My dad and I came up with great idea of doing a neighborhood buisness to fix computers. Our neighborhood isn’t that big, with probably under 80 househoods. Our plan is to either do a visit-home service or a delivery thing where the consumer brings their problem to us. The entire neighborhood is pretty small, but we’re not too tight with all the neighbors. What kind of promotional flyer should we do? Should we put little printouts in everyone’s mailboxes? What about a name? What about pricing and such.
Well, those things (prices, name …) are up to you and your father. About the flyers: yeah, putting them in mailboxes wouldn’t be such a bad idea 
I would price it depending on how hard it was to fix. for instance, if they have a virus (not to hard to fix) somehting like $20+, but for something that involves opening the case up (most likely harder) $100+ Also, check with local stores that offer similar services, and charge about $10 (or some small percent) less.
Name: Think of something simple and catchy but not comercialized like the Fix-o-whatever 9002. Since its a family bussiness, maybe your last name as part of the company name could be considered.
I would put flyers in the doors as opposed to the mail box, some people don’t even look at their mailbox. (I know because I used to deliver the news paper, god, that sucked ***) Since its summer and I have lots of free time I could to the flyer in photoshop for you if you want. email me if you want to take me up on that offer.
Hmmm, name might be pretty simple, I can even just call it neighborhood fix for all I care. As for the mail idea, I think we’re going to stick with mailboxes, I really don’t want to go up to doors to put up flyers and get hunt down by dogs. The flyers are just going to be made in word, we’re not looking for anything fancy, so thanks Coppertop.
As for price. I’m not really trying to jit people of money, I’m just trying to do a decent buisness. My starting price I think will be $5 and what ever extra work, prices are negotiable, what do you think?
technically - tho in a small community pro’lly unenforced - putting anything in mailboxes is illegal. That is reserved for the post office and the owner of the box.
…better to buy some stamps
…hanging flyers on the front screen is not illegal unless there is a “no solicitors” posting in plain sight…
then there is the local paper, either an advertisement or an inserted flyer
or the village msg board @ the market
as far as pricing - don’t sell yourself too cheap - be reasonable and a bargain, but not CHEAP … people will not be inclined to take you seriously
Reland, you’re kidding right? surely that only applies to whatever city/state you are in.
I don’t think people’ll hate me for putting it in the mailbox, plus, I don’t think I want to spend $3x.00 dollars on stamps. As for price, thats also true, but then how much isn’t too much and yet attractive?
well if you’re in the US - it is federally regulated and indeed technically illegal
but as I said, in a smallish town there’d likely not be a big fuss over it unless some local~yokel legal~eagle decides to look up the manual and nail ya on principle :\
-don’t know aboot Canada- 
pricing(?): you’d be wise to investigate the going rates for such service(s) in neighboring areas and adjust yours accordingly … people will compare to what they know or can find around … it’s all about what the (your) market will bare,
what might fetch $50 per hour in SanFrancisco may only be worth $10 per hour elsewhere
In my neighborhood, we put promotional flyers in mailboxes all the time, so it won’t be a biggie.
As for price, I’m not too sure of any small services like what I would provide soon. So, not too sure about pricing again.
As for the flyer, I’m thinking of something like.
If I can’t fix it, it’s free.
Pricing is negotiable.
In-house service avaliable.
Dropoff serivce avaliable.
Anything else I should put?
I don’t know about the “If I can’t fix it…” line
It makes you look incapable
Ok, but then that leaves only 3 lines. Kinda pathetic.
How about:
Id 10 T error on display?
We’ll fix it for you right away!
Press Restart and plug it in
No problem is too much for him!
Id 10 T error?
LOL, yes, an Id 10 T error. I know, its pretty cryptic, but hey, I have confidence that if you don’t figure it out, someone will point it out to you 
I’m thinking the Blue Screen of Death.
The flyers are officially sent. I printed 30 tonight and went on a raid of the mailboxes, so far, no dog bites or shots. Doing anohter 30 tomorrow night.
The computer shop I work at in the summer charges $68.50 for one hour labor (don’t ask me where they got this number) and $45 for each additional hour.
Most repairs don’t go over 2 hours (computer time does not equal real time)…
I always thought $68.50 was a bit steep (especially when I only make $10 an hour) but you also have secretaries to pay, vans, the building utilities, etc. I’ve seriously considered going into business for myself in the summer (doing kind of what you want to do). I think an hourly charge would be good…how about $20 an hour in house service or $15 an hour if they bring it to you??? You would be making a good profit and it would still be cheaper than a “professional” computer shop.
The problem you’re going to run into, I believe, is that you aren’t going to have a lot of parts to fix computers with right off. It’ll prolly take several years of stockpiling old/new parts to be set, but at least you can remove viruses, reformat, and what have you.
Good Luck
-teet
Well, I’m not just going to shuve in new parts for people or even old ones. I’ll tell them what they need inside and it’s their choice to buy it or not and I can install it. As for your price, $20 for in-home and $15 for delivery doesn’t sound that bad.
So far, I have spammed every mailbox in the shadow of the night with flyers. Theres around 60 houses in total in my neighborhood, and yet, no one has called. :*(
well it could be that no ones comp is broken =) i like the idea, i would do it in my neighborhood but i dont like a lot of the ppl in it, so i dont want to have to talk to them, still its a good idea.
:bad:
Maybe accidents will occur and everyone’s computer suddenly is infected with a virus in my neighborhood.
so thast the disc that went along with the flyers? hmm i was wondering why my comp was flashing “bring this to neighborhood fix!”
