One of the many reasons  I’ve been missing in action from blogging is that I recently purchased and moved into a new home.  It’s an exciting milestone in my life, as I’ve never owned a home before.  It also proved to be a hidden gem for finding new, loyal customers for my business.

It’s important to always be looking for new opportunities to spread the word about your business. After receiving a notice from my new homeowners association that they had a community message board, I fired up the computer to check it out and sign up.    It didn’t take long before I realized this would be a perfect opportunity to plug my services.

This is what’s known as hyper-local marketing: a very ambiguous buzz-word that I take to mean targeting advertising to the area immediately surrounding your business. In this case, my target is my new neighborhood.  Methods used for hyper-local marketing can be anything from fliers in the doorway to web-ads targeting local community websites.  An HOA forum is a less-intrusive way to find a couple extra customers, but considerations must be taken to ensure you maximize your potential.

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In an early post on this blog, I established a 5-year plan for taking my computer consulting business from a wistful idea to a part-time side-business and finally into a full time career.  After those 5 years, I could leave the workforce with enough experience and financial cushion to be confident with a successful transition to small business ownership.  I admit this was a leisurely time frame, but there was no rush.  I had a stable, well-paying job that I could leverage to make my dreams a reality.

Fast forward to today, and things aren’t so certain.  With the economy  in recovery mode, most companies are still laying off, and my employer has recently tossed around the idea of outsourcing a good majority of the in-house IT staff.  With the possibility of unemployment looming, I decided to buckle down and realistically figure out what kind of business traffic I would need if I do happen to get kicked to the curb before I’m ready.  How many billable hours will I need to log in order continue the lifestyle I currently enjoy, and pay my bills? How does that translate into actual customers?

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This past Saturday, July 25th, marked the 1st anniversary of this blog.   It was exactly one year ago on that date that I published my first post here at Y.F.N.C.G. and began my adventures in blogging and entrepreneurship. It was in that post that post I laid the foundation for what has been a wonderful and challenging year.  A year which saw me plan, and begin running, a part-time computer consulting business.

Although currently this blog is on a temporary hiatus so that I can spend more time on another totally unrelated project, I’m still working hard at starting my consulting business.  Yes, I still consider my business in it’s start-up phase.  I am taking on a limited number of clients, but most of them are friends, or friends-of-friends.  I don’t plan on diving into my business full force for a while still.

So in the mean time, and to celebrate one year on the web,  I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some milestone posts from this past year:

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In the Website Wilderness Series I will share my experiences and insights as I try to build a successful web site for my computer consulting company.

I’ve reached the stage in the development of my computer business where I think it’s time to start constructing a website. Over the last few weeks I’ve been tinkering around with different layouts for the site.  In doing so I realized that before I bother with the design I really need to pin down the content that I intend to include. The content will then dictate the layout and design of the website.

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If you’re in the computer repair business, you’ve probably heard of Daniel Hand.  He’s known primarily as the author of Computer Repair Business Lessons Learned, a book which I reviewed here previously.  But he is also very active in the computer consulting community as founder of the National Association of Computer Repair Business Owners (NACRBO) and regular participant in the forums on Technibble.

Dan shares my belief that computer consultants should not be lone wanderers guarding their secrets to success.  We all have something to share and we all have something to learn.  He’ filling this void with his many projects and products.

I asked Dan to take a break from his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Y.F.N.C.G.

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I was inspired by a recent article over at Small Business Trends about small business bootstrapping. In the article, the author tells the story of how he has successfully grown his business into a multimillion dollar enterprise with no debt and using no outside investors.

This is the approach I’m taking with my business and it’s great to hear about success stories of others who have gone this route.

One thing I realized after reading that post is that computer consulting fits perfectly into the bootstrapping philosphy.  In fact, other than online businesses, I can’t think of a more frugal business to start than that of computer consulting.

As I’ve been working to establish my business, I’ve learned some things about how to keep expenses low and avoid the burden of credit.  Although tailored for computer consultants, these strategies can apply to most any business start-up.

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In the “Computer Guy’s Toolbox” series, I highlight a product or service that I think will benefit the independent computer tech, with an emphasis on affordability.

One of the unfortunate aspects of running a computer consulting business is the paperwork. Like it or not, if you want to run a legitimate operation and protect yourself, you’ll want to document everything. Work orders, contracts, service plans, waivers, advertisements, customer and vendor tracking, it can all be a bit overwhelming, especially when first starting out.

That’s where the Computer Business Toolkit comes in. Created by Bryce Whitty over at Technibble.com, the kit is simply a collection of useful document templates that a computer consultant can customize and implement in order to run a successful business. It’s available for purchase and download at Technibble.com.  I recently got my hands on the kit and had the opportunity to check out all the goodies it contains.  Being a wet-behind-the-ears newbie computer business owner,  I was curious to find out how useful the kit would be.

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After writing a recent post on the reasons why computer techs should be using twitter, I received quite a few requests asking for me to provide a list of tech accounts to follow for folks to get started.  I thought it would be cool to try to build this list, and in the process I’ve discovered some excellent resources.

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  I’d call this more of a “beginners list”;  a run-down of some useful twitter accounts that focus on tech and computers. It’s purpose is to get you started if you’re new to twitter or to round out your list if you’re already on twitter.  The list is appropriate for anyone who is interested in keeping up with technology trends.

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No advertising or networking method is more powerful and cost effective for the burdgeoning small business owner than  the business card.  

It’s a great ice breaker and conduit for face-to-face conversations about your business to potential customers. It’s an extremely portable advertisement for your business that people can take with them and keep in their wallets/purses.  Nothing is more basic than the business card, providing the most important information about your business and nothing more.  Finally, there’s no denying that it’s much cheaper than an ad in your local paper or phone book, saving you money in those critically cash-strapped first years of business.

So it goes without saying that the first thing any new small business owner should do is get some business cards made.  And that’s exactly what I’ve done.

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A podcast, for those of you not in the “know”, is basically a digital radio show that can be streamed to your computer or downloaded onto any number of digital listening devices, including the ever popular iPod.  Podcasting is now more popular than ever thanks, in part, to two factors: 1) the popularity of the iPod and other portable digital listening devices and 2) the reduction in price of quality audio broadcasting equipment. 

This increased popularity means that there are a lot of podcasts sprouting up around the net.  These podcasts range in quality and produciton value from a kid with a cheap microphone in his parent’s basement to a nationally syndicated radio show.  

I’ve fallen in love with podcasts recently after buying a car with an auxiliary input that allows me to listen to my iPod on the road.  This enables me to hear pertinent, relevant, interesting stuff on my 45 minute drive to and from work.  Better than radio, podcasts allow me to choose WHAT I listen to and WHEN I listen to it.  Kinda like Tivo for audio broadcasting.

As a computer guy or gal, listening to tech-related podcasts regularly will help you keep up with the latest trends in computer consulting and the IT business in general.  You can listen at home or in your shop while working on a computer or in the car on your way to your service calls.  There are quite a few tech-centric podcasts out there.  This list provides you with the podcasts that I personally enjoy and in which I find the most value as a computer guy.

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