Is this a viable business? (I will try it anyaway)

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I would say get a job in data and do this as a side hustle after you’ve gotten some experience. You are going to be really bad at it if you haven’t done it in a professional capacity with real business data. Small businesses are extra hard because they’re not going to pay for any tech that makes it easier.

Data is messy, it is complicated to move it around, and it’s extremely difficult to turn it into valuable & accurate information. You can try, but you’ll find out pretty quickly that it will be a long uphill battle to become useful enough to build a business around these skills.

Source: have been in data engineering & analytics for 10+ years and have worked with multiple small businesses doing exactly what you’re contemplating here

You are expecting small business owners to know what they want and to be able to articulate it to you.

You're going to learn, and I would say, learn the hard way.

Don't ask what the customer wants. Many don't know what they want. Find out what problems the customer is having and offer a solution that makes sense to solve that problem and the customers will come to you if you solve it well enough.

Perhaps try surveying local business owners at a free event about what data issues they have.

Most business owners don't even understand the basics of this stuff, believe it or not. You could have some success at other IT companies or accounting firms.

Where do I sign up?