Starting your own business

Contributed by Thomas Clayton – Director of Bracton Computer Services

My interest in computers started back in my early childhood when my parents bought me a Commodore 64 at the age of eight (1986). Over the years my interest grew and grew, and in 1991 I became a proud owner of a more powerful 386 Computer. I became interested in what makes a computer tick. That curiosity caused me to break my Windows / DOS installation a few times. Each time I learned a valuable lesson and eventually enjoyed “breaking” systems for the challenge of bringing them back on-line, a skill that would serve me well later on!

Before I completed year 11, I had a very definite idea of what I wanted to do, which was to complete my studies at Box Hill TAFE and complete an Advanced Certificate in Electronics (Computer Systems). I followed my plan and graduated in 1997 with the "Digital Equipment Corporation - Top Graduate Student" award for the most consistent performing student.

In 1998 I worked as a casual computer technician for a medium size IT consulting business assisting the field engineers with performing repairs, setups and maintenance to school computer networks such as desktop computers and servers. Then I moved on to another company that was an authorized NEC sales and repair depot for laptops and desktop computers. Later that year I then applied for a job as a computer technician / systems administrator for a large private school. This gave me the opportunity to further develop my skills in computer networking in a larger environment. Another perk of the job was the IT manager’s generous policy of allowing me to loan old computer equipment to take home over the weekend so that I could experiment with setting up servers and networking computers to them, etc.

As my skills developed it gave me a real buzz to take on challenging problems and find innovative ways to solve them. For example to write a small script that would automatically reconfigure a whole computer classroom instead of doing that task manually on each computer. I also enjoyed the social interaction of dealing with other people and helping them understand and get the most out the technology they were using.

After a couple of years I was getting restless in my current job and wanted an even bigger challenge; to start my own computer consulting business! I completed my Microsoft MSCE certification (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) and started Bracton Computer Services in October 2000.
I began with a small advertising budget, using the local leader newspaper as a medium. After 3 months I gained at least half a dozen regular customers and after 6 months Bracton stopped advertising altogether, sustaining itself on word of mouth and repeat business alone. In the beginning Bracton practically covered all facets of computer support for home and small business.

In more recent years Bracton has been forced to specialize exclusively in business IT support for small and medium business because of the high demand for our services and long hours put in supporting both markets. Therefore it became apparent that you cannot be all things to all people.
The one thing that has stayed consistent throughout my career is a strong desire to mix creative troubleshooting and analytical skill to addressing a business need or problem, and always striving to achieve the highest possible levels of customer satisfaction so they would keep coming back for more!

Currently Bracton specialises in troubleshooting server based networks, setting up data backup systems, email server platforms and providing cost effective preventative maintenance programs.

Advice for Students:

• Passion is what drives you to be the best that you can be in your chosen field of IT.
• Get as much “real world” experience as possible under your belt. This will expose you to the latest skills and techniques used in a particular area of the IT industry.
• Get references from places that you enjoyed working at. This will help you get a foot in the door later on.
• Because IT is a such a broad industry with specialties ranging from web site design to programming to network design, and the list goes on and on, it’s imperative to get an idea early on where your passion and aptitude lies. For example do you enjoy solving complex mathematical problems that programming requires, or do you simply enjoy bolting things together which is routine work for computer technicians or network engineers.
• If your passion extends to running your own business someday, be prepared to put in some long hours and hard work into winning your customers loyalty through high quality work, honesty, and above all else being approachable to your customers.
• Running your own business can also be a lonely and isolating experience, so be sure to network with friends or other business owners in related industries. They can make great mentors, and who knows your knowledge could also help them, so it’s a win win for everyone!