starting a pc upgrade/repair service

GaelMonfils

hello all,

im looking for some advice on a particular subject. Ive recently come into a lot of unpaid free time - aka - no job!
I was self employed for the past 6 years and now cannot find work anywhere (on top of that, no state handouts are permitted!)

Anyways, over the years, fixing, upgrading and building pc's and laptops has being a rather lucrative side line of mine with plenty of home users wanting maintenance and advice on home computing/networks. Ive never really advertised it and only got business through repeat custom and word of mouth. Now, with all the free time and all the bills mounting up, im thinking of taking this up as a full time, one man only, venture.

My question is really, what sort of qualifications, in theory, should i have for this sort of business? Everything i currently know is self thought through 17 years of trial and error!!!!!:D

My experience extends to:
pc/laptop rebuilds
hardware replacements/upgrades
software installations/upgrades
Virus removal
Home network configuration
Data retrieval/recovery

Anyone who may have dabbled in this area before, help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

ToxicPaddy

See my pm..

zig

Hi ToxicPaddy, any chance you could forward that to myself as well? Ive been pondering this idea myself, a sort of local call out system, saves the customer having to even leave the house?

Atlas_IRL

Hi op if you dont get much further with this a way i thought of doing this is as follows.

Create a wordpress blog for your repair business. Go to all the repair forums and post that you will build custom pcs for them for a small fee (100e etc)

Have a lot of current top build on your blog at different price ranges that have all the best parts for that price e.g 1k machine, 1.5k machine.

List all the parts as affiliate links so you make money on anyone setting up an account with these companies. (komplett have affiliate deals) Its a small way of doing it as a side venture without the costs. http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com/tradedoubler/8585-komplett-ie-affiliate-programme-tradedoubler-ireland.html
for a standard order of 1000e you will make about 30e.

You can build your repairing/installing service at the same time as well as get contacts this way.

ColmMorrissey

Hi, this may be well out of order but we are looking for agents nationwide right now who have your sort of on the ground experience.
email me if your interested
Colm@tisc.ie