Is this a good business idea?

[bingbongbangbung]

Normies ask me which device they want and/or parts to get to upgrade their device; I research and recommend, and then they pay me a consultation fee or even service fee and the amount needed to buy the tech. Unlike my AI and social startups, this literally doesn't need any specialized expertise, and the customer funds everything lol. I currently don't have the skills necessary to build and fix tech and I probably won't since there's too much competition from established local tech shops.

Updates

+1 y

Since people can research and buy tech on their own, this startup would only be suitable for those that are too lazy and/or tech illiterate to do it themselves. To prevent people from scamming or bailing on me, I'll require that only those that I know and those referred by them to be my clients. I am willing to offer assembly, upgrading, and maybe even setting up new devices, but that's gonna be reserved for in the future if this idea takes off.

[Massageman]

Sounds very workable, especially the part where they fund everything. The way I read it, though, then you are stuck buying the stuff and forwarding it to them? Maybe there could be a version where they just pay for the consult, plus the names of a couple of parts places and they just buy the stuff on their own (unless you get a percentage tacked onto orders, if you are placing the orders). And you are right, the "fixit-shops" ARE a glutted market. "Logical thinking" is what the market is running short of: if you can provide it, you're a step ahead.

[bingbongbangbung]

Yeah they can buy it themselves, but if they're too lazy, then they gotta pay up.

[Massageman]

As it should be. Go for it!

[bingbongbangbung]

I haven't decided how expensive the service fees should all be. I obviously won't be charging hundred (s) of dollars, but just a few dollars is bad as well. Maybe I'll go for dozens of dollars and decide the exact amount later on.

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

If you can find a customer basis willing to payout for that service; its a great idea.

[bingbongbangbung]

Yeah I was thinking I'll only take on clients I know or are connected with mutually or distantly. So friends, family, classmates, teachers, alumni, etc.

[bingbongbangbung]

Reason being that random people might scam me or refuse to take me seriously

[_no_one_]

Sounds like a good local startup but online there are many platforms providing that info for free so maybe a it won't work that well online unless you make a platform very specific to a person's device where it even scrapes that data automatically. Some websites do that but not to an extent of providing with working links for valid parts and stuff.

[bingbongbangbung]

Yeah but that's why I'll only serve clients that I know or are referred to me, and they have to be either tech illiterate or too lazy to figure it out themselves

[_no_one_]

Thats the best way to go about it

[pickles77]

Can’t they just google it?

[bingbongbangbung]

Yeah but a lot of people are either lazy or too ignorant. And I don't blame tech illiterates if they're of an older generation or were never really into tech. A lot of tech terminology can be confusing and often times inconsistent. Take i7 for example: there's a lot of different CPUs with that name with different specs and performance; some as weak as Atom and others as strong as Xeon. There's also a ton of misinformation and everyone has their own specific needs and desires, so it just adds on to the confusion.

[bingbongbangbung]

For people that are tech literate and/or willing to search and buy everything themselves, then obviously my business wouldn't be for them. Well at least this business cause I got 2 startups that I'm currently managing.

[pickles77]

I think the major thing is that they would need someone to build it. If they can’t get to the end goal they would probably just go to a tech shop and have someone figure it out and change out the components and that would make it pretty hard to compete.

[bingbongbangbung]

That's only if they want a desktop, workstation, home theater, surveillance system, or smart room/home. I'll obviously consider building and upgrading such systems in the future as a way to scale up such a business.