{"id":653,"date":"2012-09-06T23:35:29","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T06:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techhelpla.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2012-09-06T23:35:29","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T06:35:29","slug":"tech-help-la-saves-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.techhelpcorp.us\/techhelpla.com\/tech-help-la-saves-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Make It Work Shuts Down | Tech Help LA – Saves The Day!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Make It Work Shuts Down | Tech Help LA – Saves The Day!!!<\/span><\/h2>\n

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\"Tech<\/h2>\n

Tech Help LA<\/strong><\/em><\/span> got wind of a large tech support company that recently went out of business leaving their customers in a complete\u00a0disarray. Many customers had pending contracts and they were left with no where to turn. Our CEO Ron Patterson and our CTO Leibert Brooks were former employees of the company that failed shortly after their leaving. After hearing the bad news, Patterson and Brooks have decided to reach out to those customers to see if we can help. If you are an Ex-Make It Work customer, feel free to contact us<\/span><\/a> for a FREE phone consultation. We can discuss your current technical support needs taking into\u00a0consideration your financial loss and extend a generous service discount to get your problems solved.<\/strong> <\/span><\/span>We pride ourselves in our remote support allowing us to fix problems online by connecting remotely to the computers that are connected to the Internet making the process of helping our customers more convenient and effective. Lastly, our hearts go out to the techs who have lost their jobs due to the fail of the business. If you are an Ex-Make It Work technician, we invite you to reach out to us to see if we can help in your transition. Help spread the word as Tech Help LA saves the day.<\/p>\n

Quick Tech Help LA Tip:<\/strong>
\n<\/em>Customers that have pending contracts with Make It Work should contact their credit card or financial institution to attempt to reverse charges. We have been informed that many customers have been successful in reversing charges and their banking institutions are planning to settle the matter with Make It Work directly.<\/p>\n

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Make It Work Founder Pulls the Plug on Struggling Computer Support Company<\/h3>\n
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Owner Eric Greenspan says declining revenue and a lack of new customers forced him to call it quits after 11 years in business<\/p>\n

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Tech Help LA – Saves the Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Make It Work Inc.<\/a>, based in Santa Barbara, closed up shop for good Monday morning after repairing computers for more than 11 years.<\/p>\n

The computer support company sent out technicians to homes and small businesses to fix \u201canything that hums, beeps or clicks, from computers to\u00a0iPods<\/a>\u00a0to home theaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before 2008, Make It Work experienced five years of growth and doubling revenue, founder and CEO\u00a0Eric Greenspan<\/a>\u00a0told\u00a0Noozhawk<\/a>\u00a0on Monday. But, he added, yields have been declining since 2008, the company hasn\u2019t raised enough capital and it had difficulty acquiring new customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t regret anything because it was quite a ride, but I\u2019m sorry for the people who got hurt by it, including my employees, customers, shareholders and my family,\u201d Greenspan said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to sit here and be a Monday morning quarterback, but the state it has left me in personally and the effect it has had on my family make it hard to argue that it was worth it. It\u2019s quite devastating; we put 11 years of hard work into this, and I have a kid going to college and another one about to get out of diapers \u2014 it\u2019s painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make It Work recently announced a\u00a0new fixed-price business model<\/a>, began partnerships with retailers such asCostco<\/a>\u00a0and was about to launch a new deal with\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0and Costco\u2019s online division but they didn\u2019t materialize fast enough, Greenspan said, adding that the company was consistently \u201cunder-financed and bootstrapped\u201d because venture capitalists weren\u2019t interested in a service-based business.<\/p>\n

Greenspan said the company couldn\u2019t pay its lease payments on its location above\u00a0The Habit Burger Grill<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0La Cumbre Plaza<\/a>, and the next step was repossessing Make It Work\u2019s red Mini Coopers. He said about 34 employees are out of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we\u2019ve heard so far is that 95 percent of the customers have responded with, \u2018Where will I go now?\u2019 Comments from the\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0have been extraordinary,\u201d Greenspan said. \u201cPeople know we built a remarkable company that had a significant following, but without proper funding, price point and no new customers flowing in like before 2008, you can\u2019t maintain a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallie Avolio of\u00a0Latitude 34\u02da Technologies<\/a>\u00a0said the industry is changing. While she was surprised to hear Make It Work was finished, she said that when someone loses his or her data, there\u2019s not much incentive to repair an old computer when new machines are more affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it depends on the cost of the equipment,\u201d said Avolio, adding that an average computer lifespan is three to five years. \u201cIf the cost of a computer comes down and it\u2019s much more commoditized where you can go to Costco to buy a cheap machine with a year warranty, then maybe these types of companies aren\u2019t that necessary for home machines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenspan said that most of the company\u2019s revenue came from installations and configurations for residential machines. But is there a future for home-based computer repair services?<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe with proper financing a company like ours could be very successful,\u201d he said. \u201cServices aren\u2019t very appealing to big financers so getting that capital is difficult, but the key is in strategic partnerships, and that\u2019s the direction we were heading.\u201d<\/p>\n

TechEase<\/a>\u00a0used to focus half of its business on the residential market, according to co-founder Evan Asher. He decided to move the company\u2019s direction toward small businesses because of better margins and more demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was confident in the residential-based business, we would\u2019ve taken the company in a different direction,\u201d said Asher, adding that his company will honor Make It Work customers who purchased prepaid hourly packages.<\/p>\n

He said another factor is that Make It Work, and many other similar businesses, are entirely mobile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer the option for clients to drop their computers off at our location, which allows us to work more efficiently on them,\u201d Asher said. \u201cWe\u2019ve found this translates into a more viable business model, as we can work on multiple computers at once, and aren\u2019t spending time in transit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenspan said it doesn\u2019t help a company such as Make It Work when hard drives are moving to solid-state, operating systems are self-healing and\u00a0Mac<\/a>\u00a0users can find free advice from their local\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0store.<\/p>\n

The company was busiest when\u00a0Windows XP<\/a>\u00a0was transitioning to\u00a0Windows Vista<\/a>, according to Greenspan. He said it\u2019s a challenge as prices drop for new machines and people can easily back up information on the cloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, you can switch devices and be back online in no time,\u201d Greenspan said. \u201cWhen everything is up in the cloud you wouldn\u2019t miss a beat. We face significant challenges by the solid-state nature of the hardware and inexpensiveness of today\u2019s devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenspan won\u2019t reboot another computer support company after an 11-year run with Make It Work, but he said he hasn\u2019t called it quits. He\u2019s not sure what his next venture will be, but he offered advice to entrepreneurs looking to start a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you this much: You\u2019ve got to have a really strong iron stomach to stand up to the challenges you face as an entrepreneur,\u201d Greenspan said. \u201cYou have to somehow protect your personal life and personal nest egg. I did not do that. I threw everything into this company, and it sucked me dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Noozhawk<\/a>\u00a0staff writer Alex Kacik can be reached at\u00a0akacik@noozhawk.com<\/a>. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter:\u00a0@NoozhawkBiz<\/a>,\u00a0@noozhawk<\/a>\u00a0and@NoozhawkNews<\/a>. Connect with\u00a0Noozhawk on Facebook<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Make It Work Shuts Down | Tech Help LA – Saves The Day!!! Tech Help LA got wind of a large tech support company that recently went out of business leaving their customers in a complete\u00a0disarray. Many customers had pending contracts and they were left with no where to turn. Our CEO Ron Patterson and … <\/p>\n

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