IT

Every sound business in it begins with one clear customer and one clear problem. In São Paulo and the wider state, demand is real but crowded, so a small, well-described customer group wins before a broad one.

• In it: Segment by size: micro offices want a fixed monthly plan, mid-size firms want response times in writing.
• Write the customer in one sentence: an office that depends on working systems. Add the place, the moment of need and what they use today.
• List five rivals or substitutes within reach. For each, record price, strength, weakness and how people reach it.
• Interview at least eight real customers with open questions. Record exact words, not your summary.
• Count the market in units: how many support contracts could one area buy in a month? Use two public sources and your own count, then take the lower figure.
• Choose one first segment and say why the others wait.

Activity. Write the one-sentence customer, a five-row rival table and eight interview records. Share them with a peer for a challenge round.

Standard to meet. Define a specific customer, build a rival table with prices, and trace every claim to an interview or a source.

Brazil asks every trader to be visible and accountable. Know which register, tax regime and sector rules apply before the first sale, and check each against the current official text.

• In it: Contracts should state scope, response and fix times, backup duty, and data handling under LGPD.
• Choose a legal form: micro-entrepreneur (MEI) only if your activity appears on the official MEI list, or a company registered with a CNPJ. Regulated activities need their sector authorisation first. Check the current limits and lists on the official portal.
• Learn the tax regime that fits your size and write down which taxes you will collect and pay, and when.
• Find the sector rules for it: licences, inspections, professional registers. List each with the office that issues it and the renewal date.
• Personal data of customers falls under Brazil's data protection law (LGPD). Collect only what you need, say why, keep it safe, and name who answers questions.
• Consumer law gives buyers clear rights on information, returns and complaints. Put your terms in plain Portuguese.

Activity. Build your own six-line compliance table for your first location. Mark what is done, what is pending and who confirms it.

Standard to meet. Cite an official source for every line, assume nothing, and date every pending item. Local law always wins over this course.

An offer states what the customer gets, how well, by when and at what price. For a software or support service, the offer must make the quality visible and the next step easy.

• In it: Offer three plans (basic, standard, extended hours) with a clear list of what each covers.
• Describe the core offer in three lines: what is delivered (a software or support service), the standard it meets, and the time it takes.
• Add one proof for each promise: a sample, a test result, a guarantee or a customer record.
• Price from cost upward and from customer value downward, then pick a price inside both.
• Write a simple one-page terms sheet: what is included, what is extra, how to cancel.
• Create two options at most, so choice stays easy.

Longer notes. Define the support contract in writing: how many computers and users it covers, which hours it is answered, the response time for urgent and normal faults, and what is excluded, such as new projects and hardware replacement. Work out the technician hours that one contract needs in a normal month from your own ticket history, and price those hours at the real cost per hour. Add licences or tools that you pass on at cost. Show the client a monthly report as proof of work. Before signing, confirm that every licence you resell allows it and what the data-protection rules ask when you open client files.

Activity. Write the offer card, the proof list and the terms sheet. Test them with three customers and note every point where they hesitated.

Standard to meet. Check that promise, proof and price are consistent, fit the terms on one page, and record three customer reactions.

Good operations make results repeatable. For it, write each step so a new person could follow it on their first day, and measure each step.

• In it: Run a ticket log with category, time to first reply, time to fix, and root cause per ticket.
• Map the process from first contact to paid and closed. Typical stages: enquiry, quote, preparation, delivery of the support contract, check, payment, follow-up.
• Name the key resource at each stage: a skilled engineer and a ticket log. Note what happens if it is missing.
• Write a one-page standard procedure per stage: who, what, tool, time, record.
• Choose three measures: speed, quality (errors per 100) and customer rating. Review them every week.
• Fix the cause of a defect, not the symptom. Ask 'why' five times and record the answer.

Activity. Draw the process map and write procedures for the two riskiest stages. Run each once and time it.

Standard to meet. Write procedures a stranger can follow, record weekly numbers for each measure, and trace one defect to a root cause.

