Tag: Basics you will need to run your computer
Guide to Pricing Your Computer Repair Business Services
Guide to Pricing Your Computer Repair Business Services
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
This blog post is about pricing your products and services for your computer repair business. Pricing your products and sales can be tough in the beginning because you don’t want to have prices too high and not get clients and you don’t want to be too low and appear to be cheap.
Back in 2007 when I was just starting out, I had no computer repair shop/store/pricing experience at all. So for me, it was a bit tough to figure out my “right price”, so here is what I did to get going. I started checking out my competitors’ prices and what the techs on Craigslist were pricing themselves at. I knew that I didn’t have the experience of the current businesses running and knew that I would be higher priced than Craigslist, so I created a number right in the middle.
My beginning rates were $75 onsite for an hour. In 2007, all I was doing was onsite. I figured this was a fair rate comparable to other onsite techs in the Minneapolis area and I was new, so there would be some “give and take” because I would make some mistakes and have to bill fairly for those mistakes. You will make some mistakes and you should not charge clients for that.
A few months after I got going, I started offering remote support. Since I was not on the road and driving, my remote support rates were only $60 per hour. In time, I got better at remote support and onsite jobs, so I started raising my prices. In 2009, I was charging $85 for onsite and $70 for remote. In 2010, I raised my rates for onsite to $100 and $90 for remote. Then we stabilized for a while and in 2012 we raised our onsite rates to $125 an hour and $99 per hour for remote. In 2013, we kept our onsite rates at $125 but remote went up to $109 an hour. This is now our “nice price” that works for us. We are faster, have more knowledge and can command rates at this level.
Pricing comes with experience. The more experience you have, the higher your rates should be.
Another thing to consider is the community you are servicing. If you are in a very small town, your prices may have to change or be comparable to what your community will pay. I know some remote techs only charge $40 per hour, some only charge $20. This is all up to you to figure out – your bills, your overhead, your wages needed to earn a good income.
To view my current price list, click here.
To check out the next blog click here –> Marketing Advice for Computer Repair Businesses
Call That Girl’s eBooks and Training Videos
Welcome to my eBooks and Videos sales page. Below you will find everything I sell and support as well as some free information at the bottom.
Lisa’s eBooks, all 5 eBooks $39
The Remote Support Guide (Best seller!)
- A step by step guide to setting up your business to have a successful remote support business
- Tips and information on how to service your clients remotely
- How to increase your daily sales with new services, prepay tickets and daily monitoring plans
- Includes templates for email booking appointments, client & project agreement forms, terms and conditions, small business proposal, pricing guidelines and scheduling appointment forms.
The Manual of Operations
- This is an old document but many still like using it for a template
- 40 page Word document
- Delivered as a Microsoft Word Template, easy for “cut and pasting” your business name into the document
- Standard operating procedures
- Employee conditions for employment
- Job descriptions
- Human Resources policies
- Much more…
The Social Media Guide
- 29 page workbook style (outdated but have valuable info!)
- Great tips and tricks that I learned the hard way
- Easy to understand steps on how to push out social media messages
- Newsletters, blogging and WordPress information
- Toolkit information you will need and other things you will need to use social media
- A social media to do list
- How to do a social media blast
The Guide to Microsoft Exchange Migrations
- 22 page PDF
- Step by step instructions on how to do a migration without tools with screenshots
- Learning how to back up current mailboxes, calendars and contacts
- Learn how to update the DNS for migration
- Importing mail/calendars and contacts into new server
- Aftercare lists
- How to sell administrative support tickets
How to Start a Computer Repair Business
- Get all the free blogs in a 48 page PDF
- Conversational Style Guide
$199
Created just for technicians! Outlook is a program that contains a lot of data, lots of moving parts and offers 100’s of features which are all guaranteed to break at some point. As well, it’s the program most used with the Office 365 Business Plans. These videos will train you how to properly prepare, repair and learn Outlook in a 360 view.
What you get with your purchase
- 7 videos
- 4 hours of intense training ~each made in short videos so you can stop & practice
- Access to Lisa’s private Facebook group
SEO/Google Ranking Services
Get found today! So many technician friends I know have great websites up, but not many have good SEO to help them get found. My services help you get found by creating content in your website using your location and your services. I have a starter set for $450 and buy as you like “next level” for $175. No contracts, no monthly fees, just buy as you want.
Click here to learn more and get found on the internet! If you can’t be found, you can’t be called right?
Free Learning Guide
Sign up for my newsletter
Check out my Podcast
Need to Hire Me? Below is a list of tech to tech services I provide. Contact me below.
- Outlook Expert
- Exchange Migration Coaching
- Exchange Migration Management
- Client Outlook Training
- OST recovery
- Email investigation
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Products and Services Your Computer Repair Business Can Sell
Products and Services Your Computer Repair Business Can Sell
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
At this point, I will discuss how your computer repair business can make money off products and services. When I started out, I didn’t even think of selling anything outside of my core services, ever! Please keep in mind that I went out of the gate with guns blazing and didn’t know what I was doing at all. Even my competition wouldn’t be friendly with me, I was the lone ranger.
