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  1. #1
    DF Probation Ryan5262's Avatar
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    Default Starting a new business IT Technician

    Was looking for some advice on starting up if any one has previous experiences that they could share ways you drummed up some business
    Would also like to know what I do to get a contract from Microsoft for the operating systems so I can install using a proper key on customer’s computers.
    Any advice would be much appreciated
    Last edited by Ryan5262; 20th April 2006 at 11:25 AM.
    [FONT=Arial Black]Life is a waste of time, Time is a waste of life so get wasted all the time and have the time of your life!:biggrin: [/FONT]

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    DF VIP Member Swiss Tony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    Doesn't work quite like that mate, you buy a licence per computer then install it, these become more cheaper the greater amount you purchase from a supplier. not get a contract to install many copies on peoples computers........
    Losing Gracefully Since September 2010

  3. #3
    DF Probation Ryan5262's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    ok cheerz for the info

    any more?
    [FONT=Arial Black]Life is a waste of time, Time is a waste of life so get wasted all the time and have the time of your life!:biggrin: [/FONT]

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    DF VIP Member FireBlade's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    Depends on if you wanna do systems retail or just repair its not an easy business to get into any more.

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    DF VIP Member AJ_007's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    Best way to drum up business to start with is word of mouth off friends and family etc,

    I've worked in IT for about 5 years an have done the odd couple of jobs for dads mates, work collegues etc everything from sticking a piece of ram in to full rebuild.

    Take last weekend for instance, I used go to circuiting training and know the bloke who runs it, he gives me bell says he needs some stuff doing to his pc.

    cutting a long story short he gives us £20 for 10mins worth of work putting in some more ram and a dvd player. he says would you mind If I pass your number on to other people who need help with their pc's. I said sure no probs.

    Phone rings another guy needs help so Off I go to see him 4hrs later (Was a tricky one) another £60 in hand got a message on me phone now to ring one of that guys mates.

    Now if your going to be turning into a busines then you will next to get setup properly

    These chaps http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/ helped my mate setup his own internet cafe/gaming shop they tell you what you need and give you a bit of cash to start you going. give them a buzz,

    Hope everything goes well for you mate & let me know how you get on as you don't earn the big bucks working for others!!!

    AJ
    Last edited by AJ_007; 20th April 2006 at 04:08 PM.
    "The cream has floated to the top" - Midnight_Toker on his work fantasy football team's recent form 08.11.06

  6. #6
    DF VIP Member MaxP's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    not an easy path at all...
    there are many many people out there chasiong the same sort of work..

    if you are going to make a sucess of this venture then you will need to be extreamly diligent and higly focused. at the start your going to be making considerable efforts for what seems like minimal business.

    for instance you might spend £100 getting leaflets made and only get £50 of business from it. this dosnt make the leaflets un-viable, its just at the start you have to get the costomers first.

    so dont think all of a sudden your gonna be raking it in within 6 months...

    have a very claer and precises pricing structure and STICK to it.
    working for mates of mates is all fine and dandy until they want it at mates rates. your not init for mates rates you in it to make a profit.
    customers also prefer to know exactly what the costs are befor they start.

    also at the start take anything...any job not matter how small or how far away...as AJ says a lot fo work can be gained thru word of mouth....
    to aid this you might consider having a decent wedge of business cards made up, make sure you give a coupel to each person you do work for and ASK them to pass then on to any other friends they might know.

    also a bit cheeky, but i have seen it done...
    get some small stickers made up, nice looking ones with your name/number. ask if its ok to place one of these stickers on the screen or base of the customers machine, the idea being that if the user has an issue your number is stairing them directly in the face, removing the need to deicde who to call.

    whislt you may be technicaly suited, thats only part of the process.
    you MUST be a people person, you MUST know how to speak/deal with people of all skill levels and backgrounds. they are paying you money becasue you have a skill they dont, this is not an excuse to get all high and mighty, they dont need it rubber in their faces.
    so every customer is your most importtant customer. every customer is important, dont do anything that might give the customer a reason to dislike you.

    banging on in a technical fashion to a non technical user will lose you customers hand over fist.

    make the most of your customers....why install a dsl modem they have purchased ? far better if you can supply the kit, its a few more pounds profit plus it can be kit you are familiar with...

    dont say "you need a new CPU here is the link to ebuyer as there the cheapest"
    instead you say "i see your CPU is getting on a bit..i have a particaly good deal at the moment on AMD whatevers...."
    if there interested you can get a little profit of both the goods and the work and your creating more work from a single customer.

