About
Small Business is one of the most exciting places to work in and on. It does come with a few pre-requisites; patience, enthusiasm, vision, and confidence, but when you have a good mix of this then you are ready to learn about one of the most varied and exciting places in our market.
Not everyone understands what it takes to survive or serve and because of the tens of thousands of small business owners out there, sometimes it’s pretty hard to try and get your head around it all. If you stick it long enough, you realise that you can’t please everyone all of the time, but as long as your efforts serve the greater good then you can be sure of whatever level of interaction you need.
This blog forms part of an ever growing network of peers and professionals who operate in, or work to support, the small business market. You will see down the right hand side of the page just a few of the many people who also blog about technology and business issues that affect us all at some point.
Like others, I want to be able to share some of my knowledge and experiences with those who find it of benefit to their business. Take what you need from it and hopefully when you can, you will give back to those who want to also raise the bar.
I first started off as Business Development Manager for my family’s IT business where we consult, supply, install, and support SMB networks. Whilst I was never part of the technical department, first and second line support (inc. BSOD) didn’t phase me and part of my passion is to help troubleshoot and advise on technical issues regarding the likes of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server and Office. I do this because I use these products and in my view ‘how can you sell what you don’t know?’. My job took me into marketing, training, sales, but I also realise the importance of finance and business management. Running any sort of small business isn’t easy by any means and it certainly gave me the grounding I needed to get me where I am now.
After over seven years there, I moved onto work within Westcoast, a UK IT distributor, to be their Microsoft Channel Development Manager. Here, I got the opportunity to work with a much larger organisation as well as interact with the growing SMB IT Community in the UK in a more focussed way. Whilst SMB was at the core of my work, I got the chance to look at larger organisations and began to apply my experience in new markets such as Enterprise.
During my time with Westcoast and Readycrest, I was constantly involved with Microsoft (SBSC Partner Programme, SBS, Office, SMB Marketing, public speaking) and other vendors and companies such as Symantec, the Microsoft Small Business Specialists (worldwide), and HP, so my experience with the IT industry is broadening.
As a result, I was fortunate to meet many people from around the world who shared with me experiences which were similar to those in the UK which got me thinking, maybe I could take some time to broaden my experience somewhere other than ‘home’?
So here I am, in Sydney Australia, living seconds from the beach and enjoying everything this fantastic country has to offer. I’ve travelled up the channel too and now work for Dell within their SMB team. Now I get the chance to apply my knowledge whilst using my time here to absorb everything they can teach me. The Dell model is one of the most studied business processes in the world, they are known to be one of the best employers, and I work in a team who enjoy coming to work everyday. Just in the time I have been here I have already learnt so much and I see my time here as an opportunity to apply my knowledge but open my mind to successful business practices that I may otherwise have not know. Hopefully I will be able to bring some of what I learn here to the blog postings I make, and whilst they might not be as frequent as before or so focussed around SMB/Microsoft, they will allow me to take my blog in a new direction.
I hope this site serves you well and I appreciate you taking the time to read it and contribute.
Susanne Dansey