When I got my first few requests for webdesign late last year, I found that it was easy for the work to suck up a lot of my time, and my customers (small business owners or organizations) don’t have a huge budget to pay me for hours of work.

So I’ve been looking for a way to streamline the webdesign process.  By saving time I’ll be delivering a more affordable product to my customers while freeing myself up to do more work, since webdesign is only one of many computer-related services I’m offering.  Yet I don’t want the quality to suffer.

Over the last couple of months I’ve developed a system for building websites that allows me to provide a clean, professional, unique website for my clients in about 30 minutes, and my customers have been loving the outcome.

Why Websites?

I’ve heard some techs mention their reluctance to offer a webdesign service for various reasons.  So before I get into the details of my system I wanted to make the case for webdesign as a service in your computer business.

Customers Expect It

Many of my current webdesign clients are customers that hired me to do other computer repair related tasks first.  Every now and then they would ask me if I built websites.  Not wanting to pass up a potential opportunity I answered ”yes” and sure enough I had myself some new projects.

As computer consultants, we know that there’s a pretty big difference between computer repair and building websites.  Technibble recently featured an article detailing some of the potential pitfalls that computer techs can run into when they try to offer webdesign services without understanding what they’re getting into.  It’s not for everyone.  But my process below should allow almost any technically savvy consultant to build websites for clients easily and quickly.

Built-in Advertising and Link-Building

One of the cool by-products of webdesign is that most clients won’t mind if you leave a link back to your website on the one you designed for them.  A simple “Website designed by xxx” link in the footer should be sufficient and shouldn’t be intrusive.

What this does is twofold:

1. It provides free advertising.  People who visit that website may notice the link and, if the site is well designed, they might contact you for a project of their own.  I know there have been numerous occasions when I’ve visited a well put together website and scrolled to the bottom to see who designed it.
2. It provides a link back to your website for the purpose of improving your SEO (search engine optimization).  One of the key factors in how Google determines whether or no to put your website toward the top of people’s searches is based on how many quality links you have coming into your company website.   Unlike links from directories or social media,  links from websites that don’t have lots of links to other websites on them may provide more value in the eyes of the search engines.  The websites you build for your clients probably fit the bill.

Work From Home/Office

Another great benefit of web design is that it can be done from your office location, whether that be at home or elsewhere.  The on-site computer consulting game can burn you out quickly.  Not to mention the time and money lost on the road driving from place to place.  Any opportunity to work from home should be a welcome addition to your arsenal.

Most Local Businesses Have Simple Needs

This is the revelation that truly made me a believer and caused me to officially add webdesign to my list of services.  I didn’t need to be a brilliant web design guru.  I didn’t need to know all there is to know about HTML, CSS, Flash, Java, etc.  Most of my clients are small business owners.  All they are looking for is a simple presence on the web to highlight their services and bring in new customers.  This isn’t rocket science. Most of my customers are happy with a 5-6 page website with a contact form and maybe some social media buttons.

The 30 Minute Website

Here’s the break down of my website building process.  As you’ll see, it requires little to no actual web design skills, though it does take some computer savvy.  At the end of this process, you will have a simple informational website with 4 or 5 pages of content (provided by the client) and a contact form.

• Install WordPress (1-5 min)
• Choose and Install a Theme (5-10 min.)
• Install and Configure Plugins (5-10 min)
• Customize Theme (5-20 min.)
• Add Images and Content (10-20 min.)

Install WordPress

The foundation of a well constructed, easy to update website is WordPress.  It’s that simple.  For those who don’t know, WordPress offers the industry leading free content management system.  What I like about it is that:

1. It’s easy to install.
2. There are a plethora of free and premium themes available.
3. It’s easy for customers to update their own website (more on why this is a good thing later)
4. There are a plethora of free and paid plug-ins that allow you to add almost any functionality onto the site (shopping carts, forums, membership areas, videos, social sharing, just to name a few).

So I start all my websites by installing WordPress.  You’ll need a database available and most hosting companies provide them with your hosting account.  My host of choice is Hostgator, not only because they are easy to use and have great customer service, but also because they offer a white label program (also known as a reseller program) which allows you to sell their hosting to your customers as if it was your own.

Hostgator (as well as GoDaddy and many other major hosting companies) provide an easy automated WordPress install.  Ask your hosting company if they have one.  With the click of a button (and the entering of a few pieces of information) you have a working WordPress installation.

If your hosting company doesn’t provide an automated installation option, it’s still pretty easy to install WordPress on your own by following this handy guide.

Choose and Install a Theme

Once I have installed WordPress I need to find a theme, or a skin, to install.  This is the piece of the puzzle that saves the most time for me.  Instead of developing a website from scratch, I use a theme as a starting point.  Then usually it’s simply a matter of changing a few colors and maybe some layout tweaks and, viola! You have a professional-looking design in a fraction of the time.

Choosing the right theme package took me some time to figure out.  There are many very good looking free themes out there for WordPress websites.  The problems I ran into with free themes were that they were very inflexible or didn’t offer the right amount of variety.

Then there the premium themes.  Some are very good, like Thesis and Catalyst, but they didn’t offer the variety of styles and layouts out of the box that I needed to make my customers happy quickly.

That’s when I discovered the Genesis Framework by Studiopress.  Genesis offers a framework on which you can install one of up to 40 pre-made “child themes”.   These child themes range in style and design and can fit almost any business.  I’ve build about a dozen client websites (some shown at the end of the post) all using Genesis child themes and I’ve always been able to find one that fits my client’s needs.

There’s a package that allows you to purchase the entire catalog of themes for only a few hundred bucks.  That sounds like a lot, but you’ll get your money back for it after your first few happy website customers.

Granted, you will need to know some HTML and CSS if you want to customize these themes, but it’s really much easier than building a site from scratch.

