How to Start Your Own Home Computer Support Company
By Robert Steenwyk
Not everybody has the right personality or character traits to successfully run their
own computer support company. There are a few questions you should ask yourself:
• Are you patient?
• Do you have discipline?
• Are you an analytical thinker?
• Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit?
If you answered no to all of the above questions you might want to think of doing
something else. However, answering no to just one or two doesn't mean that you aren't cut
out to go into computer support as a business. I personally have all of these traits (or
at least I think I do), and I have seen how important they have been for my own success in
the business.
Patience is required because often troubleshooting with users is done over the phone,
and there is not much else in the world that I know of that tries patience more than when
the customer says something along the lines of, "It is telling me to press the Any key,
which one is that?". Patience also comes into play when you are waiting for someone to
call, it takes a fair amount of work to get to the point where a complete stranger will
call you up for help with their computer.
Discipline is needed because, if you are starting this business up by yourself, there
is no boss to look over your shoulder to ensure that you are doing your work. All of the
deadlines are on you, and there is no one to blame if something goes wrong besides yourself.
Troubleshooting computer problems requires analytical thinking. You don't need to be
Einstein, but being able to think logically about an issue you have never seen before is
absolutely necessary. Getting to the bottom of a complex issue is mostly done by taking
educated guesses and gradually removing possible causes. As far as being a good
technician, thinking logically is the most important trait to have. If you don't think
logically now, it may be possible to learn this trait. But it probably won't be easy, as
it involves changing the way you think.
The entrepreneurial spirit is needed because you are starting a business, and more than
likely it won't be easy. You need to have a vision for what you want your business to be,
and see what steps need to be taken to get there.
I do want to emphasize that compared to many businesses, starting a computer support
company is easy. The startup and overhead costs are low, the only employee needed to start
is yourself and you don't need a retail location (Costs a lot of money).
Do You Have The Skills Needed
Beyond the basic character traits such as logical thinking, having the skills needed to
fix computers are essential. You should probably have a year or two of supporting
computers underneath your belt before you start the business. If you don't have that kind
of time supporting computers yet, I would recommend volunteering your time to friends and
family and maybe with a non profit organization. Non-profits are always looking for
volunteers, and I am willing to bet that a larger one would have a fulltime computer guy
who would love an extra set of hands.
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