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How would you advertise computer services to local small businesses?

K

kyzen

Golden Member
In order to supplement my income for awhile I'm thinking about trying to whore out my computer skills to some local small businesses, in whatever capacity possible. I'm knowledgeable in networking (can set up a server, domain controller, printers, etc, on a small to medium scale), intermediate knowledge with a few languages (mostly a .NET developer), and excessive knowledge with junk like Access and Excel.

I know a few people in my dorm 3 years ago made a couple hundred bucks a month supporting some local businesses computer systems, and one guy made a pretty basic customer billing system in Access for them, so I'm looking to do about the same. This would be in addition to my day job, so I imagine it would be mostly an evening/weekend thing.

I just don't know how to get the word out. Flyers? Calls? Ads in the paper? What would be effective? Hopefully there's some business owners here... what would get your attention (pretend for a moment you actually needed the help)?
 
If you want to get popular, give out free service for a week.
Just charge people some "transportation" fee. The fee required to reach their place.

Put this in a newspaper or radio...
I am sure, you will get some attention.

Best of luck with your new business.
 
Originally posted by: maximus maximus
If you want to get popular, give out free service for a week.
Just charge people some "transportation" fee. The fee required to reach their place.

Put this in a newspaper or radio...
I am sure, you will get some attention.

Best of luck with your new business.
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Thanks, though I wouldn't call it a business quite yet... it's still just an idea 😉

The other option is an overnight shelf stocking job, or a pizza delivery gig (which would ruin the car I'm saving to replace) so I hope my idea pays off 😛
 
MAke a flyer with big words : *I'll give you the broom....all you gotta do is shove it up my ass*

^at least what you will be getting yourself into...
 
Originally posted by: kyzen
Originally posted by: maximus maximus
If you want to get popular, give out free service for a week.
Just charge people some "transportation" fee. The fee required to reach their place.

Put this in a newspaper or radio...
I am sure, you will get some attention.

Best of luck with your new business.
Click to expand...

Thanks, though I wouldn't call it a business quite yet... it's still just an idea 😉

The other option is an overnight shelf stocking job, or a pizza delivery gig (which would ruin the car I'm saving to replace) so I hope my idea pays off 😛
Click to expand...

people love free stuff. Also, give people some incentives for referring you to their freinds and relatives.

I am sure you will be a big hit.

Whatever it is that you are starting, work hard and I am sure it will pay off. 🙂
Good luck.

 
Originally posted by: kyzen

This would be in addition to my day job, so I imagine it would be mostly an evening/weekend thing.
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Think again on that one my friend. If your main client is a small business owner when do you think they're gonna call you/need you? During BUSINESS HOURS. If you aren't available, they'll find someone who is.

The only way you can build a good, solid customer base is through networking. A friend of a friend reffered me kinda thing.

Then you need to have a few references to back your self up. It wouldn't hurt to come up with a brief intro letter about yourself and what you do/offer. Keep it simple so it doesn't end up in the trash.

Another alternative is to throw on a nice shirt and tie and hit up a few businesses in person. Maybe even offering them free services (or greatly reduced) for their first job with you to lure them into giving you a good chance. Once you've done that, go above and beyond on your customer service and professionalism, because they WILL talk about you to other people and you don't want it to be negative. Word of mouth advertising can make or break you and it's more effective than any other form of advertising in my opinion.

Establish a good reputaion from the get go or you'll doom yourself. Also say to your clients "Hey Mr. so and so, if you really like my work please keep me in mind if anyone you know could use my services." then ask to leave a few cards with that person.

Oh, and a no brainer, get cards made up. Professional one's, not some sh1t you printed yourself and cut freehand with scissors.

Good luck.

 
Another suggestion is to join the local Chamber of Commerce, Business Association, Rotary Club or whatever organization local businesspeople belong to in your area. Show up at the meetings, get to know people.
 
Good advice so far 🙂

Unfortunately, the availability time is pretty set in stone at the moment; if this turns into something more profitable than what I'm aiming for, I'd consider quitting my day job to persue it further.

What would be a fair rate to charge? I envision this as a kind of amateur consulting thing. I presently make $10/hr doing what boils down to minor bug fixes, application modifications, and craploads of report generatiing. I'm pretty confident that I'm underpaid. The average apartment cost around here is roughly 95 cents per square foot for multi bedroom places, and $1.04 for one bedroom places. Would $18/hr for application development and $15/hr for support be too much? Too little?
 
Originally posted by: kyzen
Good advice so far 🙂

Unfortunately, the availability time is pretty set in stone at the moment; if this turns into something more profitable than what I'm aiming for, I'd consider quitting my day job to persue it further.

What would be a fair rate to charge? I envision this as a kind of amateur consulting thing. I presently make $10/hr doing what boils down to minor bug fixes, application modifications, and craploads of report generatiing. I'm pretty confident that I'm underpaid. The average apartment cost around here is roughly 95 cents per square foot for multi bedroom places, and $1.04 for one bedroom places. Would $18/hr for application development and $15/hr for support be too much? Too little?
Click to expand...

