About two years ago, I decided that working for someone else was not for me and ventured out to try and build something of my own that was much bigger than my small hosting business.
I quit my job, went “all in” and started to work on building a Managed IT Service provider that offered everything the other guys do, but for a reasonable rate and not nickel and diming on every single thing.
Well, I learned some hard truths about myself that I figured I would share for anyone else thinking of starting a business themselves and venturing into this world.
1 | Sales is a hard gig
Anyone who tells you that selling is easy has either never sold anything in their lives, or works on warm leads that are already open to the idea of working with your business. Cold calling, emailing, and pounding on doors is hard work! It’s tough, demoralizing (sometimes) and difficult to turn into a repeatable, successful model.
The truth is: Every businesses objectives, wants, and needs are all different. Some businesses regard IT security as an absolute necessity. Some think it’s a straight up scam. Some businesses are happy to at the very least, entertain a pitch. MOST BUSINESSES will do one of maybe two or three things.
- Listen to your pitch, feign interest, then ghost you.
- Won’t listen to your pitch, and show you the door.
- Will have someone who sits in front of the decision maker, and will gatekeep that person so you don’t even get an opportunity to communicate your pitch to them.
This was the most immensley frustrating thing as a new business because if you can’t get in front of the right people, you can’t sell.
2 | There’s a lot of bull shit sales people
When you venture into paying out some of the very limited funding you have for your business into someone to help drive revenue, finding a good sales person can be your golden ticket. In saying that, finding that person, can be insanely difficult.
People lie. A LOT. Padded resumes, padded sales numbers, fake skill sets, etc.
There’s a massive problem with a lot of people trying the “fake it till you make it” approach to employment, and this is why we now have five and six stage interview processes. Employers are trying really hard to avoid bringing someone on that is for lack of a better description, full of shit.
3 | Know Your Customer
Before you even start to put wheels in motion, sit down with a pen and paper, and describe your ideal customer.
What do they look like? What do they need from you? Where are you adding value? How can you project that value to the customer? Are they cost sensitive? Do they have a budget for your product or service?
All of these questions and more should be answered before you even think about putting any wheels in motion.
If you don’t know what your customer looks like, how are you going to sell to them? How are you going to build out your offerings? How are you going to market to them?
The answer is: You can’t! So make sure you know what your ideal customer looks like.
4 | You can’t rush things!
When you start a business, it’s a long process. There are all kinds of things you need to do, and several other things you MAY need to do depending on your industry and product / service offerings.
For a business in Ontario, here’s a few things to think about:
- Business License.
- HST Number.
- To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate.
- Payment Processor / Ways to Collect Payment.
- Certifications.
- Vendors, Vendor Relationships, Vendor Pricing.
- Products, Services, Pricing.
- Phone Number, Email Address, Website, Mobile App.
- Insurance.
- Office Space, Storage Space, Desk Space.
- Employee manuals, contracts, payroll, benefits, profit sharing.
- Accounting Package, Accountant, Financial Staff (CFO, Accounts Receivable / Payable), etc.
This list can stretch out to being a mile long depending on what your business does, but the above are just off the top of my head. There’s so much that needs to be considered in starting a business and if you don’t get the basics right at the outset, you’re going to suffer in the long term.
5 | Try to Start Your Business While You’re Young
I was 38 when I started down this path of starting a managed service provider. I have a wife, 2 kids, and a mortgage. The risk I took by leaping without having any customers or revenue to speak of was monumentally stupid of me in hindsight. I took a massive risk, that I really should have considered a lot more before taking the leap.
The world is a very different place today, and businesses are not spending money the way they used to.
I think back to when I started HostingEH. I walked in to a bunch of businesses and offered my services for next to nothing in order to get customers in the door and it was super easy at the time. Most businesses were receptive as they were being underserved by their current provider, and wanted some dev work done (which is what I am technically trained to do) so they were happy with the work, the pricing, and the ongoing support which is why HostingEh continues to be successful. We provide quality hosting services, unmatched support, and web development at a fraction of what most shops charge.
I tried like hell to apply this to the MSP space, but there’s something I was missing that I discovered is massively important.
6 | Trust Matters
If you walk into a business thinking that you can convince them to hand over the keys to their entire IT setup when nobody knows your name, your history, or anything about you, you’re going to have a bad time.
Business relationships are built on trust. Businesses work with other businesses that they are familiar with, they they know to be reliable, and that they generally already have some form of relationship with. Being the new guy in town is one of your biggest disadvantages when it comes to trying to sell a business on anything. If they don’t trust you, they won’t work with you. They don’t give a shit what certifications you have, how good you are at what you do, or even how hard you try to go above and beyond. The reality is that you need to build trust, and maintain that trust at the same time.
7 | Talk is Cheap
Sometimes when you are mulling over the idea of starting a business, you will have those friends that are in your corner, but not really in your corner if you know what I mean.
“That’s a fantastic idea”
“You should totally do that! I would pay for that in a heartbeat!”
“I know like 10 people right now that need that!”
Until it comes time to actually introduce you, or pump you up to their business / employer / friend / family.
Then you launch your busines and it’s crickets for the most part. When you follow up with these friends / associates you get the real truth.
“They’re just not looking for that at the moment.”
“Yeah no the company I work for doesn’t use that kind of stuff”
“Oh, I totally forgot! I’ll bring it up next time.”
That’s when you learn that nobody is going to build your business for you. You need to do the talking. You need to sell yourself. You need to build your relationships yourself.
Now I’m not saying that the statements above are true in every case, however I’d be willing to wager that every single entrepreneur has heard this from friends, family, associates, etc.
8 | In the end
Starting a business is hard work. Selling your product / service is hard work. Anyone telling you otherwise in a tiktok / youtube / reddit / social post is lying to you.
You need to have a plan and you need to refine that plan, run it by people, test it with people you don’t know, and prove out your model before you quit your job and go balls to the wall like I did.
It’s been an insane two years of learning, but I figured I would share some of what I learned here for anyone who may read this in the present / future.
