DadsShopTech Origin
Helping Dads Buy The Right Tech
Hello Friend, are you there or am I just talking to myself?
Ok really I just wanted to open this blog with a Mr Robot reference and I am most likely talking to myself because this is the first post and I have no subscribers yet.
DadsShopTech - what is the why? To help dads buy the right tech at the right price, to give them one less thing to worry about or one less thing to figure out.
As chief problem solvers, chief fixers of everything, chief technology officers, chief finance officers and chief binmen of the household we have a lot of roles to carry alongside our day jobs. There is a lot to figure out when it comes to buying tech, is this model any good? Is this a good deal? How do I know I’m getting a good deal to begin with? A lot of questions not withstanding that there is enough weight we already carry on our minds as we worry and think about many things to be the guardian protectors that provide a warm home and a safe space for our family’s to thrive.
Things are getting more and more expensive and that includes most of tech. What the earlier iPhones used to cost brand new Vs what they cost now illustrates that, and their battery life is still crap! The pressure to buy the latest tech doesn’t serve anyone well either especially when you consider the price depreciation. I am an advocate for buying good value tech and 2nd hand tech. There is a lot of good quality stuff out there and the amount you can save can be significant. If you’re having to buy for yourself and household members the costs adds up! It is a more sustainable practise in what is a hyper consumerist world that not only tells you to keep buying the latest and ‘greatest’ but tries to attach a sense of status and identity to it at the cost of your wallet!
How do I aim to help?
By sharing tips on what things to look out for in a phone for example, things like the processors, the chipsets, RAM etc. I will also share my purchase experiences of various different pieces of tech and the practical the value they have added to dad life, this includes where I’ve purchased things and where I have got some really good deals and saved money. The type of tech will include phones, tablets, smartwatches, smart glasses and things like setting up a podcast, a NAS system and my family vlogging kit.
The values I will keep in mind: practicality, cost effectiveness and elegance are the way my priorities are ordered when it comes to purchasing tech and my recommendations will be shared with that in mind. Honesty too, I will aim to mention the drawbacks.
You can stop reading here as the above is the essential read, the rest of this will be about my expertise and experience in this area which you are welcome to read on.
My main speciality is phones and tablets. I used to flip second hand phones as a teenager, I would analyse prices on various sites like eBay, CeX, Gumtree to find good deals, sometimes I’d trade devices for multiple older devices and then sell those on. I would use the profits to fund my driving lessons and terrible fashion choices. It got to a point where I could predict the depreciation of iPhones myself. (until they completely inflated their prices up!)
I also went on to work at a phone shop EE, I felt like I’d be a natural here, all that technical knowledge and experience selling phones I thought yeah I could absolutely smash it here… but reality hit me quickly and I discovered sales wasn’t about having all the technical knowledge but rather how you package and sell to people, most of whom were the uninitiated here, I thought they would be able to spot some of these terrible deals a mile away but no, to my shock they were none the wiser, they were just simple buyers who didn’t have the technical knowledge I did. If it was any consolation my customer service was pretty good, I would often fix issues and even scored the highest on the mystery shop score in the region so I was good at something at least. Perhaps my consideration and level of customer service was too high, I only liked selling good tech, I couldn’t morally sell a phone or tablet to people that I thought was crap!
I ended up leaving shortly after as there were some unethical practises I saw among commission hungry colleagues that would take advantage of simple buyers who didn’t know better. It actually got to a point where I would advise people to not buy certain contracts that were being pushed which sucked for my commission and sales numbers but I guess that sets me up well for this blog. I’m aware most dads are simple buyers I can try to help when it comes to tech and considering as dads we often have to foot the bill for most things, the cost of getting it wrong can impact us more so I feel more strongly about serving dads here.
The buying of tech continued quietly over the years, it was just for myself or my family where I would find good deals for things like phones, laptops and tablets. I also went into podcasting, vlogging and trying wearable tech for myself through various trial and error. Recently feeling a bit bored of corporate life I thought why not start the buying and selling again and see where it goes? Perhaps I can combine my reflective insights with my customer service skills and technical knowledge again to sell good quality stuff and make Dads more informed about buying tech. I changed my eBay name in that excitement to DadsShopTech and then thought let me go even further and explore my creative outlet and start a blog to see if this resonates with anybody and try to add some value.
Where will this lead?
Well this will either die in a few months time or hopefully lead to a community of fathers that might share their own hacks, advice and even contribute to this blog with their own posts. It might lead to me reviewing more things down the line if there is demand. At the very least it will be a therapeutic creative outlet for me which could help a few people.
If you’re still here reading this, I salute you friend, thank you.