With all the talk lately of fancy social media marketing and SEO, it’s good to keep in mind the importance of human to human direct marketing, and how it can play a crucial role in helping you through the hard times.  This has been a major help to me in recent times and I’d like to share my story of how I was able to keep my business growing during hard economic times and the techniques I used to do it.
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I began my business in January 2012 by offering computer repair on the side. I literally fixed computers on my coffee table in the evenings and on weekends.

There was no shortage of work. I found myself running home over lunch to continue scans that were in progress, and using vacation time to keep up with the demand.

I did this for two years, but couldn’t continue this pace any longer. On January 6th 2015 I left my job of eleven years. Then three months later I opened a storefront. This is an account of my experience making that transition.

Why a Storefront?

Working from home was great! I could pick the hours I wanted to work, and schedule my work around it.

Take a day off? No problem!

Kid home sick from school? Not an issue, I’m home anyway!

However, the negative side was starting to present itself. Parking is at a premium where we live. I had to schedule clients to avoid traffic congestion in the street out front.

I had intentionally kept my address out of my advertising, and I’m sure this made some people question my legitimacy. But I didn’t want people just showing up since I have a family here.

I also didn’t have the ability to offer merchandise for sale, or to display the refurbished systems I had available. Time to open a storefront!
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If you’ve been around the IT business world, there’s an increasing likelihood that you’ve run across the term HIPAA or HIPAA Compliant.  Previously I wrote about how to break into the Healthcare IT niche and spoke about it on a podcast episode about Healthcare IT and HIPAA.  Now, I’d like to explore exactly what it means to be HIPAA compliant.

So what does this have to do with IT professionals?

First, some definitions.

HIPAA (not HIPPA) is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was enacted on August 21, 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. If you were in the “working world” around that time you may recall the media coverage about how important it was that workers be able to carry their employer-paid insurance after separation of employment, at the employees cost.

Along with health insurance portability, the law also created regulations to protect patient privacy. This patient information is usually referred to as PHI (Protected Health Information) or ePHI (Electronic Protected Health Information). You may even see it referred to as IIHI (Individually Identifiable Health Information).

PHI includes any IIHI that is transmitted by electronic media, maintained in electronic media, transmitted or maintained in any other form or medium. In order to effectively protect PHI in electronic format it is imperative that IT professionals understand what and who HIPAA pertains to.

Now that we know what all these acronyms mean, let’s figure out if any of this actually applies to you… [Read more…]

Since the time my business, Techie2u Mobile Computer Repairs, was set up in 2009, it would be fair to say that I have tried most types of advertising and promotion. I have advertised via my own Website, newspapers, physical business cards, and flyer drops. You name it, I have done it.

I have learned many painful lessons along the way and spent many thousands of dollars from my marketing budget in attempts to grow my business.

Which brings us to the inevitable question: which advertising method is the most effective in terms of gaining actual new clients?
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My decision to focus on the healthcare IT niche, and give it my best, has completely transformed my business and my life.

When I tell potential healthcare clients that my company only focuses on healthcare, they immediately perk up and pay attention.  I’m poised to double my revenue over last year even though I haven’t even been marketing much over the past few months.

Now, approaching the end of my 2nd year fully focused on healthcare I’ve been able to pick up new clients on a regular basis.

How was I able to get to this point?
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