i play resident computer expert in the park i live in.
built 12 computers so far.
pays not too bad.
On 9/6/05, Eric A. Hicks <lugmail@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Joe Brandt wrote:
>
> > I have been repairing computers for firends and co-workers for years.
> > I am seriously tinnking abouting hanging my shingle and making a go of
> > doing it part time then full time when I build enough business. Can
> > anyone reccommend an inexpensive advertising that works.
> >
> Well, not trying to necessarily burst your bubble, but have you run the
> numbers on that scenario? You have to break it down to something like
> "I need ## of billable hours per day to make a decent living" Then you
> have to think, can I even get that many billable hours in a day?? I
> was thinking about doing this also and it came down to the fact that
> there is no way in reality that I can get that much work.
>
> Now what I've discovered is that those small consulting companies that
> do make enough to make a living have focused on small business instead
> of home users. There is a huge market for home user computer
> consulting.. the problem is you can't charge them enough to make a
> living from it. However, with small businesses, you can get away with
> charging enough and make a profit. It boils down to this... to make a
> decent living, you'd have to charge home users more than $65/hr. which,
> no home user, in their right mind, would pay that much (unless you're
> targeting a wealthy demographic/market segment). My independant
> research has shown me that $49/hr is about the maximum that people will
> tolerate (supply/demand analysis), but I've settled on $35/hr because I
> get more referrals if I'm a good value (and do good work). I only
> charge $25/hr for my customers that actually send me referrals, and
> that, in turn, snowballs my business.
>
> However, $65/hr for small businesses is CHEAP! You can probably get
> away with over $100-125/hr if you are doing network/server work because
> that is a more highly skilled requirement. And if you're really good,
> you'll score service agreements where a biz will pay you $$ per month to
> be 'on call'. Service agreements are the way to go. Especially if you
> can set up VNC and solve most of their problems from the comfort of your
> home.
>
> Then you have to consider insurance, taxes, fees, and a mirad of other
> factors that chip away at your profits (not to mention gas prices right now)
>
> Personally, I've found that home PC work is a great supplemental
> income... it scores me about $150-200 cash per week, which is nice.
> Then I have my main job programming which is my bread and butter (steady
> income, insurance, tuition reimbursement, etc.)
>
> With all that said, I agree with a previous poster's response that word
> of mouth is the most effective advertising. Apart from that, maybe
> postcard mailers (but then you have an issue with the legality of
> advertising... do your research, you could get sued over a typo!) FL
> has laws that regulate advertising... I think you can go to
> www.myflorida.com to read the regs.
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