I have just made the decision to quit my current Job in IT/Management and set up an IT company. I clearly have not made a business plan as of yet, but I plan to set this up 2008. I am 25 and aware of the risk of loosing my 50K salary, yet it is something I have to do.
I have been scouring the net for information on business plans/VAT/Tax/Accountants/Employee Legalities processes .etc. and these seem fine.
I plan to work on my own initially and then take on a graduate/technician once up and running to cover time off .etc (6-12 months later or the business can afford it) I plan to offer SME business IT services which would include the like of PC and Server Installations, network setup, email servers, backup and restore, maintenance .etc consulting (auditing, solution architecture) and also Website Design and any other niche areas that I can find.
I personally have experience in all of the above and am fully confident that I can provide these services to a very high quality. I currently have little finance available and would prefer not to take on substantial loans but I believe I could start this business from home and quickly move to an office once the business is somewhat established.
What I am less sure of is how do I go about gaining Market knowledge and predicting the amount of sales/profits that I would realistically make. How long would I need to sustain myself before the business gains profit. While costing should be fine, how to I price in order to be competitive with the current market. I have looked at potential competitors (Websites/Golden Pages .etc) and there seem to be lots but there are lots of companies in every sector so this doesn't phase me.
I would appreciate any feedback or other general comments on my queries above, especially to this sort of business and also any niches in the area from experience would be great. I'm sure lots of you have been at the stage i am at.
I have been scouring the net for information on business plans/VAT/Tax/Accountants/Employee Legalities processes .etc. and these seem fine.
I plan to work on my own initially and then take on a graduate/technician once up and running to cover time off .etc (6-12 months later or the business can afford it) I plan to offer SME business IT services which would include the like of PC and Server Installations, network setup, email servers, backup and restore, maintenance .etc consulting (auditing, solution architecture) and also Website Design and any other niche areas that I can find.
I personally have experience in all of the above and am fully confident that I can provide these services to a very high quality. I currently have little finance available and would prefer not to take on substantial loans but I believe I could start this business from home and quickly move to an office once the business is somewhat established.
What I am less sure of is how do I go about gaining Market knowledge and predicting the amount of sales/profits that I would realistically make. How long would I need to sustain myself before the business gains profit. While costing should be fine, how to I price in order to be competitive with the current market. I have looked at potential competitors (Websites/Golden Pages .etc) and there seem to be lots but there are lots of companies in every sector so this doesn't phase me.
I would appreciate any feedback or other general comments on my queries above, especially to this sort of business and also any niches in the area from experience would be great. I'm sure lots of you have been at the stage i am at.