Important nuances of "computer help"
Hello, I work as a system administrator and part-time programmer in one of the factories of my city. Wages are not large there and sometimes you have to work, so to say, “computer help”. That is, to engage in repairing computers of individuals. I think that there are those who are also involved in this, or those who are thinking of doing it, and I would like to write some nuances of this work, which are sometimes hidden at first glance.
In order to begin to engage in "computer help", it is desirable to advertise yourself. This can be done in different ways, here are some of them:
1. Paper ad: the cheapest form of self-advertising, write services, and ways to contact you, such as your phone number.
Nuances:
- Low cost. Free - if you stick yourself. Cheap - if you hire for this some kid about 13-16 years old.
- Acts locally, that is, on the area where the ad is posted. Of course, if you stick it in some crowded place, or for example, in the center of the city, then the "radius of action" will be wider. But I understood one axiom for myself, the more crowded the place, the faster the ad will be torn down, and may not even be read. Why sometimes locality is important, I will write a little lower.
- Not many people will see him, but even if they see, they will not always write down the phone or tear off a “tooth” with it, but you can count on at least 4-5 computers a week.
2. Announcement in the media. Local TV and radio are understood here. This is a very expensive type of self-promotion, but it acts on the whole city, and even the region. But in this case, there may be some problems. What exactly I will write below. I also want to add that I saw such an announcement on TV only once, and heard it on the local radio several times.
- Huge price
- Long range
- A lot of people will see him, sometimes too.
')
3. Announcement in the newspaper. There are two types of newspapers: regular newspapers, and newspapers specially made to advertise in them, for example, “Everything for you” or “From hand to hand”. In regular newspapers or magazines to place an ad is almost always paid, but not expensive. In newspapers for ads you can say shareware. Shareware, this is because there are ads like yours will be a huge number, and you will have to pay extra money for the selection or framing of your text. So:
- Price, either free or small, for example, from 30 to 100 rub. for one edition of the newspaper.
- The radius of action for the entire city.
- They will see a lot of people, and they will call you often.
4. Distribution of business cards, booklets on the street. You can distribute yourself, you can instruct someone.
- Free if you distribute it yourself. It is paid (from 100 to 500 rubles to a person who will distribute, and if you do not make business cards yourself, then you will also have to pay for their production) if someone else distributes them.
- Locality depends on the place where the distribution will take place, business cards have a definite plus, which I will tell in the column about locality.
- A lot of people will see them, and they will even call more often if they use a paper ad.
5. Word of mouth. Probably the best type of self-promotion, but to achieve a large number of loyal customers, you will have to work in this area for about six months. There is one more nuance: If you want to cut cabbage in advance, and not help people, this type of self-promotion will not work for you. Since each other is advised only by those who do their job well.
So with self-sorted out. now about its "parameters". Why did I single out a factor such as locality, and how many people see the ad? It seems, at first glance, it should seem that the longer the range of the advertisement, and the more people read it, the better. In fact, it is not so deep. Now I will explain why. You are trying to make the information reach those who need it, for example, a person with a problem in a computer, or a person who needs to connect two computers and a network to a network. But your ad can be seen by someone else, and you will have problems. I will list those who may be:
- People from the tax service. Their goal is to make you a taxpayer, that is, that you would have your "charms" issued as a labor activity, and paid them interest. Consequences may be such as a fine, and coercion to become a “small businessman”. If you continue to engage in without paying any attention to them, you will receive under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
- Mafia. Yes, even though we do not live in the 90s, but in some cities it is very developed. My friend who was engaged in computer help had to deal with them. The meaning of such a person calls you, and offers to repair the computer, tells you the address, you come, and you are "persistently" explained one of two things. Or the fact that only they are engaged in this in your city / region, or they may offer you a “roof”, at which you will have to give them about 40-60% of the earnings. The problem is that these guys are better not to cheat about how much you earn. The consequences of your ignoring can be very different, for example, such legal ones as the arrival of the police to you (I will explain in the next paragraph). or not very legal, for example, “random encounters” with allegedly Gopnik on the street. I would not know it myself, if my friend had not met with them. There are some small advantages about working with her. For example, such that in your area, you will be engaged in repairing computers alone, or if someone “drives you” when you work, you can tell them. "Roof" all the same. It all depends on the specific situation.
