Grow or Die, the Choice is Yours

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley:
My home based clients don’t do business with me because I know more than they do about computers, networks, and servers – there’s always someone who knows more about those things and my clients know it.

They do business with me because I insist on making the interactions with them reasonably pleasant.  They are happy to see me coming and know that I’ve helped them in the past and will do what I can to help them now.  Many of them understand that I can’t solve every problem, but they’ve grow to understand that I will do my best.  I make it clear to them that they aren’t simply numbers on a spread sheet.  I enjoy helping even when things are blowing up in our faces and the world appears determined to stay in disaster mode.

Here’s the problem though, on average, home based businesses can’t offer enough work to build and sustain a full-fledged business – a business that I can use to act as an employer to others.  Don’t misunderstand, I know that there are brick and mortar stores that have built a reputation for working on systems brought from people’s homes, but realistically, how many home users or even small offices have the capital to pay for recurring managed services?

A few weeks ago I was working on an idea to help me get new business and something occurred to me.

I’ve been maintaining a bit of a fiction (I’ll explain in a bit).  There are two ways to look at how you are doing business.  If you’re like me, you’re the chief cook and bottle washer.  You’re also the head steward, bean counter and sole tax payer.  This is fine in the short term, but this method – known as working IN the business, is just that, short term.  It’s not sustainable in the long run.

The primary reasons it’s not sustainable are pretty plain, there isn’t enough of you or hours in the day to go around.  It really doesn’t matter how much you bill per hour, over the course of months or years you will eventually burn out and then where is your business?

When I say that I’ve been maintaining a fiction this is what I mean.  I realized a while back that I can’t keep up this pace for long.  Where I need to be is developing new business leads and products.  I need to be sitting down and creating proposals for new clients and building stronger relationships with existing clients.  I need to employ others to help grow this thing I’m doing.  This is known as working ON the business and it’s what a true entrepreneur is all about.  The other method is just being ‘the computer guy’.

But NONE of that will happen the way I am doing things now.  I am spending 10 to 12 hours per day working IN the business.  Yes, I’m making money and taking care of my family, but like I said earlier, it’s not sustainable. I hope that you’re in business to do more than make money; hopefully you’re trying to build something that didn’t exist before, something that will last and be a benefit to your community.  In my opinion, that’s the true purpose of small businesses around the world.

I came up with the concept of Grow Or Die two weeks ago and put those words on a piece of paper on the wall right behind my center monitor.  It’s the first thing I see when I boot up in the morning and the last thing I see when I go to bed at night.

Kind of melodramatic?

Perhaps.

But consider this, if my business isn’t growing what is it doing?  If I’m not growing, what am I doing?

Look at the following facts:

  • The SBA and Census Bureau both report that on average 1 in 3 businesses fail in their first three years. (I start year three this coming January)
  • Some of the reasons for failures are poor marketing, poor business planning, poor management, and lack of clear objectives. (Ummm… yep)
  • Some small businesses fail because the owner fails to understand and adapt when their market changes causing them to get overtaken by their competition or lose too many customers too quickly. (Watching it happen to local businesses as I write this.)

Some or all of these things could quickly end my business or your business and put us right back in line looking for a job.  And, really, who wants that?

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley: Ronn is a technology enthusiast from way back, during the dark ages of the Arpanet and the Purple monochrome monitor screens. His first computer was a Commodore PET and his first laptop was the size of a suitcase. Despite that, he loves computers and technology to distraction and has been working in the tech world for almost 10 years full time, currently as the owner of a Desktop and Network support company in Atlanta, Georgia.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Kill the Employee Mindset or your Business is Doomed

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley:
On paper my business is three years old.

In reality, it began more than 30 years ago.

The desire to own my own business isn’t new. I’ve always known that I have less control of destiny if I work for someone else. The problem is, early education, a large portion of average home life and life’s general experience doesn’t prepare you for being your own boss.

When I started my company, I did everything wrong. I gave away time and service for free. I sometimes forgot previous scheduling and had to backpedal after realizing that being in two places at the same time really is impossible. I obsessed over having to tell clients no. Despite all of this, I managed to survive by realizing that beginners have a lot to learn and trying to give myself a break.

Despite all of my ‘growth pains’ one constant thought has run through the whole process of getting to where I am now. I’ve made it a goal to be mindful that I’m doing something outside of my ‘training’.

Early life and school seem to be designed to turn us into good little automatons. We’re told to get good grades, do the right (safe) thing, graduate and then join the workforce. We’re taught to do our best for the group. Individuality is frowned upon in most instances. I’m not saying its like this for everyone, but for the great majority of us, it is.

