Business owners???....
 

My buddy and I have been talking for a while about opening a computer shop/resale shop in Allison Park (near pittsburgh) for a long time now... well one of the businesses just moved so that they could expand and he was thinking here's our chance :y Who all has opened a business here (I can't think of who everyone was that did so), any tips thus far? We would be repairing computers, building computers, selling software/hardware/games and such and installing software, amongst other things I presume.

Any tips?

Re: Business owners???....
 

Call the geek squad and ask them. >:D

Re: Business owners???....
 

haha.. luckily where we'd be located is nowhere near one of those, no Target's or Walmart's about.. stealth you own your own company, no advice? ???

Re: Business owners???....
 

its allot of tax work man, make sure you dont get in over your head. theres ALLOT of ------- laws and ---- you need to know before you just go doing business because uncle sams gotta have his cut. and you dont want to piss that bitch off.

Re: Business owners???....
 

Luckily as far as the tax work and all of that stuff goes, we'd be hiring my mom since she went to school for all that stuff. :6

Re: Business owners???....
 

The tax issue is the least of your worries,making a profit is your main one, small business fail for a reasona nd its not the government :'(. That can be solved with keeping recipts and using one account for business aka paypal and use it only for business makes the end of the year hell of alot easier. Your best bet is focus on service thats where you make your money.

Re: Business owners???....
 

Ask Xenoncron since he has his own gas station and there was another dude who had a restaurant but thats all I can think of for actual business owners who had an actual retail business or restaurant and not just a online business.

Re: Business owners???....
 

Thanks, I messaged him :)

Re: Business owners???....
 

your best bet would be to do an in home service. that way you wouldent be paying rent for a shop, you could fix peoples computers. charge like 40 an hour. your not going to make much on vending parts and building systems. expecialy since you have to compete with places like new egg, but if you just did service work, you could be a sole propritorship and you just claim your work as earned income. but theres still other things you have to do.

Re: Business owners???....
 

try and find a wholesaler/ distributor the problem is, the prices that you get from them won't be tat much different from what peopl get from tiger, newegg, pricewatch there fore, people would have to pay significantly more if they went through you. So I'd look into that before anything else

Re: Business owners???....
 

Im still pretty new to the business ownership world myself, but I can say this, keep your overhead down, charge enough to make your murchandise and service worth while yet marketable, keep good books, and pay attention to your marketing. If you want to chat about specifics I'd be glad to, hit me up.
Nick
www.blademerchant.com

Re: Business owners???....
 

first I would start out of your house/doing in house repairs. put an ad in the paper...etc. you will always find the old lady who needs help with her computer and someone will have to explain to her why a old skool 5" floppy disc wont fit inside a cd rom drive. *aka my mom* yes, she paid for that advice.

after a few months, friends start telling friends and the business only gets better for you.

in my old town there was this guy who would call up the AM radio station on "free ad fridays" and sell his computer ----/services. He was always callin in so 1. it was working or 2. he was really husslin his ----.

Charge either a flat rate of $XX- no matter what the problem is up to say 2 hours worth of work or charge like $XX an hour.

Re: Business owners???....
 

I did my own contracting thing for a few years, still kinda do it a little on the side now, but i'll tell ya this much...don't expect to get rich in the first year. Isn't gonna happen. Hell, probably won't clear any decent gross margine until at least 2 years, just be prepared for long days and long nights. The whole "i don't work nights and weekends" thing just doesn't fly when you're the one who has to pay up in the end. And keep records and all receipts you have...IRS loves nit-picking through those at the end of the year too...trust me ;)

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research, research, research. while you and your buddy were talking about it, you should have been looking into every aspect you could think of. read books, look stuff up online, know who you'd be competing with and what they charge, go the the local business development support program and blast them with questions and ask for suggestions. WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN. i'm just now starting to look into going full time with my business or actually take it in a different direction. i am still doing my research, but you could possibly see a big change for me, from company name to product.

good luck. ;)

Re: Business owners???....
 

i have a computer shop here in detroit. remember. advertisement is your freind.
we posted papers in classrooms at the local university and colleges. we got so many customers. we had to go pull them down.
you need to go regester ur company name with the state. and get a tax free liscence. helps out alot.
almost ALL buisnesses have a fucked up computer. i walk in. ask em whatsup. and do ---- for em. charge em dirt cheap prices. they like you. they refer you. you get more buisness.. and voilla!

dont charge an inspection charge.

make house calls.

be open to house calls 24/7 and charge extra if its at 3 am.. not 50 bucks extra.. just 10 bucks or whatever...

if the customer is an ass. charge them alot. if the customer is nice. charge them a little cause they will get u more customers.
any customer that hassles you on the price = an ass.

some examples of past jobs i did and for how much.

fucked system/spyware/viruses 30 bucks.

fan/dust cleaning. 20 bucks.

installing of any hardware customer provides. 15 bucks. and 3 bucks a piece after that.

make friends with your local schools.

there pc tech guy is paid by the hour.. regardless what what he fixes..

you fix pc's on demand = cheaper for them.

look all over ebay for messed up computers and laptops. buy em. fix em. sell em.

fix your friends pc's for FREE, other than the parts needed.. dont charge em ----. this will get u referrels. and will generate alot more money.

offer up your cell number. so if customers have any problems they can call you directly.

i treat my buisness as if it were a religion. i take care of all my customers. and i go that extra step to make sure i do everything in my power to make everything smoothly..


cliffnotes, johnny style :P

kiss alot of peoples asses. and inturn they will get you more customers, which will inturn bring u alot of money. which will inturn make you happy.
the customers own you.

Re: Business owners???....
 

You must not have heard of www.paintmode.com. I paint peoples' houses through email. 8)

Re: Business owners???....
 

Thanks for all the advice, stealthy ;)