I hope this was a joke . . .
- Thread starter jft135
- Start date
Markverhyden
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 11,031
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
LOL!!! I get those bottom feeder inquiries as well.
GTP
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 9,783
- Location
- Adelaide, Australia
Yeah. I've got mail from them as well. They are as dodgy as a "Chinese Rolex!"
techlink
New Member
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Montreal, Canada
I think they're hunting mostly for pizza tech's.
I always tell these people that I'm busy enough with my own work. I used to work for them now and then. I never had one outright rip me off, but they always treat you like they're the only business in the discussion and you're just some dude on the unemployment line. In the early days I thought I wanted all the business I could get. Now I realize that my business can be busier by offering better service and I can do that by cutting the problem customers loose, giving me more time to focus on customers who understand that I'm trying to make a living at this and act accordingly.
I've had some real winners, too. They usually want to pay a flat rate. From their thinking it's not difficult replacing a motherboard, so $50 to do it is a fair deal for half an hour of work. And yes, it is...IF you aren't trying to make a business work with all the overhead that entails and IF you aren't driving half an hour to get there and half an hour to get back and IF you don't have to provide the tools and IF you don't have to politely tell a customer for half an hour that, no, you don't have time to program numbers into their phone or look at their cable TV and IF you aren't getting paid in a month...ish...
I'll still talk to them so long as they understand that this, too, is a business, my rates are hourly, including travel, and are non-negotiable and the best terms I offer, only for businesses, is NET 15. This is how MY business works. I don't care how THEIR business works because I'm not the one who wants something from them.
Man, that just reminded me of the last jackass to contact me. It wasn't quite this, though. He wanted me to be an exclusive partner in the area to sell some Internet service. I asked for more "information". If he could just have 20 minutes of my time he could send me to a web page that would tell me all about it. I've been at this a while. I know that means "watch a 20 minute infomercial sales pitch". There is MAYBE 30 seconds worth of useful information being imparted there, and that's only necessary after I know the figures, like cost. So I asked a few questions. How much does it cost? What is this install I have to do? Do I get paid for that? To you pay or does the customer? What does it cost to get set up? Do I get a test rig so customers can try it? The response was "If you have just 10 minutes or so I can have my supervisor call you." I know what that means too. It's another sales pitch.
So after my second request for information was responded to with an offer for a sales pitch I thanked him for his time, but told him my business doesn't grow with infomercials and sales pitches. I need actual facts and figures. I gave him the contact information for the other computer store in town (one had just closed). He responded back like a damned child along the lines of "I thought your company would be a good match for us to partner with but I can see I was wrong. I'm sorry to have wasted your time." If you want to get under my skin then pull some passive-aggressive, completely unprofessional bullsh!t like that and you'll do it. That was for something called LocaLoop, so be wary of these time wasters.
I've had some real winners, too. They usually want to pay a flat rate. From their thinking it's not difficult replacing a motherboard, so $50 to do it is a fair deal for half an hour of work. And yes, it is...IF you aren't trying to make a business work with all the overhead that entails and IF you aren't driving half an hour to get there and half an hour to get back and IF you don't have to provide the tools and IF you don't have to politely tell a customer for half an hour that, no, you don't have time to program numbers into their phone or look at their cable TV and IF you aren't getting paid in a month...ish...
I'll still talk to them so long as they understand that this, too, is a business, my rates are hourly, including travel, and are non-negotiable and the best terms I offer, only for businesses, is NET 15. This is how MY business works. I don't care how THEIR business works because I'm not the one who wants something from them.
Man, that just reminded me of the last jackass to contact me. It wasn't quite this, though. He wanted me to be an exclusive partner in the area to sell some Internet service. I asked for more "information". If he could just have 20 minutes of my time he could send me to a web page that would tell me all about it. I've been at this a while. I know that means "watch a 20 minute infomercial sales pitch". There is MAYBE 30 seconds worth of useful information being imparted there, and that's only necessary after I know the figures, like cost. So I asked a few questions. How much does it cost? What is this install I have to do? Do I get paid for that? To you pay or does the customer? What does it cost to get set up? Do I get a test rig so customers can try it? The response was "If you have just 10 minutes or so I can have my supervisor call you." I know what that means too. It's another sales pitch.
So after my second request for information was responded to with an offer for a sales pitch I thanked him for his time, but told him my business doesn't grow with infomercials and sales pitches. I need actual facts and figures. I gave him the contact information for the other computer store in town (one had just closed). He responded back like a damned child along the lines of "I thought your company would be a good match for us to partner with but I can see I was wrong. I'm sorry to have wasted your time." If you want to get under my skin then pull some passive-aggressive, completely unprofessional bullsh!t like that and you'll do it. That was for something called LocaLoop, so be wary of these time wasters.
Blues
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 527
- Location
- Tennessee, US
Geek-a-too/what ever name it is now paid better than that they did a per job pay but most jobs were paid out at at least $20/hr or better on average.
$20/hour doesn't cover my costs. It's "a fair wage", to be sure, but if you want to pay "a fair wage" you need to be contacting unemployed people who want to earn "a wage", not a business.
From my perspective, I have to pay someone "a wage" to go do it, or I have to close my shop down to go do it myself (it's a one-man show here). An open shop could be making anywhere from $0 to several hundred dollars an hour, depending on what work is in the shop to be done and how many projects I can be working on at once. A closed shop is making whatever the job pays. But the bills stay the same whether it's an open or closed shop. In fact, they actually increase slightly for a closed shop because when I get back I have to make long-distance calls to return all the calls I missed, which adds cost, albeit a small amount.
These people want it both ways. They want a guaranteed, vetted professional who has established themselves enough to build a successful business either doing the job or sending a competent, qualified employee to do it. But they only want to pay as if they are hiring "an employee". If I was working out of mom's basement, yeah, $20/hour is great. But I have a storefront and a business and reputation I have built for 11 and 16 years respectively at great personal expense. In 16 years I have taken 2 vacations, both 3 day weekends within driving distance. If you want to pay $20/hour then go to the unemployment line where you will have no shortage of offers. Otherwise my prices are what they are.
Blues
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 527
- Location
- Tennessee, US
buzzcut
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 49
- Location
- Sudbury, ON Canada
@$15/hr your an employee, not an employer. It does not cover you insurance/bills etc.
I can see it as a side gig. Not during business hours, though, and only so long as I go there, do the thing and leave. No chit-chat or hour long Q&A like I usually get.
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