802.16 is the next big thing that is supposed to (this time for sure) bring high speed wireless out to the sticks. So far the big one in the US is Clearwire, which uses the WiMax/WiBro type technology. They piggyback all this onto the existing cell networks, so it doens't matter if your local cable network gets only 36 channels, and uses double shielded cable that dates back to the 80s.
Hmm, I had yet another raving insane idea, why not combine the trucking and the computer know how ? You could sell/set up inventory tracking systems to all these places you would normally be trucking to. There's various GPS and comm gear needed for the trucks. And worst case, you could start pimping out clearwire to every bored trucker you meet.
The deal with the trucking places and inventory tracking systems would be to migrate their old foxpro 1.0 and older code up to somewhat more recent database systems. There were migration tools out there some time back, but it may be that post Y2K a lot of that got dumped, and the old foxpro systems are on legacy hardware running some kind of windowing TSR installed back in 99. When those systems give up and die, these people are usually in real bad shape for a time.
It's usually real ugly business cleaning up that type of wreckage, somewhere between the hard sell and hostage negotiation. You end up having to build something like their old system from scratch on new software and hardware. Then get them up and running again, and THEN try to recover the old data on the dead dinosaur. The negotiation part comes when you have to sort out what they NEED for day to day business, and what they WANT but can't reasonably pay for. Like $6-10k for a laboratory full data recovery off a dead hard drive. Oh yeah, and while this is going on everyone is doing their best to act totally out of control and like the world is ending.
If you can stand the pressure you can bill at something like $120 an hour. You also need to stage the project so that you get paid at regular intervals when you get to a set progress point. Too many newbies get burned after the client ran up a debt of $6000 and decides he won't pay for some reason. Or worse, you spend 4 months doing custom work, then the guy decides he's going to sell copies of your database to all of his friends. You'll usually be finding this out when they want free tech support BEFORE the first joker has given you the final payment.
So, in the end option one is you need a good business lawyer to help you out, plus the services of a collection agency. Or option two, you turn into scarface and terrorize your clients into paying on time and in full. Any funny business and they end up coyote bait while still breathing.
Most people in the computer tech business I knew wish they could go with option two, but it tends not to be practical if you want a wider base of clients.
I would tend to go with the Clearwire reselling business if you wanted to set up a small shop somewhere in the boonies. Odds are it will be a saturated market pretty fast in every hick town with a population of over 5,000 sometime about 4 week ago.
I really don't know about that. But above all else, if you know a niche market like truckers, trucking companies, and everything tied in to that, you just MIGHT be able to exploit that by setting them up with new computer gear, services, software, mouse pads with the company logo on it, whatever else you can think of. Mainly because you know their language so to speak, you know how their business works, and what types of things would likely work out for them without needing a whole lot of training. You might be able to even floor someone by showing them Babelfish to do a fast and dirty translation of english to spanish or vice versa. Rough out the document in seconds, and touch up the language before posting the new "please do not use the 460v electrified NEMA enclosure as a urinal" sign in spanish. It sounds absolutely wacky, but any really basic thing like that some people have never heard .
Or get sophisticated, give your ukranian and spanish speaking employees cell phones with SMS capability, then you can send write your IMs in english and have the software translate and transmit them in specific languages with instructions for the workers on the floor. Something like, remember to top off the hydraulic fluid in machine XYZ, then reset at the main control panel so the computer can sense the new levels, then run at full power for 5 minutes to make sure nothing catches fire. If you have to get out 8 messages like that a day(or more like every 20 min), in a variety of languages, any time saving communications enabling system will save lots and lots of trouble. And your average warehouse manager will look at you in awe like you are Bill Gates for dreaming up such an amazing technological innovation.
Nah, not really, they'll claim they would have figured that out any day now on their own. But you can still rack up billable hours getting em set up to do that.
