People's Army of Sonoma

I have been looking into recently starting my own computer diagnostic buisness, for the past 2 years i have worked on hardware and software fixes on computer and done sales for one of my close friends companies, i was wanting to know all of your opinions on whether or not it would be a good idea, if it is something that you guys would pay for yourself personally, or if i should just pack up and move on to the next company lol, be honest please i would rather nobody spare my feelings and any suggestions would be amazing, what im hoping to do with this company is do in home calls for diagnostic on computers, figured the charge would come up around 73-74 dollars after taxes and all, and for that i would come to your house, run tests on your computer, figure out what it is that is wrong with your computer, tell you how much it should be for repairing, or if it is even worth repairing or not, i will also assist in purchasing of a new computer and give advice on the correct hardware you need so you dont get ripped off. There is no in home dianostic in town at all, the only ppl who even come to your house in this town are the geek squad and they charge 300 dollars to do what im wanting to do for 75 i think thats about it its a fairly new idea but i think it would be a good one

First off. Whats your target market?
Second: Is there a real need for the service you are offering?
Third: With the price of computers down around the average TV set is it cost effective to hire you or just buy a new machine?
Fourth: What kind of experience do you have? Certifications, Liscense's, etc...
What is your advertising Budget?
Six: Can you afford to not work a 9 to 5 while your growing your business? Or are you going to have to do both?
Seven: Is there a large enough market that you can rely on this as your primary source of income? This is the most important factor. Unless you can average 5 to 10 customers every week are you going to be able to survive on just this money?

My target market i think is ppl like my dad, someone who has a career and is not at all interested in learning how to fix a computer, also someone who does not have much time to learn it, as far as what service im offering im doing computer diagnostic, and im doing it in home, whether its hardware or software i will run basic tests and comb over it myself and give my professional opinion on what i think is wrong with the computer, as far as a cheap computers, that is understandable but working in a repair/custom built computer store you find alot of ppl calling and asking about having someone come out to there house, but its not cheap to do, ppl for the most part want someone just to tell them what they think would be best for them, and beings i wouldent be making any money on any of the sales end i can be more honest about the product that person needs, um as far as expieriance, i do not have any liscense's of any kind... but you know neither does my friend who owns the computer store and the guy is like Yoda.... im not kidding. ive been around computers for more than half of my life, but i do have 2 years of expieriance in an actual store doing repairs, my advertising budget is slim of course hehe i was hoping to start pretty basic take advantage of some of the free services that are out there like craigslist, i looked last night and there is not one single computer repair tech for craigslist in midland, i know a couple of ppl who do top spots on google, yahoo, etc. also my old company said they would refer me, and there is a lady i do buisness with known as the Computer Tutor who does in home teaching for ppl, but she has no idea about hardware or software so she said if she needed onsite she could use me. As far as how many customers i need a week, i think i did the math correctly and if i can get 10 a week it would be alot better than what i was making before, but if i spent an hour at each place i could do 10 in 2 days leaving 5 days a week for other stuff, maybe a secondary job

Havoc,

I started my own business 6 years ago..... To make a 6 year story short it comes down to this;

Operating overhead!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Price point!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can take on risk by increasing overhead but with success increase your income, or you can keep overhead low, maintain a steady growth and income and grow your business over the long term.

With low overhead you can lower prices build clientele, and grow a business through word of mouth and minimal advertising (advertising=overhead.)

Right now I can beat anyone in my city on price AND quality!!! Even with a "down economy" I'm booked though March with no end in sight.

So help me if you name your business something something "solutions" I'm going to put Tiger after ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha yeah well as for name im still not sure what i want sure is hard to put diagnostic into it and sound cool and professional at the same time haha i was kinda thinking of Dr. Diagnostix Computer Service .... dont like it that much but. i dont know haha like i said this idea is still pretty fresh but now is the time for me if im going to do it hehe thanks for the help

It's good you know someone who gives lessons, one of the biggest things I run into is people hire me to repair/upgrade their PC and then want me to stick around and show them how to use it. It can be tricky to "politely" say I don't do that, I will show them how to use any new software I install, anti virus/anti spyware.

