IT Employment·20,050 discussions

After A+ Certification

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I am enrolled in a computer repair class. Because I am
advancing in my class and stand to be one to complete the
class early, I will begin preparing for the A+ Certification
exam. What I want to know is I live in Los Angeles and
looking to start my own business in the area of computer
service and repair; and I’ve been successful at reconfiguring
hard drives, repairing boot issues on a Compaq laptop, and
have successfully restored operating systems and
reconfiguring second hard drives—> What is the best way
to start putting my name out there letting people know of
my services? What is the most effective way of marketing
my talents? If anywan can give me some advice I’d
appreciate it.

Topic

Computer Repair

In reply to After A+ Certification

You will be competing against everyone that does it full-time, part-time and sometimes that have years and years of vendor hardware experience.

My advice is to get your combat stripes with a service support organization before venturing into the computer repair arena as a business owner.

Pay your dues…

In reply to After A+ Certification

Having your A+ certification (and I know, I’ve got one) doesn’t necessarily mean you can track down a windows memory leak, or repair a faulty registry. It just means you can learn… you test well…

Sign on with a service department somewhere (this is also how you get your name out there) and soak up the knowledge of those with vastly more experience. Never be afraid to admit you don’t know something, they EXPECT you not to know everything. Nobody likes a know-it-all.

Once you’ve got some real world experience under your belt, start with options that your Service department doesn’t provide, like training, application installation, working on other vendor’s machines, what have you, and offer those services to your customers. Once you’ve built up a significant customer base, you can start out on your own.

There’s just too much to know and figure out in this field to start out running before you’ve learned to crawl.

In addition to what the others have said…

In reply to After A+ Certification

Running a business is a lot more difficult than just the technical repair side. You have to keep good records; get a business license and pay taxes; have a secure place to work on equipment; have insurance in case someone rips you off and takes your customers’ stuff; have a legal way to deal with clients who won’t pay or who accuse you of destroying their data or planting porn, etc.

Do a search of this site on starting a business and you will find a lot of responses from others in your situation.

Some things to think about…….

In reply to In addition to what the others have said…

Well I would like to start out by saying that I myself would one day LOVE to own my own small business repairing PC’s, so you are not alone. I am not certified, yet I know SO much already, and yet have ALOT to learn.I cooked the PCI Bus on a new board yesterday becuz I thought I knew what I was doing. I actually could NOT confirm that those USB wires plugged in there. What if this was a customer’s board?? He would definately not be a happy camper, and I would be out $75-$100+ even before I got paid my first dollar, which means in terms of break-even analysis, that I lost money before I made it.He would probably go looking for someone that knows what they are doing, which means to me, a big loss, becuz in business word-of-mouth can make you or break you. You could start out in a service department somewhere’s, I was thinking of joining the GeekSquad at BestBuy to get some work experience and tell them i am pursuing my certification.How many employees you plan on having? other tech’s, a secretary to answer the phone(very critical) and take service orders, call vendors for parts, order parts. Can you trust your tech’s with YOUR money?? You have to display a CAN-DO attitude and follow through on it to Successful completion on ANY project you do for a customer, and if you CANNOT do what the customer wants or needs, cheerfully refer him to another place, but tell him he is ALWAYS welcome by giving him your biz card. Plan on long days and no profit or a slimmmmm margin for at least the first 5 years until word-of-mouth kicks in and you get established…..Good Luck to you

After A+ Certification

In reply to Some things to think about…….

VERY GOOD advice! I, too have been eye-balling
GeekSquad at Best Buy. I also know that there is great deal
I still have to learn, even with my first REAL project of
repairing a boot problem on a laptop. I made a little
money, but before I went off to cash the check, I followed
up to be sure the laptop was still working and that there
were no other problems– that the customer was indeed
satisfied. This project came by word of mouth, but I can’t
get my hopes up too high to say the least. When it comes
to dealing with computers, you can’t rush through a
project, and you have to be honest with customers in your
know how. I am confident that once I complete the class
and take the exam, that I my options will not start out as
wide-spread, and this is being realistic. Yet I am confident
that the opportunities will be there. Believe me, I am
looking at what the outcomes could be in the next five
years. Your advice is very valuable.

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