Product Description Want to be in business for yourself? A computer repair service may be perfect for you. But how do you start and run a computer service business? First, read this book, written by a computer technician with more than nine years’ experience working for himself. I started my business from scratch and built it up to a viable, full-time enterprise, and I will show you how to do the same. This book is full of practical hints for running a computer repair and service business. For example, you’ll learn how to handle clients who call you wanting a “quick answer on the phone” or what to do when someone cancels an appointment at the last minute. You’ll also learn . What you need to get started . Where and how to advertise for the best results . How to decide what to charge . How to keep clients, even difficult ones, happy . How to talk to clients on the phone and at their home or business . What records you must keep, and how to keep them . And much more
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2 How to start and run your own computer repair business
The bad news from the Japanese consumer electronics industry continues. Sony just announced plans to cut about 8,000 global jobs from its beleaguered electronics business while making unspecified reductions to its seasonal and temporary workforce. The move, as Sony explains it, comes “in response to the sudden and rapid changes in the global economic environment.” Ominously, it looks like Sony will also be raising prices in the countries where “Sony makes significant sales” (read: US and Europe) if we’re reading this statement correctly:
In Today’s economy, you need to be prepared. So I thought I bring back some old Favorites of mine and talk about them. To see the other layoffs that I’ve talked about CLICK HERE. If you wanted to know what you can do to be prepared here are some great resources for people who are worried about there jobs:
If you have any others you would like to suggest please leave a comment and let everyone know. These are hard economic times and we all could use the help.
November 10, 2008trademarks | Posted by Paul Sylvester
[COMFIRMED]
According to The Press-Enterprise has announced all 18 U.S. Hubs will close and that means 10,000 workers will be out of a job. They will keep 3,000 for international business. I wanted to tell everyone about this as soon as I found out.
There is a rumor that DHL might layoff some of it’s employees. About 8,000 Jobs will be announced to tomorrow when they release the earnings report. Now I know very little about this parent company but they have 475,100 employees and that would mean 1.6% of the people would be laid off!!
According to Business Week there Volume have been going down this year.
(CNN) — A southern Ohio community is bracing for possible layoffs as DHL Express — the largest employer in the area — planned to announce its quarterly earnings report and restructuring details. [Via CNN]
From what I can tell this will affect the Eastern part of the US. I’ve done a little digging for everyone to see just why they would want to layoff so many people. They have to reduce there spending because there Volume isn’t as it should. This will also effect delivery of packages, and might end up slowing the delivery of Christmas packages. So pack those presents early and ship them off early, to make sure they get delivered before Christmas!! To see other layoffs this year just click this LINK. It will show you all of the layoffs that have/are/or might happen in the near future.
November 2, 2008suggest | Posted by Paul Sylvester
According to Computer World, dated Oct 31, 2008 and I’ll quote:
“Over the next couple of months, we’ll be rolling out another infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client code),” said an unidentified Microsoft employee on the Windows Update team’s official blog. “This update makes it possible for users to install more than 80 updates at the same time.”
Now if your like me and have several computers who need to be updated at a given schedule, you sometimes worry about these updates that come along that might just break your system. I have been using a program call Offline Updater, which does what Autopatcher does really nicely. So why is Microsoft sending out this patch? Two reasons, one they want you to be able to update your operating System without hurting your system integrity.
Now lets talk about the integrity of having to reboot your system. You see, every time you reboot the system, it causes the system hardware some strain. It is something like having starting up a car, sooner or later you will have the starter go out, because of to much start up.
Second reason for this is, basically the update software needs to be update yet again for any security flaws or features that might be exploitable. I am sure there are some and Microsoft probably knows about that we do not. So that is the second reason, which it is the most obvious reason yet to push out another revision of the Windows update.
What about stopping the update from effecting your system. The only way that I know of is to prevent Windows from checking for updates. Which is simple:
Windows XP Version:
[Category View and Classic View]
<Start> / Control Panel / Security / Click Windows Updates
<Orb> / Control Panel/ Security Center/ Windows Update / click “change Settings”
With both ways, you will be able to control four ways to handle Windows updating and they are:
Automatic - Will download all necessary updates and install them without your permission or knowledge. Note some of the updates will automatically reboot your system. Most commonly they are set to do this every day in the 12am to 4 am period of time. So when you wake up you would see an log in screen.
Download updates but let me choice which ones to install and when - This is most commonly used by people who don’t want to bother having to check manually. It will check and download, then it will let you know.
Check for updates but don’t Download them- This is like the previous one but this will only tell you. The rest of the decision is in your hands not the computer. This is good for people who have limited system resources, like Hard drive space. It still reminds you like the previous one but won’t download any updates.
