repair computers over the summer?

[zatblast]

Hello, I am looking for opinions for one of my ideas... its really quite simple I would like to do computer repair in my area (right around 50k pop.) however I only want to be doing it during the summer... because in the fall I will be moving out of town to Iowa State uni... I trust in my ability to repair most PCs along with xp/vista, home networking, ect. however because it would only be during the summer, then it would be shut back down until maybe next summer, would it be worth it? what would be required? I mentioned it to my parents, and my father just about went off on me for not really caring about insurance... (i had figured to simply tell customers its expected there data be backed up before hand... and that we would do what was possible to save information if a reformat was needed but made no guarantees...)

oh also there is 1 other person who seems that he might be interested in doing this with me, which opens up the option of 1 going out in the field and the other one staying behind as research support if needed or just both going out and working on it, ect.. because of it just being a short term over the summer job we wouldn't be charging overly much and would try to make a chart with exact pricing for things, rather than an hourly rate, with maybe a 10$ trip there fee+some figure of like 10$/h+a exact pricing scheme as in we wont tell them the exact cost but rather inform them theres a 10$ travel fee, and then give an estimate with the other two providing the end result

um any opinions as to if its ok to do it? sorry for my rambling just don't know how else to word it right now..

also united states-Iowa would anyone have an estimation on insurance? can it be pay per month or only by the year? contracts required?

~thanks, alot for just reading this far

[hawks5999]

hmmm... don't want to shut down your entrepreneurial spirit but it might be more profitable for you to go to work for a tech services shop in your area for the summer. by the time you figure in the expense to set up insurance, some sort of llc, etc. your profits will get chomped into. i assume your dad is anxious about being sued for something you do since you likely haven't accumulated any assets of value and so your parents will become the target. So you will want to do the work inside a limited liability company (as it, you know, limits the liability). Then if you are doing this self-employed, by law you'll need to pay social security, medicare and federal tax and probably on a quarterly basis to avoid underpayment penalties... so now you are in for an accountant or at least a bookkeeper (and the lawyer or other service who helps with the corporation). And if you are going to get 3 months to find customers and bill out, you have a real good chance of almost breaking even.

Get in good with a service provider and work for them over the summer... you'll always have a summer job when you come home from college and then 2 or 3 years into your BA in business you can setup something that will make you income whether you are in town or not and yadda, yadda, yadda... you are the next Michael Dell...

[zatblast]

aww, people and there makeing sense of things... owell xD

thanks for the input hawk of course not what i wanted but thats ok

and uh rather not...(the dell thing)