- The police. One of the worst categories. The point is that if you install windows or other paid programs, you violate Art. 146 of the Criminal Code. And if you install programs using cracks or keygens, then one of 272,273 or 274 articles will also be “hung” on you. This will almost always be a suspended sentence or a huge fine. Here I must say how it happens:
They call you, ask you to install the programs, and then after installation with the words “test purchase” they put you in the case of witnesses, a little bit below I will write in more detail.
- Competitors. Well, there’s nothing much to say here, just there are people who have been doing this for a long time, and you don’t want to give up your piece of bread. Sanctions to ignore them, as you understand, are very different.
How to avoid all these unwanted customers:
Competitors - there is nothing to talk about competitors here, this is a personal question for everyone, someone agrees with them, someone with someone else.
Tax - to determine them is quite simple. Either they call and immediately say who they are and what they want from you, or they can, under the guise of a client, after standard computer questions, ask you whether you are officially registered or not. To calculate them is not difficult enough, and they are not too annoying. Some of my friends have registered IUU and pay a tax of about 1000r per month, and there are no complaints about them from the tax authorities, another thing is if you do not go home, but open / rent a small room so that people bring computers to you. Then you will have to register in any case, since no one will call you, but will simply come to your “office”.
Mafia - I do not know how in other cities, but in my city it has a very big influence. They act differently, but my friend “met” them like this: they called him and offered to fix some very expensive laptop. He agreed, and came to them. When he entered, there was no laptop, they put him on a sofa, and began to explain to him that they were engaged in computers, and if you want to work, then only under their wing (giving them almost half). You cannot complain to such injustice to anyone, I turn on the police.
A friend ignored their "Request." Threatening calls began to come in, once allegedly “gopniki” appeared suddenly and explained to him more clearly. After that, he began to work for them, and then he didn’t do it at all. But it should be said that they presented him with a “eight” so that he traveled to customers, and also supplied him with computer hardware. But since he received only 50%, he threw it up, and stopped doing it.
Police - this is where the fun begins. People from OBEP and department K might be interested in your activity. In short: you will be asked to install many expensive programs from Adobe, Autodesk, 1C, any systems related to cartography, and so on. The customer is likely to have a clean hard drive or bare Windows, or you will go along with it to buy HDD. The client will often make phone calls or send text messages, go somewhere. Often the work will take place in an empty room, or "simulated" supposedly residential. At the end of the work - the phrase "OBEP of N city, test purchase", protocol, previous conviction, fine / suspended sentence. There is also a more direct request by phone: they will not ask you to install anything; they will be asked to get them, for example, KOMPAS-3D, autocad, windows and so on. and burn to disc. The meeting will be appointed on its territory: at the station, in the subway, at the bus stop. As soon as you give the disc, you will be knitted immediately. A person with a criminal record cannot obtain a passport for a year or two, will have to be reported to the police every month in case of a suspended sentence, but what's most unpleasant is that criminal record databases leak regularly, and this kind of information becomes available to the security services of various organizations. Simply put, any personnel office will look bad at you. And they will never take in organs again.
Now I’ll give some basic advice on all this:
- If you are asked by phone to INSTALL windows, or some other expensive program, it is better not to risk, and immediately say that you are installing only from the customer’s disks, or do repair, not install, unlicensed software.
- If you are asked to repair / see, some kind of ultra super new computer, better refuse, there may be a trick here too.
- Sometimes on the computer itself it can be seen whether it is set up here or not. As if you arrived, and on the screen a pornobaner or just a computer is dirtied by some nonsense, and for example, at this time there is washing / cleaning / cooking in the house, or for example, some child runs, then with 95% probability you can say that this is an ordinary family.
- It is advisable to talk to the client, sometimes from a conversation it is immediately obvious that this is another kettle, and not one of the “pests”.
- Do not go to suspicious addresses. I also advise you to refrain from organizations and very rich private houses.
- In terms of advertising, it is best to hand out business cards, as this will protect you from "unnecessary" customers.
- If you advertise with a glue, do not glue them in places of large crowds of people, since in such a cluster there is a high probability that the wrong person will read it.
- It will also be very useful to say that you should not engage in “computer help” as a main activity, it is better if it is a small prick \ part job for example in the evening after work, because the more people know about your work, the worse it is in principle.
