Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Actually I don`t think a data archiving idea will work. Your clients could not  be confident you store their data in a safety environment, also they could think it`s risky to share their private information.

Another thought - there are many services for storing any private information on remote servers in large data centers and it`s safely and cheap. So if your clients are thinking about storing their information, I think they know about these services.

What is your value for your clients? Just scanning documents?

Another thing you would consider is learning small businesses how to use their computers for business. Actually it`s our headache, because our clients are the same small businesses and we received letters and calls "We are not very good with computers, please learn us how to change regional settings in Windows, how to install, how to use e-mail clients" and so on.

Also a lot of people buy new computers with Windows Vista, and it`s hard to have softwares they used earlier working on Vista and even install on Vista. May be it could be your service, installing and making sure all programs are working.


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http://www.availsuite.com
A small business management software for the field service industry.
U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Small Business Specialist

How about doing small classified ads. The fact that you are local and small can actually be a benefit. Use some creativity and use that in your ad. Do some research and learn how to write an effective ad, also look at the ads other businesses are already using. See the ones that stand out more. If you were a looking customer, which would you call? If you can see past issues, see which ads are appearing consistently; try looking back as far as a year ago, those are the ones who are successful. Use that knowledge to write your own ad. Write ads and post them in different media (newspapers, magazines, local versions of major newspapers and magazines, and online). Many times, you can even find free online resources for this tactic. Classified ads are usually pretty cost effective. Make sure to track the effectiveness of your ads and make the ones that DO work, work harder by posting more of them. The ones that DONT work throw them out. Test, and optimize. Who knows, this might be the only marketing you`ll need. Best of luck!

Victor

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Learn to type as you talk at my Talk and Type Software page

Another marketing thing that could work is posting some articles in local newspapers. You will learn customers, customers will know you are an expert in this area.
May be you can go live archiving idea if you post an article about what is it, why small businesses should archive their documents and some examples, real stories. For instance, "Jenny Doe lost her valuable information when her computer crashed. It caused a bad thing, another bad thing, another bad thing. She tried to find a solution..."
It isn`t a direct advertisement and it works.


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http://www.availsuite.com
A small business management software for the field service industry.
U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Small Business Specialist

hey! i have never thought about anything like that. i guess i luck out, too, since i own a classified paper. i`ll just change my ad from and "ad" into an article or tip section.

thanks alot!

digitalsquare,

I just wanted to say hi. I used to be a vol. firefighter also. I took up that idea in another way. I`m trying to market my digital home inventory service. Nothing yet though, as far as any customers. Which I think is weird since I live in tornado and hurricane country (Florida). Maybe it`s because I started it around the time that the snow-birds were going back north. I`m now trying to make a go of another venture. God bless.

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www.sterlingenterprises.org

I do this kind of archiving for family all the time.  I started it as my own archive, but give family access. 

I think it would be a great side business, and who knows, it may become a really important part of your services. 

As a volunteer fireman, you have access to those who have had to learn the hard way that those precious photos & documents need to be kept in a safe place.    You will want to be able to offer them a secure, password protected site to put them on. 

I do photo restoration in conjunction with the photo quilts I make.  I`ll take a customers old, sometimes damaged photos, restore them, save the original & the restored onto a cd.   This is given, as a bonus to the customer when they pick up their quilt.  They can then have these photos printed out for other family members.  I always suggest to them to save a copy onto a website, if they have one...or on thier online mail server.  If the house burns down...you at least have copies of the old photos.

 

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Marge Campbell Littlefield Texas

I have to disagree with you.  If one offers to scan important documents, and you give the owner a password protected place on the web to store those documents & photos...and charge a small fee for the storage point...this could work as an addition to the computer repair business.

I think my quilt customers are more excited about the photos I save onto disk for them, than they are in the finished quilts sometimes.

I do make sure there are no copyright problems (no professional photos newer than 75 years is scanned).  If they want to use a photo from a professional photographer, I have them get permission to put into the quilt (and I don`t save a copy), or I suggest they use a snapshot that I can pull a print from.  I can put any background to a photo.

 

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Marge Campbell Littlefield Texas