Install and Configure Plugins

This is where WordPress really shines.  The plugin developer community for WordPress is gigantic.  There’s almost a plugin for anything you can think of.

These are the plugins that I always install for my clients:

• Contact Form 7 - Allows integration of an easy to configure contact form.  I recommend customers use a contact form over posting their email address in order to avoid spammers that crawl websites for email addresses.
• Genesis Simple Edits – This plugin lets me easily modify the footer of the Genesis themes so I can add copyright information and a link back to my consulting website.
• Ultimate Coming Soon Page – This allows me to easily put up a “Coming Soon” or “Under Construction” page that new visitors will see when they visit the site.  The beauty is that you won’t see that page, so you can continue to tweak and view the site while you work on it.
• Akistmet – This one comes bundled with WordPress (but you need to activate it) and it provides spam protection for the comments on the blog posts of the site.  Even relatively new sites can get comment spammers so it’s a good idea to install this one.

Customize Theme

Studiopress themes include many build in options to customize them. You can change the position of the sidebars and add dynamic elements to the home page like a slider image, videos, or featured posts. Many themes also include color schemes you can choose from.

If you’re familiar with CSS then you have access to a very well-structure stylesheet which you can use to make endless tweaks to the header, colors, fonts, layout, and anything else you wish to change.  The Studiopress forums are also full of tips and tricks from users and developers to help you get around any design issues you might find.

Add Images and Content

Finally, you need to add all the images and content the customer needs to fill out the website.  You’ll want to make sure the customer provides this to you ahead of time.  Then it’s just  matter of copying and pasting that content into the pages and posts via the WordPress backend.  Wordpress is built for content, so it’s very easy to format text and add links, images, or video into the pages.  If you can use Microsoft Word, you can create pages in WordPress. Plus they provide tons of resources, like an online manual and forums, to help you figure it all out if you get lost.

That’s It!

That’s all there is to it!  It may seem overwhelming at first, especially if you’re not familiar with WordPress.  But once you get over the (relatively small) learning curve, you’ll be churning out websites like a well oiled machine.

Website Examples

Here are a few examples of websites I put together using the method above.  As you can see they all look fairly different, they’re clean, and they’re professional.  All of my customers have been very happy with the results for the price.  These all took 30 minutes or less to build, though the Carpet Palace website took longer to finish because I needed to add galleries of carpet samples, etc.  You can click on the image to visit the live website.

Summary of Recommended Resources

• Hosting: Host Gator
• Content Management: WordPress
• WordPress Themes: Studiopress (Genesis)
• WordPress Plugins: Contact Form 7, Genesis Simple Edit, Coming Soon Page, Akistmet

With this process you can knock out multiple websites a day or easily train an intern or assistant to do the work.  It’s very scalable that way.

Do you provide webdesign services for your clients? What tools and processes do you use to design websites for your clients?

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Related posts:

1. Website Wilderness: Should I display my rates on my website?
2. Website Wilderness: My Business Website is Live!

Boy was I wrong!

I can say without a doubt this has been one of the toughest years of my life.  But it’s also been one of the most rewarding.

I’ll walk you through my first year as a full-time consultant.  I urge anyone who is planning on going from part-time to full-time consulting to read through this and learn from my mistakes.

Off To A Great Start

After I quit my job I already had a healthy queue of client work to do.  I certainly wasn’t working full-time, but I was off doing client work most days.  I was also getting a good amount of referrals from friends and coworkers who I had told about my transition.  Finally, I was benefiting from a friend of mine who was sending me old clients of his that he used to do consulting work for but no longer had the time.

I felt I was off to a good start and could build on the momentum of these initial clients.  Plus, I was really enjoying the freedom to work when I wanted and how I wanted.  I was truly in the honeymoon period with my business.

But the honeymoon would prove to be short-lived.

Rough Waters

Things were going well for the first four months or so.  Then, slowly, the business started to die down.  Most of my initial customers were one-off services and the few clients I had continued work with were in between projects.  All of a sudden I had little work.

I had been doing some advertising, but I was only getting a few bites and the expense was eating into my bottom line.   Although I was able to make some kind of profit during most of this time, it wasn’t much and certainly not enough to live off of.

Sure, I had the six months of living expenses to fall back on, but I knew that was going to dry up  quickly and I really wanted to have a self-sustaining business in place sooner rather than later.

At the Breaking Point

Client work would go up and down for the remainder of the year, but never reached the levels it did at the beginning.  I had used all of my cushion money and started withdrawing from my 401K from my previous employer.

Then around the Holidays, when I needed the money the most, no one was willing to pay for computer help.  I experienced the biggest drop in work right at the same time I had used the remainder of my 6 months of savings.  I kept with drawing from my 401K until finally that too was tapped out.

As 2012 came, I really put the petal to the metal looking for work and I was starting to get more work.  Unfortunately it still wasn’t enough and I was at the point where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pay my bills.

I was desperate.  I was getting work, and clients seemed to like what I was doing, but the numbers weren’t enough.  I felt like I had failed and I wasn’t sure what to do.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Luckily, I had one more resource that I hadn’t used.  It was a last resort and one I didn’t want to consider until all other options were gone.  I’m fortunate to have a very generous and loving family who I was able to turn to for a bit of help in a crisis.  I got a small loan that helped me pay my bills the next month and bought me a little bit of time, but not much.

Fortunately that little bit of time was just enough.

With my expenses taken care of I was able to work on getting the kind of clients that I could build a lasting relationship with.  I started focusing on small business and freelancers who rely on technology to make a living.  These types of folks would continue to seek good quality technology consulting and I because their go-to guy.  I also concentrated on recurring services that could be billed on a monthly basis.

Then, at the end of the month last month I landed my first major contract.  I’ll go into that more in my next post, but needless to say, it has single-handedly breathed life back into my fledgling little business.  Aside from that big contract I also have a few medium-sized projects in-progress and I’m slowly building my portfolio of work which is helping attract more clients that are willing to pay me higher fees.  All together, I feel my business is truly back on track.