Never check for updates- This is used for people who don’t want to be bothered with updates and have a way to update manually. This is commonly used by businesses who have several systems on and don’t want to risk an update causing trouble or weigh down the companies internet by downloading updates un-necessarily. This option is not to be messed with because it leaves your system with quite a lot of vulnerabilities. You do this one if you have a set schedule to update each and everyone system. (Extremely Dangerous to do)
With what I talked about, I am hoping you find this useful and to share your discoveries with other people who might want to be able to change how Windows updates are handled on other systems. If you have comments or questions, please post them in the comment section and someone will be more than glad to help you out.
Fidelity Investments acknowledged yesterday it is studying cost cutting but declined to comment on an industry report that it plans to lay off up to 4,000 employees as plunging stock markets cut into the value of its mutual funds business.
Now this is another example of all the layoffs that are coming due to the recession. If you want to find out all the other layoffs that I have found just search my site. There are far to many for me to list now. I am not happy with what seems to be and down ward spiral.
October 22, 2008trademarks | Posted by Paul Sylvester
In an email he sent to the readers of his publication, Jason Calicanis talks about having to lay off around 10% of people from Mahalo. Here’s the quote:
We’ve laid off a just under 10% of our full-time staff, cut our overhead by doing smart things like renting desks (we have six desks/offices available fyi), and reorganized our editorial department to focus on freelance positions over in-house editors. The net result
of the effort is we are giving Mahalo another year of “dry powder” (or runway) to complete our mission.
This is not to be unexpected after all the talk about the recession coming our way. It does however emphasizes the need for companies to consider there profit margins and accounting strategy.
Mahalo was launched in May 2007 as an Alpha test. That is to say only a select number of people were able to access the site and create feedback to the development of the site. As of January of 2008 it is in what we call the Beta test phase. Which means more people are testing it out and find out it’s flaws to report back about where they need to improve. Mahalo’s directory employs human editors to review websites and search engine results.
Saying that Mahalo is in Beta still doesn’t lessen the fact that they are worried about there revenue model and expect a drastic decrease in revenue over the next 2 years due to the Recession still hanging over our heads. This is where it comes to pure talent and understanding that most people in the business has to worry being laid off for example Merck Laid off 13% of it’s workforce. Most people know the dread and fear of having the possibility of a Layoff hanging over your head and it is bound to affect even the most stubborn person and independent person. It is going to come at a time like Christmas or the first a year and you will have to scrounge around and try to find another job. It’s tough and I’ve got a list that will help you :5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.
With this list you will be able to get a better grip of the future and maybe create a better future in the process.
Mahalo is still in it’s infancy and will still need time to grow and mature and with this recession looming over everyone’s head they will have quite a time making heads or tails of the future. So why try to create the future if you don’t know what will happen? That comes with the territory of blogging and website that are 2.0. It’s a hit or miss when it comes to people finding the best content and sometimes finds the worst content. This is where you as a reader have to choice what to listen to and who to listen too. I don’t say that will be easy but it is essential in finding what you need at the time you need it.
If we don’t do anything, this will be the last you will see of some of these big name sites. We need to gather around them and show our support, by reading there content and providing feedback if there is something that needs to be change. That is your power to help these websites become the best they can. So go comment on your favorite website, tell them something you think they can do to better the content. So why aren’t you doing that now?
October 21, 2008suggest | Posted by Paul Sylvester
After all that happened today, Apple decides to talk about there earnings for today. Some things to consider are:
Apple ships more than 2.6 million Macs and 6.9 Billion Iphones. Now let’s do the numbers on this 6.9 billion Iphones at an average over 500$ a piece would mean quite a earnings for Apple. This according to Applewatch and I’ve got to think is this showing the real economy or is this all hype from Steve Jobs?
According to M&G Business they are up 24 per cent this fiscal year. Which means that they have gain ahead from the recent problems in the stock market. Are they going to be able keep that going?
Last but final least saying of the day Gizmodo is stating : Steve is on the call, says that iPhone is now 39 percent of their business, Apple is now world’s “third largest mobile phone supplier.”
Now what about the Google Phone is that going to out sale the Iphone? I would like to know the current status of how man Google phones they have estimation sold on pre-orders? Are they going to be able to out do the Iphone or is it going to be even more of a problem when they release the final numbers on the G-phone!!
Has the Mac ads been helping fueling the Iphone sales or have they been Hindering? People are assuming they are helping the notebook sales and possibly helping the iphone sales? What do you think?
