Bit of background. I did a foundation degree at uni in ICT from then into IT support then into e-learning and VLE administration then after been made redundant I set up on my own and provide technical support to school and web dev.
Currently I have been looking after 2 schools for the past 5 years half the week, they are only primary's and have max 2 servers, I have now VM'd one school so 2 physical servers with 4 vm's on. But basically its just DC that does everything ( file and print services) along the way I have installed cables and fitted new wi-fi solutions.
The other part of my week I am either looking after my daughter or either doing websites or mending computers.
The websites and computer repair are very hit and miss and at the moment there is not enough work there by itself to keep me afloat. The schools provide me with a yearly contract which helps me survive the year. To be honest its not bad pay for the hours I do. However its only half a week.
The schools market is hard to get into now with most having support in place and not wanting to change or been academies and persuaded to take the support from the secondary schools. And I always get nervous when its renewal time for if I don't get renewed.
I maybe been overcritical of myself here but I think I'm been honest when I say that yes I do a good job either as network manager or web dev for clients, I dont think I would be good enough to get employed by a company if that makes sense. I dont have any certs in Networking just experience.
Basically I need two schools on board to be able to continue as I am, i have recently found out that if schools have a bad Ofsted then they can be heavily talked into becoming academy and again getting there support from somewhere else and my contract cancelled.
What I'm kind of asking is what would you do? I like my business and although it wont make me rich its nice working for myself. But on the other hand its trying to find and keep clients and I could be on more money else where. If places would have me.
Sorry for long post just looking for advice
Edit or do I look to do something else thats not IT related
Currently I have been looking after 2 schools for the past 5 years half the week, they are only primary's and have max 2 servers, I have now VM'd one school so 2 physical servers with 4 vm's on. But basically its just DC that does everything ( file and print services) along the way I have installed cables and fitted new wi-fi solutions.
The other part of my week I am either looking after my daughter or either doing websites or mending computers.
The websites and computer repair are very hit and miss and at the moment there is not enough work there by itself to keep me afloat. The schools provide me with a yearly contract which helps me survive the year. To be honest its not bad pay for the hours I do. However its only half a week.
The schools market is hard to get into now with most having support in place and not wanting to change or been academies and persuaded to take the support from the secondary schools. And I always get nervous when its renewal time for if I don't get renewed.
I maybe been overcritical of myself here but I think I'm been honest when I say that yes I do a good job either as network manager or web dev for clients, I dont think I would be good enough to get employed by a company if that makes sense. I dont have any certs in Networking just experience.
Basically I need two schools on board to be able to continue as I am, i have recently found out that if schools have a bad Ofsted then they can be heavily talked into becoming academy and again getting there support from somewhere else and my contract cancelled.
What I'm kind of asking is what would you do? I like my business and although it wont make me rich its nice working for myself. But on the other hand its trying to find and keep clients and I could be on more money else where. If places would have me.
Sorry for long post just looking for advice
Edit or do I look to do something else thats not IT related
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