Thinking of starting a new service advice type of business - heeeelp!!!

pastmybest

Can I remove this thread as too many very very very negative replies from self made Net Cops.

stephenni1971

Any suggestions would be very welcome but I would not wish to divulge the area of service offered.

Why, in case we all rush out and do it before you? How do you expect anyone to make a meaningful contribution if you provide no details at all of your service?

Probably why you have to date no replies!

borders_dude

stephenni1971 wrote: »

Why, in case we all rush out and do it before you? How do you expect anyone to make a meaningful contribution if you provide no details at all of your service?

Probably why you have to date no replies!

I concur with this posting!

stephenni1971

pastmybest wrote: »

Do the forum rules state I can only request help if I give such information?

I see no relevance in providing the details as the question is generic and can apply to any type of service business. So can you help or not?

OK, so you could be an IT support specialist who is there to handle real time faults and problems.

Or you could be the seventh son of a seventh son and be doing horoscopes and psychic readings.

Both would fit your outline model but have very different approaches & solutions.

martindow

I too, can't see why you cannot give a bit more info. You have years of experience and we (probably) don't so we are not all going to rush out and pinch your idea!

Someone with a similar background to you could possibly give good advice if they were allowed to know what you are asking.

Caroline73_2

pastmybest wrote: »

I wonder if anyone on this forum is offering an advice type of service mostly by telephone but some email and who knows face to face.

I have sold a business from which I have a vast amount of (successful) experience and still would like to work for a few years more and feel there may be a need for my area of expertise but I was wondering about the plus’s and minus’s. It would be work from home.

MY WEB SITE OPTIONS
Mr Site seems a good way of getting an affordable web site and sure better than the sites I have paid many thousands for in the past. Unless anyone feels there is a better way?

MY TELEPHONE NUMBER OPTIONS
I would want a portable phone number as I am moving soon and may be moving within a few months of that next move but I would not want a mobile phone number. So tips on dealing with this would be good.

MY CHARGING ISSUES
However I see the main problem as being how to charge. I have no wish to pretend I am more than a consultant with a lot of help from a wife with who I was in partnership. So if people call I know I could look at premium rate calls of which I get a percentage. But what if they call and I am not able to take the call being already on a call, or just not on duty at that point of time, and I have to call them back how do I get paid then.

As well as phone work I was hoping to do an emailing advice part of the service and wondered how that could be charged?

Any suggestions would be very welcome but I would not wish to divulge the area of service offered.

OP is a medical doctor of considerable experience.

McKneff

If you dont want to give any more details, then thats fine,
without more details, people can't help. You are obviously an intelligent person but you cant seem to absorb what some of the posters are saying to you.

So now why dont you go to a consultant and get some 'advice' (and pay him)
Do you think he will give you advice on such scant details.

Probably the first thing he will say is 'Advice about what'

stephenni1971

Doctor, I have a terrible pain, can you help?

Certainly, where does it hurt?

Actually, I can't tell you that, but I still want you to make it go away...

See where I am coming from???

Rolo_Tomasi

Perhaps we could start with just a little more information. The OP feels he/she has skills which other people will be prepared to pay for so who are the customers? Are they the general public or businesses? Will they come for one off advice or could it be ongoing? Can they get this advice from elsewhere or only from the OP? How will the customers find out about the service?

Without the answers to these basic questions there are just too many possibilities.

luckyluke7

I think you are on the right lines with the premium rate number, if you're concerned about being on a call and missing another just make sure you have some sort of call queue/hold system to keep them on the line until you're ready to answer. If you did this you wont miss any calls (if you do get that busy) and if customers are holding they are still being charged and you are still making money. Sure some people might get fed up and hang up but its the only solution to having avoid having to have a call centre team and plently of people are happy (well tolerable of...) to hold to get through to big companies like bt.

pitkin2020

pastmybest wrote: »

I wonder if anyone on this forum is offering an advice type of service mostly by telephone but some email and who knows face to face.

I have sold a business from which I have a vast amount of (successful) experience and still would like to work for a few years more and feel there may be a need for my area of expertise but I was wondering about the plus’s and minus’s. It would be work from home.

MY WEB SITE OPTIONS
Mr Site seems a good way of getting an affordable web site and sure better than the sites I have paid many thousands for in the past. Unless anyone feels there is a better way?

MY TELEPHONE NUMBER OPTIONS
I would want a portable phone number as I am moving soon and may be moving within a few months of that next move but I would not want a mobile phone number. So tips on dealing with this would be good.

MY CHARGING ISSUES
However I see the main problem as being how to charge. I have no wish to pretend I am more than a consultant with a lot of help from a wife with who I was in partnership. So if people call I know I could look at premium rate calls of which I get a percentage. But what if they call and I am not able to take the call being already on a call, or just not on duty at that point of time, and I have to call them back how do I get paid then.

As well as phone work I was hoping to do an emailing advice part of the service and wondered how that could be charged?

Any suggestions would be very welcome but I would not wish to divulge the area of service offered.

i read this first thing this morning and wondered what the OP was expecting, whilst the first two website and telephone number issues are just general questions that someone with knowledge on both could answer.

As for the charging issue how do you expect to get any advice without any giving any info, you have basically asked " i have a problem.....what should i do??" well without knowing the problem how can anyone answer it??
Will you be visiting people are you purely looking to making money from people calling you on the phone?? if your a telephone service making money from the calls then you shouldnt be calling anyone back you should ensure the lines are manned during the working hours