Own a PC technician business? This short video helps you build client relationships through specific marketing techniques. Then learn more PC technician business tips now at http://PCTechnicianBusiness.com

As a computer consultant, you have some options when it comes to which type of business you should start. Not every type of computer business works well for every consultant. So you have to think carefully as you are making important business model decisions. There are many ways to approach computer franchise ownership and quite a few pros and cons associated with being part of franchise organizations.

The following 5 computer franchise ownership secrets can help you decide which type of business will be best for your goals and aspirations.

   1. Know The Advantages of Computer Franchises. You get the reputation of a larger, established company. You get a built-in peer support network (usually, but not always helpful). You get a variety of pre-established tools and resources. You get ongoing support and some basic initial hand holding.

   2. Know The Disadvantages of Computer Franchises. A substantial capital investment is required to buy into a computer franchise. You will have to pay a percentage of your revenue or profit each month as a royalty to the franchiser, which will cut into your bottom line. You will have to conform to restrictions when it comes to how you do business. You will have to adapt to geographic territory restrictions.

   3. Computer Franchise Ownership Requires a Lot More Startup Capital Funds Than Other Types of Computer Consulting Businesses. When you start a computer consulting business from scratch, you can expect a relatively low initial investment. A new computer consulting company is more time intensive than capital intensive. This means you can take anywhere from three to six months (or more) to develop enough contacts, prospects and project opportunities in your sales funnel to be booked up to a 50-60 percent utilization rate. With computer franchises, you spend a significant amount of money up front but often end up spending less time getting a steady client base. You may already have prospects that have heard of you and even those that have worked with your franchise in the past.

   4. Buying a Computer Franchise is Not the Same Thing as Buying an Existing, Profitable Business.  Remember, with a computer franchise, no one’s going to hand you a a customer list on day one.  You don’t magically acquire a bunch of clients on support agreements.  And in many cases, you may not even get a list of pre-qualified prospects.  So go in with both eyes open.  Take off the rose-colored glasses.  Know that with a computer franchise, you still have to make pretty sizable marketing investments to acquire customers and build a client list.

   5. Think about Your Timeline for Getting Decent Revenue.  With a computer franchise, you still need to get out there and pound the pavement, by going to all your local networking events and going out on sales calls.  The franchiser won’t do these business-building steps for you.  Even if you do all this and get involved in computer franchise ownership, you can still expect to spend at least 3-6 months before generating substantial cash flow.  In tougher times, it might take a year or more before generating decent amounts of service revenue.  If you want to hire great technical staff and sales people, you can spend years building your business if you don’t have a lot of capital to start. You need to be able to continue paying your business expenses even during slow times and keep your overhead reasonably low to reduce your own stress.
 
With all this in mind, computer franchise ownership is a big decision and should not be taken lightly.  It can work out well for some, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
 
In this article, we looked at 5 tips to think about as you consider investing in computer franchise ownership.  Learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients and weigh the pros and cons of Computer Franchise Ownership at the attached link. 
 
Copyright (C), ComputerFranchiseSecrets.com, All Rights Reserved (Note: The author of this article is in no way financially compensated to sell you a computer franchise.  Rather the author of this article writes for a publisher that sells a complete self-study training program that’s a proven, low-cost alternative to computer franchise ownership.  Learn more at the link above.)

No matter what your business experience or level of technological expertise, you can start your own computer repair business.  Those that love computers, technology and working with people find that running their own business is incredibly fulfilling and can bring them substantial revenue.  All it takes is following some logical, plotted steps and planning very carefully how to start a computer repair business.  

The following 5 tips can help you figure out how to start a computer repair business.

   1. Determine the Characteristics of Your Ideal Clients.  Before you start your own computer repair business, you need to figure out who you want to serve.  Know who your ideal clients are and which characteristics they share.  How large are their businesses?  Which major business problems do they face?  As you start to fine-tune your idea of the ideal computer repair business client also think about whether you are serving a niche and what your specialty is.  Are your clients all in a specific industry or do they naturally all use the same specific software or hardware?  Having a niche and a specialty can really help you with marketing and sales.  You will position yourself to offer solutions that no other technology professionals in your area are offering and thus be even more indispensable to your clients.

   2. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses.  As you figure out how to start a computer repair business, you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses.  You might have a very strong technical background but are not very business savvy.  In order to succeed, you need to have a good balance of business, technical and also strong social skills, so you can best respond to the needs of your clients and build long-term relationships with them.  Make sure you take the time to go outside your comfort zone and work on honing skills that come less readily to you than others.

