Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 84796	2007-11-19 01:48:00	New Computer Business	spyderbytesrepair (13045)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
612906	2007-11-20 08:25:00	well....his only posts are in this thread, He is neither contributing to the tech help, nor our discussions on World peace and harmony with nature. But it could be a legit question, I'm sure the playing field in NZ is quite different then the one he came from. For example,we don't kill people for oil. OK, maybe we will when the sweet potatoes run out. My advice, charge heaps.	Metla (12)
612907	2007-11-20 08:44:00	Geeks on Wheels charge $80 an hour) Check their web site its now $95.00 / hour, min of 1 hour - Some of their techs don't know a lot - I have myself been to MANY jobs where they have spent a couple of hours trying to fix a persons computer and couldn't. The last persons place I went to the customer had to ask them to leave after 3 hours - and was charged for it, as the customer told me it was obvious the guy didn't know what he was doing. Fixed it within a 30 minutes.:groan: Basic stuff. Also if you want a Business / self employed forget about about working 9-5 @ 5 days a week, doesn't work. Contrary to what Sweep said, I don't think cashflow will be a problem. It doesn't cost much to run this business if you don't have a shop. Don't forget about Taxes, GST, running costs and having a certain amount of stock on hand all costs $$	wainuitech (129)
612908	2007-11-20 08:49:00	I have myself been to MANY jobs where they have spent a couple of hours trying to fix a persons computer and couldn't. Did they still charge for the couple of hours?	Deane F (8204)
612909	2007-11-20 08:51:00	Did they still charge for the couple of hours? YES! So I was told - customer had no reason to lie	wainuitech (129)
612910	2007-11-20 09:14:00	May I ask how you know cashflow will not be a problem? I just simply asked a few questions. "So have you checked the competition? Have you put a business plan together? Have you yet thought about cash flow? Do you need a loan or do you have sufficient capital? Are you working out of home or have a shop? Going to employ or one person band?" I certainly did not assert that a cashflow was not forthcoming at some point. Just asked a few questions. Eventually the original poster will get back I would hope. While I feel you have good advice please do not put words in my mouth. You are allowed to express your opinion. Had you noticed the punctuation in my post??????????????????? ? = question. And as to the NZ public expects to be overcharged etc. How did you come up with that? Whoa, calm down. I wasn't attacking you :eek: I was telling spyderbytesrepair what MY take on the cashflow question was, and nothing more. Sorry if you took offence, I didn't mean any. It's true that I didn't read what you said carefully enough, and took it as you saying that cashflow will be an issue, but that doesn't affect what I said really. As for "expects to be overcharged" - personal experience. A lot of the time I'll fix a relatively simple problem in say, an hour, and my client will be shocked when they see the bill (perhaps $40) and say they're used to techs coming in, charging them $250 (2.5 hours plus callout will rack that up at some places) and not even fixing the problem properly. A lot of the people I've worked for had seen nothing but terrible service and nasty overcharging, and being their "pleasant surprise" is a good reason for them to come back to you. Wainuitech has just described exactly what I was talking about regarding the overcharging and bad service - that happens a LOT. Taxes, GST and running costs are not really cashflow issues in the sense I'm talking about. To owe tax and GST you have to make the money in the first place, and running costs that aren't directly related to the money you make are minimal when you're working from home. Eg, for me, in a month Phone ~$30 Cellphone ~$30 Internet (the business use of it) ~$50 out of $99.95 total Petrol that's not charged out ~ $35 Advertising ~ $30 Misc ~ $50 So that's a total of around $225 absolute maximum that you'd need to be prepared to shell out whether you make money or not. Realistically it'd be more like $100-150 for someone starting out. It's not negligible but it's nothing compared to people who have to rent a shop or expensive equipment. I do need to have up to around $5000 (that'd cover two at once, which can happen :p) spare for building PCs when required though, but that is only needed for a few days at a time and this would be more like $2000 for someone who is starting out. Worst case scenario is using a credit card for those few days it takes to build and sell the PC, or taking the cash up front, which is acceptable but not ideal. It does look like he was here mostly to advertise himself though...	george12 (7)
612911	2007-11-20 16:21:00	Hey . . I'm an American and NZ would not let me in unless I could prove I had a thorough grasp of the command line in Linux . They won't even let me get on the boat until then . Honestly, it's nice to see that NZ let a Yank (the noun, not the verb) in to the country . There's hope for me . . but I have to list a specialty that isn't well represented in your country . Hmmm . . guitar-playing shepherding is out . I can have my guitars, cars and fishing gear packed in the nonce . Let me know if you find a niche for me too . I'll start with a long visit to Metla's house . He's holding my cold beer yet .	SurferJoe46 (51)
612912	2007-11-20 18:54:00	Eg, for me, in a month Phone ~$30 Cellphone ~$30 Internet (the business use of it) ~$50 out of $99.95 total Petrol that's not charged out ~ $35 Advertising ~ $30 Misc ~ $50 hm.........cheap........ My costs when i was running from home full time were more than that: 2005 post box: $10 advtt $202 bank fees $38 stationary $16 phone/net $160 vehicle $345 bus tools $79 (cd's, batteries, ink, tools) this is my yearly expenses divided into months.......the vehicle expenses included a large proportion of fuel but perhaps $1000 over the year in maintenance/rego etc etc.......i was claiming um......I think 75% of vehicle costs as its also my private car........tho most of the runnign around was for the business.......I didn't often claim travelling or 'callout' costs from clients unless they lived in the country say 15k or more from town....... so that's $500 per month excluding running costs for the vehicle	drcspy (146)
612913	2007-11-20 19:11:00	hm.........cheap........ My costs when i was running from home full time were more than that: 2005 post box: $10 advtt $202 bank fees $38 stationary $16 phone/net $160 vehicle $345 bus tools $79 (cd's, batteries, ink, tools) this is my yearly expenses divided into months.......the vehicle expenses included a large proportion of fuel but perhaps $1000 over the year in maintenance/rego etc etc.......i was claiming um......I think 75% of vehicle costs as its also my private car........tho most of the runnign around was for the business.......I didn't often claim travelling or 'callout' costs from clients unless they lived in the country say 15k or more from town....... so that's $500 per month excluding running costs for the vehicle I'll Agree with those figures - thats roughly about the same I do / Have. Then add to that how you pay yourself, either Wages or Drawings.	wainuitech (129)
612914	2007-11-20 19:35:00	My costs when i was running from home full time were more than that: [ excluding running costs for the vehicle While we are on the subject of costs, the shop costs me $1686 a month to run. If I was doing this amount of work when I was doing it from home, we'd be sweet. But of course I didn't get as much then. Sigh........... Small towns.............sigh........	pctek (84)
612915	2007-11-20 19:40:00	My daily cooked breafast really hit my shop hard when I had it.....200 bucks a week just for that...:groan: Then there was the nasty habit of getting one for myself whenever I ordered in something that I liked the look of. Plus of course, The greedy hand in the cash draw. That drawing tablet sure came in handy though:p Muhahahahahaha	Metla (12)
1 2 3 4