Faisal Shaikh and Will Peoples comprise SNS Ventures, a Sugar Land IT consulting company that services clients all over the country. They joined our community at Business E Suites in 2020 and have been growing ever since. Faisal has been in IT and Cybersecurity for much of his career, and he met Will while they were both at GE. After advancing in the industry, Faisal saw an opportunity to start working as a consultant. This gave him more freedom to work with different kinds of clients, and he was not tied down to one company which gave him more security.
Before he started IT consulting though, Faisal got his first taste of small business ownership by opening a couple of restaurants called Saruzzos NY Pizzeria in the Houston area in 2016. Ultimately, Faisal’s goal is to be self-sufficient and get to retire early. Although the restaurants were doing well, there was an opportunity in consulting to potentially reach that retirement even earlier. That is how Faisal operates, he is always open to new opportunities and ideas, and he has the drive and ambition to make them happen. Like any good business owner, Faisal knew he needed to assemble a winning team. He started by calling Will. After years of working offshore on oil rigs and a hectic schedule, Will was ready for a new challenge working together with Faisal. Will has his own experience as a small business owner, and his time in Oil & Gas provided him with lots of good connections in the industry. He was thrilled at the opportunity to work with Faisal again and work for himself “like a boss.”
SNS Ventures found Business E Suites in December 2020 when Faisal actually came to rent a van from one of our other tenants: Luxed Vans. Faisal toured the facility and loved the clean, professional look and the flexibility of month-to-month terms. As a project-based company, that flexibility is a major plus. It gives SNS the ability to scale their workspace up and down as needed when they take on extra clients or complete a long-term project. The project-based nature of the business has also been one of the greatest challenges SNS has faced so far. Going from 2 contracts to 3 contracts is a massive increase to their workload, and likewise going from 2 contracts to 1 contract cuts their revenue in half. These big swings can be stressful, but it is just part of the challenge of being a small business.
If Will and Faisal could give one piece of advice to other small businesses out there it is this: Enjoy it!! You are your own boss now, so act like a boss and enjoy the freedom and opportunity provided to you from working for yourself. Business E Suites is very happy to have SNS Ventures as one of our core members, and we look forward to watching them grow and accomplish all of their goals for 2021 and beyond.