   3. Set Your Rates Right from the Beginning.  When you run your own computer repair business, time is money.  You can’t afford to set your rates too low in the beginning.  Not only will you have to work incredibly hard just to make ends meet, but you will also have a hard time raising rates substantially once you’ve already started your business, without losing clients and compromising relationships and your reputation.  To make sure you start your business using competitive rates, identify your local competitors and research what they are charging their clients and how their services compare to yours.

   4. Be Patient and Let Your Business Evolve Over Time.  You can’t expect to instantly get a full roster of clients and steady revenue for your business.  When you are starting your computer repair business, you should expect it to take a while to get off the ground – sometimes as much as 6 months or even a year.  Why?  A successful computer repair business is built on strong client relationships and relationships take time to evolve.  You need to get prospects for your business that know, like and trust you in order for them to turn into steady, high-paying, long-term clients.  Be patient and follow clear steps when qualifying clients and forging connections through marketing and networking events. And take each client carefully through the sales cycle.  If you are diligent with your efforts, they will pay off in time.

   5. Remember that Marketing is Key.  When you are just figuring out how to start a computer repair business, you’re going to be wearing a lot of different hats.  You will probably have to do the marketing, sales, administrative and all other tasks by yourself in the beginning.  Establishing a well-crafted, diversified marketing plan that incorporates a lot of different targeted activities is the only way to build your business and make sure your sales funnel is fed. So this way, you can attract new clients on a regular basis and still have time to manage other elements of your business.

In this article, we explored 5 critical tips to help you as you learn how to start a computer repair business. To learn more about how you can get more steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on How to Start a Computer Repair Business now at the attached link.

Copyright (C), StartComputerRepair.com, All Rights Reserved.

While you can’t join every organization under the sun, you can join a few that will work best with your schedule and give you access to the best leads and prospects for your specific business.  Take some time to go to a meeting or two and get to know organizations in your area.

Organizations that Can Help You Be More than an IT Freelancer

1.    General Business Organizations:  These can be your chamber of commerce or Rotary Club or Kiwanis or even a group like Le Tip or BNI or some other lead club.  These clubs are targeted by industry or occupation and will give you access to a lot of other small business owners/managers.

2.    User Groups:  This type of group can be useful if you decide you want to specialize in a specific type of software or other platform.  You can find people with similar interests that are either consultants or IT professionals.

3.    Targeted Business Organizations or Trade Groups:  This is a group that will give you the most direct access to the clients you want for your business.  Choose a group that gives you access to small business owners within your specialty or niche and start to look for upcoming events like expos, etc. as well as a newsletter you can read.

No matter what, you need to get ACTIVE to engage in great networking that will get you beyond being just another IT freelancer and closer to your goal of being an IT consulting business owner, thriving in your field.  To learn more about this topic, visit the attached link!

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

Here’s how two computer consultants just starting out in the field jump-started their businesses, in their own words:

“The Computer Consulting Kit was instrumental in helping me successfully launch my computer consulting business. I appreciated the depth and the detail, and the additional resources provided. It’s a great investment… easily paid for my Computer Consulting Kit in the first month. And I have numerous clients under contract to show for that!”

Neal Castles, Castles Technology Consulting, State College, Pennsylvania

"I achieved a net profit of over $11,000 in my first quarter (in business). The Computer Consulting Kit immediately made me look like a seasoned business owner in the I.T. consulting market."

Mike Sims, Simtech Data Services, Hesperia, California

To learn more about how you can learn from the tips and tools offered by the Computer Consulting Kit and increase your revenue and improve your relationships with clients, just like these two computer consultants did, visit the attached link!

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Franchises Are Not Guarantees

You might think that if you choose a computer consulting business that is a franchise, a lot of the work will be done for you.  While this is true with parts of the process, you still are going to have a lot of work to do.  For one, the franchiser is not giving you a pre-established client list.  If you want that, you will have to buy a current business, which can cost a lot of money.  Even if you buy a very small but thriving computer consulting firm, you can spend $300,000-$3 million dollars (or about that amount).  The amount will be a multiple of the annual sales.

What Are the Computer Consulting Start-Up Costs?

If you start your own computer consulting firm, you can do it for as little as a few thousand dollars.  You’ll basically need a business phone number and voicemail, a cell phone, business cards and legal licensing registrations.  And you’ll want to figure in the cost of meeting with an accountant and an attorney.  You will also need insurance.  A lot of times you can work out of your home office, which means less money.

Attention Control Freaks:  Steer Clear of Computer Consulting Franchises

When you buy a franchise, you give up some control.  You have to do things a certain way according to pre-set rules and regulations.  There is very little room for deviation.  Your company will be paying the franchiser a percentage of your revenue from now until … forever.  And you won’t get the same level of flexibility when it comes to taking your business in different directions as you would if you opened your own business.  

