Could use advice on opening a store

[Kerrya]

I’ve been doing break/fix from home for a while, and not really making much at it.

I’ve tried advertising on Facebook with little luck at all and like everyone else I’m unable to run computer repair ads on Google like I used to.

word of mouth is fine as far as it goes, but I’m thinking about opening a small retail location so I can get some street exposure.

I know break/fix has been a declining market the last few years and I’m not really interested in MSP.

So, am I crazy to open a shop at this point?

I want to, but it feels like I’m sailing into disaster.

is there hope in the break/ fix model? Or am I just stuck in the past?

Any advice appreciated

Kerry

 

[britechguy]

I would be far more inclined to put some money into advertising in your community, particularly radio if you can afford it, for a few months before I'd rent a store if you wish to remain break-fix.

Street presence is not particularly relevant unless you happen to be in a very high traffic area, and even then, computer repair is not an impulse buy. People hunt for you when they need you, and having made your presence known definitely helps them to remember you.

 

[nlinecomputers]

There is no hope in the break fix model. There's some work in phone repair but it too is a declining Industry. IT service is only profitable attacking niche markets. Cloud services, document imaging, data recovery, point of sale...just hanging your shingle out for home PC repair is simply doomed.

 

[sapphirescales]

@nlinecomputers Believe what you want. I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else.

 

[seashore]

@Kerrya I'm in the exact same position as you. Been toying around with getting a small shop but on balance I'm leaning towards staying as I am and looking for other ways of getting the word out instead so I think sapphirescales' suggestions are well worth trying.

 

[alexsmith2709]

I have a small shop, but i sell and do other things as well as computer repair. computer repair alone would not allow me to survive. I wouldnt open a shop now, in fact, im trying to decide how much longer i should keep mine open.
I have clients on both ends of the scale, mostly home users but a few businesses too.

I would try and build up your current break/fix work from home until you have some "spare cash" to throw at a shop. If you can get stock to fill a shop (such as peripherals and cables etc) make sure your current clients know you can supply that stuff and build things up like that.

 

[trevm999]

@Kerrya The vast majority of our business is break/fix. It's still a profitable model, but only if you have the right type of customers. We cater mostly to wealthy individuals and small businesses (really small, as in a one owner business working from home). I have a pretty big store that rivals Microcenter, but it's not something I would recommend starting here in 2021. Margins are razor thin on product. It's basically a wash. The only places we make money is in the break/fix service and refurbished computer sales. The only "msp" we really do is we offer Backblaze w/monitoring for $20/month. We also have a monthly service plan where people buy a computer from us then pay a set fee per month for us to take care of it (unlimited virus removal, remote support, 100% warranty, etc.). Then every 2 years we replace it with another one for free. This has been very popular and profitable for us, but not everyone goes for it.

My employees and I have all just worked from home during this pandemic. I'm thinking about closing the shop because I really don't need it. Microcenter wanted to buy us out a while back but I don't think I'm willing to give up my name and all my clients. If I did that then I'd basically be out of the game. From what I've learned from other techs on Technibble, I've been very fortunate to be able to build up this premium clientele. There's no doubt in my mind I wouldn't be able to make the good living I do if I had the type of clients that most people here seem to.

Working from home has been great. My employees live all over the place so we've been able to cast a very wide net. When a client calls I direct them to the closest employee's house (unless of course they need something specialized like Apple repair. I usually take those types of clients.). I pay my employees very well so they all live in single family homes, not apartments in the bad parts of town or anything. I've helped them all set up efficient home offices where they can work on computers.

If I was just starting out today, I would simply put up a Google business listing and rank it. If you don't want to use your home address for this you can hide your address by clicking a box that says something like "I service my customers at their location, they don't come here" and Google will list your business in maps just without an address or an exact dot on the map. I get over 20,000 impressions on one of my Google business listings alone. Of course, not all of those impressions generates a phone call (thank God!), but I get hundreds of calls a month just from my Google listing.

I also advertise on Craigslist, though your mileage will very there. I get a good 3-5 calls a day off Craigslist, but when I went back to Washington state back in 2015 to start up another shop (and failed), NOBODY used Craigslist. I think I got maybe 2 phone calls off my Craigslist ads in an entire month. The economy in Washington also sucked royally. Prices were 2-4x what they are here and nobody had any money. I failed to do my research before jumping in with both feet and I paid dearly for it. Don't do what I did. Do your research and take baby steps. Renting an expensive storefront isn't going to magically get you 10x the business you're currently getting.

