Starting a PC Repair/Upgrade Consulting Biz

Originally posted by racketboy@Aug 8, 2003 @ 02:36 PM

well, if bad part = hard drive

probably might take some time to do a full recovery

true....i had to go a whole month with no pc because of 6 diffrent Hard drive's i brought all died or 'droped out' within a week!....never went back to the shop i got them from........ :smash
 
if people have a problem with thier computer (people who dont know anything) wouldnt one of the first places they look be in the phone book?
 
Originally posted by googlefest1@Aug 8, 2003 @ 03:06 PM

if people have a problem with thier computer (people who dont know anything) wouldnt one of the first places they look be in the phone book?

actually the first place they look is people they know that work on computers

but yeah phone book is probably a big thing
 
ok here's another question...

how should I handle the phone situation

I work at an office job (programming) from 7:30am-5:00pm (if you include driving) and even after that I'm not always at my home.

What's the best way to have customers get a hold of me.

We currently have 1 cell phone between my wife and I and have the cheapest plan availible, so we don't have a lot of minutes. We also don't really want to upgrade our plan.

Is there an affordable service the would allow me to have a voice mail system that I could have customers call and I could check them msgs from any phone and be able to check to see if I have messages from a website and/or email?
 
Being in that business I can tell you that Ice said 30-35 is ok. Although going up every 6 months, that I dunno, you have to remember their are places like compusa, which will charge 80 to 90 bucks just to look at the system. So you gotta keep the hourly rate down To attract customers, (and to give them a reason not to goto compusa or other retail places) and to keep it affordable, if you do that, you'll have more and more clients. As far as advertising, you can pin "ads" up at your local grocery store, that "sometimes" works. and is free. The phone book is a great idea, but I dunno how expensive, you can set up a cheap website, through your isp, but thats harder to spread, business cards are nice, And warrenty your work, thats a good, idea, but it was also mentioned earlier that you should always document what you fixed, and what you "touched" so that the user can't come back and say you fixed my modem, now my mouse doesn't work. or something like that. otherwise, I wish you luck in your endeavor...

:cheers
 
racket get a cheap pager, thats the best... its caller id with out the messy voicemail..lol, I find that to be sweet, or get an extra cell.... but the pager is the cheapest solution.
 
Originally posted by stack99@Aug 8, 2003 @ 03:35 PM

racket get a cheap pager, thats the best... its caller id with out the messy voicemail..lol, I find that to be sweet, or get an extra cell.... but the pager is the cheapest solution.

how much does that run?
 
Ice, about that MALabs place...

you might need to walk me through the application thing

seems kinda freaky.

how good are their prices? compared to like Newegg or the like?
 
rack you can get a good reliable pager for under 10 bucks a month and probably a free pager, it depends on where you live, and what service provider is in your area.
 
Thier prices are a little lower then newegg.

As for advertising in the phone book that is VERY expensive. I pay close to $3k/m to advertise in 2 different phone books. Putting up ads in grocery stores, gyms, etc... is alot more affordable.
 
Thats why you should stick with the free advertising. I would make some eye catching business cards though. There are places on the net where you can design your own business cards with the front being as many colors as you want and the back with all the info. Thats what I did and I got 1,000 full color business cards for $50 and I designed them myself. Very cool looking :D

Remember to make eye catching business cards.
 
Originally posted by IceMan2k@Aug 8, 2003 @ 06:15 PM

Thats why you should stick with the free advertising. I would make some eye catching business cards though. There are places on the net where you can design your own business cards with the front being as many colors as you want and the back with all the info. Thats what I did and I got 1,000 full color business cards for $50 and I designed them myself. Very cool looking :D

Remember to make eye catching business cards.

well I was a graphic design minor, so that helps :)
 
how bout a business name?

does racketboy strike bad connotations?

I don't want something cheesy though

how bout using my first name for something simple?
 
what are your thoughts on them bringing the machine to you or you going to them?

do both?

charge differently?
 
I guess it depends on the situation.

If it just a quick diagnostic thing or something like installing RAM or a PCI/AGP card, I guess I'd just do it on location if it was fairly close.

Otherwise, I'd like to do it at my place.

There's no way I would wait at somebody's place while installing Windows

Well maybe if they had a nice Sega collection and let me play while I wait :)
 
3000 $ month ?

it cant be that high

theres a ton of dingy places that i know of that advertize and i dont think they can afford 3 grand a mo -- im not even talking about 1/6 page add im talking about a 5 line white square in the A's a small thing that separates you from the "other" one line buisness name and number guys -- that cant be 3 grand --

ice -- you guys get a new phne book every month? -- here its once a year
 
I have mine advertised in the following:

Verizon Yellow Pages

Yellow Book

Christian Yellow Pages

Midweek Paper

I have a nice big add in each one too

If you do get an add get a black backround on white text, it really stands out.
 
Back
Top