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[Zarf]

Being isolated at home on the dole is turning me a bit crazy so I've decided that if the IT job market is still bleak in January I'm going to see about setting up my own business doing tech support call-outs/computer builds/simple web design. Even If I only had a few hours work a week @£20/hour it'd be better than Jobseekers and demonstrate some useful skills/experience on my CV. Not only that but having been on Jobseekers for a while I'm eligible for various grants and free help/advice setting up as well as continuing to receive £50 a week for the first four months I run it.

Anyone run their own business before and have any advice for me? Think that there would be much demand for a call out tech support service, kinda like a plumber or electrician, but for fixing PC problems and helping you set up your Network, or just general advice from someone better than the useless gits at PC-World. I'm just going on the fact that I seem to be doing stuff for relatives or friends of friends quite often, hopefully there're people out there prepared to pay me for it.

Would £20/hour be reasonable for this sort of thing?

[Power]

I don't know what fee is acceptable, tbh or what I would rate an acceptable fee if I had no idea about PCs and would have to call for support, but from the experience with Lullaby (which she surely can report better than me) the biggest problem is actually the publicity. If no one knows you exist you will get fuck all calls. So it would probably be wise to check out available channels for advertisement BEFORE you start your business. A website sure proves useful, but you should also look into adverts in local newspapers or just some small post-its in a local supermarket or similar businesses.

It's easier when you get the word of mouth going after a couple of successful jobs, but until then I'd say marketing is the most important thing you should take care of.

[mode_seven]

The first Google UK result for "it home support" charges over £50 an hour, I reckon you could undercut a significant proportion of competitors at £20.

EDIT: This chap, also on the first page of results, charges £25. So I reckon £20 is good for starting out as an individual.

[Hzza]

Canvas the area, go door to door, stand outside PC shops and shit and ask people a) if they would use the service and b) how much is reasonable. Will give you an idea of how things look in your area and then go from there. Also, find out if anyone does anything similar in your local area, hit up the Yellow Pages or check local papers or something.

It's a great idea, but I can't belive that you're the only person to have thought of it so there must be competition or a reason why it doesn't work.

As for the actual business side of things, no idea .

[DeadlyAvenger]

I was self employed for about 9 months doing PHP web development so if you have any questions you want to ask me then go ahead.

As for advertising like power said - I got all my stuff handed to me because I got lucky and found an awesome dude who contracted out the work to me. Make up some decent looking business cards and some A5 flyers and give them to your friends and family, go into local businesses and ask if you can put some on the counter or put a poster on the wall. Advertising in your local paper (providing it's not too expensive) and having a decent website also helps.

With regards to your fee - that sounds reasonable but there's quite a few things you need to think about:
1) People are going to want to know in advance how long it's going to take (and therefore how much it will cost) - and you need to get this right. If you turn up and it takes you twice as long as you thought - they're not going to be very happy if you charge them, and if you don't you'll be losing out.
2) Always round to at least one hour
3) Consider how much it'll cost you to travel to each of the jobs. If you live in a city, then you might not have to travel as far. But if you take a call for a 1 hour job and it's 50 miles away you won't get much of a return.
4) What will you do about having spares/equipment/software with you? (i.e. what if you need to download the drivers for something or put on some anti-virus software)
5) What will you do if you can't fix the problem? Will you still charge them?
(these are just a few)

Also - almost every big electronics shop now has a PC callout and repair service (e.g. comet, pc world, curry's etc.), not to mention that there will be others that will service your area so you should try and find what makes you special / why should they use you instead of them and take advantage of that.

Fair play though - good that you're willing to get off your ass and do something. Hope this doesn't seem too negative but it's not quite as simple as 'I'll charge £20 an hour and go and fix people's computers'

As for finances and record keeping - you either have to start up a company (which I have no idea about) or declare yourself as self-employed (which is what I did). You'll have to pay about £2.50 a week in national insurance, but if you earn less than something like £6k you can claim that back. Produce invoices/receipts for every customer and make sure you keep a copy, along with any expenses. I used an online PHP invoicing tool called bambooinvoice for all my invoices. You'll probably have to submit a tax self-assessment every year.

[Captain Valentine]

The PC company round here that I did work experience at charged £75/hour for non subscribers. £20 seems much more reasonable.

[PapaFade]

I'm self employed, so feel free to ask me anything, anytime. I'm not in the IT business but can say a few things that might help.

