Do you have a computer shop?

[atlasmike]

We have an "office"...consists of 3x suites in a professional center.
We don't have a "store front" as in retail. But customers come here....we focus on SMB clients.
Laptops and workstations...fully loaded, "business grade"...still can hit 1500 bucks.

I remember when they cost 4,000 and 5,000 bucks.

This is more of what I have. An office I sublease from some lawyers in a professional building, we are all separated though and I have my own entrance that is street facing. My rent is extreamly cheap. $200 a month for a 340 sq ft office with a street facing enterence. That includes most utilities as well.

 

[callthatgirl]

@solg, I can't do that, I'm too personalized for my services to have that option work for me, but I have hired Chris Carruthers RStechteam.com to help me on the back end work, which has been been awesome for me to achieve more.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

One big downside to a shop is having to manage workers to do the job you want them to do. Once you have a shop with employees your job is less fixing computers and more keeping quality control good via managing people. It's a whole different game.

Much of that is the result of your interviewing, selection, and hiring skills.
We're a shop of 5...my colleague and I, our office manager, and 2x other techs. We don't spend much time at all managing people, we're all quite self sufficient and independent. Carefully selected people is the key.

Never heard of that emyth book...took a quick Google. While I can agree on the "don't work for your business" approach, we are in a labor intensive business. Requires your hands, your brain, and doing things that take time. You can only thump that emyth bible stuff so much in this business, if you want to grow past a certain point....hiring is a must. Else, you're stuck in the elevator at the second floor...never knowing how high that building really is.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

Staff can be interesting for sure, we're buying another company out and adding a 3rd store, it's always a gamble to some extent when it comes to retail and employees.... I've lucked out lately but had a batch of sub - par guys for sure.

I try to stay or of day to day ops for the most part, so far so good... spent the last 2 months out of state and nothing blew up

 

[redmon]

Staff can be interesting for sure, we're buying another company out and adding a 3rd store, it's always a gamble to some extent when it comes to retail and employees.... I've lucked out lately but had a batch of sub - par guys for sure.

I try to stay or of day to day ops for the most part, so far so good... spent the last 2 months out of state and nothing blew up

That is impressive. If I could just get away from my own store for a few weeks I would consider it a huge success. All I can do is make little steps in the right direction.

 

[redmon]

Never heard of that emyth book...took a quick Google. While I can agree on the "don't work for your business" approach, we are in a labor intensive business. Requires your hands, your brain, and doing things that take time. You can only thump that emyth bible stuff so much in this business, if you want to grow past a certain point....hiring is a must. Else, you're stuck in the elevator at the second floor...never knowing how high that building really is.

Of course hiring is a must. Emyth strategy is to hire average people to do the work needed following specific methods of the company. The strength of the company is in its systems as much(or more) as the people. Average people can follow great systems for great results.

I think this strategy works better in my business opposed to yours. You have a much more technical business with a large scope of different work you do(I suspect), which requires a much higher skill set than what we do. Our break/fix business is more comoditized. 90% of what we do are a few different jobs: virus removal, tuneups, nuke and paved, hardware replacement.

I find it interesting, the many different ways to run a business

 

[FilthX]

We have a store, used to have two but unfortunately the financial crisis in Greece made us close the second in the end of 2013. We provide office supplies to appr. 2500 businesses and we are trying to provide tech support to home users and businesses. Me and my brother are the techs and we have another guy to run the office supplies store.

FilthX

 

[MotzTech]

I'm with the office crowd. The visibility is really what sold me on the idea. The first time someone mentioned they saw my sign of the side of the road, I was so happy! Having a sign on a major roadway really helps build that brand recognition. Plus having a nice place to sit down with clients and go over larger projects is great.

I still work from home some days, that's one of the advantages of having an office vs a retail location.

 

[ComputerDave]

Started working out of my home, and then it eventually got to the point that I was sticking computers in my living room, kitchen, under the kid’s beds. Moved to a one room office that eventually grew into a two room Tech Room and Showroom. Top line increases about 30% per year. In a town of about 58,000. We are set up to work on ten desktops and ten laptops at once, between two techs.

 

[unclemarv]

Been back and forth. Started working from home in the beginning. Then grew to a couple of techs and got an office. Started looking for office with warehouse space for all our "stuff" but never found one I liked. Lucky for me because as I was able to do more stuff remotely, didn't need both full time techs. Dropped down to one, rented an towhnhouse next door to mine so at least it was separate when customers came to visit. Just bought a house in October and moved BACK into the home. Haven't had a full-time tech in over a year. The third bedroom is an office and the garage is the bench area with inventory. We'll see how long this lasts.

 

[Everythingpc]

Voted yes, but it's actually more of an office less of a store front. Located in a business park centrally located halfway between my home and the "epicenter" of my work (it saves a lot of driving when you get an unexpected call and the tool you need is at home

Space is about 900sq/ft. Divided into a front reception/lounge w/tech bench, 2 offices, and a large storage room. (Restroom, few closets and a "kitchen" area too).

