“My friend cannot find work so he wants to start a computer repair business. Do you think this is a good idea?”
When a taxi driver or anyone else asks me this, my reply is: “Why does your friend think it’s a good idea?”
Most people think computer repairs and IT support is easy and anyone can do it – after all it’s just a matter of clicking a few buttons and if you know how to use email, you can fix most PC problems.
Strangely, the only industry that shares this mentality seems to be coffee shops. Many people seem to think they can run a café because they can drink coffee, but at least setup costs are a barrier to entry, which doesn’t exist for the mobile computer support businesses.
The funny thing is when you to ask the same people if they could be a swimming pool cleaner because they go swimming or if they would be a good motor mechanic because they drive a car to work, they’d think you were crazy.
That said though, I usually don’t discourage friendly taxi drivers or anyone else from telling their friend to go ahead and set up that computer business.
Even though I personally think the computer support sector is a graveyard for most entrepreneurs, it’s a great training ground. You learn about the importance of cashflow and how it’s different to profit – although some techs take a while to pick up they aren’t the same thing.
More importantly, you learn how customer service is the greatest challenge in most business. As a proprietor of a computer repair business you learn quickly how to politely explain the customer’s problem lies between the keyboard and chair or that the error is really a code ID10T.
But the main reason for recommending an IT support business precisely because most are doomed to failure.
Failure is the biggest test of friendships and trust. Being in a sinking business is a stressful time and you quickly find who can be trusted, who’ll stand by you and who isn’t as reliable as you thought.
Once you’ve established who you can really trust in business, you then have the foundations for a wildly successful second business.
Paul Wallbank is a writer, speaker and broadcaster on technology issues. He founded national support organisation PC Rescue in 1995 and has spent over 14 years helping businesses get the most from their IT investment. His PC Rescue and IT Queries websites provide free advice to business computer users and his monthly newsletter has over 3000 subscribers.
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