
Ask HN: Have you ever been a one man Geek Squad? (Of course you have) - deathbyzen
I'm planning to go into business for myself (a "startup," surely you've heard of them) and providing the local citizens with an alternative to the Geek Squad. For those who don't know, Geek Squad is owned by Best Buy and they provide home installation and support of various electronics. Problem is, they suck. Or, at least, I know I can do it better.<p>Essentially, I want to be the computer guy for people who have little or no computer experience, but also provide support for people who know what they're doing but don't want to get ripped off by the Geek Squad. You know, a computer handyman with an old-timey-doctor feel. Walking in with my stethescope and big medical bag of tricks, telling the user to use Firefox instead of IE and to drink lots of fluids.<p>The problem I'm running into is that I know the "What" but not the "How." My starting point will probably be to see what the Geek Squad charges. Then, I'll see if there are any other local computer handymen and what they do and what they charge. Then, when I'm sure how to go about it I'll get the word out.<p>My question is how did you/would you go about it? If you've done it before, what was the experience like? What problems did you/do you run into? Are there any books/websites that you would reccomend for first-timers managing their own business?<p>Feedback is much appreciated.
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SwellJoe
This is not a startup...it's a small business. Nothing wrong with that, of
course. A small business is awesome, and generally better for your finances
and emotional well-being than working for someone else. But, it doesn't have
the same end result as a startup, and the way you build one successfully is
very different.

I've done contract work for a few small businesses over the years, similar to
the business you describe (though I charged more than Geek Squad, and provided
somewhat higher end services...like Linux and UNIX administration, network
infrastructure buildouts, etc.). The yellow pages got me two jobs in the two
years that I ran an ad (and a helluva lot of crazy people who wanted me to
tell them how the government kept finding out what they were doing on their
computer, or tell them how to find out what their spouse or child was doing on
the computer, and for free). So, that's a non-starter. Advertising on Google
AdWords, with very specific targeting might be the ticket. It's how I found
the dog walking and sitting service I use, and probably other services.

Check Craigslist for people looking for some work in your areas of expertise.
It'll be bigger projects, of course, but it'll help with word of mouth. If you
do a good job, it only takes a few customers to kickstart a good career as a
contractor. If you always plan to increase your rate and the complexity of
services you offer, you can definitely get to $100-$150k/year in a few years,
at which point, you can either start hiring other techs and build your own
Geek Squad (maybe even turning it into a startup!), or just keep working, and
tucking away 20% each year. I know several folks who retired in their early
fifties on this plan, and with a couple million in the bank (I inherited a few
of their clients).

Personally, I found the work...ummm...frustrating, and draining, and far more
stressful than I was comfortable with. I was really good at it, and I kept
cranking up my rate until I was making $150/hour, and clients were happy to
pay it. But, it just wasn't my bag. You won't know until you try, though.

~~~
deathbyzen
Thanks, you've given me a lot to think about.

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DanielBMarkham
Quick Version:

1) Charge at least 45/hour. Yes you can charge less, but no it doesn't scale.
I might even go higher. You have to make enough so you can pay all the fun
taxes and insurance premiums you need -- even if you decide to skip out of
them for a while.

2) Have a minimum hour block. Back in the dark ages, I used to have a 3 hour
minimum. So if you had a problem and were willing to pay for 3 hours, I would
come (to your business) and fix your computer. Now that I'm in management
consulting I charge by the day. If you don't block out your time, your clients
will make your life hell.

3) Knock on some doors. Best way to make sales. Go downtown and start knocking
on doors. Ten bucks says within the first 20 doors you make a sale. Repeat and
rinse.

4) Never work for free. That means NEVER. Even for your mom. Word will get out
and you'll end up too busy to work your business.

5) Be ready to refund people's money. I used to have one rule: if you're
unhappy in any way, you get your money back. Sure -- I got jerks. But I never
dealt with them twice.

6) Enjoy the performance. On-site consulting is like one of those plays where
the audience gets to participate. Know your stuff and be good at performance
art. Remember to the end-user, they have no idea of what anything is worth.
Their stuff is broken and you can fix it. So when you do, do a good job. Do
extra work. Ham it up a bit. Tell some jokes. Have fun. People will remember
you in a happy way, even if their wallet still stings. <\-- That's exactly the
way you want to be remembered.