See who else is operating in ur field, in ur area. Phone a few of them with a bogus fault and get some over the phone quotes for work and judge thier prices accordingly.
Get yourself on the HMRC 'becoming self employed' course. It's free and held regularly at local tax offices. It helps when working out what records to keep and what it tax deductable.
U need to advertise as economically as possible. Word of mouth is the best way. Get anyone you've done anything for to spread ur name around to anyone they know, who might need help. Make ur own poster leaflets etc and hand them out to friends, put them up in bus shelters, village halls, notice boards etc. If any of ur local PC shops don't offer the service themselves, ask to leave some cards and flyers with them. U may even be able to work out a deal, where any work they push ur way, u'll buy any parts off them
Use Vista print to get a shit load of 'Free' stuff, business cards in particular. I say 'Free' because u have to pay postage and it is expensive, but it works out much cheaper than anywhere else.
Go hunt for all the start up help u can get, but don't jump into any credit or loan situations until ur confident about making the repayments. U can google for local business grants. U can often get ones for 'Eco' businesses, going lo cardon etc.

Good luck.

[Millicent Bystander]

I was charging £30 an hour in 1998 and was told I was too cheap.

It might be a good idea to have a scale of charges for common jobs, say £50 for a reformat and reinstall

Don't forget liability and car insurance and a form for the customer to sign to say you are not liable for any lost information.

Always look smart, only builders can get away with looking like shit.

If you can afford it put a quarter page advert in the local free paper for just one week.  Make sure you get one on the right page.

[Lullaby]

I also use vistaprint to get my business cards and stuff and you always get "free this, free that"... it's nice.

What else can I tell you about self-employment.... it is hard at the beginning. Sometimes even depressing. But if you like doing what you're offering, it will be worth it.

[Chaos]

tell your friends to tell their friends ect. I ran a music events business for a while (2 years lol) and did VERY well or myself. Word of mouth does wonders for increasing client base size.

Do EVERYTHING above the table and keep impeccable accounts (detail everything and back it up).

keep a copy of every bit of paper (inc receipts/contracts ect) you give to a customer and file it.

A big a4 day to view diary will be your life for the most part. Writing in appointments and how they went/how much money you made ect.

There's a lot of cheap accountants out there, be careful when getting one to do your annual accounts! it's super important that it's done right or the taxman can come and rape you!

Finally, Always know your figures. Work out at the end of each week how much money you've made and take a percentage, then give the rest back to the business for marketing ect

[Nineblade]

it's super important that it's done right or the taxman can come and rape you!

If you're self employed or form a limited company it's worth joining the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses). It costs about £150 a year, is tax deductable and is worth it just for the insurance against a tax investigation where their lawyers will step in and take all the flak and it will be like you're wearing this awesome body armour what will protect you fom their razor sharp talons and stuff

[Chaos]

yea, and they offer great advice too! I thought it was a bargain to join the FSB!

[Junta]

The first Google UK result for "it home support" charges over £50 an hour, I reckon you could undercut a significant proportion of competitors at £20.

EDIT: This chap, also on the first page of results, charges £25. So I reckon £20 is good for starting out as an individual.

I also have a local business here doing PC diagnostics and repair for £50.

Also, in my experience (and par the excellent comments from Deadly) - people tend to be sheep and go to somewhere like PC world. They don't like or trust them, but it's the idea of being able to march back into the shop and shout if things aren't quite right. I get the impression that some people don't think they have that option with a smaller, independent PC repair guy.

Have you thought about what is needed if you'd need to take a PC away from the owner for a longer repair? Where and how would you store it safely, and what would happen if there was an accident (i.e. insurance?).

The next comment also annoys me, but I'll admit that it is probably easier money - "PC MOTs" - the idea that you pay someone to "service" the PC even if it is OK. Lots of people fall for this and I don't particularly like it given that generally you can service your own PC. Our local PC world is big on this - "You check your car regularly, so why not have your PC checked out too". Not expensive, but I can see that they play on paranoia to make money.

[Teh Fluff]

yea, and they offer great advice too! I thought it was a bargain to join the FSB!

Spy!

The FSB is involved in counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance. Its headquarters are on Lubyanka Square, downtown Moscow, the same location as the former headquarters of the KGB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Security_Service_(Russia)



Seriously though you might want to look into the area of 1-1 private tuition. There are lots of potential silver surfers out there who want to get online but find the idea of a public classes a bit daunting.

[DoomWolf]

Have a look for advice on the Business Link website: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home

Also, as Junta mentions, consider taking out some sort of liability insurance in case you do something like accidentally delete someone's important data (or they claim you did), or break/lose a PC that's in your possession etc. When I had my own web design business, I had Professional Indemnity insurance from Hiscox (http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-insurance/) that cost less than £20 a month.