When you start a business, no matter what kind it is, it’s very possible you are attempting to break out of 15 to 20 years of indoctrination. If you spend time in the workforce before starting the business, the problem is even worse.

When I started my company, I had been an ‘employee’ for 30 years. All I knew was how to ‘wait’ for work to be brought to me. Like most employees, I was somewhat proactive, but I never really went out of my way to do things. This was the result of being burned for trying to think outside the box in corporate settings.

My biggest issue to overcome – and if its your’s as well, you’ll understand – is putting the employee mindset in its proper place.

I’ve consistently caught myself saying WE towards my clients, as if I were something more than a vendor. It’s hard wired into me to make myself part of the ‘group’.

On the face of it, the mindset isn’t a bad thing. I’m able to quickly acclimate myself to whatever setting I find myself in. It allows me to connect to my client and get the job done faster with less awkwardness.

The problem is, once its time to sever that cord and move on to the next job or client, I sometimes run into an emotion wall. This issue tends to show up with my long term clients or for those that I have intense daily interactions. I tend to blur the lines of what a client should be. I look at the client more like a co-worker than what they truly are – a client that’s paying me for a project or my services. I’ve never noticed this issue with clients I don’t have daily interaction.

My largest client is also my oldest. In a lot of ways they are more like a job than a client. I know their goals, strengths and weaknesses. And I honestly wonder if I should know what I know about this client. If I’m just supposed to be a vendor, shouldn’t I keep it in the realm of – do a job, invoice them and keep it moving?

But that’s not what happens. I find myself emotionally entangled with their company goals and problems. During meetings or jobs I find myself saying WE a lot.

And this was my original point. The WE comes from my training to be a good team player. 30 years in corporate and private America has left its mark on me. Chances are you have a similar story.
If you’re wired this way you have to be actively aware every day that a certain distance is necessary – this means home user clients as well as businesses.

It doesn’t mean you have to be some kind of emotionless machine. Your clients are people who need to see the confidence and humanity you bring to the table as a problem solver. BUT the minute you violate that boundary you set yourself up for all kinds of problems. Their issues aren’t your issues (to the extent that their issues don’t interfere with your ability to do what they contracted you for).

I remember a conversation I had with the very first IT contractor I ever met. I was working for a heating and cooling company in Portland, Oregon and he had come by to fix some computers. During a break, I found myself talking to him and I mentioned a problem that we were having in the office. He stopped me before I really got going and said – “Please don’t tell me about the problems here, I don’t involve myself with my clients internal issues. I don’t have the time or energy for it.”

At the time I thought he was being an arrogant jerk, but now, all of these years later, owning my own business, I get it.

Your business lives or dies based on the way you conduct yourself around clients. I don’t mean just acting like a professional, I mean actively keeping yourself from getting drawn in and sidetracked by clients internal issues. I can’t imagine a faster way to reach burnout than ignore the trained in employee mindset while you’re trying to build a business.

A few things I do to help me ‘keep it real’ include:

  • Plan for my business to solve problems for more than one client. If I wanted to help only one entity I’d get a job.
  • Realize that my clients have issues have NOTHING to do with the growth and continued operation of my company. (I know this sounds like Duh, but its harder than it looks when you truly care.)
  • Realize that my clients can only see within their own little world. As a business owner I have to see in different spectrum’s.
  • Stay mindful that my employee mindset is a trained response and its stronger than it seems
  • Remind myself (sometimes daily) that one client won’t pay the bills or allow for me to grow this business to what it could be, no matter how nice they are or how much they seem to need me.

Good luck.

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley: Ronn is a technology enthusiast from way back, during the dark ages of the Arpanet and the Purple monochrome monitor screens. His first computer was a Commodore PET and his first laptop was the size of a suitcase. Despite that, he loves computers and technology to distraction and has been working in the tech world for almost 10 years full time, currently as the owner of a Desktop and Network support company in Atlanta, Georgia.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Randy The Tech Professor

Hello everyone,

I started a computer repair/tech blog about three years ago. I was experiencing so many different repair scenarios on a daily basis that I wanted to write about them.

I have always liked to write and teach as well as share any knowledge with others. If you would like to check out the blog you can do so here: http://randythetechprofessor.com

Any comments, suggestions, additional tips, etc. are very welcomed and appreciated.

Best wishes,

Randy Read More…

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Marketing a Computer Business In A Small Town

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Adam Sewell:
Let me introduce myself. My name is Adam Sewell, and I run a technology services business in a small town of 20,000. MyGeek Computer Services has been around for a little over two years now, and I’ve had a hard time making my business known in the community, even though I grew up here. I found that marketing my business using conventional advertising methods was ineffective. Yellow Pages, Google Ads, Facebook ads, and other advertisements just didn’t produce the results that I expected. After about a year of failed marketing attempts, I realized something important. My small town reacts differently to marketing compared to a large city. In this article, I will detail what I did, how I did it, and what proved successful.

