Changing The Direction Of My Business - My Story...

[ProTech Support]

So I have been bouncing this idea around for a couple of months now, but due to recent events I believe I am going to make the move. I was wondering if anyone else doing this had any feedback, thoughts, comments, or suggestions. I know it is a bit long, but hey...

So currently ProTech Support is a computer repair business as many of you are. When I first started the business I was targeting residential users and planned to slowly step away from them and gear towards small business's.

About a year ago I obtained my first retail location. When I first started there I was offering a multitude of services to attract a wide variety of clients. This included your normal repairs, upgrades, virus removal, networking, customs,etc...but it also included website design and website hosting. Well in the start the website design took off, it picked up so much that I was quickly bogged down in website work. So much that I could not focus on my main objectives and I became more of a website design company then a repair company. Now I didn't mind the website work because I was getting happy clients, good feedback, building a nice client base, and actually making some good money, but I did not want the company to go in that direction. So about 2 months later I stopped offering the service and decided to put all my focus into repairs.

Which brings me to now, a year later. Honestly, this year we did "O.K.", I definitely hit some rough patches, but there were some really good months too. Considering it was the first year running out of a retail location, I am just proud to say we are still in business and not in debt. Which brings me to the reason behind this thread. This month our lease expires, and we have opted not re-sign. I decided not to re-sign because after reviewing all of the expenses (such as rent, electric, internet, phones, security, etc) I felt the money we spent would have been more beneficial invested in other parts of the company. Yes, we will still have some of these expenses, but without the rent and security we are saving a very nice chunk of change.

Now obviously going from a retail location back to a home location will require us to change some things. For one thing it will require me to go back on-site for all of my clients vs. them coming to the store. It will also mean less exposure since they will no longer see the store.

So Now For My Change In Direction... - All of these things had me thinking how I could sort of "refresh" the business. What kind of services could I offer that would help me benefit from loosing the retail location? One of the first things that came to mind was the website design. Like I said above I never minded the website design work, it made good money - but honestly I enjoy more of the technical aspect vs. the designing aspect. So I tried to think of other internet related services that I could offer and I came up with website hosting.

I already have clients who I host, who are very satisfied. So I have decided to try to make something bigger out of this. Really push website hosting locally and globally. To help offer more services over the next website host I have signed up with domain companies (to sell the domains), website template companies (to sell templates), and of course obtained hosting servers. I know this market is very competitive, but after doing a lot of reading (purchase a few books on the matter) and doing some research I believe I can get this moving.

Basically I will soon be launching "ProTech Hosting" which will be offering:

Domain registration
Website hosting (and the normal extras like SSL certs)
Website templates (for platforms such as HTML, Joomla, Wordpress, etc)
And a few other perks that I am not going to discuss at the moment.

Our main focus will be customer support, in my personal experience it is the most important factor. I have been with a number of hosting companies in the past and the number one factor for me leaving each one is the lack of support. The one I am currently with offers such stellar support I have been with them for 4 years and will never even consider leaving them, and that's the way I think it should be. Our hosting packages are competitive, and we also decided to do things a bit different - we will be giving substantial discounts to small business customers. There is a lot more to it, but I don't want to get into all that till we are officially launched, but I will tell you the people directly involved with this project believe I have something really good going here.

I will still be offering repairs to my local area, but the main focus of the company will be towards this for the time being. Will this turn into my main business, who knows. Am I just wasting my time with this, I don't know that either. But with times being as rough as they are for all of us, I am just not going to sit around and watch. So anyone with experience with this, what do you think - any feedback?

 

[angry_geek]

I think the one glaring thing I don't see is mention of bandwidth and uptime assurance. What kind of connection will you be able to get at your house? Will you have some sort of fail over for your internet pipe? What about a reliable power source? Electricity goes out everywhere from time to time. Will you have a stand by generator or a large ups center?

 

[Mr I]

I have a similar story but it's the opposite. A started selling domain, hosting, templates and making websites. However, fixing computer is a passion more than a hobby and I wanted to add that to my company. Thus, I have my website divided into "computer services" and "internet services". When computer services sales are down, internet services helps and viceversa.

Do both, I know it's kind of hard to have control of many services and products but keep in mind that people like variety. I see my business as the complete package because I can setup your computer or network, then create a website, host it and maintain your domain. Just dial one number!

