Syosset resident teaches tech skills, safety and integration



It’s a busy world in 2020, but on Long Island’s North Shore there’s time and a helpful neighbor to take care of your “tech” needs. Syosset resident Wendy H. Weiss has reimagined her career, coming from a corporate background in the city to offer local expertise for learning all the latest in gadget use, software and technological conveniences for on-the-go, active businesses and professionals.

For over 20 years Weiss worked for S&P Global selling data as the firm had contents of information on publicly held companies including their financial reports. Prior to her startup consulting and client-based business Tech Time Weiss worked for a number of banks and software companies in New York City.

Weiss and her late husband had two sons who were educated in the Syosset Central School district: first at A.P. Willits Elementary, then at Harry B. Thompson Middle School and Syosset High School. They graduated from the district in the mid-2000s. Weiss’ older son attended SUNY-Geneseo and then the University at Buffalo for law school while her younger one went from Syosset High to an undergrad program at University at Buffalo. After starting out as a couple in east Queens and moving to Syosset with her husband of 32 years, Wendy Weiss currently lives at the Hidden Ridge development.

“I raised my kids out here and my husband was a tax partner in a CPA firm. The children and him were my life, and now they are grown up and living in the city. My sons are on their own and very devoted to me, but about two years ago I expanded my social circles and learned about some things I had in common with new people I met. One of them became my friend; she was teaching Canasta (a card game) to several women living in Manhattan. I started to hear about some folks who received new iPads and gadgets and had no idea of how to use them,” she said.

In January of 2018 Weiss started a new position with JP Morgan Chase in Manhattan. But her passion for starting a new business would soon take over, and after a few months she decided the corporate career was no longer for her. “I was about to start off another phase in my career and at a good company, almost a dream job. Then I said to myself, ‘this doesn’t seem to be the right fit’ because I wasn’t going to do that anymore. I thought of entering the work of nonprofits and their realm,” she says.

Weiss’ next stop was the Jewish National Fund in its Planned Giving department. For the next eight months she worked in the JNF with its donors as the organization liked the potential with her background in sales and finance. While this new job transition continued, Weiss considered what business she could develop on her own.

 

Market Evolution

 

Through referrals from the Canasta teacher friend, Weiss began teaching technology basics to some clients — mainly people living in Manhattan — at their homes, usually two or three nights a week for about one hour per session.

“With new technology there’s a market instantly as people need to learn how to use their devices. Think of buying a new car today — it’s all digital and computer functions. They have to set it up for you, connect Bluetooth and music to it. There is more and more that people don’t know. So I would go to people’s homes in Manhattan after work and show them how to use their iPhones and iPads — that’s really how it began,” she said.

A bonus of working for New York corporations such as S&P Global allowed Weiss to have “everything at her fingertips” for software, as they provided an iPhone with Salesforce and other applications. Weiss noted the access to company people with legal expertise and useful databases. “There was a database I used — Bigdough — with institutional data and investor contacts, and of course I used LinkedIn,” she said.

On February 1, 2019 Weiss left her position with the Jewish National Fund to devote “all of her time” to her startup Tech Time. She planted the seeds for the entrepreneurial endeavor in the year prior to that. Weiss credited Tech Time’s initial success to connections with new people and the rapport she has with clients.

A contributing factor and motivation for Weiss was that her husband was very technology-savvy. In the last few months of his life, in 2017, he created an Excel spreadsheer for her to keep track of some valuable home-life records and information from banking and investments to user ID’s, passwords and websites for various accounts, credit cards, health plans and insurance policies.

“I am 100% paperless — I don’t get one statement. He would send me the bills through this Excel sheet so I learned the online banking and other processes very quickly. This spreadsheet that he created is something I can customize and help people create. It’s for everybody and this organized data helps in working with elder care attorneys and estate planners. I work with them and they send me into their clients so they can incorporate such spreadsheets into their will,” Weiss explains.

The marriage of technology and finance are just one way of helping people with convenience and user-friendly applications. Part of Weiss’ job, she says, involves cybersecurity for individuals and small businesses she works with. The data breach of local school districts Valley Stream and Mineola are one example she says tech consulting offers her insights into.

