Thinking of starting my own business... need opinions.

[alex_n/a]

I have always had a passion for technology. I always opened and tried to fix anything with screws. Since about 16 I started focusing on computers. I know computers better than the "average" user. I'm also thinking about returning to school and taking computer classes. But for the mean time I need a job, I have a very good chance of getting a generic job at a restaurant owned by my uncles friend. It will pay the bills I have but I feel like I will be "stuck" there, no time for school or to continue working on computers. I have also considered getting my name out there and start fixing computers as my "full time job". I have fixed about 10 or so computers in the past 30 days. So I feel like this would be a good job that pays well and I won't have to "report" to anyone. I haven't run into a problem I can't fix so far and I know I can do most jobs people need.

currently what I know how to do.
clean OS install
driver installs
software installs
hardware installs
hardware repairs
virus/malware/rouge/trojan remover
virus/malware/rouge/trojan preventive
speedup computers
dust cleaning

So what do you guys/girls think. should I play it safe and work for someone else in a stable job. or look to the future and start a small business on my own?

[chromal]

There are a lot of opportunities to do the kind of work you're talking about, although connecting with the market may take a lot of effort. I think there's a lot to be said for being your own boss, but there's a lot of value to experiencing different kinds of work environments too... small business, mid-sized companies, corporate enterprise sites... Whatever opportunities you pursue, best of luck!

[RX8init]

Hey Alex,

I think it's a great idea! I am on my third business. Each business I have owned has been small but successful. Meaning I was able to cover all my bills and have money left over. The best thing to do is be very serious about business and go down to the Small Business Assocation (SBA) and talk with them.

You want to write a business plan. The SBA in Spokane Wa, were I moved from, gave me a disk with blank forms for my business plan. Initially you really have no numbers to fill in but just do guesstimates. It's just a road plan initially. You change it as you have real numbers. 80% of business fail without a businesss plan. It doesn't matter how big or small you are.

Take classes after work, online or just get a grant and go full time to school. As you begin taking classes and learning more, start your business before you finish school. Ask your uncles right now who they know in business and go and see them to round up some business now.

My husband is in IT and he started out the same way and he actually never went to college for it. A friend of his knew was great at computers and got him a great job which lauched his career.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions anytime!

Good luck!

Life is short - do what you want! There are no rules so zoom zoom!

[geo2maz]

Go for it, it's like being a mechanic, there will always be demand for it...
My friend had a computer repair shop on Colo. Blvd for 3 years, lot's of business.

The top repairs he would see:
-spyware/virus removal cleanup
-laptop repairs, majority were broken power prongs (where you plug in the power cord to the laptop, people accidentally bend that and it causes the contact to separate from the motherboard, to fix you have to replace that part and solder it back onto the board)

You could possibly start off doing both the restaurant job and computer repairs by appointment or days off from the other job... then if it works out slowly phase out the restaurant job

[jamiel]

I started my computer repair business in 2003. Feel free to PM or email me.
Starting your own business is very difficult, and very rewarding if you make a go of it.
A good rule of thumb that was given to me when I started out is:
- Create a business plan (plenty of help on the web for this)
- Have "realistic" and "pessimistic" revenue projections for
- Take your "pessimistic" projection and cut it in half- that's what your revenue will actually be
Can you survive on that? If not, plan to have another job or some other money to get your through (family loans, investor), or figure out how to downsize your lifestyle to accommodate.

If you're married, you need your spouse to be in agreement about the possible changes and difficulties beforehand.

Do your own book keeping until you absolutely can't handle it yourself anymore, this way you know how things should work and look- then ALWAYS keep watch over the books when someone else is doing them for you.

Keep overhead as low as possible- work from your home, keep expenses down (but don't be cheap)

Plow as much revenue back into the business as you possibly can (marketing, inventory, training, tools). Better to spend $40 on a hard drive that you can sell for $50 than spending $40 eating out.

Word of mouth is king (and free), marketing is expensive. Take great care of your customers- go the extra mile, it pays off in the long run.

Totally discouraged now? If not, you're ready to start your own business.

Remember that most successful business owners take several tries (and failures) before they succeed on a big scale. I've neither failed, nor made it big- just gotten by, so I'm not the best advice on how to make it big (still trying to figure that out). But 8 years in, I've done better than most that start their own businesses (most close in the first 3 years), and can tell you all about how to scrape by until you make a go of it.

Good luck to you, go for it, it's worth it..

[mOOsE]

I would say school is your best bet. The IT field is fairly competitive and most have 2 year degrees at the minimum. Don't get me wrong, you should follow your dreams, but those are pretty basic part of of IT work so it would best to get some professional schooling or experience first. That way you can always expand or work elsewhere if things don't work out. You will definitely need experience in networking, implementation, and servers. A large portion of the market will be people looking for consulting on their own businesses, and that will bring more stability to your business as well.