 

[ProTech Support]

I think the one glaring thing I don't see is mention of bandwidth and uptime assurance. What kind of connection will you be able to get at your house? Will you have some sort of fail over for your internet pipe? What about a reliable power source? Electricity goes out everywhere from time to time. Will you have a stand by generator or a large ups center?

The servers are not housed in my home, they are leased hosting servers. 99.9% uptime guaranteed, backup generators, etc

I have a similar story but it's the opposite. A started selling domain, hosting, templates and making websites. However, fixing computer is a passion more than a hobby and I wanted to add that to my company. Thus, I have my website divided into "computer services" and "internet services". When computer services sales are down, internet services helps and viceversa.

Do both, I know it's kind of hard to have control of many services and products but keep in mind that people like variety. I see my business as the complete package because I can setup your computer or network, then create a website, host it and maintain your domain. Just dial one number!

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, that is exactly what I am trying to do! How is it working out for you? I am basically saying I am going to focus my business on hosting for now, but still offer all the normal services I have in the past. Primarily my marketing will go into the hosting at this point.

 

[andrewrost3241981]

I am somewhat new to running a tech business. Due to my current low income, I am currently offering any technology services that I believe I am competent in performing and have the funds and equipment to perform. In the future, I will have to see which are the more profitable ones, focus on those, and possibly eliminate the ones that do not bring in enough revenue to justify offering them as services.

 

[angry_geek]

The servers are not housed in my home, they are leased hosting servers. 99.9% uptime guaranteed, backup generators, etc.

Ahhh! I savvy; I thought you were planning on hosting your own data center at your house for web hosting. I was a wee bit concerned there for a moment. You should probably do pretty well with this. If nothing else, it makes for at least some residual income.

 

[ProTech Support]

Ahhh! I savvy; I thought you were planning on hosting your own data center at your house for web hosting. I was a wee bit concerned there for a moment. You should probably do pretty well with this. If nothing else, it makes for at least some residual income.

Although I would love to walk into my basement and see a room full of servers...it is just not feasible for many reasons including the ones you mentioned...but if I ever do get that big I will be sure to post a picture

 

[BostonGeek1]

So after building up brand equity in your retail location (i.e. people actually know you're there), and having toughed it out, rather than reaping the benefits, you're going to start all over in an even more cutthroat industry where the markups are tiny, people are ****** off because their business depends on their websites, and the competition is fierce?

Good Luck.

I would just hire an intern and train him to do the simple repairs, and spend your time going on site to commercial customers. 4-5 good commercial customers and you're got a nice steady income stream. Add an intern to answer the phones, then add a contractor or two that you can count on for overflow work, and tie it all together, and you've got yourself recurring income

Use the existing customer base as a launch point for what you want to do. I.e. use the residential customers and set up some kind of income trickle where you don't really have to be there to do the repairs yourself, and focus entirely on growing the small business aspect. Its the only way you're going to make 6 figures comfortably. Then focus on (and this is much harder) on streamlining/automizing the small business aspect of things.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

webhosting is very cutthroat anyone with £15 reseller account nowadays thinks they can be a webhost.

After building up your reputation why throw it all away?

why not just cut your costs on the store. After having the space of a dedicated store and workspace you will find it hard moving back to a cramped spare room at home. why not cut costs and instead of a store move to a less expensive street or even an industrial unit (which are normally alot cheaper than retail premises).

Personally we moved from a prime location store and the parent companies office to a nearby sidestreet industrial unit and simply cut out the sale of hardware/software and turnerd it into repair only. We found although it cut down on new passing trade existing clients were quite happy to travel that little bit extra especially as parking was alot easier in new location. Not counting the savings from the parent companies office we now have 3 times the space and costs are cut by 60%.

By all means expand or redirect the business but remember not to do so at the expense of your existing clients as they will certainly be alot harder to regain.

 

[ProTech Support]

So after building up brand equity in your retail location (i.e. people actually know you're there), and having toughed it out, rather than reaping the benefits, you're going to start all over in an even more cutthroat industry where the markups are tiny, people are ****** off because their business depends on their websites, and the competition is fierce?

Good Luck.

You make a very valid point, and I appreciate that. As I said I am not trashing the repair business, I am just working on another aspect of it. I know how the repair market flows in my area, I have seen it through a number of years. Rather then "tough it out" during the slower times I am trying to create something to supplement the loss of income and hopefully grow into something of its own.