As I mentioned, my small town has about 20,000 residents. The population is composed of ex-textile workers, small business owners, and a good selection of affluent individuals. Our town is best known for its pork barbeque, and a nearby lake is popular for recreational activities. We are nestled in the middle of a triangle of three of the largest cities in the state, all within an hours drive. Like many other small southern cities, there is a very strong network of ‘good ol’ boys’. There are several other computer repair shops in the area – some mobile, some with physical shops, and some working out of their homes. Most of these do no advertising at all.

In today’s digital world, you might expect most people to search the internet for new businesses, or to read reviews of existing businesses, especially when it comes to computer services. That may be true in your city, but in mine, it’s a different matter. I will concede that those in the 18-30 age bracket utilise the Internet to locate possible service providers more than the previous generation, but still not as much as you might expect.

A few times over the past two years I’ve run Internet marketing campaigns, including Google Ads and Facebook Ads. With Google I averaged about 1 or 2 clicks per week – yes, per week. I’m not claiming to be an expert with Google Ads, but I did spend a considerable amount of time reading up on the subject.
With Facebook Ads I had more success. I averaged about 1 or 2 ‘likes’ per day. But the interesting thing was that they were all from out of town! I set the radius to target my county, which bled over into a larger city to the north. Nearly all my new ‘likes’ were from this larger city. But even with that limited activity, I received no phone calls from the Facebook traffic. So I’ve eliminated those methods from my marketing plan for now.

I next looked into Yellow Book. Yellow Book has a reputation for being on the expensive side, but it’s almost a necessity, especially if you are targeting residential clients. I sat down with the representative from the company, and he proceeded to give me a demographic summary. Most of what he said wasn’t new to me, as I had done my own research. However, he confirmed my suspicion that the residents of my county respond poorly to internet marketing compared to residents of other counties.

Newspaper advertising is another traditional way to get your business name out in a small town, but from my experience, it was expensive and seemed ineffective as well. I ran several ads in the local newspaper and received no calls from them. However, I was able to get a decent response from a couple of articles they ran about my business. One of the articles was a grand opening article that I personally wrote, which they edited before publishing. I also wrote a few articles for the newspaper detailing some tech help items. While the expensive advertising yielded nothing, the articles were actually worthwhile.

Internet marketing was ineffective, Yellow Book was expensive and didn’t have the focus towards business that I needed, and newspaper ads were expensive and produced very little response. What’s next? What about ‘word of mouth’?
I have actually received most of my business from referrals and hitting the pavement. It all started with my CPA. I worked out a deal with the CPA to maintain their network. He felt I did such a good job that he referred me to some of his clients, who then referred me to other businesses they had relationships with. I also joined a networking group that meets weekly, Business Networking International, which has been great for my business.

By getting into this closed network of ‘good ol’ boys’, striking deals, and getting referrals, I was able to kickstart my business. Word of mouth is the most important form of advertising, and by using a network like BNI you are able to extend your salesforce out into the community through people the community already trusts. People trust their friends and family before they would trust an advertisement in the newspaper or on the radio.
In the end, you just need to get your business in the public eye, whether that means going door to door introducing yourself or joining a networking group. Regardless, it may take some trial and error to find out what works for your business in your community. Most importantly, ask your friends or family members where they go to find services they need, such as a plumber or electrician. Wherever they are looking, that’s where you need to be seen.

Guest Post by Adam Sewell: Adam is a technology professional with over 10 years of experience. Classically trained in Information Technology but passionate about open source software such as WordPress and Linux. Other interest include politics, religion, and anything else you’re not suppose to talk about in polite company.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Ask The Readers: The One Piece of Advice You Wish You Could Have Told Your Past Self

Authors: Bryce Whitty

Everyone has that one main piece of advice that changed their life/business that they wish they knew when they were first starting out. So, I want to ask the readers, What is that one piece of advice you wish you could have told your past self as a Tech/Business Owner?


I’ll start. For me it is to never stop learning and never stop improving.
In any business it takes time for you to establish your systems and eventually you’ll reach a point where things will start to run really smoothly. You have a steady amount of clients and you can handle just about any problems that come your way. All you need to do is repeat this process to continue making money.

In my early years I got into a fairly comfortable position and as a result I wasn’t working ON my business, only IN my business keeping the wheels turning. A year or two went by and I started to improve my existing systems such as slipstreaming my Windows CDs, experimenting with different forms of advertising and tweaking my existing advertising.