It works for me here. I have 2 young boys so working from home (started there for about 2 years) was getting to be difficult plus gives a "professional" place to meet clients (occasional drop off or meeting).

 

[buzzcut]

voted from home

working out of a converted 3rd bedroom but now starting to look at a store front. This city does not have a laptop shop so this is probably where I would sway towards. Most of my clients drop off here at home, so having a small store front with signage would bring in some more clients. I'm still crunching numbers before I make that decision.

 

[ComputerPro]

Store front

There are pros and cons to each of course. You can make much more money from a storefront or office I believe vs out of your home, but... you have much greater expenses also. Depending on your volume it could either be a bad idea or a great one. Nothing and I mean nothing gets customers more quickly than being on a main busy road with great signage. If the place looks great they will usually just start flocking in. That being said, it must have good signage and look like a place they would want to try out.

Another big decision factor would be what you want the end result to be. If you are retired or already have a great job then a more 'on the side' type of situation would probably be a better fit. Working out of your home for extra cash is great without the headaches of running a company. On the other hand if you want this to be your career, ie 'retirement, great pay, employees, possibly franchising or selling the company for profit etc' then a big operation is a must. And that usually would include an office or storefront of some sort.

 

[tom11011]

There are pros and cons to each of course. You can make much more money from a storefront or office I believe vs out of your home, but... you have much greater expenses also. Depending on your volume it could either be a bad idea or a great one. Nothing and I mean nothing gets customers more quickly than being on a main busy road with great signage. If the place looks great they will usually just start flocking in. That being said, it must have good signage and look like a place they would want to try out.

Another big decision factor would be what you want the end result to be. If you are retired or already have a great job then a more 'on the side' type of situation would probably be a better fit. Working out of your home for extra cash is great without the headaches of running a company. On the other hand if you want this to be your career, ie 'retirement, great pay, employees, possibly franchising or selling the company for profit etc' then a big operation is a must. And that usually would include an office or storefront of some sort.

You have listed some great PROs there.

On the flip side, if you do a store front then you will have expenses maybe on the order of $2000 per month or more after adding up rent, cam charges, utilities, etc.. That would have to be absorbed by your business.

Also, having a store means having regular hours. Someone has to be at the store at all times during business hours, whereas a 1 man operation working out of his/her home generally has a lot more flexibility in work hours.

Probably a good bet to open a store front is when you think you are ready to hire your first employee or make it a family run operation.

 

[MikeLierman]

I'm really nervous about getting an office myself. I see the need for one, though. Right now I'm working out of my basement which has no outside door to it.. Customers come to the front door of the house and I have to take them through the hall and downstairs. I see a storefront as the future of my business. Right now, to be honest, I'm pretty scared to even move the business out of the basement. I fear it'd be a mistake and I'd loose money not make more money.

The goal for moving into an office is I need some more space, I want to present a more professional look to my business, and I want to take on volunteers, etc. I don't really like customers coming to my home so I do a lot of pickups but that's beginning to be a burden. I think I'd get more done if people just brought stuff in.

 

[redmon]

Another big decision factor would be what you want the end result to be. If you are retired or already have a great job then a more 'on the side' type of situation would probably be a better fit. Working out of your home for extra cash is great without the headaches of running a company. On the other hand if you want this to be your career, ie 'retirement, great pay, employees, possibly franchising or selling the company for profit etc' then a big operation is a must. And that usually would include an office or storefront of some sort.

I agree with ComputerPro's point, what are your goals, to me that is the deciding point(assuming you can pay the extra expenses)? I speak from more a residential repair perspective. Our business currently is two full time employees, one part time(contractor who does a few service calls), and myself. Our business has always only made between a 30 and 40 percent profit bases on sales(more often closer to 30). Up to 70% of our income pays expenses. You could call this a negative, but not really. The upside is the business has the potential for greater income, potential to run on its own without me, potential be sold for substantial money.

I don't think this strategy applies to a MSP type business, which is very different than residential. For residential the value in your company(value means people will pay substantial money to buy the business) is measured by consistent cash flow vrs expenses determined by drop in clients. For this you need a store front. I perceive MSP business value is based on the amount of contracts you have vrs expenses. For this business a store front or even office would not be a determining factor is the price the business would sell for.

Edit added //
Disclaimer: I am not even suggesting getting a store front is a good idea for all residential repair. I was just pointing out one side of it.

 

[NYJimbo]

I'm really nervous about getting an office myself. I see the need for one, though. Right now I'm working out of my basement which has no outside door to it.. Customers come to the front door of the house and I have to take them through the hall and downstairs. I see a storefront as the future of my business. Right now, to be honest, I'm pretty scared to even move the business out of the basement. I fear it'd be a mistake and I'd loose money not make more money.

Fear is an important emotion, it keeps us aware of things around us, it makes us consider the many "what if" situations, it makes us think about whats the worst that might happen. Don't feel weak because you have fear of failure, everyone has it. People who claim to be fearless are either fools or liars.

