[TriLUG] Off topic: Side work

[Greg Brown]

It's a shame too, because most of these really small companies really need
the help.  They've got real problems, a lot of which need to be sorted out.
But most of the same companies don't have the money to cover their wants and
needs (or mistakes).

Case in point: campground on the coast.  I installed a "guest Wi-Fi" system
for then and it works well enough given the raw materials I've had to work
with (slow and unreliable ISPs, blah blah).  Anyway they hired a new guy who
kept saying "gee, at this camp in Arizona where I stayed last time we raised
the antenna five feet and it fixed everything."

"Ok, I see where you're going with this and, no.  Don't touch it.  The
problem isn't the antenna, we have problems with the IPSs and throughput
caps, blah blah blah."

And this morning I get a call that says "Gee, um, can you overnight fedex us
down a tower with guy wires?  We raised the antenna last week and it blew
over in a storm last night,"

Me: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  (like I have one "in stock".. I have a
"day job" that takes most of my time, you konw)  (silencing and collecting
myself).  "Sorry, no."

Anyway, if I added up all the money I spent supporting that place I'd be in
the negative I'm sure.  But they are good people and really need help so I
bill them what they can pay.

But they're on the own for mucking with my antenna, which I told them not to
do.  Sometimes you have to tell the customer "no".  It's hard to do
sometimes, especially when you know they need to help and they've developed
into friends over the years but it's got to be done on occasion.

Greg

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 12:24 PM, Tim Jowers <timjowers at gmail.com> wrote:

> My experience too.  El cheapo's out there.  One business book says you
> should fire 20% of your customers. I believe it is more like 80% when doing
> computer stuff for small companies and individuals.  The model which does
> work is to hire a hisgh school geeks and charge $10/hr. Since the geeks are
> 90% clueless, they'll take hours!
>
> Now, what you can do is try to upsell them. Maybe you could get in the
> "backup" business or "hosting" business. You could make back your money
> over
> a year.
>
> The hugest ever insult is when a customer asks you to do something like
> that
> or even to fix their computer after software from AOL or somewhere screws
> it
> up and then turns around and pays $1000 for a computer from DELL when you
> are selling the same specs for $500. That's when I decided "side work" is
> not worth the hassle. People think because they talk to you on in person
> they can scam you but somehow will blow money with a faceless company!
>
> Tim
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Christopher Blackmon
> <ckblackm at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
> > Pfft... I'm voting for Paris Hilton!
> >
> > http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/06ae3d8563
> >
> > Christopher
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Aaron Joyner <aaron at joyner.ws>
> > To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> > Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 10:18:21 AM
> > Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Off topic: Side work
> >
> > I really wasn't intending that to be a political reference.  Our media
> > is way out of control when any "Joe" + <profession> reference has
> > become a political reference.  Please feel free to s/Joe/Suzy/g to
> > correct my political insensitivities, on all fronts.  :)
> >
> > Aaron S. Joyner
> >
> > PS - Munger '08!  (even if he won't win, if you agree with him, make a
> > statement, do your part for democracy)
> >
> >
> >
> > --
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> >
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