Slashdot Mirror
Building Up a Small Computer Business?
Hogg asks: "I'm a senior in high school, and feeling very industrious over the summer, I started a home business. Basically, I go onsite and service computers and charge far less than what the 'pros' with the MCSEs and so on do. It's been going fairly well so far, but I wonder if Slashdot has tips, advice, or pitfalls to avoid?"
When people ask "OK, now how much do I owe you?", you say: "I dunno. What do you want to pay me?"
If the people where you live are anything like the ones around here, you'll end up getting paid more than you would if you set a price ^_^
Unless, of course, you were GOING to have them pay you 50$ an hour. I only charged 15.
Sometimes I'll show up at someone's house, and they'll have fixed the problem themselves, but then they give me 20$ just for the trouble of riding my bike a couple blocks to their house.
Don't expect too much, though. I only made 300$ this summer (half enough to pay for my new computar!). But for the amount of work I did, that wasn't bad. Far better than bagging groceries, anyway.
My kybard sucs tody.
Duct tape, XML, democracy: Not doing the job? Use more.
That said, I entirely agree with the concept of demonstrating trust and understanding. How that happens depends on the customer, but in general being open, honest and truthful (always!) will build customer loyalty quickly.
I also recommend that, at some point nearer the end of the school year (when you'll have more time to acquire business next summer), you start passing out business cards to all of your consumer customers and encourage them to use your services in their workplace. The "return rate" of that kind of advertising is low, but when you're only a one-man business any increase in business helps tremendously. If you're good, that could snowball into a very profitable business in a surprisingly short amount of time.
Seriously. Before you do anything, find out what an accountant says to you about running a small business. You'll avoid all the hidden expenses that can snag you later when you've already spent your profits, and an accountant can also introduce you to the wonderful world of deductions that you are suddenly entitled to.
For example, Pennsylvania has this inane "self employment" tax for independent contractors and small business owners. It is above and beyond all the rest of the taxes that regular salaried employees pay, but you might not find out about it until they go through your tax return and send you a bill with interest due a year and a half later.
Accountants can help you decide how much of your rent/mortgate/utilities/whatever are permissible for deductions as business expense and whether it's worth it to keep track of them or simply take the standard deduction. Furthermore, they're familiar with local laws that you won't find out about reading a book on national tax law. Philadelphia and NJ, for instance, have a reciprocal tax agreement, the details of which make my head hurt every time someone tries to explain them.
An initial consultation won't cost that much and will, without question, save you headaches in the long run.
I had an argument...with the person here at the university that teaches OS design. I wonder when I'll learn --Linus
My best advice is to not waste your time. I tried precisely the same thing for five years (Yes, five years. I started doing webdesign the year I turned 14. I just turned 19.). You know how much money I've made, gross, on it, total? Probably less than $1000. That's all. No one takes kids seriously in business. It's sad, but it's a fact. You won't make the money you want to make until you're into your mid-to-late twenties or thirties. "He's only a kid; what does he know?" You'll never hear it, but that what they'll think and that's what they'll say.
However, if you are going to try, you'll need to deal with a whole lot of red tape. Vendor's permit. Tax permits (yes, you need to charge tax). You'll have to register your business with several government bodies, make deductions on your pay... You'll be dealing with Revenue Canada/IRS on multiple levels and it's just a bad scene. Then, as someone else mentioned, you'll probably need insurance, in case you send somebody's machine to hell.
Notice that you still haven't set up a website. This is just legal bullshit you have to go through that I never did and I regret not doing. You know why I never did it? I never had the money. I said to myself, "I'll get a vendor's permit after my next contract. I'll register the business after this next contract." You know what? Never happened. Never got the contract.
The most important thing to remember is if you're going to undercut your competitors, don't undercut by very much. Competitive pricing, not psychotic pricing. In a market where the average price is $50/hr, charge... $40. It shows you're serious about business.
Something else you may have noticed -- I haven't recommended getting certifications yet. I do recommend it, but only if you can afford it. They are FUCKING expensive. I only got my CCNA because my high school offered the program. I only had to pay for the certification exam. In most places, though, you'll have to drop $6000-$10000 on the training.. and you may not even get certified.
So, I'll repeat my earlier statement -- don't waste your time. Go out and find a bullshit job, maybe work at a Future Shop or a Best Buy in the computer department, get some money, go to university and when you get out, moonlight this kind of thing until you're confident you can make a living on it. I know it sucks, but I've been there and not making money because no one takes you seriously sucks even more.
Matthew G P Coe
http://mgpcoe.blogspot.com/
I definitely agree on the advice about customers.
Good customer service is a matter of being consistent and providing good service. If you have to bend over backwards for some customer, that's fine, if it's your only customer and they're going to pay you well for it.
The problem I've seen, from little companies to large corporations, is that they'll keep providing "bend-over-backward" service for some clients, to the DETRIMENT OF OTHER CUSTOMERS! That's bad customer service overall.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
What I am is a professional (meaning this is how I earn my living) consultant with fifteen years experience dealing strictly with matters relating to UNIX. I've come across countless situations where I was brought in to clean up a mess made by a someone (often the child of an executive or the out of work brother-in-law of an employee etc.) who was hired to do something they weren't qualified to do.
I'll be honest, when I was 16 if someone said they would pay me three to ten times more than my peers were making per hour and rather than flipping burgers I would get to muck about with computers, I would have been all over it. I would never have stopped to ask if I was qualified to do the job. That question should be asked by the person doing the hiring. Unfortunately those people are often motivated to hire the person who charges the least and are sometimes drawn in by the old 'whiz kid' malarky.
