Best way to drum up a little home-pc repair business?

"I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud Internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fiber optic T1 line. Will you be able to provide an IP router that's compatible with my token ring Ethernet LAN configuration?"

 

I think a neighborhood newsletter would help you. I'll talk to your mom about it first.

 

I'm certain you WOULD want to do that.

Bojangles, sir, do we have pictures of your mom already? If not, please post pics.

WRONG. The correct answer is:

Homer: (after staring blankly) "Can I have some money now?"

:grin:

 

Yes. Go to Best Buy, stand next to the Geek Squad and charge a fraction of what they charge when ripping off old people (as in charging $200 to run spybot, malwarebytes, registry booster on a PC)

 

I recognized this quote right away, My life is pathetic.

 

Not "next to it." Stand just outside the entrance and when you see someone walking in with an older PC, you say: "Hey, got problems? I'm better than GEEKSquad and will charge you even less..." and then make a comment about the old guy's wife walking with him: "Look, you have a hot wife, I know you're a smart guy... so..."

 

Watch the way you treat old folks... Epic beard man might cave in your face...

 

You should raise your prices a little.

Staples charges $129 for virus / malware removal.....

And IIRC, Geek Squad is around there too.


I just see it difficult to get started for the most part, because people trust "big businesses" more with their data. To a point. Gotta get that reputation up.

Good Luck!

 

^^ Should he get moes, The_YoYo, or durvasa to join him? They have LOTS of rep points.

 

Repair the PC at their home. You can charge more and find more customers this way. There are a lot of people who don't know anything about PC's and they're too lazy to take it to Best Buy etc. Offer in home pc repair for a cheaper price than Best Buy etc and you'll make a killing. Ask Sugarland PC....aka Katy PC...etc. This is what they do.

 

My mom 'has a guy' from the neighbourhood who does that stuff.

He dropped a flyer at her door. She's referred him to several others -- so word of mouth is your key. Many people who need your help don't fully trust the classifieds and don't read craigslist.

There are lots of people (especially older folks) looking for 'some young kid' who can do this stuff. Post a note at the senior's centre? Put on a basic computer seminar at a neigbourhood house?

Good luck.

And I agree with Vivi's beau. If you can do the repair in their home it makes it much much easier for them.

 

Yes there's a lot of people who don't anything about PC's so it would be okay to leave your account logged on some sites..

 

Doesn't everybody know a "guy" that does computer repairs? And those who don't usually aren't savvy enough to look in Craigslist go to Best Buys.

I tried this in college and made about 100 bucks... in 6 months.

 

Word of mouth and business cards are the key. Make sure to drop them cards every time you work on someones machine. Just be advised that if you work on a friend or family members machine for one hour they believe they are entitled to a lifetime of support.

 

THIS. Such a major pain in the ass. After fixing one thing, one old lady wanted to me fix everything. Hell, I replaced lights in her living room ceiling lol. Got like $30 for 5-10 min of work though. meh.

 

This kind of pricing with hurt you in the long run. If you're able to go to their house run malwarebytes and it fixes it then it's okay, but if it doesn't you will be costing yourself. You could end up spending hours on a pc until you decide the only way to fix it is to backup the data and reformat the hard drive.