Slow week

[abaxter]

I've followed your posts and even "Google Earthed" your building and town (granted they are somewhat older pics), as well as read about your area and I think that you are not going to do any better in the location you are at.

Your knowledge, your skills, your drive, your desire, your everything is being wasted or tortured at this location and I think the longer you stay at that location the more you will hate being there AND hate being in this business. You cant tell if the next location will be any better but I am certain where you are now will not ever be any better.

Only you know what you can do with your situation, but from what I have read from your posts and about your location it will NOT get better.

What you do from here is unique to your situation, but don't waste any more time there than you have to.

Good luck.

He's got a point. Setting up shop in a bigger metro probably couldn't hurt.

 

[Wheelie]

I've followed your posts and even "Google Earthed" your building and town (granted they are somewhat older pics), as well as read about your area and I think that you are not going to do any better in the location you are at.

Your knowledge, your skills, your drive, your desire, your everything is being wasted or tortured at this location and I think the longer you stay at that location the more you will hate being there AND hate being in this business. You cant tell if the next location will be any better but I am certain where you are now will not ever be any better.

Only you know what you can do with your situation, but from what I have read from your posts and about your location it will NOT get better.

What you do from here is unique to your situation, but don't waste any more time there than you have to.

Good luck.

Unfortunately Jimbo is right. There just is no way that town is going to provide the level of work you need to support this business. The only way I have seen this type of business survive a demographic like yours is to offer other services in addition to PC repair. You should immediately target every business in town if your plan is to stay.

Is there any chance of relocating to Birmingham or other similar demographic? (Atlanta?)

.

 

[HawkinsPC]

You couldn't pay me to go to Birmingham or Atlanta. I have no desire to die from gunshot wounds. Jacksonville-Anniston-Oxford is my main focus. We were going to move to Montgomery in 2010 but my mother talked us out of it. My husband got a job offer and turned it down to take local work. Worst decision ever.

The normal part of our county isn't very big, but the university provides a good influx of people. Piedmont is Piedmont. It'll never change. I found out yesterday my shop is getting a neighbor--a junk store. Yay. We call them cat piss stores--most have many cats living inside that, well, name says it all.

I had a cute cheerleader in here earlier this week. She's from a private school in Jacksonville--only 15 minutes away--and apologized for not finding my shop. "I'm so sorry. I'm not from around here. I'm from Jacksonville." I died laughing. People point out that I'm not from around here by my accent... because obviously 12 miles makes a difference. Piedmont people stick with their own. It's the same families who have lived here for generations. I found out the city's technology guy services a lot of the business around here. He's a nice fellow and had brought me a lot of the city's work, but businesses here would rather have a good ol' boy helping them than an educated outsider. I've got business work elsewhere and it works well.

Long story short, I can't wait to leave. I'm getting my ducks in a row and telling my good customers that I'll be leaving at the end of summer. I'll tell y'all one thing, though, this bad month has definitely given me some humility. I'm very appreciative for the customers I've had come in and my customer service has greatly improved.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Farm towns out here some of them are like that, you're not from there, they would rather go somewhere else. My wife has a consignment store and people in the town she's in don't like shopping there. She has nice stuff and good pricing, but they'd rather go 20 minutes away to a competitor be able to say they got it out of town, though she offers most of the same things in town. Most of her clients are people who pass through. She found a nice spot in a better area that is open for less money a month, same size, next to a pizza parlor and beauty shop, with a large nice grocery store across from it. She thinks she's going to go for that, plus it's on a main drag in a larger town and people there actually seem to support local businesses, plus there was another business there that closed that does exactly what she does, I guess there were some personal things that they closed down, but apparently they did well there.