People ask this question all the time so I'm going to take some time and do my best to go over all the essential points that you need to consider before starting your own business, the things you must do to comply with government, materials you need to get started, goals you should work toward and 3 big keys to being successful.

!!! Please note that this is not a guide or professional counsel. I am only sharing my experience as a new, single proprietor, small business owner with 0 employees and a tough attitude !!!

So, you want to start your own repair biz? That's great! Computer and electronic repair can be rewarding if you enjoy the work and being your own boss is cool too, but it's a lot of hard work if you're just starting out and it costs money too.

Do you have what it takes?

^{TL;DR: Seriously, ask} ^^yourself.

It's one thing to clock in at GeekSquad, push a mouse around, get yelled at by assholes, and maybe turn a driver, but it's a whole new world of challenges and responsibilities to manage every aspect of a business. You're not just the tech, you're the inventory manager, cashier, accountant, AND legal dartment (<--important).

If you're considering running your own biz then you probably already have a sufficient amount of experience with the devices and platform(s) you intend on servicing. If you're going to do this professionally, you need to be confident that you have a valuable service that you can guarantee. Speaking of devices and platforms, just what kind of work do you intend to do?

Scope of Business

^{TL;DR: Set boundaries for yourself. DO what you know. DON'T do what you don't} ^^know.

Before we can even start drafting any paper work, you need to stop and determine what kind of work you are going to do (the services you will be offering) and set a finite scope of what's included and what's not. You know what kind of issues you are able to fix and what is outside of your skill set.

Assignment: Make a list of all of the computer services that you want to offer. Don't worry about prices yet. You can add some rough figures for now, but don't lose time on it. It's not important yet.

It's important to set boundaries for yourself. Especially if you're going to offer mobile phone services. New phones come out all the time and the procedures for replacing a cracked screen are different for all of them. In addition to knowing if it's even cost appropriate for you and the customer to repair the phone, you need to know how to fix it without further damaging the device because we are running an honest shop here and we'll fix any problems that we knowingly cause on our own because we're the good guys. Right? RIGHT!

And, if you're ever doing a job, make sure you only do what you agreed with the customer to do. Personally, I will correct small issues as I come across them if it is convenient and does not cost any additional time or money, but big things always require a phone call and a new agreement with the customer before being done. Make sure your contract allows you to modify it in such events.

The general rule here is don't take on any work that you don't know how to do. However, being that the tech world evolves so rapidly, there are countless exceptions to this rule. I work on laptops and phones for the first time all the time, but I always conduct thorough research and make an educated judgement on my personal ability to satisfy the needs of the task before accepting the work. Sometimes a client wants me to replace just the glass on their phone but I have a policy for only doing full assembly replacements because I'm not confident I can remove the glass without damaging the LCD every time with 100% consistent success with the tools I have currently. Providing this service is a future goal, but it is not personally in my current scope of business. Just use your head and don't be afraid to say no to work that you can't do.

Starting Costs

^{TL;DR: It takes money to make} ^^money.

Even the most frugal business owner doesn't start with nothing. In the beginning, there are costs that you will not be able to get around. I didn't have a budget in the beginning so I didn't know what to expect at first, but I had to spend to close to ~$1,000 to create a single member LLC and acquire tax licenses in Mississippi. It could be more or less depending on where you're operating. Because there are too many variables here that are dependent on geography, I'm not going to go over making a budget just yet; for now, just know that there could be some hefty costs to starting a repair biz in your area as a sole-proprietor LLC.

At the very least, you must have tools. A good tech is only as good as his/her tools and google fu. The tools you need will be determined by the kind of services you intend to offer as outlined in your scope of business plan. Here are the tools that I recommend starting out with if you are going to be offering the general gamut of tech service requests for Windows PC's, cell phones, tablets and other personal electronic devices.

^Essential ^Tools

• Computer - if you're only going to have 1, it must be a laptop, but I recommend having a 2 computers: a desktop for the shop and a laptop for house calls

• Phone - you must be able to make and receive phone calls to your clients and to have on file with the agencies you are required to be registered with. You can use Google Voice if you need a separate number. I recommend Android phones for reasons I will explain in a later segment.

• Drivers - you at least need standard, phillips and torx in the small sizes; magnetic is great but not necessary

• Tweezers - for when your fingers are too big; a must have if you're using non-magnetic drivers

• Pry Tools - can be anything but this is what I use what I need to put force on tender areas

• High Capacity Flash Drive - multiboot rescue tool for virus removal, data recovery, and so much more (more on this later)

• Hard Drive Dock 1 : 2 - for disk cloning and data recovery

• PS/2 Mouse&Keyboard - sometimes you need to access BIOS on legacy hardware that does not have USB emulation or has failing USB hubs

• USB WiFi Antenna - must have for diagnosing network errors and grabbing OEM network drivers

These are the tools I consider to have been the most important to me as a new, independent repair tech. I didn't have all of them at the very beginning, but they are what I now know to be essential to providing the most commonly requested services in my area.

After you have acquired the tools necessary to satisfy the trade, you now need to account for the initial expenses for creating the business.

Organizing the Business

^{TL;DR: Defining how your business exists as an entity in the} ^^marketplace.

