There is a computer in almost every home, and often users encounter a breakdown in one or another part of their computer equipment. A distinctive feature of the computer sphere is that it can be divided into two components: hardware and software. Problems can arise with one or the other, while most home computer owners still perceive them as a complex unit, the repair of which is only possible for a professional to repair.
The profession of a programmer, or vernacular computer programmer, is today chosen by many people, but even a more or less experienced user is able to solve many problems that arise with a computer. After reading relatively little information and trying to test the knowledge gained on their computer, some people begin to help friends in basic computer maintenance. Sometimes it grows into a small business that is built by one person, even less often it becomes a professional activity. And all because today it is not enough for the user to reinstall the operating system, it requires solving more complex issues, and non-specialists lack knowledge and experience for this.
An important aspect of entrepreneurship in the field of computer maintenance and repair is a very high level of competition. It has long been understood that the average user is an absolute amateur and does not understand the principles of computers, many programmers and computer specialists have occupied this niche, sometimes even performing work at home. Or with a home visit to the client. However, not every company offers a full range of services, and the level of professionalism leaves much to be desired.
But at first it’s not worth counting on the illiteracy of competitors; it’s better to study the market, evaluate what services are offered and at what prices. It is often possible to come across the fact that such firms take unreasonably large sums of money for their labor, although there are exceptions, of course. In order to work as efficiently and as quickly as possible to build up a customer base, it is better to start immediately with everything, that is, offer absolutely the entire possible range of services, this will allow you to win against a large number of competitors.
To start an activity you need to register as a business entity, it is better to become an individual entrepreneur than to register a legal entity - there are less difficulties. The activity code is fully covered by (OKPD 2) 95.11 Services for the repair of computers and peripheral equipment. Some licenses are not required, certificates or permissions too. Such an initiative is more likely to relate to the sphere of small business, which is still only getting its development, although it has existed relatively long ago. Difficulties at the registration stage should not arise, and it is better to set aside 20 thousand rubles.
When the bureaucratic issue is resolved, you can look for the place of the future workshop. As mentioned above, some companies work at home, but then there will be no trust in the company as a professional, in the minds of consumers it is unlikely that the idea that the company is good at the same time, and at the same time works for someone in the apartment, will coexist. . An office is needed - this is a representative office of the company. In this case, you do not need to rent huge areas, 20-30 m2 is enough, although in the case of a large number of customers it will be necessary to expand, but this will be necessary for additional employees, not equipment.
Some entrepreneurs even work on the principle of home calls, this is good practice, but the client doesn’t always be able to solve the problem on the spot. Therefore, calling the master at home can be a good additional service or improvement of the service, but not the only activity. In small cities, the cost of renting such a small room is unlikely to exceed 10 thousand rubles, but in large cities it will cost at least 20, especially if you are located in the center. The location itself is not so fundamental, the main thing is not to be located on the outskirts or in industrial areas, where it is difficult for customers to get. In residential areas, the location will also be relevant (suitable for individuals), as well as in business (here the emphasis will be on office maintenance). But it may not always be possible to earn good money on servicing enterprises, because many companies today conclude agreements with large companies that offer IT outsourcing or hosting, and computer support is included in the work of these organizations as part of the services.
If the entrepreneur himself is versed in the computer field, then he will need two employees, if three. Three workers are enough to provide all customers with the service at first. The separation of duties will be as follows - two people are engaged in software, one - in hardware (the so-called "hardware"). It is best if one specialist is equally well versed in both software and hardware. The distribution of duties is as follows: one person is engaged in field work, and the other two are sitting in the service center. If there are no orders for a house, then all three carry out office work. Of the specialists who are engaged in software, one may be a true professional, the second can be taken less experienced. He will follow the work of the master and learn complex work, while doing light orders. The list of computer service maintenance services may be as follows:
Software. This includes the simplest work, which even a novice user can do, but many people are afraid to configure their computers on their own, trusting this business to professionals. This is the installation / reinstallation of the operating system, the installation of antiviruses, the configuration and installation of which software is suitable. More complex tasks are manual removal of viruses, restoration of a damaged system, setting up to work on the Internet, resetting an administrator password, cleaning and editing the registry. This also includes setting up the local network of the enterprise and delimiting access rights.
Mixed work. They are necessary in the case when you need to correctly install and configure the hardware and software parts. For example, in the case of installing new computer elements that you need to not only insert into the slots intended for them, but also install drivers on them. Almost all work with peripheral equipment also falls into this category: installing printers, scanners, copiers, customizable sound and graphic systems, projectors, and much more. A separate category is data recovery from damaged media. This often requires the presence of special equipment and special programs. Data recovery work (most often you can find suggestions to restore a flash drive, although it is also important to work with other media, especially HDD), are one of the most expensive in this area, and are often performed only by professionals.
Hardware repair. Only a professional should be hired for the position of iron specialist, who will be able to deal with both data recovery and direct repair. His responsibilities also include the replacement of components in netbooks and laptops, although this can not be called a repair. It is on these issues that they will be contacted most often, because the elements of a PC are easier and cheaper to replace than to repair. An exception is a hard disk, which is important for the information stored, but the device itself, as a rule, is not needed for a person, but the data itself is needed. However, you can provide yourself with additional income if you buy for nothing or even take for free broken computer parts. The specialist can restore them in order to sell them at a low price to a new user in the future.
