No Place Like Home

John Kleinschmidt

Virtually everyone has a dotcom domain. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs know that embedded in all that code is an opportunity-one that John Kleinschmidt, 31, of Waterford, Michigan, is capitalizing on with his Internet security consulting biz. This former Novell, NT and UNIX administrator was bitten by the security bug in 1995. He'd been studying security on his own via the Internet, books, conferences, seminars-anything he could get access to. When people started asking him for security advice, Kleinschmidt decided to start charging for his expert services.

Kleinschmidt's start-up costs were nil-he already had the computer and Net access in his home. The biggest challenge has been competing against the multimillion-dollar companies that "have their client base...and a very good reputation," he says. The best part (aside from spending lots of time with his wife and children), he says, is that "no two security jobs are exactly the same."

Keeping up with trends and the latest technology is important to any computer-related profession. And remember, as long as there are Internet thugs on the loose, there will always be a need for the Web site watchman.

This article was originally published in the September 2000 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: No Place Like Home.