Welcome to episode 120 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we share part 2 of our interview with David Klee in which he recounts the birth of his business, how previous experience helped him succeed, how he keeps things fresh, and career advice for the IT Generalist.
Original Recording Date: 04-12-2021
David Klee is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and a VMware vExpert. He owns two companies – Heraflux Technologies and SQLibrium. Catch part 1 of out interview with David in Episode 119.
Topics – Flying Solo, Drawing on Previous Experience, IT Pro Advice, SQLibrium, Keeping Things Fresh, Parting Thoughts
2:23 – Flying Solo

* David was watching public cloud technologies evolve, and the company he was at wasn’t too interested in that. They were looking more at license assessments, and David wanted a more holistic approach.

* Around this time he sought to do his own thing to explore various technologies and get back to the data lifecycle to help people
* David was traveling almost nonstop and needed more control over that.
* He had made a name for himself in the SQL Server and VMware communities.
* He had a strict noncompete from the previous consulting firm to deal with as well.

* David hoped word of mouth from technical communities would bring him customers, and he received his first project on day 3 after stepping out on his own.

* His business officially started September 1, 2013.
* He had to fly to Denver to help this new customer solve their problem.

* David advertised with blog posts, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter. The connections he had made in the SQL Community really helped him be successful.
* David would not wish owning a consulting firm on anyone who doesn’t understand what it really takes.

* There is a lot of sacrifice that comes along with it.
* Being self-employed brings concerns about healthcare, difference in processes of getting loans, etc.
* His family was supportive of the choice, but they set a deadline at which they would re-evaluate and pivot if needed.

* They had a backup plan (money saved just in case).

* The act of getting the business up and running was not cheap, but really good projects came in early to help stabilize things.

* Everyone’s perspective of going out on your own is different.

* Some have customer lists and were moonlighting on the side.
* David had a word of mouth reputation and a website. He had money for startup, money for a decent burn rate, and a list of events to get the word out.
* If you don’t have a plan for making your first few sales, don’t jump in until you are ready. Listen to David’s simple example of the timeline of quote to cash.
* All kinds of legal contracts need to be written up, all of which are custom to the customer.

* David understood several things from experience at the previous consulting firm.

* He found a very good lawyer to help in the beginning.