Weiss tells her clients to be aware of phishing and potential scams, and remember “don’t click on the link” when something appears in their inbox, as a text, or any unexpected ‘ping’ on a device. Beyond offering caution, best practices are engaging and informative. Weiss’ knowledge of new uses of devices often surprise the audience or individual she is working with.

“The average person will focus mainly on their email use and texts, but every new version Apple comes up with is detailed on their website and online. The ‘usability’ often goes beyond consulting with clients about their latest devices and purchases and setting up new files and folders on a laptop or iPad. With every new iPhone and software upgrades to devices from manufacturers, there are more features and functions — the iPhone now has a scanner for documents or images and it can really help people with clients and in business development,” she said.

 

Tech with a Personal Touch

 

Weiss says the foundation of her technology teaching and the 1:1 approach is rooted in trust and relationship building. She first joined the Plainview-Old Bethpage Chamber of Commerce and attended its Triple Chamber networking night at the People’s United Bank on Tuesday, October 15 (reported on in the Advance and News-Journal on October 24). There, Weiss was introduced to members and directors from the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce as well as the Syosset Woodbury Chamber of Commerce. She spoke with Alan Goldberg, president of Water Solutions of Long Island and networking and membership committee chairman of the Syosset Woodbury Chamber, and soon Weiss became a new member of the organization based in her hometown.

Needs of clients range from transferring data, setting up files and new devices and software to basic plans for keeping passwords for accounts and websites in one, central digitized location. Weiss said many clients keep a “jotted down” paper list of passwords and hardly ever have a substantial backup for their records. In many other cases, there’s one of the two spouses who keeps the records and the other is left clueless if they need to have immediate access for files and accounts.

“I thought I would focus Tech Time to helping people with iPads and smartphones, but clients call me for them to set up GoogleDocs, networks, sharing files and folders. It’s expanded so I work with some small NYC businesses including a real estate company. I do social media for another Plainview-based company, and I am teaching classes. Things come about as I do a lot of networking, and what you see is what you get — I’m a straight shooter,” she said.

 

Local Connections and Presentations

 

One hot topic Weiss has raised at her seminars is “Hidden Gems of the iPhone.” She said when she assisted Chamber of Commerce members including Chamber Board members Alan Goldberg and Syosset attorney Ken Robinson, both were astonished to learn about the scanner function on their iPhones, a valuable tool for work purposes such as contracts and legal information.

At a December class she led at the Orchard Estate of Woodbury, 900 Woodbury Road, Weiss provided “tech tutoring” to members of the Gerontology Professionals of New York (GPNY) networking organization. Networking remains one of the biggest draws for both clients and professional organizations, as Weiss is active with the National Aging in Place Council (NAICP) networking organization.

At the Syosset Woodbury Chamber of Commerce holiday party at BNB Bank of Woodbury December 12, Weiss announced that she recently hosted a technology seminar at the Yale Club in Manhattan and earned a good number of contacts and clients there. Other venues she presented at last year include in Commack at Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, the Commack JCC, Hamlet at Commack community and the Meadowbrook Pointe spa/condominium development.

“I am very big on cold-calling. Since going full-time with Tech Time in February 2019 I made a list and called the Yale Club — I asked to speak with their activities coordinator. They passed on my name and info and eventually in June one of the senior alumni at the Club called me. We met over lunch and made it happen,” she explained.

Weiss also taught a class for the Rotary Club of Syosset Woodbury after Alan Goldberg connected her to Carolyn Palladino, community liaison for Excel at Woodbury Rehabilitation and his fellow membership coordinator for the Syosset Woodbury Chamber.

Keeping local perspectives and vibrant community connections have led to other opportunities. Weiss’ brochure, business card and contact information can be found at Syosset’s U Break I Fix (106 Jackson Avenue) as the store often refers people. If a customer drops by U Break I Fix to repair a cracked screen on their phone, for example, Weiss and Tech Time can be who they seek out for help with applications or better feasibility with functions and devices.

For more information call Wendy Weiss at 631-837-3119, email info@techtimetutor.com or visit her website, techtimetutor.com.

 

 

 

 

 

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