Does this sound like a viable business idea?

[CoodleMoodle]

About ten years ago I volunteered in a library, teaching free 1hr lessons for who had never used a PC before and wanted to start learning. Sometimes people had used computers but wanted to improve their skills, but most were complete beginners.

I LOVED doing it, and I definitely had a knack for it (I ended up training other volunteers doing the same role). For years I've considered starting a business offering basic IT skills lessons in people's homes, or perhaps in some kind of centre. Now that both my DC are in school, I really need to go back to work and I thought I could do this around school times. I've started writing plans and learning materials a few times and then stopped because I lose confidence in the idea/myself.

I would aim to offer help with PCs/laptops, tablets and phones, either a set of lessons for a beginner, or tailored to the person if they had something specific they wanted to learn. It's not tech support, not actually fixing computers, just helping people get to grips with using them. I wouldn't want to do classes or groups, just one to one as that's much easier for everyone.

But would people want to pay for it? I know you can still have lessons in some libraries, but IME the environment isn't always great (noisy, distracting), the technology in the library is usually older and a bit slow, and a lot of the clients said they found it hard to practice when they got home because their computer was too different! And yes, people could learn for free from someone in their family, but it's much easier to lose your patience with your own parents than with a stranger... To this day I can't teach DM to copy and paste but give me a stranger and I'll have them doing it in twenty minutes!

I'm not expecting to make millions out of this or anything, just something to give me a bit of independence and confidence. Money isn't really an issue as DH earns enough to support us (just!) but I would want to make a profit from it eventually. I don't think there would be too many outgoings, except petrol? Maybe some advertising and the odd bit of printing. Fees if I decided to run the lessons from somewhere, but that's a long time in the future.

I've tried to find other people running this sort of business and they definitely exist, but it's not easy to find. Everyone I've spoken to about it has told me they think it's a great idea, but I just can't work out if it's viable at all. Plus, I'm a little bit scared!

Has anyone got any advice?

If you can get a grant for this, then yes. The people who would need this in a library etc may not be able to afford to pay more than a few pounds. What price point would you be happy with for a one on one session? How much would you need to charge an hour to make it worthwhile for you?

As an aside, we used to do this in our company as volunteering days. We have 2 days a year to volunteer and used them to help out people who needed support. There were also lots of other external volunteers (local residents) who would do it for 3 days a week. So no charge for the customer.

Who would be your target clients? Where would you find them? I’d answer those two questions first and then ask around in those spaces to find out if it’s something people would be interested in and if they would be willing to pay.

There’s 2 issues I can see here: (1) first is finding people, so much marketing is done online now and on social media (it’s the thing I’d see advertised on our local town fb group). But you probably really want to find people who are struggling to access anything online (otherwise they probably wouldn’t need to pay for your help). So it’s about figuring out where these people who need computer help are and how easy it is to reach them through advertising (what local groups, job centre, etc, basically what in person, not computer based means).

The second is, will they have money to pay you? I’m thinking about the sorts of people who have fallen through the cracks with digital and computer literacy. They are most likely older people who didn’t work when everything was done on a computer (or maybe never worked, for example, a 70-80 year old lifelong housewife). Or they are people who have never worked or only in unskilled jobs, basically those who don’t use computers everyday for work (this will be the sorts of things we consider quite menial work, cash in hand labouring, etc). Will these folks have money to afford the sort of private instruction you’re offering? I’m just thinking if I was on NMW, I don’t know that’s something I could pay for. I think I’d look for it for free at the job centre, library, a charity, YouTube, etc before I’d take the plunge and part with money I really can’t spare.

That isn’t to say it isn’t a good idea, but you’ve got to offer something niche and to offer it to people who have the spare cash to be spending to up skill.

Thank you both for your replies! It's very helpful.

In terms of target audience, I mostly considered those who do have the means to pay for it - so probably older, more affluent people who have the time and money to learn new skills. People like my own parents or PIL, who don't work (or only work PT and mostly just to keep busy rather than needing the money) and have plenty of free time. Of course I would help anybody (eg people trying to improve their IT skills to help them get back into work) but I couldn't do it for free. Maybe after it was more established I could start doing that.

A lot of the people I've spoken to know the very, very basics. They have access to computers/phones and usually the Internet, but mainly use it for FB. They haven't learned how to use search engines, shop online safely, use streaming software, and so on. They don't know how to use Word or other, similar software, or how to create files or upload photos from their phones, that kind of thing.