The most serious risk in this field is outage or an unfixed fault. A calm, written risk routine protects people first and the business second.

• In it: Keep tested offline backups and run a restore drill every quarter.
• List ten things that could go wrong. Score each for how likely (1 to 5) and how serious (1 to 5). Multiply and sort.
• For the top five, choose a control: remove the hazard, replace it, guard it, train people, or use protective gear, in that order of preference.
• Write who does what in an emergency, and rehearse it once a quarter.
• Keep an incident and near-miss log. Near-misses are free lessons.
• Check that insurance and legal duties match the risk you actually carry.

Activity. Build a ten-row risk register and a one-page emergency plan. Run a ten-minute drill with a peer and note two improvements.

Standard to meet. Rank controls by preference for the top risks, run the drill, and start the log. Where a regulation applies, follow the official rule.

People deliver the promise. Define roles, train to a standard and give feedback in the open.

• In it: Train engineers on a runbook: the first 15 minutes of any outage are scripted.
• Write a role card for each person: purpose, five tasks, the standard for each, and who to ask for help.
• Train by showing, doing with support, then doing alone with a check. Record sign-off per task.
• Set service rules for answering customers: reply times, tone, how to apologise and fix.
• Hold a ten-minute team check each day: yesterday's problem, today's plan, one risk.
• Build a growth path: what a new person can do in week 1, month 3 and month 12.

Longer notes. Plan technician time from the contracts, not from the number of people on the payroll. Record for every ticket who answered it, how many minutes it took and whether the fault came back within a week. Give new technicians a short test on resetting accounts, cleaning an infected computer and restoring a backup before they work alone. Keep a written handover for each client with the network drawing and passwords stored in a vault. Rotate who is on call. Agree in writing which personal data a technician may open on a client machine, in line with the data-protection rules.

Activity. Write two role cards and a training plan for one new hire. Role-play a hard customer conversation twice and review.

Standard to meet. Write role cards with measurable standards, show the sign-off steps in training, and write the service rules in plain words.

A business lives or dies on a few numbers. Know your contribution per unit, your fixed costs and the volume you need.

• In it: Price by device or user per month; check that the top 3 clients are under 40% of income.
• Contribution per support contract = price minus variable cost. Fixed costs are paid whether you sell or not.
• Break-even units = fixed cost divided by contribution. Plan to pass it by a safe margin.
• Make a 12-month cash plan. Cash timing matters as much as profit: customers may pay late, suppliers may want money first.
• Keep money for business and money for the owner apart.
• Test the plan: what if sales fall by a quarter, or cost rises by a tenth?

Activity. Build your own table: price, variable cost, contribution, fixed cost, break-even and a downside case at 75% of sales. Show it to a peer or mentor.

Standard to meet. Calculate correctly, give every figure a source or mark it as an assumption, and show a downside case.

Growth should follow proof. Measure, learn, then add; and keep returning to the customer.

• In it: Move from fixing to preventing: monthly health reports reduce tickets and prove value.
• Pick one growth lever at a time: new customers, a higher repeat rate, a better price, or a new offer.
• Set one measurable target for 90 days, such as 'raise repeat customers from 20% to 30%'.
• Ask each customer how they found you, and record it. Spend more where the record shows results.
• Review monthly: numbers, defects, complaints, cash. Write three decisions each time.
• Plan the renewal of licences, equipment and skills a year ahead.

Longer notes. Keep clients by showing the work. Send each client a one-page monthly report with tickets closed, average time to answer, problems prevented and what is planned next. Meet each client every quarter and write down one improvement. Count repeated faults, because they are the strongest reason for cancelling. Ask satisfied clients for an introduction to one neighbour business. Record why each lost client left. Compare the cost of winning a new client with the cost of keeping an old one. Avoid claims you cannot prove about security, and keep security claims within the advertising rules.

Activity. Write a 90-day plan with one target, three actions and a review date. Present it in five minutes and take questions.

Standard to meet. Set a measurable, dated target, break the actions down small enough to start this week, and put the review date in the calendar.