Yes, there I was the lone rangerette and didn’t know what I was doing, had no experience but knew I was probably not going to make it off break/fix labor rates. When you first start out, the dream of having 10 clients a week as I discussed, can take awhile. But in time, I did figure out what I needed to make more money and that is offer more services and products. Believe it or not, the first service/product I sold was prepay support tickets (see story below). Soon after I found other products to sell by needing to have something to offer my clients. My first product was Malware prevention and detection software. Then as time went on I added more and more. Now after 7 years, I have it fine tuned to just these 3+ more services and my prepay tickets.
- Prepay Tickets
- GFI daily monitoring
- Online Backup
- Office 365 Consulting/Project work
TIP! If you decide not to resell a product, check into affiliate programs. If you sell to the client, some companies offer you a commission on each sale (some companies call it reselling though, even though you don’t do the billing). I know a few companies that do it now, SOS online backup does, as well as AppRiver (for Office 365).
Products & Services you can sell
- Antivirus/Malware Protection:
- Of course you want to consider the fastest selling product, an antivirus/malware product. I started off back in the day reselling SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) and Malwarebytes (MBAM). I sold SAS for $25 for 3 computers (yes, times have changed!) and I sold MBAM for $39. Then as times changed, I started selling a package for MBAM and Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for $79 and that included free virus removals for a year. Renewal was $49. My “warranty” program worked well as long as you trained the users how to use the products. I’m not joking, this sold well and we make a nice profit on it. Many techs think that these types of warranty programs do not work, but trust me, they do.
- GFI. If you are not familiar with GFI, please check out their services here http://www.gfi.com/ I have a white label remote support partner who managed my GFI sales and monitoring. When I closed my stores I opted to not do the management of GFI, but wanted to of course have the best service out there for my clients. This GFI replaced MBAM and MSE after May of 2014 and we have seen nothing but great sales.
- Off the shelf products such as Norton, McAfee, Avast, Eset, Kaspersky, etc. These products are all available for techs to buy at a lower price, and then you can create a retail sale price that offers you some profit. Many techs who sell these also sell a protection plan for even more money to have a more robust service.
- Online backup – I have sold as an affiliate seller for Mozy in the past and now I resell SOS. I earn a 20% commission off each sale. I sell the installation of the product for $69 to the client. The client pays for the SOS with their own credit card. We do not do any managing of the services after installation. We do charge if the client opts to call us over an SOS issue. Our labor can be 15-30 minutes, but we decided to have one price to cover it all in case it goes longer and to make it easier to manage in our ticket system.
- Acronis backup – This is a product that I am not currently marketing, but am considering for 2015 to offer to businesses. I tried in the past and many didn’t want it. It’s funny how we can try something once, see no interest, then get one client who is hyped about it and then I put it back on the consideration plate. Again, remember…I am telling you about my experiences and failures here, so keep that in mind when reading. If Acronis is configured right, it can save time and money for the client, even though they have to invest initially to get it setup
- Computer hardware parts – Selling hardware was never something I had interest in. But you might. If you have a mobile business, of course keeping some items in your vehicle for a quick sale is recommended. External hard drives, network cords, hard drives, ram, etc. If you have an office, same deal…quick sale stuff is great to have on hand. If you have a store, then you need to decide more in depth what you want to sell. If you are a fully functioning store/shop, then having everything you can sell on hand is important for your repairs, or clients coming in and buying the parts and taking them home and doing it themselves. I have seen both types of sales and that is the difference between Shop vs Store. To me, stores sell parts, shops do the work and don’t sell parts individually.
- Software reselling – I don’t resell any software. Early on I decided that I didn’t want to monkey around with reselling, I would rather charge for labor to help the clients buy the products. So here is an example: Client calls and wants Office 365 home installed, I quote them 1 hour of time (could be less) and then I charge $109 to help them buy it, install it, configure it and send them on their way. I quote an hour because of tech glitches that can arise, but a usual install is 30 minutes or less. Now yes, I could also sell them a version I paid for and then also charge for the labor, but many of my clients are one time break/fix and I just didn’t want to have the responsibility. Again, this is not normal…many techs want the sale from the software and want to manage it all. It’s your choice!
- Computers – Again, selling computers is something I didn’t get into. I know many techs do in their stores and it’s great for them. I will let you know that you need to make this decision on your own and figure out in your budget what you need to get your store rolling with inventory.
- Additional products (routers, monitors, refurbished, etc.) – More “store” stuff here. If you are opening a store, you will need to figure out what equipment and inventory you need to make the store profitable in that area. If you need help, Technibble.com is a technical resource forum and you can browse the forums, create an account, ask for help and ask more detailed questions to this group. I have been a member for 5 years now and it’s invaluable (free membership btw).
