OK, OK, OK… I’ll do it. I will start blogging (sounds slightly obscene) and see how it works. Does that make me a lemming? Perhaps, but unless I dive in and try out this rapidly growing technology, I am just a couch potato on the sidelines. So here goes…
What to blog about? First lesson is that it has to be something of interest to a specific audience. My focus is owners of small businesses who are trying to grow their business. And what do I have to offer? Other than many years of experience in the trenches, I’ll leave that question up to you.
I am going to start this blog with a specific event that happened just over a year ago and write a series of posts that will bring us up to the present. My focus will be on the challenges I faced and the lessons I learned along the way. As this gets going, I will ask other people in my company to chime in with their thoughts and experiences.
Just over a year ago, I purchased my partner’s shares in our jointly owned business. Even though I have done several startups before, I was always part of a team. For the first time, I was now responsible for the entire business. The giddy “I’m the boss” period lasted for a month or so before the realities of the real challenges I faced started to set in.
On the face of it, I have a pretty simple business. We sell consulting time to local businesses to help empower them to use information systems and technologies more effectively. We can help a client find and implement a packaged software solution or we can build them a custom solution. All I need is talented consultants, an office to house them and clients who need them. And there lies the challenge.
If I tell you that I am a doctor or a baker or a plumber, you will most likely have some idea of what I do and where I may fit into your life. On the other hand, if I tell you that, “We empower local businesses to use information solutions more effectively,” the most common connection most people make is, “Oh, you’re the Computer Guy.” I hate that and it frustrates the heck out of me; but there is no single word in our vocabulary that describes what we do in terms that most people will understand.
In my coming posts, I will share with you the process I have gone through thus far to deal with this challenge. I invite your comments, feedback and wisdom. I can use all the help I can get.
