Starting an Access database business

[Guest]

I appreciate this is slightly off topic, but I thought I would give it a shot.

The reason I ask is because a neighbour of mine who has his own photography
business has said he would like me to design a marketing database for him
after I offered.

This has got me thinking about starting a business aimed at those who don't
necessarily have the IT infrastructure or the time but require a database.

Any tips or advice?

 

[BruceM]

Learn your stuff really thoroughly, including security. Also, many of your
clients will not have Access installed, so you will need to use the
Developer's version (or whatever it's called now), which from what I
understand has its own learning curve.

 

[Guest]

In my case it would be to don't give up your day job. During the day (and
sometimes evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays) I'm an Oracle DBA. It's
good steady income. During my spare time I do Access database work for small
businesses and sometimes larger companies plus teach Access at the local
community college.

This past summer I had no Access work. However this past couple of weeks I
had two customers needing work and needing it now! Feast or famine.

A friend who does corporate training plus database work for businesses has
seen things dry up so bad that she's taken a part time job to make ends meet
while in the past she was so busy that she gave me some of her work.

Once you find work you need to consider how much will you get paid and will
it be 1099 work for taxes. Yes taxes plus insurance, putting money away for
retirement, etc.

Personally I no longer do databases for a fixed price. Most people have no
idea of what they really want until they see it. Unless you can precisely
define what you are going to deliver and can put your foot down to project
creep, it's better to get paid for every hour that you work.

 

[Larry Linson]

Personally I no longer do databases for a
fixed price. Most people have no idea of
what they really want until they see it. Unless
you can precisely define what you are going
to deliver and can put your foot down to
project creep, it's better to get paid for every
hour that you work.

Excellent advice.

And, the problem is that, even if you started with a precise definition (a
traditional approach for large projects) you CANNOT "put your foot down to
project creep" because there is no justification for proceeding if an error
is discovered in the original spec, or the business environment changes, so
you'd have to institute "change control" with re-estimation and re-pricing,
which can be a full-time job all by itself.

Work by the hour, as Jerry suggests, make sure the client knows that each
change affects the cost because it requires more hours, and, if they want a
detailed estimate for each, point out that preparing that information is (1)
also billable time, (2) is still only an estimate, not a fixed price quote,
and (3) takes time away from doing the work, so causes a delay.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP