Many of us just started working on our own from the start, while other technicians gained much of their experience as an employee of a large firm. Others have previous business experience in other trades, including business ownership and management. Regardless of your background, if you’re just now starting out on your own, here are six steps to get you started on the path to success under your own power.

One of the best methods of advertising is often word of mouth. Your satisfied clients are so impressed with your services that they recommend you heartily to friends, family, and associates whenever the subject comes up. At least that’s how we would like it to work. How can you encourage your clients and satisfied customers to refer your services to others? What can you do to get more business from referrals?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:10 — 5.7MB)

If you want to get your technician website noticed on the web, some attention to SEO is required. Search engine optimization has been an important way to get exposure on the internet, and it’s becoming more and more important as time progresses. In the past, the tactic was meta keyword usage, but that was abused, and most search engines now totally ignore those. What are search engines looking for, and how can you get your site noticed on the web by using SEO tactics?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:56 — 6.3MB)

As a Computer Technician myself, I know how much time us Computer Technicians spend on the road. I also know that we are often too busy to increase our tech knowledge and learn new things because we are constantly working. Our jobs also tend to require a fair bit of travelling time which tends to be dead time.

Its because of this, I am pleased to announce the Technibble podcast! Let us help you continue improving your computer business while on the road and make good use of this otherwise dead time. Even if you are just in the workshop, its a great way to learn while working on machines.

We have turned some of our selected written content into audio recordings and will be releasing them via a few channels. We also plan on releasing some podcast only content such as interviews soon.

You can listen to us directly from the site with the play button below the articles, you can download the MP3s or you can get the newest episodes automatically by subscribing to one of our feeds:

Our Direct feed: http://www.technibble.com/feed/podcast/
Our iTunes feed: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/technibble/id642396478

To subscribe to Technibble’s podcast on a mobile device and listen to us on the road, Technibblers recommend the following apps:

Android:
Podkicker (Free / Paid)
Onecast (Free)
Doggcatcher (Free / Paid)

iOS – iPhone/iPad
Pocket Casts (Paid)
Downcast (Paid)
Podcasts (Free)

Try us out!

“I can just call my cousin/nephew/aunt’s boyfriend, he’s good with computers. Why do I need an experienced computer technician to work on my computer? Maybe I’ll just have Uncle Mike look at it…”

If you’re an experienced computer technician, you’ve probably heard something similar one too many times. Maybe their cousin/nephew/aunt’s boyfriend is good with computers, but how much experience do they have? In this digital age, many of us find that computers are essential parts of our daily lives. They’re our international communications tool, our tax preparing tool, our business management tool, not to mention vaults of personal memories stored in digital format. Losing your computer or the data on it is a huge loss, considering all the above factors.

Most don’t realize it until it’s too late, and their cousin/nephew/aunt’s boyfriend has irretrevably destroyed their personal data by accidentally reinstalling the operating system or damaging either the hardware or software components of the machine. How can you convince your customers to make use of the services of a qualified experienced computer technician?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:24 — 5.9MB)

Article by Tony Scarpelli of CFI Computer Repair:

I worked with the Small Business Administration as a consultant and have helped many businesses start and grow. So I will share some techniques that I have found to be helpful to me and others.

If you are truly a one man show with no wife or girlfriend to handle calls, receive mail and send invoices, then it’s a greatly different operation than if you have a receptionist, office manager or girl in on a Friday. It is even more critical you’re setup to be efficient and effective from the get go. You must streamline every process since sooner or later you will be successful and have to work more hours than there are in the day.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:30 — 20.6MB)

I want to extend a very special thank you to everyone that took the time to fill out our Reader Survey. You shared with us many issues that we can answer in future articles and you should see them in the coming months. If you still would like to share your issues in the computer business with us so we can possibly help you with them in the future, the survey link will remain open, you just will no longer be eligible to win.

As for our winner, the winner of the Computer Business Kit and Business Clients Book is: bobbo@**.**.com
Congratulations! You will be contacted shortly.

To those who didnt win but are still interested in obtaining the Computer Business Kit and Business Clients book, I want to give everyone (even if you didnt enter) a 20% OFF discount for BOTH products for the next week. The Computer Business Kit comes down from $79 to $63. The Business Clients Book comes down from $37 to $29. Offer expires on Thursday 25th April, Midnight EST so grab it while you can!

Buy the Computer Business Kit
Buy the Business Clients Book

Again, I want to thank everyone who took part. Thank you!

How did you get involved with the computer technician industry? Did it start out as a hobby, and as your experience grew, you turned it into a business? Perhaps it was never a hobby or an actual interest, but you started doing it just because you were proficient with computers, and you have another hobby that is tech-related, such as digital photography, audio or video production, programming, web development, or graphics design. Regardless of the category of tech experience you offer as a business, have you ever considered opportunities to expand your tech services?

We here at Technibble want to ask our readers 3 questions that will help us decided what to write about and what products or services to create next.
We want to know what are your biggest issues in the computer business right now and do you have any ideas on how you would like us to solve it for you.

We are also looking at reviewing some more paid technician products and services in the future. Of course, there are thousands of these out there and we dont want to waste our time and your time reading about bad products, so we want to hear your opinion on what the best paid products are in this industry.

As a little extra incentive to help us help you, we are giving away a copy of our Computer Business Kit and a copy of our Business Clients Guide to one lucky winner who filled out the survey.

The winner with be chosen randomly on Friday the 19th.

You can fill out our short 3 question survey and enter the draw by CLICKING HERE.

For this article, I will be reviewing the Tech Site Builder 2 package from Podnutz. The package includes 31 tutorial videos and all the files and templates you’ll need to get a professional website up within hours. I know some question the importance of having an online presence for their technician business, but I’ll explain why it’s so important later on in the article. Continue reading below for my review.