I'm on the verge of starting my own in-call tech support business. Ive seen the potential just in dealing w/ immediate family, friends, aquaintances - left and right I'm fixing people's computers, to the point that I'm now charging 30 bucks. Charging people gives me a rest because it keeps people from running to me every time their system hiccups, but also, hey I'm providing a specialized service here. An automotive mechanic doesnt work for free, a dentist doesnt work for free, and when I'm spending an entire evening (or more) of mine hacking away at someone's pc either here or in someone's hot/cold/dirty/noisy/otherwise unpleasant home when I'd rather be doing something else - it's gonna cost.
Not working for a "nice home-cooked meal" anymore, the bane of a tech support geek's existence!
So i'm wondering, has anyone else here went down this road before?
I know that I have to jump thru a couple legal hoops, such as business license and the whammy of insurance (which both equal roughly 700 bucks) since I dont want to lose my house in the event of… something happening. But in the actual practice itself, I'm thinking in-call is the way to go. I show up, i fix the computer, i go home.
Problem w/ that is the duration of some of the work that needs to be done. As I previously stated, sometimes I'm working on these computers all evening. Scans, research, etc. I often bring people's computers to my place when doing work, but that presents a problem - who's gonna hand over their expensive pc to me on the promise that I return the next day? Thus, the in-call thing really does seem the way to go. Either I quicken up, or I sit it out.
I guess I could do a remote pc type of thing, but a lot of what needs to be done requires programs. I have a new mantra of "leave nothing" on someone's pc that I'm working on. All programs that I use are portable in nature, it really saves time to run things from a flash drive and not have to install anything on a crippled system. Plus, people who need assistance are generally such newbies that they will never use the programs again, theyd rather just have someone come out once a year and de-malware them for a price and be done w/ it. Then again, the remote assistance thing is something I admittedly know next to nothing about since Ive always been hands-on. I know there's lots of remote assistance programs around, so basic windows remote pc must be lacking. Anyone have any experience w/ remote assistance?
I'm seeing most people charging 50 an hour. Therefore, I'm thinking either lowball them at 30 an hour, or figure most calls will take a couple hours and charge a flat fee of 60 just to lowball the rest and get the job.
Not working for a "nice home-cooked meal" anymore, the bane of a tech support geek's existence!
So i'm wondering, has anyone else here went down this road before?
I know that I have to jump thru a couple legal hoops, such as business license and the whammy of insurance (which both equal roughly 700 bucks) since I dont want to lose my house in the event of… something happening. But in the actual practice itself, I'm thinking in-call is the way to go. I show up, i fix the computer, i go home.
Problem w/ that is the duration of some of the work that needs to be done. As I previously stated, sometimes I'm working on these computers all evening. Scans, research, etc. I often bring people's computers to my place when doing work, but that presents a problem - who's gonna hand over their expensive pc to me on the promise that I return the next day? Thus, the in-call thing really does seem the way to go. Either I quicken up, or I sit it out.
I guess I could do a remote pc type of thing, but a lot of what needs to be done requires programs. I have a new mantra of "leave nothing" on someone's pc that I'm working on. All programs that I use are portable in nature, it really saves time to run things from a flash drive and not have to install anything on a crippled system. Plus, people who need assistance are generally such newbies that they will never use the programs again, theyd rather just have someone come out once a year and de-malware them for a price and be done w/ it. Then again, the remote assistance thing is something I admittedly know next to nothing about since Ive always been hands-on. I know there's lots of remote assistance programs around, so basic windows remote pc must be lacking. Anyone have any experience w/ remote assistance?
I'm seeing most people charging 50 an hour. Therefore, I'm thinking either lowball them at 30 an hour, or figure most calls will take a couple hours and charge a flat fee of 60 just to lowball the rest and get the job.