How to get into doing freelance work for people

[31crzy]

Hey community,

My name is Dariel, I'm a 20 something "computer guy", by that I mean I've built my own gaming rig and I know a bit more than the average individual using a computer. I live in a pretty rural area where the closes city is 13 miles away and has about 10,000 people in it.

I'm wondering how I can start doing free lance computer work for people, i.e. virus removal, updates, hardware updates, and other pretty basic things that the average person usually goes to a computer guy for.

I'm not sure of all the stipulations of doing computer work for people or if I need certifications, that's why I've come to you guys.

Firstly, what's the bear minimum I need to legally be able to work on computers for people?
Secondly, what should someone doing freelance work charge, i.e. flat rate per service, or hourly rate?
Thirdly, where do I start getting my customers?
Fourthly, what are some other services I could offer to my customers?
Finally, if I need certifications, which ones, and how to I acquire them?


I hope I don't sound like too much of an idiot, or a noob. I'm pretty familiar with some things, and I do some work with my old high school's IT contractor.

If something I've said wasn't clear or you weren't understanding it please let me know.


Thanks community,

Dariel B.

 

[Quaiden]

First, I don't know what the legal requirements of your area might be. You will need to research this. I started freelancing in my area with just my know-how and a disclaimer all customers had to sign stating they agreed to let me work on their PC and I was not responsible for any damage to their system which may occur as part of my efforts to fix their device.

Secondly, for hourly rate, you need to research your area. Find out what the going rate is for the shops around where you live. In my area the going rate was $45-$60 an hour. So I started off charging $30 an hour and worked my way up to $40 an hour when I got a good base of users who would call me back due to liking the results they got from me the first time. Be sure you are specific with your prices when coming up with them. I would always state $30 an hour, minimum 1 hour charge for a call out, and after the first hour I would then charge by the 15 minute interval. This was more than satisfactory for everyone I worked for as the competition in my area was higher priced and would charge by full hour blocks only, rounding up. Don't doubt your charging once you have provided it. Your services will be of value and it is not your fault if the user's device made a 2 hour job take 4 hours because it is 6 years old and very slow.

Thirdly, I put an add in my local paper and got some business that way. I also put an add up every couple of days on Craig's list and got work that way. You will have to figure out what works for your area. You can also try printing out flyers and see if there are any businesses in your town who have post-it boards where they let local freelancers post their event flyers or advertisements.

Fourthly, You can offer whatever you feel comfortable with. I offered all the stuff you listed plus I listed the vague "computer and network consulting" at the end. This drummed up some small business work for me as there were a few placing in town which had very basic networks they needed help with so they could share files and connect to network printers, etc.

Finally, Certifications are nice but most people looking for freelancers haven't a clue what they mean and don't care what you have. I have found only companies who are looking to hire techs are interested in your certs. Certs are good to get as they give you a good path of study and force you to learn things you may not otherwise encounter or know you have encountered, but for freelancing, you don't really need them. If you don't have any Certs and want to get some I would suggest A+, network + (https://certification.comptia.org/certifications), then start looking at MCP (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/microsoft-certified-professional.aspx) and focus on the consumer - desktop type certs.

I hope this information helps. I wish you the best of luck in getting started with this adventure. Don't forget, the difference between a good tech and a great tech is your ability to use google to find the solution to any problem.

 

[Max1s]

Firstly, what's the bear minimum I need to legally be able to work on computers for people?
Secondly, what should someone doing freelance work charge, i.e. flat rate per service, or hourly rate?
Thirdly, where do I start getting my customers?
Fourthly, what are some other services I could offer to my customers?
Finally, if I need certifications, which ones, and how to I acquire them?

1. You can legally work on computers without any certification, if I want to pay you $10 to help me install a hard drive, that's perfectly legal. I think once you start earning several thousand dollars you will have to be paying taxes on it and possibly be set up as an official business. But if you are looking to do small "odd jobs" here and there to start you shouldn't worry about certifications/legalities. (but don't take my word on it, read up on the laws for small businesses)
2. The simplest thing to do would be to charge an hourly rate. However, you could also try to get more money out of people with more money. For example, you probably wouldn't charge the same amount to work on some old lady's decade-old PC as you'd charge to work on a $2000 alienware computer owned by someone who obviously as a lot of money but knows nothing about PCs. You'll need to be careful, though, because if people think you are ripping them off, they may pay but not come back to you again the next time they need work done.
3. Friends, family, friends of friends, craigslist, ebay.... idk
4. Maybe you could offer "service and upgrade" where you take someone's (old-ish) PC, clean it, swap the HD for an SSD and clone the drive, maybe add more memory, and make a bit of profit off the labor involved. However, that would involve people shipping their PC's to you, for which you require their trust, as well as packing materials.

 

[Abs504]

Your questions are all legitimate questions and concerns when starting out freelancing. They were many of the same questions I had, and I wasn't dealing with computers.

1. I believe you can legally work on computers without having any kind of degree or certificate, but having those certifications will make you look more legitimate and make you look like you know what you are doing. I would suggest working towards them when possible, but you don't have to. I would do some research though because in your state the laws may be different.
2. What you should charge depends on what you want to do, it's a personal preferance. Charging a flat rate per service would make it easier for your potential customers to know the cost up front, but if the job takes longer than expected you won't get paid more. Charging an hourly rate allows for flexibility if a job takes longer than expected, but it's harder for your customers to know what the cost will be. I would research in your area to determine what others charge for similar services.
3. There are many ways you can get customers. You can start with friends and family and your social media networks. You can make flyers and see if any local businesses will let you post them on a board, you may want to hit up local businesses if possible instead of large chain stores as the local businesses will be more likely to help a local person out. You could even start a blog or website, but you may reach out to people not in your area and you would have to determine how you would handle that (would you walk them through it via email?)
4. There are so many things you can offer when it comes to computers the possibilities are endless. If you are comfortable with it you could offer things such as upgrades, installing more memory, and so on. If you have the ability and are comfortable doing it you could even offer graphic design or website setup.

Good luck! And remember to keep track of all your income and expenses because you would have to file taxes.