Laura Rusick on Accidental Pren-her Podcast

Business podcast with Laura Rusick – subscribe now via iTunes.

This week I speak with Laura Rusick, president of OPT Solutions, Inc. Laura left the traditional corporate world as a CIO to start her own business as an information technology consultant. In this episode of the Accidental Pren-her, Laura shares how she decided to make the transition to entrepreneur, and how her business can help small to mid-sized businesses optimize their processes and technology.

• Listen to the interview. (If needed, click here to access easy download instructions page.)
• Read the transcript.

This episode of Accidental Pren-her: Stories of the Unexpected podcast is brought to you by OPT Solutions, Inc. Technology management consultants optimizing business processes and technology for small to mid-sized organizations.

Comments

[Angela]

Laura,
I love that you’re doing this. I too worked in IT and, after leaving, was staggered to see how little the rest of the world utilized it to their full benefit. Of course, part of the difficulty is that most people don’t know which are really the best practices for them. That is why is it so wonderful for you to be out there, making technology accessible to smaller businesses. Best of luck to you!

[Dori]

Hi Laura,
What a great service you offer- an innovative approach to helping businesses increase their odds of succeeding in this world. I hear in your voice a genuine joy for supporting businesses (and people!) to become better- thank you for sharing your talents with the world!

[Laura Pettit Rusick]

Thanks, Dori and Angela! I really appreciate your comments.

It's great to see people get excited (and sometimes relieved) when they see new options and solutions!

[Aurora Cooney]

Hi Laura,
I am impressed. Even though I've known you for many years, I really didn't understand the scope of what your business entailed. However, as a business major myself, I've always admired your business sense and professionalism. Over the years I've used you as my own personal consultant when dealing with business issues, and for that I thank you.

[The Original Accidental Pren-her]

The thing I like best about your business Laura, is that it is a one-stop place to come for business processing and IT needs. All a client needs to do is come to you and you'll take care of the rest. You have the support people in place to assist and also have the contacts to facilitate high customer satisfaction.

[Carol McClelland of Green Career Central]

Hi Laura,

Enjoyed your interview with Susan. I was wondering are you seeing much interest from your clients for assistance in greening their IT set up? I'm the executive director of a virtual green career center and we've been seeing a lot of information about green IT. I'm just curious how widespread that notion is these days. In many ways greening is all about adding in efficiencies which sounds like your focus.

[Carolyn - Crickets Roar virtual assistant services]

How very timely your interview with Susan is! As a virtual assistant, I am frequently asked for technical advice regarding setting up networked CRMs, QuickBooks, etc. Although I'm able to take over once the systems are set up, I've found it more economically feasible and efficient for my clients to direct them to system experts for setup recommendations. I sent your website link to a client today, and am sure I will do so in the future. By the way, do you have expertise in Daylite for Mac? (And thank you, Susan, for finding Laura!)

[Laura Pettit Rusick]

Carol,

I am seeing more interest in green IT and believe it is increasing daily. The interest is usually motivated by cost - there can be tremendous savings just by making sure people turn off PCs and other equipment. We think about turning off lights - why not equipment? Virtualization is another big area right now. Larger companies tend to have the resources to really focus on innovation in the data center's heating & cooling, but it shouldn't be overlooked by smaller companies, particularly when setting up a new data center or server room.

Congratulations on your green career center! That is great news to hear of an effort like that going on.

[Laura Pettit Rusick]

Thanks, Carolyn!

I tend to focus more on management level IT rather than hands on; if it's beyond my expertise, I would be happy to refer it on.

I'm not familiar with Daylite for Mac.

[Carol McClelland of Green Career Central]

Laura,

From my perspective it's great that there is a big financial upside to using less energy. If that's what motivates people and companies, especially in times like this, then it's a great place to start. To me it means we have some hope of turning the ship around. It's great to hear there is so much interest!