At the same time don't let fear cripple you. Its a natural reaction to pull away or avoid something because of fear. You have to face fear, but in a logical way. Evaluate your situation. Crunch numbers, think about the negatives, but remember that most of the people in shops or offices around you went through the same feelings and fears as you did.

When I signed my lease in 1995 I remember EXACTLY the moment I left the landlords office, I was driving back home and my heart suddenly started racing and I got tunnel vision.

I JUST SIGNED A 12 MONTH LEASE ON A STORE AND I HAVE NO F-CKING IDEA IF I CAN HANDLE IT !​

I had forgotten that I ran all the "what ifs", I had crunched the numbers, I had looked at worst case scenarios. Even if I failed it would not be the end of the world for me. Sure, I would lose a nice chunk of money and it would be panful for a while and maybe even embarrassing, but I was willing to take those risks. That's why I signed the lease, but at that moment I had forgotten all that. Later on I had to sit down and remember all of the planning I had done, but I was still afraid.

I am still here 18 years later, running my little happy store. Running a store or office, some people fail, some win, you wont know unless you go for it. But you must do it logically, plan everything, ask yourself every question and think about what would happen if you were to fail. If you can rationalize the reasons and benefits of getting a store (or even just an office) then you should go for it.

Be careful, be a little afraid, but don't let fear stop you if you can take the risk and the risk seems worth it.

 

[angry_geek]

I help run a couple of family businesses in addition to the computer front. In '03, we were downtown in an office building. No long-term lease. As the businesses grew, we acquired more space in the building. Finally, in '07, we realised we were renting 2/3 of the building with employees scattered around multiple offices on two floors. We found a building to let in a prime location with a very high traffic count. 5k square feet plus a detached garage. Rent was reasonable, and the landlord was willing to help with renovations, with one caveat. We had to sign a ten-year lease. Terrified is a good word to describe how we felt. We signed it, not sure if we had lost our minds or not.

In May, we will have been in this location 7 years. We are now in talks about buying the property. We are beginning construction this summer on a dedicated 1,500 sq ft building out back for a data center. We're talking pretty serious stuff here. Starting out with ten full racks, generators, etc. I'm designing the servers myself based on Facebook's and Google's designs. Easily maintainable, high efficiency.

It's scary signing that lease. It's scary every slow month when the rent is due. What you have to do is step aside and analyze your business and your goals with total detachment. Ask yourself if you would invest in the venture if you were asked. Then, when you've done all that, decide what you want to do. If you don't have kids, you can take more risk. Otherwise, tread carefully. Most of us did it on a prayer, kicking ourselves in the rear for a long time after. Some fail; some succeed. There is no way to predict which will happen.

 

[bdoggman]

I have a Store Front but had no choice...

Heres my situation, maybe it will help someone else. I did have a full time job at one point making about 60k a year (not in the IT field). I was given notice that i was going to get laid off. I have always been interested in computers but never had any actual training on them. I was the guy next door that could do a virus removal, thats about it. So, in my stressful state at the time, I thought what am I going to do? So just on a whim I thought, maybe I should do computer repair, it cant be that hard.. I had about two months before I was going to loose my job. I saw a for rent sign on a building on one of the main streets in my town. So I thought "what the hell, try to open a computer repair shop, if I failed then nothing lost, just end up on unemployment. So got a lease knowing full well that i was going to break it, got all the permits and inspections that were needed. Made a sign out of poster board that was labeled computer repair and put it on my car with hard drive magnets, and parked my car as close to the street as possible ( talk about ghetto )lol.. Oh, and I never made a business plan!.. The problem was that I still had a full time job, so I got my step father who didn't know sh@# about computers to be there during the day just to take in computers if people came in.

The first week I opened I got about 2 computers a day. So i was like like "wow.. but scared at the same time. I had to call in sick several times and work at my shop. Eventually the workload got to much, so I asked my employer if I could take a week off, of course they said no, So I just quit. Almost 4 years later im still at the same location but I lack a lot of knowledge that these other computer guys have like networking, and skill's that would allow me to have more business clients, So 90% of my clients are end users, or helping grandma. Today I make about 80 to 100K a year before taxes and overhead. I outsource my business customers, do desktop / laptop repair at my shop, sell used laptops, fix iphone and ipad screens only, service calls after work, and sell cell phone accessories. closed sat and sun. I guess what im saying is that anyone can do it, if i did. You have to take a chance, treat people fair and keep learning new things as you go along. Charge a decent price for your services, Im a little on the high side, but I rather have the customer that just says fix it and doesn't ask about the price than the one that is on a fixed income, that's just me. The guy down the road will do a wipe and reload for $50 but I charge $130 and give a 30 day warranty.. this is not the ideal scenario but it worked for me...
good luck to anyone

 

[frederick]

We've been talking about moving locations to a store front. Though, I'd miss my neighbors, and the free security guard protection. But we are looking at 1) moving to something bigger, and something more high visibility to attract customers. 2) We are in the process of looking for another tech. Though my heart is sold on someone who can just do a storefront.

It's a big decision. I'm going through the books, seeing what we can do...and trying to see if it is something we can afford. Storefront costs more than a office.