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

Sat Mar 2 19:08:42 PST 2013

+1. Agree 100%.  This is a trade not just a hack.

On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Jehan Tremback <jehan.tremback at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
>>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Cheers,

Rusty Lindgren
**
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