- The main thing is that you do not have a very large publicity and calls. Better 30-40 regular customers than a huge number of anyone.
Ready to discuss in the comments any questions regarding this topic.
Self-promotion
In order to begin to engage in "computer help", it is desirable to advertise yourself. This can be done in different ways, here are some of them:
1. Paper ad: the cheapest form of self-advertising, write services, and ways to contact you, such as your phone number.
Nuances:
- Low cost. Free - if you stick yourself. Cheap - if you hire for this some kid about 13-16 years old.
- Acts locally, that is, on the area where the ad is posted. Of course, if you stick it in some crowded place, or for example, in the center of the city, then the "radius of action" will be wider. But I understood one axiom for myself, the more crowded the place, the faster the ad will be torn down, and may not even be read. Why sometimes locality is important, I will write a little lower.
- Not many people will see him, but even if they see, they will not always write down the phone or tear off a “tooth” with it, but you can count on at least 4-5 computers a week.
2. Announcement in the media. Local TV and radio are understood here. This is a very expensive type of self-promotion, but it acts on the whole city, and even the region. But in this case, there may be some problems. What exactly I will write below. I also want to add that I saw such an announcement on TV only once, and heard it on the local radio several times.
- Huge price
- Long range
- A lot of people will see him, sometimes too.
')
3. Announcement in the newspaper. There are two types of newspapers: regular newspapers, and newspapers specially made to advertise in them, for example, “Everything for you” or “From hand to hand”. In regular newspapers or magazines to place an ad is almost always paid, but not expensive. In newspapers for ads you can say shareware. Shareware, this is because there are ads like yours will be a huge number, and you will have to pay extra money for the selection or framing of your text. So:
- Price, either free or small, for example, from 30 to 100 rub. for one edition of the newspaper.
- The radius of action for the entire city.
- They will see a lot of people, and they will call you often.
4. Distribution of business cards, booklets on the street. You can distribute yourself, you can instruct someone.
- Free if you distribute it yourself. It is paid (from 100 to 500 rubles to a person who will distribute, and if you do not make business cards yourself, then you will also have to pay for their production) if someone else distributes them.
- Locality depends on the place where the distribution will take place, business cards have a definite plus, which I will tell in the column about locality.
- A lot of people will see them, and they will even call more often if they use a paper ad.
5. Word of mouth. Probably the best type of self-promotion, but to achieve a large number of loyal customers, you will have to work in this area for about six months. There is one more nuance: If you want to cut cabbage in advance, and not help people, this type of self-promotion will not work for you. Since each other is advised only by those who do their job well.
So with self-sorted out. now about its "parameters". Why did I single out a factor such as locality, and how many people see the ad? It seems, at first glance, it should seem that the longer the range of the advertisement, and the more people read it, the better. In fact, it is not so deep. Now I will explain why. You are trying to make the information reach those who need it, for example, a person with a problem in a computer, or a person who needs to connect two computers and a network to a network. But your ad can be seen by someone else, and you will have problems. I will list those who may be:
- People from the tax service. Their goal is to make you a taxpayer, that is, that you would have your "charms" issued as a labor activity, and paid them interest. Consequences may be such as a fine, and coercion to become a “small businessman”. If you continue to engage in without paying any attention to them, you will receive under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
- Mafia. Yes, even though we do not live in the 90s, but in some cities it is very developed. My friend who was engaged in computer help had to deal with them. The meaning of such a person calls you, and offers to repair the computer, tells you the address, you come, and you are "persistently" explained one of two things. Or the fact that only they are engaged in this in your city / region, or they may offer you a “roof”, at which you will have to give them about 40-60% of the earnings. The problem is that these guys are better not to cheat about how much you earn. The consequences of your ignoring can be very different, for example, such legal ones as the arrival of the police to you (I will explain in the next paragraph). or not very legal, for example, “random encounters” with allegedly Gopnik on the street. I would not know it myself, if my friend had not met with them. There are some small advantages about working with her. For example, such that in your area, you will be engaged in repairing computers alone, or if someone “drives you” when you work, you can tell them. "Roof" all the same. It all depends on the specific situation.
