Consider IT turned 24 this year. That's long enough to see a few cycles. The dot-com bust, the smartphone era, the cloud, the rise of cyber crime as a daily concern, and now AI. Plenty of stuff has changed.
Some things haven't. Here's the short list.
1. Trust travels slowly. Reputation travels faster.
It takes years to build a reputation in Perth. It can take weeks to lose one. Be careful with your word. Underpromise. Overdeliver. Apologise quickly when you slip.
2. Hire calm people. Train them well. Keep them.
Technical skill is necessary. Calm under pressure is rarer and more valuable. The clients remember how the technician made them feel during a crisis. They forget the precise fix.
3. Document what's in your head.
We've learned this the hard way, more than once. If knowledge lives in one person, the business is fragile. If it lives in a system, the business is resilient. Same goes for your clients' businesses, by the way.
4. Be useful before you're paid.
Some of our best long-term relationships started with us answering a question for free, well before we were on the books. Be generous with what you know. The right people remember.
5. Family-feel is a feature, not a flaw.
Big IT firms call it old-fashioned. Our clients call it the reason they stay. We're three Libbys, a Terry, and a Maria, and we like it that way.
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