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?"

My advice

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking as someone who has started a small home computer business few years ago (and have failed miserably -- now I'm a bankrupt) I can only advise you to not spend your investors money on hookers. I know, it seems to be a great life style at first and the girls are amazing, but trust me, you really need those money to buy hardware, because otherwise your investors (and the bank) will be really pissed off.

Re:My advice

[The Clockwork Troll]

Your critical error was not spending the money on hookers; it was forgetting to get the bank president laid as well.

Insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

The pros charge so much to pay for their insurance. What happens when somebody's computer breaks a month down the line, and they think it's your fault? Are you going to buy them a new computer, or let them sue you?

Re:Insurance

[whacked]

Yes, definately, two words, indemnity insurance.

Re:Insurance

[alonsoac]

How common is this? In five years working in this field I have never seen a complaint of this type from a customer. Are all pros really insured, is the insurance that costly?

Re:Insurance

[jon doh!]

In five years working in this field I have never seen a complaint of this type from a customer.

are you perfect? does nothing bad ever happen to you? do you think the customer will only complain about something breaking that you're actually responsible for? i've never had a car accident, and only liability is required in my state, but i still have full coverage, not because i think i'll make a mistake, but because there's lots of idiots out there who will.

Re:Insurance

[alonsoac]

My point was that while I have had car troubles and know many other people who have had them too, I have never heard of someone suing a tech for some work done on a computer, I guess this country just works differently to the U.S.

Re:Insurance

[jon doh!]

and how, in this country most people unfortunately are willing to sue over anything.

i've seen it before though, when someone fixes something and someone else breaks it and blames it on the tech who fixed it. "it broke after the techie was messing with it". and i wouldn't put it past most people to not try and get something for nothing.

Re:Insurance

[kiwimate]

I moved to the U.S. four years ago, and that was the first time I'd ever even heard of this insurance. I have no idea how much it costs, but I know that the two consulting firms I've worked for in the past four years have both had insurance.

I believe the amount of insurance was one million dollars, but don't quote me on that. When I joined each company, my name was added to the insurance contract. These were both very small companies, by the way.

About insurance

[macshune]

In Oregon at least, you need to have at least $1 million in liability insurance to incorporate a company. IIRC, it's like $300/year or something that was pretty decent.

Re:Insurance

[tundog]

ROTFLMAO. When you start a busniess, ANY business, you need basic liability insurance. This entrepeneurship 101. Otherwise, if something bad happens, even if its not your fault, you could be f00ked.

Re:Insurance

[optikSmoke]

I have one thing to say: Only in the US. For lack of meaningful ways of solving your problems, you can always sue for damages well-inflated from any realistic estimation of the "damage" done. And expect a settlement every time. Yay for litigation!

Re:Insurance

[crapulent]

Or, more importantly, what happens when you're carrying a monitor in your arms and accidently step on little Johnny's hand (because you can't see down there) and the mother decides to sue you? It's ridiculous, I know, but it's also part of any business.

Condoms

[\\]

Make sure you bring condoms for all those times you bump into lonely ladies out there in computer land.

I am so not kidding.

Re:Condoms

[RCO]

Well, at the very least, he shows fore.. thought , yeah, that's what I was going to say, forethought.

Get it in Writing

[darkkewulf]

Always have a disclaimer form that releases you from liability should something go wrong. If my customer won't sign the form, I won't touch the PC. That way, the user can't blame you if he screws up and loses everything from his drive a few weeks after you've done your thing.

Re:Get it in Writing

[pbrammer]

Be careful though, if it's your fault, it's your fault.

A disclaimer does not legally remove the burdon off of your shoulders. If you are responsible for damages to a computer, you are responsible for those damages regardless of said disclaimer sheet.

Liability release forms also do not hold their water in court. Take a place that has a climbing wall that also rents out equipment for that wall. You sign a liability release form that states if something you do is reckless [and to your point above], you cannot sue them, but if they haven't kept up on checking their harnesses and one breaks and you fall two stories to the ground - breaking your neck - you can sue them for negligence.

Phil

Re:Get it in Writing

[jqh1]

Most *standard* disclaimers don't won't save you if it's your fault -- you could theoretically write one that would, though, but then you'd have to get them to understand it and to agree to it...

So why have any disclaimer? The "default" rules that come into play when something goes wrong sometimes result in liability that the parties did not anticipate. So instead, you can use contractual terms (a disclaimer, etc.) to override the effect of the default rules and put agreed-upon rules in their place. Of

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

[gklinger]

I only made 300$ this summer (half enough to pay for my new computar!).

On the other hand, you made more than enough to purchase a dictionary, young "computar" consultant.

