Business idea
A friend of mine and myself had that sort of idea back in 1995, so we started a small business that did tech support for the rich areas like Ladue, Webster Groves, University City, etc. We caught a break with garages by making a deal with a company that sold the software and outsourced the hardware and tech support to us. The guy who ran the software business got married and we never heard from him again. In 1997, many other people in the area had the same idea as us, started taking away business by hiring 18 year olds fresh out of high school to troubleshoot for a fee lower than ours ever could be. That plus Internet rebates made it so that our hardware sales could no longer be price competitive with consumer electronic stores. To make a long story short, I quit the business in 1997, and my partner who took over the whole thing is now looking for any job he can take now that companies undercut him in prices. Sad story, we used to have an office, and had started to make some serious money and had a good reputation. We charged $35/hr when others had charged $50/hr or $90/hr, now a lot of them do the same thing for $15/hr or less. Plus the more people that get out of IT work, the more of them have an idea to start a Tech Support business. We still have a good reputation, but people and businesses cannot afford us anymore, so they go with someone cheaper. Usually a PFY who reformats the hard drive at the first sign of trouble instead of finding out what is wrong and fix it. But hey, they get what they pay for.
Good business idea, but the market is saturated with people having the same idea, at least in this area.
With at home phone support, you will get customers from all over the country, not just certain areas.
