What an average day for a CMIT Franchise Owner looks like:
The Day Begins: First, Bruce Newman wakes up his 17-year-old son, Andrew, a high school senior. It’s a Friday at 6:30 a.m., an hour that does not agree with Andrew. But Bruce manages it, as he does every weekday morning, before joining his wife, Carol, for a quick breakfast. By 8, Bruce is ready to start his workday as the owner and president of CMIT Solutions of the Northeast Valley in Phoenix.
Bruce Newman, Owner, CMIT Solutions of The NE Valley in Phoenix, AZ
The job keeps him busy and engaged — and seldom bored. Throughout the day, Bruce will meet and talk with close colleagues, new prospects, old and trusted clients and fellow small business owners, all in service of something essential and useful: helping other local businesses protect their investments, build their businesses and run more efficiently.
In the Office: At a minute or two after 8, Bruce places his daily call to Don Kupper, his longtime lead technician, to talk about the day ahead. Today, they talk about a presentation the two will make later to a potential client, a 21-employee bicycle manufacturing and distribution company, referred to Bruce by a client’s former employee who went to work for this new company. Bruce and Don plan to get there at 10. Bruce is hopeful. The company has some old equipment, and the owner worries rightly about a crash.
Bruce spends an hour at his home office working on his company’s ongoing marketing and lead generation efforts, then heads out to the prospect. He and Don spend 90 minutes discussing CMIT Marathon, the monitoring and maintenance service, and CMIT Guardian, the disaster recovery service. The owner asks plenty of questions about pricing and hypotheticals — what if the server crashes on a Saturday? — and Bruce assures him that Marathon installs software that monitors clients’ systems 24/7, fixes the problem remotely if possible and calls in the on-site cavalry if not. The prospect doesn’t sign a contract right then but says he’s impressed, and he tells Bruce he’ll call Monday morning.
It’s 11:30. Bruce drives to his second appointment, a business and technology assessment with another potential client, a dental practice. Bruce and the office manager discuss the tech issues she’s been having, and he gets a good look at the aging servers, desktops, security system and backup. Bruce thinks the office is a good match for Guardian Secure Plus, a disaster recovery package that adds an up-to-date on-site server to the system so any lost data can be recovered quickly. Bruce will come back in a week with a formal proposal like the one he gave earlier.
It’s lunchtime. Bruce meets Don at the new local CMIT Solutions office, which has been open for three weeks; until now, Bruce ran the business out of his home, but he’s done well enough in the three years he’s owned a CMIT franchise to be able to afford office space. Over subs, the two men compare notes on the morning’s proposal — Don thinks they nailed it — and talk about their plans for the rest of the day. On other days, Bruce might spend the lunch hour at one of several business luncheons hosted by organizations he belongs to, networking and finding new clients.
After lunch, Bruce spends an hour planning how he might market CMIT Solutions’ new cloud computing package, CMIT Anywhere, to his client base. He’s happy he works with a home office that constantly improves its product line; it certainly makes it easier for him to woo clients. At 2:30, he’s out the door for a pair of client meetings, basic checkups he’s scheduled in advance to keep in touch with clients, hear their concerns and build the trust he can nurture as a local small business owner serving other local small business owners. There’s no substitute for meeting clients face to face and letting them know they matter to you, whether something’s wrong or not. It’s one of the many things that sets CMIT Solutions apart from the “break-fix” vendors who come out only when there’s an emergency.
By now, it’s 3:35, and Bruce takes advantage of the flexibility his business provides to help out his older son, 19-year-old Derek. Derek is a student at Arizona State University who just recently moved into his own apartment, and sometimes he asks his dad for help with basic household matters or, at times, his computer. While at Derek’s apartment, Bruce checks the status of a new client install from his mobile device. It’s going fine. He’s happy he can keep tabs on his business while being there for his son, too.
End the Day: After fixing Derek’s computer issue, Bruce briefly goes back to the office to make sure his notes and CRM are in order. Satisfied, he goes home at 5:20, in plenty of time for dinner. Work-life balance, something Bruce never had in his corporate job, is one of this gig’s great advantages. Once a week or so, Bruce spends about 45 minutes or so after dinner doing paperwork — sending invoices, approving timesheets — in his home office. But that’s no great burden, and he always has plenty of time in the evenings and on weekends to spend time with his family.
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