[jamiel]

There's several segments to the computer services business. For the "home and small business" segment, experience, perseverance, and flexibility are more important than a degree. I've never had a prospective client ask about training, certs, or degrees. They are interested in "here's my issue, can you fix it, when can you get here?"

How to get usable experience? Offer to work for free at a busy shop while you work a night job at the restaurant. Who's going to say no to free labor?
You get valuable experience resolving problems that customers are paying for day-to-day, without running up student loans. You'll also see what the day to day is like, and if it's for you.

Get a MS Action Pack subscription, learn how to install, operate, troubleshoot, and sell all their products.
Be familiar with all the cloud computing offers- especially Google Apps and Office365.
Be familiar with iOS and Android devices.
Be able to build, test and troubleshoot ethernet and wifi networks
These are the things that customers are paying for in this segment
No school is going to give you a useful education on all this. Products change too fast. It's better to be hands on daily and to stay current via tech websites and product specific online training.

Schooling is only necessary if you want to address a market that requires formal training- typically high end specialty projects. In this case go for a proper CS program, you'll be exposed to concepts that may give you the insight to create new products to address these specialty markets. "IT" programs mostly train you to go work for someone else.

[Colombia28]

Hey Alex if you want to look over a business plan shoot me a PM, I can send you mine for the brewery. Not quite the same field but could prove useful. Best of luck and let me know if you need any help!

[alex_n/a]

There are a lot of opportunities to do the kind of work you're talking about, although connecting with the market may take a lot of effort. I think there's a lot to be said for being your own boss, but there's a lot of value to experiencing different kinds of work environments too... small business, mid-sized companies, corporate enterprise sites... Whatever opportunities you pursue, best of luck!

Yeah I think just getting a steady rate of clients will take a while, which is what most starting business go through. and thank you.

Hey Alex,

I think it's a great idea! I am on my third business. Each business I have owned has been small but successful. Meaning I was able to cover all my bills and have money left over. The best thing to do is be very serious about business and go down to the Small Business Assocation (SBA) and talk with them.

[color="Blue"]that's is what i'm looking for in the mean time, enough money to pay for things and save a little on the side, I will look up the SBA and see what my choices are there.[/color]

You want to write a business plan. The SBA in Spokane Wa, were I moved from, gave me a disk with blank forms for my business plan. Initially you really have no numbers to fill in but just do guesstimates. It's just a road plan initially. You change it as you have real numbers. 80% of business fail without a businesss plan. It doesn't matter how big or small you are.

[color="Blue"]What exactly is included in a business plan? I kinda have an idea of what you are talking about but I want to be sure.[/color]

Take classes after work, online or just get a grant and go full time to school. As you begin taking classes and learning more, start your business before you finish school. Ask your uncles right now who they know in business and go and see them to round up some business now.

[color="Blue"]Currently I am just studying on my own, I am more hands on than anything and I think school wouldn't help me as much with out being able to do real life scenarios. [/color]

My husband is in IT and he started out the same way and he actually never went to college for it. A friend of his knew was great at computers and got him a great job which lauched his career.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions anytime!

Good luck!

Life is short - do what you want! There are no rules so zoom zoom!

Thank you for your information, I'll will pm if I have more questions

Go for it, it's like being a mechanic, there will always be demand for it...
My friend had a computer repair shop on Colo. Blvd for 3 years, lot's of business.

[color="Blue"]Yeah there is always someone with a computer problem.[/color]

The top repairs he would see:
-spyware/virus removal cleanup
-laptop repairs, majority were broken power prongs (where you plug in the power cord to the laptop, people accidentally bend that and it causes the contact to separate from the motherboard, to fix you have to replace that part and solder it back onto the board)

You could possibly start off doing both the restaurant job and computer repairs by appointment or days off from the other job... then if it works out slowly phase out the restaurant job

That would be a good option. I know that at the restaurant I would be working from around noon to closing. I could schedule for the mornings. I will be talking to the owner on monday to see what my options are.

I started my computer repair business in 2003. Feel free to PM or email me.
Starting your own business is very difficult, and very rewarding if you make a go of it.
A good rule of thumb that was given to me when I started out is:
- Create a business plan (plenty of help on the web for this)
- Have "realistic" and "pessimistic" revenue projections for
- Take your "pessimistic" projection and cut it in half- that's what your revenue will actually be
Can you survive on that? If not, plan to have another job or some other money to get your through (family loans, investor), or figure out how to downsize your lifestyle to accommodate.

[color="Blue"]Thank you for this very use full information.[/color]

If you're married, you need your spouse to be in agreement about the possible changes and difficulties beforehand.

[color="Blue"]not married and no g/f anymore [/color]

Do your own book keeping until you absolutely can't handle it yourself anymore, this way you know how things should work and look- then ALWAYS keep watch over the books when someone else is doing them for you.

