I've always been a guy that people ask their random tech questions to and I have been able to respond. I decided to take that further and get all the necessities in place to do at home computer servicing. What do you all think is fair pricing? That is, if you have done this work......
I'm a self-employed, work from the house, photographer. There are some differences and some similarities.
I can't speak for the specifics of your business, of course.
I charge people an hourly fee, with a two hour minimum. Which is the same idea as your base fee. There is more physical setup in my case, so I'm not suggesting that you move to a 2 hour minimum.... so stick with the 1 hour. However, I think it sounds better to say "$40/hr with a one hour minimum". People will think to themselves that they have a whole hour to get a bunch of stuff done with you. A 'Base Fee' simply means that they are paying you $40 for a quarter of an hour. Sounds more expensive.
Take advantage of all of your (legal!) tax breaks as a small business. Carve out a section of your home for the exclusive use of the business, and you can claim a ratio of all of your home expenses. So, heat, power, etc etc. In Canada (and I assume the US) even a portion of the property taxes and the interest on any mortgages or rent you are paying.
There are a bunch of other things you can do to minimize your taxes, get some good tax advice. One of the things that I finally figured out is that the income tax people don't care if you make
good business decisions - just that it is legitimately tied to a legitimate business. So, once they are convinced that you are trying to run a legitimate business (as opposed to a hobby or an entity that exists simply to avoid taxes) they don't care if you buy the cheapest or the an expensive computer. As long as the computer is used exclusively by the business, they don't really care.
Small business organizations run seminars constantly on the basics of setting up a home based business. Initially, there is no need to pay to attend... the free ones will give you the same information, though maybe not packaged as spiffily.
You may need to register to collect and remit sales taxes. If you do, don't go underground. The tax people are very good at catching people, and in fact they often revel in nailing tax avoiders. They have been figuring out how to catch you for a lot longer than you have been figuring out how to get away it.
Also, you may need to register for a business license. Check with your municipality.
Network. Network. Network. Always carry business cards with you. Don't be shy to announce to your friends that you've just started a business. True friends will try to help you out by recommending you.
Pick a charity or two and do some pro-bono work for them on an ongoing basis. In Canada there is a tax advantage for both the charity and yourself if you invoice them your full rate, and then donate that back to them. (In my case I simply my cheque for the donation in with the invoice.) Virginia may be different, so get some tax advice here too. However, the point is ... you want to be nice to the charity. This is going to sound crass - but welcome to the world of the self-employed: The reason is that the people who run the charity will also need computer support, and they will often use the people who they already know. Like you. Plus... it's a good thing to support your community.
Whether it's the charity above or some other entity.... offer to do computer training classes for really really cheap. Not quite free because nobody values free. The organization you are teaching for will use their extensive mailing list to fill the room with people for you. You now have a room of people who have already demonstrated that they need help with their computers. Don't market yourself too hard here...it's tacky. But make sure you do a bang-up job. Be generous with your advice. Do this and a bunch of them will take your business card after the class. And a bunch of them will call you when they need help... because they already know you and trust you. My rule of them is to be initially generous with people I've met in a workshop. If the questions pertain specifically to the workshop, I will talk to them on the phone for free. If they need me to visit them, and if it's a short visit I can make while already out, I will also do for free or really cheap. Once. After that they are on the clock. The point is to reinforce the knowledgeable and confident image you projected at the workshop. More than one visit, and they are a black-hole and not a client.
Set limits on your workweek. If people think they can call you at all times of the day, and on weekends... they will. When you do make an off-hours call, let them know they are getting special attention.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck.
