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ForumsWhen I was 17, I started on the path as a self-employed computer techie. On the way, I made many mistakes where I remember the lesson that I had learned almost daily in my modern day repairs. I would love to share these with our Technibble members, especially our younger techies who are just starting.
Cover your ass
As the start of my second year I was purchasing clone PC’s (ex. goverment) with legitimate copies of Windows XP installed including the sticker on the side. I would get them patched up with all the Windows updates, install a free antivirus like AVG, install OpenOffice for them and deliver it to the clients house. They would pay me and I would give them an invoice with the price and mentioning that it included a 1 month warranty only as the computer is second hand.
For 6 months the client was very pleased with the computer until one day I receive a phone call from the client saying he is having problems with the computer. Treating this as a potential service call I asked what the problem was, he said “some of the icons from his desktop were missing, about 5 of them”, because this was such a small issue I tried to help him over the phone.
I first asked him to look in any folders on his desktop as he may have accidentally moved them into one, no luck there. I told him to look in the recycle bin as he may have deleted them, not there either. I then talked him though how to get to the system restore to see if someone else had uninstalled those programs which would have removed the icons from the desktop. Nothing had been uninstalled.
Something strange is obviously going on here and I couldn’t do anything more over the phone so he asked me to come out on a service call to try and fix it. Somehow by the tone in his voice I got the impression that he wanted me go onsite for free so I said “no problems, It should take less than an hour so its just my usual fee of $XX per hour” and he replied “oh, you want me to pay for it?”. I knew there was going to be trouble.
I proceeded to explain to him that it was most likely something he (or someone else using the computer) had done and not a failure of the computer itself. I also reminded him that a warranty was only 1 month and it has been expired for a long time.
He then mentioned that his friend told him that if he put the WindowsXP CD in, booted the computer and went through the prompts that it would fix the problem, all he needed was his XP CD (for our not so techie readers, he’s talking about a XP repair install). I told him that there was no XP CD, only a recovery partition that would delete all his data if he ran it and it wouldn’t fix the problem anyway. He insisted on his XP CD and I responded that I couldn’t provide one and he replied “well, you will be hearing from my solicitor”.
Woah! my mind instantly went into defense mode wondering “what dirt does he have on me?” and I quickly realized that everything is totally legal. The warranty was only 1 month, the invoice didnt say there was an XP CD, the software already installed on there is completely legitimate and it wouldn’t be worth it for this guy to persue it in court anyway. I was in the clear so I told him that “I will wait for the letter from your solicitor” and hung up. Never heard from him again.
Make sure you get paid
This one is probably the most recent of my big mistakes; I had a client who ran a business that makes millions of dollars a year that I had been doing alot of work for, mainly just small things like setting up printers and PDAs. In the past they had paid promptly, on time and were generally good to work for.
One week they did a massive purchase of laptops and PDAs and it was my job to set them up with the correct settings and make sure everything was running smoothly. There was alot to do and some tasks required certain people to return our calls (with settings and such) so I was in and out all week.
At the end of the week everything was finished and running smoothly so I sent them an invoice and had myself a good weekend. I would typically send them an invoice every time I went onsite but because there was so much to do, I left it till the end of the week. This was my mistake.
Two weeks passed and I still haven’t received payment so I gave them a call, I got hold of the secretary who said she will get them to give me a call back.
Another week passed and I called them again. Once again, I got the secretary who said they would give me a call back. Not wanting to wait, I asked when the person I was after was in and she gave me an approximate time. When I called back later that day I got the secretary once more.
This repeated for months so I sold the debt to the debt collectors which means I get 80% of what I am owed and the debt collectors keep 20% as their fee for chasing the client. I never found out why they decided not to pay me.
The lesson learned here: Invoice often, get paid as soon as possible, don’t do any more work until you are paid for previous invoices and don’t give too much slack to previously good payers because they may do a backflip on you.
Watch your Cashflow
Towards the end of the first year of my business I was getting plenty of work (especially from businesses) and business appeared to be good. I was firing off invoices left and right and had alot of money coming to me. A few weeks later I needed to pay for some high ticket items but quickly realized I had little money in my business accounts. I had earned the money, I just didnt actually have the money.
The lesson learned here: You haven’t earnt a cent until their money is safely in your bank account.
With that, I have some advice for our young techie readers; Dont be afraid to make mistakes. They say, if you don’t make any mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough.
Excellent insight Bryce!
When I first started in the business, I also had one ‘bad’ client that sticks out from the rest of my customers. An unplasant lady in her fifties that wanted the lowest priced computer that I could provide, but that could do ‘everything’…
Well, to make a very long story short, she kept doing improper software uninstall (among many other things), and calling me to complaint about the computer. At one point, she even accused me on purposely infecting her machine… Being the new guy, I submitted to her constant abuse for the duration of the warranty. Those were the three longest years of my life! In conclusion, I highly recommend to anyone thinking of starting a computer business to be wary of very demanding customers. Some of them may not be worth your time - and their money.
In your article you mention that you were doing ‘pretty good’ by the end of your first year. What did you do in that first year to build your client base? Did you market a certain way? Already have contacts? Are you just lucky?
Paul, I was doing some computer repairs before what I consider my first year of “going pro” charging either dirt cheap or doing freebies for friends or friends-friends. I was a student at the time and had only about 40 or so for the entire year. It was sort of an after hours, bit-of-beer-money kind of thing.
So I already had a handful of clients in place before my first year who recommended me to others which was a big help.
Right near the start I did do a huge letterbox drop to businesses and homes in wealthy neighborhoods, we are talking like 2500-3000 flyers (yes, its legal in Australia to drop unsolicited mail UNLESS it says “No Junk Mail” on their letterboxes). I also put an ad in the local weekly free newspaper which was the main source of my new non-business clients.
hey bryce, whereabouts in aus are you?
im thinking to start the same thing - in melbourne
I’m in Melbourne too. What area are you in?
Wow thanks a lot, i really like this stuff, i am 18 and starting my own Techie business.
Yeah, you can’t please them all. I like to try though! Even when the client messes their system up, I never point the finger in their direction or accept responsibility for their actions. I just offer solutions to correct their troubles. The only time I’ll admit they screwed up is if they directly ask and I’ll humbly acknowledge their mistake.
First thing I do when I get to a job is provide a rough estimate (projection of cost/time) and before starting have them sign off on the work order which states that it is nothing more than a projection which can vary between system and complication. This estimate is a legally binding agreement for services rendered. Then, I’ll have them sign again with the final cost. That way, if they don’t pay we have the upper hand in arbitration or the court room. Odds are it’s not worth your time for the smaller jobs, but we’ve had some clients who owed a considerable amount of money.
The disclaimer on the bottom of the estimate releases me from liability. We’re looking at remaking them with an agreement that the damages are not to exceed the cost of the service rendered, so worst case scenario… we have to give their money back. Hasn’t been an issue yet (knock on wood), but it sounds like a good preventive move in this litigious day and age
One thing about being owed money in the States is you have to be aware of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). You have to make sure you don’t leave multiple voice mails in the same day. Once you’ve spoken to them you can’t call back the same day. There are different laws for different states, so I’d seek legal advice or at the very least brush up on your states laws.