How to Start up Your Own Home Computer Support Company
Not everybody has the right personality or character traits to successfully run their own computer support company.
There are a few questions you should ask yourself:
However, answering no to just one or two doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to go into computer support as a business.
I personally have all of these traits (or at least I think I do), and I have seen how important they have been for my own success in the business.
Patience is required because often troubleshooting with users is done over the phone, and there is not much else in the world that I know of that tries patience more than when the customer says something along the lines of, "It is telling me to press the Any key, which one is that?".
Patience also comes into play when you are waiting for someone to call, it takes a fair amount of work to get to the point where a complete stranger will call you up for help with their computer.
Discipline is needed because, if you are starting this business up by yourself, there is no boss to look over your shoulder to ensure that you are doing your work.
All of the deadlines are on you, and there is no one to blame if something goes wrong besides yourself.
Troubleshooting computer problems requires analytical thinking.
You don't need to be Einstein, but being able to think logically about an issue you have never seen before is absolutely necessary.
Getting to the bottom of a complex issue is mostly done by taking educated guesses and gradually removing possible causes.
As far as being a good technician, thinking logically is the most important trait to have.
If you don't think logically now, it may be possible to learn this trait.
But it probably won't be easy, as it involves changing the way you think.
The entrepreneurial spirit is needed because you are starting a business, and more than likely it won't be easy.
You need to have a vision for what you want your business to be, and see what steps need to be taken to get there.
I do want to emphasize that compared to many businesses, starting a computer support company is easy.
The startup and overhead costs are low, the only employee needed to start is yourself and you don't need a retail location (Costs a lot of money).
Do You Have The Skills Needed Beyond the basic character traits such as logical thinking, having the skills needed to fix computers are essential.
You should probably have a year or two of supporting computers underneath your belt before you start the business.
If you don't have that kind of time supporting computers yet, I would recommend volunteering your time to friends and family and maybe with a non profit organization.
Non-profits are always looking for volunteers, and I am willing to bet that a larger one would have a fulltime computer guy who would love an extra set of hands.
A lot of my experience/skills were learned both at school (special thanks go to one of the best teachers of all time, Mr.
Houtman!) and doing volunteer jobs.
I learned a lot about old hardware and crappy ISP's when I went down to the Dominican Republic on a missions trip and worked on fixing up their network.
It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, and it helped give me the skills that I use to make money today.
Some basic skills that you should have:
You may find it worthwhile to also pick up some skills and experience in areas that are not quite as popular as the Windows and networking world.
There are a lot of people with experience in Windows and networking, and you may find it hard to stand out from the crowd.
If you know Mac's well, you may want to focus on developing those skills and marketing your experience to a smaller subset of users.
Create A Basic Business Plan When many people hear "business plan" they freeze up.
I know I almost did.
I thought, "Why do I need a business plan? This is just a little side business for me, what is the point? Besides, I don't know how to even start on a business plan!".
If you really want to do start up a business, some sort of written plan is essential.
Having a plan written down shows you what you are aiming for and some of the basic steps to get there.
It allows you to go back and look at it and keep yourself disciplined.
Don't worry about writing a 100 page plan, that is overkill.
It only has to be a page or two long if you are keeping things basic.
It should cover some basic concepts, such as:
I am going to emphasize this one more time - if you want to start up a computer support business, then write a business plan!
There are a few questions you should ask yourself:
- Are you patient?
- Do you have discipline?
- Are you an analytical thinker?
- Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit?
However, answering no to just one or two doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to go into computer support as a business.
I personally have all of these traits (or at least I think I do), and I have seen how important they have been for my own success in the business.
Patience is required because often troubleshooting with users is done over the phone, and there is not much else in the world that I know of that tries patience more than when the customer says something along the lines of, "It is telling me to press the Any key, which one is that?".
Patience also comes into play when you are waiting for someone to call, it takes a fair amount of work to get to the point where a complete stranger will call you up for help with their computer.
Discipline is needed because, if you are starting this business up by yourself, there is no boss to look over your shoulder to ensure that you are doing your work.
All of the deadlines are on you, and there is no one to blame if something goes wrong besides yourself.
Troubleshooting computer problems requires analytical thinking.
You don't need to be Einstein, but being able to think logically about an issue you have never seen before is absolutely necessary.
Getting to the bottom of a complex issue is mostly done by taking educated guesses and gradually removing possible causes.
As far as being a good technician, thinking logically is the most important trait to have.
If you don't think logically now, it may be possible to learn this trait.
But it probably won't be easy, as it involves changing the way you think.
The entrepreneurial spirit is needed because you are starting a business, and more than likely it won't be easy.
You need to have a vision for what you want your business to be, and see what steps need to be taken to get there.
I do want to emphasize that compared to many businesses, starting a computer support company is easy.
The startup and overhead costs are low, the only employee needed to start is yourself and you don't need a retail location (Costs a lot of money).
Do You Have The Skills Needed Beyond the basic character traits such as logical thinking, having the skills needed to fix computers are essential.
You should probably have a year or two of supporting computers underneath your belt before you start the business.
If you don't have that kind of time supporting computers yet, I would recommend volunteering your time to friends and family and maybe with a non profit organization.
Non-profits are always looking for volunteers, and I am willing to bet that a larger one would have a fulltime computer guy who would love an extra set of hands.
A lot of my experience/skills were learned both at school (special thanks go to one of the best teachers of all time, Mr.
Houtman!) and doing volunteer jobs.
I learned a lot about old hardware and crappy ISP's when I went down to the Dominican Republic on a missions trip and worked on fixing up their network.
It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, and it helped give me the skills that I use to make money today.
Some basic skills that you should have:
- Windows XP & Vista - Computers loaded with XP & Vista is what the majority of your customers will be using.
You should know your way around XP & Vista like they are the back of your hand.
- Be able to remove malware - More than likely the majority of your clients will have some sort of malware that they want removed.
You should know how to remove them. - Networking - You don't need to be a network engineer, but understanding the basics of computer networking is important.
You should be able to setup and secure wireless networks, create a Cat-5 ethernet cable, and understand what some of the big protocols do (TCP, IP, RDP etc.
) - Understand and know how to use the basic applications - There are some applications that are close to universal, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, AIM, iTunes etc.
You should at least know the basics of all of this software and be able to provide support for things like how to get music to from the computer to the iPod.
You may find it worthwhile to also pick up some skills and experience in areas that are not quite as popular as the Windows and networking world.
There are a lot of people with experience in Windows and networking, and you may find it hard to stand out from the crowd.
If you know Mac's well, you may want to focus on developing those skills and marketing your experience to a smaller subset of users.
Create A Basic Business Plan When many people hear "business plan" they freeze up.
I know I almost did.
I thought, "Why do I need a business plan? This is just a little side business for me, what is the point? Besides, I don't know how to even start on a business plan!".
If you really want to do start up a business, some sort of written plan is essential.
Having a plan written down shows you what you are aiming for and some of the basic steps to get there.
It allows you to go back and look at it and keep yourself disciplined.
Don't worry about writing a 100 page plan, that is overkill.
It only has to be a page or two long if you are keeping things basic.
It should cover some basic concepts, such as:
- What service am I offering?
- Who are the people that I am looking to offer my services to?
- What differentiates me from everyone else that is offering similar services?
- What is my revenue goal after 1 year?
- What will my costs be?
I am going to emphasize this one more time - if you want to start up a computer support business, then write a business plan!
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