Hmm, having done both I would say that unless you already have a customer
base, it might be a good idea to also provide a "bridge" from one to the
other. I.e. not turning down any cry for help. Then you can start doing dual
boot systems to win people over. This way they will be happy to use you once
they have some wins with Linux.
I've always said that plonking down $50,000, or more, on something that is
new and untried is a pretty good way of loosing money.
It would be nice to have a business, like you are planning, around.
For the last few years I've done tech support for a shop (on the side) that
have a number of people come through it. Thing is, almost nobody have come
and asked for help with Linux. In fact the owner thinks Linux is going away
as a result.
Finding someone who has a shop, thus keeping your own overheads down, might
also be a good start.
Myself I like securing and stabilizing NT servers by replacing them with
Linux. There are so many who have all sorts of problems with their NT servers
that are happy to find some way of not loosing all their investments but
wants better stability, security, cost of ownership, etc.
You start getting some of those going and now you are building up a customer
base. Can be done out of your house, just to see what demand you are running
into. An 800# is about $35 per month and will point to your house until you
get a store or office. Then you simply point it you store's local number and
voila! No lost business when you grow into a store.
>From what I can see there does not appear to bo too much of a market for a
local store. I would love to be wrong...
My first business in the US was out of my garage. I computerized companies.
(Actually I tried to get out of computers into Real Estate. But I needed a
computer so I did some research to find a good source. Then someone came by
and asked if I could get them a computer too. Then another, and another...
I ended up in the computer business again anyway.)
Around that time I started a newsletter, which could then promote me to
customers collegues, and so on. That was in -82. My profit margins on parts
were 30% on top of my cost. Now you could never do that. So one needs to
offer a service that makes it fair exchange over and beyond hardware.
The thing about it I started on a manageable level and then grew into a large
apartment where the apt manager had no problem me operating a service company
out of it. From there I went to an office in the business district. So I
never had too high overheads relative to the money actually arriving. I only
moved when I could not fit in the old place.
One of my most successful actions was to have a couple of customers that
needed me enough to cover my overhead. They got very personalized service
(like good friends) and would not dream of loosing me. Since they wanted me
to stay in business they promoted me well.
Most important of all was to always knowing exactly how much money I needed
week by week so I knew what targets I had to reach to cover my bills etc. A
lot of people don't know.
Being professional brings more luck! : )
BTW, being able to get the job done is ultimately more important than any
certification. Your paying customers don't care for paper but products. In my
30 years in the industry I cannot recall needing to show any certs. (Let's
not get started on That! All these people who are great on reciting words on
a test, but cannot apply it to save their life. Some education!)
Also, I always made sure I delivered what I promised! Or refused to if I
could not do it (or "bird dogged" it for someone else). Happy customers where
my policy. Actually I had people drive for 2 hr to see me.
Enough said. These are some things that I learned over time so if you can use
it...
On Thursday 02 March 2000 20:22, you wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: slug@lists.nks.net [mailto:slug@lists.nks.net] On Behalf Of Anita
> Pesola
> Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 12:17 AM
> To: slug@nks.net
> Subject: [SLUG] Hi....question time again...
>
> Hey,
>
> Hubby asked me to put this out for public consumption. He's thinking
> about starting a computer shop for sales and service that is strictly
> geared to Linux users. You know, building computers with the Linux OS
> installed (he's thinking Mandrake, but he's not sure). Two questions
> come to mind:
>
> 1) do any of you know of anyone who is already doing this?
> 2) would you frequent this type of a shop?
>
> He's thinking about doing the research and stocking all the items that
> pertain to Linux--mostly hardware that would be compatible with the OS.
> I need some input because I'm not sure of the logistics, and quite
> frankly, I'm quite nervous about dealing solely with Linux when so many
> are indoctrinated with the Windoze philosophy. He wants to get certified
>
> with Linux (apparantly RH and Mandrake have this available) so that he
> can do more with it.
>
> Any ideas or input? Thanks!!!
>
> Anita
--Steve ________________________________________________________ HTML in e-mail creates out-security, and more spam. By using it you teach others, less knowledgeable, that it's safe to use.
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