For several years I have been operating my tiny business as strictly a side project which basically means when someone asks for computer help, I was who they asked, and little if any money exchanged hands. But through an acquaintance who referred me to one her own clients, I think I finally found the key to making my business work. Cheaper generally isn’t a word people want to be associated with, but in this case, cheaper doesn’t mean lower quality, just a better deal.

The referral needed some minor maintenance done to her computer as well as a printer set up while I was there. Based off what I had been told before I arrived, I guessed it would be about a two hour job. Being a referral, I offer a discount as a ‘introductory’ fee, although I think for any referral I get I may keep them at the rate I charged last night, because while still very worth my time, my new client was getting a deal when compared to a place like Geek Squad (which I spied their leavings behind while there).

Being small, and still being able to offer a competitive price for home based clients who might not need anything more than a simple anti-virus update, or a windows update that they weren’t quite sure about seems like a winning combination. It turned out I was there a little over 3 hours, I capped it at 3 hours because being an older couple, much of the time was spent talking or trading stories (a good skill to have) while I was working on their machine.

I still have my day job, which I actually left later than planned so I arrived at my clients house roughly an hour later than I had originally wanted. By the time I was finished, it was nearly 11 PM. But I was quite a bit heavier in the pockets than when I arrived, so while it looks like there will be many a later evening than I would normally keep, I think the profits are definitely going to be worth the extra effort.