~~~
deathbyzen
I appreciate it!

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run4yourlives
My own two cents:

I wouldn't do this because your customers are cheap idiots _who don't realize
they're cheap idiots_.

I personally don't think the small amount of money you make is worth the
headaches you will face. I think you'll have better luck targeting small
businesses as "outsourced IT" help than targeting home users.

Good luck to you though, regardless.

~~~
bk
I mostly agree. The single most important thing you have to do when starting a
company (esp. without funding) is to choose the right customers.

How efficiently can you reach them? How well can you turn these leads into
customers? What is their willingness and ability to pay, i.e. how much would
your service be worth to them (e.g. in otherwise lost productivity)?

The last point kills a lot of consumer market segments for smart small
business startups, because the ratio of customer acquisition costs and
overhead to revenue is too crappy, aka profitability sucks, aka you're in the
red too long and growth/scalability are limited.

Good luck!

~~~
deathbyzen
You've given me some things to think about and I appreciate it.

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jharrison
It sounds like you haven't ever actually done what you propose to do. I think
you'd be better off getting a job with one of the outfits you intend to mimic,
first.

Like SwellJoe, I've also been contracting for a number of years.

Early on I went to the homes of computer users and fixed their problems. Let
me just say, those were some of the worst experiences of my tech career. Don't
get me wrong, if going into a stranger's home, often into their bedroom or
other intimate space, and mingling with their pets, breathing their smoke or
other noxious odor is your idea of a great way to make a buck (I use that term
loosely), then this is EXACTLY what you should be doing. I personally can't
stand it and will never do it again. I often get employees of my clients
asking me if I make housecalls. The answer is always no.

If you ever intend to make money supporting businesses then you should be
employed with a company that does that in order to learn the ropes and truly
identify the needs of that market. It sounds like all you have right now is
your anecdotal opinion of what Geek Squad is, or does. If you think you're
going to make any useful amount of money visiting individual homes, you're
likely in for a rude awakening.

The way I did it was to consume all things tech while I had another job and
occasionally help friends, family, and referrals with their computer problems.
That never did anything but give me occasional lunch money. I then took a
couple of MCSE courses because I got them cheap. With those courses and some
confidence that I knew wtf I was talking about, I got a job with a company
that had a larger company as its client. I worked for that company for a year
fixing 5-10 computers a day (I was one of several supporting 800 users). I
left that job straight to contracting because I actually knew something then.
I had actual experience in the corporate support world.

I was an employed contractor for 3 years after which I went completely solo.
That was 7 years ago. Today I (me, solo) support about 80 computers across 4
clients and I do web development as it comes, by referral. My rate is $95/hr.
and I've been told I could/should raise it many times.

Hope this helps.

~~~
deathbyzen
It does and it echoes something a friend of mine told me to do. He said the
same thing you did which was to get experience working at the Geek Squad or
something similar to see how its all done. Thanks for your input.

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scumola
I used to love a small business in my local town that used to do this. He sold
cheap, korean PC hardware and charged by the hour to fix problems for people.
He had a real store front and was in business for at least 5 years before Best
Buy moved into town and took his business away. I think that small companies
like this are a dying breed and sorely missed. I like Best Buy but only
because they seem to be the only game in town. If you do a good job with your
little mom-n-pops place, then work will travel around and you'll probably do
ok, but the main thing that you need to worry about is losing business to the
big-box retailers who do service as a second business.

Perhaps advertise using huge signs on the front of your storefront telling
people that you're a better Geek Squad than Best Buy or something would help
you out.

Small car repair places still exist and do well against the dealerships in the
automotive industry, but they do it via undercutting the service price and
doing a good job and advertising using local media and word of mouth.

If you feel like you will get enough clients to support your business, then
more power to ya!

~~~
deathbyzen
Thanks!

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noodle
i've actually considered doing this.

something to consider is nerds on site, which is basically an international
group of contract workers doing what you're doing, but they provide a network
of support for the process.

something worth considering is providing the service of at least attempting to
diagnose problems via VNC, instead of making house calls like geek squad does.
provides the one-on-one support by inspecting the computer, but doesn't incur
the cost of making a house call. it'll probably be easy to spin it as
beneficial, since one wouldn't have to cough up a house call bill for a minor
issue.

