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If you're here because you saw one of my posts, you're probably well aware of the link in my signature to SmallBizGeeks.com. SMB is a fairly new message board dedicated to tech-related small business. Since it popped up shortly after I started my company, I have been following it quite closely and contributing what little insight I can. The "regulars" have a wide range of experience and interests, so there are a lot of resources in both the tech and business sides.

The most common member is probably the freelance tech support guy. Many of these folks are doing support work on the side, while others have made the jump and are doing it full-time.

The next most common is the web design/development guy, looking for clients and ranging from small site design to web app programming.

After that comes the standard software developer (or ISV) trying to find the next killer app or find the market for their existing app.

Finally, there are dot-com startups doing something different - pushing an idea that might one day blow up into a multi-million dollar company (it still happens).

If you're one of these types, or even if you're not and the words "small business" and "geek" perk your ears up, come check it out. Lurk for a while. Join up and introduce yourself.

It's easy to claim that customer service makes your business a success, but it's hard to actually do it. Good service requires time and energy - and unpaid work, sometimes.

It's fantastic when you're the recipient of good service. It makes you want to continue doing business with a company. In fact, there is so much competition for your business that you should really only work with folks that are willing to go that extra mile. (Yes, this post will likely include cliches)

We were torn between two local banks for handling our business banking. Both are big enough to offer the services we need but small enough to give us someone we can talk to in person. When we called one bank to set up an appointment, the lady was snotty and rude - "We don't do appointments. Just come in and someone will help you when they're free." The other bank's representative invited us to come in and have coffee while she told us about their services. We were sold before we even went in. Since then, I've had the wonderful experience of watching someone drop everything to talk to me and answer questions. Not for more business, but because I had questions and I'm a customer.

The same goes for regular vendors. In dealing with a client's hosting company, I wasted over half an hour with an incompetent support tech who failed to ask me what the problem was until 20 minutes into the call! I called up the company that just bought the hosting co. and got an understanding, technically competent engineer to fix my problem in two minutes.

Sometimes it's a matter of talking to the right person... but sometimes I have to wonder if I want to do business with a company that relies on the wrong person.

I'm finishing up one project, which I underbid, managed badly, and has come to frustrate me. It's almost over, though, and they're the kind of client which is hell to work with but once the project is done they're evangelists for your company. At the very least, I got paid a little and learned a lot.

I had a meeting on Tuesday which revealed a project much much larger than I originally expected. It's nowhere near the largest project I've done, but it's complicated enough that I'd need to do a lot more research before quoting it. During the meeting, their budget man comes in to ask me how much it will cost so he can get grants to cover it (they're a non-profit). Thinking quick, I told him we'd have to come up with a full proposal before committing to anything... so we would submit a contract for the Design and Specification phase. That would allow us to get paid for creating the proposal. I've found that the worst rejections come after you spend a ridiculous amount of time on the proposal (because you're doing things right) and then hearing that "Sorry, we've decided to hold off or do it internally."

I'm not a fan of the standard bid model anyway, because not all developers are the same - especially when it comes to the web. So I gave the budget man a rough range, which he didn't think was unreasonable, and then told him I'd charge him a certain amount to create the proposal. He said that would be fine. This is great news, because then I can take my time and really set it up the way it should be...without risking a complete loss of my time.

Finally, I landed a big project this week. My partner and I headed out to Chicago to meet with a client whose site was just launched. They are extremely happy with our work and have asked us about some other services - SEO, online marketing consulting, and continued management of the accounts. We put together a really solid proposal and presented it to the CEO, President, and lead salesman. It was a bit intimidating to sit across from a man who leads a $100 million company, but things went very well - by the end they shook our hands and agreed to the preliminary term we recommended. If things go well, we'll see a lot of money for this one. If not, we've still paid the bills for a while. I have no doubt that we can make this work.

There are so many clients, projects, contracts, meetings, etc. to manage right now that I am starting to become more confident in our chances. When we put on the suits and start pitching, you can tell that they're sizing us up - and they're satisfied. One of my clients recently told me that "people want to be associated with success, and a lot of the time that means being around success."

I'm starting to realize that our confidence shows, it looks like success, and that means people want to work with us. And that's exciting for our company.

Ok, the title isn't accurate. I'm not failing...yet. Since leaving my job and starting my own company, I've landed one contract and opened a handful of doors for leads. First, the contract I got was a very small project that I lowered my rate to get. The budget was ridiculously small, but it's my first project for the new company and I wanted the income. With nothing else to do (that's never really true) I figured it would be ok. Plus, there's more work from them down the road which I'll be happy to take.

Unfortunately, the holiday season makes it hard to conduct business. So many folks are on vacation or are preoccupied. Cold-calls/emails aren't very effective, I'm seeing. Unless you have a connection, you really don't stand much chance in this business (web design, development, programming, marketing).

However, I have a few solid leads. A friend of mine called me up and told me of a great possibility...oh, and can he get a finder's fee? (The answer is yes.) A couple other possibilities on the line as well... some personal projects to get back to...

Lots of fun, lots of work, lots of stress. I think that's what this boils down to.

On Monday of this week, I gave my two weeks' notice. I gave my bosses a letter announcing my departure from the company and stating my reasons for doing so... I was surprised that they had less of a reaction. I felt like they might have known - or at least suspected something - but in the meeting they were clearly knocked off guard. There was no yelling or crying... they didn't seem mad or upset. But they didn't seem to expect it at all.

I told them that I am starting my own company, but I played it down - that it was really just a way to pay the bills while I tried to figure out my life. I also told them the name of my new company, in hopes that I would get a little contract work from them after I'm gone.

In the meantime, they are understandably concerned with getting things finished up before I go. This means completing projects as fast as possible, documenting the things that only I know how to do, and helping to make the transition to an eventual replacement.

The funny thing to me is that there's no way I could do all of this in two weeks. I spent this past week finishing up one project, and have another full week's work on another. That leaves no time whatsoever for documentation, training, whatever. They're shooting themselves in the foot.

One of the ways to obtain job security is to make sure that you're the only person in the world who knows what in the hell you do. As a web programmer, server administrator, security consultant, network manager, etc., there are thousands of folks out there that could do my job. But in a company of five, where I am the only person capable of doing these things, it is imperative that they find a replacement quickly. For the money they're paying me, I seriously doubt that they will find anyone with these skills in the next week. It can all be learned, of course, but it can't be learned in a matter of days. Before I leave, I am going to tell them that I'll be willing to help out - contracts, training, consulting, whatever - but I will charge them. They won't like it, but they'll take my help because they're screwing themselves over now.

All in all, I'm anxious to get started on my own. I'm looking forward to long nights of work and sleeping in until nine. And to the ulcers that come with knowing that your next house payment relies on whether you get this contract. But mostly, I'm looking forward to doing good work again.