How would you rate your efficiency?

[JosephLeo]

Not bad for a days work. Do you always stay on-site when it takes that long? If I feel that a job might take 3 or more hours to finish I will take it home.

Well, everyone of my services I have my own time limit. For example, a virus removal has a time limit of 2 hours, whereas a OS install has a time limit of 1 hour. I tally up the total of requested services and then I have my total allotted time to stay at a clients home or office.

This case was different though. First I told my client that I am testing my skill today and that she will have her own "Personal Tech" for the rest of the day and next, it was a family friend. All my customers are the same people I've been working with for a few years now so I already have a good enough relationship with most of them. This one was literally a family friend so I was comfortable (she even sat me down for dinner). But never no matter how many services a customer request would I stay for more than 4 hours for an in-home service. (In-office is exempt).

I need to advertise myself and get out of the client loop I have right now

 

[ell]

Welcome to my world .... but not at their home. In the shop only. Sit around in jammies all day I can crank out 5 or 6 PC's at about $175 avg invoice. When you get really good you'll convince them to drop them off and pick them up and you don't even have to change when it's bed time!

LOL!!! welcome to my world too, but I av only $75 in my market for virus removals!!

 

[MSgherzi]

You are planning to do 4 full on-site virus removals in one day at 4 different locations.....good luck with that one, be ready for a long day!

If it was me, I would be far more efficient by scheduling to pick up all 4 computers in the morning, taking them to the lab and multi-tasking with the virus removal. With your method, your wasting your time (no offense )

The problem is, you really never know what to expect. You could have one computer that throws off your whole day. At least in the shop, if you have a "problem child" you can work on it while still working on the others. In the field, you are sitting fighting with the "problem child" while the others just wait.

I agree. I rarely, if ever, perform virus removals on-site because I can't be quite as thorough as I could be back at my place and with at least 48-72 hours of time in my arsenal. Not to mention the fact that you stated that one computer could actually take longer than expected because of a "problem child," and then you can't go to your other jobs and you end up screwing yourself over; in your case, 3 times over.

 

[Wheelie]

You are planning to do 4 full on-site virus removals in one day at 4 different locations.....good luck with that one, be ready for a long day!

If it was me, I would be far more efficient by scheduling to pick up all 4 computers in the morning, taking them to the lab and multi-tasking with the virus removal. With your method, your wasting your time (no offense )

The problem is, you really never know what to expect. You could have one computer that throws off your whole day. At least in the shop, if you have a "problem child" you can work on it while still working on the others. In the field, you are sitting fighting with the "problem child" while the others just wait.

I agree. I rarely, if ever, perform virus removals on-site because I can't be quite as thorough as I could be back at my place and with at least 48-72 hours of time in my arsenal. Not to mention the fact that you stated that one computer could actually take longer than expected because of a "problem child," and then you can't go to your other jobs and you end up screwing yourself over; in your case, 3 times over.

Ditto and ditto. When you get enough business coming through you'll find difficult to do days like that (4 on-site jobs). In fact, I try to do everything in the shop knowing that there's always going to be jobs you have to do on-site. It just minimizes the amount of time you spend in the field and your customers are happier because you can do a more thorough job in the shop. Multi-tasking (working on multiple PC's at once) is a good thing for your revenue stream and a good thing for your customers (win-win). My customers always tell me this is a "good problem to have."