Starting A Local Home Based Business

[spirit]

Always...ALWAYS do something you like and want.We all have only 1 life.So use it how YOU like and want.

S.T.A.R.S., couldn't agree more with you mate. Life is to be enjoyed.

krustykobb, I'm sure your parents will be fine with it. Mine were, but then again my Dad is an IT technician and does run his own IT support business.

 

[S.T.A.R.S.]

Wow somebody actually agrees with me lol.Cool!

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Anyway...

Folks I am in the hospital right now and I am bored as hell as I am writing this.Right now it's 01:12 AM here and I am going on the operation around 02:30 AM so wish me luck.It was supposed to be in thursday morning,but my current condition requires it earlier.I will have an operation on my mandibula jaw and it is going to be pretty tricky since I have septicemia because the damn doctor screwed up last week.Well what can I say...sh!t happens lol.I am drinking tons of antibiotics for the past 5 days like nuts and my jaw hurts like nuts too lol.Didn't eat for almost 5 days.Sucks I know.I just hope everything will go well because I am expecting someone very very very special to me to arrive here for 2 days and I don't want her to see me in a damn hospital bad laying like a zombie lol.I have to get better after the operation as soon as possible so I can get home in thursday morning (approximately 48 hours from now) so wish me all luck because that is all I need right now!
If everything goes well,I will let you all know during this week.

Until then folks...try not to screw up your OS so that I do not need to lose too much time helping since I will feel like sh!t after the operation lol.

WISH ME ALL LUCK AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!



Cheers everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[krustykobb]

Wow somebody actually agrees with me lol.Cool!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway...

Folks I am in the hospital right now and I am bored as hell as I am writing this.Right now it's 01:12 AM here and I am going on the operation around 02:30 AM so wish me luck.It was supposed to be in thursday morning,but my current condition requires it earlier.I will have an operation on my mandibula jaw and it is going to be pretty tricky since I have septicemia because the damn doctor screwed up last week.Well what can I say...sh!t happens lol.I am drinking tons of antibiotics for the past 5 days like nuts and my jaw hurts like nuts too lol.Didn't eat for almost 5 days.Sucks I know.I just hope everything will go well because I am expecting someone very very very special to me to arrive here for 2 days and I don't want her to see me in a damn hospital bad laying like a zombie lol.I have to get better after the operation as soon as possible so I can get home in thursday morning (approximately 48 hours from now) so wish me all luck because that is all I need right now!
If everything goes well,I will let you all know during this week.

Until then folks...try not to screw up your OS so that I do not need to lose too much time helping since I will feel like sh!t after the operation lol.

WISH ME ALL LUCK AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!



Cheers everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck Mate!

 

[krustykobb]

krustykobb, I'm sure your parents will be fine with it. Mine were, but then again my Dad is an IT technician and does run his own IT support business.

Thanks, going to tell them about it when I get back from school this afternoon. Will keep you posted!

 

[krustykobb]

Hi,

Just a quick update - introduced the idea to my parents, they wern't sure as to what I am wanting to be doing. So I explained it to them and they came up with a list of negatives - like how will you get the money and stuff like that... What I mean by that is do I charge them up front or after it has been built and they have received it? And what if something breaks - won't the warranty cover it if I send it back and they change it? What should I do now? Thanks

 

[SuperDuperMe]

SO the money should come from them, like any service, they pay you for parts and service. Warranty will cover individual parts, however, as a service im not sure what your legal obligation would be to offer.

That said, if you break the parts by doing a bad job, your way, way out of pocket as youll have to refund the customer or replace the parts yourself.


In terms of warranty you may need to find out what length you will have to give them. It may only be 12months, it may be no warranty what so ever, buit you need to check that. Other than that you don't actually need much money yourself for it. Maybe just for tools, esd bands, screwdrivers etc.



(about charging them after, if you do do this, please never ever do that. If they change theyre mind and dont want it after everythings paid for your out of pocket Always get your costs etc up front. To make it more favourable for the customer, charge them for parts before and for your service after. This may help with the fact your young and as they will see it not very experianced.)

 

[krustykobb]

SO the money should come from them, like any service, they pay you for parts and service. Warranty will cover individual parts, however, as a service im not sure what your legal obligation would be to offer.

That said, if you break the parts by doing a bad job, your way, way out of pocket as youll have to refund the customer or replace the parts yourself.


In terms of warranty you may need to find out what length you will have to give them. It may only be 12months, it may be no warranty what so ever, buit you need to check that. Other than that you don't actually need much money yourself for it. Maybe just for tools, esd bands, screwdrivers etc.



(about charging them after, if you do do this, please never ever do that. If they change theyre mind and dont want it after everythings paid for your out of pocket Always get your costs etc up front. To make it more favourable for the customer, charge them for parts before and for your service after. This may help with the fact your young and as they will see it not very experianced.)

Thanks, will try explaining this and will get back to you later!

 

[spirit]

hat I mean by that is do I charge them up front or after it has been built and they have received it?

You get them to pay you before you build or buy anything, and they pay the price of the parts as well as however much mark-up you will charge them. If they don't pay, then no service is what I go by.

 

[krustykobb]

You get them to pay you before you build or buy anything, and they pay the price of the parts as well as however much mark-up you will charge them. If they don't pay, then no service is what I go by.

My parents don't know what to do about it, they think this plan will fall through... what can I tell them? I really want to do this.

 

[spirit]

You need to get some customers first mate. See if anybody they know or any of your friends are having problems with their PCs (slowness, infected etc etc) and then see if you can sort it out for them and charge them a little bit. Keep doing that and make yourself known, and then think about building/rebuilding people's machines. I wouldn't start off with a build straight away.