- The police. One of the worst categories. The point is that if you install windows or other paid programs, you violate Art. 146 of the Criminal Code. And if you install programs using cracks or keygens, then one of 272,273 or 274 articles will also be “hung” on you. This will almost always be a suspended sentence or a huge fine. Here I must say how it happens:
They call you, ask you to install the programs, and then after installation with the words “test purchase” they put you in the case of witnesses, a little bit below I will write in more detail.
- Competitors. Well, there’s nothing much to say here, just there are people who have been doing this for a long time, and you don’t want to give up your piece of bread. Sanctions to ignore them, as you understand, are very different.
How to avoid all these unwanted customers:
Competitors - there is nothing to talk about competitors here, this is a personal question for everyone, someone agrees with them, someone with someone else.
Tax - to determine them is quite simple. Either they call and immediately say who they are and what they want from you, or they can, under the guise of a client, after standard computer questions, ask you whether you are officially registered or not. To calculate them is not difficult enough, and they are not too annoying. Some of my friends have registered IUU and pay a tax of about 1000r per month, and there are no complaints about them from the tax authorities, another thing is if you do not go home, but open / rent a small room so that people bring computers to you. Then you will have to register in any case, since no one will call you, but will simply come to your “office”.
Mafia - I do not know how in other cities, but in my city it has a very big influence. They act differently, but my friend “met” them like this: they called him and offered to fix some very expensive laptop. He agreed, and came to them. When he entered, there was no laptop, they put him on a sofa, and began to explain to him that they were engaged in computers, and if you want to work, then only under their wing (giving them almost half). You cannot complain to such injustice to anyone, I turn on the police.
A friend ignored their "Request." Threatening calls began to come in, once allegedly “gopniki” appeared suddenly and explained to him more clearly. After that, he began to work for them, and then he didn’t do it at all. But it should be said that they presented him with a “eight” so that he traveled to customers, and also supplied him with computer hardware. But since he received only 50%, he threw it up, and stopped doing it.
Police - this is where the fun begins. People from OBEP and department K might be interested in your activity. In short: you will be asked to install many expensive programs from Adobe, Autodesk, 1C, any systems related to cartography, and so on. The customer is likely to have a clean hard drive or bare Windows, or you will go along with it to buy HDD. The client will often make phone calls or send text messages, go somewhere. Often the work will take place in an empty room, or "simulated" supposedly residential. At the end of the work - the phrase "OBEP of N city, test purchase", protocol, previous conviction, fine / suspended sentence. There is also a more direct request by phone: they will not ask you to install anything; they will be asked to get them, for example, KOMPAS-3D, autocad, windows and so on. and burn to disc. The meeting will be appointed on its territory: at the station, in the subway, at the bus stop. As soon as you give the disc, you will be knitted immediately. A person with a criminal record cannot obtain a passport for a year or two, will have to be reported to the police every month in case of a suspended sentence, but what's most unpleasant is that criminal record databases leak regularly, and this kind of information becomes available to the security services of various organizations. Simply put, any personnel office will look bad at you. And they will never take in organs again.
Now I’ll give some basic advice on all this:
- If you are asked by phone to INSTALL windows, or some other expensive program, it is better not to risk, and immediately say that you are installing only from the customer’s disks, or do repair, not install, unlicensed software.
- If you are asked to repair / see, some kind of ultra super new computer, better refuse, there may be a trick here too.
- Sometimes on the computer itself it can be seen whether it is set up here or not. As if you arrived, and on the screen a pornobaner or just a computer is dirtied by some nonsense, and for example, at this time there is washing / cleaning / cooking in the house, or for example, some child runs, then with 95% probability you can say that this is an ordinary family.
- It is advisable to talk to the client, sometimes from a conversation it is immediately obvious that this is another kettle, and not one of the “pests”.
- Do not go to suspicious addresses. I also advise you to refrain from organizations and very rich private houses.
- In terms of advertising, it is best to hand out business cards, as this will protect you from "unnecessary" customers.
- If you advertise with a glue, do not glue them in places of large crowds of people, since in such a cluster there is a high probability that the wrong person will read it.
- It will also be very useful to say that you should not engage in “computer help” as a main activity, it is better if it is a small prick \ part job for example in the evening after work, because the more people know about your work, the worse it is in principle.
- The main thing is that you do not have a very large publicity and calls. Better 30-40 regular customers than a huge number of anyone.
Ready to discuss in the comments any questions regarding this topic.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/126503/
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