It’s Independents Week at 10K and we’re celebrating by profiling successful Salesforce entrepreneurs from the 10K Expert Community. Follow along with us at #IndependentsWeek as we give a peek into each person’s journey to independence, lessons learned along the way, and advice for others who might be interested in joining the thriving Salesforce ecosystem.
Can you tell us a bit about your business?
SimpleIT is a managed IT services provider with a focus on Salesforce consulting and managed administration. We’ve got a wide breadth of capabilities but the majority of our clients are small to medium businesses embracing cloud services.
How did you know it was time to go independent?
Looking back, getting laid off was the driver behind making our full-time consultancy a reality, and merging our practices was a natural next step.
Like a lot of folks in 2020, I got laid off from my full-time job. Fortunately, for the past five years, I’ve been managing a few clients as a side hustle before recently making SimpleIT official with my current business partner. Looking back, getting laid off was the driver behind making our full-time consultancy a reality, and merging our practices was a natural next step. Now my day-to-day includes managing client delivery and operations.
What is the best part about being your own boss in the Salesforce ecosystem?
I get the opportunity to develop a lot of cool relationships with different clients and serve their unique needs. I’m never pigeonholed into working the same challenges or doing the same kind of work every day. Having the freedom and ability to choose which projects interest me most is incredibly important to me. I love fitting Salesforce into a larger strategy to help my clients get more out of the platform.
Having the freedom and ability to choose which projects interest me most is incredibly important to me.
Are there any lessons you can share with those who are starting their own Salesforce consultancy?
The biggest thing, from my perspective, is taking the time to nurture your client relationships. Building trust with your clients is everything. A healthy client relationship will give you the credibility and support to propose solutions they maybe hadn’t thought of and encourage them to embrace your ideas.
A healthy client relationship will give you the credibility and support to propose solutions they maybe hadn’t thought of and encourage them to embrace your ideas.
I admit I had a headstart because of my past connections working at Appirio, but a good place to start building relationships within the ecosystem is in local user groups and communities. 10K also helped me build my client base without the pressure of having it all ride on my shoulders. They provide a support system to learn the ins and out’s of building a consultancy without the risk of going all-in right away.
What about the Salesforce ecosystem’s future gets you excited?
I appreciate how Salesforce continues to innovate and invest in customer success by putting out products that enable ecosystem experts to do the best work possible for their clients.
Customer 360. I appreciate how Salesforce continues to innovate and invest in customer success by putting out products that enable ecosystem experts to do the best work possible for their clients. This focus will continue to help businesses and non-profits create a real single source of truth that will grant them more opportunities and elevate their business goals.
