If you could give your former self starting out advice in getting started?

[Tech bud]

For the well established businesses to the newbs that are still dreaming.

If you could give any advice to yourself still working from home trying to get consistent business. What would you tell yourself?

Example: would you pay for advertising sooner? Would you work harder on maximizing the free sources that are available? How did you get over the fear of what if I don't figure it out? What part of the business should your focus be first?

Any tips you can think of the new guy trying to rise up.

 

[mdownes]

Chat to business men and women about their business and ask their advice about yours. Doesn't matter whether they're an architect or a dry cleaners - you'll learn something. Most will be delighted to help you and be flattered that you asked, which helps solidify the relationship. Actually ask people for referrals - if you plant the seed, most people will oblige, especially if you've been successful in this next one: aim to have everyone walk away an enthusiastic, free salesperson for you. People love spreading good news, so do your best to give them some. But, realise that despite your best efforts, not everyone will be happy. Also, not everyone is your customer - let people who are too cheap or too awkward, sail by. Lastly, the most important: you tend to get what you aim for, so don't aim to be the cheapest - aim to be the best.

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

would you pay for advertising sooner?

I regret PAYING for advertising. When you open a business, the newspaper will usually write about it for free and let you put in your pricing/hours.
Do join groups, Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Jaycees, ect.

inb4: Paying for signage/business cards aren't the type of advertising I am talking about...

Would you work harder on maximizing the free sources that are available?

I would of worked harder on making more friends of the other business owners. Turns out, people generally trust business owners of establishments they like. I have gotten several customers from my local Bojangles.... And all I do is eat my food, smile, and learn their names.

How did you get over the fear of what if I don't figure it out?

If you can't solve the problem, sell them a product that will solve their problem. BAM, nothing to worry about.

What part of the business should your focus be first?

Making sure you do everything legally required: Federal/state/county/city/insurance/legal software.... Once you are set-up and ready to operate day-to-day. getting people to know you. Gotta make friends with the locals and know you are open. Nobody goes into a store they don't know exists...


Keep your overhead low.... Like low enough that if you get sick/accident and out of work for 3 months. your overhead doesn't match your hospital bill....

Dont be afraid to ask for a online review at pick-up. I have printed off little business cards that I hand good customers and ask if they can leave a review.
I don't give discounts, or push hard. I just hand a card and let them decide.

before you answer the phone. Think of something funny thatll make you smile/laugh. The way you talk when you have a genuine smile is slightly different and is noticeable over the phone. People like happy people.

 

[Wayne Barahona]

I would go back and tell myself to be confident in my work and charge accordingly. We went the route of "lets be cheaper than everyone else because we are new and this area would never pay as much as we wanted to charge!". Dumb. While yes, being aggressive with pricing is a must, its much harder to raise the prices to where they need to be after you get started!

I would have searched out more places like Technibble and the Facebook groups and asked questions! I have learned more in the last three months after finding these online resources than I have in the last three years!

Lastly, I would be much more aggressive on Facebook and Google marketing. Especially with maintaining a solid social media presence and not letting things get stale. Now we are so busy, we have fallen in to that rut and I am toying with the idea of having someone manage it for me.

 

[sapphirescales]

I would go back in time and tell myself to increase my prices sooner, and move to a better part of town sooner. Shake off the cheapwads that waste all your time and pay you peanuts and you'll be much happier and more profitable. And paying more to be on the better side of town pays off tenfold. If you're on the bad side of town with cheap rent, you'll get cheap crappy clients. If you're on the good side of town and charge accordingly, you'll have fewer clients, but they'll actually be loyal to you and they're MUCH easier to convince to spend money.

 

[GTP]

I started when " Google" (called "BackRub" then, Lol) was this new search thingy that was crap compared to Lycos, Yahoo and Altavista.
There was no "Youtube" or Fakebook or Twittr, etc.
If I could go back in time I would probably embrace them more than I did (or have since) and use them as tools to make may business better. You know, before they turned into the spying, lying "do what we say cause we own you" crap they are today.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I would try to tell my former self that people care more about how friendly/positive/sociable/etc you are than they will ever care about the quality of your work.

 

[glennd]

Mention that not all people are worthy of your time.

 

[Tech bud]

Thanks for all the input everyone! Will take it all in and hopefully have a smoother start as I push further. Getting sick of the corporate grind. Need to make a push.I just got my first repeat customer the other day. so that's always good!

 

[Bryce W]

Learn your effective hourly rate and outsource everything below it.

Dont get Superhero syndrome. Just because you can do a task, doesnt mean you should.

Story from literally last night:

Them: "The lawnmower guy wanted $30 to do the lawns so I did it myself" (was a fairly small lawn, but the person who I was talking to HATES mowing lawns)

Me: "How much do you earn per hour?"

Them: "$90 per hour"

Me: "You could have not mowed the lawns and still be $60 ahead"

 

[kwest]

Hire employees and open up a location sooner.

Also do more market research on location before opening a second location.

 

[callthatgirl]

I charged way too many people for repairs I didn't know how to do. And this peeved people off. If you don't know something be upfront about it and say you want to learn so you will give them a deal but will bill SOMETHING either way. Or refer it out if you don't know at all. Or be honest and say "It's outside of my wheelhouse, so I will help you find a referral" and then find that referral and earn commissions. Niche out early, focus on your strengths and not wanting to do everything out of the gate.