Take Aways

So things are looking up.  I’m still not quite out of the murky waters yet, but my business is growing and my revenue is at an all time high.  For the first time since I started my business, my profits are at the levels they need to be to ensure I pay my bills with enough left over to put back into the business.

Here are some of the key lessons learned that many people should heed before they decide to start their own full-time consulting business.

1. Don’t Give Up – This, to me, is the most important take-away.  I probably should have given up when I had spent all my 6 months cushion money.  It was probably stupid of me to  cash out all my retirement and savings.  But I didn’t give myself the option of turning back.  I had only one path I wanted to take and I was going to keep pushing until I made it happen.  Stubborn and hard-headed of me?  Maybe.  But in the end the only thing that mattered was living a life that I wanted to live doing what I love.  And it seems to finally be paying off, but anything worth doing is not going to be easy.
2. Be As Prepared As Possible – Something I’m glad I did was to establish my business first, while I still had my corporate job.  This allowed me to get all of the necessary red tape out-of-the-way like coming up with a business name, registering the business, printing business cards, and building a website.  Once I made the move to full-time consulting, I already had all that stuff out-of-the-way so I could concentrate on working and getting customers.
3. Have A Years Worth of Living Expenses - I previously recommended that having a 6 month cushion of money is enough to go solo.  And in some cases it may be.  Yet building up a solid network of clients that provide enough revenue to sustain your life and your business takes a lot of time.  Even with a list of clients already on board it still took me almost a year before I had a steady stream of clients built up.  It’s better to play it safe than to end up desperate at the end like I did.
4. The “Charge What You’re Worth” Myth – When I first got started I heard from countless “business gurus” that the number one mistake most new consultants make is charging too little.  ”You need to charge what you’re worth”, they’d say.  A mistake I made at first was that I thought I was worth the same as someone who had been consulting on their own for years.  But the truth is, people aren’t going to pay top dollar for someone who doesn’t have a proven track record.  And I lost a few customers at first because my prices were too high.  I couldn’t afford to lose customers at first.  So I brought my rates down a bit, and more customers started hiring me.  However, I’m finding quickly that I’m able to increase my rates again as I start getting more referrals from people who were happy with my work and trust me.  That’s the real value, and something that needs to be earned over time.
5. Ask for Referrals – About half of my clients now are through referrals.  Many times my customer are happy to refer me to their friends and colleagues, but sometimes you need to remind them that referrals are appreciated.  This is something that took me a while to get comfortable with, but now before I leave any of my customers I say, “Here are some business cards you can give to your friends and coworkers.  If any of them ever have any computer problems ask them to give me a call and I’ll be happy to take a look.”  Often, if they haven’t mentioned it already, they’ll say something like, “Oh yeah, my friend John Doe has been looking for a reliable computer guy, I’ll be sure to give him your card.”
6. Diversify, Then Focus On What Works - This goes for your service offerings and your advertising methods.  I started out only offering basic computer consulting, virus removal and backups.  I soon realized that when you’re starting out you really need to be available for all kinds of work.  That’s when I started adding web design, SEO, and Data Recovery to my list of services.  A majority of my current clients came to me via web design, a service I didn’t even advertise at first, and now I’m pushing that service more than any other and getting more clients as a result.
7. Use 3rd Party Service Providers –  When times get tough, it’s good to have other sources to turn to for work.  That’s why I’ve signed up for many National IT service providers like Field Nation, Barrister, iYogi, Computer Assistant, and a few others.  When I have no work of my own there’s usually local work available through one of these providers.  Although you normally only get paid a fraction of what you would get from your own clients, it’s still a great way to keep busy, and make some money, while waiting for your own clients to start calling again.
8. Advertise for Free as Much as Possible – It’s easy to over-advertise when you’re first starting out, because you need clients.  Be sure to watch how much you spend.  Not all advertising methods work and it’s expensive to experiment with different paid methods.  I recommend trying every possible free advertising method first to get customers.  Then move on to some less expensive methods before moving onto the phone book, direct mail, and other more expensive advertising methods.

So there you have it.  The honest confessional of a tough first year as a computer consultant.  It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and it’s not easy.  But I think with the right mindset and proper planning, it’s possible to be successful.  I’m going to continue to prove that as I move forward and I hope to have a much more positive second year assessment for you next year.

Even with all the stress and uncertainty, I’m so happy I made the decision I made.  I’m enjoying what I’m doing immensely and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

For those of you who have computer businesses, how was your first year?  For those who have yet to start a business, how are you going to prepare before you take the plunge?  I look forward to your answers in the comments below.

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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You could take a generalist approach and randomly advertise to as many people as possible and hope you appeal to some of those people.  That works for well-established companies with large advertising budgets.  But there is a much cheaper and more effective method of advertising that involves targeting a small niche of your potential customer base.

In the Finding a Niche series of blog posts I will profile different possible customer niches that you can target for your computer consulting business.

Today we will focus on low-income neighborhoods.  It may be natural to think this is not a good area to target your advertising.  Many assume that low-income customers will be less likely to pay or to become return customers.  However, in my experience, this is usually not the case.  Low income neighborhoods can be great with referrals.  There are a lot of opportunities in serving these areas to bring in more loyal customers to your business.  Because they are so undeserved, the need for computer repair in low-income neighborhoods is higher than normal.

Customer Profile

Age: All ages
Income: Low
Location: Low income neighborhoods in urban areas, government assisted housing, mobile home parks
Need: Basic computer repair and training
Technician Work -load: Low to Moderate

Customer Description

Low income families are usually undeserved by service professionals.  This can be for many reasons such as a perception that low-income individuals cannot afford their services, that they do not have technology in their homes, or presumed safety concerns.  However, many of these assumptions are less than accurate in most cases.

