When the conversation turned to cool businesses that one could work from home the topic turned to starting a home computer repair business. As my wife and I have had many such chats over the years this one started out as just a routine brainstorming conversation. Then I Googled the idea and things changed. I found out that up to 95% of all Windows computers currently online are plagued with data-mining, offline ad pop-ups, something called parasites, trojans, dialers, browser hijackers and lots of stuff even meaner sounding than viruses. According to Earthlink, �the spyware and virus problems are getting worse instead of better. Problems with locked up computers are more common and over 225 million computers are infected.� I decided to start a casual survey of my friends. I gave myself a very low key goal of 3 to 5 months to complete the project. I didn't want to appear too pushy or obvious. All I asked was one question and the rest of my presentation took a natural course from that point. My conversation would begin casually and end with....have you noticed your computer is acting funny? Most often the response would be, �sort of. It takes longer to boot up and I get so many pop-ups even with a pop-up blocker, it makes me sick.� My next strategy is to say, well the same thing was happening to me and just about all of my friends. I decided to buy a kit to clean out viruses, some nasty worms, and some stuff that's hard to pronounce. I always get a laugh with that line. Then I continue. �Most of the time I just charge for the program I use for each computer which is about 20 bucks. I�ll take a look at your�s some time, just let me know when. 8 times out of 10 I make an appointment on the spot. Even though I�ve only done this about a dozen times, I�ve banked $600. This mostly because I�m getting referrals, one of which was a small accountant�s office just before the tax season started. I�ve always maintained a private coaching practice so the money is not the main idea behind my project. I wanted to see if what I read had any value. It appears to be a true opportunity that can only get bigger. USA Today reported recently that, �By the turn of the millennium, unparalleled growth in computer and Internet usage resulted in a $300 billion computer service market, comparable in size only to the home improvement market! This sector of the computer industry is now experiencing double-digit growth, and is projected to continue doing so for the foreseeable future." This was based on industry studies by Ziff-Davis. If I ever decide to retire from coaching, I�ll have no problem moving into a computer home business. I recently found a great little company that has designed a complete home computer repair package. If you know how to setup an internet connection on your computer, and access the add/remove programs in the control panel, you can do this. What�s even better about this is my personal experience indicates you can pocket a day�s pay in less than a day.
