fionamurphy•27d agoProlific Poster

Hot take: That free Facebook group actually landed me 3 solid gigs this quarter

I used to roll my eyes at people who said you gotta join every local biz group online. Figured it was just spam and people pushing their own stuff. But a buddy from the Houston Tech meetup convinced me to try the Houston Small Biz Connectors group about 5 months back. I posted a quick intro saying I do network setups for home offices and small offices. First week I got a message from a realtor needing a whole 10-person office wired up for $900. Last month a lady who runs a tutoring center asked me to fix her router mess and now we're talking about a full security camera install. Total surprise to me. Has anyone else had luck from a random group they almost ignored?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elizabeth27d ago

Ha, I know exactly what you mean! I joined a local moms group just to find a good babysitter once, and ended up getting three pet-sitting clients through someone's random post about needing a reliable sitter for their cat. I never would have guessed that whining about my own cat's anxiety would lead to people trusting me with their dogs for weekend trips. It's wild how a group that seems like it's just for one thing can turn into a goldmine for something totally different. Your realtor story cracks me up, too. Did you run into any weird requests in that group that made you think about leaving?

casey26826d ago

Wait, people actually brought you their pets after hearing about your cat's anxiety? That's wild. @the_elizabeth, you must have some serious convincing skills to pull that off.

fionat5526d ago

Jumped into a local 'buy nothing' group thinking I'd just offload some old furniture, and ended up getting three network cabling jobs from a guy who saw me mention how I route cables through attics without making a mess. The weird stuff never stops though. Had a lady ask me to come over and diagnose why her printer kept jamming during her church Zoom meetings like I was some kind of tech priest or something. Had to gently tell her that's more of a printer repair person thing, not a network guy thing. Made me realize you gotta keep your boundaries clear in those groups or you'll end up doing free tech support for every relative someone has.