Business Idea...What You think?

[marcath]

My computer started to get really slow...took it to a local "big box" computer store and they said it probably had ad-ware, malware, and maybe some small viruses on it.

They wanted $130 to clean above problem from the computer. Looked around and that price is about the going rate, with some places $130 was the starting rate, and I had to bring the machine into the stores.

Did some personal investigation for info. on removing above problems, found it wasn't hard to remove.

Also found out that most programs offered don't work well while computer is running in Regular mode, a much, much, better clean is gotten when run in " safe mode". Was intimiadated by the "Techie" talk but found out it is very easy to run in "safe mode"


IDEA....

What if I offered to clean homeowners personal computers from above problems to make them run faster and charged only $99, and I will pick up and deliever the computer to and from their home.

Cleaning a computer takes about 2 hours average time.

I did research on passing out flyers door to door in subdivisions close to my home. What I read stated that you will probably get a 1-2% return on your flyer distribution.

Every 100 flyers hopefully I get 2 jobs. If my wife and I pass out 100 flyers a day, that would get us 2 jobs a day, or 10 week. We need the exercise, so passing them out ourselves would help us get into shape LOL

10 week = 40 month = $3,960.00 a month,

subtract 25% ( I think high ) in tax

= $2,970.00 a month or $38,610.00 a year , about what I make a year if I am not laid off...which I have been for the last 4 months.

If We can get up to 5cleans a day....(is it possible? ) it would still take about 2 -2 1/2 hours to clean the way I have it set up in my head...

and we could make $128,700 a year before tax

I think most folks don't know how to properly clean their comps, don't have time, or don't know any better, so my thought is this might work.

What do you think of this idea? Any imput is appriciated....

PS I live in the outskirts aof a major midwest city...

[bajiay]

That is what I need done right now. I would pay you to do it if you weren't so far away! We are in Montana at the edge of the earth.....

[treasureacres]

I would also check with small or medium size businesses that may have multiple computers under one roof. This size of company probably would not have their own computer tech in house.

[furholler]

I think the last part is your big ticket, living outside a major city. Otherwise, I'm not sure you'd get the jobs you're looking for. Can't hurt to try.

[clovis]

I think that 2 jobs from every 100 flyers is ambitious...but what do I know?

Your best selling (aka getting jobs) is going to be from word of mouth and with face to face contact. Read some Zig Ziglar books about selling. Selling isn't about high pressure or fancy words, nor is it about trickery or show downs with clients.

Getting jobs is about building relationships, telling people about the services you offer, and following up if need be, and delivering more than you promise. Network whenever possible.

I agree that small businesses and organizations could be the key to success. Most small businesses can't afford to employ an IT person.

Nonetheless, I say go for it. What do you have to lose? $40 worth of printing? There are 10 million people out there that need your service, including me, but have no idea where to take our computers for clean up.

[Harry Chickpea]

'Did some personal investigation for info. on removing above problems, found it wasn't hard to remove."

Uhhhhhhh...

Uhhhhhhh...

no.

SOME problems are easy fixes on SOME computers. If this is the first experience you have had, you are in WAY over your head. What do you do when someone says they want the job done, you get the computer and find it has Monkey-B, a root kit, two keyloggers and a few other problems PLUS an internal hardware problem? What if the computer is networked, has multiple (or removable) drives, is partly encrypted, has a problem with the FAT, and so on?

I've written professional programs from scratch, removed a few problems from other folks computers, and am smarter than the average bear, but I would hesitate on committing to what you are contemplating.

Then you have liability issues, the need to pay sales tax, register a dba (at least), and have a contact number open to anyone at any hour.

[seagullplayer]

If I was unemployed I would jump on it.

Make some business cards and tape one to the back of every computer you work on.
News travels fast good and bad.

I have yet to get a straight answer on anything from a computer tech at a box store, if most people are like me, they don't trust them.

Just offer what you can do, and learn more as you go. If you can't fix something, let them know. If you run into that a lot, offer a small fee to evaluate the problem?

Perhaps of interest:

http://www.beyourownit.com/

[MoonRiver]

Who will be liable for the computer while it is in your care?