Re:price

[psyco484]

Hmmm...$15 seems a fair price for a kid that spells computer "computar."

Asking your customers how much they want to pay you only works if you're fixing a friend's computer...I know plenty of places that would say "oh hell, I could've done that, here's 30 bucks," except they couldn't have done it, and you worked 5 hours. Being upfront about your rate is always a good idea, but especially when you add in "depending on what I actually have to do, I charge $XX an hour"

I charged $18 an hour at a place I stayed at for 80 hours, and $20 an hour for places I worked for a day or less. Through some small scale advertising in the news paper, usually just saying "computer systems upgraded, maintained, repaired," and a phone number I got a number of jobs with this rate. I don't have any certifications, nor can I afford them, but seeing as how the grocery store wouldn't hire me to push carts at minimum wage, I think I did fairly well for myself. Don't forget that if you make enough you've gotta file your tax stuff properly or the gov will hunt you down and break your knees.

A lot of people think that either no one is willing to hire a high school/freshmen college student to work on their computers, or that charging something like $20 an hour at that age is too much. Well, it's not true. At $20 an hour, you're damn cheap labor as far as IT goes. If the company can't afford that, then they're certaintly not going to hire a "professional." I charged a total of $1500 to a small firm, to do all kinds of stuff in a 3 week period, they were not only happy that they finally got their network running properly, but that they got such a good deal on decent computer work. The guy before me was charging them $80 to plug in cables and tell win98 machines to login at an NT server, they threw him out after about 8 hours since he screwed it up and ripped them off. I worked harder and longer at a quarter the price, but the work I got this summer gave me experience in something I've never done before, and enough money to pay the tuition bills for the next year, so it was a good deal for me and the company. If he was charging so much to cover insurance costs, he kind of screwed himself over in that respect. I don't have insurance, I just have clients sign a contract outlining what I'm actually doing, and that I'm only liable for what I've done. In summary, if their hard drive crashes and they lose all their data, tough luck, not my fault. If the hard drive I installed improperly fails, I replace the hard drive, but they're SOL if they didn't make backups like I outlined they woud in the contract. This covers my ass adequetly without the hefty insurance costs. Just make sure you take precautions before you open that case up and you'll be fine.

Something else to watch out for that I'll just touch upon briefly is to make sure you have no liability over software you end up installing on their computer. MANY times I've run into people that want me to install the same copy of Windows XP Pro on 10 different workstations, and do the same with that copy of Office XP their friend burned for them, etc. etc. If you install the software on their machine, you've gotta make sure you're not reasponsible if it's illegal. Whether you actually do what they want and install that copy of XP on 80 different computers or if you tell them "sorry, you're going to have to pay the $16000 license fees to do that," you gotta make sure you're absolved from any "illegal" stuff. Note, this is also a good way to get a company to pay you if they don't want to for whatever reason: "I know you have 79 hot copies of XP pro running in your office, I'm sure the BSA would love to hear that..." usually get's them to cut you a check right then ;).

Re:price

[greenhide]

My kybard sucs tody.

I'm not hiring someone who can't even get their keyboard to work.

Keyboards cost what, $10? Go get yourself a new one.

Re:price

[Interesting Username]

He only made $300. $10 out of $300 is a lot of money!

Re:price

[Kibo]

At boeing surplus you can buy them for a quarter a shot. And they come pre coffee stained!

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.

well..

[REBloomfield]

get indemnity insurance pronto. you bust it, you don't want to pay for it...

Well..

[rylin]

Usually, you should start out with a business plan.
For good examples, check out pretty much any slashdot thread. Example:
1) Ask slashdot how to start a business and what slashdot users want
2) Buy a nice leased line and set up a webserver on it (preferably heavily driven by databases and dynamic content)
3) Advertise said site on slashdot
4) Prof...
5) Buy a new webserver
6) Declare yourself bankrupt

Re:Well..

[donutz]

That's no business plan! Here's a real business plan:

1) Ask slashdot how to start a business
2) ???
3) PROFIT! Woohoo!

Business & Trust

[Wade Tregaskis]

I'm not speaking from personal experience - so take some salt - but from talking with friends [who do tech support consulting] your best bet is to target small to medium business', rather than consumers. That's if you're going primarily for money - it may be more personally rewarding to work with consumers (especially if you believe some of the posts here, although no one I've talked to has had the opportunity to mix business and pleasure to that extent).

With business', you can build up a really good regular customer base by demonstrating that you trust and care for them. Carry a set of spare components (hard disks, ram, maybe an optical drive or two, etc) with you all the time. If some hardware is acting flaky - and you can't fix it immediately - lend them a replacement and/or substitute. Most business' will be used to lazy, pushy & expensive IT guys, and the mere act of lending them a replacement stick of ram for a week or two will boggle their brains.

