Starting a Business...

For those of you that run businesses (side business, not main jobs) how do you determine what prices your market will bear (price wise)? Did any of you go to your local SBA or anything like that? I am thinking of doing a pc repair business as well as doing networking (firewalls,wireless routers, switches) for home users and eventually move into the SMB space. I'd like to become a reseller of google apps and a few other things and do some migration from windows to linux or fresh deployments and stuff).

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lunchbox67

Odds are there are people offering that type of service near you already. Find out what they charge. That would get you a good starting point.

Bl8ckr0uter

lunchbox67 wrote: »

Odds are there are people offering that type of service near you already. Find out what they charge. That would get you a good starting point.

That's what I thought but the problem is I don't know if their prices are right because I don't know how well they are doing

lunchbox67

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

That's what I thought but the problem is I don't know if their prices are right because I don't know how well they are doing

Well, they seem to be in business, right? It's a starting point.
How long have they been in business? How many employees do they have?

Make a call and and find out. Just say that you are checking out IT support company's in the area and you want to know what their rates are and their areas of specialty.

In my area the rates start at about $100 an hour and go up from there.

Check company websites also. Some do post their rates on their sites.

Bl8ckr0uter

Good idea. Thanks.

veritas_libertas

I've thought of doing the same thing except that it eats so much of my off time. The other issue is that people will call you at work and want the work done at that moment. I haven't found a way to make it work.

lunchbox67

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I've thought of doing the same thing except that it eats so much of my off time. The other issue is that people will call you at work and want the work done at that moment. I haven't found a way to make it work.

You make sure that is known upfront. After your normal work hours and weekends. Maybe you could even do some remote work during lunch break.

Here is an example of rates from a small tech support shop in Southern California

Business Standard Service Call (8am-5pm Scheduled)
~ $135.00 per hour with a 1 hour minimum
Business Emergency/Critical Service Call (8am-5pm)
~ $202.50 per hour with a 1 hour minimum
Personal Standard Service Call (8am-5pm Scheduled)
~ $108.00 per hour with a 1 hour minimum
Personal Emergency/Critical Service Call (8am-5pm)
~ $162.00 per hour with a 1 hour minimum
24-hour Remote Dial-In Support is billed at 1/2 current onsite labor rate.
24-hour 'After Hour Support' is billed at 1.5 times the normal rate.
"After hours support is any call outside our normal 8am-5pm business hours"

With your time limitations you would need to price accordingly so people will see a benefit to the cost of your time constraints.

Mike-Mike

most businesses around here have mystery time frames and prices, but good luck to you if you start one..

I started a record company once.. technically I still have it, but sometimes handling the business side of things sucks the fun out of it

Bl8ckr0uter

Since I would initially aim at the home user and smb crowd, I would charge significantly lower than that.

Personally I think I need to talk to the sba and get a legitimate business plan and insurance.

lunchbox67

The company prices I listed are for home user and smb. And they are on the low side. Most support companies charge more. ESP when you get into Microsoft, Citrix, Cisco, etc partners.

Once you find out what it costs to run a business legitimately you will understand why illegitimate business can charge so much less.

Xcluziv

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

Since I would initially aim at the home user and smb crowd, I would charge significantly lower than that.

Personally I think I need to talk to the sba and get a legitimate business plan and insurance.

Good start!

In addition, also, think of it like this. If you were on the other end of the spectrum how much would you expect to pay for a certain task (i.e pc repair, network upgrade, virus removal, web design, etc.) When you think in those terms you will have a clear understanding of your worth as well. Hasn't steered me wrong yet