Re:From experience... (Score 1)

I like to throw in my 2 cents here....

I used to work for a franchise home/small biz tech support from 2002-2004 (who shall remain nameless, but look for a washed up former NFL QB endorsing them on their web page!). It was a horrible experience for me and my boss, who bought into their "hey, you don't need to know computers to know how to run such a business!" model. Here's a couple of the more outrageous stuff....

a. As a member of the franchise, my boss has to spend $1000 a month for a quarter page ad on the Pac Bell yellow pages. REQUIRED by HQ. Needless to say, it didn't come close to paying off month after month.
b. When my boss started the franchise, there was a list of hardware parts that are required to be purchased from HQ. Among them; ISA NIC cards and ISA sound cards, serial (DB-9) cables, AT keyboards, and copies of Windows 95. Needless to say, they sat for the duration I was there.
c. When we need hardware parts, we HAVE to buy them from HQ; which was marked up to a good 20% to 50% above what you can get for in newegg. Eventually, they backed down on that, but still....
d. The pay system is needlessly complicated. It depends on how much work I do. In a nutshell, if you do not bill enough work for the week (which happens twice a month, because all the money wasted on the yellow pages ad), the pay is $8 per hour. Yes, EIGHT dollars per hour. My boss wants to pay me more, but HQ won't let him do it. But wait! They'll pay NINE dollars and FIFTY CENTS per hour if you get your MCSE!!!

He shut down his business after I left, and now I'm helping out some of his former customers on the side. However, I believe that HQ's found another sucker to continue on. Therefore, I can't be too blantant about it.....

ANYWAY, sorry if I went off on an tangent here, here's my two cents if you want to run with things yourself.....

a. Gotta have a thick skin. You will be insulted, yelled at, be called names, etc. It's going to happen. We had a customer to called us once an hour for a day and a day and a half to say that I am a crappy technician after I told her, on an on site visit, that the PC she purchased at WAL-MART (Cyrix processor, 1.2 GB, 128MB, running XP) will need significant upgrades; and that she's better off with a new computer. Oh yeah, she cancelled her check, of course....
b. You will get unreasonable requests. I've had people asking for a gaming PC that can play Battlefield 1942, and an licensed version of MS Office for $400. LEARN TO SAY NO!!!! Some people are just unreasonable. Let other people deal with their crap.
c. Going after small businesses is the way to go, but the 1st two rules applies. We've had a small business who racked up about $700 of bills that their boss simply refused to pay, without citing any reason. Of course, he ignored our dialogue to negotiate, and try to make things better. That was a bitter pill to swallow. d. Maybe this is just me, now that I'm doing this on the side... This type of support can be very repetitive and boring. My best customers usually have jobs that are not exactly difficult; however, they appreciate that you are coming out and helping them; that's what you are selling; not necessarily your knowledge, but your service. My main job now is a system admin for a small company where I can play with Windows servers, Linux boxes, AS/400s, and what not. I found this work a lot more rewarding; but that's just my opinion.

Good luck to ya!!!