Re:Business & Trust

[Lord Grey]

The wording in the topic makes me believe that the poster is currently a senior in high school, rather than someone who has just graduated. If that's the case, then anything above the mom-and-pop business should probably be avoided for now. Or rather, any business (large or small) with a sizable IT requirement should be avoided. That final year of school needs to be balanced with the business, and small customers/requirements will be much more understanding of that need.

That said, I entirely agree with th

Re:Business & Trust

[jhoffoss]

Spare loaner hw is fine. But never, never, EVER, sell hardware. You may make suggestions, you may install it, but do NOT buy it for them and install it. If you do so, you are now the provider of warranty service. A coworker who consulted for 18 years got about five years into his business and got burned nearly to the point of bankruptcy because all his customers and their lawyers were coming to him, saying the five year old pc he built and installed is faulty because the latest-`n-greatest software no longe

Best advertising

[__past__]

Write long, pointless articles and have them mentioned on the slashdot [slashdot.org] front page [slashdot.org].

Certs.

[Mmm coffee]

Who would you rather hire - some kid who knows how to muck around with a computer or an A+ certified tech? If you're going to do anything serious in the repair industry then you should get A+ certified. The test is dead simple, but very valuable. Although I've never found a use for it (yet, other than to pad my resume), I know that should Joe User muck up his computer 2 weeks after I fix it and he sues me that the judge will take my certified experience with a lot more weight than if I wasn't.

Re:Certs.

[override11]

A+ Is the easiest, most meaningless cert there is. Its ALL about experience. When you go for an interview, they dont want some kid outa highschool with his MCP and A+, they want someone who has been network troubleshooting / workin on puters for years. I started with a small company doing on-sight work as a contracter, charging 55 bucks an hour and bringing home 1/2 of that, for 3 years. Now I am a network admin for a national trucking company and couldnt be happier. :)

Avoid burnout!

[Whatchamacallit]

Watch out for problem customers. i.e. the one's who call you every week and try to be cheap about paying you. Don't accept food for work. Don't accept checks until you have verified their ability to pay you. i.e. never take a check on the first couple visits. If they bounce a check on you, terminate future business with them until they pay you for the check they bounced plus interest. Always charge them per hour the same rate.

Invest in the tools you are going to need. It's going to be expensive. You need to be a pro and recover almost any data and fix dead systems. Therefore, you are going to need spare hardware and a ton of software tools such as Winternals Admin Pak, etc. ($699 license) XP & NTFS is the need for this cost. NTFS is a real pain to mount and work with there are no decent free toolsets for NTFS. You can get around it but believe me, you need the AdminPak it has saved my bacon a bazillon times already and it's worth every damn penny! A really good laptop and possibly a small miniture desktop system so you can pull an IDE hard disk and mount it in your own semi-portable system, etc.

Not everyone has broadband, start building CD-R's full of drivers, etc. You may have to stop by a customer site and do a survey to find out what hardware they have so you can then go back to your office and download everything to CD because they have a 28.8kbps modem and it's barely working.

The reason the pro's charge so much is they have had to buy insurance to protect them against lawsuits. They have to invest in training and tools both hardware and software. They have rent and taxes to pay. Remember, in the USA you have to file tax returns quarterly with Uncle Sam even for a small consulting business.

I know a whole lot of kids and others who did what you are contemplating for a few years. Few made any money at it and most burned themselves out in less then 3 years; finally saying screw this and getting a real job. (something better then bagging groceries). Once you are out of High School and you get a real job, you will see how futile it was.

It's good training to put your feet to the fire and you will get a ton of experience. But watchout! One customer with a lawsuit and you are toast! Then get tagged by the IRS because you are dealing under the table and not paying taxes, etc.

You will have to deal with complete idiots who have 4 or 5 computers, broadband, and the boxes are full of spyware, trojans, viruses, etc. The user will have run ethernet cable outdoors and literally used two patch cables connected with an RJ45 splitter and wrapped in duct tape! This was hanging outside the house in Connecticut! It will be exposed to temperature extremes (contraction & expansion) and his connection will come and go, plus it will corrode (not gold plated). When I got there all of his boxes were so full of crap, viruses, trojans, and I am pretty sure they were all hacked and spending spam! It took me 2 weeks to rebuild everything and restore all his data, change all his passwords, install a firewall, and updated NAV licenses. I also offered to rerun the ethernet cable with a single run of cable rather then his mickey mouse patch cables + duct tape solution! Meanwhile, I had to contend with his Jesus Freak rhetoric and being happy about the end of the world!

