Shop Concepts/Ideas - Miscellaneous

Some of you may know that I'm planning to open a custom computer / gaming center shop here in Fairbanks.  If you didn't know that... well, there it is.  In keeping with my weird brain ideas about such things, it's helpful to gauge public opinion.  I realize that my "audience" here (or on FB, twitter, etc.) isn't huge, and may not reach the majority of folks I'd like it to reach.  So sharing this post with friends or other interested parties would be greatly appreciated, especially if one lives in the Fairbanks area, and even if you don't, opinions are always appreciated.  That being said, I'd like to have some of these ideas down on (non-existent) paper, if for nothing else than to see how they look outside my head.

Miscellaneous

This is going to be a bit of a "catch-all" post, as there are ideas that have come up since the other posts went up, or I feel that some points or ideas may need clarification and/or expansion.  To get these points across, I'm just going to basically dump them into this post instead of updating and re-sharing the older ones, because laziness.  There may also be mild ranting.

UPDATE:  One thing I did forget to mention was having a table set up for tabletop gaming, ranging from CCGs, (Magic, etc.) Board Games, grid-based games, (Warhammer and it's ilk) as well as RPGs.  (Dungeons and Dragons, for example.)  I wouldn't charge for use of these, mainly because the one place in town that also does this doesn't charge; nor should they.  They would, of course, need to bring their own materials, (books, paper, etc.) but I'm fully willing to sell snacks and the like.  If a group would like their session recorded, however, I would charge an hourly fee for "equipment usage."  (Since I'd already have the equipment needed from the computer videos and the podcasts.  See?  SYNERGY.)  These could also go up onto YouTube or into the weekly podcast feed as a sort of "bonus" episode.

One of the first ideas I had about the shop was having an iPad as a kind of multi-tool, mainly in terms of the computer shop.  The obvious usage would be as a veritable library of tech manuals, guides, and other useful texts, which would come in handy in both the building and repairing aspects.  However, another potential use has just recently become technologically sound: mobile checkout.  The Point-of-Sale software I'm planning to use for the computer shop (yes, there will be multiple POS systems; sadly, it's unavoidable, but I can make it work) has a companion iPad/iPhone app, that can access the main "server" of my store from pretty much anywhere.  This means if I'm doing a field repair, (yes, I'm offering that as an option) when I finish up, I can generate an invoice and take a credit card payment, then e-mail a receipt to the customer, without having to go back to the store to finalize anything.  It also means I can generate repair orders, quotes for custom systems, and create temporary inventory orders on the go.

Some concern was raised about the custom "walkthrough" videos for the computer shop, mainly consisting of : "Isn't that showing off a trade secret?" or something stupid weird like that.  As I mentioned in the post, YouTube has tons of videos made in the same vein: some instructional, some are more professional, some are showing off.  Most of them are pretty dry, no offense to the folks making them, and it's understandable why: its a highly technical subject, so it's hard to figure a way to make something like that informative as well as entertaining.  A couple guys do it fairly well, but for the most part it's blank faces saying words that only a fairly low percentage of people will fully understand.  So, building computers isn't a trade secret.  Honestly, it's not an extremely difficult thing to do.  I liken the "self-building" experience to going to a restaurant: of course you can buy the food and prepare it yourself, but chances are, unless you've had some form of training (self or otherwise) it's not going to be anywhere close to the same as having that same meal prepared by a professional.  So while it's not a secret, building a computer does take a fair amount of skill, training, and preparation.  (Not to mention patience and more than a little in the guts department.  Also steady hands are a big plus.)  Why else do companies like Dell, HP, and Acer exist?

To add another spin to the videos, I'm going to relate things back to my Community post.  Typically, when one buys a computer (especially a branded pre-built one) they don't have any real connection to the device.  It's a tool, nothing more.  Even if you customize the specs a bit, custom order it, the process still feels all you're doing is exchanging money for a thing you'll use to do more work.  (Or play games, or whatever.)  Because that's all you're doing.  Even buying a custom made system (not a branded one) can be a fairly benign experience, because there's no real customer involvement, aside from giving specs (or a general idea of what they want it to do) and paying for it. The idea behind these videos is to help the customer feel more involved in the building process, even if only tangentially.  By speaking directly to a customer through these videos, they can feel more connected to their system, making it more than "just" a tool or device; it's a part of their lives, one that they had a hand in.

Another clarification has to do with the gaming shop, and whether or not it will be pre-paid or post-paid.  Both methods have their advantages, but for the sake of simplicity (not to mention security) I've chosen to go with pre-paid.  It saves from hassles like having a card declined or "accidentally" forgetting a wallet or cash, as well as keeping sneaky or opportunistic individuals from "skipping on the bill," as it were.  Doesn't take much; a phone call, a conversation, a smoke break, whatever, and someone could be able to take off without paying what they owe the store for the time they've spent.  This also gives customers a bit more control over how much they spend; by planning ahead, they can choose how much they plan to use in any given day, week, whatever.  The "cafe" software will give them advance notice as to when they're almost out of time, so if they're coming up to the end of their purchased time, they can purchase more to keep their session going.  I may use post-paid on a case-by-case basis, such as if someone who has a good established record (and who I have some amount of trust in) wants to play for a couple hours, but doesn't get paid until the next day, I may consider letting them pay by the end of the current week.  In cases like this, I'll also take down some contact information, so I can annoyingly inquire as to when I'd be expecting them to come back in.  After that week of waiting, I can "suspend" their account until they come back in, as well as letting other similar places know about the incident.

While I'd like to think I've got a lot of things figured out in regards to this endeavor, there are a great many things that I'm still up in the air about, or need suggestions for:

1. A Name:   This seems like a fairly important aspect to have in place.  In my head, I've been calling it "Arctic Gaming and Computer Shop."  If this happened to be the final name, this would be the "official" name (the one required by law to be on all advertising and signage, etc.) but in more casual conversation I'd refer to it as just "Arctic Gaming."  This isn't a great name in my mind, but I'm having trouble figuring anything else.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Of course, a name typically leads into...
2. A Logo:  I can't draw to save my life.  While I have a few core concepts in terms of a logo, I have no real way to execute it in a meaningful way.  So, if any budding or wannabe artists want to take a crack at it, feel free to give me an e-mail or DM on my various social media.  Sine this is something that will represent the store (both in signage, adverts, etc.) I'm of course willing to pay a commission fee, if or when this venture does actually happen.

 That's all I can pry out of my brain for now, folks.  COMMENT.  WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO.