Newbie Needs adivce on starting Craiglist Repair.

[MM PC Solutions]

Have you created a Business plan?

Is the amount you want to charge an hour enough for you to live?

Have you created a Business plan yet?

People tend to think business plans are just for "Bank managers" & such but if you create yourself one, then you can see if your business or the amount you charge will be viable for you to "Survive".

How much will it cost to set up your company

Some things to consider:

Equipment costs:

• Computers
• Vehicle
• Desk/furniture
• Fittings/displays
• Specific machinery
• Tools
• Signage
• Stock
• Other

Expense type costs:

• Advertising
• Promotional/brochures
• Telephone
• Insurances
• Stationary
• Training
• Loan repayments
• Other

You must understand that this is not the only cost to take into your calculations..

What about the costs of your usual living expenses. In the first few months of your business starting, getting on it's feet and being able to provide you with some income to pay the rent, council tax, food etc.

How much does it cost you to live your current lifestyle? Do you actually know?

If you live with someone else then you can "share" the household expenses (50%)

Personal Survival Budget

• Rent/Mortgage
• Council Tax
• Electricity
• Gas/heating
• Water/sewerage
• Telephone landline
• Telephone - mobiles
• House/contents insurance
• TV Licence
• Car insurance
• Car tax
• Fuel for personal/family
• Car repairs/service/mot
• Groceries/food costs inc takeaways
• Other household costs - DIY/gardening etc
• Clothing (for family if needed)
• Entertainment, trips, holidays
• One-off costs - presents, Christmas extras etc
• Savings/pension
• Repaying debts/credit cards
• Other loans or long term HP
• Other subscriptions
• Other expenses

How much does this add up to over a full year? This is your total living costs.

..and how many months will it take for you to be able to take money/profits out of the business to fund this?

Depending on the type of business, it's location and the amount of promotion, it could take from 2 to 10 months or more. So the important thing is to have sufficient funds to cover this period as well as the start-up costs.

I am sure there are more things you could add to the equation (personal circumstances) but this basic business plan will not only tell you if x amount of £ an hour that you wish to charge is enough but even starting out on your own is the best thing for you and your family.

Oh! I nearly forgot! You will also need to put aside (depending on the Country you reside in) Tax and national insurance (or similar) from profit/wages earned.

I need to put aside 30% additional to my "Profit" for this purpose. So if I was charging £50 per hour, this now equates to £35 after the tax man has had his little bit!

Enjoy working for yourself!

 

[LunchBox]

Right now you may get computers form people you know. Simple.

You stated that you want to start your own business which means advertising. Forget about what everyone said about charging more for a minute.

You start by placing your ads in craigslist. Lets say that its because you dont have the money to do real advertising. You charge $50 an hour for repairs. Well, there are freaks out there that charge $20 an hour or $20 flat for virus removal.

If you want to start your own business, can you compete against $20 dollars?

The most important thing to remember is that craigstlist is like the lowest bidder. I had a person call me from craigslist. He freaking nagged about everything, even though his PC was way better than it was before I started.

If I would of have had a client call me from an add other than craigslist who is a business owner he would understand the importance of getting what you pay for and I am pretty sure he would pay a higher rate. I worked for a consulting company and they charge $125 per hour. Do you think giants like microsoft, google etc look for the $50,000 pc wiz or do you think they look for the $100,000 pc wiz.

Since I sort of just started my self, I do contract work for another company. Do you know what they tell the clients? $99.00 for the first hour then $25.00 each 15 minutes. I have not had anyone say "wow you are expensive". If the vibe is good I ask them why did you choose this company and they say "well, geek squad is too expensive" or I dont "TRUST" craigslist techs etc.



You will get positive feed back. You will also get negative feed back. I would take both of them and learn.

Do what was suggested. If you live with your parents your are lucky then perhaps you can charge $50 but if you have a family, rent etc you will have to charge more.

One thing I learned from the Marine Corps is that its easy to understand the good advise but its had to understand when its a negative one (you know constructive criticism) not that all negative can have a positive view but in this forum there are reason why sometimes people give negative advise.

 

[TimeCode]

I dont know how to charge more when I have not done this on any level other then friends of friends. I have no idea what to expect. Im looking for friendly advice. 50bucks is to get the ball rolling from there who knows. If I knew everything already I wouldn't be here asking these questions.

Please understand, I say these things as honestly and friendly as I can.

Here is another problem, if you're charging a flat fee of $50.00 what do you do when there is a reinfection or other problem within a certain time period? Do you offer a warranty? If so, do you still make $?

Also, we run into a lot of problems with "CraigsList" techs who cause more problems than they fix. We often play cleanup because we know how to fix what the average "CraigsList" tech breaks so the whole "CraigsList" tech idea has left a bad taste in lots of people's mouths.