Bottom line, get insurance (all it takes is for you to break something simply by accident, it happens to the best of tech's), get bonded, get the tools, get a car and not a bicycle, get a whole lot of patience, and be prepared to turn away customers who are trouble! Don't give anything away for free. Charge less then the competition but don't undercharge too much! Look for small business outfits rather then home consumer users. Start your own business rather then run under the table.

Oh and get a gun permit and carry a box of condoms! ...
Yeah, I've made house calls to horney woman and I've shot rats the size of small dogs in dirt floor basements. I've also met some very very weird people. Think, Silence of the Lambs weirdo's! Bodies in the basement, etc. Be prepared to show up and walk or run away quickly!

Re:Avoid burnout!

[Whatchamacallit]

Hmm Truncated my post...

Remainder:

I've also met some very very weird people. Think, Silence of the Lambs weirdo's! Bodies in the basement, etc. Be prepared to show up and walk or run away quickly!

Re:Avoid burnout!

[erasmus_]

It didn't truncate your post. See how there's a little link at the end of the original post that says "Read the rest of this comment..."? That's where the rest of it went.

On another note though, do you really think this guy will need to buy $700 NTFS recovery before he even makes any money? Most of his customers are going to be running 9X and perhaps a few on 2000/XP, and most of those are still going to use FAT. I have not seen many OEMs shipping NTFS formatted hard drives even on OSs that support the

Re:Avoid burnout!

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually you are wrong. Most systems are shipping with NTFS partitions. Or users are wiping them and loading NTFS during the system restore process.

Besides, he is getting paid to fix PC's. He will need something to read NTFS when a system won't boot. Winternals AdminPak is the only decent tool that works as well as it does. He will be up the proverbial creek the first time he attempts to service an XP box that won't boot and it's running NTFS. Besides, Winternals AdminPak will in fact read FAT32 as w

Re:Avoid burnout!

[zulux]

He will need something to read NTFS when a system won't boot. Winternals AdminPak is the only decent tool that works as well as it does

Knoppix (the bootable, CD-ROM Linux) - will read NTFS file-systems and allow you to ftp, rsync, or scp the contents over to another computer.

1) Insert Knoppix CD
2) Boot
3) Wait a few momoents
4) You now have a desktoip with the NTFS partition(s) as little icons.
5) Browse them.
6) Copy files over network.

The best thing is that the NTFS file-system is mounted read only - so you can't do any more damage than there already has been done.

(yes 'NTFS file-system' is redundant, excuse me while I go to the ATM machine)

Re:Avoid burnout!

[onomatomania]

Sure, it will read ntfs just fine. The key word is READ. Should you want to modify anything, however, you will quickly find that the Linux kernel support for mounting ntfs r/w is labeled with large bells and whistles that warn "Do not use this for real data!" I.e., it's still quite experimental.

Re:Avoid burnout!

[tigersha]

Awww cm'on, you can't stop there!

Tell us about the Silence of the Lambs customer with the bodies in the Cellar!

bah

[pwarf]

When you start out, don't market yourself to people who need data recovery and $699. There is a large market of people who just need help with everyday computer things like installing printers, learning how to get their pictures off their fancy digital camera, burning CDs, setting up e-mail accounts in Outlook, etc.

A few non-repair services you should consider:
*1 hour of one-on-one help with digital photography. Before the class begins, skim the manual or fiddle with the camera. Teach them how to operat

Don't be too nice

[gregRowe]

I know it sounds strange but be very strict about billing. Many small businesses are too trusting and too nice and allow other businesses to walk all over them.

Make sure you bill promptly and accurately and be sure to charge late charges on accounts. If a customer becomes past due do not perform further work for them. You can't work for free and make a living.

Also, don't charge *too much* below what the MCSEs charge. It's stupid but people will automatically think that you are of lesser quality. You have to have an air of confidence, and charging "high" prices shows that you feel you are worth that much.

Greg

Re:Don't be too nice

[rkent]

Make sure you bill promptly and accurately and be sure to charge late charges on accounts. If a customer becomes past due do not perform further work for them. You can't work for free and make a living.

It's difficult to overstate how important this is. At some point, if you keep this up, you'll run into a customer who doesn't pay. Hopefully they'll short you $50 instead of $500, but learn your lesson when it happens.

Be "gentle but firm" with your billing terms; travel with blank invoices that specify "

Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know how good you are with programming, but you can make good money doing programming for small companies/small towns who need computer work done. Lots of them would benefit greatly from web-based system that can keep track of their customers, or one for posting new bus routes online for when school starts. Things like that are easy to create, easy to maintain, and very impressive when whoever's paying you shows it to their boss. Just make sure you slap a nice color scheme on it!