- Office 365 – While you might not have enough experience to support Office 365 yet, you will need to get your hands dirty with this one gang. Office 365 is not only the hottest thing out there, it can all be done remotely. I’m doing a lot of Office 365 work right now and many others are as well. What you need to know to support Office 365 for businesses is: Basics of Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Lync and Office 2013. You can resell Office 365 yourself, or use a vendor like I do. I like the support and billing to be done through AppRiver. Support is key for me with doing Office 365, I am busy and don’t have time to call Microsoft if there is a problem and they offer 24 hour support, so my clients can call in when there is an issue before calling me.
- Prepay Tickets – In time though, I quickly learned that I wanted and needed to make more money to make it. I remember the first time I started to think outside the box. I had a client call in often for weird small problems and thought, “If I sold him a block of 3 hours and only track the time used…he might buy that”. I sold him my first prepay ticket for $225. I was insane with happiness! After that, I started asking all of my clients to buy the tickets. Some did, some didn’t. Now it’s just part of our sales, prepay tickets. My prices have all since been raised, a four hour prepay is $450, and I sell them often. How it works – I sell a 4 hour ticket for $450, each hour can have 4 calls of 15 each, clients call in for a 15 minute repair and I track in their ticket, 15 min. That actually equals $28 (4 hours divided by 16). The client wins by not paying my regular price and I win and don’t have to do the admin work and collect credit card, client agreement, etc.
Who buys these? Usually busy home clients with many computers and kids, or mostly…business clients.
To read my next blog click here –> Tools You Need to Start Your Computer Repair Business
Call That Girl’s eBooks and Training Videos
Welcome to my eBooks and Videos sales page. Below you will find everything I sell and support as well as some free information at the bottom.
Lisa’s eBooks, all 5 eBooks $39
The Remote Support Guide (Best seller!)
- A step by step guide to setting up your business to have a successful remote support business
- Tips and information on how to service your clients remotely
- How to increase your daily sales with new services, prepay tickets and daily monitoring plans
- Includes templates for email booking appointments, client & project agreement forms, terms and conditions, small business proposal, pricing guidelines and scheduling appointment forms.
The Manual of Operations
- This is an old document but many still like using it for a template
- 40 page Word document
- Delivered as a Microsoft Word Template, easy for “cut and pasting” your business name into the document
- Standard operating procedures
- Employee conditions for employment
- Job descriptions
- Human Resources policies
- Much more…
The Social Media Guide
- 29 page workbook style (outdated but have valuable info!)
- Great tips and tricks that I learned the hard way
- Easy to understand steps on how to push out social media messages
- Newsletters, blogging and WordPress information
- Toolkit information you will need and other things you will need to use social media
- A social media to do list
- How to do a social media blast
The Guide to Microsoft Exchange Migrations
- 22 page PDF
- Step by step instructions on how to do a migration without tools with screenshots
- Learning how to back up current mailboxes, calendars and contacts
- Learn how to update the DNS for migration
- Importing mail/calendars and contacts into new server
- Aftercare lists
- How to sell administrative support tickets
How to Start a Computer Repair Business
- Get all the free blogs in a 48 page PDF
- Conversational Style Guide
$199
Created just for technicians! Outlook is a program that contains a lot of data, lots of moving parts and offers 100’s of features which are all guaranteed to break at some point. As well, it’s the program most used with the Office 365 Business Plans. These videos will train you how to properly prepare, repair and learn Outlook in a 360 view.
What you get with your purchase
- 7 videos
- 4 hours of intense training ~each made in short videos so you can stop & practice
- Access to Lisa’s private Facebook group
SEO/Google Ranking Services
Get found today! So many technician friends I know have great websites up, but not many have good SEO to help them get found. My services help you get found by creating content in your website using your location and your services. I have a starter set for $450 and buy as you like “next level” for $175. No contracts, no monthly fees, just buy as you want.
Click here to learn more and get found on the internet! If you can’t be found, you can’t be called right?
Free Learning Guide
Sign up for my newsletter
Check out my Podcast
Need to Hire Me? Below is a list of tech to tech services I provide. Contact me below.
- Outlook Expert
- Exchange Migration Coaching
- Exchange Migration Management
- Client Outlook Training
- OST recovery
- Email investigation
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Business and Legal Information for Computer Repair Businesses
Business and Legal Information for Computer Repair Businesses
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
If you are out starting a new computer repair business, you might have questions such as…How much will this cost? How fast will I recoup my investment? Will I get enough clients to make it worth it? How long will this take!?!?
Welcome to the world of “Who the heck knows?!” Our industry has no real metrics on this and it’s a crap shoot. Are you ready to go gambling? Because you are going to be doing a bit of gambling… and those of us that are still in the business are the real hustlers. Well not really I just like saying that and thinking I beat the dealer. I have made it and it took a lot of hours of sitting at the table to figure out how to beat the house.
So you’re ready to gamble? or play at least? I have some advice for you about business and legal for the computer repair industry. Remember, if you have other questions, these might be covered in Matt Rodela’s eBook How to Quit Your Job and Start a Computer
- SCORE https://www.score.org/
- Before you do any of the below, you should really start by working with your local SCORE office. These folks are all retired executives who have the experience to help you and guide you for free. They may have the answers you need about bookkeeping and the legal considerations, saving you time and money. If you work with them, they might also have local recommendations for you or have great contacts. If you want to print out this list and take it to your first appointment to ensure you covered the basics, they will appreciate it. They might also have information that I do not cover here.