Stores are EXPENSIVE to open and maintain. You've gotta make a ton of money to support it. Oh, and if you cheap out by not going with a highly visible storefront, congratulations, you're now paying for a store while getting NONE of the benefits.

Create a Google business page and rank that sucker. If you do it yourself it can be done for less than $1,000. If you want to pay an SEO company to do it, it will cost between $10,000 and $15,000 if you're in a competitive area.

If you want to pay a big company to rank in Google maps you should check out Yext. They suck because if you stop paying them they'll remove all your listings and your ranking will tank, but it's by far the quickest and easiest way to get ranked fast. If you're willing to put in a bit more work, then Synup is what we use. It's not as seamless as Yext and they don't have as many listings, but you don't have to keep paying them $XXX/month to keep your listings up and it's much easier than doing all the listings manually. Synup + a few good reviews should be enough to rank pretty much any business in Google maps, unless those other businesses are also using a company like this. Tell me, would 300+ extra phone calls a month make a difference to your business? That's approximately how many phone calls I get from my one Google listing that gets 20,000 impressions per month.

The only people I know who would let their employer's customers come to their own house to drop off are either super desperate for work or the kind of person who would get scammed.

 

[Markverhyden]

@Kerrya have you put together a business plan? People don't plan to fail, they fail. @Your PCMD put together a template you can use. Don't have to do everything in it, just what matters.

Beyond that just take a look around. As in any industry you can get an idea of how healthy the ecosystem is by doing that. Are people opening? If so they see an opportunity for growth. Are they closing or there are very few stores? Chances are the ecosystem won't support a lot of competition. There's many on here who have store fronts, but they've had them for a while so have a well developed customer base.

I thought about that years ago when I lived in MA but decided not to. Between the closings in big box and small shops, the drop in computer prices and rent it was a simple decision. And if you're going to run the numbers make sure to include exit costs.

 

[sapphirescales]

The only people I know who would let their employer's customers come to their own house to drop off are either super desperate for work or the kind of person who would get scammed.

You're being ridiculous. MILLIONS of Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace transactions occur every single day, and those are way more risky than getting high end clientele from an established business. I don't live in a ghetto sh*thole and neither do any of my techs.

 

[fincoder]

I run a small shop in the main street of a country town (rent isn't too high). The shop gives visibility, it's not so much about impulse buys but about appearing as an established business (which I am now after 19 years). Apart from repairs, I sell refurbished computers and new ones (mostly by order as opposed to keeping stock). I also sell ink cartridges (genuine) which has worked out well, the major chain stores mark up these a lot so I can sell them at a good price and get repeat customers. I sell mice, keyboards, headsets, routers, WiFi adapters, monitor cables, LAN cables, thermal paste, ATX PSUs, laptop chargers.

I stock 2.5" SSDs (250GB, 500GB, 1TB) which are used in repairs/upgrades almost daily, and also sold over the counter.

In country areas you get loyalty from locals (if they find you reasonably pleasant to deal with). I get customers coming back for a new computer and they trust me enough to advise them on what they should get, and supply it without requiring stock for them to look at beforehand.

I also get enthusiasts wanting something quickly (e.g. thermal paste or PSU) to repair or complete a build and get back into gaming, without waiting for delivery of online purchases.

One way to build trust is to quote on repairs and stick to the quote (unless something else is found).

Another point is distributors: it's easier to become a dealer with the large suppliers like Ingram Micro and Synnex if you have a shopfront.

 

[trevm999]

You're being ridiculous. MILLIONS of Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace transactions occur every single day, and those are way more risky than getting high end clientele from an established business. I don't live in a ghetto sh*thole and neither do any of my techs.

It would be their choice on how they want to handle private used sales. However, I wouldn't be considered with safety as much as an entitled customer showing up at my house during supper for something they "need" immediately.

You're offloading the cost of having a place to interact with customers to your employees and blurring the lines of their person and business life. I hope they are well compensated for it.

 

[sapphirescales]

However, I wouldn't be considered with safety as much as an entitled customer showing up at my house during supper for something they "need" immediately.