I found a job do

Tech Support Subscriptions

[JMandingo]

If you do a good job and get repeat calls from the same businesses, offer to let them keep you on call 24/7 for a moderate montly retainer. Then, if you continue to do a good job you will be raking in big bucks from multiple customers for little actual work.

Make agreements with other quality people doing the same work in your area to cover for each other. Then if several of your customers have problems at the same time you can take care of them all with the extra sets of hands. And you will be able to g

Re:Tech Support Subscriptions

[peragrin]

Not all small businesses need 24/7 on call support.
The store at which I work even though the server is on 24/7 the store itself is only open 7am to 5pm 6 days a week. Offer a couple of different support levels at various price rates. If Someone is only going to need service on weekdays, then offer that at a discount, You now you won't have to go in on weekends, and the customer doesn't pay so much

Insurance

[forsetti]

I think it has already been said, (-1 redundant), but it needs to be empasized (+1 intereting) -- get some form of insurance, or a contract that keeps you from being liable.
For example, many small companies' employees store their "important" documents in one place -- their personal hard drive. What if you are running a routine scandisk, and the machine flops? Well, whether it is your fault or not, "you" just lost the company's only copy of (bill|contract|policy).

Let me understand this...

[gklinger]

You're asking a group of people, many of whom are "'pros' with the MCSEs and so on" to help you, a highschool student undercut our rates and thus take business away from us with your unprofessional and most likely unregistered, non-insured, non-tax paying businesss?

Oh brother.

Then again, mabe you're helping the industry along because after you screw something up that causes a business to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars and they've successfully sued your parents and taken away their home to cover d

Re:Let me understand this...

[mnmn]

Youre an MCSE calling yourself a 'pro' and feeling threatened by a high school PC repair kid who calls MCSEs 'pros'. And you're I presume trying to feed mouths with your MCSE. I admire that.

I'm an MCSE + MCSD + CCNA + LCA getting an RHCE soon, and still looking for work. And I'm barely a 'pro'. So if you're threatened by a high-schooler, take that as a message.

Re:Let me understand this...

[gklinger]

No, I'm not an MSCE calling myself a pro. Those were the OP's words which was why I placed them in quotes.

What I am is a professional (meaning this is how I earn my living) consultant with fifteen years experience dealing strictly with matters relating to UNIX. I've come across countless situations where I was brought in to clean up a mess made by a someone (often the child of an executive or the out of work brother-in-law of an employee etc.) who was hired to do something they weren't qualified to do.

I

Re:Let me understand this...

[redog]

"I'm an MCSE + MCSD + CCNA + LCA getting an RHCE soon, and still looking for work. And I'm barely a 'pro'. So if you're threatened by a high-schooler, take that as a message."

Whats the message? That you paied for all that testing?
I'm a highschool dropout feeding 5 mouths as a sysadmin. Personaly I haven't a need for MCSE + MCSD + CCNA + LCA + RHCE but starting my business in high-school has made me well known in my area as the "repair kid." Plus I'm able to laugh at inexperianced, overcertified, outawork M

Re:Let me understand this...

[kpellegr]

Your trolling, but I'll bite...

Have you ever considered the possibility that the original poster might not be a native English speaker?

I'd like to see you respond in perfect Dutch, French or German...

It is not very professional to use spelling mistakes as arguments in a discussion.

Re:Let me understand this...

[mnmn]

Thanks I'll look into it. Did you notice I dont have a degree and at least 5 years Canadian experience? Those I think are the minimum bar in Toronto.

Yeah I visit workopolis, monster and a couple others daily. My resume is all over the place.

Um, this is Slashdot

[Andy Dodd]

" You're asking a group of people, many of whom are "'pros' with the MCSEs and so on""

You don't seem to understand the Slashdot crowd.

Most people here consider MCSE cert to not be worth the paper it's printed on. Most consider people with no qualifications beyond an MCSE cert to be clueless neanderthals.

I would personally be more willing to trust a 16-year-old with some PC experience than the average dimwitted MCSE.

Re:Let me understand this...

[kungfooswade]

We live in a captalist society and so you must expect someone to undercut you whether they do the job better or not. It's simply called competition.

Besides, this guy has shown some moxy putting forth an effort to learn more and get some experience all on his own. And now he would like some business tips. We should be supportive of any person like this.

What if this were your son?

Re:Let me understand this...