With just a few simple tweaks I started making significantly more money by either working faster (allowing me to take on more jobs) or my advertising being more effective. Which made me wonder how much more money I was leaving on the table, so I continued improving and haven’t stopped since. I just wish I had done it sooner since there was a fair bit of money I missed out on by not improving earlier.

So, whats the one piece of advice you wish you could have told your past self?

For those of you reading this via email or RSS reader, head over to the site and drop us a comment. I would love to hear your piece of advice.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. Ask The Readers: The One Piece of Advice You Wish You Could Have Told Your Past Self

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Tales from the Tech Trenches: A Coworker and Her Motherboard

Authors: Bryce Whitty

A Technibble forum member has shared one of his experiences as a Computer Technician with us and the lessons he learned along the way. Due to the public nature of this article the technician wishes to remain anonymous. This is his tale from the tech trenches.

Anonymous Writes:
A co-worker of mine has an HP a6663 she bought in December 2008 and used until January 2010, when she asked for help. The symptoms she verbally described were merely those of Spyware. I agreed to fix the problem for $60 thinking it was only Spyware, but when I got there it would hang solid, Blue Screen of Death as well as sometimes fail to POST. In addition to it being so loaded with Spyware it would take 35 minutes to boot (when it worked).


I didn’t really want to open the computer or do much for the $60, but I did agree to fix the problem and I also know that she would not be able to tell the difference between symptoms caused by bad hardware from those caused by Spyware. I knew she would not consider the computer repaired even if I had removed all the spyware, because it would still freeze and crash.

When I started work, I presumed it would boot fast enough to backup my co-workers information and then I could run the HP recovery utility (in the worst case scenario – if the standard Spyware cleanup tools don’t work) and copy the information back onto the system. It became apparent this wasn’t the case. When it did boot, little things like the extensions to .zip were broken and 20+ toolbars/desktop-bars were installed. Windows was foobared enough to not be able to copy files!

It would freeze solid, so I knew it was a hardware problem that must be resolved first. I tested it with Memtest 86+ which it passed. It then hung on POST; again, I knew it is a hardware problem. Anyway, I tried Bart PE to copy the information off but it didn’t see the hard drive for more than a few seconds each time I booted it.

I decided to try CHKDSK on Windows PE which took about 5 tries to boot without crashing, so I knew something was terribly wrong. None the less, I pressed on and it fixed 20,000+ NTFS errors which made me question whether the hard drive was good. In my experience usually a drive is bad when CHKDSK has errors scroll for 10 minutes.

I opened the case and pulled the drive to make a backup of the data first in case it died during diagnostics. Then I ran the Western Digital Diagnostics which it passed. The computer was out of warranty anyway and the drive was never covered by Western Digital being a HP provided part. When I opened the case, I saw bulging capacitors and knew that was the culprit.

1. I called the user back and told her I got her data and that the drive itself is fine, so no need to buy a new one.

2. I explained that the computer is out of Warranty from HP, which is BAD because it needs a new motherboard due to bulging capacitors.

3. I contacted HP and they would NOT send me the part. They wanted me to send the computer in with $200 to diagnose the problem, which I already knew was bulging capacitors. They said if it needed a new motherboard then expect the total to run up to $400. I asked/begged them to sell me a replacement motherboard but they refused, insisting that part is ONLY serviceable by an HP repair center.

4. I searched on the Internet and eBay for a replacement board and did not find anything for this model.

5. I then packaged the motherboard up properly in anti-static wrap & packing material in a Priority Mail box and addressed it to be sent to Badcaps.net for recapping. I had my co-worker sign a form saying she would pay for the re-capping and that I am not responsible if the recapping does not work.

The recapping will be an extra $80 paid directly to BadCaps.net of which I will take on $60 (full payment of my labor agreed upon) risk. Basically saying, if it doesn’t work you still pay for the re-capping, but I won’t bill you for any of the labor up to this point.

6. I later get chewed-out by co-worker that the $20 shipping is expensive (I forced her to send it Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation) mainly because it only gets handled for two days and has some tracking in addition to a properly sized, free box. I simply told her to mail it herself with HER return address and call me when the part arrives.

7. I find out from BadCaps.Net she doesn’t have a PayPal account to pay the $80 for the recapping, so I made the payment and printed the PayPal receipt for reimbursement.

At this point, I am at 3 hours of work and $80. I have also made two trips – one to do the initial work presuming it was just spyware and 100% user stupidity and take the drive for backup (as well as write down all the serial numbers for warranty lookups), and the other trip to package the motherboard up for shipping after I figured out what to do.

