In the glowing reports of 46 million American workers happily working away on their PCs in their home offices, no one ever mentions the 2 a.m. panic–the inevitable and terrifying failure of computer hardware and software in the wee hours before a project is due.
Yong Bakos, 22, is one of a growing legion of local service professionals who get calls at that hour from home-based workers tripped up by their own technology. Of course, the Northwestern computer sciences senior works day hours too, and he credits the home office movement for funding his college–and entrepreneurial–education. He runs a Chicago-based computer repair and Web site design firm under his own name.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is still in the process of tabulating data, expects to report that in 1996, computer services ran second in growth of jobs only to personnel supply services in an overall measure of business service growth. By the end of 1996, more than 1.2 million people were working in the computer service industries of computer programming, prepackaged software design and consulting–up an average of 10 percent annually between 1988 and 1996.
“The computer services industry is growing overall, but the home-based sector is growing faster than anyone can measure right now. People know they can’t always go to the place where they bought the computer to get specific problems solved, and it’s much easier if someone comes to their house,” says Bakos. “If you have the training and basic customer service skills like reliability and responsiveness, it’s possible to develop a full-time business by word of mouth alone.”
Bakos currently charges $40 an hour for services ranging from basic computer hookups to diagnosing software problems. He took the last year off from school to work at Hubbard Online, a Web site design company, but is returning to class this year and offering Web site creation services in his part-time business. Bakos charges $400 to create a Web site from name registration through design.
The Salt Lake City-based American Home-Based Business Association estimates that the number of people who work at least some of the week at home will rise to between 60 and 75 million in the next three years.
Providing computer support for this group is a growing opportunity for freelance techies. And it’s an easy business to get into: It takes very little investment; what’s valuable is experience.
Since starting the business two years ago, Bakos has picked up clients from word of mouth on campus, particularly an informal referral service run out of Northwestern’s computer science department.
“I find that if customers don’t have an equipment problem, they want to know about the Y2K problem (the potentially disastrous Millennium Bug that threatens to disrupt computers on Jan. 1, 2000) and ways to make their software work more efficiently,” says Bakos.
His working gear essentially consists of a toolkit and written specs on popular software programs that run on IBM-compatibles and Macs. “Your knowledge tends to be what your customers are really buying.”
But home-based computer repair and service is not likely to stay an independent’s game. In Minneapolis, a service called Geek Squad has made a name for itself in the Twin Cities by providing 24-hour computer service with a tongue-in-cheek flair.
Founder and “chief inspector” Robert Stephens, 29, has 17 computer/customer service technicians who don dark suits and arrive at customers’ businesses in antique cars and trucks bearing the Geek Squad name. Geek Squad charges $100-$200 per visit, but only $29 if the problem is fixed in 10 minutes or less (I forgot to plug it in).
Take a look at the funky vehicles, a list of services and a free tech help window on the firm’s Web site, www.geeksquad.com.
“We decided to have a little fun with our concept because even though we service both home and corporate clients, we really cater to the average user and we don’t care where they’re located,” said Stephens, a Wheaton native. “We’re really pretty important in the home-based businesses’ food chain. When you have a computer going down and it’s your only means of bringing in income, then you’ve got a crisis. And we’re always in crisis mode.”
Stephens’ employees aren’t necessarily candidates for computer science degrees, because, he says, “There is a baseline knowledge you must have to fix a personal computer, and we essentially train all our workers here so the service is uniform.”
Trainees start by doing in-office service before they are qualified to go out on client calls. What he feels is equally or perhaps more important is the ability “not to act like a geek” at the client site. “We like our people to have good people skills and an ability to calm the customer and see that they understand what went wrong. We do our job and they don’t feel as helpless. And if they have another problem, they call us because we treated them properly.”
The Geek Squad picked up the Rolling Stones’ 1998 tour as a client because of the band’s use of on-line song requests during their concerts. But they initially got the call because the band’s tour manager was in Minneapolis doing prep work and his Apple PowerBook failed.
Because they fixed his Mac quickly, Stephens said he got another call from the Stones’ staff when Mick and the boys arrived. Stephens got to meet the band, and walked away with a service contract for much of the technology services on the U.S. leg of the Bridges to Babylon tour.
“You know, you meet these guys and the last thing you really think to talk about is computers, but they’re totally into it,” said Stephens. “Charlie (Watts, the Stones’ drummer) has his own Web site for Arabian horses that he and his wife raise and, in concert, they all use TelePrompTers for song lyrics, which we serviced for them.”
Stephens said he hopes to bring Geek Squad to the Chicago area “within the next 12 months” now that the 4-year-old business has its concept down pat.
Stephens and Bakos offer the following advice to home computer users looking for on-site computer service: Get written estimates and ask for references.
“Always get two or three quotes on hourly costs and what they offer, and do it when you don’t have a problem,” said Stephens.