Also, trust me, I learned this from experience... It is much easier to start with your prices high and lower them if you feel it is necessary than to raise your prices should they not be sufficient. I started out at $60 per hour, then raised to $70, then $80 and I'm now at $100 per hour. Though granted, the majority of my work is office networking and servers, not part swapping.

I hope this has helped.

My honest advice would be to humble yourself, and really ask how much you know. If you still think you really know enough to go it alone, go for it. If there is doubt, there is absolutely no shame in working for someone to get experience.

Most of us here worked for someone else for a while. I certainly did. That's why I do more networking than repair. Its the niche that i learned better and I love it. In fact, at times I still wish I worked for someone else.

 

[Sevdog]

To your point about Craigslist. Im not sure what kind of success this generates for other technicians here but from my own experience advertising on Craigslist has been useless. The only thing this has generated has been scam/junk mail to my inbox. The overwhelming majority of my customers have found me through Google or Yahoo. I know that you can register with both of them without having a website. You can also get very inexpensive webhosting and create a website for customers to go to when they find you through search engines. In addition to all of the junk mail another reason I stopped with Craigslist was because all of the other "computer repair" services that were advertising were unlicensed technicians doing work in their spare time who were good with computers. I did not want to be associated with them.

 

[purple_minion]

Reading over this brought a few ideas to me. I used to be like you, until I realized I don't know squat. First time that happened to me was while in one of my physics classes at college. I've taken quite a few courses on electronics, physics, dynamics, statics, etc. and one day I realized even after putting these under my belt, there is still so much more I'd have to learn, or may never learn. There is number theory, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, material science, etc... plus everything I will never know, such as medical, law, car mechanics, you name it. I realize the same with computer, yeah I know a lot compared to 99% of most people... I have even programmed microcontrollers for my own projects. But there are people out there that will run circles around all of us, and there are people here who I'm not even in the same category with.

Also if you read my recent thread about having a heart attack cleaning out the dust goobers from a POS at work, and having the hard drive fail on you... makes you think twice. I haven't setup my legal business, insurance, etc yet, and what happens if I lose my meager job, or my employer decides to sue me for what they perceive as me taking out their $1400 machine?

If you truly have been lurking here then you should have read a lot of threads about advertising and word of mouth. Charge your friends and family (obviously you would probably charge less the closer they are to you, but charge something) and say if they are happy with your work you'd appreciate anyone they could send your way. Most people on here swear by word-of-mouth advertising. Pick a name and get some business cards done, or simply print some up with your name on them. Call some place in your town and see if it's all flat fee or charge by the hour. Charge yourself accordingly. Don't get into a price war with the competition, because pretty soon you'll be both out of business when people VALUE your skills at $0. Remember, if they could do it themselves they most likely would.

Finally, take the negative criticism everyone has given you as is... remember you solicited it. If you really think you're all that, why not type up your accomplishments, such as a skill set resume. I'm sure people here could point out your areas you're lacking to better flesh out your experience.

 

[TimeCode]

Finally, take the negative criticism everyone has given you as is... remember you solicited it. If you really think you're all that, why not type up your accomplishments, such as a skill set resume. I'm sure people here could point out your areas you're lacking to better flesh out your experience.

That is quite fair and I hope the hondablaster takes you up on it.

@hondablaster: Being here I have realized that many people here know more than I do and have been more than willing to help me out. And I hope that I have in turn helped some people out. That is what we do here. And believe it or not, I think that after you recover from the harsh words here, you'll realize that we're only trying to help you too.

Please do not take offense to anything I say from this point on, I am known to be a cut-n-dry person, so here it goes...

He really is quite cut-&-Dry, but he speaks the truth. I have learned a lot from him and I think you can too.

Best of luck!

 

[hondablaster]

Thanks for the responses.

I was going to address each post individually but then I nobody would read anything.

I think its unfair for anyone to think that im an arrogant young know it all. This type of industry draws that personality type and your prejudice and perhaps ignorance shows. This is highly subjective reasoning, an objective approach would be that of "hey this guy is reaching out instead of just jumping in headfirst" I like to research PC problems, I also research business approaches as well and like anything you must crawl before you can walk.

Im looking for guidance and appreciate everyone negative and positive responses and really enjoy reading the difference between a pizza tech and a pro.

Your right, I do know what a rootkit is.... I dealt with the SONG BMG rootkit years ago, I don't know how to remove one. So yes I don't know everything, but these are things im looking to gain in wisdom in.

So how did you guys learn everything you know. I wonder did the advice i get come because Im a newbie, or did i draw in the anti craigslist crowd?

 

[14049752]

I read, and responded, because of the craigslist thing. I might have commented a little more towards your lack of experience, if I had been in a different mood.