- Do you need a budget?
- You might. Depending on how you want to service your clients. If you dream of having a store, then for sure you will need a budget and maybe financing. There is a lot that can go on with leasing a store front. Not only will you need to negotiate a lease, but you will need insurance and signage, etc. If you want an office, then you will need to have the down payment for the lease deposit, first & last months rent and maybe even utilities. I love the “All inclusive” offices! The ones that pay for everything. If you plan on being mobile, then your budget might include a good vehicle and your toolkits. Remote support, just a house office or rented office and your remote support tools. Remote and mobile are probably the cheapest way to get started.
- Do you need a lawyer?
- Maybe not on day one. I was recommended to get a lawyer after my second year because I needed to LLC my company because of growth. Basically to start a businesses is not a legal issue, just follow the guidelines of your city and state and you are fine (from what I know, you can always call your city and state and ask them!)
- Do you need a bookkeeper?
- Again, maybe not on day one. I recommend that you keep all of your receipts and at least keep a spreadsheet for your sales. If you are a QuickBooks person and know how to do it all yourself, great! If not…I don’t think a bookkeeper is necessary for you to start out. You will need records of everything you take in, spend and all of that for taxes.
- Do you need to be licensed in your city? State/Fed?
- Another good question! Since I don’t know where you live, I recommend you call your city office or state offices and find out what is required by law for you to officially run your company.
- Taxes!
- You might want to consider spending an hour with a tax accountant or bookkeeper to discuss how you should file your taxes. You might have to pay in quarterly self employment tax or just year end, depending on your situation. If you sell parts, you will have sales tax to deal with. This consulting may include recommending if you stay sole proprietor or to move to LLC or C/S Corp. TIP: Only do what you need to do, many entrepreneurs get into the hype of needing to be C/S Corp to feel “official” and “big” and until you need it, don’t do it. You can always go up in the world of taxes (my opinion, but talk to your tax accountant!)
- Insurance
- You will need to contact a local insurance firm to find out what insurance you should carry. Every city and state carries different requirements for your services and locations. SCORE will also have some information for you about this.
To read the next blog, click here –> Products and Services Your Computer Repair Business Can Sell
Call That Girl’s eBooks and Training Videos
Welcome to my eBooks and Videos sales page. Below you will find everything I sell and support as well as some free information at the bottom.
Lisa’s eBooks, all 5 eBooks $39
The Remote Support Guide (Best seller!)
- A step by step guide to setting up your business to have a successful remote support business
- Tips and information on how to service your clients remotely
- How to increase your daily sales with new services, prepay tickets and daily monitoring plans
- Includes templates for email booking appointments, client & project agreement forms, terms and conditions, small business proposal, pricing guidelines and scheduling appointment forms.
The Manual of Operations
- This is an old document but many still like using it for a template
- 40 page Word document
- Delivered as a Microsoft Word Template, easy for “cut and pasting” your business name into the document
- Standard operating procedures
- Employee conditions for employment
- Job descriptions
- Human Resources policies
- Much more…
The Social Media Guide
- 29 page workbook style (outdated but have valuable info!)
- Great tips and tricks that I learned the hard way
- Easy to understand steps on how to push out social media messages
- Newsletters, blogging and WordPress information
- Toolkit information you will need and other things you will need to use social media
- A social media to do list
- How to do a social media blast
The Guide to Microsoft Exchange Migrations
- 22 page PDF
- Step by step instructions on how to do a migration without tools with screenshots
- Learning how to back up current mailboxes, calendars and contacts
- Learn how to update the DNS for migration
- Importing mail/calendars and contacts into new server
- Aftercare lists
- How to sell administrative support tickets
How to Start a Computer Repair Business
- Get all the free blogs in a 48 page PDF
- Conversational Style Guide
$199
Created just for technicians! Outlook is a program that contains a lot of data, lots of moving parts and offers 100’s of features which are all guaranteed to break at some point. As well, it’s the program most used with the Office 365 Business Plans. These videos will train you how to properly prepare, repair and learn Outlook in a 360 view.
What you get with your purchase
- 7 videos
- 4 hours of intense training ~each made in short videos so you can stop & practice
- Access to Lisa’s private Facebook group
SEO/Google Ranking Services
Get found today! So many technician friends I know have great websites up, but not many have good SEO to help them get found. My services help you get found by creating content in your website using your location and your services. I have a starter set for $450 and buy as you like “next level” for $175. No contracts, no monthly fees, just buy as you want.
Click here to learn more and get found on the internet! If you can’t be found, you can’t be called right?
Free Learning Guide
Sign up for my newsletter
Check out my Podcast
Need to Hire Me? Below is a list of tech to tech services I provide. Contact me below.
