Thinking about starting a small business... need some advice

1. Greetings fellow geeks! Due to my wife recently accepting a new job, I have recently decided that I want to start my own small business. Because I will be moving to a small town I would like to focus on offering remote technical assistance to residential customers. However, the town I will be moving to has only one retail location for computer repair so I might offer local support services too but do not want to open a retail location. I currently have a B.S. in Finance and have no certifications. So there's my background. Now I need advice from all of you.

   From what I have researched comTIA A+ seems like a must but have noticed various other certifications. What online training and certifications would you suggest?

   For remote software I prefer LogMeIn but it is quite expensive. Teamviewer seems reasonably priced for a lifetime license. As far as I am aware VNC doesn't offer a one click link option such as Teamviewer and LogMeIn rescue.

   Marketing seems to be the real issue. I plan to do some web advertising and some local advertising in newspapers etc. Also, my university offers free advertising for its former students so I will take advantage of the that. Ideas?

   Thanks to everyone for their advice in advanced.

   
   

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   thedukehimself
   

   Reputation:2

   Posted 3 months ago

   
   

2. I've used TeamViewer (Free, and the Pro Free Trial), VNC, and I've seen colleagues use LMI Rescue.

   I use TeamViewer for 'personal' tech support, for people that I know, from home etc. What I tend to do is if I'm setting a computer up, or if I've already been on-site two or more times, I install TeamViewer onto their machines, and put the shortcut for it into a folder on the desktop containing other things like notes/logs of what I do.

   I find it works OK for me, and I'll admit I haven't had to use it for a good month or two now (which in a sense is good as my fixes seem to have worked!), and they've got a new version out.

   LMI seems very good, but I haven't used it personally myself, so I won't go into any detail, but generally customers seem reassured by it (unsure as to why), and our team seems to like using it, only downside is the various plugins which I think you have to install support-side, but not customer-side.

   VNC is an iffy one, for first time users (customer-side) it can look a bit 'scary' depending on which package you go for.

   Marketing-wise, best tip for any business, small or large, is word of mouth. I don't do any formal advertising for my 'job' (still a student but do camera operation/production in most of my spare time), all of my work comes from word of mouth/repeat bookings, so you may want to consider doing some first-time freebies for a few people so that you can the word out. Leaving a leaflet may help, buy also, it may be helpful to have an ad in your local paper if you're struggling to get more customers.

   James

   
   

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   lake54
   

   Reputation:1

   Posted 3 months ago