Guest Post – Starting My GIS Consulting Business – Zacharias Hunt, MPA
Note: We invited Zacharias Hunt to discuss his story. As professionals in the GIS world, entrepreneurial opportunities may be waiting for us too.
My Situation
After working 13 years in the GIS profession both in the public and private sector, I recently decided to establish an independent GIS Consulting business. My most recent employment as the Geographic Information Officer for the County of Santa Barbara, came to an end this past year as part of the current economic challenges. The County of Santa Barbara in an effort to close a multi-million dollar budget gap for the fiscal year 2011-2012, chose to eliminate the County Enterprise GIS program. This included the elimination of the County’s Geographic Information Officer, the Enterprise GIS Analyst, the County GIS Internship program (with joint partnership with the University of California, Santa Barbara), and the funding for ongoing Enterprise hardware and software maintenance costs. While this was an unfortunate circumstance, I choose to turn this into an opportunity for challenging myself further in this profession. Since having established a good amount of relationships and contacts in the area, I choose to create a GIS consulting business that specializes in low-cost solutions for agencies and districts who need GIS services for their operations.
The Current State
The current poor economic climate means many agencies have been faced with cutting costs which includes valuable staff and resources. With this in mind, it actually is a very good time for people choosing to go into their own GIS consulting business. The public sectors with Cities, Counties, and Special Districts have reduced staff but still have core operational responsibility and mandated functions to provide. The private sector with Engineering/Survey/Environmental/GIS companies are struggling for work and many new projects that require additional staff, may be reluctant to hire on full-time employees for that work which may dry up in a few months. These agencies are tasked to maintain or do more with fewer resources. So it has become desirable to contract out work and services to paid contractors and consultants. These agencies benefit from getting there core services stabilized, while avoiding the high costs associated with funding a permanent full-time employee.
Tips on Getting Started
Once you have made the decision to pursue your own GIS Consultanting business, there are some essential items to get started with. First you will want to create a business plan. This can be difficult to complete, but will be very rewarding as it becomes a roadmap for how your business unfolds successfully. This will entail developing what type of work or services you are going to specialize in. I would recommend incorporating a good amount of diversity, as it is difficult to find dedicated work for just an isolated product or service. Second you will want to file the appropriate legal paperwork to establish your business. There are different parameters for different types of business but your local jurisdiction should help you with what is required for your business. Thirdly you will need to acquire the appropriate level of resources for you to be able to conduct your work. From the technical side, that means having the appropriate equipment such as computers, GIS software, and printing capability. Lastly it helps to maintain a positive and optimistic outlook, as it can be very challenging to build success, often taking many months for your business to get “off the ground”.
For more information: Visit http://www.zworldgis.com
ZWORLD GIS
27 West Anapamu Street Suite #191
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
805.448.1726
Interesting opportunity “forced” on you. Please keep us updated as to how the process goes.