Clients know it's not a retail establishment. They're not given the address until they've called with a problem and have set up an appointment. It's not a revolving door into my poor employee's houses. If they have a problem after repair, they call. They don't just show up out of the blue and bang on the door at 1:00am. That's what you call an insane person. Phones are only answered during business hours. Appointments are only scheduled during business hours. One of my employees has a wife who has some sort of medical condition that makes her sleeping schedule very erratic so he wasn't too pleased by this, but he's made it work by putting a sign on his door telling people to call him and not to ring the doorbell or knock on the door.

Is it ideal? No. Does it work? Absolutely. It also has some distinct advantages. 90% of my employees would prefer to continue working from home. My clients also like it because they can go to whoever is closest to them. I like it because it has expanded my service area range and allowed me to rank in Google a lot better.

You're offloading the cost of having a place to interact with customers to your employees and blurring the lines of their person and business life.

Way to see the cloud in the silver lining. Yes, there are downsides to working from home, but there are significant upsides as well. No commute is one of them, having more personal time is another. I have no doubt my employees are able to "slack off" a lot more now, and I'm perfectly fine with it so long as they get their work done. I'm not one of those employers who wants to micromanage every second of an employee's life. If they want to get their work done at 1:00am and play video games or spend time with their families all day, that's fine with me so long as they're available to accept pickups and drop-offs during normal business hours. Flexibility is a HUGE benefit to working from home. Ask anybody who's been able to work from home during this pandemic. Very few people actually want to go back to the office, BS propaganda by commercial property investment firms notwithstanding.

I hope they are well compensated for it.

I haven't talked about this much on here, but I pay my employees way more than the average wage. I want the best employees who are also loyal to me, and to do that you have to give them freedom and pay them decently. Thankfully I charge enough to be able to afford to do this, but one of the main reasons I'm able to charge what I do is because I have good employees who actually give a crap, care about our clients, and care about the overall profitability of the business. Why would you give a crap about a business whose owner treats you like crap and pays you crumbs? I'm not accusing anyone here of doing this as technician work is well above minimum wage, but it's still not enough IMO, not for what you're asking them to do. I want the best of the best; employees who are able to not only fix the technical problems, but who can sell and advise clients as well. I want employees who I can trust, who I know have the best interest of the business at heart.

They have to have a stake in it. They should share in the success and failure of the business. There's nothing worse than knowing that the business you work for made record profits and they give you a measly $0.50/hour raise. That's how you create really p*ssed off workers. Why would I want apathetic, or worse, angry employees? The success of my business hinges on how well these employees sell to and handle customers. Commission combined with a very generous livable base wage is the best way to make sure my employees are fairly compensated. They also know there's no way in heck they're going to get paid anywhere near that if they work somewhere else. And striking out on their own and becoming my competitor is much less appealing if they're already getting a comfortable living working for me. The last thing I want is a competitor who knows all my methods.

My entrepreneurship professor was old school and ancient. He must have been 80 years old when I met him 12 years ago. He taught me everything I know. Without his guidance I wouldn't be where I am today. He always believed in treating your employees and your customers right. I remember his raspy laugh every time he'd ask how I'd approach a particular problem and I'd come up with some off the wall strategy he'd never even considered. He always said I'd go far because of my unique approach to things. The thing is, I don't have ambitions to go any farther than I am right now. He wanted me to take on Microcenter but I just never had the drive to go that far. I'm happy where I am right now, in fact, I'm thinking about going in a totally different direction. I'm not exactly sure which direction that might be, but I just don't want to create a nationwide chain of computer stores. That just was never in my "master plan" growing up. I always knew I'd start a shop, but I never had ambitions beyond that. I feel that my professor's faith in me might have been misplaced. I have the mind for it, but not the ambition. Once you reach a certain level in life, going beyond that yields diminishing returns. I want to focus more on family, friends, and relationships. I want to focus more on my writing (I'm an author as well). Fixing computers pays really well but it's no longer fulfilling on its own.

 

[Blues]

I can only see a retail store working if you either A) have high enough traffic in the location to generate more clients or B) You live in a small community where even the locals won't trust you without a shop. I would say like others a store will need inventory if it is just a drop off/pickup repair shop it might not work out as well. Having inventory helps occupy waiting customers and can provide means to sell upgrades on any job. I am in a similar boat but I have a 9-5 that is IT adjacent and do Break/Fix on the side these days but wouldn't mind finding a local shop to pickup some part time hours in and drop the side work for it.

