Evolution of a Microsoft Partner Practice Part 2: Hanging out a Shingle
After it became apparent that I could make money at this work, I resigned from my Job at a Fortune 100 company and started doing IT work full-time. I formed a company and partnered up with another IT guy. No big deal, we had done a couple of projects together, and got along pretty well. His skills and knowledge complimented mine, so it was a pretty good fit at first. After a while though, things got strange. We had gone into business together, without me he could do it. I thought we were partners, while I had let him take care of business matters and whatnot, I took care of IT things. Soon enough, though, he began to see me as an employee rather than a partner. At first I let it roll off my back, he knows the business side of things, as long as he stays out of my way, all is well. But then he screwed over one of my clients and was just generally not seeing the relationship as a partnership, rather as his business and I was just there.
So I left that. I learned a couple of big things about myself, about people, and about business. The biggest one is that in business friendships are quite tenuous. Another was that people are who they are, there is no point in trying to change them. So based on this experience, I set up an IT consulting practice under my mom's accounting firm. She had an established client base, many of whom were already my clients, so it made sense. We get along and our businesses are, for most small businesses quite complimentary. Not long after this we started investing in a deeper relationship with Microsoft. While in the Small Business Accounting world Quickbooks is KING, Microsoft rules the desktop, application platform, and the server room.
Additionally, we stumbled along with the local Microsoft Partner Community Manager and the local SBS user group. We were building a reputation as a quality group of IT Professionals and partner companies that took the business of small business IT consulting seriously. And this is my next point, if you are a Sole Proprietor with no employees, partner up! Find a group of like minded individuals who can compliment your body of work. What happens when you are hit by a bus, or get sick for a week? What are your clients going to do then? We did just exactly that, and it was very good. At various moments we have had employees and interns and what not.
As time passed, we spent more and more time with Microsoft people out at the Irving office as well as community events. People started to know and recognize us. When Microsoft needed partners to go do an event, we were regularly ready, willing, and able to go. This has led to a variety of benefits, besides traveling and evangelizing technology to small businesses all over South Central, we also picked up some clients and some partners. But the biggest benefit has been that our small practice has eked out an place in the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem. It's not much, probably does not register on their radar, but we have hitched our horse to their caravan, and we are better for it.
Next time, what happened leveraging that Microsoft Team.