While it’s true that many lower-income families cannot afford to pay hundreds of dollars for hours of support work, they are usually willing to pay for light to moderate repair work if it means avoiding purchasing a new computer.  You may choose to ask for money upfront to avoid payment issues.

Computer systems and portable electronics are finding their way into the homes of every income level.  Low income families may tend to have older computer systems, but that means they need more maintenance from time to time to keep them running.

Safety can be a real concern in some neighborhoods.  Make sure you’re familiar with the area or have done some research into the area before travelling there.  You may elect to meet the customer in a better part of town or in a public place to hand over their computer.  Remote support is also a good option for servicing individuals who may reside in less than ideal surroundings.

It is important that these individuals have access to the quality services you offer.  Better access means better quality of life and a better community as a whole.

Finding This Customer

Many times, you’ll know where the low-income neighborhoods are in your area.  If not, many times they are located in neglected, overcrowded, urban areas.  Other places may include trailer parks and government subsidized housing.  The demographic profile of this customer changes depending on where you live, so you really need to look around your own community to find these customers.

Services to Offer

Some ideas of services to offer for this niche include:

• System Tune-ups
• Virus Removal
• Hardware Installation and Troubleshooting
• OS Troubleshooting
• Training

Marketing Techniques

While you may be tempted to immediately focus on low prices when marketing to low-income neighborhoods, I would recommend not doing so.  I’ve found that these communities are so under-serviced that they will respond to any advertisement at all for computer repair services because they normally don’t see any.  Instead, focus on the benefits of your services.  Focus on how computer maintenance helps computers last longer.  Focus on the importance of staying connected to family and friends.  Keep the messages simple and emotional.

Try things like fliers in-car windshields, door hangers, and posters on bulletin boards.  These direct advertising techniques work well in low-income neighborhoods where people tend to spend more time walking and congregating outside.

A great way to get a foothold into these communities while also bolstering your brand reputation is to volunteer to teach classes in the area or by donating old electronics and used computers to families in need.

As always, make sure to leave behind plenty of goodies and business cards for these customers.  Their communities are often tight-knit and they will spread the word about you and your business if you make a good impression.

Have you had success with this niche?  What niches have worked best for your business?

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

Related posts:

1. Finding a Niche: PC Gamers
2. Finding a Niche: Bilingual Households
3. Finding a Niche: Elderly Computer Users
4. Finding a Niche: Stay at Home Parents

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I only present topics about things that I have personally tried and experienced as I start and grow my computer repair business.  Yet, for new readers, it may be hard to find the best information among the hundreds of blogs posts on this site.

So I decided to compile the 20 best tips I could come up with into an easy to follow format.  Enter my first eBook: “20 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Computer Business”.

This book has been many months in the making.  I wanted to make sure it was easy to read and put together in a professional manner.  I also wanted to make sure the information inside was as useful as possible.

The book contains 20 tips, one per page, from things I’ve shared on my blog and things that I have not shared before.  I cover topics like:

• What to give your customers to ensure they come back again and again.
• New service offerings you can include in your business to increase revenue.
• The Social Media sites that work best and how to use them.
• The best ways to advertise your business.
• How to free up more time for you to work on the parts of your business you love the most.
• And MUCH more!

Also included in the book are over a dozen links to outside resources to help you implement the tactics I describe.  So you should find plenty of strategies in this book to keep your business growing throughout the year.

But don’t just take my word for it, here’s what other computer repair professionals (or soon-to-be business owners) are saying about this book:

“Well Matt out did himeself with this one. Outstanding content – Outstanding flow – Outstanding business sense – Plain Outstanding!”
- Dan Hand, www.acrbo.com

“Excellent info.  Being a newbie, some I was familiar with, most I was not.  You are to be commended for taking your time and sharing such important material and helping one and all in building their business.”
-  Frank D’Alessandro, Aspiring Computer Business Owner

“I like your ebook a lot! You have all of the bases covered. I especially like the links at the end of each section.”
- Lou Mesavage, www.redcarcomputing.com

“This book has excellent content and a great wealth of information. I really enjoyed reading it as it is very straightforward and easy to read and understand. I am actually planning to use it as my checklist for the startup of my computer business.”
- Niraj Singala, Future Computer Consultant

Members of the Y.F.N.C.G. mailing list are already enjoying their copy of the eBook. For everyone else, simply sign up for the mailing list using the form below to get your free copy!

Once you’ve has a chance to check it out, please let me know what you think of it in the comments below.

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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First, be sure to check out my list from a couple of years ago, most of the items are still available and would still make great gifts: 10 Affordable Gifts for the Computer Tech on Your List (2008).

My list this year runs the gamete from practical to downright insane.  Therefore, you should be able to find the perfect gift for the needs and personality of the recipient.

ASUS Transformer

The ultimate cool gadget for this season is the ASUS Transformer.  It’s the first tablet/laptop hybrid that got it right, in my opinion.  You can carry the tablet around by itself.  It runs the latest tablet-friendly version of Android and has specs that match or exceed the iPad on the hardware side.
Check out what’s under the hood:

• Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor
• Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich (ships with Honeycomb, first tablet to get upgraded)
• Super IPS+ display (1280×800) with Corning Gorilla Glass
• 8MP rear camera (F2.4 aperture), 1.2MP front camera
• 1 GB memory; 32/64 GB storage; microSD slot; microHDMI port
• 12 hour battery life
• Dimensions: 263 x 180.8 x 8.3 mm; 586 g (10.35 x 7.11 x 0.32 inches; 1.29 lbs.)

But where this baby really shines is in it’s detachable keyboard.  Snap it on and you have a very functional android-based laptop.  The keyboard dock adds functionality like USB ports and a track pad.

This is a wonderfully versatile gadget that will come in handy for any computer consultant out in the field.

