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?"

Comments

price

[togofspookware]

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.

Re:price

[fehlschlag]

I found I often preferred a combo of barter and monetary payment from the smaller opps. Become friends with the folks you help, get some free dinners, game tickets, etc, along with some cash to buy the required amounts of beer to survive.

The occasional larger business contract pays the rent for a while, and allows you to invite those new friends over - suddenly there's word of mouth: extra bonus points.

Talk to an accountant

[Mastoid]

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.