As for the compute repairs, I will continue to service all of my clients. Word of mouth has been my most powerful tool, and I can only hope that continues without the retail location. Random walk-in customers only counted for a small percentage of my clients, so I do not expect it to be too much of a blow.

In the end, what I am trying to say is I am trying to make my company more aggressive. At this point I have 2 options, close and call it a day or make this move and turn it into a positive. In last couple of months I have been pushing the business to the limit with lower then expected results. All of my customers are very satisfied, but the technology market is just slow here. With business's closing left and right it doesn't help much. I can ignore these signs and keep dumping into advertising and a store front *hoping* that I catch a break somewhere or I can try to launch something that will make my company an even stronger contender in a market that I know is flowing in my area (web services).

I truly appreciate all of your feedback and comments, this is the TechNibble I remember

 

[cmonova]

It's a big move closing the retail side and going a different direction of some sort and I commend you on that. I think too many times people/businesses get into a rut and think that what they have is what they have to stick with.

Now as far as the webdesign, domain names, hosting etc...like has been said very competitive market and probably not easy to get into. But, you have done design type work in the past which is a plus and i'm sure can market the other avenues of this service.

Plus, you say about still offering the repairs to your local area so that door is always open for you. I think overall it's a great plan and should work out in your favor. Obviously nothing is guaranteed but knowing the economy and knowing your business model only you can make that decision.

I went the compete oppositve with starting webdesign and then going the repair/networking route. But, I still do sites/seo etc and to me it's a service that you have to offer to survive or be competitive. I will do at least 6K in that market alone this month not even counting the rest of the business. So the market is there for you to do what you want with it.

Best of luck

 

[JosephLeo]

Well, if it were me I would actually try spawning a second business out of the deal and hire a full time manager for my first business. Who said you have to stay tied down to one occupation?

My Fathers company originally started out as a machine repair shop and then he noticed that people actually pay us for the scrap metal we get and then he opened up a second business that buys scrap metal. From there we started buying plastics and paper and now he's a full time scrapper who has a full time staff doing his old job while reaping in the benefits for doing literally nothing!

The way I would go about your situation is hire a manager for the repair shop, then look for a broke college kid to do all of your web work, a secretary to take calls, build a server and co-locate it nearby (In your county, nearest to the ISP's physical location) and then from there play it by ear.

To become an ICANN accredited registrar you will have to look here. I think there is a $1,000 returnable deposit fee and a long background check, but it's worth it. You can also go third party with the domains and your customers would never even know.

Anyway, good luck with that! Don't destroy one business for another- just expand and branch out!

 

[ProTech Support]

It's a big move closing the retail side and going a different direction of some sort and I commend you on that. I think too many times people/businesses get into a rut and think that what they have is what they have to stick with.

Now as far as the webdesign, domain names, hosting etc...like has been said very competitive market and probably not easy to get into. But, you have done design type work in the past which is a plus and i'm sure can market the other avenues of this service.

Plus, you say about still offering the repairs to your local area so that door is always open for you. I think overall it's a great plan and should work out in your favor. Obviously nothing is guaranteed but knowing the economy and knowing your business model only you can make that decision.

I went the compete oppositve with starting webdesign and then going the repair/networking route. But, I still do sites/seo etc and to me it's a service that you have to offer to survive or be competitive. I will do at least 6K in that market alone this month not even counting the rest of the business. So the market is there for you to do what you want with it.

Best of luck

Thank you for the positive feedback. One of the motivating factors in my decision was knowing that there is a strong market out there for web services as you said. I know this for a fact because I have tapped into this market in the past. Like I said before, rather then sit here and "rough it out" during the slow times of the computer repair, I would like to focus on something else to help expand and build my business.

 

[basic]

I, for one, think it was a good move. I question the long term longevity and profitability of residential repair with big box competition and the affordability of replacement computers. You haven't completely eliminated the repair aspect of your business and have diversified your services. I think it was a good move.

 

[ProTech Support]

Just as a quick update to this, I am currently finishing up with the website and software for the new venture. I reached out to some of my previous website customers and already have a waiting list of 5 people. I plan to reach further out to my computer repair customers once the site is up and offer them a special.

I am planning to run a special for the launch of the site, something along the lines of (1) month free hosting or a free domain name with any hosting package (not sure which yet), so if anybody is interested shoot me a PM. I would be more then happy to put anyone from here on the list. I am expecting to have this project fully functional near the end of this month.

Thanks for the feedback/support!