Software for independent IT consultants who support small businesses

The IT person for an eight-person CPA firm or a dental office gets the call when the printer stops, when email stops arriving and when it's time to move everything to Microsoft 365. The urgent work is billed badly, because it's fixed on the phone and nobody writes down the time. The big work, like a 15-user mailbox migration, gets quoted in a rush. SoloWOS separates those two kinds of work and bills both, MSP-style, without the per-technician software bill.

From "my email isn't coming in" to a monthly retainer

1. The business fills out your support form: how many computers and users, which email platform (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, other) and whether it's urgent. If it is, they land on an "Urgent remote support" meeting type of 60 minutes paid at booking; if not, on a 45-minute assessment.
2. After the assessment, share the report and the project plan as a PDF through Document Tracking with a password, a watermark with the viewer's email and an expiration date, because it describes their network and its weak spots.
3. Send the project as a proposal in phases (backups, mailbox migration, network setup, staff training) with a deposit. Send the monthly retainer as its own proposal: for example 8 hours of remote support a month, your overage rate and your response-time targets.
4. Once they accept, the services agreement and an NDA go out through E-Signatures: scope, response targets, after-hours rates and how you handle admin access and client data. If the client is a medical office, their Business Associate Agreement with you can go in the same envelope.
5. Each client is a project in Time Tracking. Every call and site visit goes on the timer, and the weekly view shows how much of the block is used.
6. For staff training, record a Screen Recording of up to 5 minutes on Solo per topic, such as "signing in to the new email," and send each person their own link so you know who watched it.
7. The retainer invoice repeats on the 1st. Overage hours go on a separate invoice built with "Add unbilled time."

A typical week with six small-business clients

• Monday, 8:40 a.m.: the dental office can't open its scheduling software. They book urgent support, pay by card, and it's fixed by 9:30. Hour logged.
• Tuesday: the CPA firm accepts the 15-user Microsoft 365 migration and signs the agreement and NDA.
• Wednesday: an on-site visit to the hardware store to swap the router. You log 2.5 hours against their retainer when you get back.
• Thursday: you record three short videos for the CPA firm's staff. By Friday, 11 of 15 have watched them.
• End of the month: each retainer invoice goes out on its own because it repeats monthly, and overage hours go on a separate invoice.

All 13 tools, one by one

How an IT consultant with small businesses as clients uses each tool.

• Link in Bio: helps little, since your clients come by referral. It works as the page behind your business card: urgent support, assessment booking and your support form.
• Short Links: a QR-coded short link on a sticker on each client computer (/s/support-cpa) that opens your urgent support page.
• Forms: the support form with computers, users, email platform and urgency, which sends each person to the right meeting type. It can't take screenshots as uploads.
• Scheduling: urgent remote support paid at booking, the 45-minute assessment and scheduled site visits, with your remote-access tool's link in the location.
• Proposals: the phased project with a deposit and the monthly retainer with its block of hours, as separate proposals so the client sees what's one-time and what's monthly.
• E-Signatures: the services agreement, the retainer terms and the NDA, plus the client's own BAA when they send one, each with a certificate and audit trail.
• Document Tracking: the assessment and project plan as PDFs with a password, watermark and link expiration. You see whether the owner read it before the meeting.
• Screen Recording: short how-to videos for client staff, with a personal link per contact so you know who watched to the end.
• Notes & Boards: a board per project with tasks and due dates, and notes on each client's setup. Passwords never go here.
• Time Tracking: hours per client for each retainer and each urgent call, at your rate; billable time not yet invoiced goes onto the next invoice.
• Invoicing: the project deposit, the retainer that repeats monthly and the overage hours, paid by card through your Stripe account or by ACH.
• Expenses: licenses you buy for a client, cables, replacement parts and mileage for site visits, each assigned to the client's project.
• Automations: an instant notice to you when someone books urgent support, a rebooking link to anyone who missed their appointment, and a follow-up 3 days after an unanswered proposal.

Rules your clients bring with them

• HIPAA: if a client is a health care provider covered by HIPAA and your work gives you access to their patients' health information (their server, backups or practice software), you're generally a business associate under HHS rules, and the practice needs a Business Associate Agreement with you.
• SoloWOS doesn't sign BAAs and isn't HIPAA compliant, so keep patient information out of your notes, forms and documents in SoloWOS. Use it for your own scheduling, agreements, hours and invoices.
• Most of your clients are businesses, so expect 1099-NECs. Clients that pay you $2,000 or more for services in 2026 report it on Form 1099-NEC (the threshold was $600 through 2025). Card payments through Stripe or PayPal only produce a federal Form 1099-K above $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year, though some states set lower thresholds. The income is taxable either way, form or no form.
• Some states tax certain IT services, software or data processing and others don't. Check your state's revenue department before you quote a retainer with or without tax.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Syncro: which fits

Syncro is what many MSPs run on: ticketing and remote monitoring priced per technician. The lighter route for a solo consultant is two apps, Calendly for booking support and Clockify for retainer hours. SoloWOS sits between them: no ticketing or RMM, but the agreements and invoices come with it.

Choose Syncro if:

• You manage enough endpoints that patching, monitoring and alerts need a real RMM.
• Clients expect tickets with SLAs, escalation and a history per device.

Choose Calendly with Clockify if:

• You and a part-time tech both log hours and Clockify's free plan covers you.
• Clients want to pay for support through PayPal as well as by card.

Choose SoloWOS if:

• You support a handful of offices where one person calls you, and what you need is the retainer, the agreement and the hours in one account.
• Urgent support should be paid before you connect, with refunds handled by your policy.

Prices and features checked between October 17 and 23, 2026 on each company's site.

Start with these three

Scheduling with urgent support paid at booking, Time Tracking with a project per client, and Proposals for the monthly retainer. The urgent calls stop being free, and the block of hours has a number the client can see.

Free tools that help

• Retainer calculator to price a monthly retainer from the hours it covers.
• Billable utilization calculator to see how much of your week clients actually pay for.
• Time card calculator to add up calls and site visits.
• Mileage deduction calculator for the drives to client offices.
• QR code generator for the support sticker on each computer.

What SoloWOS won't do for an IT consultant

• It isn't a ticketing or help desk system: no ticket numbers, priorities or measured response times.
• No remote access, endpoint monitoring, patching or asset and license inventory.
• It isn't a password manager. Don't keep client credentials in notes, forms or documents.
• It doesn't count down the retainer hours or charge the client's card. The retainer invoice goes out each month and the client pays it from the link.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.