Advise on starting a computer business

[aa225]

hi all,

well my question is about starting a computer business (mostly repair and service and maybe building custom pc's). can anyone lead me to good resources about getting started and where i can get software for things like virus removal and/or spyware removal etc. that can be used by a business ( i have looked at things like adaware but the cost for a few licenses is pretty high). so what would be the most cost-effective way of getting started? PS i have my A+, Security +, and Network+ certs

i would appreciate any help that you guys can offer....thanks in advance


altan

 

[Dynamix]

Hmmmmmmm!
i would start of small working from home friends and family maybe some A4 flyers printed off on your printer then u can step up to it!

 

[aa225]

anyone else have any ideas?

 

[killerdoberman]

This might sound bad but...

If you need ideas on how to get these items legally without money or little money for profit, then you might need to get some more education on how to start a business.

Finish school. Go to college and get a degree in business or a home course on building a small business and not just read a book and think you know it all.

I would also recommend you start thinking about another career. Because the computer repair business is over saturated and very VERY cut-throat.

Businesses are also held to a much higher level then normal users when it comes to using software to fix/maintain many computers on the same license.

 

[skunx7101]

This might sound bad but...

If you need ideas on how to get these items legally without money or little money for profit, then you might need to get some more education on how to start a business.

Finish school. Go to college and get a degree in business or a home course on building a small business and not just read a book and think you know it all.

I would also recommend you start thinking about another career. Because the computer repair business is over saturated and very VERY cut-throat.

Businesses are also held to a much higher level then normal users when it comes to using software to fix/maintain many computers on the same license.

If you are a good tech you can make great money in the industry, I charge $55.00 an hour with some days clearing $400.00 to $500.00, no reason to look for another career, thats really bad advice. Plus, why would it matter? It is a hell of alot nicer to enjoy what you do vs. making an assload of money, obviously you don't have alot of real world experience killerdoberman, enjoying your job is a great benefit in itself. Adaware for private use is free, so is spybot. If you install it on a customers computer it will be for private use. You would only need licenses for a large corporation. And I use norton for virus removal and slave in others hdd's to remove the viruses. Start doing mobile repair and then open your own shop after you have established your clients, then you will not have alot of overhead starting out.

 

[aa225]

what kind of license or which version of norton do you use?

 

[DarkBlade1]

Screw that annoying NORTON!!! I HATE THEM!! THEY SUK!! ALL that program does is tell me how to run MY pc!! I AM TRAINED AND HAVE CERTS, I CAN RUN MY OWN PC NORTON, THX!!! Anyway, go McAfee Internet Security Suite for corporations. It is the best deal. Start a website up with your business name, and post in your local paper, and see if local store will advertise your flyers in their stores. You have to market yourself everywhere. Pay a radio station $300, and get yourself a commerical on the radio that week. Try all types of advertising. Good Luck, it is not an easy task.

 

[skunx7101]

If you are a good tech you can make great money in the industry, I charge $55.00 an hour with some days clearing $400.00 to $500.00, no reason to look for another career, thats really bad advice. Plus, why would it matter? It is a hell of alot nicer to enjoy what you do vs. making an assload of money, obviously you don't have alot of real world experience killerdoberman, enjoying your job is a great benefit in itself. Adaware for private use is free, so is spybot. If you install it on a customers computer it will be for private use. You would only need licenses for a large corporation. And I use norton for virus removal and slave in others hdd's to remove the viruses. Start doing mobile repair and then open your own shop after you have established your clients, then you will not have alot of overhead starting out.

just any version of norton, I don't mean install it on every pc, just slave in their drive and scan...theres nothing illegal about that.

 

[skunx7101]

Screw that annoying NORTON!!! I HATE THEM!! THEY SUK!! ALL that program does is tell me how to run MY pc!! I AM TRAINED AND HAVE CERTS, I CAN RUN MY OWN PC NORTON, THX!!! Anyway, go McAfee Internet Security Suite for corporations. It is the best deal. Start a website up with your business name, and post in your local paper, and see if local store will advertise your flyers in their stores. You have to market yourself everywhere. Pay a radio station $300, and get yourself a commerical on the radio that week. Try all types of advertising. Good Luck, it is not an easy task.

Norton has the best virus detection, and best removal of any antivirus. How does it tell you how to run your computer? Why in the hell would anyone use McAfee security suite? For corps? Damn, all he wants to do is remove a few viruses, he's not setting up a corporate network for christ sakes. If you want to be effective just follow what I'm telling you, I do it every, single, day of the week. However if your looking to blow a bunch of damn money on junk...AMD ZEN can teach you alot

 

[TibsBeatAll]

If your a real beginner on starting a business, I would recommend perhaps Yahoo merchant solutions??

When i first started out, I used them and they were very fast, efficient, and easy.
Also, they have their own advertising and you can pay extra for them to advertise for u.

Plus, they have excellent customer support.

Only problem I had was getting a Merchant Account Credit Card processing thing, but it was solved, and it wasn't yahoo's fault, more like the bank's fault.

Anyway, if you do choose to go the yahoo route, I'll give you some directions, as I was pretty pissed off and annoyed cause there was nobody to teach me.

1. Set up a site and publish it. (Extremely simple lol)
2. Set your shipping rates as you see fit
3. Set which credit cards you would accept, ya ya.
4. Either use Paymentech or any other First Data compatible Credit Card processor and get a merchant account from them.
5. Go into Yahoo and pay for their advertising junk.
6. easy and fast.


Mind you, I'm talking about an internet business here. You can have in-store too. But if you wanna get big, you gotta get on the internet.


And good luck by the way. Always love to see a new success.