- Outlook Expert
- Exchange Migration Coaching
- Exchange Migration Management
- Client Outlook Training
- OST recovery
- Email investigation
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Tips on Starting a Computer Repair Business
Tips on Starting a Computer Repair Business
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
This blog will give you some tips on starting a computer repair business. Before you dive in, you should consider a few basics things you will need to run your computer repair company. You may this is a funny list, it makes a lot of sense to give someone new out there the expectations they will need or “basics”. When I created this blog 2 of the series, I did think these were important to put in first.
- Patience
- Customer Service Skills
- The talent to support what you want to sell
- Crisis Management
- Managing Expectations
- Learn how to be on time, call if you’re going to be late
- Answer your phones/return phone calls promptly
- Only do what you love
- Become friends with the enemy
- Does your town, city, county need you?
Many technicians know their tech skills are great for running a company, but when you are the owner and 100% in charge, things can change. If you came from a corporate world environment, you did your job, did it well and had a boss who helped you along the way. If something bad happened, you could always blame a process or something else, but when you are your own boss, all the drama is on YOU no matter what! If the client is at fault, you will almost always be blamed so be prepared for it.
#1 Let’s start with #1 on the list, Patience. Boy will you ever need it in this business! You will need it to be able to learn and grow, as nobody starts this business knowing everything. You will learn something new every single day. Some issues the clients will bring you will be issues you have never heard of, or ever seen. But you have to tackle it and take the job. Give yourself time, slow down, and have patience. You will also need it when dealing with panicked or pissed off clients. I can also add here, “don’t get emotional”, it’s tough when you are dealing with a client screaming at you for you to keep your cool.
#2, Customer Service Skills. If you don’t have ’em, you need to read up on it. Some techs who venture out on their own come from the “tech tech” area where they didn’t deal with customers much. And if you’re on your own, you will be doing all the customer service yourself. Clients complain to me about “My last tech didn’t talk to me like you do”, well I’m a talking head so people naturally love to talk to others that talk. If a tech is at a client’s house and does not talk, this makes for an uncomfortable experience so read up on customer service, time killer conversations and get chatty!
#3 Be sure you can support what you will get calls for. If you’re a hardware tech and hate software, you need to know that software support is a different animal so you may not want to offer that service. Only support what you love and have passion for. I hate hardware, yet I had to learn some aspects of it in 2007 when I first started out. Thanks to the virtual nature of my business, I was able to phase the hardware aspect out and I haven’t been happier. Another example is that some techs dislike networking and servers, not their bag. So they stay away from those types of jobs, like me 🙂 I don’t hate networking and servers, I just am not comfortable supporting them, so I outsource and refer those jobs out (we will discuss partnering in another blog).
#4 Crisis Management – the OMG moment. You just spent a lot of time repairing a computer and it seemed to be fixed. You call the client for a morning pickup and then….it blue screens for no reason. It’s 5:00 and you have to go home. Or do you as a business owner? Well well…this is “crisis management time” folks! Do you leave at 5:00 or come in early to work on the computer? Some techs go by the rules of “I’m done at 5:00 no matter what!” and some techs will stay and fix that computer until it’s fixed. I was the second tech. I said it would be done by morning and it would be. Now this is your decision on how you want to manage your personal life and business life, but what would you do? How do you handle crisis and trust me, you will have plenty of it in your first year!
#5 Managing Expectations. Well, based off of #4, how would you manage the issue beside the crisis part of it? You need to manage your clients expectations. If you called at 4:30 and said it was done, then it blue screened…years, ago I would have stayed late and got it done and had it ready by the morning, but that doesn’t always happen. So managing the issue now to make it better is what you will need to learn. Don’t wait until 8:55 am to tell the client coming in that their computer is worse than when they brought it in. Learn to tell your clients ASAP that there is an issue and it won’t be ready at 9:00 am and you will call when it’s done. Of course many clients will call at 10:00 am checking in on it LOL. I LOL because the “caller backers” are very common. Be ready for these types too!
#6 Learn to be on time or call earlier if you are going to be late. It sets the tone of professionalism with your clients. No one really cares if you are late if you tell them. People are ticked off if you are late and they are sitting there wondering where you are. Being on time is a skill I had to learn actually; I used to be on the road and ran late a lot. Then I learned how to manage my time better with scheduling work so I had room to get the job done, travel and be on time for the next job.
#7 If you are not the type that likes answering calls and lets it roll to voicemail, you better change your tune ASAP. Running a computer repair and support business means answering phones. And if you miss a call, check the voicemail right away and call them back. People with issues like people who answer phones PERIOD. If they get a voicemail, you might not get the client. They are not tire kickers, they are just people who like responsive people. This goes for email as well, if you get an email, reply as soon as possible. Don’t wait for days, by the time you email back, the client will have moved on.