8. She called me that the board came in and to come over. I arrive at the scheduled time and she wasn’t home. $^&*(%!!!

9. I re-schedule the call out. I arrive and inspect the motherboard; it looks fabulously repaired! I install it and cross my fingers that it will POST and be okay after having like 20 caps replaced. Everything works, no hangs, no freezes, etc.

10. I go through the HP recovery process, Windows Updates, install her Microsoft Office, setup her Internet access, install her printer, install her scanner and create her icons. I install Security Essentials and Firefox (because it is more like IE than Chrome and safer for home users than IE).

11. Reload her data from backup.

12. Configure Windows backup and teach her how to backup her data.

The job was done in 3 trips, 4 hours total work and 1 hour research checking warranties and places to get it re-capped in addition to $80 of my own to pay for the capacitor repair.

  • I never changed the original estimate from $60 and the travel cost of $9.
  • I never charged travel on more than one trip, yet there were three.
  • I did not charge for getting the packaging material (I bought), time getting the Priority Mail box and getting an anti-static bag – all of which took probably an hour, some travel and $5.

Then she says, “Can I pay you in installments?”

Me (not really caring; since, I am asking for so little): “Sure, go for it. Do you have the first payment now and how much?”

Her: “We get paid at work next week.”

Me: “Okay.”

Her: “Can I have an invoice?”

Me: “I hand her an Invoice for $60 labor, $9 travel, and $80 for the re-capping.”

Pay Day comes around and I don’t say anything hoping she will pay pro-actively. I wait two days and send another invoice.
She then tells me at work she has an installment of $80 as repayment for the portion of the BadCaps.net recapping. I took it, so I am at least at the break-even point except for my time and fuel running around.
I mailed a receipt showing that I put it toward that and now she owes on the $60 labor and $9 travel. Two weeks later we got paid again, so I asked about it and she paid me the $69.

What I learned

1. Simple jobs aren’t always simple when there are multiple problems.

2. Don’t quote a fixed cost and stick to it even as other problems crop up.

3. Don’t work for co-workers.

4. Never buy (and try not to avoid working on) a computer that doesn’t have a good source of original, spare parts.

What I should have charged

1. $80 for the Recovery (not $60 for Spyware removal)

2. $20 for the Hard Drive Diagnostics & Motherboard Diagnostics (bad caps)

3. For packaging/shipping materials (aside for the free Priority Mail box)

4. $80 up front before sending it for re-capping, not after.

5. $60 to cover the backup/restore

6. $40 to clean the dust & remove/install the motherboard… should have charged something for that trip.

7. Travel for all three trips at $9 each.

8. I should have charged at least $20 installing the AV, Anti Spyware, Office, updates, etc.

9. I should have charged at least $20 for setting up the backup & teaching her to use it.

10. Should have charged maybe $20 per device i.e. Internet, Printer, Scanner

I wasn’t doing this job for the money; I looked at is as doing a favor for a friend that just wasn’t totally free. I was doing it to help out and wanted to make sure she was not over-charged. I merely quoted $60 because I don’t want the word getting around that I will do favors and to discourage her from asking for repeat favors.

The original idea of mine was that I would take care of her Spyware issues, get everything running smoothly in an hour and then train her with some basic knowledge to leave her feeling good with high esteem and some basic knowledge to prevent reoccurrence. I planned to be done fixing the problem in under an hour then stay around just long enough to make her feel she got “added” value beyond fixing a computer.

That said, I never expected this little job to turn into a big project involving research, paper-work, invoicing, receipts, appointments, a missed appointment, shipping, packaging, multiple trips, multiple warranty checks, visual observation/diagnostics of the motherboard, memory diagnostics, data recovery, drive diagnostics, restore backup, updates, training, backup configuration, printer, scanner, Internet, software installation and loan of money via a PayPal payment to re-cap the motherboard.

The entire time, I never budged on my quote because I felt I had a commitment and that she was a friend, but I should have either charged more or known when to walk away from the job.

I also wanted to keep the price very low because I knew she was far more underpaid than I am at work. She probably gets paid $1 for every $3 I get, and I felt for her situation since she just bought the computer 14 months ago. I knew if I didn’t fix it, anywhere she took it they would have quoted astronomical prices higher than those listed that I should charge. I knew if I didn’t fix it, she would have no choice but to buy a new computer.

A retail shop would have run into the same problems I did, have to make the same diagnosis or possibly make a miss misdiagnosis. They would also have a problem not being able to buy a motherboard from HP. Even if they could source one, they would probably charge $150 to $200 for it plus its installation.

Although we don’t forget how important it is to look after people (especially friends and family), we often forget to look after ourselves – that is the lesson I learned.