Libraries offer a wonderful service but they're quite limited in what they can offer in terms of tech, and from what I know volunteers are fairly thin on the ground despite a lot of interest (in my area, anyway). As I said, a lot of my clients in the library often complained that when they got home they couldn't translate what I'd taught them to their own computer, but they could do it perfectly well whilst sitting next to me.

I hadn't thought about looking into a grant, but I will do.

I think this is a great idea in theory, OP, but I share @mindutopia's concerns about your target market. It certainly wouldn't be a moneymaker, I don't think.

I'm trying to think of examples of people I know who would have the moe y to pay for this but wouldn't also have the option to ask a younger friend or relative - you're right, though, people would probably pay for your patience 😁

It’s a good idea. I think if it’s more of a service for the public then grants and even sponsorship. For example maybe you can get a tech company to partner with you (give some sponsorship) to help you run 6 weeks or even 3 months worth of support.

Also think about exactly what your target market would need so that you can have bespoke lessons. For example manage your money with an excel. Or the MA work package. Virtual calls with family etc. It’s easier to pay for something when you know the value and how it will impact your life.

Good luck

My mother calls me every time she has a text, she knows exactly how to do online banking with her phone but will only make a payment when I'm with her "in case it goes wrong"... I'd gladly pay good money for someone else to do that

I do think its a great idea but the real problem as PP said is that the people who need/want this are quite likely to be poor. Or (like my DM) they could afford it but don't see it as something worth spending money on. There is a cohort of older people who either didn't work outside the home, or who retired before IT became ubiquitous, who utterly resent the role of IT in modern life, refuse to have anything to do with it and then complain how difficult it is to bank when there's no branch locally, that the milkman doesn't call for his money anymore, that they haven't got a bus timetable, etc etc
so I think you'd have to convince those people- good luck!
As an alternative to getting a grant, a charity might pay you?

I feel your pain 🙁

One area where I think they're is a gap in the market is helping the bereaved whose spouse dealt with all the finances and technology to get their head around that. I know of a few widows who are well off but totally clueless on how to engage with the digital world and therefore overwhelmed by paying the electricity bill, submitting meter readings etc. . No idea how you'd find them though, and presumably they'd have to be close to home so you an go see them in person.

Yes, this is the sort of thing! My own DM drives me crazy with it, but I could happily sit with yours for hours and go over and over it with her. Sometimes I did - the same person would come back a week later having forgotten pretty much everything from the week before (although they'd get back into it fairly quickly), and I was always quite happy to start from the beginning. Then there were others who built on their knowledge week after week and it was so lovely to see.

I genuinely think it's different when it's your own parents/family. I've got a lot more patience with strangers!

@AnneWhittle my brother shouts it out like they do on love island now, "I've got a text" it helps to see the funny side 😂

@CoodleMoodle you sound like a saint honestly

The other thing with the library lessons were that they were only an hour long, and only once a week with limited availability. From what I've seen at my local libraries, this is still the case!

1hr really isn't very long at all, especially when you have to factor in getting the machine started, recapping on previous lessons if applicable, etc. I could offer 90min or two hour lessons, as long as it fits in with the school run (although DH is available to pick up in emergencies as he WFH).

And a lot of the charity run sessions around here (not that there's loads!) are group sessions, and ime these do not work so well. We tried it for a bit but the feedback wasn't great!

That's very sweet, thank you! I don't know what it is about trying to teach your own Mum but it feels impossible sometimes...

I suppose much like when she tried to teach me how to knit, and lost patience with me after about ten minutes, but when DD wanted to learn she went over it millions of times (still does!) and never once told her she was useless at it 🤔 DM is wonderful btw, just don't ask her to teach you anything she's good at!

Thank you all for your replies, I'm going to think on it some more. Luckily DH is very supportive so it's not really urgent or anything. I'm in a very lucky position at the moment and want to give something of myself to others (who I'm not related to!).

Oh, that's a wondeful point, I hadn't even considered that. I've seen so many threads on here of people saying their DF has died and their DM doesn't know how to do anything digital because he handled it all (or vice versa of course). It's so heartwarming to see people engage with technology for truly useful purposes, it can give them a new lease of life in a way, even if it's just knowing how to send an email or check a bank statement, etc.