 

[trevm999]

Clients know it's not a retail establishment. They're not given the address until they've called with a problem and have set up an appointment. It's not a revolving door into my poor employee's houses. If they have a problem after repair, they call. They don't just show up out of the blue and bang on the door at 1:00am. That's what you call an insane person. Phones are only answered during business hours. Appointments are only scheduled during business hours. One of my employees has a wife who has some sort of medical condition that makes her sleeping schedule very erratic so he wasn't too pleased by this, but he's made it work by putting a sign on his door telling people to call him and not to ring the doorbell or knock on the door.

Is it ideal? No. Does it work? Absolutely. It also has some distinct advantages. 90% of my employees would prefer to continue working from home. My clients also like it because they can go to whoever is closest to them. I like it because it has expanded my service area range and allowed me to rank in Google a lot better.


Way to see the cloud in the silver lining. Yes, there are downsides to working from home, but there are significant upsides as well. No commute is one of them, having more personal time is another. I have no doubt my employees are able to "slack off" a lot more now, and I'm perfectly fine with it so long as they get their work done. I'm not one of those employers who wants to micromanage every second of an employee's life. If they want to get their work done at 1:00am and play video games or spend time with their families all day, that's fine with me so long as they're available to accept pickups and drop-offs during normal business hours. Flexibility is a HUGE benefit to working from home. Ask anybody who's been able to work from home during this pandemic. Very few people actually want to go back to the office, BS propaganda by commercial property investment firms notwithstanding.


I haven't talked about this much on here, but I pay my employees way more than the average wage. I want the best employees who are also loyal to me, and to do that you have to give them freedom and pay them decently. Thankfully I charge enough to be able to afford to do this, but one of the main reasons I'm able to charge what I do is because I have good employees who actually give a crap, care about our clients, and care about the overall profitability of the business. Why would you give a crap about a business whose owner treats you like crap and pays you crumbs? I'm not accusing anyone here of doing this as technician work is well above minimum wage, but it's still not enough IMO, not for what you're asking them to do. I want the best of the best; employees who are able to not only fix the technical problems, but who can sell and advise clients as well. I want employees who I can trust, who I know have the best interest of the business at heart.

They have to have a stake in it. They should share in the success and failure of the business. There's nothing worse than knowing that the business you work for made record profits and they give you a measly $0.50/hour raise. That's how you create really p*ssed off workers. Why would I want apathetic, or worse, angry employees? The success of my business hinges on how well these employees sell to and handle customers. Commission combined with a very generous livable base wage is the best way to make sure my employees are fairly compensated. They also know there's no way in heck they're going to get paid anywhere near that if they work somewhere else. And striking out on their own and becoming my competitor is much less appealing if they're already getting a comfortable living working for me. The last thing I want is a competitor who knows all my methods.

My entrepreneurship professor was old school and ancient. He must have been 80 years old when I met him 12 years ago. He taught me everything I know. Without his guidance I wouldn't be where I am today. He always believed in treating your employees and your customers right. I remember his raspy laugh every time he'd ask how I'd approach a particular problem and I'd come up with some off the wall strategy he'd never even considered. He always said I'd go far because of my unique approach to things. The thing is, I don't have ambitions to go any farther than I am right now. He wanted me to take on Microcenter but I just never had the drive to go that far. I'm happy where I am right now, in fact, I'm thinking about going in a totally different direction. I'm not exactly sure which direction that might be, but I just don't want to create a nationwide chain of computer stores. That just was never in my "master plan" growing up. I always knew I'd start a shop, but I never had ambitions beyond that. I feel that my professor's faith in me might have been misplaced. I have the mind for it, but not the ambition. Once you reach a certain level in life, going beyond that yields diminishing returns. I want to focus more on family, friends, and relationships. I want to focus more on my writing (I'm an author as well). Fixing computers pays really well but it's no longer fulfilling on its own.

Working from home is a mixed bag, I've been working from home since 2018. Is it enough of a perk that your employees are going to stay happy with using their own homes of as an extension of your facilities? I doubt it. We're already getting the conversations of "since we are no longer getting the in office perks, what are we going to have for working from home perks?"

While your retail competitors might not do WFH, you're in the tech industry. With a little upskilling, your techs would have lots of WFH opportunities that would probably pay more and not require customers at their house. Retail bench tech wages are bottom of the barrel in tech, so above average doesn't mean much.

