On the side job from your own profession

dunn2010

dunn2010

dunn2010

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Didn't know how to entitle this.

Does anyone do any on the side jobs away from their profession to earn extra cash?

I'm a IT Technician with some microsoft quals etc more than capable of fixing house hold computing issues, infact i fix all my friends and families issues.

I also am very savvy with todays computing parts etc and more than confident at building pc's from scratch. in fact lately i've built my own, my GF's moms, my friends, and i've advised 2 of my other friends what to buy for thier upgrades (90% parts bought from OCUK on my recoomendation ;) your welcome)

Does anyone do any on the side work? how do you go about setting stuff like this up? sorry if i seem stupid by asking this.

adverts in papers? shop windows etc?

what risk are undertaken with this? i'd take it id have to declare any income made by this? if i did would this imply i would need to setup a small company name etc?

just curious :)
 
I am an ICT technican in a school. In my spare time I do general IT work around peoples houses, Web Design, Video Editing. All through word of mouth only.

In fact I make more doing my free lance work than I do as my main job....
 
Yup, bus driver by day and IT fix it man by night! I run a small business on the side and advertise through several Facebook groups.
 
A firend of mine also works in IT and does this in the evenings, although he simply works for a local PC repair company rather than setting up his own. They provide the customers and he takes a cut of the money.

You should check your work contract and see if you are excluded from working anywhere else (although I doubt they would find out).

Also you need to declare any additional income so will need to complete a tax return each year.

Also consider personal liability insurance if you setup on your own. ie you may break someones PC and have to buy a new one.
 
Don't know if there's much of a call for that sort of work, the average non technical person will just stroll down to PC World and get ripped off for the sake of simplicity. Besides building a PC is pretty simple in all honesty, it's not really a big deal.
 
Also consider personal liability insurance if you setup on your own. ie you may break someones PC and have to buy a new one.
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good point, cheers

Besides building a PC is pretty simple in all honesty, it's not really a big deal.
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not when you know how to do it. most people are quite impressed with the fact people can build their own and those who would like to are usually too scared to.
 
PvtJoker said:
Don't know if there's much of a call for that sort of work, the average non technical person will just stroll down to PC World and get ripped off for the sake of simplicity. Besides building a PC is pretty simple in all honesty, it's not really a big deal.
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Cpt. Cheerful on the case :D
 
Employed electricain 8-5 Mon-Fri any other time I work for my self, best of both worlds IMO although times when my boss is a **** or I earn my usual weekly wage in a day makes me want to go it alone full time.
 
how much do you charge for the service though? sorry i really am not very business minded. but want to be :D do most people charge per hour or per job depending on its complexity?
 
dunn2010 said:
I also am very savvy with todays computing parts etc and more than confident at building pc's from scratch. in fact lately i've built my own, my GF's moms, my friends, and i've advised 2 of my other friends what to buy for thier upgrades (90% parts bought from OCUK on my recoomendation ;) your welcome)

Does anyone do any on the side work? how do you go about setting stuff like this up? sorry if i seem stupid by asking this.
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Isn't the suggestion of this thread that this is the sort of work you'd get paid for though? Surely you don't charge those sort of people for favours like help with their computer?
 
dunn2010 said:
how much do you charge for the service though? sorry i really am not very business minded. but want to be :D do most people charge per hour or per job depending on its complexity?
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For general IT work (e.g. setting up a router e.t.c), I charge £25 for first hour, £15 after that. I also offer lifetime telephone and e-mail support within reason.

For Web work, I normally charge £300 + £50 per hour for the design and setup of a site (getting a domain name and getting it hosted e.t.c) I again offer them lifetime telephone and e-mail support and will do the minor change here and there for free.

I think last year I earned about twice as much doing freelance work compared to my 9-5 job.

All my trade is also through word of mouth.

Also to note, I for old people or stuff for kids and such, I normally charge them a bit less.
 
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I work with high voltage so the opportunities are limited. Even those that do exist wouldn't be worth it as the potential consequences of something going wrong when working without necessary insurance makes it far too risky.
 
kitkat9933 said:
For general IT work (e.g. setting up a router e.t.c), I charge £25 for first hour, £15 after that. I also offer lifetime telephone and e-mail support within reason.

For Web work, I normally charge £300 + £50 per hour for the design and setup of a site (getting a domain name and getting it hosted e.t.c) I again offer them lifetime telephone and e-mail support and will do the minor change here and there for free.

I think last year I earned about twice as much doing freelance work compared to my 9-5 job.

All my trade is also through word of mouth.

Also to note, I for old people or stuff for kids and such, I normally charge them a bit less.
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Lifetime phone support? Does that not become troublesome at times? Separate work phone I presume? Wouldn't want any late night calls.
 
Devrij said:
Lifetime phone support? Does that not become troublesome at times? Separate work phone I presume? Wouldn't want any late night calls.
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It isn't as bad as you think as most jobs need no further action. I get a call or 2 a week, and an e-mail a day or so.

Most things I do don't require further action. It's the Web Design work that I get the most after calls/mails though but I only offer advise back over the phone / e-mail if I need to come back out or do something I will charge them for it (unless it is due to my fault).

To the OP if you are interested in getting some extra work, £15 for first hour (to cover travel e.t.c) then £10 per hour after that is more than reasonable. My rates are much cheapest than most places (e.g currys charge £50 to set up a PC) so work is easy to find if people know about you. If you do a good job, people will defiantly pass your name around family/friends so you will be known soon enough.

Also you don't need to set up your own company name, but you will need to declare your income (even when it's in cash) no matter how much you don't want to.
 
kitkat9933 said:
I am an ICT technican in a school.
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Enjoying SIMS?

As for the OP, I'm a 1st Tier Analyst for schools support. I do bits and bobs on the side, from friends and family IT support, web dev, and for a couple of other friends, I charge for web hosting on my server. I don't really make any money off it, as what they pay me covers my costs and thats about it. Means I get a free hosting for my own sites using the same reseller package I have :)
 
NealR said:
Enjoying SIMS?

As for the OP, I'm a 1st Tier Analyst for schools support. I do bits and bobs on the side, from friends and family IT support, web dev, and for a couple of other friends, I charge for web hosting on my server. I don't really make any money off it, as what they pay me covers my costs and thats about it. Means I get a free hosting for my own sites using the same reseller package I have :)
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SIMS you mean that lovely bit of software created by CRAPITA.

Guess you work for CRAPITA lol?
 
kitkat9933 said:
SIMS you mean that lovely bit of software created by CRAPITA.

Guess you work for CRAPITA lol?
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Bingo! heh I do indeed :) Chelmsford Support desk, so we just get drip fed the info on the changes... some we really dont like due to the hassle is then causes us :( lol
 
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