[sudo-discuss] Sudo Locksmiths' Co-op: right-livelihood work.
Anon195714
anon195714 at sbcglobal.net
Sat Mar 2 19:43:01 PST 2013
Yo's-
Let's set a meeting time. Any evening this week that doesn't conflict
with something else? Or possibly Wednesday night after the general
meeting?
The first meeting doesn't need to be long: "whoever is interested, show
up," and the main topic would probably be to explore what it takes to do
this, and if folks are motivated to really do it.
-G.
=====
On 13-03-02-Sat 7:08 PM, rusty lindgren wrote:
> +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 <mailto:jehan.tremback at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> wow pretty awesome
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Anon195714
> <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net <mailto: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 <mailto: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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>
>
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Rusty Lindgren
> **
>
>
>
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