#8 Only do what you love. I learned this the long and hard way. When I first started out, going to peoples’ homes was easy and very nice. Most of the issues were all software problems. But then I started getting calls for hardware and I didn’t know much about hardware. I had to learn the hard way…learned as I got the calls in. I always told my clients I was not hardware strong but they were nice and willing to give me extra time to help them. Of course I gave them great deals on the invoice. Still, I didn’t love hardware. Finally I did realize that since I didn’t love it, I didn’t want to do it so I found a referring partner to give the hardware jobs to. Made sense and I was again happy only doing what I wanted. Some examples of things you might not love doing, but will consider doing….QuickBooks, ACT, SAGE, Outlook, Websites, SEO and managing domains and other non computer repair, but related to our industry type work. My advice, don’t offer too little or too much in the beginning. Do not fear turning away a client because you don’t know how to fix something. There is no shame in saying “My specialty is software, I have a referring partner for motherboard work, but can I add to you to my newsletter list so you can get my information.”
#9 Get to know the enemy, your competition. Many times, they can become a good referral source. I did this when I got started, I went out and tried to meet as many people in my industry as I could. Many gave me good solid advice and some were not so nice and told me to go away. The key to meeting the competition in person is to find out what they do well, what they don’t and let them know you are now in the circle. How can you help each other? No one can offer every service out there. If you can find the right “services” you don’t do, you can benefit by working together. It can also be scary for some shops to know someone new is in town opening (they can feel threatened or get a complex that they will always be better) and if they meet you, this will make it easier for them and on you. If you are in a very small town, you already know your competition and your situation. My advice might fair better for people in larger towns where the competition is a bit more wide spread.
#10, are you needed? Before you dive in, you might want to spend some time doing some analytics about the location where you want to service. You might find the market is flooded (not a bad thing sometimes) or there is no service companies (lack of need) and where can you fit in and build a successful business. If you are in a larger city and make a location map and find a few shops in your area, maybe opening a shop is not worthwhile for you. Maybe doing onsite still is, or just having an office and doing only business support. Since I cannot get into tight details here, I can recommend if you have questions to head over to www.technibble.com, join the forums and ask questions there to the members. They are very helpful!
What You Need To Start Your Computer Repair Business
What You Need To Start Your Computer Repair Business
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
Now we can move into the good stuff. You’ve decided to officially start your business, now what do you really need to start your own computer repair business? I am a bit excited about writing this for you all because from my experience, I didn’t really know and just “winged” it. Back in 2007 of course there was information out there, but now there is TONS of information. Other experienced techs who might be reading this may have a different opinion, but again, this is based off my past experience.
Let’s get going!
- Naming your business – Of course, the fun part! A name for your business and website. Now I’m sure the day you thought of starting your own computer repair business, you either knew the business name right away or have been pondering a good name. I’ve seen many techs want their name to be “Justin’s Computer Repair” (personally branded, hard to sell later) or “Boca Raton Computer Repair” (location branded, easier to sell later). Or some folks have just a name that they made up and liked, like me, “Call That Girl”. Before you fall in love with a name, check out www.register.com and make sure the domain is available for the .com, I took .biz because I didn’t care. It’s your call though. Either way, the business name and website should match up.
Get a logo – I will talk more about website design in the “marketing” blog, but you will need a logo to get started. I have been through at least a dozen designers before I found the nifty and cost efficient website www.fiverr.com. Since last summer, I have fallen in love with Fiverr and use a few different designers. All for just, yep, $5. Before you send out a crazy idea to the designers, think about a few things and what you want your new business name to represent about you and your new business. Marketing pro’s recommend 2 or 3 colors, simple graphics, font choices that are easy to use on your own computer (I do a lot of my own graphics, so my designer uses Gisha). I like using logos that can be adapted to other graphic needs. See my example here with my “girl” with a monitor and the Outlook icon on in the monitor. She is my “brand” and people see the girl and know it’s my business attached somehow. I have her on almost every form of marketing and advertising I have, including all of my podcast shows and eBooks.- Business plan – Yep, you need a plan of sorts. Do you need an official “business plan” that is very structured and intended to follow to a T? Maybe, if you are planning on getting a bank loan to help you finance your operations or have an investor, they may require it. Most techs though, just start on a wing and a prayer. I did this. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did create a “Game Plan” more than a “business plan” so I could follow along. Mind you, my plan changed often because of new ideas I would come across, new people I met and new adventures. Keep your eyes open and you might find you have an ever changing “plan” too. This is the fun part, never knowing what can happen tomorrow. If you do need a business plan, then I recommend working with SCORE, they can help you write an official plan. The members of SCORE are all retired business folks and are very helpful. I was with them for almost two years. I will be discussing SCORE in another blog coming up.