Reread the original post but this time mentally substiute computer consulting with medical consulting (think doctor). Sure, it's a little ridiculous but for some companies, the reliability of their computer infrastructure is a matter of life or death.
Lastly, you might consider that your inability to get a job even with your alphabet soup of certifications is due to the fact the many of the jobs you attempted to get were filled with less experienced, less qualified PTHK (part-time highschool kids) who were willing to work for less than a living wage (because they weren't actually trying to make a living).
It's just food for thought.
who just started doing this myself, let me share.
I only work for family friends. Thus, I don't have to worry about being cheated, or having checks bounce, or meeting crazies. Well, less than if I worked for anyone who asked.
I charge 5 bucks an hour. It's not much, but it keeps my CD collection growing and my Linux box upgrading. Also, I get a *lot* of repeat business, and customers don't feel that they're paying so much they can't/shouldn't tip.
Never say a job is too small. I got paid $20 bucks for maybe 90 minutes of work installing windows XP. It was a no-brainer, and I got to play Solitaire while working. (OK, so that's not much of a plus). It also got me re-hired when the owner told me they didn't want a virus-scanner, and I had to come back for 20 minutes to get rid of LovSan and a few others. And install an antivirus.
Never laugh - I had to teach a lady how to take her Outlook Express settings on one computer and migrate them to the other. 10 minutes, 5 bucks.
Keep a CD with utilities - Knoppix, definitely, and windows utilities (unless you are working on macs). Half the jobs I do are generic "my n-year old computer is slow, can you speed it up?". I generally reinstall the OS, but if they've lost the CD key, I'll run RegClean, AdAware, etc. They think I'm a friggin genius 'cuz I went to CNET.
So - in my first 3 days, I made 35 bucks, and more since then. Good luck!
How common is this? In five years working in this field I have never seen a complaint of this type from a customer. Are all pros really insured, is the insurance that costly?
"Make sure you charge your customers throught the nose, even if you know the job isn't very hard."
Well, that's true... but then again, it isn't. Obviously, if you're charging $15/hour for computer work, you should be charging more. But here's a story that goes the other way.
A client I worked for had a "computer guy" (MCSE, even) who charged $125/hour to fix their network. The thing was that the network was always broken. I really felt like the guy was incompetent, but as their web developer/web hosting company, I wasn't really in the right position to step in and fix their computers as well... I was simply too busy just maintaining and developing their (quite large) website.
Then a friend moved out here from Indiana. He is an accomplished system administrator. As soon as he moved here, I had him interview with 2 of my clients who used the MCSE. My friend looked at the "going rate" for computer work here and found that it was $50/hour, so he agreed to charge that.
Now you might be asking "Why would you tell him to charge $50/hour when he was obviously more competent than the guy who charged $125/hour? Why not charge $125/hour?"
But I knew that a) my clients were uncomfortable getting their computers fixed at home for $125/hour, and b) they were uncomfortable recommending this guy because he was so expensive. So I told my friend to charge $50/hour.
In the first 3 months, my friend billed more hours with these clients than the other guy had ever had the opportunity to. He also made the same amount of money the other guy did. Plus, my clients recommended my friend to all their friends who just needed occasional help with computers at home.
My friend has now built an entire part-time consulting business around these two clients and their friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends. Meanwhile, the other guy is suffering because he's lost several major clients.
What's the lesson? Charge the going rate. If your work is harder than the going rate, or you're getting too busy, don't be afraid to raise your prices. (I had too much web development work at $50/hour, so I upped my rates. Now I have an $800 minimum contract rule and I charge slgihtly more per hour [$60-$75]. It's much more manageable and I still make more money than I was making before.) But don't price yourself out of the market, or you'll miss out on referrals and your clients won't be happy.
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I did the same thing during my senior year of high school. I've seen a few of these on here already, but repetition = reinforcement.
1. Stay organized. I created an Access database with all my clients, computers, and work performed. This was very helpful when a client asked, "How much time/money have we put into this computer?", I could print a report on the spot with all the pertinent info. You may have heard of the drop-dead school of documentation. If you drop dead, there needs to be enough documentation so the next tech can start where you left off before being hit by the senior citizens' bus.
2. Bill early and often. I've seen people say something about billing as soon as the work is done, which is definitely a good practice. I preferred to do bi-weekly billings, as I could sit down and do all my billing in one fifteen minute time. ALWAYS KEEP A HARD COPY OF ANY BILL YOU SEND OUT AND THE DATE YOU SENT IT. I will not go into details, but you'll be amazed how often you hear "We never received your bill". Billing often is necessary so charges don't add up. Sticker shock has driven away many-a-customer. They pay you the same in the end, but smaller doses are always easier.
3. Work Orders. Every time you go to a client site, create a work order detailing what work you are going to perform while onsite. If they ask you to perform other services while you're there, write them on the work order and make a photocopy. MAKE THE CLIENT SIGN THE WORK ORDER. Their signature indicates that they are satisified with the work and goes hand-in-hand with #1.
4. (and most important) Remember you're just a kid. When I was doing this, I was 17. 17 is an older kid, but you're still a kid. In the eyes of the law, you're also just a kid and cannot make contractual obligations. If you're going to be working on production systems in companies that depend on their computers to make money, get a lawyer. On the same note, make sure you don't burn yourself out and keep a few kid-type things in your schedule so life doesn't suck.
I see my shadow changing, stretching up and over me...