[color="Blue"]I will probably be doing this for a long time, I like to be very organized and sometimes I get a little carried away so I'm not sure I would like someone doing this for me lol[/color]

Keep overhead as low as possible- work from your home, keep expenses down (but don't be cheap)

[color="Blue"]I know a person that has her own little shop where she does insurance sales and has offered me a small section for me to work at, she said I wouldn't have to pay rent until I made enough money to afford it. she is a long time friend of the family so I know there wouldn't be problems working with her.[/color]

Plow as much revenue back into the business as you possibly can (marketing, inventory, training, tools). Better to spend $40 on a hard drive that you can sell for $50 than spending $40 eating out.

[color="Blue"]I think I will be able to do that. I'm good at not spend spare money.[/color]

Word of mouth is king (and free), marketing is expensive. Take great care of your customers- go the extra mile, it pays off in the long run.

[color="Blue"]I'm thinking of offering everyone here on cmzc free service, but most live in co springs so that will be a lot of driving for me [/color]

Totally discouraged now? If not, you're ready to start your own business.

[color="Blue"]not at all, in fact I'm more encouraged now [/color]

Remember that most successful business owners take several tries (and failures) before they succeed on a big scale. I've neither failed, nor made it big- just gotten by, so I'm not the best advice on how to make it big (still trying to figure that out). But 8 years in, I've done better than most that start their own businesses (most close in the first 3 years), and can tell you all about how to scrape by until you make a go of it.

Good luck to you, go for it, it's worth it..

Thank you and I'm not trying to be "big" just have a decent size shop where I can work stable and make a living on my own. So I'm assuming you still have the shop?

I would say school is your best bet. The IT field is fairly competitive and most have 2 year degrees at the minimum. Don't get me wrong, you should follow your dreams, but those are pretty basic part of of IT work so it would best to get some professional schooling or experience first. That way you can always expand or work elsewhere if things don't work out. You will definitely need experience in networking, implementation, and servers. A large portion of the market will be people looking for consulting on their own businesses, and that will bring more stability to your business as well.

I would be getting A+ certified which appears to be the most basic training there is and hopefully that will get me through for a while. I'm also looking to stay more into residential and not as much with other businesses. thank you though once I get stable doing everyday's peoples problems I will be looking for business.

[alex_n/a]

There's several segments to the computer services business. For the "home and small business" segment, experience, perseverance, and flexibility are more important than a degree. I've never had a prospective client ask about training, certs, or degrees. They are interested in "here's my issue, can you fix it, when can you get here?"

[color="Blue"]I hope that for the mean time people don't need me to have certificates or degrees, at least for the first couple times. I know I still need more training to even be a+ certified.[/color]

How to get usable experience? Offer to work for free at a busy shop while you work a night job at the restaurant. Who's going to say no to free labor?
You get valuable experience resolving problems that customers are paying for day-to-day, without running up student loans. You'll also see what the day to day is like, and if it's for you.

[color="Blue"]That's a great idea, I will look for some local shops to see if they will be willing to have an intern. I know what areas I need work with and maybe they will help me with those.[/color]

Get a MS Action Pack subscription, learn how to install, operate, troubleshoot, and sell all their products.
Be familiar with all the cloud computing offers- especially Google Apps and Office365.
Be familiar with iOS and Android devices.
Be able to build, test and troubleshoot ethernet and wifi networks
These are the things that customers are paying for in this segment
No school is going to give you a useful education on all this. Products change too fast. It's better to be hands on daily and to stay current via tech websites and product specific online training.

[color="Blue"]I hadn't thought of those things but I will look into that. I know I have trouble with ethernet and wifi networks. I can get the drivers needed but configuring them is difficult for me.[/color]

Schooling is only necessary if you want to address a market that requires formal training- typically high end specialty projects. In this case go for a proper CS program, you'll be exposed to concepts that may give you the insight to create new products to address these specialty markets. "IT" programs mostly train you to go work for someone else.

For right now I will just be doing residential so school won't be that important.

Hey Alex if you want to look over a business plan shoot me a PM, I can send you mine for the brewery. Not quite the same field but could prove useful. Best of luck and let me know if you need any help!

I would like to see that to get an idea of what a business plan is and how to make my own. thank you.



I will be pm some of you for more information later. Thank you all and I look forward to starting this.

[alex_n/a]

the blue sections are my responses. I did the best I could to reply to everyone neatly lol

[RX8init]

Hey Alex,

I found this website for you that has an example of a business plan for a Computer Repair Service. This is a great website, but of course they want you to buy the software. I wouldn’t. Just look for free templates or create them yourself.

ttp://www.bplans.com/computer_repair_bu ... ary_fc.php

Writing your business plan makes you think about your business and all aspects and of how it’s all going to work.

When you go to get a loan at the bank or from friends and family they will believe you are serious and that you really understand your business if you have a business plan.

The SBA will be able to help you with all areas of your business and give you ideas too. They will have stats on the area for your type of business. They also may offer Small Business Loans if you meet their criteria.

Good Luck with everything!

There are no rules so zoom zoom!