By the way, it has been over a year and she told me at work that the computer is still running great. She said it actually works better than new because it would sometimes hard-freeze a couple of times a month after the first few months of ownership. It has been rock-solid, stable and reliable since the new capacitors.

Do you have your own tale from the Tech Trenches you would like to share with us? Please send it here.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. Tales from the Tech Trenches: A Coworker and Her Motherboard

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Two years in Service

Mason Computer Service is coming up on its two year anniversary, in October, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone that has come to me with their computer problems and issues. When I started this business, my main goal was to do something to give back to the community, my plan was to offer computer services at the lowest amount that I could so people would be able to afford to have their computer running right eRead More…

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My Top Lessons Learned as a Computer Technician

Authors: Bryce Whitty

In this post I will share with you some information that I have learned that makes me the business man I am today. These lessons include automation and delegation, the usefulness of operation manuals, being effective, specializing and how to deal with competitors. These are not lessons learned the hard way which I have posted about before, but rather things I have learned while trying to be better at what I do.

Eliminate, Automate or Delegate
When you first start out you will probably not have enough work to fill the day. As time rolls on your business will begin to consume more and more of your day until eventually there will come a point where you will struggle to find the time. Your time is finite and you can only work on so many computers a day. In order for you to grow you need to either automate or delegate.
You should think about your most common tasks in your business. Do you even need to be doing it? Can it be eliminated? If you need to do it, can it be automated? Software related work is ideal for automation. For example, Windows reinstalls take a fair bit of time and require someone to be there to press Next, Next, Next. You can automate this process by creating an unattended install CD using something like vLite to install Windows, use Offline Update for the Windows patches, Fabs Autobackup 4 Tech to migrate the data and Ninite Pro to reinstall the applications . All of these support command line so you could create a batch file or an AutoIT script to do it all for you. If you don’t know how to script, Technibble has a fantastic scripting community on the forums that is only visible to members who have been on the forums for a while. You can look at some existing scripts there or perhaps pay someone to create something for you.

Of course, not every task can be eliminated or automated so you have to delegate. You can take on in-house staff or outsource the work. In either case, creating operations manuals is key. It allows others to work and make decisions in the same way you would. Essentially replacing yourself. This leads me onto my next topic.

Operations Manuals
I am a technician. I like to do things myself, my way. It’s in the technician nature. However, as I got more busy I had to take myself out of the technician mindset and more into the business owner mindset. I had to start outsourcing. The problem was I had very specific ways to deal with things and I needed to make sure that it was always done that way. Even here on the Technibble forums, the place grew much faster than I could deal with myself. I still moderate on the forums but now I have a fantastic group of volunteers helping me out. I couldn’t do it without them. Two of the mods had been around long enough that we developed the rules for both users and mods as time went on, but with the most recent take up of mods I realized I even needed an operations manual for that. It covers many of the situations that a moderator can expect but it is always expanding as various situations arise. The operations manual for your business will also expand so it should be in an editable format. Wiki software like Dokuwiki works nice if you have a few employees and you need to manage permissions. However, if you dont mind employees seeing all parts of the manual, a word document is fine.

Being Effective
I touched on this a little bit when I was on a Podnutz show a few weeks ago. Basically, you can spend your whole day “working” and turning the wheels but dont actually get much done. I personally used to get in these bad loops where I would check emails, read sites, do some computer work, come back, check emails etc..
I honestly didnt need to check my emails every half hour. Even worse was every time I did it and there was something to respond to, I had to deal with it then. I was constantly responding to things rather than doing some productive. You also need to keep in mind that there are lead up times in every task you do as well. You really see this when someone keeps distracting you at work and it takes you a few minutes to get back into what you were doing.

I managed to break my “being busy for the sake of being busy” habit and got my email checking down to about once or twice a day. I would deal with them all at once and I would be done for the day. My mind was clear to work on something else productive.

When I have a lot of things on my to-do list, I ask myself which of them is the most important, which will make the most difference. In most cases if I have a clients computer on the bench, that is the most important thing to do since my customers are my source of income.
I might have had cleaning up my workshop on the to-do list which would allow me to be more efficient while working. However, if I also had “change my advertising” on my to-do list this week, it becomes my second priority over cleaning up my workshop. Its so easy to “be busy for the sake of being busy” but in the end you need to focus on what makes you money. Sure, cleaning up my workshop will make me more efficient and being more efficient will eventually help me make more money, but fixing my clients computer right now and fixing up my advertising will make me more money quicker. Be effective.

Consider Specializing
If your area has a lot of businesses doing similar to what you are doing, consider specializing. I was speaking to a technician (@SMDSteve) on Podnutz a few weeks ago who focuses on doing Laptop DC Jack repairs. Instead of battling it out with his local competitors, he now has his competitors sending HIM work. This leads me to my next point.