- Services List – What are you going to offer to your clients? Now that you have read in my last blog how you want to service clients, what are you going to offer to them? Basics are usually the best to get going. Since I told you about four ways to support your clients, you can offer the same services to all four, then add on as you are comfortable or find more requests coming in. When I was starting out, I offered home support only. And that included pretty much everything in terms of servicing. Below is a list of the main services a computer repair business offers:
1. General computer repair -hardware/software
2. Laptop repair – hardware replacement/repair/soldering/etc.
3. Virus removal & Tune ups
4. Data recovery services
5. Data backup
8. Computer training
10. Computer parts
- Forms and paper work stuff
- Client agreement of any sort… probably the most important form you will need. If you need an intake form at your front counter or something for a client to sign off on onsite, or an outtake form….I am not the best “form creator” so at this point, I will be referring you to take a good look at a kit created by my friend Bryce Whitty Technibble Computer Business Kit 3
To check out the next blog click here –> Business and Legal Information for Computer Repair Businesses
Call That Girl’s eBooks and Training Videos
Welcome to my eBooks and Videos sales page. Below you will find everything I sell and support as well as some free information at the bottom.
Lisa’s eBooks, all 5 eBooks $39
The Remote Support Guide (Best seller!)
- A step by step guide to setting up your business to have a successful remote support business
- Tips and information on how to service your clients remotely
- How to increase your daily sales with new services, prepay tickets and daily monitoring plans
- Includes templates for email booking appointments, client & project agreement forms, terms and conditions, small business proposal, pricing guidelines and scheduling appointment forms.
The Manual of Operations
- This is an old document but many still like using it for a template
- 40 page Word document
- Delivered as a Microsoft Word Template, easy for “cut and pasting” your business name into the document
- Standard operating procedures
- Employee conditions for employment
- Job descriptions
- Human Resources policies
- Much more…
The Social Media Guide
- 29 page workbook style (outdated but have valuable info!)
- Great tips and tricks that I learned the hard way
- Easy to understand steps on how to push out social media messages
- Newsletters, blogging and WordPress information
- Toolkit information you will need and other things you will need to use social media
- A social media to do list
- How to do a social media blast
The Guide to Microsoft Exchange Migrations
- 22 page PDF
- Step by step instructions on how to do a migration without tools with screenshots
- Learning how to back up current mailboxes, calendars and contacts
- Learn how to update the DNS for migration
- Importing mail/calendars and contacts into new server
- Aftercare lists
- How to sell administrative support tickets
How to Start a Computer Repair Business
- Get all the free blogs in a 48 page PDF
- Conversational Style Guide
$199
Created just for technicians! Outlook is a program that contains a lot of data, lots of moving parts and offers 100’s of features which are all guaranteed to break at some point. As well, it’s the program most used with the Office 365 Business Plans. These videos will train you how to properly prepare, repair and learn Outlook in a 360 view.
What you get with your purchase
- 7 videos
- 4 hours of intense training ~each made in short videos so you can stop & practice
- Access to Lisa’s private Facebook group
SEO/Google Ranking Services
Get found today! So many technician friends I know have great websites up, but not many have good SEO to help them get found. My services help you get found by creating content in your website using your location and your services. I have a starter set for $450 and buy as you like “next level” for $175. No contracts, no monthly fees, just buy as you want.
Click here to learn more and get found on the internet! If you can’t be found, you can’t be called right?
Free Learning Guide
Sign up for my newsletter
Check out my Podcast
Need to Hire Me? Below is a list of tech to tech services I provide. Contact me below.
- Outlook Expert
- Exchange Migration Coaching
- Exchange Migration Management
- Client Outlook Training
- OST recovery
- Email investigation
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Tips on Growing Your Computer Repair Business
Tips on Growing Your Computer Repair Business
Welcome to Call That Girl’s Guide to starting a computer repair and support business blog series. If you found a blog out of order, you can start with the first blog by clicking here How to start a computer repair business. Each blog will lead you to the next one until you reach the final blog.
In this series I will give tips, examples and information about how to start a computer repair business that I learned on my own initially and then later on through the help of online technical resources & friends.
I will also offer advice on what type of computer repair business to start, business and legal information, remote support, products and services you can sell, tools your computer repair business might need, a guide to pricing, a list of resources, and marketing advice.
When you first start out with your own computer repair business, fantasizing about what your business can and will become is part of the fun. I can recall many days of dreaming of what would become of Call That Girl and now over 7 years later, it’s nothing what I dreamed of in 2007.
My first dream was to have techs all over the Minneapolis area doing the onsite work and managing the jobs. I even bought a 6 foot map of the Twin Cities to post on my wall, and circled all the suburbs where I wanted techs. But the problem I found was this…when I first started out, I did the math (like you probably did, we all think alike!)
- I need to do 5 jobs per week to make $375 and that is enough for me to LIVE on. Barely
- I need 10 jobs to make $700 per week, GOAL! If I could make that, I would be thrilled!
Then of course, the dreams grew…. but hey, it takes a long time when you first start out to get just 5 jobs a week and when you get over 5 and dream for 10, that takes time. In that first year, I did so much marketing that it took me well into a year to get to the 5 per week. Then after my first year, I immediately jumped to 10 per week consistently. I think all that hard core marketing paid off!
Eventually I found out as the years went by, that I was not doing what I really loved. Doing the onsite was fun, but after I found remote support, I was back in love with my desk life again and didn’t prefer onsite jobs. So I got an office for people to bring computers to me so, yep, I could be in one place. Through the years, I hired techs and opened stores and managed contracts. Again, not doing what I loved, what I had passion for. As you read in my first blog, I eventually closed all my stores and went remote only.
