This is the type of e-mail’s I get from others in the industry

Dan,

I need your help.

None of this crap works. I just finished reading posts on Technibble and Podnutz for the past few years and haven’t made a dime. I bought e-books, video courses, audio courses, key word tools, and complete businesses in a box and NONE of them work.

I am a member of some of the community groups in my town. I thought about going to a Chamber of Commerce meeting, but I bet they already have people there who are providing the exact same services I offering.

So, I thought about building websites, but everyone I know already has one. I thought about offering SEO services, but I can’t even remember what SEO stands for, so that’s probably not the service for me. Plus, I never update my own website, so I guess it really does not matter.

I was thinking off-site backups was a solution I could provide, but I looked at a whole bunch of them and too many to choose from so probably not worth doing it. Plus, nobody told me exactly how much I can make. I am not going to put any effort into it unless I am told specifics on how much money I will make.

Mobile marketing sounds really cool, but since I don’t have a cell phone I don’t know how I would show someone how to do it, or take advantage of it. Plus, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola and all those companies that use it probably don’t know what they are doing.

A newsletter seemed like a good idea, but then I have to have the time to create it every month or every few months. I am sure after the first time it is a real hassle and not really worth doing. Plus, if I send them to my customers they don’t need to read them, if they ever have another computer problem I’m sure they will remember me from last year or the year before and just call me again.

I was going to get a list of businesses in the area and make myself go to a few of them each and every week. But, then I remember I am not good with talking to people so I’ll just either mail them something or I am sure if they are having problems they will call me. Plus, if I go there then I have to have some material to give them or some business cards and that’s just a waste of money.

Even thought about getting some certifications but I am sure that the one proposal I did for a possible business contract really did not care if I had any certs or not. I think they were looking at experience. I guess I could of asked them, but did not feel like bothering them even tho I did put a few hours into that proposal. And if this business thing does not work out and I have to get a job somewhere I’m sure they will pay for my certs.

I am thinking maybe I will start keeping a planner or scheduler and each week I’ll try to plan my upcoming week and putting things in there to do such as area canvassing, working on marketing materials, meeting people, going to luncheon gatherings of small businesses, working on my website, and a variety of other things. But, now just looking over what I typed if I do all those things I’ll never get anything accomplished. I sort of like just getting up each day and seeing what happens and playing it by ear…

Oh never mind, forget it. Think I’ll go back to the tech section and see if there are any other ideas out there I might try.

Thanks!

Yoda

With the economy in a bit of hard times I deal with other business owners on a daily basis who wonder the same as everyone else when it will get better. Obviously, that is not something that you want to have to think about on a daily basis but some businesses owners have to do just that.

It makes me think how does one stay ahead? How does one make sure the at in times like this that their business will not be affected like others?

What I do is continually look at new things, products, services, etc and see how they can be incorporated into our business model. The way I look at things, the more services you can offer to your customers the better chance you have of always being in demand. Obviously this is not something that you want to do when times are not too good. You need to continually do this as part of your business plan. Always looking out for things, always seeing that new technologies are out there.

Make a list and try to add to it. You don’t have to implement everything you think of into your business but at least you have a list that you can pull from. Maybe something catches your eye then you do not act on it, but a year later there it is again. Now, maybe it’s time to move on it.

 I know we started like most others, small computer repair out of their home or a small store front. It did not take long to realize that we needed to do more to be successful and to get to a place that we wanted to be.

Things we have implemented into our business:

Online backups
Managed services
Remote computer repair
Web design & hosting
Community portals

On top of those things we published:
Computer Repair Business Lessons Learned (for this product it was not as much as how much it can make, but the satisfaction we get in helping others)
Pc Dice (been a great product for us carried by some of the big boyz)
American Home Inventory Protection (Nationwide affiliate program for home/business inventories)

I am sure there are other things also…..but you get the idea….

Stay on top of things. Always be looking for new things. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Wrote an article on Remote Services and what options are out there for the small computer business in order to provide this service. Some of the things covered are the Bomgar and also LogMeIn . You can download your copy now from this link here

Dan
Computer Repair Business Lessons Learned