Hopefully your clients are respectful of your employees. But I've worked in tech retail and had a lawyer threaten me with 'his position' and I don't think I would have felt comfortable with that happening at my house.

 

[sapphirescales]

Is it enough of a perk that your employees are going to stay happy with using their own homes of as an extension of your facilities? I doubt it.

It's good enough that 90% of them want to keep working from home. Maybe that will change when coronavirus is finally killed off (or more likely, mutates into a highly transmittable but benign infection), but I doubt it will.

I've worked in tech retail and had a lawyer threaten me with 'his position' and I don't think I would have felt comfortable with that happening at my house.

That is concerning. Thankfully we have very few issues with clients. I've trained my employees very well and 99% of our clients are upper class professionals that aren't going to go nuts on an employee. I know a lawyer technically counts as an upper scale professional, but...well...you know. I hate lawyer clients. Calling a lawyer an upper class professional is like calling a sleazy used car salesman a "businessman."

With a little upskilling, your techs would have lots of WFH opportunities that would probably pay more and not require customers at their house.

Possibly, but one of my requirements as an employer is that my employees actually enjoy their work. Most of my employees don't WANT to do anything else. I don't want to hire a person who hates the job.

Retail bench tech wages are bottom of the barrel in tech, so above average doesn't mean much.

By "above average" I don't mean $1.50 above the going rate. Most of my techs earn double or more what other shops are paying. Things were rather tight in the beginning with coronavirus but thankfully those lean months are behind us and we're all back to making what we were before. The only difference is we're all working from home.

 

[Your PCMD]

I used to run my business from my home, up until 2 years ago. I have a retail location for a reason, and that's privacy. I was fortunate enough to find a location at a reasonable $450/mo. Tack on asymmetrical 500/500 fiber and utilities, and I'm paying about $725/mo. Being as I am the sole operator with my son helping, it's easy to afford. I don't spend money on a whim and generally put it up in savings.

I will add this though. I run 3 businesses out of my single building. My IT shop, a skateboard shop, and an air-soft shop which is in their own separate room. Doing this maximizes space and minimizes costs.

 

[callthatgirl]

Kerry, street exposure is helpful but for me it was in person networking that helped when I had stores. Getting out in the community, meet other business owners, go to events that you can, involve yourself with business meetups, offer free presentations about computer tips, go to senior centers and drop off flyers, get pens and leave at gas stations, go to your competitors and tell them you're in business, they might have some referral work if you do repairs they are not doing, there is literally 1000 ideas you can do to run a successful break/fix business without a store.

I'm for the break/fix hero, someone needs to help support the residential customers and they are out there still.

 

[Markverhyden]

I was fortunate enough to find a location at a reasonable $450/mo.

That's such a big part of things. Back when I was seriously contemplating opening a store front, mid 2000, I did some extensive searching. Prices in MA were through the roof. A store front, like 600-700 sq ft, in a mediocre outlying suburban area was over $25k/year. Add utilities, insurance an employee or two and I understood why so many places were closing. I did consider running it out of my house but dropped that for two reasons. First is privacy. Second is I was on second floor so that be a problem if someone made a ADA related complaint to the State.

 

[britechguy]

if someone made a ADA related complaint to the State.

There is a lot of misunderstanding of when you can lodge a complaint about under the ADA, particularly for home-based businesses, and even more particularly when the home is not being used as "a storefront" in any meaningful sense.

My business is home-based, but I virtually never have anyone drop anything here except, on rare occasions, existing customers I know well. I have been deeply irritated (but kept that to myself) the two or three times over 13 years that someone turned up, unannounced, on my doorstep.

Every bit of online presence that I have clearly indicates I'm a "by appointment" business and that I almost exclusively perform services on site. I would never think about turning up on the doorstep of any home-based business unless I had made prearrangements. In fact, even for social calls, the idea of just dropping in out of the blue without at the very least having called first to check if "it's a good time" is anathema. It's just bad, bad manners.

 

[Kitten Kong]

As an aside, what is a ada?.

Assistant District attorney?.

Im homebased also. Have been for over 16 years.

As above, usually by appointment only, as I have tje dogs out in the garden all day with me. Last thing I want is a complaint that one of them has made a client claim them being dangerous dogs!.

Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped some people just coming down the garden willy-nilly!!.

Really pees me off