[sudo-discuss] Sudo Locksmiths' Co-op: right-livelihood work.

Sat Mar 2 17:55:45 PST 2013

wow pretty awesome


On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Anon195714 <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
> Re. Anthony, re. "how to present this to the community we would seek to
> serve."
>
> Let's not be squeamish about using the word "marketing";-)
>
> 1)  Use the current publicity on our behalf.  "Why do you think we're
> teaching this class?  We're planning to put the skills to work starting a
> security services co-op.  People shouldn't have to pay $200 to get let into
> their house..."
>
> 2)  Judging from the Yelp results that Rusty brought in, word-of-mouth
> from referrals will be priceless.  Imagine seeing this in Yelp:
>
> "I was locked out of my house late Friday night.  I called 510-555-SUDO
> and left a message.  Fifteen minutes later someone texted me "Alice at Sudo
> here, call my mobile," and her number.  A half hour after I called her
> back, she shows up, dressed in all-black and riding an electric scooter.  I
> was starting to get skeptical, but she picked the lock in less than a
> minute (no damage to the lock), so I was back in my house in less than an
> hour from when I called.  Best part is they only charge fifty bucks, even
> nights and weekends.  They're unorthodox but they know what they're doing,
> and the price is right.  Highly recommended!"
>
> 3)  Word will spread like a viral meme.
>
> 4)  This will also get press coverage _because_ it was already a news
> story when we did the training sessions this weekend.  "Hello, is this Bob
> at CBS Radio News?  This is Carlos from Sudo Room.  Remember that story you
> did on the lock-picking class?  Well, we wanted to do a follow-up with
> you...."
>
> --
>
> Seriously: if ever there was an opportunity to a) launch a bunch of
> right-livelihood jobs, b) get good publicity for SudoRoom, c) get good
> publicity for the hacker culture, d) shake up the local "establishment" a
> bit, and e) end up with city officials supporting us as well (if for no
> other reason, to work off the embarrassment from having done a
> foot-in-mouth maneuver).... this is definitely it.
>
> But we need to pounce on this one like a cat chasing a laser-pointer.  The
> faster the better if we want to take advantage of the current news-buzz.
>
> -G.
>
>
> =====
>
>
>
> On 13-03-02-Sat 5:26 PM, Anthony Di Franco wrote:
>
> I don't know that I would participate myself but I would love to see this
> tried and think it would be an interesting and significant experiment in
> how sudo room might help people make livings.
> Further thought is needed about how to present this to the community we
> would seek to serve.
> On Mar 2, 2013 5:18 PM, "Anon195714" <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Yo's-
>>
>> I should have started a new thread with this to begin with, sorry 'bout
>> posting this twice, but there's some new stuff toward the end:
>>
>> Opportunity for right-livelihood jobs:
>>
>> Sudo Lock Services Co-op.  "Fifty bucks gets you in."  Charge $50 for
>> simple lock picking, no charge if we can't pick it.  "Try us first!"
>>
>> Pretty quickly the income gets sufficient to support keeping a stock of
>> common locks on hand, and drills: so if we can't pick it and have to
>> drill it, we can replace it on the spot with at least something that's
>> sufficient to provide security until we or someone else can come back in
>> to install the original type of lock or better.
>>
>> Over time we can add more services, for example complete assessment of
>> home security, small business security, and naturally, computer
>> security.  At which point change the name to Sudo Security Services
>> Co-op (or use a name like that from the beginning?).  And charge higher
>> rates for businesses and computer security.  The latter can go up into
>> the three-figure hourly rates per person, depending on the project.
>>
>> Many of us are naturally nocturnal, so 24/7 service can be offered easily.
>>
>> Many of us around here are also unemployed, under-employed, or
>> borderline homeless.  Billing the client $50 translates to being able to
>> allocate $40 - $45 of that to the member who picks the lock, and $5 -
>> $10 toward the overhead costs of the co-op.  Every additional $40 - $45
>> of income really counts for a lot of folks here.
>>
>> I've already got a job but I'd be willing to help organize this, do
>> basic business planning & spreadsheets, and so on.  If/when Eddan is
>> authorized to practice law in California, he might be interested in
>> doing the legal work to set up the entity.
>>
>> And since SudoRoom has hella' publicity right now, that publicity will
>> go a long way toward starting a marketing buzz that could bring in
>> customers.
>>
>> New stuff:
>>
>> I can build the telephone infrastructure for automatically processing
>> calls from customers to co-op members including overnight calls.  There
>> are lots of folks here who can design & build the computer
>> infrastructure for handling email & text messages from customers to
>> co-op members.
>>
>> The goal here is, someone contacts us by phone, email, or text, the
>> message goes to whoever in the organization is remotely logged-in to
>> work at the moment (via whatever devices they use e.g. laptop, landline,
>> mobile), someone who is geographically near the caller picks up the
>> ticket and scoots off to pick the lock.
>>
>> It would be a hella' cool enhancement if the infrastructure could also
>> use geographic location to find the co-op member who is closest to the
>> customer and available to go to the site.  This could be done with
>> caller ID, zip code, GPS, and/or other methods.  Alternately, we could
>> allocate jobs on a round-robin system, so each person gets a roughly
>> equal number of jobs per month.
>>
>> The invoice & payment system will need to handle multiple options: cash,
>> checks, credit cards, electronic payment systems (PayPal, WePay, etc.),
>> and even paper invoices that the customer signs when they make payment
>> (that can be entered into the online system the next day).
>>
>> Transportation to job sites: some folks here use bicycles, scooters,
>> motorcycles: make that a marketing point, that our overall carbon
>> footprint is low.  "Your Sudo Services Co-Op locksmith may be showing up
>> on a bicycle..."  This also converges with the "geeky / hackerish /
>> unorthodox" image and marketing approach, so it works in our favor.
>>
>> Toolz:  Once this gets going, there's legitimate reason to buy all the
>> lockpicking tools needed, including pick guns that make the job go much
>> faster (it's a device with a spring-loaded trigger to operate the pick
>> in a manner similar to the more recent "bump key" technique, and yeah it
>> really works well, to the point where you could get lazy with your
>> skillz if you use it too often;-)
>>
>> Other misc. costs for starting & running this will include:  cost of
>> setting up the co-op legal entity, getting the members bonded to work
>> legally as locksmiths, and routine bookkeeping & tax preparation each
>> year.  But those are very low overhead costs compared to anything that
>> runs out of a storefront.
>>
>> What do y'all think?
>>
>> -G.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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