My dream come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[steelthorn]

My mother has decided that she will give me 10,000.00 to start my own pc tech business.
I'm very excited about this. I've dreamed about this for years now. I have a couple of
questions from you experts. Can you recommend a good web site to buy pc repair supplies?
Is there a way I can buy the February issue of Maximum Pc? They had a whole section dedicated
to supplies for the pc tech. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! I plan on running an ad in the Dallas Morning
News to advertise my service. I'm going to charge 40.00 house call and 40.00 an hour. Does
that sound fair? Thanks in advance for the good advice. Any other advice greatly appreciated

 

[MrGrim]

No advice I'm afraid, just a good luck.

 

[steelthorn]

Thanks MrGrimm!

 

[Xenon14]

If you're setting up an actual business, you have to file several legal documents. I suggest you also set up a business plan. Essentially a business plan curtails every description of your business (functionality, along with its expected profits and losses, etc) A business plan needs a lot more depth than what I just mentioned, but you can find out a sample business plan online. You need this if you plan to loan extra money from the bank, and essentially you need it for yourself. If you truly plan to make money, make sure you think about the marketing aspect of your business too. Otherwise your not going to make a dime. And where'd u come up with your $40? You can't just pull prices out of your a$$. Don't get offended, but if this is a serious business and not "let me sell 3 computers to family friends" type of thing, you need to seriously do your homework. Otherwise the 10,000 is gonna turn into 0. BTW, essentially your 10,000 is insurance since I assume your gonna provide some type of warranty on your products. If you have any specific questions PM me or something.

 

[Jerboy]

<< My mother has decided that she will give me 10,000.00 to start my own pc tech business.
I'm very excited about this. I've dreamed about this for years now. I have a couple of
questions from you experts. Can you recommend a good web site to buy pc repair supplies?
Is there a way I can buy the February issue of Maximum Pc? They had a whole section dedicated
to supplies for the pc tech. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! I plan on running an ad in the Dallas Morning
News to advertise my service. I'm going to charge 40.00 house call and 40.00 an hour. Does
that sound fair? Thanks in advance for the good advice. Any other advice greatly appreciated >>



Have you considered these:

supplies

advertisement fee

business permit with

registering with Texas secretary of state, new filing and annual renewal

business insurance

 

[NeoMadHatter]

awesome, congrats, i wish i could do that. hopefully sometime in the future.

 

[steelthorn]

Thanks for the replies. Keep it coming!

 

[kgraeme]

If your state supports it: LLC (Limited Liability Corporation).

 

[breathe]

Send me the money for a new scanner and Ill put that entire article in Maximum PC up....my scanner broke lol

 

[JohnnyPC]

$40 is actually pretty cheap. If you're a decent technician then don't sell yourself short. As for supplies, all you really need to get started is a philips screwdriver!

 

[gunf1ghter]

Make sure that you do all of the paperwork to register yourself as a small business.

If you can get a few small businesses to make use of your services, then word of mouth might really get you going. Make sure that you are comfortable with the types of things people are going to throw out at you. The world of small business and home PC repair has changed substantially in the last few years.

These days people will not only ask you to do the typical hardware repairs and upgrades, but also.

OS upgrades (you need to know what hardware will support what OS)...

Home networking... PC peer to peer type stuff as well as broadband. Make sure that you are familiar with all of this.

Make sure that you type up a very professional letter that lists what skills and qualifications you have... no matter how good you are someone is going to stump you with a question or problem you can't handle.. the best way to handle that situation is to let them know that you have to do some research to figure out their problem and then get back to them... the worst thing you can do is give them a BS answer that is incorrect.

Best of luck to you, hope it works out for you and you make a career of it!

 

[TimeKeeper]

Like previous suggest, it is extremely important to plan your steps....
1. consult w/ lawyers who handle the small business startup, registration, and name search on your state.
2. When done, has designated accountant to do your book. ( including tax consulting)
3. plan your target objective. (build your foundation, and be good at ONE thing first)
4. plan your future objective. (6 months down the load, what service can you provide)
5. How you network and get your "name recognition". There are million company out there, how do you get our attention.
espeically, you are going head to head w/ your local CompUSA or BESTBUY (even we know they "sucks"). Also w/ increase of consumer spending power and decrease in PC price............

People generally bring their computer back to the place where they bought it for service.
And for those buy parts to self install, generally do not really need much of high tech advice.
How many project can you handle a day? $40 an hour, how many hours or project you must received a day to earn at least $4000 a month to make your efford worth while? (or will it be easier just get a tech job for $40K a year w/ provided insurance, holiday, and benefit?)

so on and so forth..............

Two of my partners are top advisors from PWC and all I can say is........"boy, it is definitely NOT easy! Idea and passion alone definitely NOT going to make it. Because, I really don't know much about running a business" (oh, our company has NOTHING to do w/ high tech)

But despite all these, just be patience, NOTHING starts up easy. BEST of luck!!!!

 

[jeffrey]

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet:

Advertising in the paper is good, but you never kind of response you'll get. You could try fliers in your neighborhood/area that suggest easy upgrades that you could provide. Example; 128mb memory upgrade $XX.XX additional hard drive $XX.XX. I used those two because those are usually the first two things people think that they need to get a better PC "experience."

Good luck and get that plan with goals down before you open your first case. Just because you have the money doesn't mean it has to be running yet. Some businesses exist in the planning phase for a year or more before it is open for business.

 

[BD231]

Dont charge by the hour if your good at what you do. Most PC repair shops charge $40 to $45 on the spot, then a certain amount per every half hour. Good luck to you!

 

[steelthorn]

Wow I really didn't think about the planning etc. I'm glad I posted here and got yalls advice
before I went out and blew the whole 10,000.00. I really appreciate it. Keep it coming.

 

[BeauJangles]

The computer repair business is really saturated (at least in the Boston area). I would think it would be tough to start up around here, as there are already CompUSAs, Best Buys, and then some smaller places like PCsforeveryone. As was said before most people bring their computer back to the place they bought it from for two reasons; 1) it's convienient 2) they have more confidence in an actual store then a guy running a tech company out of his garage (or even maybe storefront!).

The one place I believe could be very profitable is networking. First building a network, especially for a company, then they will call you back to maintain it and upgrade it. It could be profitable. I also agree with timekeeper, can you forsee making more money then a tech working at another company. Even though working for yourself is very appealing, potentially you could be in a job making 50k a year, with benefits.

Just my $.02

Either way Good Luck!

 

[bluemax]

RESEARCH UNTIL YOU DROP!!

You need to know who else is running similar businesses in your target area,
how much your target area is willing to spend, and how often
insurance in case you screw up and they sue you (America! Land of the Lawsuit!)
insurance in case someone breaks into your "shop"
You need to know how you're going to make steady income to pay the rent - unless you're doing this out of your home which may or may not be illegal. For sure you'll need to pay taxes for the business and on your profits....

Just be 100% sure you know what you're doing before you make this a BUSINESS rather than some guy in a basement "just helpin' some folks out time to time".

 

[bluemax]

That was actually a good idea 2 posts up....

Consider dumping that $10 grand into EDUCATION and be ensured of good income for the rest of your life.
Networking or programming are excellent choices. Do what you like to do...