Depends on the client and how difficult the work is. But right off the bat, 18/hrs for application development is too little unless you are a crappy developer...and even so I have seen really crappy programmers making way more than that.

Regards

ng

 
Too little.

For app development, quote it by the job, not the hourly rate. For support, go $30/hour and if you want offer "discounts" to get new business, do it that way. First five hours are half-price, or something.
 
Originally posted by: ngvepforever2
Originally posted by: kyzen
Good advice so far 🙂

Unfortunately, the availability time is pretty set in stone at the moment; if this turns into something more profitable than what I'm aiming for, I'd consider quitting my day job to persue it further.

What would be a fair rate to charge? I envision this as a kind of amateur consulting thing. I presently make $10/hr doing what boils down to minor bug fixes, application modifications, and craploads of report generatiing. I'm pretty confident that I'm underpaid. The average apartment cost around here is roughly 95 cents per square foot for multi bedroom places, and $1.04 for one bedroom places. Would $18/hr for application development and $15/hr for support be too much? Too little?
Click to expand...

Depends on the client and how difficult the work is. But right off the bat, 18/hrs for application development is too little unless you are a crappy developer...and even so I have seen really crappy programmers making way more than that.

Regards

ng
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Yea all the geeks (geeks on call, geek squad) charge atleast $100 an hour for tech support. I charge $50 for the first hour and 35 every one after that
 
Originally posted by: kranky
Too little.

For app development, quote it by the job, not the hourly rate. For support, go $30/hour and if you want offer "discounts" to get new business, do it that way. First five hours are half-price, or something.
Click to expand...

Yea, I was charging $50/hr a few years ago when I was doing side work.
 
Well this is definitely uplifting. If I could get 50 hours of work a month at only $30 an hour I could definitely quit my day job for this 😛

Being underpaid for the past year and a half seems to have warped my view of decent pay 😱
 
Originally posted by: Drakkon
MAke a flyer with big words : *I'll give you the broom....all you gotta do is shove it up my ass*

^at least what you will be getting yourself into...
Click to expand...

Sad but true.🙁
 
Originally posted by: azazyel
flyers at strip clubs. you could then write off the door charge as an advertising expense.
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brilliant!... except my ex works at a strip club, and I have no desire to accidentally arrive at the one she is working at.

quote:

Originally posted by: Drakkon
MAke a flyer with big words : *I'll give you the broom....all you gotta do is shove it up my ass*

^at least what you will be getting yourself into...
Click to expand...



Sad but true.
Click to expand...

That's basically how it is now; I'm on call 24/7, and our users are idiots. I've been woken up at 2 am by somebody reporting an outage... which turned out to be a new group of hires were inputing text into a field that takes only numbers, and somehow decided that the popup telling them to enter a number was in fact a catastrophic error.

 
Local newspaper--but you may wan't to get a business license and a DBA account first. You might also consider cold-calling local business.
 
Originally posted by: fitzov
Local newspaper--but you may wan't to get a business license and a DBA account first. You might also consider cold-calling local business.
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I was thinking about advertising in a local county paper. it's pretty pricey and i've never done stuff like this before so I was actually debating. I think once I get a payday from 1 client I'm going to put that $ into advertising in the local paper.

has anyone done this type of advertising before?
 
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
beware that if you get in over your head and screw up something important, someone will sue you or kick your ass.
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Do not take this comment lightly. If you were to screw up critical data while doing work for a business, I hope you have both a good backup and a good liability policy.
 
Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
beware that if you get in over your head and screw up something important, someone will sue you or kick your ass.
Click to expand...

Do not take this comment lightly. If you were to screw up critical data while doing work for a business, I hope you have both a good backup and a good liability policy.
Click to expand...

Another headsup on this... This is the most important piece, and can be used as a sales pitch as well.
 
Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
beware that if you get in over your head and screw up something important, someone will sue you or kick your ass.
Click to expand...

Do not take this comment lightly. If you were to screw up critical data while doing work for a business, I hope you have both a good backup and a good liability policy.
Click to expand...

Finally. I was going to post this warning, but want to see if anyone else made it first. Sad that it's so far down in the thread.

This is 100% correct, though. You need to be insured not only for hardware you might break, but critical data and income you may cost a company if you screw up.
 
it always amuses me when people start threads like this. They figure since they have knowledge of computers they can make some money.

As everyone has said it is not as easy as it sounds. or everyone would be doing it (yes i know the market is already flooded with people with some knowledge). you have to be on call 24/7 and be prepared to kiss ass even when the costumer is wrong for a few years.

but anyway advice i can give.

advertise advertise advertise.

in the paper, college paper (if one around), make flayers and see if places will put them up for a discount on support, find out if your city has a small business organization. Go ot it and kiss ass.

Try to make friends with the local print shop. When i started my store i did free support for a huge discount on flyer's, cards etc. I also volunteered at the local old folks home to show them how to Email and use the web etc. Also had it set up where i would show people how to perform upgrades (hardware and software). i did everything i could to get a good reputation. granted i did this ohh 10+ years ago
 
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