The Computer Business Kit v2

I recently reviewed the latest revision of this useful bundle and gave it a rave review.  This computer business kit comes chock full of goodies to help you take your computer business up a notch.

The contents will save you the time of creating all the forms and documents you need from scratch.  It also contains a ton of discounts on leading products for techs.

The kit includes:

• 30+ Legal and Business Documents
• 37 Marketing Templates
• List of Suppliers in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia
• List of Computer Recyclers in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia
• Discounts for many leading Computer Business Products (savings on these products can be greater than the cost of the Kit)

Although you can’t stuff this in a stocking, it’s still the most practical gift you can give the computer business owner on your list.  Get your copy from the website here: Computer Business Kit v2

All-In-One Hard Drive Dock

 This portable All-in-on HDD Docking Station is a dream out in the field for repair techs.  Often you’ll need to transfer files from one computer to another, or you’ll need to access a hard drive that has been ravaged by a virus or blue screen errors.  Simply take the hard drive out and put it in this dock, it accepts small and large sizes of IDE or SATA hard drives.  You can connect it to another computer via USB and it will look like an external drive.

Even better, this unit comes with built in CF, SD, XD, and microSD slots so there will be no storage transfer issue you can’t handle.  Plus, for what it’s worth, the black glossy case with red accents gives it major style points.

This same company also makes this device with twin drive bays, so you can clone one drive to another, regardless of drive type.

The Steve Jobs Book

Like him or hate him, Steve Jobs shaped the era of personal computing in big ways.  His biography, written by Walter Isaacson and released shortly after his death, chronicles his life in a very detailed fashion.  From working with Steve Wozniack in his parent’s garage to his fall from, and later return to, grace as CEO of  Apple, this book covers it all.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Apple computer, this book is a nostalgic walk through geek history with the man who was at the forefront. It’s a must read for all computer techs.

PC Dice

This is a fun novelty stocking stuffer brought to you by the man who wrote Computer Business Lessons Learned, Dan Hand.

Don’t leave your computer diagnosis up to chance…let the roll of the dice do it for you.  For those truly perplexing problems, this is your answer.  One dice tells you the OS, the other dice tells you the problem component, and the third dice give you the prognosis.

Not really practical, PC Repair Dice are still a fun stocking stuffer for the fledgling computer support tech on your list.

 Computer Geek Parking

Even less piratical than the PC Repair Dice, this silly sign is a great way to add a bit of humor to your repair shop.  Put it over your work bench, or better yet, mount it outside in front of your employee parking space!

I thought I’d leave you all on this funny note and wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!  Take a break from your business and spend time with friends and family.  I’ll be doing the same, and will see you after Christmas with some big news.  Until then, here’s to your success!

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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As always, I like to explore the pros and cons of both situations.  This helps me understand which approach would be best for my business based on my goals.  Here are some points to consider when weighing the possibility of opening up a storefront.

Pros of a Storefront

It’s tempting to want to take your business to the next level and have a storefront.  It’s a physical embodiment of your brand and all of your hard work.  Lets take a look at some reasons why this is a good idea.

Space

If you live in a studio apartment, there are only so many customer computers you can accommodate.  That’s not including spare parts, office equipment, and anything else you might need to run your business.  If you find yourself running out of space in your home and moving to a bigger place is not an option, a store front might be the best move for you.

Also, I feel it’s important to have a relative separation of your business and personal spaces.  If your bedroom is also your office is also your repair desk, you may find it hard to work professionally when you’re sitting 5 feet from your bed.  Get a storefront and you’ll then be able to keep all your business equipment in a separate location and it won’t be encroaching on your private space.

Growth

If you’re looking to grow your business larger than a one man show, you’ll need to start hiring employees.  Although you can hire employees without a store front, it makes it much easier when you have a rally point other than your home.

Distractions

A potential downside to working from home, and one that I face often, are the distractions.  At home, your office will be in close proximity to your TV, kitchen, bed, and yard…all of which may provide tempting distractions throughout the day.  You may also have family members at home vying for your attention.  It’s tough to set the work/life boundary when working at home. In your own shop, you’ll be removed from all of these distractions.  You’ll be in an environment (hopefully) that’s conducive to work.

Drop-offs

There’s only so many customers you can service in a day as an on-site computer repair tech.  To take your repair business to the next level you’ll need to stay put and have people bring their systems to you.  While this is still possible from your home office, it may not be the best idea to have your customers coming over to your private residence.  There may also be zoning issues in your town that frown on customers coming to your home.

Cons of a Storefront

Opening up a shop on Main Street may seem like an enticing idea.  But there are more responsibilities and less flexibility involved in such a decision.  Take these points into account before jumping in.

Employees

Although it is possible, it’s tough to run a storefront business all by yourself.  That’s because running a store-front, at a minimum, involves greeting customers, handling customer issues, answering phones, and repairing systems.  You couldn’t possibly do all of these things to a satisfactory level on your own.  In that case, you’ll need to be ready to hire employees, which is a whole new topic onto itself.  Just ask yourself if you’re willing to take on that burden before jumping into a brick-and-mortar business.

Work Hours

Does your schedule change every week?  Do you like the freedom of choosing what time of day, or day of the week, that you work?  If you like your work hours to be flexible, a store front might not be for you.  A physical shop will normally need to keep regular hours in order to service drop-offs and pick-ups.  You could hire employees to cover shifts that you’re not available, but even they will need the courtesy of a boss who keeps somewhat regular hours.

Overhead

One big consideration when working out of a storefront is the ongoing cost.  You’ll not only be paying to lease the space, but you’ll also be paying taxes and utilities on the space as well.  This is in contrast to your home, which you’re already paying for and which you can deduct the portions of it used for business.

You’ll also need to keep up the interior and the exterior including updated signage and advertisements.  This will be easier with employees, but it’s still a significant increase in extraneous activity when compared to working from home.