The Main Idea

Computer consulting has some start-up options:  starting an independent business; buying a franchise; buying an established business.  Ask yourself if you want to start from the ground, up or be handed a client list.  Just keep in mind that any start-from-scratch computer consulting business is more about time and sweat equity than money.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

What Is a Pure Consulting Firm?

Some consulting firms choose to be pure consulting companies.  They think they will never make any money off products and that there are some major conflicts when you get into becoming a reseller.  As consultants, these companies help clients decide what to buy, what the specs should be and they show them where they can buy recommended products.

What is a Purchasing Agent?

Another type of pure consulting firm is a purchasing agent.  When you do this, your firm does the purchasing for clients and bills them a couple hours for it.  Your firm gets reviews and quotes, places and tracks orders and handles the whole purchase.  These are more pure consulting functions than reselling functions.

What Are Hybrid Consulting Firms?

When you follow a hybrid consulting model, you do white box PC reselling (reselling PC clones).  A computer reseller that does this is selling generic desktops, servers and sometimes notebooks (called white books).   

Do You Resell or Not?

When consulting firms are deciding whether or not to resell, they need to think about how they want to spend the majority of their time.  If you are facing this decision, ask yourself if you want to pick up some additional profit from product sales or if you want most of your income to come from pure consulting money.  No matter what, you don’t want to lead off with product sales when selling yourself to prospects.

Can Product Sales Get Consulting Firms in the Door?

Many new computer consulting owners ask themselves, “Should I resell inexpensive PCs, cheap software and cheap peripherals to try to get into consulting?”  The answer is typically “No.”  

All of a sudden you will have shown customers that you want to be a commodity broker.  And most will not hire this type of person for consulting.   

If you want to be a reseller, relationships have to come first.  Consulting firms looking for great longevity should focus on relationships.  

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

Real Billable Hours

When you moonlight as a computer business consultant, you get to know what real billable hours are.  As an example, if you spend 10 hours working, you might only be able to bill for four.  This is just the way it works and something you need to learn for yourself to understand completely.

Why Are Some Hours Non Billable for a Computer Business Consultant?

The other responsibilities of running your own business typically are what make up most of your non-billable hours in computer consulting.  You will spend time on marketing, business development, paperwork, organization, billing and collections and basic accounting duties.

You have to learn what owning your own computer consulting business is all about first-hand, and moonlighting can be a way to do this.  If you don’t find out before you start, you may discover you don’t like it and are not really cut out for the industry and find yourself stuck.  

Moonlighting Has its Benefits

The biggest benefit of moonlighting when you are thinking of being a computer business consultant while you still have a day job is that you take some of the pressure off yourself.  If you end up not liking consulting, you haven’t lost anything.  But you still have a good way to get your foot in the door and learn about the industry without making a big commitment.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

When you moonlight as a computer consultant, you gain an appreciation of the reality of billable hours.  If you spend 10 hours working, you may really only bill for 4.  Similarly, you can spend 10 hours of time and only bill for 6 or 7 hours.  When you experience this for yourself in computer consulting, you get an idea of whether or not you can handle it.  

What Are Non-Billable Computer Consulting Hours?

Non-billable hours include the following business responsibilities:  marketing; business development; paperwork; organization; billing and collections; accounting.  You won’t get a real picture of whether or not you can handle these types of issues – and more! – until you own a computer consulting business for real.    

Moonlighting Benefits

The main benefit of moonlighting while still having a day job is lack of pressure.  If you don’t end up liking computer consulting, you can get out and go back to your routine.  But moonlighting allows you to test out computer consulting without a major commitment.

Submitted By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Printing Business Cards

Even if you don’t think you’ll keep the same information forever with your computer consulting business, get business cards together right away.  Even if you change information in six months, you can change it.  You need to start handing out computer consulting business cards, even if you just do it with family members and friends.

Tell People

Networking means that whenever you are out and about, meeting people at kids’ soccer games, church or synagogue or just standing on line talking to people in the store or at the movies, you need to take the opportunity to tell them about your business and give out business cards.  

Your Business Community – Get Involved!

You should join local organizations that cater to small business owners.  Find three or four good local trade groups and get involved.  Examples are your chamber of commerce, user group or trade groups related to your industry other types of trade groups.

Computer Consulting:  Start from a Known Point

You should pick an industry focus that interests you and in which you have experience.  You can always branch out later, but starting with a niche you already know and with which you already have some experience can really jump start your credibility, make you more memorable and improve your computer consulting business. 

Evaluate Your Niche for Prospects

For example, you might choose the medical field if you have a background in nursing.  Focus your early activities on small doctors’ offices in your local area.  You should be sure you have at least 500 – 1,000 prospects within a one-hour radius of your location.

You can even brand yourself by putting industry focus in the name of your company.  Add “health care systems” or “medical office systems” to your name for extra emphasis on your computer consulting specialty. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit