Hi guys, I'm starting up a little computer service gig so I can pay my brother back for the Tool tickets he bought us, and possibly earn more money to help out in college this fall. I've already created a flyer with the following information: Spyware and virus removal Speeding up computer(like msconfig configurations, removing unwanted programs) Hardware installation Port forwarding Alright, my question is, how much should I charge for some of the following? Should it be hourly? And should I add/remove anything I have there?
Are you visiting people? I don't know how much this would equate to in USD, but I would be charging around £10 callout fee+ about £10-15 an hour. Alternatively I would charge £25 callout then include the first hours labour in that.
Yeah, I'll be visiting. I'm just going to pass flyers around in my neighborhood, so should I still have a call out fee?
If you're good don't charge a callout fee. Most people hate callout fee's on the principal that you could charge £10 to come out to fix it and not actually fix the machine yet still pick up a callout charge! (Yes we know that sometimes repairs aren't possible, but that should be the exception not the norm) Offer to 'fix' the computer on a "no fix, no fee" basis. Charge £10 per hour max. Once you are established, then you can set your own ground rules on charges.
If you don't start off so fast, put an asterisk at the bottom offering sexual favors for an extra $20 an hour. ...Sorry, couldn't resist.
Depending on where you live, you could get a lot more than $20 an hour. I'd include a $10 call out charge (to prevent time wasters who just want to know what's wrong but don't want you to actually fix it - happens a lot) then $10-15 per half hour on a no-fix no-fee basis (excluding the call out charge. Put it on your flyer.) Most servicing is very straight forward, such as clearing out temp files/internet cache, running spybot, running windows update, installing new hardware and cleaning out dust and so forth. Places like Geek Squad charge a horrific amount of money to do the most simple of tasks. From my observations so far in the USA it seems that people are more than willing to pay extra if all they have to do is throw a little money at a problem to make it vanish. Around here people pay a small fortune for someone to cut their lawn once a week (takes around 15-20 minutes at most from what I have observed). I knew someone that got paid $80-100 for car detailing - about an hour or so per car. If you state you guarantee your work and explain your experience in the flyer then that validates the costs you charge. You can fluff it up a bit, perhaps by saying you have 4 years computer maintenance experience for example - you probably do just fixing you and your friend's computers over the last few I am betting - but make sure you actually can do everything you state you can. From a similar thing I did in the UK in the past, I also found it useful to take a laptop with you incase you need to research a problem online quickly, and you should prepare a disc of freeware tools that you can use to boot up the machine if needed, backup files, remove spyware, etc. A Windows 98/DOS boot disc is also very handy! If others are advertising a similar service in the paper (or wherever) you could also ring them and ask them what they charge. Pretend to be a potential customer though. You could also ask what kind of services they provide, to give you a better idea what else you could add. For your flyer, I wouldn't include things like msconfig configurations - chances are that if they know what that means they will be able to sort things out themself. In other words, rule out techy stuff and try for buzz lingo such as Spyware removal, Virus/hacker protection, Firewall set up, computer tune-up. Definitely add that you can set up wireless networks and advise people on hardware upgrades. Most people don't know where to go for that kind of help and wireless network installation is in quite high demand in most areas, in my experience. Also you need a catchy name, like "The Wizz-kid" or something corny like that.
All the local computer shops here failed after a few months, Seems like Best Buy is the place to go for non-tech people to get their PC fixed. It honestly seems like a losing venture.