    leave your morals at home.....by this i mean if the customer askes about vidoe cards, dont have a discussion as you would with a mate. going into vast detials about the now ATI range or pixle shaders.
    you there to sell....ok dont sell them a donkey, but make sure you are aware of what good deals you know of.... if you know a well good deal for ATI X800's then dont bang on about nvida's new range.
    the x800 is suitable for the job at hand and you can get a little mark up.
    you sell them the x800. if the customer says they want the latest Nvida SLI's then sweet, just make sure you the one to supply them...
    you find the best deal avaliable to YOU and you supply the kit at a profit.
    if the bloke went to pcworld it would cost him 400 nicker per card...
    you can get em from ebuyer for 350 nicker.....so with two of em thats 800 squid from pcworld but only 700 from ebuyer.
    the customer gets a deal when you charge him 750 and thats 50 for you.


    thers no point pretending its a walk in the park, if it was we would all be at it. but as long as you posses the technical skills, the people skills and the digligence/determination to make it work then it can be a very profitable and nice lifestyle to have.

    good luck....
    very good luck.....

    dont do what a friend and i have been doing for the last ten years...
    we discusse how we are going to take over the IT world (usally during coupious ammounts of green consumption) and then never actualy do bugger all about it.
    i think my mate went as far as getting leaflets printed but couldnt be bother to stick em thru anyones doors....LOL..

  7. #7
    DF VIP Member furrry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    Hi


    Sorry to sound negative, but here is my experience in what you are getting into.

    Dealing with the public is a nightmare...especially when its something they have little knowledge about. As soon as you touch their precious PC they think you are responsible for every little thing that goes wrong with it from then on.
    always phoning you asking questions not related to the work you done on their system.
    repeat callouts for this can eat into your time heavily so you should state clearly on first contact with potential customer what your callout charge is and whats covered by any warranty.

    I would even go as far as making up a disclaimer saying you will not be held responsible for any faults found not relating to the fault they describe or any faults that develop during or at any time after the repair unless its related to the parts/repair you fixed in the first instance. And get them to read and sign it before you touch their PC.(if i had a £1 for everytime i heard the saying "it was working before you fitted that part").

    Most times customers dont have their windows/drivers disks either,so that will leave you in a position of do you install dodgy software to get the job and be paid,or walk away unpaid, as no-one wants to pay you for doing nothing.
    An hourly charge would be best in this line of work cause a 10 min virus removal job so often turns into 2/3 hours cause u need to re-install windows and download drivers n stuff.

    Another potential issue is customers personal documents on a PC, make sure u explain your policy on whether you will back them up or not before you start work on their PCi recently hada guy with a laptop and a restore CD,he said he tried to run the restore CD but it didnt work,i sussed out it was a boot device priority issue,got the disk booting and ran it,charged him for job,next day he was on phone giving major earache saying i lost 5 years of work and he nearly lost his job cause of me. he didnt mention that he wanted anything saved when he gave me the laptop).


    anyway enough of me going on

    i hope this information has been helpful

  8. #8
    DF VIP Member daz73's Avatar
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    Default Re: Starting a new business IT Technician

    Hi can strongly agree with the above.. I work as a contractor for a pc repair company and first thing I do is get them to sign a disclaimer stating I am not responsible for any loss of data as it should be backed up.

    I also work for myself.... Get cards made from Vistaprint, 250 glossy nice cards for £10.. Hand them to everyone you see, you soon get referalls which is a good sign you're doing a good job..

    I personally stress I dont have a callout charge and a NO FIX NO FEE policy which does do well for me as people ring me 1st cause theres no callout. Even though i work the NFNF policy I do however stress to them this doesnt include diagnostic check.. eg. If i cant fix the problem cos there is no OS discs or its I tell them its a hard drive problem but THEY want to buy another and install it.. I charge £20 for a diagnostic fee as they didnt know what was wrong with the pc.. If they want to do the work themselves thats fair enough but they didnt know what to do so they pay.

    Always try to explain things in the easiest way possible, nothing worse than harping on about cpu's and ddr ram cos its nothing to them.

    I do okay out of my own work although not a full time job..

    Advertised in Yellow Pages cost me £250
    Cards - £10
    Design my leaflets then photocopied them - £15 for 1000

    Since January I have made £1500 which isnt that bad considering I only do a few jobs a month.

    Best of luck m8, any help u need, shout...

    Oh and if you need to replace old pc parts.. Keep em, always come in handy.

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