Are there any fellow Georgians here, that is United States Georgia. Im wondering if there are any professional Licenses that I need to get for my computer repair business that im starting before I start this process? Any information would be a great help?
Professional Licenses
- Thread starter jfun
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djyox
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In MN, you just need one for low voltage wiring. But you can also add onto that with a different one.
I honestly think you'd be fine without one. Maybe do some research and see if any of the local competition has a license and then see what you have to do to get that. But no, you should be good.
Be insured ($500 per year), and you'll be all set. Then again this is from MN.
I honestly think you'd be fine without one. Maybe do some research and see if any of the local competition has a license and then see what you have to do to get that. But no, you should be good.
Be insured ($500 per year), and you'll be all set. Then again this is from MN.
carrcomp
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Every state is different.
http://georgia.gov/popular-topic/applying-business-license
(corrected link)
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Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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I'll bet you that 20-40% of work from home, one man shops are ever registered......and less than 1-2% ever buy insurance for business. Not needed IMO.
But once you do register they will pester you for all manner of reports.
reminds me of the saying "better to ask forgiveness than for permission."
There are two legitimate reasons for a license: To protect the public from shoddy work which can hurt people or bring financial ruin such as a pest control sprayer, doctor, plumber, electrician, roofer. Since there is little to no chance of you hurting someone or causing financial ruin to a 3rd party this does not apply to computer repair. The second reason is to access and collect a tax.
Think of it as Gun registration so they know where to come collect your guy when they take them away from us.
I bet they want to know where to collect sales tax from you. If they don't know you exist they won't be calling and messing with you. Eventually you do want to get a sales tax permit to collect sales tax. In the beginning I'd just not collect sales tax until I was all setup. I have known people to not get their sales tax or resellers permit for a few years. Just like most people do not buy business tax until they rent a store front and have some slip and fall liability.
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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Nick, you do know you really do not need liability insurance to start and run most businesses, don't you? For most guys starting out it could be a waste of money that could go to helping pay their car payment or fuel bill till they get an income built up. Maybe after you are established and have an income it might be something worth considering but not at first IMO.
Water cooler talk would have you believe "what if?" and you need this and that but truth is you do not really have a big liability problem as a one man start up in most sectors of IT business.
A roofer who might drop a hammer on someone walking buy has a bigger liability. A store has a small slip and fall liability. If you had a few employees who were idiots and you thought they might open you up to something beyond stupid that is another matter.
Water cooler talk would have you believe "what if?" and you need this and that but truth is you do not really have a big liability problem as a one man start up in most sectors of IT business.
A roofer who might drop a hammer on someone walking buy has a bigger liability. A store has a small slip and fall liability. If you had a few employees who were idiots and you thought they might open you up to something beyond stupid that is another matter.
Somebody might break into the house and take my client's machines, the house could catch fire... My personal insurance won't cover those (I checked). I could possibly get away with calling it a personal claim, but that would be fraud. So I need something to cover for those things, just in case it ever happens. For me, $25/month is worth peace of mind.
Jeffreynya
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If you start out as a MSP or just have business clients I would think insurance would be needed. Just forgetting to setup backup on a server and a client lossing all there data could very well lead to a law suit.
glricht
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I'm a one-man, mobile-only shop handling both business and residential clients and have been full-time since 2003.
Over the years, I've checked into various business-related insurance, but never really felt it was needed. The only exposure I've ever felt was when I had to take a customer PC back to the shop - what if I got into a car accident, what if the PC developed a problem due to road vibration, what if I dropped the PC taking it into the shop? "What if ..." can drive you crazy.
For me, it's simpler to self-insure. The business keeps a small chunk of money set aside for emergency situations and I could tap into that even if I had to totally replace a customer's PC that I accidentally physically destroyed.
Now if I had a physical shop, that would be a totally different story.
Over the years, I've checked into various business-related insurance, but never really felt it was needed. The only exposure I've ever felt was when I had to take a customer PC back to the shop - what if I got into a car accident, what if the PC developed a problem due to road vibration, what if I dropped the PC taking it into the shop? "What if ..." can drive you crazy.