There are many ways to set up a business. There are all sorts of reasons for doing it one way or another that I will not explain here because I am not a lawyer, but I will share with you the options I considered when I started, the one I chose and why I made that decision. Please note that I live in the United States so your options might be different if you are operating in a different country.

• DBA (Doing Business As) - This option is the simplest in theory. You set up a different bank account as a DBA (just ask the teller) with a fictitious name and conduct all of your business and financial dealings under this name. So, in this scheme, you're not really setting up a business per se, but just "doing business as" [company name]. It's still you. You're the business, but you've just created a professional alias that your bank and the government will recognize when handling your money and tax withholdings. Under this scheme you are personally liable in the event of litigation, meaning they could take away your xbox if there were no other means of compensation in the event of a lawsuit.

• LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) - This is what I went with. There are other types of corporate entities that you may set up as a sole-proprietor, but a sole-proprietor LLC is the one I went with. With this one, you have to use a registered agent (ya gotta pay 3rd party) to register your business name as an LLC with you as its sole member. I used LegalZoom. I think it was ~$300 total to create a single-member LLC with me as the sole member, but this scheme creates the business as an entity separate from myself so that I am not personally liable in the event of a catastrophe. I always operate with good intentions and make good on my mistakes, but this business scheme gives my personal assets security from problems that occur in the professional relationships with clients.

Creating the Business

Because I only have experience operating a business as a sole proprietor LLC, that's what I'll be writing about. To create a business as an LLC in America, there are 3 main things that you have to do.

• Apply for a FEIN (Federal Employment Identification Number) - This is like a social security number for your business. It's how the IRS identifies you. Technically, this is the only thing you need to operate a business as far as the IRS is concerned. APPLY HERE

• Register your LLC with the State - The process for doing this depends on the state you're operating in. You may be able to do it online, but you might have to print out a form and mail it in. Must have FEIN to do this step.

• Get a registered agent - You must have one and it has to be a 3rd party. I use LegalZoom. LegalZoom will do all of the above for you as a part of their service, although I only needed them to register the LLC with the state.

EDIT: Wow, apparently this was changed in my state less than a month after I filed. I can fire my registered agent at the end of this year and avoid a $300 yearly overhead on my business! Make sure you check all the regulations for registering your corporation, and obtaining tax licenses so you can avoid the mistake I made. Thanks again /u/kodiakinc

• Get a tax license - The process for doing this depends on the state you're operating in. In Mississippi, I had to pay a $500 deposit because I operate my business out of my home. I can conveniently manage the account online.

• Miscellaneous Licenses - Your state may make special obligations of you. You'll have to research any additional requirements yourself, but if the above listed items are a must.

• Certification - Credentials from an institution are nice, but you don't need any special training to do this job - just some good tools, google and an aptitude for problem solving.

That's it! That's all you are legally obligated to do to create a sole-proprietor LLC. If you decide to do a DBA, you don't have to have a registered agent, but you do still have to get a FEIN, register with the state and acquire tax licenses.

Finances/Budgeting

^{TL;DR: Know how much money is required to keep you floating monthly and} ^^annually.

First off, you need a separate bank account. The one thing people would always repeat to me when I was starting was to separate the business finances from my personal finances. I encourage you to do the same. There are many options, but try to find one that doesn't have a membership fee and allows a fair number of transactions a month without any fee. I use Hancock/Whitney bank for my business and I think I get 100 transactions a month without any cost which is great for me. Shop around before you choose.

Now, you need to know what it's going to cost to run the business.

If you're operating a store front, there are a lot of different costs to consider like rent, utilities, etc. but I will just be discussing the monthly and annual costs that I have to pay to cover administration and basic business infrastructure for my home operated single member LLC ^detail

• Quickbooks $12.95/mo

• Amazon Prime $100/yr

• Domain Name & Web Hosting $95/yr

EDIT: * "Insurance. Check out Techsurance.com. Appropriate levels of coverage for an IT business, and regardless of personal credit...about $500/yr for general liability, and another $400-500/yr for Errors and Omissions aka (Professional Indemnity)." thanks /u/kodiakinc

Those are the only bills I have to pay that are exclusive to my business. Month-to-month, Quickbooks is my only expense. I'm going to take a moment to say how great Quickbooks is. I started out with a paper receipt book, but if all techs are alike, this option is not going to be sustainable for you. Quickbooks just makes it too easy.

I also recommend Amazon Prime being one of your first financial goals if you can't afford it right away. If you're like me, you won't have a lot of capital starting out so you won't be able to keep much of anything in inventory. This makes it super important for you to be able to get your parts quickly. Amazon Prime gives you free 2 day shipping on eligible purchases (there are always prime options) and you can get one-day shipping for usually no more than $5 extra (customer pays for overnight cost - nobody complains about overnight for $5).

I could probably do without my website because it honestly doesn't generate any new clients, but that's because I don't spend enough time updating it, creating blog content or creating backlinks on other web pages. But, it looks really professional and it's really the only credential I have. For the non tech savvy masses, a website is serious business. It just commands attention and really sets you apart when people are researching you. It's just a great coat tail that you can add to job postings and craigslist ads. Not to mention the power it can have if you really put money and effort into advertising. I bought my domain name from DirectNIC and hosted it on Dreamhost. I bought a really cheap ($5), basic template that had some cool JQuery effects and modified it for my purposes. Boom, instant web page. We'll talk more about web pages in a separate post.

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