Flexibility

It’s hard to change the direction of your business when you have a store front.  If you decide that you want to move your business in the direction of website development or software training, a brick and mortar shop with hard drives on the shelves and a work bench for repairing PCs will become an unnecessary burden.  While working from home,  all you need to do is change your website a bit and you’re a new company!

Other Things to Consider

Location, Location, Location

If you do decide to open a storefront, it’s success will depend greatly upon the location.  You want a store that’s easily accessible, in a high-traffic area, and in a different area than your competition.  Sure, you can open a store off the beaten path and still rely on customer’s word of mouth and advertising to bring people in.  However, the amount of extra customers you’ll need to cover the extra expenses of a store front means you’ll want to bring in as much traffic as possible.  Location is therefore an important factor.

What are Your Goals?

Before jumping into opening a store front you need to asses your goals.  Do you envision yourself planting roots in the community, hiring employees, franchising, repairing/selling hardware, and working standard hours?  If yes, then a store front might be for you.  If you want to have more flexibility and the option to shift gears quickly, it may be best to stick to your home office.

The Compromise

There’s actually a great way to compromise between working from home and renting a corner store in your town.

Office Space.

No I’m not talking about the movie (though it is a hilarious flick for folks who have ever worked the 9 to 5 grind) but I’m talking actual office space.  More often then not, a small suite in an office park is often cheaper to rent and easier to maintain than a brick and mortar store front.  With your own office outside of your home you’ll have the benefit of less distractions, more space, and room to grow.  You’ll also have the option to hire employees or not, as there will be no need for someone to man the “front counter”.

You can basically treat your office space as a home base for your computer business.  You can accept drop-offs if you want and not worry about people coming to your home.  You also have the flexibility to shift your business model quickly since you won’t have a store front that needs overhauling.

The major disadvantage here is the lack of visibility.  You will not get random walk-ins in an office building.  But because you’re cutting costs in other ways though, it may be worth sacrificing the few extra customers a retail storefront would bring.

My Decision

So what did I decide is best for my business?  Well, having recently started my computer business full time, I’m still trying to find a business model into.  I’m seeing signs that hardware break/fix is becoming less and less of a commodity as computers become cheaper and more reliable.  Yet I still really enjoy helping people solve computer problems.

For the moment I’m going to continue working from home.   I have no desire to hire other employees.  I like the flexibility of being a solo consultant. If I do ever consider taking my busniess out of my home, it will probably be to an office space instead of a store front.  I’m just not the type of person who wants to be tied down to a brick and mortar shop.

In the end the decision to run your computer business out of a store front is a personal one.  If anything, I would recommend that you run your computer business out of your home first, and then grow into another location if you choose.  There’s just too much risk and up-front cost to justify jumping into a brick and mortar shop from the get-go.

Now I’d like to hear from you.  I know I have readers who run their business from all the locations I mentioned above.  Why do you choose to run your business from the location you’re running it form now?  Do you plan to change that in the future?

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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2. Can You Hear Me Now?: How To Choose The Right VoIP Plan For Your Home Business

Even if you did notice it, you may not have felt compelled to sign-up.  You may already have signed up to receive blog updates via email or RSS.  However, those are simply ways to syndicate existing blog posts.  The YFNCG Newsletter is different.  It’s a way for me to connect with you more directly and more personally.

So if you’re on the fence about signing up, here are a few compelling reasons why you should.

More Personal

Although this blog is still pretty personal, in the newsletter, you get more from-the-trenches stories from me.  You’ll also hear the details about my own personal journey from computer business dreamer to running my own full time business.  I don’t mind sharing these personal details in my newsletter because I know that the people who sign up for it want to hear it.  Readers of this blog come from all over the net, so I sometimes hold back my personal stuff.  Not in the newsletter.

Not only that, but you have an opportunity to respond to every email, and I reply to every email I receive from readers.  It’s a more private and direct way to contact me than blog post comments.

More Focused

I tend to use this blog as a grand experiment.  I play around with different topics to write about. Sometime I’ll go off on tangents.  Sometimes those tangents will work, sometimes they don’t.  With the newsletter, I pull all the disparate posts on this blog together and tie them up into a nicely organized package.

For example, I just finished an email to my subscribers about Social Media.  I’ve written a lot about social media on this blog, but I haven’t brought it all together in one cohesive lesson.  I also let my readers in on what tools I use to streamline my social media use so that I only spend about an hour a week on it.  This is a trick that I have not discussed on the blog, it’s only for my newsletter readers.

Product Discounts

You like to save money don’t you?  Me too.  And I use the newsletter to pass along any discounts I come across on products that I find useful.  Email is the best vehicle for these types of announcements because they are normally limited in time or quantity.

An example of this is the Computer Business Kit version 2.  I needed time to evaluate it properly for my review on the blog.  But the creator was offering a limited time 20% discount on the kit, so I shot an email to the newsletter subscribers to let them know about it.  This is something I will continue to do for my newsletter folks.

Up-to-date News

If there are any major changes or updates that I want to announce about my business or my blog, the folks on my mailing list are going to be the first to hear about them.   I’ll also ask for their opinions on certain ideas I might have for this website.  So if you want to be a part of the future of YFNCG, the newsletter club is the place to be!

I know how busy running a computer business can be, so you’ll only receive anywhere from 1 to 3 emails a month from me.  You have nothing to loose and I promise it will be worth your time!

So please feel free to sign up by filling out the form below.

Computer Business Tips Newsletter
Name:		Email:

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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In the “Computer Guy’s Toolbox” series, I highlight a product or service that I think will benefit the independent computer tech.

A couple years ago I reviewed Technibble’s Computer Business Kit here on the blog.  I gave it a modest review, noting how it provided some good document templates most appropriate for new computer business owners.  I felt, however, that it lacked in certain areas and it felt a bit incomplete.