I started slow with just business cards, a simple name and phone number (cell phone) and PC repair. I've found, in my small area, that more people remember a persons name than the business name. But this may vary for your area and customer base.

I do recommend a separate bank account for the business, one with a visa check card. The card is perfect for ordering parts and such over the internet. And having the separate account makes it much easier for keeping track of money, not to mention filing taxes.

This can turn into a full time job, one you have to really work at to stay on top of. As much as I didn't like Vista, and dreaded learning to trouble shoot it, it's made me plenty of money. (surprising how many people pay to go back to XP)

I recommend a menu list of fixed flat rate services and variable rate services. Many folks like the flat rate approach and much easier to tweak prices as the needs arise (seasonally, 2x year or annually). The variable rate is for things not included in the a "menu offering", and make it quite known that your hourly rate is $XX/hr per type of service.

I exclusively used to do this work for other businesses, not home-based users. My clients were doctors/chiropractors offices, tool & die shops, and schools. My services included workstation, server, networking and internet presence. I eventually hired 3 other folks with different specialties, then transitioned my customers to the employees when I lost the desire to continue.

As an example, I used to offer an OS Upgrade Service for a flat fee, and I broke it into understandable deliverables. You would need to decide your deliverables, these are examples....but the more defined these are, the less the variability, which means YOU wont eat the labor hours or be put in a position of obligation/guilt if you know what i mean:

Flat Rate: $XX Premium OS Upgrade
- Application Inventory, Relevance, Compatibility (Documentation is the deliverable)
- Data Backup / OS Imaging / Rollback Plan (Documentation/DVD are the deliverables)
- Application / OS Licensing (don't put yourself at risk)(Documentation is the deliverable)
- Format / Upgrade OS In-place (OS work is the deliverable)
- Post testing scripts and confirmation (Documentation is the deliverable)
- Post-upgrade customer acceptance (Documentation is the deliverable)
- DEFINED OS/Application training (hands-on/documentation/usually a MS Press, Wrox, Sybex, or other OS/ Application reference book per office or desk)

Flat Rate: $XX Basic OS Upgrade
- Data Backup / OS Imaging / Rollback Plan (Documentation/DVD are the deliverables)
- Format / Upgrade OS In-place (OS work is the deliverable)
- Post-upgrade customer acceptance (Documentation is the deliverable)
(no pre/post documented testing included for example)

THEN, I made sure that if they wanted UNDEFINED OS/Application training, then the hourly rate kicked in. My rate was $60/hr (general workstation/server/network/internet-presence work), $80/hr for web e-commerce/shopping cart, which was competitive in my area.

I guess the point is, have menu items (clearly broken down) and have a catch-bucket hourly rate that kicks in. Be prepared to give examples or use-cases for WHEN that might be appropriate up front with the customer. Its great to be able to have these menu items paper-ready just like a take out menu.

Many folks hate thinking about documentation, but I cannot tell you how professional it is and makes you look.

Understand your potential and ongoing customers. Write down the use-cases. Your example of your dad is an example... but you can probably list over 10-20 examples if you seriously break them down. Then make sure you can have offerings to SOLVE those use-cases. Make sure your fixed-prices and your hourly-rate fit the products of the use-cases. And then its much easier to tweak over time.

Granted your offering a service where as I offer products. So our business models are going to be totally different. But I can help you a few things... Such as business cards. The best pricing I have found is Vista Print. I usually get 250 cards printed for about five bux ($5). They are generic but look nice and it works out cheaper for me than buying ink and printing my own. Just go to the site and register but don't buy anything, in a day or three they'll send you an email with FREE Stuff. all you pay is the shipping. My next project is Hoodies with company name and logo on them. But I'm having that done locally by a friend who does that sort of thing. hehe. I'll use them as promo items that I'll sell and/or give away at trade shows. Oh I sell swords, all kinds from cheap deco to hang on your wall to functional combat ready weapons. My company name? Weapons of Mayhem. Need a new Katana? call me. LOL Good luck with your venture. And don't hesitate to ask for advice.

hahah awesome thanks a ton for the advice and ill have to check them out for cards im fixing to order some right now haha but thanks everyone for the advice im extremely nervous and excited hopefully it goes good