All these works can be performed by one universal wizard, which can do everything from laying the Internet cable to recovering long-deleted files from the media. However, the work of several people will help to avoid long lead times, which will positively affect the reputation. It should be remembered that the visiting specialist should have with him not only special programs, but also a large package of all drivers, common software (because not everyone has the Internet to download something) and universal utilities.
You need to be able to work under different operating systems, because among the users there are adherents of MAC OS and Windows, and many enterprises today install Linux due to its free distribution. But installing commercial software from their media is not recommended (prohibited by law), and with proprietary software you need to be careful and find out the status of their licenses. But some programs for work need to be bought for your own use, and if the drivers are always freely available, then a large number of software requires purchase before legal use. However, for almost every paid program there is a free analogue, sometimes no worse or even better. Employees will help the entrepreneur in this matter if he himself does not understand this.
The office cannot be empty, you need to buy furniture and equipment, as well as components and electrical tools. Sometimes you even have to use a soldering iron. There should be at least two computers, while it is better to buy powerful machines; not gaming, but computing. This is necessary when working with a large amount of data or when the process is heavily loaded with operations. The old Pentium on Windows Millennium will not be able to process the client’s media in the shortest possible time, for example, and delays in the timing of such a business often force the consumer to change the service. Furniture, shelves and simple equipment will cost from 50 thousand rubles, the same amount must be spent at least on two computers. As for consumables, they are needed for repair work, and this includes everything from rosin to thermal paste. Together with tools, this is unlikely to require more than 10 thousand rubles. Thus, the total amount of equipment purchased will be 110 thousand rubles.
An important aspect of this business is advertising. You can conduct an advertising campaign through the media (local radio and television), and limit yourself to just distributing leaflets on the street. It would be very nice to create your own website so that people can come across information on the Internet, and in this case it will be potential customers interested in services. To save money, you can make a business card site, its development will cost 10-20 thousand rubles, but you can give the task to employees to make it, they must have sufficient knowledge for this. In this case, advertising will need to be constantly supported, because new players are constantly appearing on the market.
You can significantly increase the number of orders if you establish cooperation with computer and peripheral equipment stores, that is, become a service center. Large stores are unlikely to agree to become partners, as they have their own repair shops, but the small outlets recently opened do not have such capacity. Only if you have to work with equipment under warranty, then you should not count on large amounts, but here the store itself can direct its customers to its partner or simply advertise it. Such an opportunity must be seriously considered and evaluated all the conditions that the store can offer.
The most important thing is to reach the constant demand for your services as quickly as possible, and it must be stimulated not only by simple advertising, but also by offers that competitors do not have. For example, you can deal not only and exclusively with computers and laptops, but also carry out diagnostics and repair of mobile devices and tablets. To do this, employees will need to gain additional knowledge, but the possible costs of their training will quickly pay off.
The amount of starting capital is:
Registration - 20 thousand rubles.
Office rental - 20 thousand rubles.
Equipment and programs for work - from 120 thousand rubles.
Advertising campaign and website creation - 50 thousand rubles.
Outsourcing of accounting and utilities - 10 thousand rubles.
Salary (at the rate of 10 thousand per employee, who also receive a percentage) - 30 thousand rubles.
Total: 230 thousand rubles, monthly payments - 60 thousand rubles. The most frequent orders will be requests to install or reinstall the operating system and all similar simple operations. However, the demand for such services is gradually decreasing, the population is gradually learning to do it on their own, even before the disappearance of the need for specialist assistance in this matter is still far away. As a rule, an order consists not only of solving an issue with the OS, but also of the need to install additional software. The average user is not able to install drivers or all related software on a clean system, he also needs to set up the Internet, and some even create shortcuts on the desktop. If the client has a disk with the operating system, then only its installation will cost him from 500 rubles (depending on the version and the OS itself). All additional software is installed for an additional fee, so the income from such customers will be 1-1.5 thousand rubles.
Repair, as was said above, is often impractical, therefore, it will be necessary to repair mainly the products under warranty (if there is cooperation with the store), to repair the non-working iron for subsequent sale (there will be no serious profit), as well as to install and modify laptops and netbooks. This is what has become a fairly demanded service, because buying a new laptop due to lack of RAM or an outdated video card is expensive, and it is easier to buy a new component. To independently install it is much more complicated than in a conventional computer. Here the price tags start from one thousand rubles and can reach 6-8. In offers of this kind, it is best to periodically arrange promotions and discounts in order to attract customers.
The most expensive thing for a client is data recovery. If the desired file was accidentally deleted from the flash drive, but the device itself is not damaged, then it is unlikely to cost more than 500 rubles (because, in fact, this issue is solved by free programs that are easy to find on the Internet). Another thing, if it is a hard disk, it will take a little longer to deal with it.
But if the device is physically malfunctioning, then the wizard will have to repair the damaged media for a long time and carefully in order to remove the data stored on it. In this case, the client is provided with free diagnostics, but repair and restoration (although usually only repair or restoration is possible) cost from 3 thousand rubles and can reach 40 thousand, depending on complexity. If you take the average price tag equal to 5 thousand rubles, then only 12 customers per month will fully cover all expenses. Therefore, if you conduct a good advertising campaign, then in the first month you can get even a small, but profit, which will subsequently grow. Under favorable conditions, such a project can be recouped in no more than six months.
Matthias Laudanum (c) www.clogicsecure.com - A portal to small business business plans and guides08/18/2019