There’s a huge market for helping people set up their high-tech devices and keeping them running.

So if you’re a whiz with computers, tablets, and phones, you may be able to set up a lucrative side hustle in your town.

Seniors and people with disabilities need high-tech devices to stay connected with family.

It may be the only way they can order groceries to be delivered, or sign up for a ride somewhere.

My mother-in-law is 91. It took us forever to get her to buy a phone. Then we gave her an iPad. She resisted using it until she discovered games like Bejeweled and Solitaire. We recently upgraded her to an iPad mini and a new iPhone. (it’s still an uphill battle about the usefulness of the iPhone….but a few years ago, there were a series of large earthquakes, and that phone was the only way she could contact people.)

Right now, both the iPad and iPhone are in bad states. It’s probably something simple, and if someone lived nearby, they could earn some fast pocket money going over and rebooting the devices and figuring out the problems. We’re six hours away. And unfortunately, no one in town is advertising for doing that.

Skills Required to Provide Support

I spent a few years as a phone jockey doing high-tech support where I learned the important skills. And I’ll share those with you right now.

• Be really, really patient. These are people who are embarassed at needing help. And some people my have disabilities that prevent them from hearing well, or need extra time to respond. Take a deep breath and give them some space and time.
• Figure out what works so you can further identify what is not working.
• Understand if they want you to mentor them (i.e. talk them through doing it) or if they just want you to do it. If they just want it fixed, do it, take your money, and move on to the next issue. But if they want to learn, help them. One of the best things I did was teach my mother-in-law how to reboot her device.

As with all of these side hustles, you would set your hours and how busy you want to be. You may need to set some boundaries for those people who are lonely. It’s not easy. I have a friend who used to sell corsets online. She had to shut off her 1-800 number because lonely people would call to talk with her about their lives.

You’re not a counselor. Find a way to be caring and still be able to gently exit to get to your next appointment. (ok, you can steal my excuse)

How Can You Help?

People use technology to communicate. You can help them get their devices up and running as well as connected to their internet. They don’t have internet? Help them get set up.

You can also help them choose which technology they need.

People also use technology for entertainment. You can help them learn to stream movies, tv shows, podcasts, YouTube, and just about everything else that we take for granted.

And finally, help them set up a secure device. You can help them with a product like Dashlane to protect passwords. You can help them set up authentication for their devices.

Just make sure they know what the answers are for the standard questions like “What’s the name of my first pet.” Also, explain to them why you don’t want to use real answers.

How Can They Find Me?

You can set up a Facebook page introducing yourself and what you can do to help people. Contact your local hospital or senior center and let them know you’re available for hire. They’ll let you know what you need to do to be set up as a referral. Your local government and chamber of commerce may also be able to refer people to you.

You can also teach classes through the community center and build up your “authority” and network.

And you can advertise on local neighborhood sites and craigslist. And you could set up a business page on Yelp. Eventually, word-of-mouth will take over.

Try different things. If something doesn’t work, move on to something else.

This side hustle could turn into a full-time hustle. And if you’re going to dream big, think about setting up your own empire (franchise just like McDonald’s). Document your processes and procedures. Also, write down common scenarios that you help people with. Then if you hire someone else, they’ll be able to come up to speed rapidly saving you time and money.

What Do I Charge?

It really varies and is highly dependent on what you provide and where you live. Don’t undercut yourself, but make sure you’re charging enough to make it worthwhile. Remember, you can offer to go onsite which is a higher value.

There are online sites like CandooTech.com that work remotely and charge $50 for a one-hour session. They also charge $180 for a device installation and setup that includes a consultation, set-up, and 1-hour remote lesson.

In Reddit, a tech support freelancer charged $20/hr one summer to help a community set up their technology and other support questions. He realized he was undercharging the demographic, and decided to upgrade to $50-60/hour with a 20-30 minute minimum. Another freelancer did gigs when he was in college charging $35 to show up and then $40/hour with a half-hour minimum billing. If it were really quick and easy, he’d waive the hourly charge and just charge them the $35 onsite fee. It covered his gas and provided a small amount for his time.

Things to Be Aware Of

You may want to decide if you are going to warranty your work or use a contract. For this, you should get some good legal advice. If you don’t want that, then make sure you only take gigs that are simple and won’t require you to hook up anything. Or that the client is clear that you’re working as-is with no warranty. I think it sucks too, but there are always people out there that cause problems because nothing is ever their fault.

Figure out how you want to be paid. And remember that there are people out there (like my mother-in-law) that hate using credit cards, have no idea what online payment systems are, and prefer cash with a receipt. So you may need to go to an office supply store and get a pad of receipts.