My first customer

[lazzo71]

Well, it has finally happened, I have just had my first paying customer. I had a couple of people that I did "in kind" support for. Basically if they could help me, I helped them. One friend printed up hundreds of flyers for me on the work printer, saving me money. Another friend is an accountant who gave me some free business advice, so I fixed their PC's.
So anyway, the other week, I letterbox dropped over 600 houses on my own, took me damn near 4 hours. Not one phone call.
This morning, i got a call from a lady who had a laptop with no internet security. I took it to my place, ran av and spyware on it, installed av etc, and generally cleaned her system up. When I returned the laptop, I checked out her desktop and gave her a few pointers. A nice 2 paid hours work with a bit of free stuff just to get out there. She said she will call me back and pass my business cards around, which I printed up myself on publisher.
As easy as that. I am now so pumped, I can't wait for my next customer.

[Fred_G]

Congrats! Hope things work out well for you.

E

[nonchalant]

Its a good feeling isnt it? :)

Dont underestimate the flyer. They are a cheap way to promote your business and 2 years since I last had these dropped I still get the odd call even now from new customers who just happened to hang onto it. The only reason I havent had any dropped since is because Im afraid I'll get more work than I can handle as I work fulltime elsewhere and have a yellow pages ad that really gives me enough work outside of that. But back to topic, yes the first time I dropped flyers I did it myself with the help of a friend. We got back home and hadnt been back 10 mins when I got my first call. Ive done numerous jobs for this customer since.

I also recall the first job I ever did (I used to advertise in the local paper). I was there 2 hours before I realised the modem drop out problem was due to a cordless phone in another room. Its a funny feeling sitting there working away, and the customer comes in to check on you and your making out like you know your stuff, and they walk away, and your thinking 'sh*t am I going to fail at my first job?' lol...its certainly a bit nervy the first time you step up to the plate..(again, this customer is in fact probably my best customer-last job I did for him a few months ago was fix 3 PC's..)..he still doesnt know to this day he was my FIRST customer... :D

Keep at it though. Its very rewarding if you perservere. And always remember, customer service and professionalism comes first.

[Bryce W]

Congratulations. The first one always feels great. Im sure you'll have many more to come.