There has recently been an increase in the amount of technicians joining our forum and talking about making the jump from a 9 to 5 job to becoming self employed.
Perhaps the company they were working for is downsizing and they preparing for the worst or they have already been laid off. Whatever the cause I want to make sure that any soon-to-be technicians are prepared for the jump.


Do you have enough money to make the jump?
While I am one of the first people to tell you to follow your dreams, you also need to look at the reality of the situation. It takes time to build up a large enough client base to support your current standard of living. If you haven’t already built up a decent client base from doing a few jobs on the side then you need to look at how much savings you have. I personally believe that you need at least 6 months worth of savings if you want the transition period to be comfortable. You wont be earning 9-5 wages overnight.

If you have any family that relies on you such as a wife and kids then making the jump now may not be the wisest choice. If you were laid off from your job and have no clients on the side then it may be a better idea to work part time elsewhere until you build up your client-base. Your responsibility is to the welfare of your loved ones first first and to follow your dream second.

If you already have a decent client base while you are still at your current job or before you left, then you are halfway there. Rather than a jump in the deep end you are sliding into the shallow end and your chances of success is much greater.

If you have the choice (as in, you weren’t laid off), work on building up your client base after hours until it reaches the point where your 9 to 5 job hampers the growth of your computer business, then your income wont be taking as much as a hit and you have already learned some of the hard lessons this industry has to offer.

Do you want to work on computers?
Did you work on computers at your last job, found you are great at it and thought about starting your own business fixing computers? You need to keep in mind that once you start working for yourself, you aren’t always doing technician work anymore. You are doing marketing, office administration, dealing with customers, answering phone calls, doing accounting and just about every other job that was probably done by someone else at your old job.

Doing the job you love (repairing computers) and actually running a business are two different things. This is one of the major reasons why many new businesses fail as the owner simply gets burnt out doing jobs they don’t love.
Of course, you can always hire someone to do your marketing or accounting once you have some good cash flow coming in, but in the beginning you will most likely have to do it yourself. Also, keep in mind that when you are self employed the amount of hours you worked verses amount of billable hours are two different things. I have personally had days where I worked all day but didn’t make a cent because it was all unbillable hours.

So ask yourself, do you want to work on what you love but not have any freedom? or work on computers and don’t the stuff you don’t like, but have the freedom of being your own man?

Other Considerations
If you were working for another computer repair business such as Firedog, Geeksquad or a “Mom and Pop store” and the clients you consider “your clients” are really your old employers clients then some issues can arise such as:
1. You may be under a non-compete agreement with your old employer not to start your own computer repair business.
2. They can sue you for stealing their clients so don’t go handing out your business card when your employer sends you out on a repair job.
3. Its unethical to do so (even if it is legal) and you better hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you when you start having your own employees.
If this is the case then its probably a good idea to discount all of their clients as your clients and start new.

I don’t want to scare people from following their dreams, but I do want them to make sure they are prepared for it. In the end, I believe starting your own business worth it. My own business has given me the freedom to travel for many months of the year which is very important for me. The job is always interesting because just when you think you have seen everything, something weird happens. It can sometimes be hard (such as me working at 2am last night getting a mission critical system ready by morning) but the pros always outweigh the cons. Its a great business to be in.