As I’ve been watching Hulu the last few months. I’ve come to think that Hulu isn’t offering us the viewers the chance of a full course meals. They seem to like to stop after the first 2-3 seasons on most of the shows. I recently contacted Hulu about the Naruto episodes and here’s what they had to say about it:
Thanks for the email. On background, sometime in the coming weeks, Hulu
will get the remaining episodes of Naruto Season 1, and we'll also get
episodes from Season 2-3 in the future as well.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Brandon Boone
So why does Hulu do this? I have a theory and this is one that most people will agree on. My theory is that the distributors are trying to entice us into buying the rest of the seasons from someplace, like Amazon or Itunes. Now I am going to have to say this is really stupid way of business and will sooner or later create even more of a demand to download these shows illegally. In the past people have always looked for the cheap way to watch there favorite shows.
Increasingly people are using BitTorrent to download their favorite TV-shows. The rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free and should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat.
[Via Torrentfreak]
It is one thing to offer free content and get revenue from the free content. It is another to offer free shows and encourage people to download the rest of the show illegally.
Why do they want to buy the rest of the episodes, it is simple math. They are wanting to get the money for each DVD you buy. In today’s economy there seems to be less and less Blue ray sales.
Published: September 23, 2008 – 08:18PM CT
The numbers show that Blu-ray’s market share dropped 13.39 percent from the previous week, and that DVD’s numbers actually went up by 0.15 percent. Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy recently told Home Media Magazine that he didn’t expect Blu-ray to have much of an impact on the company’s DVD business in 2008 at all. Citing high player prices, he said that only a fraction of Netflix subscribers currently rent Blu-ray disks.
Although, this is a couple weeks old article from arstechnica, I thought it was more relevant than most. It talks about how people can’t afford to buy a player and the BD Dvd’s due to the high prices and charge more than they should. So why do it in the first place? I don’t know but all this is showing people are having to choice cheaper and cheaper ways to watch what they want because of the US economy slinding further into recession.
What is your most favorite show or movie? Are you willing to pay a lot for the movie? These are questions, that we have to challenge Hulu and other shows on why they only have 2 or 3 seasons of a particluar series. Is it right to have lure us into the episode and not offer more episodes later on?
October 10, 2008trademarks | Posted by Paul Sylvester
Having seen the economy this week, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is time to redo all the important essentials and get all my ducks in the order as they say. I’ve been thinking of how best to be ready in case the dreaded day comes when my employer no longer needs my assistance and what could I do to be prepared.
Get Someone to Critique your Resume — This is the most important step because this is the first place employers look when they want to hire someone. So how do you get it critiqued? Here are some good links to help you start off with: Careerbuilder Critique, Mind of Root Peer Critique(Last until Oct 30, 2008).
Use your website as a place to put your Resume – Have your resume available in case some contacts you and tells you they know someone who is looking to hire people. Have this resume hidden and only give it out to people you know. This is also known as networking.
Network as much as possible – There are sites out there that have made it easier to network. Sites like linkedin.com, this site is great because of the 6 degrees of possibility as I call it. You know someone, they know someone, and then you will both know the same one!! This also will greatly increase your chance of an employer finding you.
For those who want to be Self employed – I wanted to say that most people who want to be self employed know just how hard it is to begin with. So I’ve got some interesting links to help start you on your way. First link is Technibble.com Computer Business Kit, This has Maintenance Sales Letter, Work Order, Marketing Analysis and Payment Overdue Letter. It is also a good idea to have an MP3 Advertisement that you can give to podcast and throw them the link to it. You will need to market yourself to the public in ways that no one has thought of. You will on an occasion have to spend money in order to get money, it’s always been that way but it seems to work.
These are some great tips that will greatly improve your chances of landing that job or becoming even more chance of you making money. If you have any tips or want to suggest ways to improve upon these tips please email me. If you like what you see discuss it on the blog or click on my ads to help offset the cost of this blog.
October 15, 2007suggest | Posted by Paul Sylvester
In yet another blow to the reputation of WindowsVista, the Dutch Consumers’ Association (Consumentenbond) has recommended that customers who purchase new PCs insist on obtaining Windows XP over Vista. In addition, it called on computer shops to provide Windows XP downgrades to customers who have already obtained Vista from said shops. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade Microsoft to provide those free downgrades, the DCA said that consumers would have to take matters into their own hands since Microsoft does not agree with its assessment of the OS, which the organization said appears to have been released before it was truly ready, according to comments recorded by Expatica. Related Stories * XP on OEM hardware? Not after January, 2008 * Microsoft’s OEM catch-22: XP still in the driver’s seat * Report: Vista Business, XP Pro sales down in Europe * Forget big service packs, Vista “high quality right out of the gate,” says execThe organization’s spat with Microsoft began when it conducted a survey on Vista’s performance. According to the survey results, the OS performed quite poorly, racking up 5,000 consumer complaints in less than five weeks. Commonly reported issues center on printer and hardware compatibility, system crashes, and slow peripherals. The DCA met with Microsoft to discuss its concerns before issuing its statement warning consumers away from Vista—evidently, whatever olive branch Microsoft offered wasn’t enough to satisfy the group.
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