 

[Bryce W]

A nice story, but the tagline is only true if the hour spent mowing the lawn meant losing an hour's income. Sometimes that's the case, but when it's not then you've just spent $30 to watch someone else do something that you could easily do yourself. If the job being done requires special skills, experience, knowledge, tools, or is in some way risky or unpleasant then there's no problem - I'm very happy to pay someone to clean out my septic tank or paint my roof - but if you're not careful it's easy to get into a frame of mind where everything outside your core money-making work is outsourced and you end up with a very narrow focus leading quickly to boredom and burn out.

Back to lawn mowing: I have a slightly larger lawn than most and on a good day mowing it translates to four hours of quiet, uninterrupted time in the fresh air when I'm not tied to a computer, I can look at things further than six feet away, the phone doesn't ring and I can develop a thought for longer than two minutes at a time. It's an absolute luxury, and you couldn't pay me to let someone else do it.

Specialization is for insects.

If you enjoy doing something, then sure, do it yourself. The point here is that the person did NOT enjoy it.

Its not entirely true where its only lost money if you spent the hour doing nothing. Time has a cost, whether monetry or actual hours.

The time that has the highest value for me is to spend as much time as I can with my 1 year old boy. I could be earning money during that hour but instead I am "buying" time with my son by not working.

I am buying EVEN MORE time with my son by getting someone else to mow my lawns.

I am buying more time with my son by getting someone to do my bookwork.

I am buying more time with my son by getting someone else to handle my servers. etc..

 

[glennd]

If you enjoy doing something, then sure, do it yourself. The point here is that the person did NOT enjoy it.

Its not entirely true where its only lost money if you spent the hour doing nothing. Time has a cost, whether monetry or actual hours.

The time that has the highest value for me is to spend as much time as I can with my 1 year old boy. I could be earning money during that hour but instead I am "buying" time with my son by not working.

I am buying EVEN MORE time with my son by getting someone else to mow my lawns.

I am buying more time with my son by getting someone to do my bookwork.

I am buying more time with my son by getting someone else to handle my servers. etc..

I think the point here is that work isn't everything. For most of us, longevity requires some balance between work and real life. If you're young and healthy, you can go long hours for years and get away with it but it will come back to bite you eventually one way or another.

Bryce understands how important it is to spend quality time with the kids. It's really important for the kids and it's just good fun to muck around doing kid stuff. Computer Bloke understands the importance of "me time". Sitting on a ride-on mower can be very therapeutic if you're that way inclined. I enjoy both, though these days the kids are *too old* to spend time with their old dad.

Years ago I learnt the concept of "the third place". This place is the place you go to on a regular basis that's not your home and not your work. For a number of years, the third place for me was the darts team. Two or three nights a week playing darts with a group of people I wouldn't normally socialize with. The third place is different for everyone and can change but the point is that it can bring a sense of balance and variety to your life that you lose when you focus too intently on the almighty dollar/pound/ruble etc.

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

Years ago I learnt the concept of "the third place".

Essentially the "eggs in a basket" story. Dont put all your time in one area, and in your story, not even two but three different areas!

I like the steak version.
you never want to put all your resources in one area (in this instance, TIME). You may LOVE your job, the same way a man (or lady (gender equality)) may enjoy steak for dinner. But he may also like to have potatoes, greenbeans, cooked apples, and a slice of pie for dessert.

If the man put all his time into preparing the steak, all he would have is steak. He must make time to prepare potatoes and the rest in order to have a healthy balanced diet to keep him strong for tomorrow.

Just make sure not to cook to much food, you dont want your "time" all over the floor.

 

[Diggs]

I would try to tell my former self that people care more about how friendly/positive/sociable/etc you are than they will ever care about the quality of your work.

People assume you can fix the problem. It's the social part that spreads your name. I work in a lake and rural area and always admire and compliment the owners on their homes and scenic views. It breaks the ice and warms things up right away. Many people have their computers in a cute study or den and I try to compliment there also. I carry dog biscuits for their furry friends even though I am not much of a dog person but it sure strikes a good note with the owners. (Unfortunately I need to remember to give the dog his biscuit when I'm leaving, not when arriving so they leave me alone while I work - heh!) As @ComputerRepairTech said your non-tech presentation carries more weight than being able to fix their tech problem.

@edit - I still hand out/install cheap lapel microphones on every desktop I encounter. I have a quick conversation with Google's assistant in Chrome ("What's the weather tomorrow. How far is it to Chicago. How many people live in thistown, WI"). To this day it absolutely amazes the older generation especially those with flip phones that haven't had that experience yet. Doesn't matter what else I did. That's all they remember. Be sure to get the mono-micophone, not the stereo mics used for cellphones.

 

[allanc]

I carry dog biscuits for their furry friends even though I am not much of a dog person but it sure strikes a good note with the owners. (Unfortunately I need to remember to give the dog his biscuit when I'm leaving, not when arriving so they leave me alone while I work - heh!) As @ComputerRepairTech said your non-tech presentation carries more weight than being able to fix their tech problem.

Most self-respecting dogs should be able to smell out your hidden stash of cookies.
I like to hand out one small piece of cookie at the start of the on-site visit which I find really puts a smile on the humans' faces.
Like you, I like to also hand out another small piece upon departure.

Edit: I have found that small 'liver treats' have been voted #1.

 

[3ft]

Specialize then retire early.

 

[Diggs]

Specialize then retire early.

I retired early, now I specialize (chuckles.....)!

 

[TAPtech]

Set high standards right from the get-go. When you're starting out, you won't have the experience or confidence to defend from clients who are pushing you towards doing something low quality due to budget constraints. It's OK to say no, you're the IT professional, not them.