I am talking number of small business owners in Calgary recently about the big labour shortage of skilled workers going on in this city.  It is stupid how bad it is getting here.  We all came to the same conclusion that there are lots of people out there looking for work however they lack the skills needed.

No different for us in the IT community, and I am sure it is just not a Calgary problem.  Many small business owners I have spoken with are really frustrated with the lack of great IT support.  It is actually a huge challenge in this city.  I get 5 - 10 phone calls a week from small businesses looking for IT support.  I am doing something right or am I just a better marketer.  Maybe it is a bit of both.

In my circle of friends, we all own companies no bigger than 50 employees, us at IT Matters are sitting around 32 right now (we are in need of great IT consultants, IT Project Managers and IT consultants who are looking for work, email us at careers@itmatters.ca).  Our topic of conversation this week is to grow or not to grow.  Wow!  I thought I would never ever even think about this. 

I have seen a number of great firms die completely when they decide to stop looking for new business period.  That is business suicide in my opinion.  I also fully believe that we need to be selective in the businesses that we chose to work with.  I am making it my policy to only talk with future B and A type clients, those that truly value Information Technology and see it as a business enabler.  There are still a lot of small businesses out there that see IT Professionals as their own whipping boys that they can call whenever they please or they never go with the right solution electing to nickle and dime their way through.  Of course this doesn’t work either.

So if you got to this important crossroads in your business life, what would you chose - to grow or to commit business suicide?