Starting Computer Business

[Ziomek]

Hello everybody. I'm new to this forum. This post may be kinda long but I appriciate if you read and post back some advice. I need some advice from people like you. Everybody I know including family members think that you need to be a genius and have thousands and thousands of dollars to start your business and everybody I know is against it just because of that state of mind and as to me I think otherwise. Let me tell you about myself. I graduated college about 5 months ago with Bachelor degree in computer science and was laid off 5 months ago (I worked in insurance, not in IT). I live in IL I'm on unemployment right now and have no luck finding even a help desk position. I thought that bachelor degree isn't enoughe so I decided to get certifications. I passed A+ and Network+ and got these certifications. After that still no luck at all. So I'm thinking to start a business as DBA as my SSN. I would be working from home and drive to customers or take computers home and fix them. I have no idea where to start to make this happen legally, where to go, who to contact, what forms to fill out. I heard of legalzoom.com that they can do it for you, but are they reliable for $585? After paying them will they make me completely legal? My another concern is my unemployment benefits and what will happen to them once I start a business. I'm on a very limited budget so I really don't want to mess with unemployment office, maybe someone knows about laws in IL to start a business while on unemployment. I didn't thought of a business name yet but would appriciate ideas. If I get this business to start legally, my next step would be to market my business by ordering about 2500 - 5000 flyers from printsmadeeasy.com and leave them by mailboxes around my neighborhoods. Hopefull somebody would ask for service. I've done computer repair work for many people but I never charged them since they were somehow related to me or friends of mine. This is why I feel confident doing this. I know this may be business 101 but I know for sure that it doesn't take a genius or thousands and thousands of dollars and I want to prove everybody I know wrong.