Welcome to Just Ask Matt! Today, Andy writes:

Hi Matt,

I read this page (arrived here from Google). I live in NZ and am about to start up a computer repair business of my own. I have a 16-year-old friend who runs one called PC Resolutions, and makes around $75 a week from it which I would be quite happy with. He charges $17.50 an hour (about $12/hr US), and I would charge the same.

I want to do this, after having just closed down a PC selling business I ran for about a year, as it really didn’t generate enough profit to justify the time it ate. However, I wouldn’t mind doing it on a slightly larger scale. I have about $400 to invest, from the previous business mentioned above.

He started off with nothing more than about $20 to make fliers, and has been doing it for a month. He lives around 15km (10 miles) away, and we’ve agreed that I’ll refer people that live near him to him, and vice versa.

I have a feeling that with just a bit more advertising than he used I can run it on a slightly larger scale - not too large of course, as I am still at school (two more years). But $150 a week or so would be really nice, and that’s still only about five customers a week, which is perfectly possible.

One other problem is that my creative juices really aren’t flowing in the name department. A friend suggested e-fix.co.nz which is free, and that’s OK, but I think I can get something better. Any ideas?

Anyway, I was just wondering if you had any tips for how to get it started. I can do fliers and Google AdWords, but what else would be beneficial?

Thanks very much!

First off… wow! You guys have a different pricing system than we do here in the states. Nothing wrong with that; you have to charge what the market will bear. My first thought is, how much experience do you have repairing computers? Not making judgment calls here, but this is really important to think about. If you are considered an expert, then perfect. If, however, you are unsure that you can handle any situation that is thrown at you, this is something to consider.

Anyway, let’s talk new clients. First rule of business, know thy work. If you are wanting to be serious here, make darn sure that you know your stuff backwards and forwards. Read the latest journals, stay up to date on the newest hardware trends. If I bring you a PC with a CD-RW drive that is showing up only half of the time within Windows XP, would you be able to troubleshoot this? Sounds easy, but you would be AMAZED at how many techs don’t know where to begin with something like this. Now, who is your target market? Home users or businesses? In your shoes, I would stick to the home user. The reason why? Liability. You mess up and your butt is grass and your client is the lawnmower. To sum all of this up, know what you are getting into before accepting the job. It is OK to turn down work that you are unsure about. It is better to do this than wrong someone. I have a few techs that refer stuff to me that they are lost with. There is nothing wrong with this, it shows that they are smart in my opinion.

Now, getting the word out there is a tricky endeavour. Being there are most likely different ways of doing things in our two regions, I am going to tell you what works for me in my corner of the world. Does your newspaper have a computer corner? In some select cases, you may find that by placing an ad there, finding new clients could become a possibility. Now please understand that in some areas placing an ad in the paper proves to be a waste of time. If it were me, I would consider doing a free presentation for some community groups. Computer virus control, spyware - whatever. The point is to get your name out there. Being that word of mouth is the best way in the world to grow your PC repair business among home clients, you just need to do something to get the word out. Take a look at this search of the Lockergnome Web site that I have here. If you scour through this closely, you will find that I have offered some awesome tips that will help you to get underway. Good luck!

Do you have an IT-related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt!”