For me, it's simpler to self-insure. The business keeps a small chunk of money set aside for emergency situations and I could tap into that even if I had to totally replace a customer's PC that I accidentally physically destroyed.
Now if I had a physical shop, that would be a totally different story.
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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I get the feeling around here we are not casting pearls before swine:
"Pearls before swine" and "casting pearls" refer to a quotation from Matthew 7:6 in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, implying that you should not put what is valuable in front of those who will reject the notion that it has value and furthermore that they will seek to diminish or destroy what you offer.
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."
"Nolite dare sanctum canibus, neque mittatis margaritas vestras ante porcos, ne forte conculcent eas pedibus suis, et conversi disrumptam vos"
carrcomp
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I'm a little confused.
Are you saying that people don't appreciate the value of insurance, or that insurance has no value.
Who's the swine?
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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I think you might be right. He did throw the money changers out of the temple.
Markverhyden
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Insurance is all about risk management (ignoring legally mandated insurance such as auto). When I started out I was not sure if things would work out so I decided to not buy any business insurance. I was confident in my abilities to do the work and properly manage the risk related to that.
After about 9 months things were looking solid so I bought GL. Risk management is not about "if" but "when". No implying that "when" means it's guaranteed to happen just that when it happens what will happen.
When it happens there is nothing you can do mitigate your risk so you are left with minimizing your exposure and managing that effort. That time is uncompensated so it represents lost revenue in addition to the potential financial liabilities.
Currently my insurance costs, for GL and WC, represent around 1.5% of my gross revenue and is a deductible business expense. I spend about the same amount on professional subscriptions/memberships. Currently I am a Sole Prop so all of my assets are at risk to business related civil litigation. In my book it's a no brainer.
glricht
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Tony, I usually look forward to your posts as they reflect your experience in the business. However, in this case, I have no idea what you are talking about. (My post was relative to the various previous posts regarding the need for professional insurance.)
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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About three times a year a thread comes up about insurance and I always ask the same thing.....has anyone ever made an insurance claim so large as it would have bankrupt them or ruined them had they not had insurance as it pertains to Computer repairs. Never has anyone posted a large loss. Yes there are the lost a hard drive, dropped a server but things that you cannot afford to fix yourself or that would bankrupt you as that is the case that is always made "when financial ruin comes to your door."
So anyone out there know first hand of a large IT pay out to a small 1 or 2 man or even 4 man IT shop? Lets dissect this and get real about all the BS.
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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Thanks Gary,
Sorry,
I quoted you as I agree with you. as it relates to small IT shop. You do not need insurance for mal practice as some imply. Slip and fall possibly but that relates to owning a shop where customers come to you and fall still not a big risk for most of us but ok I can see someone wanting it, most landlords require it so its a non issue. But as for work from van or work from home IT guys starting out there is absolutely no realistic reason they will ever need insurance as their biggest liability is the value of the equipment they take off the customers site and take in their possession. I'm sensitive as a small business consultant that we not send all the young new guys out on a fools errand to buy insurance they do not need when that $500-1000 is better spent on auto graphics, business cards, nice logo shirts to add to their credibility or setting up systems and processes which will help them earn money.
The reference was to sharing good information to people who either cannot understand it or refuse to understand it.
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RegEdit
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Wow. I thought California was the only state gauging people over "licenses". How much does Georgia charge for a "license" to conduct business?
RegEdit
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You are talking too much sense here. The paid off politicians at city hall would like to censor your thread.
In California we have been overridden by government creating bureaus that have to issue licenses for every damn thing including computer repair. They don't care if you're qualified or A + certified. All they care about is that you're not a felon out on parole. Well isn't that the responsibility of parole officers? Why do we techs have to pay $165 a year? The bottom line is that it's just a money grab. This $165 fee and the cost of insurance is one of the reasons why I'm done with the PC repair biz. I'm not paying for government employees and their nonsense jobs and bloated pensions.
