This is a story about marketing and some stuff i have personally noticed especially in regards to my little business, MyComputerGuy. MCG is something i have been doing in my free time for the past 2 years. After i started for for apple retail in may of 2007 i experienced a renewed interest in computers. i saw a need that needed to be fulfilled in atlanta and started MCG, MyComputerGuy, a computer consultant that mainly focused on helping people transition their lives to the apple platform and providing technical support to small and proprietary businesses. I started MCG because there was an inundation of people coming to me and telling me they had a need for a Guru in their lives. Some one available to provide responsive support and really provide targeted help to help people make the most with their time and cognitive effort while working.
MCG started strong and only got stronger as i came in more contact with people inside and outside of my day-job and for a time, all-day-jobs. My friend ended up moving to Atlanta and while we stayed together he took appointments for me. His specialty was digital photography and photoshop so all the virginia-highlands house wives loved him and i did home network set up, introduction to the mac and fixing all but the most simple technical problems we took care of; A well oiled machine.
Then i left my job at apple and i noticed my business was slowly declining. I wasn't running into as many people that needed my services. My business had no marketing strategy other than "Hi I'm offie, i can fix your computer, yeah really..." and the results brought repeat customers, word of mouth referrals and some randoms. But after i went solo again i really had to work to find anyone who needed my assistance.
i realized that wifi coffee shops are excellent places to troll for people with computer problems. Along with college campuses, any other random wifi spot, apple stores, best buy, people buying a new computer usually have one at home they don't know how to fix. I was selling woodallions real heavily on the street and starting to get some retail accounts when i realized that i could really work some coffee shops and the neighborhood of castlebury hills in general. Bingo. It was a good investment of time. So much so i got a job at the coffee place, Tilt it was called. i was there usually from 6am to 12 or like 10 to 4.
i liked both shifts for different reasons but i usually met some sort of client in there between 11 and 2 and getting their money during or shortly after work. It was a genius set up. my demographic has almost always been young black professionals, People who wonk on their computer a lot but aren't sure how to make the most of it, or how to make it work for them, much less fix one. And Tilt was a hotspot for young black professionals, college kids from the auc, ga state and tech, bike kids and all the castlebury art farts it was a beautiful mix.
Business was growing on all fronts; wood money, computer money and some other investments were all putting out a good amount of income and really affording me a life at the same time. Ride my bike to work at 5.30 am make coffee, eat breakfast, look cool, quick appointment at 12 or 1, sell woodallions in the after noons at auc or ga state or piedmont park. go to evening appointment or ride home and work on fixing pc's. do it all over again. my marketing was built in.
Now i am going through another period of no "built in marketing"; meeting and greeting is not part of my daily schedule. i am finding that i am having to go online and really find people to "run in to" that need my services. I have built a small clientele but i am having problems growing my word of mouth and being seen on the scene. my social network here in maryland is weak and
MCG really thrives when i am working and have a lot of interaction with people in general. i'm a very personal marketer, i'm really good at selling myself in person but i am still trying to figure out how to get a technical following. fly.paper is a cultural following thats easy, birth of the cool. But how do you get people who need help to find you? the yellow pages of blogging, of social networking.
all of this to say i probably need to go to some professional networking events to meet more of my demographic, headnod and handshake with people who find my time and skills to be valuable. get a little dressed up eh? i am of the firm belief that the amount of money i make in a given week is proportional to the number of strangers i met the previous 7 days. living in the burbs in hard on an urbanite like me.