Self Employed in the Computer Repair Business

There are a lot of ways of looking at what makes a good business as opposed to a bad business. For me, a good business is on that beats having a job, and since I like being self employed, I was always ready to accept the risks involved in not having a regular paycheck, benefits, and the fall-back of unemployment. The computer repair business is still a viable option for self employment if you're a motivated go-getter with the technical and interpersonal skills, because the infrastructure can be limited to your car and your mobile phone.

Most techs refer to the repair business as break/fix which is legitimate shorthand, considering that computer hardware generally breaks as opposed to wearing out. While failures can be due to electrical surges, lightning strikes, dropped equipment and mechanical shock, the main failure mechanism for most electronic components is overheating. Overheating can be caused by fan failure, blocked vents or a hot environment, but more often it's the electronics that eventually bake themselves by generating more heat as they age and internal resistance increases.

When you're self employed in the computer repair business, it means that you don't have a boss to turn to if you get in over your head. When you open up a system to make a repair, you're taking responsibility for any mistakes you may make and any "accidents" that can occur. It's important to understand how to manage customer expectations, so you don't over promise and under deliver. And if you have assets to protect and you don't make your customers sign a legal disclaimer holding you harmless of any damages, you'll want to purchase some pretty good business liability insurance.

The funny thing about selling a customer a piece of hardware is that they don't see the sale as being an unconditional transfer. Whatever the warranty terms say in writing, they will always associate that hardware with you, considering it your responsibility. After some time passes, they understand that components may fail and will be willing to pay for replacement parts, but you have to stand firm and charge for your time as well.

I don't know how many thousands of computers I've repaired over the years, but I still remember the one customer hard drive I blew up. I had actually brought the computer back to our shop to upgrade the hard drive to a larger size, and for some reason I took a break in the middle of the job to answer a question. When I came back, the first thing I touched was the drive, a static spark jumped from my finger, and the drive electronics popped. Fortunately, that customer had a recent back-up on the old network server, but my heart was in my shoes. Another time I upgraded the memory in the server for a mid-sized office, and when I powered it on, it reported hard drive failure. I quickly figured out that I had dislodged the data cable just a bit while working in the case, but I saw my income for the week flashing before my eyes:-)

When you're fixing computers for friends and family as a hobby, it's no big deal if you fail. They aren't going to sue you, in fact, they probably can't sue you under good Samaritan laws if you were doing it for free and made no guarantees. But when you are self employed and fixing computers for money, customers are going to hold you to estimates and insist on getting back a working machine. If you take a laptop to repair and accidentally crack the LCD, you are responsible to replace it, not the customer. And there's no company behind you to soothe the customer's nerves or to send somebody else. If you're not the sort of person who enjoys taking responsibility, it's the wrong business to be thinking about.

Selling IT services might sound safer, after all, if you aren't opening up the computers nobody can blame you for hardware failures. But I ended up having to redo several days of software development for industrial controls one time due to a failed hard drive (happened when the building air conditioning went out) and a bad back-up tape. I had put myself in charge of the back-up system, which was an old tape drive, and while I kept changing the tapes, I had gotten lazy about checking them because it just took too long. After that experience, I installed a DVD recorder on my own dime and started making back-ups of my incremental work every time I was there.

For many computer techs, the best work is cleaning up after other people's problems because you get a chance to be the hero without risking becoming the goat. A few years ago, cleaning up after malware and viruses had become a huge profit maker for every computer services businesses, though it eventually gets old, even when you're making good money. Improved security software on PCs and on networks has greatly reduced the number of service calls for infected computers, and I'm glad to see the end of it.

I try to point out the different ways you can make money by selling IT services and doing more than just break/fix computer repairs in your business, but not everybody will want to get involved with training or website design. Unlike trying to make a business out of building and selling PCs, it's entirely possible to make a living on break/fix computer repair services, as long as you do a good job get great word-of-mouth from customers. I take a broad view of the computer business in the book, explaining the different types of customers you can get involved with, and when it doesn't make sense to jump through hoops for business. The eBook version is available for instant download for $11.95.

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