Well, Bryce Whitty over at Technibble.com, has released the next version of the kit and let me tell you, it is a HUGE improvement over the original.  I’ve had a chance to really dig deeply into this version of the kit, so without further ado, here is my review.

What Is It?

The Computer Business Kit Version 2 is an all-in-one tool kit for the business side of your computer business.  Like the first, it contains legal documents, forms, and marketing material that you can use as-is or modify for your needs.  In this version you get a lot more, over 50 documents in all.

That alone would be enough.  But wait…there’s more (sorry, I had to)!

This kit also offers  a comprehensive list of computer part dealers and computer recycle centers.  The dealer lists is great if you’re first starting out looking for a reputable dealer to do business with or for pros looking to switch to another provider.

One huge new benefit is the localization of the kit.  There are four different versions of the computer business kit, depending on where you reside: US, UK, Canada, and Australia.  The documents in your unique kit will be tailored to fit the country you choose.  You can also rest assured that the legality of the documents will conform to your nation’s standards.

Finally, as if that weren’t enough, there’s a section with great savings on 8 third party computer business products.

Tie that all up in a sleek easy to navigate HTML console interface and you have yourself a very useful kit for your business, much more complete than the original.

But how useful are the individual pieces of this kit?  Lets dive in and check it out.

Digging Deeper

The first thing I noticed about the Computer Business Kit (CBK) was how organized the interface is.  New users are greeting with a freindly console that acts as a front-end for all the documentation and resources of the kit.  The console provides links to the various modules of the kit as well as a way to upgrade the kit to a newer version, instructions on how best to use the kit, and a link to a forum especially for CBK owners.

Documents and Forms

Like the previous version, this one breaks it’s documentation into different sections.  Since I reside in the US, I’ll be going over the US version, but I believe the basic components of every kit remain the same regardless of region.

During & After Work - This section contains documentation you’ll need on the job.  Here you’ll find checklists for backup, network, reformat, and tune-up work.  Also included are liability release forms, work orders,  and computer pick-up forms that all require signature from the customer.  These forms, especially the work order, will be daily-use documents that may be your life-line, should you run into any trouble with customers.

In the Office - You’ll find an extensive collection of documentation for use in the “office” (whether that be at home or a brick and mortar shop).  This is a collection of all the documents that didn’t fit in any of the other sections: Asset Tag Labels, Repair Log (time sheet), Customer Satisfaction Survey, Invoices, Marketing Analysis, Payment Notice, Quotation Sheet, Terms of Sale, and many more.

Personally, for my own business, I combine a lot of this documentation into one or two documents.  Keeping track of all these separate sheets of paper not only takes a lot of extra effort, but also takes down a lot of extra trees with it.  But I like how they are all separated in this kit, so you can mix and match what works best for your business.  Not everything will apply to you, but you’ll most likely be able to find something that does.

Maintenance Work -  Maintenance contracts are a great source of recurring revenue for computer consultants.  Once you have someone on a contract, you can count on that money every month.  In order to get it set-up right, you’ll need the proper documentation.  That’s what this section of the CBK is useful for.

Marketing - One job that’s never done when you’re a computer consultant is marketing.  This section provides sleek, professional, pre-designed marketing material for your business.  There are a variety brochures, business cards, letter heads, flyer, and postcard designs to choose from.  This section is really neat and I plan on using some of the marketing material in my own business.

Web Development - I’ve been getting into web development lately as a supplement to my computer repair work.  From experience I know the importance of getting the documentation right at the beginning so the customer knows what to expect, and you don’t get burned.  This section contains a Web Development Contract, Web Dev Approval Form, Project Completion Form, and a Web Hosting Subscription form to use in getting recurring income through hosting your clients website.

The next three sections are new to this version of the kit, and they’re what take the CBK from good to great!

Recycling Companies

If you’ve been in this business long enough, you no doubt have amassed enough dead parts and old systems to fill a small warehouse.  We all know it’s not safe or ecologically sound to dispose of electronics in the trash.  That’s why it’s important to recycle as much as you can in hopes that it can be put to good use.  The CBK offers an extensive list of recycling companies in the UK, Canada, US, and Australia.  The US list has contact info for over 60 companies from all over the country, sorted by state.

Suppliers

While I’ve always been a big fan of getting parts from NewEgg or Ebay, it’s always good to have other suppliers available for you to use to get the best possible deal on parts and accessories.  The CBK lists suppliers in the countries it covers, along with the kind of parts that company supplies (laptop screens, software, networking, peripheral, point of sale, servers, etc.).

It would be great if there was a way to filter the suppliers by certain criteria, since it’s such a large list.  For example, if I’m looking for suppliers of laptop keyboards, I could filter the list down to only those suppliers.  A small nit-pick on my part, but I’m sure it’ll be part of version 3!

Coupons

If all the above weren’t enough, Bryce has also partnered with some of the major vendors in the Computer Business realm to bring you some pretty deep discounts on software and services.  $50 off CommitCRM, 25% off SUPERAntiSpyware, 15% off Screen Connect, 20% off Podnutz Laptop Repair Video and Tech Site Builder, and a bunch more.  Bryce says that if you take advantage of the offers in this section alone, you’ll have paid for the purchase of the kit.  Great stuff, and I’ll be using these discounts to check out these products to review here on this blog.

Is It Useful?

Yes!

Unlike the previous version, where some techs may get more out of it than others, the Computer Business Kit Version 2 literally has something for everyone.  For new techs, the documentation and forms will save you hours of trail and error in creating your own.  For established techs, the legal thoroughness of the documents will help you make sure your own documentation is up to standard.  And all levels of computer consultants will find the list of computer parts dealers, recyclers, and discounts useful.

Conclusion

The Computer Business Kit Version 2 is leaps and bounds more useful than the original, and a must-use for computer business owners of any experience level.  You can pick up a copy of the kit here.

