I love tinkering with machines and setting them up. Everyone does right? At my current job the most fun part is setting up systems and managing them. One of the reasons why I am leaning towards devops from security.
After setting up a Synology NAS, configuring raid and remote access, vpn, 3 way backup etc for my sister who works with photography. I was told that most people dread learning how to manage any of this. I was shocked. Synology already provides a super easy interface compared to other OS.
She told me that her friends/colleagues would possibly pay to have someone to get support from. Without even thinking what could go wrong managing systems for near randoms with critical data. I started speculating what would even be a right price.
My fantasy pricing so far with the help of chatgpt:
Synology NAS Setup + 30 Days of Support: $300 (one-time fee)
What It Includes:
5-Minute Introductory Call: A quick call to understand the client’s goals and personalize the setup to meet their needs.
Complete Synology NAS Setup
Guided Setup: A detailed checklist and setup guide covering essential Synology NAS configurations, including RAID, DSM, and file organization.
Live Support During Setup: Real-time support via Discord chat or a scheduled call (up to 45 minutes) to assist with steps like RAID setup, Synology Photos configuration, and backup strategy.
Remote Access Configuration: Help with setting up remote access (QuickConnect or VPN) to securely access files remotely.
Backup Strategy Setup: Assistance with configuring Hyper Backup or other methods for local or cloud backups.
Data Migration Assistance: Help with data migration and organization (up to 2 TB) onto the NAS.
30-Day Discord Support:
Community Access: Full access to a private Discord server for 30 days, where clients can ask questions, share advice, and get guidance from you and other members.
Direct Support:
Dedicated Q&A channel with responses to questions within 24-48 hours.
Help with troubleshooting, maintenance, and configuration issues.
Resource Library: Access to setup guides, tutorials, and troubleshooting resources on NAS setup and management.
2. Extended Support Options
Annual Discord Support Renewal: $250/year
Benefits:
Access to the private Discord community.
Full access to the resource library and direct support.
Monthly Support Add-On: $30/month (optional)
For clients who prefer shorter-term support, this monthly add-on provides access to all Discord support features without an annual commitment.
For me the pricing seems insane, but then again I am coming from a place of understanding most of these. It would also take a significant amount of time out of my day helping out people. In that sense the pricing seems rather low.
Is this the best or the worst idea? I wouldnt want to limit it to synology only.
I don’t know about the prices because I never looked into professional support for my own devices.
But there’s one thing that feels off: Discord. In my opinion, if you want to be more professional about it, get a dedicated phone number for your services, an email address and self host some kind of ticketing system so that users can reach you through that. I don’t think your target audience is gonna want to reach you through a platform like that and it’s gonna get messy very quickly once you reach out to more and more people over time and tickets pile up.
If you’re offering this kind of service you must be reliable and missing a DM or a mention on Discord is pretty easy.
Maybe add on top that you can be reach through Discord aswell.
You could charge a fixed fee for sizing/choosing the best solution + basic setup. Any other service is billed per hour of work. This way I feel more people would be willing to be choose your services because, at first glance, they’ll see a smaller number and you’re not another service they need to subscribe to. Add to that an estimate of the additional cost for the most frequent more custom setups so that people don’t go in fully blind.
Worth trying. And yes, don’t get stuck on one product alone. Last but not least: never EVER agree to be responsible for users data or even touch their data. If you can drive to the client and let them handle the process under your guide is always the best option.
Not to be rude or anything, but did you ask any AI to come up with this plan?
Yes, I mentioned in the top post that the fantasy pricing is done partially using chatgpt.
I have also thought about the ticketing system but I felt that this might get too impersonal. I see the plus in it since it would separate clients from each other.
Billing work per hour + service fees sound reasonable also. I think most users feel very burned out with subscriptions.
I would have to establish what would be free and what would require paying. For example one off questions about the nas/setup I can answer quickly and free of charge at least in my mind. At what point would I require the user to create a ticket. Or would all questions just have to be tickets
Then I would need to flash out some paid add-on services and their price. Backup setups, Docker, workflow setups. Device backups
Great points on the liability also. At one point I was thinking of offering offsite encrypted backup
but that would make me liable for the data. Without offering it I have little to no way of knowing if the users are backing up data properly.
That’s why I said you should also have a work phone number and an email so that people can better reach out to you. The ticketing system is mostly for you and could also be used by users.
Sure, flush out what’s reasonable to answer in one line and what requires more support and getting paid.
That would snow ball really quickly and give you no more points since services like Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, iCloud and so on offer the same service for a monthly fee. I’d just drop that and offer a at-home data migration service. Bring an SFF system of some kind and use some scripts to move the data around as you see fit/the client requests.
P.S. well thinking even more about it, if you bring one of your own PCs to migrate the data someone could lose their shit and accuse you of stealing their data or something like that. Scrap all the data management, you don’t have the facilities (yet) for legal recourse and policy making for your side hustle.