As Hour Computer Man I help small businesses one on one as a back-door employee paid on an as need hourly basis. I help with acquisition of computers including hardware software needs analysis and recommendsations and even paying for the actual purchase and simply adding that on to the invoice for installation setup and training if needed. Business owners often simply ask me to "get us another co
mputer to do so and so" and I take it from there. Of course, after the installation, they call me to help when something doesn't work as expected. For instance, printer offline, or can't get to the Internet, or email won't accept the password, commonly occurring interruptions that the employees don't have the time or expertise to address. Often times I am also called upon to help clean the garbage that accumulates on computers and subsequently slows them down. After decades of daily experience in that, I have become somewhat of an expert in that area, but I cannot rest on my laurels because it is ever-changing and there is always something new. The main reason for my web presence it to share some of that expertise both with my current customers and with new ones who wish to have a computer man by the hour. More on my history:
In 1981 I took a 50% pay cut to get into the new Personal Computer Industry. I fell in love with the task of helping small businesses to choose and use them. I expanded that to larger businesses and by 1984 was the sole provider of personal computers to some of the largest companies in our area (of course I was only the interface, IBM was the manufacturer, and I worked for a growing chain of computer stores in sales and support). At that time I learned a very valuable lessons:
Vendors to large companies are squeezed like a sponge and drained of every ounce of energy and $ in profit. So in 1986 when I and a couple of partners started our own computer store, we concentrated our efforts on helping small businesses where our efforts were so appreciated that we were happy to help in every way we could, and while the compensation is not lucrative, it is enough to make a living. When I entered a small business in the morning to help in some way I was likely to be offered a cup of coffee. When I would arrive around lunchtime I would often be offered something to eat. While I rarely took them up on it, the gesture was always well received and appreciated. In 1994 I had the opportunity to go out completely on my own as Hour Computer Man, again I decided to focus my efforts on helping small businesses. And that is what I have done ever since. Of course small businesses are run by individuals and they have home computer needs as well so a portion of my business is in the home market. If I can help you in either one, let me know.
