Re: Wireless receiver - computer problem?

["Bob La Londe" <usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Robertm" <Respond@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:den16t$2nqi$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> If my alarm business had such a tenuous hold on the marketplace that
> giving a little advice threatened to put me out of business,

I think that you have it a little skewed, but then this is
alt.skewed.alarms   anyway.  LOL.  Most of us here have come up from
nothing.  I am at the point where I can live fairly comfortably, but when I
started I made sales calls off of a motorcycle because I couldn't afford to
put gas in my car.  I hired my first installer not because I thought he was
any good, but because he had a truck.

Given that background.  Some started out with more and some with less.  You
have to understand that time is money.  In Robert's case time spent often
pays back in sales to DIY clients.  Since he only sells equipment it makes
sense for him.  For me in my early days the last thing I could afford was to
waste a lot of time explaining to somebody how to do something for
themselves.  Now I occassionally drop in and answer a few questions because
I have the time to do so, and I pay particular attention to questions from
other pros when I drop in because those are the guys who helped me when I
needed.it.  DIYs have no impact on me at all these days.  If I retire from
contracting I may start back up an on-line store similar to others.  I did
it once as an experiment and was doing a couple thousand a month in sales
when I shut it down.  (As an aside:  A simple page with a list of products
and prices with a phone number to call and place orders will generate some
sales.)  My intention was to automate it more fully so I would have to
little more than keep the books upto date, but the tech support issues were
more demanding and time consuming than I was interested in doing.

Do I work on my own cars.  I have.  When I couldn't afford to have others do
it, or when I needed to fix a proffessional mechanics work.  Do I have a
housekeeper and a nanny and a guy to maintain my yard.  Well actually yes I
do, but thats not the point.  Most of us worked very hard, studied manuals
and read books to get to where we are now.  We have had lots of people who
couldn't understand that ask for free help when we really needed to make a
sale so we could pay our bills. Our type of knowledge and expertise is just
as valuable as an MD is to a doctor or an MBA is to a corporate business
manager That type of investment deserves to be rewarded and the knowledge
and expertised paid for.

Now don't go getting on your high horse.  I do occassionaly help people out.
When I choose to.  Nobody DESERVES free proffessional help.  They can ask
for it, and if the pro says no, go away, or sure I'll help then that is
their right.  The person asking should be more thankful than they often are
and certainly shouldn't act like they deserve it.  When a pro helps you out
with something they aren't just doing something for you they are taking time
away from their own interests, profits, and families to help you.  They are
taking money out of their own pocket even if they would never get the sales
from you anyway.  They could be spending time talking to somebody who will
spend moeny with them.  They could be fishing.  They could be spending time
with their family.

All that being said, I don't know many professionals who don't do a lot of a
free stuff for other people.  Every doctor I know does things to help out
poorer families in their practice.  My wife told me stories about getting
paid by poor farm families in butchered meat rabbits in the first few years
she was in practice.  I helped (advise more than anything) the local
independent physicians association roll over profits from their non-profit
organization to create a scholarship fund for local kids interested in going
into medical fields.  Not just docotors, but nurses and technicians as well.
Every business manager or owner who works with Rotary or Elks or JayCees or
whatever to help with their charitable works is taking their professional
talents, knowledge, and skills to the table.  They are doing what they do
for free, but because they choose to.  Not because somebody told them they
have to.

So a DIY who demands or appears to demand the assistance of professionals
should understand that some people will probably help them, but they do so
by choice.  There are a lot of other places they could spend their time
either on themselves or on their communities.  They are taking time out of
their own life and money out of their own pocket to do so.

There is a class of DIYer though that I feel does deserve some help from us
professionals.  The guy who paid fair price for an installation and got
screwed.  Screwed is a relative term of course.  The guy who got a free
system and wants to take it over himself did not get screwed.  He is trying
to steal from the installing company.  I am thinking more the guy who
actually paid for equipment and labor to have a system installed, and has
problems the original installer can't or won't fix.

I get calls from time to time from people who want to save money by buying
their own components.  Sure, but I'll charge by the hour and not guarantee
anything.  It will probably cost them more in the long run.  I also get
calls from people who want me to sell them a switch or a sensor.  Ok, but
its just a sensor.  It doesn't entitle them to have me come out and
troubleshoot their installation for them.  I deserve to be paid for my time
just like anybody else.  3 dollars profit on a motion sensor doesn't pay for
the gas in my truck to drive across town.  Do you want to DIY.  Ok. that's
fine.  As somebody interested in DIY you would probably never be willing to
pay for my services anyway.  If you ask me for help with a problem I'll
probably even take a few minutes of my time to answer your question.  If you
then proceed to ask me a million questions and demand detailed explanations
of what wire to put where you are imposing.  If you need that much help you
probably shouldn't be doing a DIY installation.  At the very least you
should probably contact somebody more directly who caters to DIYs.  That of
course is the flip side of helping anybody.  Often they then latch onto you
and act like you owe them something.  I'm not saying its wrong.  Its just
human nature.  Like stopping in a parking lot to jump start a dead battery
for somebody.  When you find out the car still won't start becuase its
majorly screwed up and barely made it that far in the first place you will
find its difficult to walk away and hte person you tried to help isn't
thankful but is a little bit upset because you didn't stay to help more.

The nice part of usenet is you can ask a question and I can answer it, make
a wise ass remark, or ignore it as I choose.

--
Bob La Londe

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