How to find casual all-round IT work

[Oscar]

Though I cant land a contract, I know I am much smarter than most people doing some kind of IT work.

Problem is, with web sites for example. Though I know a lot about web development, it would be very difficult for me to give fixed price bids and make money from it. Would take to long before I could make a minimal living.

Similarly with network/PC support, which i guess is what most organizations need, I only have experience with supporting my home network/PC, and my own PCs at work :-)

Though I know if some body has a problem with a web site, I can probably solve it regardless of technology. If somebody has a network problem, I can solve it with Google. And a lot of organizations need small databases i can write.

How do I find this kind of work?
What kind of needs do small organizations have?

Thanks
Ossie

[MrsGoof]

Put together some marketing gumpf for yourself and take it to local companies.

[Lucifer Box]

As MrsGoof says. Put together a small brochure or leaflet advertising your services and put a website of your own together. Leaflet every SME in your neighbourhood and follow up with a call a week later. If you do amazingly well, a 1% response rate might be expected. Between 0.1% and 0.01% is more likely.

What SMEs want is neither here nor there as they often don't know themselves. You will need to sell them solutions they didn't even know they wanted. Remember the old adage: "the 'right' product for the client is the one we're selling", so just pitching up and saying "what do you want?" will get you no joy whatsoever.

Oh, and get someone else to write your blurb for you. Either that or take a crash course in spelling and grammar.

[Oscar]

Still need to know the needs

Using brochures/flyers is a good idea. Still I would like to have some idea what these organizations need. As I cant market myself as pure web-developer or pure PC/Network support.

[ratewhore]

Though I cant land a contract, I know I am much smarter than most people doing some kind of IT work.

Can anyone find a better quote than that on this board?

[Lucifer Box]

Still I would like to have some idea what these organizations need. As I cant market myself as pure web-developer or pure PC/Network support.

TBH, mate, the mere fact you're asking that question combined with the fact that you can't offer much in the way of specialist skills strongly suggests you're not cut out for what you're trying to do.

One SME might want someone to design them a website, another might want someone to provide network support, another might want someone to unjam the printer and change the toner cartridge when it runs out, yet another might want a stock control system for office supplies.

Remember, it's up to you to decide what it is you can do very well and market that.

[TheMonkey]

Some insight from my brain (this works for me):

I have many guises which appear depending on the work available. I am a veritable chameleon of IT matter. I also have multiple personalities depending on the people I'm talking to whether they be suits or new media people.

I do my marketing directly by targetting businesses and arranging appointments and get a hit rate of around 25% (because I have the right attitude and can be cocky and persuasive, and also importantly deliver the goods!). I've recently got lazy though and have been plugging on non-agency based sites and working through agencies.

Flyers have a high production and distribution cost and a low success rate unless they are commodity goods (pizza etc).

This is a good motivational and common sense text you must read before you hit the road. It will give you some ideas and inspiration from a business perspective:

Geoff Burch - Go It Alone

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...644953-9039658

Worth it's weight in copper!

[VectraMan]

Alternatively, make money by recommending books.

I think if you need to ask you're not going to get anywhere. Perhaps you're subscribing to the streets of IT are paved with gold myth that some still hold? If you start trying to do this locally you'll probably find that there's no shortage of people already doing the same. Maybe they're all idiots, but you still have to take a chunk of their market, and it takes time to build a reputation.

[TheMonkey]

Alternatively, make money by recommending books.

Or not - no referrer link there

I think if you need to ask you're not going to get anywhere. Perhaps you're subscribing to the streets of IT are paved with gold myth that some still hold? If you start trying to do this locally you'll probably find that there's no shortage of people already doing the same. Maybe they're all idiots, but you still have to take a chunk of their market, and it takes time to build a reputation.

The streets ARE paved with gold. The thing is that there are a lot of no-good money grabbers capitalising on that. If you hit the niche market of "I do this because I like it and am good at it" then your reputation will rise very quickly above all the money-grabbing tulip out there.

As for the idiot's market - it's easy to steal customers from idiots as all you have to do is bring forth the perception of a slightly higher level of knowledge, efficiency and professionalism. Talking plain English helps (unless you live where I do where Urdu is a more common language).

[Daywalker]

If somebody has a network problem, I can solve it with Google.

Brilliant, so explain how you google for the answer if the cannot get on the internet!

Fuk no way I'm doing my CCIE now, i'll just google.