Competitors
Traditional thinking makes you think that your competitors are the enemy and you hope they go out of business. However, it is far more powerful to ally with your competitors rather than to do battle with them. Do they do something you dont do (like laptop repairs) and vice versa? Can you refer to work to eachother? If you cant find a mutually beneficial situation or your competitors are hell bent on destroying you, the best way to compete is by simply being better.

I know this sounds obvious but what I mean is dont negative advertise against them (“Our prices are half that of competitor X’s”) or do any dirty tricks to steal customers. Just be better and the customers will eventually come to you. I often get asked by technicians about how to compete with the big box stores or the guy down the street with really low prices. The answer is dont. Just be better. Have better service, be quicker, keep the customer in the loop, focus on refining your advertising and your internal systems. In the end it wont matter about your prices. The quality of your work will defeat the big box stores and the cheap guy down the street.

Last but not least in regards to competitors, once you become the best in your area, dont stop. Keep improving and your competitors will have a hard time catching up.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their computer business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. My Top Lessons Learned as a Computer Technician

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My Top Lessons Learned as a Computer Technician

Authors: Bryce Whitty

In this post I will share with you some information that I have learned that makes me the business man I am today. These lessons include automation and delegation, the usefulness of operation manuals, being effective, specializing and how to deal with competitors. These are not lessons learned the hard way which I have posted about before, but rather things I have learned while trying to be better at what I do.

Eliminate, Automate or Delegate
When you first start out you will probably not have enough work to fill the day. As time rolls on your business will begin to consume more and more of your day until eventually there will come a point where you will struggle to find the time. Your time is finite and you can only work on so many computers a day. In order for you to grow you need to either automate or delegate.
You should think about your most common tasks in your business. Do you even need to be doing it? Can it be eliminated? If you need to do it, can it be automated? Software related work is ideal for automation. For example, Windows reinstalls take a fair bit of time and require someone to be there to press Next, Next, Next. You can automate this process by creating an unattended install CD using something like vLite to install Windows, use Offline Update for the Windows patches, Fabs Autobackup 4 Tech to migrate the data and Ninite Pro to reinstall the applications . All of these support command line so you could create a batch file or an AutoIT script to do it all for you. If you don’t know how to script, Technibble has a fantastic scripting community on the forums that is only visible to members who have been on the forums for a while. You can look at some existing scripts there or perhaps pay someone to create something for you.

Of course, not every task can be eliminated or automated so you have to delegate. You can take on in-house staff or outsource the work. In either case, creating operations manuals is key. It allows others to work and make decisions in the same way you would. Essentially replacing yourself. This leads me onto my next topic.

Operations Manuals
I am a technician. I like to do things myself, my way. It’s in the technician nature. However, as I got more busy I had to take myself out of the technician mindset and more into the business owner mindset. I had to start outsourcing. The problem was I had very specific ways to deal with things and I needed to make sure that it was always done that way. Even here on the Technibble forums, the place grew much faster than I could deal with myself. I still moderate on the forums but now I have a fantastic group of volunteers helping me out. I couldn’t do it without them. Two of the mods had been around long enough that we developed the rules for both users and mods as time went on, but with the most recent take up of mods I realized I even needed an operations manual for that. It covers many of the situations that a moderator can expect but it is always expanding as various situations arise. The operations manual for your business will also expand so it should be in an editable format. Wiki software like Dokuwiki works nice if you have a few employees and you need to manage permissions. However, if you dont mind employees seeing all parts of the manual, a word document is fine.

Being Effective
I touched on this a little bit when I was on a Podnutz show a few weeks ago. Basically, you can spend your whole day “working” and turning the wheels but dont actually get much done. I personally used to get in these bad loops where I would check emails, read sites, do some computer work, come back, check emails etc..
I honestly didnt need to check my emails every half hour. Even worse was every time I did it and there was something to respond to, I had to deal with it then. I was constantly responding to things rather than doing some productive. You also need to keep in mind that there are lead up times in every task you do as well. You really see this when someone keeps distracting you at work and it takes you a few minutes to get back into what you were doing.

I managed to break my “being busy for the sake of being busy” habit and got my email checking down to about once or twice a day. I would deal with them all at once and I would be done for the day. My mind was clear to work on something else productive.

When I have a lot of things on my to-do list, I ask myself which of them is the most important, which will make the most difference. In most cases if I have a clients computer on the bench, that is the most important thing to do since my customers are my source of income.
I might have had cleaning up my workshop on the to-do list which would allow me to be more efficient while working. However, if I also had “change my advertising” on my to-do list this week, it becomes my second priority over cleaning up my workshop. Its so easy to “be busy for the sake of being busy” but in the end you need to focus on what makes you money. Sure, cleaning up my workshop will make me more efficient and being more efficient will eventually help me make more money, but fixing my clients computer right now and fixing up my advertising will make me more money quicker. Be effective.

