LebGeeks

mir

Member

IT l bineyeh

hi guys,
do u have this feeling that you are becoming IT l 7ay / bineyeh ?

well..i don't mind helping.. i offer help
whenever a friend or someone asks me for help i am glad to offer it
specially when something is broken or needs repair
it will take an amount of time to send it the pc for someone for repair
and usually they are small things
or even i come up with ideas

i am ok with this.. cuz well.. most of the times.. it is nothing.. and usually the ppl offer u lot of favors in return
or when u buy them stuff.. i help them get real good prices.. and build a good relationship with the providers. wich helps me in the future when i want to get my own stuff

but sometimes .. it gets really too much
i make list of the things i have to do after work.. and work doesn't finish before 8:30 nowadays
and list of the CDs/DVDs i have to get in the weekend

the thing.. i can't say no.. or if i say i don't know.. they almost don't believe me
did this ever happen to u.. what u did

well.. another thing.. this got me thinking about the future business model in the IT industry
i think a future business model would be small computer shops in the cities not big ones .. cuz the big ones won't be able to handle
cuz almost in every home there is like 2 computers minimum and lot of accessories
the ppl feel comfy calling the guy next door to check the pc .. bettter than having to send it to some big company they donno anyone in it and that takes much more time to process and more money
this business model will be in the next 5 years i think

karim

Member

Re: IT l bineyeh

I don't see any business model there.

There's only one reason people call you for. You offer services for free. Start charging AS LOW AS 5000 lbp/hour, and I'm pretty sure you will lose all your customers.

I used to work as part time IT support at a company (as a service to the owner, after he had his systems screwed up by a big company with a nice name) and sometimes I've had employees call me up at 10+pm to ask me why they weren't able to log into msn, and even once, an employee called me to ask me about how to use some stupid feature on facebook.

About helping people around with IT, it feels nice at the beginning, but trust me, when people start treating you like you're an employee, it does get annoying. I used to fix at least one PC every two days a few years ago, for friends, neighbors, family members or others.

Oh, and I was able to get rid of most phone calls by redirecting them to some "computer shop i know". They probably went and found someone nicer than me, and started to suck his blood out.

Sorry for the rant and the long post.

mir

Member

Re: IT l bineyeh

nah.. karim .. ur feedback is nice and honest and most welcomed

about the business model.. it is in like 10 years from now.. [probably the toilet will have an IP and u will be able to flush it from work]

those ppl happen to be friends.. and their friends.. family members , neighbors.. they are not customers
and it is really getting annoying.. like someone facebook not working..msn not opening..ppl tend to nag about it

how did u start saying no ? u say no time.. sorry busy? or u ask for money?

Last edited by mir (January 15 2008)

WizaRd

Member

Re: IT l bineyeh

you start saying no with the following:

"There really isn’t much I can do with this machine"

"Great ! And you can help me with my <insert your own project that needs attention>"

or just say "I dont have the time right now..."

rebel0

Member

Re: IT l bineyeh

Exactly, this is where,  i started to get paid for being IT il 7ay, when they want some devices just rba7eh minnon, at least im a guy i wouldnt get shy, dont know whats the feeling for the girl, but one advice if u want to slip em away, just tell them wallah ya 3am haydeh badda tkalef shi 10 $, this is the splitting point where from now on they will take the computer directly to the nearest computer store.