How To Turn Your Home Computer Into A Profit Center...
How to turn your PC into a profit centre. Even though they have been around for several years, the service market is still growing. With some imagination and initiative, you can join the thousands of entrepreneurs who are using computers to profit from such businesses as simple word processing, secretarial services, book keeping, desktop publishing, computer consulting and training. Don't despair if you don't have a computer, or even if you don't know much about them. Today's computer equipment is inexpensive, making computer related businesses among the most profitable yet least expensive business to start. You can profit from a low investment base quickly. The software you use as the basis of a business is generally easy to learn and apply. With some software, you can go from novice to expert in just a few weeks. Here are some ways you can profit from computers. Don't be afraid to adapt any idea to fit your preferences and the needs of the people in your area. In particular, you may want to incorporate several of these services into one business, possibly increasing your profit potential. Secretarial Services A home based secretarial service typing reports, papers, dissertations, letters, and other documents for students, writers and businesses is a common way to profit from your computer. Word processing is just a high-tech version of the old-fashioned typing service. The difference is that word processing allows you to produce better-looking documents in less time than a typewriter. Good word processing programs let you include headlines, footnotes, and special symbols in documents with little hassle. This flexibility increases the value of your service to potential clients. The local community is a good place to get customers for a word processing business. Prepare attractive flyers to post on bulletin boards in shops and colleges etc., in your community and don't forget 'word of mouth'. Stress fast personal service. Try advertising in the classified section of the newspaper and mailing flyers to businesses. Small companies may be particularly good customers for your service because they may not have secretarial staff. Larger companies may use you for overflow work or for long projects in which the finished copy must be perfect. Rates will vary, check your competition and try to differentiate your service.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING Because its capabilities are so amazing and useful, this new technology promises to continue to grow for the next several years and can provide some very profitable work. With desktop publishing software, and a laser printer you can produce flyers, brochures, reports, booklets, books and nearly any other material that needs to be designed and typeset. The documents that you produce are "camera-ready," meaning that they are ready to be printed up with no additional typesetting, layout or paste-up. As a desktop publisher, you can offer both graphic design and typesetting services at a very competitive price (much lower than customers would pay for a separate graphic designer and typesetter). Even better, if you are a writer (or can associate with one) you can produce complete documents, from idea to finished piece. Desktop publishing is a more expensive computer businesses to start. A good laser printer is essential, and desktop publishing software, including a full range of graphics and typestyles, may cost. If you're starting on a tight budget, you can probably put off buying the laser printer. Just work out an arrangement with a print shop or some other business that has a laser printer in which you may print out your finished documents. Because desktop publishing is more involved than word processing, it's more difficult to set prices. The best way is to charge by the job, basing your fee on an hourly rate. When a potential client comes to you, estimate how many hours the work will take, and then quote a package price. (Most customers prefer a package price rather than paying you an hourly rate.) Businesses, charitable organizations, professional, and anyone else who needs high-quality printed pieces are potential customers for a desktop publishing business which fits neatly into a secretarial service business as your skills, confidence and client base grow. Print shops which don't offer graphic design and typesetting may be willing to steer clients who need these services to you. Direct mail solicitations also may be effective in promoting your services, especially if you include some impressive samples of what you do. The profit opportunities are considerable.
BOOKKEPING, TAX PREPARATION Many business people love running their businesses but hate the financial record keeping necessary for smooth day-to-day operation. Failure to keep careful records can cause problems at tax time and whenever else a clear financial picture of the business is needed. If you have experience in book keeping or accounting, adding this service into your total offering can be an excellent way to profit with your computer. Again you will be using with another type of software so some traing may be required. With spread sheet software and some accounting packages, you can keep detailed records of clients books, take care of billing, prepare profit and loss statements, balance sheets and financial analysis, plans and reports, to keep the client aware of his or her financial standing. Base fees on the size of the business and the amount of time you need each month working with the client's books. You may want to charge additional fees for extra services such as preparing tax forms, financial statements, and balance sheets. Small businesses - especially retail stores, with their need to keep inventory - are prime markets for a computerized bookkeeping service. The soft-sell approach works best when promoting this type of business so it could be a nice progression from your initial business service. Clients want to feel that their finances are in the hands of someone who is conservative and trustworthy, not a pushy promoter.
COMPUTER CONSULTING Most businesses benefit from having one or more personal computers, but very few managers have the time to research fully the hardware and software available when making choices. If you know computers and various software packages you can provide a valuable service as a consultant, helping clients avoid costly and frustrating mistakes. Consultants begin by taking the time to learn about a client's business. Thoroughly interview the manager or owner to find out what he or she expects a computer system to do. Observe employees to see what they do and how they might benefit from specific types of equipment or software. Stress benefits. Consultants typically charge per day. Emphasize to potential clients that your good advice can be worth many times what it costs, since you can suggest cost saving and efficiency-improving purchases. A much more specialised service is that of webmaster designing web sites for local businesses. This will require specific training but is yet another possibility for your total package. If you decide to go down this route you will open up other business opportunities such as web page design and web hosting.
COMPUTER TRAINING Computer trainers teach people how to use specific types of equipment and software. For example, when a company begins using a new word processing system, some employees will need to be taught to use it. A computer trainer conducts these training sessions, either one-on-one or with an entire group. The most effective trainers are good listeners as well as talkers. Before training employees, ask them about other software packages they've used and what they intend to do with the new package. After all, there's no point in spending two hours telling someone how to do "mail-merge" with a word processor if they never have need for that feature. Begin by specializing in only a few popular software packages that you know well. Prepare a mailer listing your areas of expertise. We hope that this article has given you some inspiration if you are considering starting a profitable business using your computer. Starting from basic word processing or a secretarial service you now hopefully have sufficient suggestions to prove that you could develop a profitable business from your home computer. Action is the key don't delay start your business today
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