Dreaming…
- Dream of growth, but don’t get too excited too early on. You will get there if you want a bigger store/business. You have to go through the tough times of figuring out your company first. Fix processes that need be in place. fix broken processes that don’t work. Every time you experience a failure of any type, try to figure out a success that came from that failure. You will have many and don’t worry, you are not alone here. It has been said that without failures, you cannot succeed. I firmly believe that and still have failures even after 7 years.
- Don’t consider projects too big for your britches. I learned this the very hard way. I took on a contract that I was not ready for. In 2010, I had an opportunity to support a retail location for computer refreshes. After succeeding with one store, they asked me to do 3 more stores, then after that 2 more stores…and within 5 months I was offered all 22 of their stores. In 9 months, I had techs in 4 states and 22 stores. Did I know what I was doing? Hell no! But I did get a managed system in place eventually and by the time it was working like a system, they told me that they decided to go in-house. I didn’t have a good contract in place, I didn’t have a paid lawyer review the terms of the agreement and really….it was all too much for me. After they closed the contract, I had to slowly start letting employees go and some of the CTG FT employees, as well. Now that I think back, it was an experience, but one I will never do again.
- Don’t dream of having employees until you have too much work on your plate for many months. If you get excited too early on and start hiring, then you might go through some slow times (for months) and will not have enough work to pay them.
- Before you hire employees, consider many factors
- Do you have enough money to keep them on payroll for a few weeks if you are slow?
- Do you have a good bookkeeping system?
- Do you pay your bills on time now? If not, you need to fix this fast.
- Taxes are due when they are due, or else you pay penalties.
- Do you have a training manual in place?
- Do you have the patience to train someone?
- Before you open a store, consider many factors
- How much overhead you will have
- How many unexpected expenses you might have
- How much money you need to live on
- Taxes! City, State, Federal
- Profit, you will need it to keep the store running and make you happy
- Savings for when times are slow and you can pay the bills
- Insurance needs for the store/employees
- Workers Compensation
- Location, is it in a good visible place for traffic and foot traffic to find you?
- Parking, you will need good parking
- Do you have the money now to buy all the print materials to set it up right?
- Do you have the money to get the furniture and desks and equipment to set it up right?
Click here to read the next blog How to start a remote support business
Call That Girl’s eBooks and Training Videos
Welcome to my eBooks and Videos sales page. Below you will find everything I sell and support as well as some free information at the bottom.
Lisa’s eBooks, all 5 eBooks $39
The Remote Support Guide (Best seller!)
- A step by step guide to setting up your business to have a successful remote support business
- Tips and information on how to service your clients remotely
- How to increase your daily sales with new services, prepay tickets and daily monitoring plans
- Includes templates for email booking appointments, client & project agreement forms, terms and conditions, small business proposal, pricing guidelines and scheduling appointment forms.
The Manual of Operations
- This is an old document but many still like using it for a template
- 40 page Word document
- Delivered as a Microsoft Word Template, easy for “cut and pasting” your business name into the document
- Standard operating procedures
- Employee conditions for employment
- Job descriptions
- Human Resources policies
- Much more…
The Social Media Guide
- 29 page workbook style (outdated but have valuable info!)
- Great tips and tricks that I learned the hard way
- Easy to understand steps on how to push out social media messages
- Newsletters, blogging and WordPress information
- Toolkit information you will need and other things you will need to use social media
- A social media to do list
- How to do a social media blast
The Guide to Microsoft Exchange Migrations
- 22 page PDF
- Step by step instructions on how to do a migration without tools with screenshots
- Learning how to back up current mailboxes, calendars and contacts
- Learn how to update the DNS for migration
- Importing mail/calendars and contacts into new server
- Aftercare lists
- How to sell administrative support tickets
How to Start a Computer Repair Business
- Get all the free blogs in a 48 page PDF
- Conversational Style Guide
$199
Created just for technicians! Outlook is a program that contains a lot of data, lots of moving parts and offers 100’s of features which are all guaranteed to break at some point. As well, it’s the program most used with the Office 365 Business Plans. These videos will train you how to properly prepare, repair and learn Outlook in a 360 view.
What you get with your purchase
- 7 videos
- 4 hours of intense training ~each made in short videos so you can stop & practice
- Access to Lisa’s private Facebook group
SEO/Google Ranking Services
Get found today! So many technician friends I know have great websites up, but not many have good SEO to help them get found. My services help you get found by creating content in your website using your location and your services. I have a starter set for $450 and buy as you like “next level” for $175. No contracts, no monthly fees, just buy as you want.
Click here to learn more and get found on the internet! If you can’t be found, you can’t be called right?
Free Learning Guide
Sign up for my newsletter
Check out my Podcast
Need to Hire Me? Below is a list of tech to tech services I provide. Contact me below.
- Outlook Expert
- Exchange Migration Coaching
- Exchange Migration Management
- Client Outlook Training
- OST recovery
- Email investigation
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