Martyn
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Well this has gone way off topic so apologies to the OP for keeping it going 
I looked at whether to have insurance from the outset and soon realised I thought i did. Tony your opinion is that you can just finance things as they happen and save on the cost of insurance. When I started 3 years ago(i'm mostly residential) I quickly realised I would sleep better at night if I had insurance. I had two calls to older style houses that were owned by an antiques dealer and a ex professional photographer. I carry a fairly bulky bag like most do on here and could hardly move in the antiques dealers house with clipping some item standing on the floor or on a table. I don't suppose they were worth a fantastic amount but nevertheless it would have cost me some money if I damaged something by knocking them over. The photographer had a camera worth £24000 right next to the computer I was fixing. Accidents happen and I don't have that sort of money anywhere other than in the value of my house. Only yesterday I was going down a narrow staircase in a 500 year old house with my bag, a netbook, Ipad etc and tripped just catching myself onto the rail with my forearm. What if I didn't and landed on someone/something at the bottom of the stairs? Over here a sole trader risks his assets as they are not limited to the company(it's all one pot). I also don't earn anywhere near the money to replace something worth say £5000.
Professional liability.
What if I did something that put a company out of business for a few days? I know you say you have never heard of that sort of thing being claimed from a business but in theory it could. I don't personally know of anyone struck by lightning but you never know. My insurance costs me about £300 per year, it's tax deductible and I think it adds to my professionalism. As I said I sleep better at night. I think people who have been running businesses for a long time have more clout financially and can take the risk, for people like me who are late to running a business and just really created a job for themselves a claim is game over, I don't want my retirement savings going.
I looked at whether to have insurance from the outset and soon realised I thought i did. Tony your opinion is that you can just finance things as they happen and save on the cost of insurance. When I started 3 years ago(i'm mostly residential) I quickly realised I would sleep better at night if I had insurance. I had two calls to older style houses that were owned by an antiques dealer and a ex professional photographer. I carry a fairly bulky bag like most do on here and could hardly move in the antiques dealers house with clipping some item standing on the floor or on a table. I don't suppose they were worth a fantastic amount but nevertheless it would have cost me some money if I damaged something by knocking them over. The photographer had a camera worth £24000 right next to the computer I was fixing. Accidents happen and I don't have that sort of money anywhere other than in the value of my house. Only yesterday I was going down a narrow staircase in a 500 year old house with my bag, a netbook, Ipad etc and tripped just catching myself onto the rail with my forearm. What if I didn't and landed on someone/something at the bottom of the stairs? Over here a sole trader risks his assets as they are not limited to the company(it's all one pot). I also don't earn anywhere near the money to replace something worth say £5000.
Professional liability.
What if I did something that put a company out of business for a few days? I know you say you have never heard of that sort of thing being claimed from a business but in theory it could. I don't personally know of anyone struck by lightning but you never know. My insurance costs me about £300 per year, it's tax deductible and I think it adds to my professionalism. As I said I sleep better at night. I think people who have been running businesses for a long time have more clout financially and can take the risk, for people like me who are late to running a business and just really created a job for themselves a claim is game over, I don't want my retirement savings going.
Markverhyden
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No argument with the statistics thing. I'm sure in the scheme of lawsuit things computer part replacement monkey work is way down the lawyer feeding list. That is not the point I made. As I said it is all about risk management. And not if but what happens when it does.
I don't care what anyone else thinks but there is no way you can strictly limit yourself to parts replacement in the IT world. There are always other things that are included. Yes, they can be passed off to someone else, but you may also loose that customer because of that. A car repair shop that works on alternators but tells the customer they have to go somewhere else to get the water pump taken care of won't go far in this world. At the end of the day someone hires a IT resource to make sure their IT assets work the way they need them to work.
As I said earlier, if you are a Sole Prop then ALL of your personal assets are on the line. People don't buy insurance to cover the nickle and dime stuff. It's for the big ticket things. As I said elsewhere it would be incredibly foolish to not purchase a basic GL policy. Now if you're inc'd then that changes things. Personally I would still purchase coverage.
