing better than one business person bragging you up to another. That’s as good as it gets.

Of course I have learned lots more lessons, and chief among the rest is patience. Jobs, projects, and customers don’t always fall in your lap. You have to work for them. With that said, and to be truly honest even as an introvert, meeting new people and working with them is my favorite part. I really do enjoy forming new business relationships (and maybe even making some new friends) along the way. It can be a tough process but it’s been work it for me so far.

For not that’s all I’ve got but I’ll be back!