When you mess up someone's machine so that it won't boot, what is your responsibility?

Someone claims you stole information off their machine and is threatening to sue you. What do you do?

How do you measure success? Owner gets their machine back and says it is still slow. Do they not have to pay?

Printer worked before you worked on machine. Now it doesn't.

After you cleaned the machine, one of the applications won't run.

You find child porn on a machine. Do you call the police?

[Kwings]

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

'Did some personal investigation for info. on removing above problems, found it wasn't hard to remove."

Uhhhhhhh...

Uhhhhhhh...

no.

SOME problems are easy fixes on SOME computers. If this is the first experience you have had, you are in WAY over your head. What do you do when someone says they want the job done, you get the computer and find it has Monkey-B, a root kit, two keyloggers and a few other problems PLUS an internal hardware problem? What if the computer is networked, has multiple (or removable) drives, is partly encrypted, has a problem with the FAT, and so on?

I've written professional programs from scratch, removed a few problems from other folks computers, and am smarter than the average bear, but I would hesitate on committing to what you are contemplating.

Then you have liability issues, the need to pay sales tax, register a dba (at least), and have a contact number open to anyone at any hour.

I have to kind of agree with this. I am very good at many things and one of them is getting viruses, spyware, and malware INTO my computer.

My mom is really good with computers, she's the one who always gets these things out of my computer for me and she also does it for everyone in the family and some people at work. Sometimes it can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple day for her to figure out how to get these things out of the computers.

I think your being a little ambitious thinking it won't take you long to get it done but if your willing to accept that it could possibly take you DAYS to figure out how to weasel these things out the their computers then go for it.

[Kari]

Originally Posted by marcath

IDEA....

What if I offered to clean homeowners personal computers from above problems to make them run faster and charged only $99, and I will pick up and deliever the computer to and from their home.

Cleaning a computer takes about 2 hours average time.

I did research on passing out flyers door to door in subdivisions close to my home. What I read stated that you will probably get a 1-2% return on your flyer distribution.

Every 100 flyers hopefully I get 2 jobs. If my wife and I pass out 100 flyers a day, that would get us 2 jobs a day, or 10 week. We need the exercise, so passing them out ourselves would help us get into shape LOL

10 week = 40 month = $3,960.00 a month,

subtract 25% ( I think high ) in tax

= $2,970.00 a month or $38,610.00 a year , about what I make a year if I am not laid off...which I have been for the last 4 months.

If We can get up to 5cleans a day....(is it possible? ) it would still take about 2 -2 1/2 hours to clean the way I have it set up in my head...

and we could make $128,700 a year before tax

I think most folks don't know how to properly clean their comps, don't have time, or don't know any better, so my thought is this might work.

What do you think of this idea? Any imput is appriciated....

PS I live in the outskirts aof a major midwest city...

I do this kind of work as part of my day job and also in my own consulting business. Not to dissuade you, however if you do not years of tech experience in many facets of computer systems, you will be soon in over your head and not making money or gaining clients.

Malware removal is a science in itself and although when most people who try and clean their pc themselves do not realize that 80% of the time, simply running an anti-malware program is enough. Yes it may clean the pc of the readily apparent infections, but I spend 80% of my time cleaning pc's manually as not every program is good enough to detect all traces of malware. The manual cleaning is based on years of doing this and involves a lot of intuition and knowing if a certain file in a folder or loaded in memory is legit or not.

Your numbers on the number of "5 cleans" per day is too high and you will need to set your goals lower. I can go weeks without any malware removal clients then have a flood all at once....in other words, feast or famine.

I invoice this type of work at $175.00 per pc and waive the fee if the pc is past the point of successful malware removal.

If you do decide to take on this, be sure to have a signed agreement that has passed legal review (I have 6 different versions depending on type of client I am working with.)

Finally, I would be interested in your pc tech background and if you have ever worked professionally in the tech industry.

For those in this forum who have pc problems, the HT Computer Questions forum is a great place to ask questions...which I (and others) will happily answer free of charge.