[Hogg]

Heh, there is a reason I put 'pros' in quotes (albeit single quotes)... I recognize that a certification does not a professional make, but the meaning I was trying to convey is that to Joe Blow, the alphabet of certs is more impressive. A couple of my competitors really do know their stuff well, and more of them do not. I thought about this a lot, and I came to the conclusion that whether I'm a veteran sysadmin or a street bum, if I can really fix someone's computer, what's the difference to them, other t

Don't be afraid

[Tom7]

My only advice is: don't be afraid to turn a customer that you feel will be problematic down. If you can avoid that small percentage of people who will cause a large percentage of your trouble, great!

Also, try to get a Reseller tax ID and accounts with some of the online distributors (techdata, ingram micro), etc. They can't always beat the online shops like newegg, but sometimes the deals are really sweet and they do actually have service.

A few tips

[mnmn]

I have been doing this for the past 2 years as a part time job, assembling PCs for people, repairing, antivirus use, spyware removal, windows reinstall, Internet software install and the likes.

Tip # 1: On slashdot NEVER call MCSEs pros. I know many people who got their MCSEs during the Windows NT4 days and dont know how to use MS excel. Maybe you meant A+

Tip # 2: Never provide a warranty, and make sure they understand that. They cannot come back 6 months later with a bad driver and ask for free service because you didnt fix it right.

Tip # 3: Do not service Pentium1 and lower computers.

Tip # 4: Do not hand out drivers and ghost images of the users data. Let them come back to you with future problems. Learn something from microsoft.

Tip # 5: Build a reputation. When you have to install firewalls and servers in office locations, use Linux or BSD. You can put that on your resume.

Tip # 6: Dont rely on it as a major source of income. Get a degree, get the real certifications and years of experience, then tell all your clients you no longer work for them.

Re:A few tips

[REBloomfield]

I'm a sysadmin, and one of the things that really pisses me off, is when people ask me how to do such-and-such in whatever program. I can't use excel. I don't need to, i look after networks and servers.

8 simple rules.

[elliotj]

1) Don't underestimate elasticity of demand. By this I mean, don't charge too little. People get a sense of security when they pay more for a service. A computer is like your body: when you get sick, do you go to the discount teenage doctor? No, you got to a professional and pay the money, because it is important to you. Make sure you charge your customers throught the nose, even if you know the job isn't very hard. They don't know that.

2) Charge for travel time. Don't even think about leaving the house if you're not getting paid. Don't give into the temptation to give freebies to keep your customers happy. Make it clear from the begining that they're paying you a minimum $100 every time they pick up the phone and ask you to help them out - even if they have fixed their own problem by the time you arrive. This breeds respect. They won't feel they can exploit you.

3) Invoice immediately. This probably should be rule #1. Send out the invoice the same day you do the job. It'll keep you well organized and your customers will appreciate remembering what you did for them when they pay your bill. Also, it keeps you liquid.

4) As mentioned on this thread, get them to sign a disclaimer before you begin.

5) Target small/medium businesses. Private customers are the worst. Don't go near them if you can avoid it. They're a lot of trouble.

5.a) Target branch offices of larger corporations that have their HQs elsewhere. The IT manager in another city will appreciate having a smart person he can call to fix his remote office. He's often under the gun to get things fixed and will probably give you steady business.

6) Don't be afraid to drop customers who don't pay promptly. If they call and haven't paid their bill, tell them to call when they have. Period. A business is in business to make money. If you wanted to waste time, you'd read Slashdot.

7) Find other small partners. You can't be an expert in everything and people will ask you to do a whole range of things. If you're a systems guy, team up with a web developer, an app developer, and a small hardware reseller. Refer business to them. Get them to do the same.

8) Be prompt, courteous and polite. Your word is bond. If you commit to something, you have to do it. Servicing your customer is very important. Simply don't agree to something if you don't think you can or want to do it.

Charging customers "through the nose" not good...

[SlashChick]

"Make sure you charge your customers throught the nose, even if you know the job isn't very hard."

Well, that's true... but then again, it isn't. Obviously, if you're charging $15/hour for computer work, you should be charging more. But here's a story that goes the other way.

A client I worked for had a "computer guy" (MCSE, even) who charged $125/hour to fix their network. The thing was that the network was always broken. I really felt like the guy was incompetent, but as their web developer/web hosting c

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.

Re:Talk to an accountant

[shakah]

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...

Just to clarify, the "self employment tax" you refer to is more-or-less equivalent to FICA taxes that employee wages are subject to. So it's not really "above and beyond all the rest of the taxes ... that employees pay", though as a self-employed person you do get the pleasure of paying *both* sides o

yikes

[bryanthompson]

I tried doing the same thing you're doing a couple years ago. The problem is that old people always assume that you can be paid in milk-and-cookies. No kidding, a lady actually expected to pay me with cookies she baked.

