How I Would Do It All Again

Something I love reading about is other successful people. However, the problem with many of these articles and interviews is that they only say what their life is like now. What I really want to know about is how they got there in the first place, not how great their life is now.

I consider my business as a successful one but it wasn’t easy getting to where I am today. I made plenty of mistakes and wasted plenty of money but making these mistakes made me the businessman I am today. So, I’m going tell you how I would do it all again if I had to start over. As if something happened to my business that made me lose all of what I own, all my clients and all my contacts.

This is how I would do it again.

Startup Funds

The first issue is startup funds. If I needed money to survive I would get a job somewhere until my business got on its feet. You need to survive provide for those dependant on you first.
If you do have startup funds then there should be enough for you to survive for at least 6 months. The rest of this article is assuming I only have about $1000 to start up so I would have to do things a little more carefully.

Accounting and Legalities

I would find an accountant and get them to register my business name, tax number and other processes needed to get a business setup legally that you may not know about as it may differ from country to country, state to state. I would also take this opportunity to pick the accountants brain as much as I can about tax setup, invoicing etc.. Make good use of them, that’s what you are paying them for.

I would then go to the bank and open a bank account specifically for my business so I have two separate bank accounts. One for my business under my businesses name, and the other as my personal account. The reason for this is it makes it much easier to see exactly how much your business is earning, how much you can put back into the business and how much you can pay yourself in wages. If you only pay for business items on your business account (and never use cash for business stuff) it makes it really easy to do your tax when tax time comes around. All you have to do is hand your accountant your business account’s bank statement and your good to go.
When I first started out I only operated out of my personal account so when I had to hand the statement to the accountant, I had to spend time crossing out all my personal purchases.

My Kit

My first tool kit was a $12 set of computer tools which I bought at a local computer swap meet and they served me well for the first few years. There’s no need to buy expensive tools just yet.
As for software tools, if Technibble was around at the time I would have collected most of it from here. But since it wasn’t, and I had to collect them from hundreds of different sites.

Paperwork

I really wish I had more paperwork when I first started. There were a few occasions where I lost money because I didn’t have a work order for a certain job and there were a few times where good paperwork could have saved me from a lot of hassles as it outlines my warranty, returns, and repair terms. Since then, I have created forms to cover all eventualities.

Pricing

For my pricing, I would work out how much I needed to survive at this starting stage factoring in rent, electricity, advertising, petrol and insurance. You can read more on finding out how much you should charge in this article.
For my first few jobs I was cheaper than most computer repair businesses and as I gained more confidence with my computer repair skills and talking to clients, I increased my rates.

Advertising

Advertising is about knowing what works well for your business in your area. One method can work great for one town, but not work well in the next town. The key to advertising is trying a few different ads to test what works the best and be sure to ask the client where they found you and record it.
I would get some flyer’s made up cheaply for letterbox drops and drop them in rich areas. I have had some success from letter box drops in the past as it is very cheap to do, it just requires a little legwork. (Note Americans: I believe unsolicited mailbox drops is illegal in America so this might not be a good idea for you).

Mailbox drops can take a long time for people to call so I wouldn’t wait around for them. I once did a big mailbox drop that I thought was unsuccessful only to get a heap of calls from that drop over a year later. I would then put an ad in my local, free, weekly newspaper as this seemed to work the best for me. However, this may not work for you so the best thing to do is try different publications and keep tweaking your advertising until it works.

I would then get some more advertising made up that has some cut out vouchers on it that I can give my first few clients after each job so they can give it to their friends. These vouchers will have the customers name on it so I know who has been referring me to their friends. I would make sure my clients know that this would translate into discounts for them per referral. Other than simply doing good work, this helps stimulate referral work greatly.

You may be approached by various publications as they look in local newspapers and government websites looking for newly registered businesses and they will ask you to advertise with them. Don’t just jump in the deep end with them. The best thing to do is to ask them to send you a copy of their publication. Ring up someone in a similar field to yours and tell them you are a florist (or something else that doesn’t compete with them) and tell say you are looking into advertising in this publication and you want to know how is it working for them.
I once did this with a “Yellow Pages” clone and the computer store owner just exploded when I called him telling me how bad the publication is, as if he has been waiting for years for someone to ask.

Stock

For the first few months I would only carry the parts that are most commonly needed for onsite work. These parts are usually Power Supplies, RAM sticks, USB Printer cables, Network Cables, Power cables and a spare wired mouse and keyboard. For any other specialty parts I would buy them as I need them. These parts would probably be bought at a retail level.

Later on, after I have at least one or two repairs a week I would seek out a real computer parts supplier. Sometimes they are a little hard to find and I actually found my first supplier in a cheeky way which you can read about here. Once I had secured a real computer parts supplier, I would buy one of everything to keep around.

Insurance

Once I have a few clients I would get business insurance that will protect me should I screw something up. It is very cheap for the peace of mind it gives you. Usually around $350 – $700 depending on your situation. I would also use this as a selling point implying “don’t let amateurs work on your mission critical business machines. We’re a insured professional business”.

People

Through the years I learned how to deal with people better and I am still learning. First of all, don’t be afraid to charge what you are worth. When I first started I almost felt guilty charging for something I loved doing.

Secondly, trust people less – or at least always protect yourself. There are plenty of people who will lie straight to your face and not pay you for your work. Since then, I only give credit to businesses and not to home users.

Don’t be afraid to be tough with people when collecting money. Always be polite, but be tough. I once made the mistake of not being tough enough a business client’s account rose too high and they decided not to pay me.

To make things worse I didn’t have a signed work order as evidence to legally chase it up. I won’t be making this mistake the second time around.

If I keep on advertising, doing a good job, and making it easy for my clients to refer me to others, It won’t be long until I am back to where I am right now.