Don't take any of this the wrong way, because it's not an attack.
I think it's completely fair to label you as a little arrogant. You didn't give any real examples that you know your stuff, but said that you think you're "pretty freaking good". The reason I dislike so many craigslist techs is because they think they know what they're doing, but don't.

From a few other posts, it seems to me like you really need someone to help build your knowledge before you go out on your own.
If you want to get more experience, you really have to step back and analyze what you don't know (which can be VERY hard to admit, let alone do) and then read up, work for someone, or do work for free just to learn it.

One thing I would mention from this thread is that it's apparent to me that networking and dsl knowledge is lacking. A common job is to set up a dsl modem and router, so that's something you need to know fairly well because you usually won't have an internet connection onsite to research until it is set up.

 

[hondablaster]

If everyone was so much more experienced why haven't they fixed it for the guy. Where is your post?

Everyone assumes that the default gateway is 192.168.1.1 when it could very well be 192.168.1.100 using the wrong default gateway will keep him from viewing any information on his combo DSL/Router.

I don't use DSL and my ISP does not use L/P for accessing the internet. So I have no experience in that category, im 100% sure I could fix his problem in person. I would lookup the default gateway to see what it said. Then I would actaully ping it in the CMD console.

I like that your checking my post its actually somewhat creepy.

No offense taken I never made a claim that I was the best it actually states "i dont want to be in over my head" I think you just have a strong biased to anything craigslist. Your anger shows and now you seem to be justifying your response. Dont worry I dont care. I have been reading the PC repair forum on your guys site for awhile and if those are what you run into daily im 100 confident I can be succesful as a PC repair tech.

 

[Bryce W]

Hondablaster, I dont think you a receiving this feedback in the right way (though, some people probably could have been nicer).

Basically what we are saying is being good at computers is not enough. Its hard to see this from your side of the fence so this is what you should do. Start your business, deal with many clients and one day you'll see what we are talking about.

I know ALOT about computers and I can fix 99% of the problems that come my way. I also consider myself pretty good with the business side of things too (hence Technibble). However, that 1% that comes around every now and then is very humbling. I make a mistake and realise I am not as good as I thought I was.

Right now, you have been built up because you are the best with computers out of everyone you know. Your teachers are amazed at your skills, your parents are proud of you, you can fly through pretty much any computer related exam and you are essentially a prodigy in your circle.

The thing is, we are all like that. We all know what you know except we are more experience and have had our egos knocked back to size when a job goes bad.

Think of it like soldiers going to war. The new recruit would be all like "This is awesome! lets go kill some bad guys! Im a killing machine!" but the soldiers who have been in it for a while are like "war sucks, you get scared, you get shot at and you see your friends die". Its kind of like that.

You did ask for our advice:
"What does it take to be a PC repair guy. I think im pretty freaking good. But really scared to be in over my head. What is it like on a day to day workday."

And we are telling you, whether it was what you wanted to hear or not. We can massage your ego and tell you how awesome you are but you wont learn anything. Also, when you make your first big mistake (and it will happen) its less of a fall if your ego isnt so big.

I think the best advice for you has been given in these posts:
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46687&postcount=8
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46722&postcount=20
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46733&postcount=22
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46768&postcount=24 <-- Craigslist isnt a good place to advertise.
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46797&postcount=25 <-- the realities of the computer repair biz
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46813&postcount=26 <-- experience and starting up.

 

[abe]

but you still dont know how to use ubcd4win, the day you'll understand that what you know is very little, is the day you'll take your first step in becoming a pc repair guy, or maybe you'll just get spooked out when you'll find your way toooo deap and you mess up some buisness computer and you get sued.

Abe

 

[14049752]

Yeah, I tend to agree.... Even if I'm not treating you with kid gloves and saying what you want to hear, I'm speaking the truth. I guess at this point I'm just going to stop responding to you at all.

I wasn't stalking you or anything. I read almost every post on this site... If you don't want to take constructive criticism, don't. Go start your business, but I certainly won't reply to any of your requests for help.

As for why I didn't solve his dsl problem? Because everyone before me answered exactly what I would have said. (ie...set the computer to static ip, then set up the router)

 

[Canadian Tech]

All I can say about your post is that yes you may know a lot about computers and yes you may think you are the best but its that lack of experience that will get you into trouble. Sure some of the replies were harsh but please realize where we are comming from. When I worked for Staples as the Senior Technology Consultant I had a lot of young techs working for me that thought they knew everything and wouldn't think twice on letting me know what they thought. Sure some of them were good and did in fact know a little more then me but their lack of experience would make them overlook the obvious. I once had someone plug in a customers computer and blow the power supply, they unplugged the power because it smoked but then they plugged the power back in and fried the motherboard and hard drive. Stupid move on their part.
All i'm saying is try to gain a little more experience and you will realize that knowing about computers isn't always enough. You will always be learning something new and you will always come up against something that you've never seen before.
As for the business side of things its tougher then you think. I have been in business for a year now and some days I wonder why I stayed this long. Your expenses will quickly outgrow your revenue if you're not careful. I charge $50.00 an hour which may seen low to some but my area will not handle anything more then that. Find out from your competition what they charge and go from there.

