About Us
It's always strange to have an "About Us" page for a company that has
one employee. I mean, it is true that the company could be called a
"we" or an "us," as in "Choose todd hickerson computing! We offer
warranties!" or some such. But it still feels weird. Anyway, back to the
point of this section...
I started fixing computers for family and friends waaaaaaay back in 1990. I didn't however start getting paid real money to do this until almost a decade later, when in the year 2000 I picked up a handful of clients on a limited basis to kind of test the waters and see if I could make a go of it. In 2002 with the business gaining steam, I filed all the proper paperwork to become enigma computing solutions.
Unfortunately, due to an overly clever choice of names on my part, and some really funny butchering of enigma, I decided to change the name to probably what it should have been all along: todd hickerson computing.
I started fixing computers for family and friends waaaaaaay back in 1990. I didn't however start getting paid real money to do this until almost a decade later, when in the year 2000 I picked up a handful of clients on a limited basis to kind of test the waters and see if I could make a go of it. In 2002 with the business gaining steam, I filed all the proper paperwork to become enigma computing solutions.
Unfortunately, due to an overly clever choice of names on my part, and some really funny butchering of enigma, I decided to change the name to probably what it should have been all along: todd hickerson computing.
I mean, there was a point at which virtually all referrals from my clients would end up something like this: "You gotta call this guy I know, his company is
Enema Computers or Eligra or... oh hell, his name is Todd, and here's his number..." So, I ended up changing it to what people remembered, which was my
name, and from a branding perspective, what it should have been from the get-go.
So, todd hickerson computing ltd was formed back in 06, back when gas prices were still about a buck a gallon (or maybe 3). And it consists (as did its predecessor) of one employee. This is not to say that I do not know of other similarly priced and competent professionals in the area to which I have outsourced my business in times of vacation and the like, but on a regular day to day basis, I am who will show up.
Many businesses my size try to hide the fact that they are only one person, because people will not elect to do business with them if they don't have employees to act as a fail-over.. Well, think of it this way...
1) having a backup plan is just a plain ol' good idea. It doesn't matter if you're serviced by one person company or even a 20 person company. You never know when something could happen. What if a tree fell on the 20 person company right when you needed them, gasp! And to be sure, the VAST majority of IT Consultants are their sole employee, followed by the rest who might have a tech or two or three besides themselves. There aren't very many companies aiming at small businesses that have more than a few technicians. Big companies have big IT companies and big budgets. The majority of small businesses are served by small IT companies in that 1-4 range.
2) having only one employee does not mean that I don't have contingency plans (it is my business after all).
3) having the same person come in every time, means you can have an actual relationship with that person; they'll actually know your name and ask about your kids, maybe. Just like the FedEx man, this can come in really handy.
4) having more than one contact person means you insert the opportunity for the sales guy to promise something the installer guy can't do, or sell you something at a price that the billing guy can't accommodate, etc., etc., ad nauseam. With one person, the buck always stops with me.
5) how many times have you been passed from person to person in a customer service phone queue, and had to start all over every time? Wouldn't it have been easier and much more efficient if the first person you talked to was going to actually be responsible for the outcome? What a novel idea. Transfer this same scenario to your vexing spam issue or some intermittent error that only happens every few weeks. Good luck getting that one sorted with a new tech every time.
Now, I must be fair and admit that, having multiple employees doesn't mean that you can't give a personalized and consistent experience to your clients, it just means that it's much much harder to pull off.
Now, if you want to hear from some other people who have happily taken the risk of working with a, GASP!, one-man show, CLICK ON, friend!
So, todd hickerson computing ltd was formed back in 06, back when gas prices were still about a buck a gallon (or maybe 3). And it consists (as did its predecessor) of one employee. This is not to say that I do not know of other similarly priced and competent professionals in the area to which I have outsourced my business in times of vacation and the like, but on a regular day to day basis, I am who will show up.
Many businesses my size try to hide the fact that they are only one person, because people will not elect to do business with them if they don't have employees to act as a fail-over.. Well, think of it this way...
1) having a backup plan is just a plain ol' good idea. It doesn't matter if you're serviced by one person company or even a 20 person company. You never know when something could happen. What if a tree fell on the 20 person company right when you needed them, gasp! And to be sure, the VAST majority of IT Consultants are their sole employee, followed by the rest who might have a tech or two or three besides themselves. There aren't very many companies aiming at small businesses that have more than a few technicians. Big companies have big IT companies and big budgets. The majority of small businesses are served by small IT companies in that 1-4 range.
2) having only one employee does not mean that I don't have contingency plans (it is my business after all).
3) having the same person come in every time, means you can have an actual relationship with that person; they'll actually know your name and ask about your kids, maybe. Just like the FedEx man, this can come in really handy.
4) having more than one contact person means you insert the opportunity for the sales guy to promise something the installer guy can't do, or sell you something at a price that the billing guy can't accommodate, etc., etc., ad nauseam. With one person, the buck always stops with me.
5) how many times have you been passed from person to person in a customer service phone queue, and had to start all over every time? Wouldn't it have been easier and much more efficient if the first person you talked to was going to actually be responsible for the outcome? What a novel idea. Transfer this same scenario to your vexing spam issue or some intermittent error that only happens every few weeks. Good luck getting that one sorted with a new tech every time.
Now, I must be fair and admit that, having multiple employees doesn't mean that you can't give a personalized and consistent experience to your clients, it just means that it's much much harder to pull off.
Now, if you want to hear from some other people who have happily taken the risk of working with a, GASP!, one-man show, CLICK ON, friend!
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