5 Tips To Become Successful In the Computer Business

I often write about how to work on your business, your computer or your client; but in this article I will be focusing on working on ourselves. It takes a certain type of person to become successful in the computer repair business and here are 5 tips on how to become that person.

Do What You Love

If the only reason you want to enter this industry is because of the money, you are in the wrong field. If you love learning, working with computers and challenging yourself, you are in the right place.
There are many times in this business where you will wonder whether its all worth it such as working 12 hour days trying to get your business on its feet and being paid a minimal amount. If money is the only focus then it will definitely not be worth it. It is the love of this job that will get you through the tough times and make you successful.

Keep On Learning

I bet you know more about computers than anyone else you know in real life and your family and friends look up to you as if you were some kind of tech god. Your parents and teachers said you were some kind of computer prodigy and you probably were compared to the others in your class. That is all well and good when you are comparing that to people who aren’t in this field, but what about when you compare yourself to people who are? These are the people who you will be competing against.

The computer industry moves much faster than other industries so you have to keep on learning or you will fall behind. The moment you think you know it all is the moment you stop learning. If you stop learning then that is the moment you don’t know it all.
I have been in this business for almost 9 years now and I learn something new every day from the Technibble forums.

Money

There are many people who don’t follow their dreams like starting their own computer business because they don’t have the money. Don’t ever blame lack of money because there is always a way you can make it happen.

I personally know people who are having trouble finding enough money to put food on their table at the end of the day. They complain the welfare system is rubbish because they don’t provide enough for a family to survive on. These are the same people who smoke, have a big plasma TV, cable television and brand spanking new mobile phones.

Quitting smoking will free up a few hundred a week, selling the TV and buying a $250 one would free up enough money to go see an accountant and a lawyer to set the business up legally. Disconnecting the cable television will free up $50 – 100 per month which you could put into advertising and a cheap mobile phone and an pocket organiser is all you really need.

If someone isn’t willing to give these things up to go after their dream, then they don’t want it enough. Instead of buying luxuries, buy things that make you money like a technicians on-site repair kit. I recently bought a Macbook because I wanted to learn both Mac hardware and software. In the few months I have owned the Macbook, I have already earned more than the cost of the Macbook by working on Mac’s armed with the knowledge I attained from breaking and fixing my own Macbook.

Stay Focused on Marketable Skills

There are a lot of cool things you can learn about a computer such as extreme overclocking, phase change cooling and squeezing a few extra frames per second out of your video card. However, you are unlikely to need any of these skills when working for a client. Instead, its better to learn skills like virus removal and networking since you are much more likely to encounter these while on-site. They aren’t as glorious as overclocking, but they are more likely to bring in money for your business. Also, while you are building up your marketable skills, build up your marketing skills as well because you may be the best computer technician in the world, but if no body knows about it you aren’t going to make much money.

The Hard Slog

Whats the difference between someone who just joined a gym, and a body builder at the same gym? One of them has gone through the hard slog. Both of them are pumping iron but the body builder has pushed his way through the hardest part where most people quit. The same thing happens in the computer business where a young entrepreneur will be excited about having their own business and thinking about all the possibilities. After a few months the excitement dies down, you have dealt with a few soul crushing clients and the computer work that you used to enjoy has become just work. This is where many people quit the computer business (and the gym) leaving only a select few who have survived the hard slog and come out the other side with a successful business (or a buffed body).
This is why there are so many businesses starting up all the time but there are only a small handful of really successful businesses. Most of the small businesses dropped out when it got too hard and didn’t push through the hard slog. If you push through the tough part and stay at it, you’ll be one of the few on the other side.