Sometimes plan do fall through, yes. I've had several of my friends ask me to build them PCs and I've got as far as configuring one for them and they've "dropped out", but it's OK because they haven't lost any money and most critically, I haven't lost any money either because I don't buy until people pay or certainly say they definitely want to go ahead.

I'd recommend if you do build somebody a PC, you build a PC which an adult wants to buy before you build one which one of your friends or a child wants to buy. Adults have more money obviously and they tend to stick with deals a lot better.

That's all my experience, keep your questions coming if you have any.

...one other thing. Don't work for chocolate! People tend to 'pay' kids in chocolate bars or Easter Eggs or whatever because they think they can get away with it, don't accept that, only work for money. Believe me when you've done all that hard work reinstalling a customer's machine and all you receive is a chocolate bar or a box of Milk Tray, you feel cheated. :/

 

[krustykobb]

You need to get some customers first mate. See if anybody they know or any of your friends are having problems with their PCs (slowness, infected etc etc) and then see if you can sort it out for them and charge them a little bit. Keep doing that and make yourself known, and then think about building/rebuilding people's machines. I wouldn't start off with a build straight away.

Sometimes plan do fall through, yes. I've had several of my friends ask me to build them PCs and I've got as far as configuring one for them and they've "dropped out", but it's OK because they haven't lost any money and most critically, I haven't lost any money either because I don't buy until people pay or certainly say they definitely want to go ahead.

I'd recommend if you do build somebody a PC, you build a PC which an adult wants to buy before you build one which one of your friends or a child wants to buy. Adults have more money obviously and they tend to stick with deals a lot better.

That's all my experience, keep your questions coming if you have any.

...one other thing. Don't work for chocolate! People tend to 'pay' kids in chocolate bars or Easter Eggs or whatever because they think they can get away with it, don't accept that, only work for money. Believe me when you've done all that hard work reinstalling a customer's machine and all you receive is a chocolate bar or a box of Milk Tray, you feel cheated. :/

Hi,

Thanks, I know what you mean. I will show them this post later on and see what they say! Thanks again for the advice everyone, I really do appreciate it!

 

[SuperDuperMe]

I agree, you should start with maintenance. Dont think of it as a buisness, more of something to gain exoeriance.

I dont want to sound snotty but if a 13 YO asked me if i wanted a pc building id definately say no. You need to 1) get a customer base going, 2) (dont want to patronise you) but get a bit older Not in a funny way i mean like literally older. People wont want to hand over cash to a kid essentially. That said if you start off with maintenance then your customer base will grow and you may start being asked to build pc's.

I just wouldnt advertise yourself as that.


Not saying dont do it, just saying its a hard market to crack, people who want performance pc's generally know how to build them, people who want office pc's buy from shops. People in the middle arent that many, and theyre are people out there with 20+ years exp in some cases.

Logically most people would go to them before you.


Like i said not trying to patronise you, but vistakid has a point about maintenance.

 

[spirit]

Yes you should definitely start off by reinstalling people's PCs and generally doing maintenance on them. Charge them a bit, but not too much. I charge anywhere between £15-£40 depending on what I've done and how long it's taken if all I have done is reinstall Windows and done some general housekeeping for them.

Also, don't have a price set in concrete. Speak to your customer, ask them how much they want to spend, and then agree on a price. If it's too high, lower it, if it's too low, either don't do the work or persuade them to up it. If they don't up it, then don't keep pushing them, just leave and move on.

 

[krustykobb]

I agree, you should start with maintenance. Dont think of it as a buisness, more of something to gain exoeriance.

I dont want to sound snotty but if a 13 YO asked me if i wanted a pc building id definately say no. You need to 1) get a customer base going, 2) (dont want to patronise you) but get a bit older Not in a funny way i mean like literally older. People wont want to hand over cash to a kid essentially. That said if you start off with maintenance then your customer base will grow and you may start being asked to build pc's.

I just wouldnt advertise yourself as that.


Not saying dont do it, just saying its a hard market to crack, people who want performance pc's generally know how to build them, people who want office pc's buy from shops. People in the middle arent that many, and theyre are people out there with 20+ years exp in some cases.

Logically most people would go to them before you.


Like i said not trying to patronise you, but vistakid has a point about maintenance.

Thanks, I will take your comments into consideration

 

[SuperDuperMe]

No worries mate like i said not wanting to put you off the idea, or patronise you but its something to keep in mind.

 

[krustykobb]

Thanks, how do I get known so I can do the maintenance work? I won't get any business if no one knows i'm doing it.

 

[spirit]

You get known by doing the service once, hopefully satisfy your customer, and then your customer hopefully goes and recommends you to other people they know who may require your service.

 

[Dragunov IV 424]

Hi, This is my first post!

Recently I built my first custom PC and I really enjoyed doing it. I would like to do it again, so then I had an idea. I would start a small (not expecting tons of orders) business building custom PC'S for people in my area. I would ask for what their budget would be and if they want any specific components. I would also take the money first (including labor for my building) and then build it and give it to the customer. A few questions I have are; Are there any laws involved whilst doing this? I don't want to get into trouble. And is there a legal age to do this (i'm only 13)

Thanks & Any Advice Appreciated!

Same here!, except I have already started, and it is for T-shirts, custom or stock.

 

[Ethan3.14159]

Doing something once doesn't qualify you to start a business around that. Sorry, but that's the truth.

The best way to gain experience is to shadow people you know in the field, or find an internship. If your school has ICT Support then ask if you can shadow them after school. You'll learn a lot about real world application of technology and IT infrastructure.

That will give you heaps more knowledge and experience than trying to tap into a very limited market as a 13 year old. Every man and his dog can build a computer these days. There are a lot of one man IT companies around (I had one for about a year) and custom computers are usually a very, very tiny part of the business.