Friends Team Up to Deliver Compassionate Tech Support

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

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Often it takes someone with experience in a particular sector or industry to be able to meet the needs and speak the language and understand other people and organizations in that same sector. For example, yesterday's story about the tote bag titans, two teachers who team up to create one tote bag to rule them all, they were well suited to understand the needs of other teachers because they had the same problem. They were carrying four or five bags around every day and they went out and created this again, one tote bag to rule them all and now it's doing really, really well. So as another example, what we're gonna look at today, nonprofit organizations have unique needs. In the nonprofit world, IT can be a huge challenge just to name one.

If you're responsible for a nonprofit or a charity and you invest in IT systems, you can probably do a better job for your clients. You can probably raise more money which are the two main goals of most nonprofits. But of course, it's not as simple as snapping your fingers and saying, IT help has arrived. Here's what you need to do and here's what it will cost. So this is the problem that today's busy side hustler sets out to solve.

Teaming up with a friend, he starts a business that he now spends a few hours on each weekend. That business now brings in multiple six figures a year while he continues to work as a full-time executive for a nonprofit in Minnesota. But it's not easy to be clear and he makes a number of mistakes along the way including first naming the business after backpackers. In this story, you'll hear why that's a problem and how he fixed it. Stay tuned.

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Joel Barker has worked for and around a variety of nonprofits and witnessed their struggles. Often lacking a budget for in-house IT support, he recognized the bewildered expression of an executive director trying to set up a network printer as a win-win opportunity. He now works as the chief strategy officer for the largest children's mental health provider in Minnesota. But that's not all he does. A few years ago, Joel set out to help tech skittish nonprofits harness technology by creating an on-demand tech support service that cared.

There are plenty of tech support services and freelancers out there, but Joel recognized that most contractors and IT firms weren't catering to the unique needs of underfunded and tech intimidated charities. On-demand IT support was expensive and difficult to access if he didn't speak the language. So he reached out to a longtime friend, Brian Roman, and together they launched this side business to replace IT headaches with an affordable, friendly alternative. Brian had the IT expertise and Joel could focus on the growth, marketing, strategy, and operations. The two spent months talking, brainstorming, and debating possible names for this new business.

Now, eventually they had the conversation called, "Let's Just Call It Something," and they settled on backpack tactics. And this name was a challenge because they didn't actually sell backpacks. And down the road, they noticed that their website traffic wasn't as impressive as it first looked because they had thousands of hits from apparent backpackers and a number of manufacturing proposals from China. So after years of disappointed hikers stumbling on their site, Joel and Brian hired a marketing consultant and officially changed their name to Brave North Technology. Besides the outdoorsy name, they ran into another common challenge.

Even though they were friends, they had to figure out how to work together. And looking back, Joel pegged a lack of confidence at the top of the list. This translated into waiting years before figuring out what they were really doing and deciding to invest in growth. So how do you sell tech support to nonprofits who have AOL email addresses? You get personal.

Joel networked at conferences and events and would meet absolutely anyone for coffee to start a relationship and spread the word about their project. The original startup cost was just $1,500. The partners used the money to set up their website, register as a business with the state, and print marketing materials like business cards. They quickly doubled that initial investment with their first check for $3,000. Years later, and after much work and adjustment, Brave North Technology now grosses around $350,000 each year for $90,000 in profits, almost entirely through word of mouth referrals from happy customers.

The team serves both nonprofits and small businesses, charging $150 an hour for small businesses and only $100 an hour for their nonprofit clients. Passing along that discount to reflect their commitment to the impact of mission-driven organizations. They also offer a flat monthly rate for day-to-day help desk support, things like resetting your password, figuring out how to use Internet Explorer, basically allowing clients to stay focused on what they're best at. They determine these rates after completing market research and still send out a survey each year to assess competition to determine if they should increase rates for the next year. Brian now works full-time in the business.

He draws a salary that's apart from that $90,000 in profits. And Joel has been able to run the operations by putting in a few hours on the weekends. But each week is different, and occasionally he has to put in 25 hours or more to tackle a problem or a project. He's committed to his full-time nonprofit job, so limiting his role at Brave North to part-time hours has been a priority. On top of that, he's actually started a new side hustle called Great River Strategies.

Whether that has anything to do with river rafting, I'm not sure. With a full-time job, an already busy side business, and now the new side hustle on top of that, Joel enjoys the challenge and variety in his work. He's even begun to pursue real estate and angel investing, applying what he's learned to help other businesses grow. Beyond getting paid to tackle projects that spark his interest, he says the greatest benefit this IT hustle has brought his family is freedom from debt. It's allowed them to be more generous with their money, donate more, and travel more frequently.

Brave North promises to deliver even more in the future, as the two partners continue to bravely expand, bringing caring tech support to mission-driven markets. [Music]

Well, Joel sounds like a systems guy, someone that I could learn from, someone who's really intentional about thinking through automation and processes because he recognizes that he can only do so much with his family, his full-time job, now his new side hustle, whatever else he does. So good for him, and also a lesson, don't name your company Backpack Tactics if you're not selling backpacks or providing tactics for backpackers. But of course, Joel and Brian figured that out, made an adjustment, weren't afraid to go back and say, actually, but the name is wrong, we're gonna choose a completely different name, refocus their efforts, invest in growth, and now years later, of course, we can see the reward. I always love stories of people who are finding a sustainable way to make a difference.

So thanks so much to Joel for letting us highlight your mission-driven business. Maybe we can send somebody your way. And listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/760, that is 760, links for everything I mentioned, as well as some free resources. Be sure you come back tomorrow, be sure you're subscribed, everything is free, new episode every day.

My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]