Disclaimer: The links to the kit in this post are affiliate links, so if you buy the CBK using these links, I will get a small commission.  I only review products I have used personally and I always give honest reviews.  So if you enjoy the content here, please consider purchasing via the links at YFNCG! 

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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You could take a generalist approach and randomly advertise to as many people as possible and hope you appeal to some of those people.  That works for well-established companies with large advertising budgets.  But there is a much cheaper and more effective method of advertising that involves targeting a small niche of your potential customer base.

In the Finding a Niche series of blog posts I will profile different possible customer niches that you can target for your computer consulting business.

Today we will focus on the hardcore fans of PC games.  These guys like their tech to be the latest and greatest, but often don’t have all the skills necessary to build or troubleshoot their powerful systems.

Customer Profile

Age: 16-35
Income: Low to High
Location: Everywhere
Need: To have the latest and greatest computer and graphics to make their favorite games looks and perform best.
Technician Work -load: Moderate to Advanced system builds, troubleshooting compatibility issues.

Customer Description

PC gamers are a unique breed of computer user.  They probably use their computer more than any other customer niche and they will attempt to squeeze every ounce of power out of their systems.  When new games come out, they often require the latest technology in order to maximize the gaming experience.  As such, PC gamers are constantly upgrading their systems.  Much more often than regular computer users.

Another kind of gamer prefers MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.  These players may not necessarily need the most advanced systems, but they do place a lot of value on having a stable computer system and will be desperate to have it fixed if it breaks.

Finding This Customer

These customers are tricky to target because they can live anywhere.  From college campuses to affluent suburbs to city apartments.  There are gamers everywhere.  And this niche is no longer relegated to the young.  In fact, in a recent Nielsen study, they found that the largest group of PC Gamers are Females over the age of 25.  Keep in mind, they were counting people who play Solitaire every now and then as a “PC Gamer”, but it still gives you an idea that leisure time on the computer is a growing trend.

So while it may be tough to geographically target this niche, you can target to the habits of these folks.  These folks are on their computer a lot more than the average person, so a great place to advertise to them is online.  Another place to find members of this niche is at game stores or computer stores, since they are always on the lookout for the latest game or graphics card.  You can then case the parking lot of these stores putting ad fliers in car windshields.

Services to Offer

Some ideas of services to offer for this niche include:

• Custom Gaming PC Builds
• Overclocking and Cooling
• Hardware Installation and Troubleshooting
• OS Troubleshooting
• System Tune-ups

Marketing Techniques

Once you’ve located your niche, it’s important to build a marketing message around their needs. This will take some experimentation as every situation is different, but there are some things to consider.

Online advertising, in the form of Facebook Ads or Google Adwords, may be a great way to target the gaming niche since they are most likely on the computer more often than other folks.

Try to speak to gamers directly by mentioning the latest graphics-intensive PC game in your ad.  Something like: “Bummed about how slow Crysis 2 runs on your PC?  Call Joe’s Computer repair for a Gamer’s Tune-up special!”.

Many hardcore gamers crave the most powerful system possible.  That’s why custom PC building is a very enticing offer for them.  Advertise your willingness to consult with them in order to put together their idea of the ultimate gaming rig.  While custom PC building won’t make you much profit, once you build it you will have another customer who will most likely come to you in the future with their computer service needs.

Have you had success with this niche?  What techniques do you use to focus your advertising?

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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If you are weak in any of these three skills, then being a computer consultant might not be the right job for you.  Lets take a deeper look at each of the facets mentioned in the picture.

Tech Skills

If you don’t know your way around a computer, you have no business being a computer consultant.  There are many ways to skin the proverbial tech cat, so this is wide open to many different skill sets.  Web design, programming, hardware, software, or some kind of mixture of all of them can be enough to get you going.  But tech skills are only the beginning.

Business Savvy

To me, business savvy is knowing how to bring all the aspects of a business together into a cohesive whole.  Legal, finance, inventory, branding, marketing, organization, and many other hats are worn by the savvy business person.  But most importantly, he or she understands how these must work together to bring in a profit, because ultimately a business must make money.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are probably the most overlooked characteristic , yet the simplest to define.  It basically boils down to interacting with people in a positive way.  Many technicians shy away from social interactions, and that’s fine, but that’s not a good trait for a computer consultant.  Meeting with people face-to-face and winning them over is a crucial aspect of the job, and lacking this will mean a quick end to your consulting business.

Tech Entrepreneur

Someone with strong technical skills and keen business savvy will make a great tech entrepreneur.  Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckergberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are examples of great tech entrepreneurs.  They know the technology behind the product and have the business mind to grow those ideas into big profits.  These folks are often not interfacing directly with their customers, instead often staying in the background or only appearing to make speeches and rally the troops.

Marketer/Salesperson

A good marketer knows how to convey the right message for the company.  A good sales person knows how to deliver that message to people so they will buy.  This requires a knowledge of how business works along with the people skills to make the sale.   One thing that isn’t necessary to be a good marketer or salesperson is a thorough understanding of the technical side of things.  You really only need to know as much as is necessary to get people to buy your product, after that the ball is in someone else’s court.

Teacher

A teacher must have a deep grasp of the subject they’re teaching.  Technical teachers must be able to lead by example.  Yet, if you’re not able to capture the hearts and minds of your students with good people skills, a lot of what you teach will fall on deaf ears.  Teachers don’t normally need to know how to start a business, instead concentrating on influencing and shaping the minds of future leaders.

Computer Consultant

A computer consultant is a unique mix of all of the above. You’re down in the trenches as much as you are in the office. You’re CEO, employee, and grunt at the same time. If you want to be a computer consultant, make sure you excel at all of these skills. If you are already a consultant, acknowledge all the different traits you have and work on growing the aspects that are weakest.

Do you think this diagram represents our profession well? What should I add or take away from the chart? Let me know in the comments.

This is a post from the blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Visit YFNCG.com for more computer business tips and resources.

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