Consider Specializing
If your area has a lot of businesses doing similar to what you are doing, consider specializing. I was speaking to a technician (@SMDSteve) on Podnutz a few weeks ago who focuses on doing Laptop DC Jack repairs. Instead of battling it out with his local competitors, he now has his competitors sending HIM work. This leads me to my next point.

Competitors
Traditional thinking makes you think that your competitors are the enemy and you hope they go out of business. However, it is far more powerful to ally with your competitors rather than to do battle with them. Do they do something you dont do (like laptop repairs) and vice versa? Can you refer to work to eachother? If you cant find a mutually beneficial situation or your competitors are hell bent on destroying you, the best way to compete is by simply being better.

I know this sounds obvious but what I mean is dont negative advertise against them (“Our prices are half that of competitor X’s”) or do any dirty tricks to steal customers. Just be better and the customers will eventually come to you. I often get asked by technicians about how to compete with the big box stores or the guy down the street with really low prices. The answer is dont. Just be better. Have better service, be quicker, keep the customer in the loop, focus on refining your advertising and your internal systems. In the end it wont matter about your prices. The quality of your work will defeat the big box stores and the cheap guy down the street.

Last but not least in regards to competitors, once you become the best in your area, dont stop. Keep improving and your competitors will have a hard time catching up.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. My Top Lessons Learned as a Computer Technician

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My Move To Remote Support

Authors: Bryce Whitty

If you have listened to some of the podcasts I have been featured in, you might have heard that I love travelling.
It is because of this I am taking my business in a slightly different direction. For now, I am turning my business into a remote support business.

Over the last few years there has been a handful of clients who make up the majority of my income (80\20 rule). Fortunately, just about all the work I do for them can be done via remote support and if any physical work needs to be done, I have arranged another Technician to do the onsite work. I have mentioned moving to remote support and these clients have no problems with it. In fact, in many cases my turn around time will be even quicker.
After looking at my records and viewing the income that these few businesses generate, I can live comfortably just supporting these few. Obviously, there will be a reduction in my income but I gain something else – freedom. Freedom to work just about anywhere in the world.

I have taken advantage of this and have moved to London in the UK where I am allowed to stay for up to two years. Ive always wanted to work in another country but didn’t really care where, while my fiancée has always wanted to work in the UK. She came to me one day about 4 or 5 months ago and said she wanted to move to the UK. I thought about how this would affect my business. I thought about the work I do for my main client and wondered whether most of it could be done remotely, it could. I thought what would happen if I need to go onsite? I can get a trusted person to go onsite and do the work for a percentage.
What about all my other clients? Especially my residential mom-and-pop clients whom I probably wont be able to support remotely?
I have passed them onto a Technibble forum member who has the same service area as me for a percentage. They are an excellent group of clients because I have already filtered out all the crap so I am very sure the other business will be very happy with them.

Learning Remote Support
Before jumping into remote support only, Ive had to spend some time learning the ins-and-outs so its less of a jump into the deep-end and more of a slow slide into the shallow end. Remote support comes with the benefit of freedom of location, but it also comes with a different set of problems.
What do you do when the computer needs to be restarted in Safe Mode? How do you get clients to pay you? Etc..
Luckily, I have had a pre-release of Lisa’s new ebook called “CallThatGirls Guide To Remote Support” for a few weeks now. For those of you who don’t know, Lisa is a well known member on the Technibble forums who is the owner of a successful computer repair business called “Call That Girl”. She specializes in remote support but also has some physical stores.
Lisa has written down what she has learned after years of supporting clients remotely and here are some of the topics that she covers in the guide.

  • Things to do before you start
  • Setting up your remote tools
  • How to book the appointment
  • What to do if the computer crashes while doing the call
  • Problems you will encounter
  • How to deal with issues you cannot fix remotely
  • Getting connected to a computer that has a virus
  • And more.

The guide has 34 pages, but it gets straight to the point. Have you ever read a long book only to come away with a few gold nuggets of information? This guide cuts out the fluff.
It sells for $100 USD which is not cheap for an ebook, but super cheap for an operations manual. When someone spends tens of thousands of dollars on a franchise, one of the most important things that they are buying (other than the brand name) is the businesses operations manual. Its well worth it if you are looking to get into remote support and while I could have learned many of these lessons the hard way, it has been a massive shortcut for me.

Click Here for more information about Call That Girls Guide To Remote Support

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their computer business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. My Move To Remote Support

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