 

[blackburgpchelp]

I think you need not only a bit more experience but also some humility. True you are here asking for advice, but you don't seem to be taking it well at all. Without that humility in place, you will quickly get in over your head. One of the most important skills you can have is knowing when a job is beyond your range and being able to admit so not only to yourself but to your customer.

-Rance

 

[TechAuthority]

How many pc's have you worked on? I'm guessing most people here have worked on more than they could possibly remember, and they all know that they have lots left to learn. That is why they are here.

Working on 10 or 20 friends and families computers is enough to land you an entry level job, which is what you should consider. You will have people that will take the time to explain what you need to know. Like you said, you don't even know how to remove a rootkit, which is a must have skill. You may think you can come to different forums when you get stuck, but what are you going to tell customers while you wait 24-48 hours for the correct solution, if you get it at all. Eventually forums will get tired of the hand holding and quit responding to your posts, and customers will get tired of waiting on their pc. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, whether it be good or bad.

I hate going behind techs who claimed to be good and screw up basic problems. Explaining to people who spent their hard earned money that the person they hired was a moron is a pain in the ass. People are tired of getting ripped off by bad pc techs, and it gives legitimate pc techs a bad name. On top of that, they then expect legitimate pc techs to fix your screw ups at absurd craigslist rates.

Take the advice here and decide what you want to do with it, it will determine whether you are a success or failure in this business!

 

[angry_geek]

@honda

Starting out on craigslist is not a good way to build a legitimate business. You stated you were in college. Most colleges have bulletin boards where you can post fliers, with the school's permission of course. Start there with advertising for virus removal and basic repair. You said you didn't want to get in over your head. If you try to take on more than this, you will be. Talk to your profs about finding an apprentice program at a local established shop. This is the best way to learn.

A lot of us here used to think we were pretty hot **** too, actually we still do. However, 10 years from now you will wish you had listened more and talked less. You need to take the criticism a little better if you truly want to expand your knowledge.

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

There is far more to what we do than just removing viruses and replacing video cards. You need to know how to do data recovery, PROPER hardware diagnosis and repair, at least a basic understanding of networking and network troubleshooting, somewhat of an understanding of various programming languages and fixes, the list is endless. That's just the tech side of the equation; the business side will melt your brain and give you hemorrhoids.

I guess my best advice is to stay in school, do some work on basic problems, learn from some people that have been at it for a while, and take your time. You're young. You'll be grinding away for the next 50 or so years; no need to rush.

We will all help you as much as we can. However, you need to take the criticism along with the good stuff. Some of us can come off a little harsh (especially on a bad day), but we're not attacking you in any way. With that being said, a bad attitude will just cause us to ignore you or get defensive. So lighten up a little. It's all good.

edit: I understand your enthusiasm when you fixed a problem. I have been known to raise my arms in triumph and say "I AM the master of the machines!!" after fixing a pain-in-the-ass problem that had me stumped.

 

[Bryce W]

I am closing this thread. I think everything that needs to be said has been said. ACG has finished it off nicely warning what is ahead for someone who wants to start with Craigslist.

hondablaster, we want to help you. We want to see you succeed but starting with Craigslist and thinking you are all that is not the way to do it.

Put your ad in a local weekly newspaper for $50-100 per week. This weeds out most of the i-fix-computers-on-the-side-for-beer-money techs so you wont have to compete with $20 reinstalls.

It's obvious, and very apparent that you do not do well with constructive criticism, even though you are asking for our advice. You kind of remind me of someone that came on this forum, and was globally ignored, not too long ago :HINT:HINT:.

Here is what I say, Go ahead and start your pizza tech craigslist business. Find that 8/10 customers you get from Craigslist are one time, one shot, cheap, pain in the a** people, who will always want something for nothing, and threaten you when you do not perform like the circus monkey they want you to be. I am sure you will find other customers other places too, that will be just as bad when you "get in over your head" and really mess things up. Be it your fault, or their lack of knowledge in what you do, and how computers work. Then, and only then will you really begin to see the clear picture we are trying to paint for you. And then, when you really think you have it figured out, guess again, you don't, because those people who you do work for, who now hate you and will spread the bad word like the plaque, and you will be down and out, and your professional "pretty freaking good" reputation will be toast.

Good Luck to you.