Over the past few days, I've been toying with the idea of posting something on our local Nextdoor website, promoting a tech service for the neighborhood. At this point, what do I have to lose? I have applied for 15 or so jobs, gotten a few turndowns, but to this point, zero interviews. Two positions I applied for are in "SME review," but appear to be stuck otherwise.
This past weekend, I put together a basic business plan, using a template from the Small Business Administration website. In it, I outlined ideas and details around a plan servicing local seniors for their tech needs. Sort of like what I do for Mom, only without the familial ties.
I've been on a Better Call Saul kick and though I'm no Jimmy McGill, I think old people do like me and generally, I like them. I'm thinking of a service model where it's less transactional (though money will change hands) and more interaction-based. Very similar to the work I did at the MS stores at the Answer Desk.
Only for me, I'd go to the customer's house with an idea of the issue, and then address and try to fix. They are welcome to hang and ask questions, and I want to build rapport, empower them, and hopefully teach them, so the issues are less likely to happen again. But, with the relationship started, the repeat business would hopefully follow.
And I wouldn't limit it to computer help only. What if someone needs phone assistance? Or general tech support (smart devices not working properly; need AV/TV setup; etc)? Maybe there's a market for that in my neighborhood.
So I hit up Nextdoor yesterday and started filling out a page for, at the time, Newport Hills Computer Services. I created an alias email and was going back and forth on things. I thought I didn't want it only to be NH related (what about surrounding areas), so I removed the alias and changed the name to Red Door Computer Services. Why "red door?" Only because I saw a photo of our front door in my pictures folder and said, "why not?" Lame but true.
But when I tried to log in again, Nextdoor sent the verification code to the recently deleted Newport Hills CS alias. No matter! I'd go back in and recreate the alias... only to find out that MS sees that I created two aliases recently and would not let me create another one in such a short time frame.
Which means I'm sort of stuck now.
Red Door Computer Services page does exist on Nextdoor right now. You can see it if you want (meaning me, since literally no one else reads this blog; it is simply my journal now), just do a search on ND.
I also spent some time talking to my boys, Danny and Michael, as they have and are currently are doing something similar. In Danny's case, he did it during his paternity leave a year or so ago, just to make a few extra bucks while he was at home. For Michael, he's been supporting a guy for a year now, making house and office calls to fix PCs.
Both of them gave me good feedback and ways to think about this process. Most important, at this stage in the game, is to just put something out there. For whatever reason, I've been shy to post this on ND, but this afternoon, I wrote up a quick post and did it. I didn't link Red Door to it as that page needs a little editing; my email and home address are on it and I want to move those off for the time being, before linking the page.
Trouble is, I need to wait for ND to either switch the login email for the RD account to the RD email alias, or MS to allow me to recreated the NH alias.
Either way, I posted it to ND a few hours ago and, well, it's gone the same way as my job applications has gone: like crap, no responses. One like from Marci, and Danny commented on the RD page, but those don't count. Maybe once I get the business page lit up.
But for now, there it is. What else do I have to lose? Best case scenario, it actually turns into something I can hang my hat on and live off of. Worst case? No emails, no calls. I'll give it some more time, but hoping I can turn this into something for real.