The main problem i had was proving that something wasn't my fault. You go to someone's house and fix their CDRom. no problem, you leave and it's fixed. A month later their modem goes bad and they assume that it's your fault. As far as they know it's the same thing, and you were the

Two Things

[Lord Grey]

A couple of axioms from the years I spent working for others and the more recent years of running my own business:

1. The customer is not always right. Some customers will try to push you around just because they can, or (more likely) because they have no idea what they're demanding. These people are not out to help you grow your business.
2. You don't have to keep every customer. Bad customers (like examples from the first item) should be tossed. Needy customers that don't pay on time, haggle over prices eve

Re:Two Things

[bildstorm]

I definitely agree on the advice about customers.

Good customer service is a matter of being consistent and providing good service. If you have to bend over backwards for some customer, that's fine, if it's your only customer and they're going to pay you well for it.

The problem I've seen, from little companies to large corporations, is that they'll keep providing "bend-over-backward" service for some clients, to the DETRIMENT OF OTHER CUSTOMERS! That's bad customer service overall.

Advice

[alatesystems]

I guess my main advice for someone in your situation would be:

Don't Copy That Floppy [ninjaculture.com], just go to the store and buy it.

Did I hear you right, did I hear what you're saying, that you're gunna make a copy of a game without payin'? Come on guys!!! I thought you knew better, don't copy that floppy.

Chris

Don't.

[jargonCCNA]

My best advice is to not waste your time. I tried precisely the same thing for five years (Yes, five years. I started doing webdesign the year I turned 14. I just turned 19.). You know how much money I've made, gross, on it, total? Probably less than $1000. That's all. No one takes kids seriously in business. It's sad, but it's a fact. You won't make the money you want to make until you're into your mid-to-late twenties or thirties. "He's only a kid; what does he know?" You'll never hear it, but that what t

Don't give up

[jgardn]

No one takes kids seriously in business. It's sad, but it's a fact. You won't make the money you want to make until you're into your mid-to-late twenties or thirties. "He's only a kid; what does he know?" You'll never hear it, but that what they'll think and that's what they'll say.

Don't be so quick to think that. Age is rarely a factor. There's an attitude that successful professionals have that people actually like and respect. If you gain this attitude, it doesn't matter what age you are (or what abili

Re:Don't give up

[jargonCCNA]

Don't be so quick to think that. Age is rarely a factor.

I'm not "quick" to think that. That's an observation that developed over five years.

Try discovering and devloping this attitude. Don't think of yourself as "less than professional" -- you're doing it for money so now you are professional too! Be the best out there. Tell people you are the best.

Did it. Tried it. Doesn't always work when you're under 18.

There are some good books on the subject

[martinde]

One book I like is by Janet Ruhl, and the info was gleaned from Usenet back "in the day". It's called The Computer Consultants Guide [amazon.com]. I found it to have lots of good information on a variety of subjects, although it is a bit dated.

As a high school Junior

[Anonymous Coward]

who just started doing this myself, let me share.

I only work for family friends. Thus, I don't have to worry about being cheated, or having checks bounce, or meeting crazies. Well, less than if I worked for anyone who asked.

I charge 5 bucks an hour. It's not much, but it keeps my CD collection growing and my Linux box upgrading. Also, I get a *lot* of repeat business, and customers don't feel that they're paying so much they can't/shouldn't tip.

Never say a job is too small. I got paid $20 bucks for

Re:As a high school Junior

[xWeston]

As a high school Junior/Senior i started doing this stuff as well with friends/family/people that were in that network.

I'm a junior in college now and make $300 some days... not $35 ;)

I charge $40/hr since I know everybody that I work for and I do consider myself one of the best. I work for dentists offices, chiros, people in homes, etc etc. I live in a pretty affluent area (North County, San Diego) and have gotten paid for connecting VCRs/DVD players, surround sound, installing ceiling speakers for stere

Make sure you charge enough!

[bluGill]

Make sure you are charging enough. Most people don't realise how much overheard there is in a buisness. When I was in a resteraunt anytime payroll went over 30% of gross income we lost money. Utilities, food, rent, and taxes consumed far more money that you would think. Now your buiesness is different, but you should still assume that not less than half of what you charge is avaiable for your own pay.

Best is get an accountant to figgure out this stuff for you. Keep your books up to date, and then hav

Do you really want to start a bussiness?

[LWATCDR]

That is the big question. Are you going to college next year? If so trying to start a bussiness is pretty much a waist of time. Do little jobs on the side for now and put the money in the bank.

Good! now go to college!

[Capt_Troy]

Hey!

