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Help with switching businesses

by SpeedyBanana
1 replies
About a year and a half ago I started up a small computer service company. I followed traditional marketing methods such as pin-up ads, business card spamming, 411 .ca, YellowPages, newspaper ads, etc. I became quickly disappointed in the results. Most of the methods didn't work very well and the ones that did were expensive. Of the clients that did come in I would have to service a significant number of them for free just to pay for the advertising costs.

Rather than give up I kept on trying and eventually stumbled across this forum. After a month or two of reading and implementing what I learned, the number of calls I received started to go through the roof. Considering I run this business from home there were times where I had to turn people away because there wasn't any more room for computers in my house.

It didn't take long to realise after that, that I would be more profitable and fun to help other small business owners experience the same results. Right now I'm in the process of setting up an offline marketing company but I'm not sure what to do with my existing computer service company.

It's a great portfolio item because it ranks number 1 on Google for keywords like "computer repair" and "laptop repair" in my city and I even get a few resumes a week sent to me because people think this is some kind of big company.

To be honest I could do significantly more with the SEO and rank for other good keywords but I put a hold to that because too much business was coming in and by that point my heart was set on creating an offline marketing company instead of continuing to fix computers.

So my question is... what do I do with this business now? There is value in the website but I'm not sure how I would be able to sell it to... for example... another computer service company. I also don't want to hire people to do the work because I don't want to deal with this business any more and want to focus exclusively on marketing. I don't wan't to be managing people and running two businesses at once.
#businesses #switching
  • Profile picture of the author SendCards
    You may want to plan your transition over X months rather than "going cold turkey" and switching to your marketing business. One reason for this is you are your own best testimonial. From reading this forum you know that not everyone has what it takes to do offline marketing, it isn't a business everyone "thinks" they need... In your computer repair business people need your service , they have no choice when their computer "goes down" if they are not able to make repairs themselves, so they seek out an expert like you. Business people are not all cut from the same cloth, overall though, they want to set their own course and see themselves as the Captain of their own ship, unable or unwilling at times to take suggestion of a course correction/suggestions in their marketing. You are a business person though and you will figure this out and learn the sales triggers that will make you successful.

    So as you are building your consultancy , you will collect testimonials from happy satisfied clients and the referrals will come rolling in, then you can exit the computer repair business. In the meantime I would continue building the value of the computer business/site by doing the SEO you spoke about, I would raise my prices considerably +30%, and I would farm some work out to another qualified local computer business(s) on a referral fee basis with the intention that one of these businesses would/could then buy your site, accounts, receivables, etc. with you now as their business marketing consultant on a monthly retainer. They would become an ongoing client..and you get full and future value from that transition plan..I would plan this over six to eight months...

    Just my two cents..

    Cheers! and Good Luck,

    Chris
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