Good job, I'm glad you are making money. Your initiative is admirable.

I hope you are planning on going to college, you can continue to run your business while you are in school and the fact that you ran a successful service while going through college will look great to potantial employers, or be excellent experience when you start your business after school. I can't stress the importiance of college enough. And I admire your non-lazyness over the summer when your classmates are watching reality TV

Business Rules

[Anonymous Coward]

Get tax reseller's ID and maybe an account at local computer shop. Not a chain, one of local places where they know you and you can build a relationship.

Start a retirement fund. Either a Roth or SEP if your business takes off. Compound interest plus 40 or 50 years equals Profit. I started an IRA savings account in the 80's and eventually moved into bigger funds. It adds up.

Play fair. Customer references are worth having, but don't be afraid to tell someone no. Either you can't do what they need o

Consulting...

[technos]

I did piecemeal consulting for a couple years for my bread and butter.

Lessee now...

Top rec would probably to be look into at least limited liability insurance, while it never saved me, I know a couple people that were very very grateful for it saving their asses after something went very wrong..

Second thing? Demand a premium for off hours work. Give them a phone number they can call. Tell them if they need emergency work done, give you a ring. I ran into a fair number of companies that were unwilling to

Been around this track before

[mmdurrant]

I did the same thing during my senior year of high school. I've seen a few of these on here already, but repetition = reinforcement.

1. Stay organized. I created an Access database with all my clients, computers, and work performed. This was very helpful when a client asked, "How much time/money have we put into this computer?", I could print a report on the spot with all the pertinent info. You may have heard of the drop-dead school of documentation. If you drop dead, there needs to be enough documentat

Two Words

[v_1matst]

Forget It.

If you're in high school, go and do high school things. I'm not saying to go out and get some shitty job flipping burgers, but if you are planning on doing this stuff for the rest of your life (until retirement anyway), keep it as a hobby for now, do open source development, etc, enjoy your life. Then after college worry about getting a job in the industry. Believe me, rushing to sit at a desk all day under artificial light isn't a good idea...

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

What about taxation, insurance, etc..?

[jtriska]

I'm very much in the same boat as the submitter, and while I have found great advice here and elsewhere on basic rules of business, there is little, if any advice on the really scary part about starting a small business: insurance and taxes.

I'd like to know how not to get screwed by the government or insurance agencies, and how to navigate through the legal mazes. Screwing up and learning as you go can have some pretty severe penalties.

Profit.

[demonic-halo]

I don't know if you have started yet, but make sure you do some research and make sure it's profitable. In freelancing, it's easy to get into the thinking that it is more profitable than it really is. Like when you get your first few jobs, you tend not to think about the possibility that you may not recieve any others for a while. Point is, make sure you are taking in sustained profit, once they start falling short, don't keep your hopes up, realistically look at it from a 3rd investor's perspective and

Don't forget....

[demonic-halo]

Don't forget to count time you spend doing support activities. Such as scouting potential new customers and travelling.

And make sure you are learning something. For your age, the goal of any job should be to better yourself so you can launch yourself into a better job. If you're not learning something you can use to apply yourself to a better job, then it's not worth it.

If you're just repeating the same mindless task, then you're better off working at Taco Bell and at least have a manager and co-wo

Technical Self-Employment Is A Fat Paycheck Waitin

[mr_tap]

Read the following article: Tech Job p1 [mac.com] and Tech Job p2 [mac.com]. It is definately a good read.

doing this right now

[arete]

My first piece of advice is to let us know where you're located so you can get your /. networking going. I'm in Chicago, for instance. If you're good and that cheap, I might contract you occasionally.

I'm doing this right now. I'm a bit older than you and have more experience, but I also have more bills : )

My experiences:
In a real business the systems are either totally unimportant or they "have to" work. So most things anyone will bother with are going to get fixed, and you're being compared to those

Do What I Did

[ripbruger]

When I first started this kind of thing, I just worked for somebody else who owned their own small shop in my home town. I didn't make too too much, but when you're 16, you'll take what you can get. I just started doing simple stuff like installing modems, networks cards, CD-ROMS, and installing Windows 95/98. Eventually got to the point where I was setting up networks for the other small companies that would contract work out to us. I screwed up a bit, but my boss was rather forgiving thankfully.

The b

Computer Consulting

[sumdumgai]

The most important thing no one has mentioned is business cards. You will get more work by word of mouth than any advertising medium. Pass out a couple to all of your happy customers and they will recommend you to their friends. They don't have to be fancy, but a name and a contact number is important.

Don't buy expensive tools until you need them for a project. I have bought plenty of tools that I never use.

There is more money for small and medium business, but as a high school student you will probab