and I have a 9 year old, 31" Sony CRT TV, which I repaired a few weeks ago by re-soldering the vertical drive chip. Guess I'm just a cheapskate

too bad my customers aren't

Not at all, the LCD / OLED are great TV's and cheap..And.... they show it. A life span of a LCD is about 4-7 years, the lifespan of a plasma is 6-10 years. The lifespan of a CRT is 100+ years. So if anything your the smart one. If I found a nice slim CRT to pick up with good picture I would in a heartbeat knowing it can be easily fixed and will last forever. But LCD tv's are so cheap by the time it breaks its time to upgrade. $300-$500 for 4-5 years of TV is a good deal I figure.

 

UPDATE:
I've formed an LLC, got my truck painted with a camper, got uniforms, waiting on quotes for insurance (should have it by tomorrow), got my EIN, got a business bank account, cube credit card reader is in the mail, I'm meeting with a prospective client on thursday, and delivering my first ever designed & built gadget (as my own entity) on Friday. Business is officially off the ground.
total investment so far: ~$2500
total profit so far: ~$0

 

Congratulations!
Way to go.

Get an accountant. Your profit so far is ~-$2500.

 

You have depreciable assets and other expenses. I will agree you're below zero for now.

But congratulations and I wish you well as you embark on this adventure.

 

We have lift off!

 

I know less than I wish I did about business, bus I wish you the best of luck!!

 

UPDATE:
I've formed an LLC, got my truck painted with a camper, got uniforms, waiting on quotes for insurance (should have it by tomorrow), got my EIN, got a business bank account, cube credit card reader is in the mail, I'm meeting with a prospective client on thursday, and delivering my first ever designed & built gadget (as my own entity) on Friday. Business is officially off the ground.
total investment so far: ~$2500
total profit so far: ~$0

Congrats Strantor and I hope you do well.

If you want some advice I would say "Concentrate on MAKING PROFIT and taking it OUT of the business".

I've seen people with a dirty shop and rusty old van taking a couple grand a week out of their business.

And I've seen people with glitzy shops and pretty vans and nice uniforms working their ass off and making -100 a week! They try to feel better by talking about "building the value of the business" and "sensibly reducing tax liabilites" etc etc with some pie in the sky dream they can sell that business for $500k some day...

After 30 years of watching I've finally become convinced which one of those business types knows what they are doing...

 

Sounds like you have your ducks in a row, now to let your reputation build your business.

 

Im taking steps to give my business a professional look but I only plan to go so far with that. Got the truck painted, 3 sets of uniforms, a website, and some business cards. That's as far as I'm taking it. Thankfully I don't have a shop to maintain. Any work I get from here out should be all profit.

 

Great stuff. Mind sending photos of the truck, uniforms and a web link, even via PM?

 

Great stuff. Mind sending photos of the truck, uniforms and a web link, even via PM?

Sure, I will post before and after pics of the truck once I get the decals for the doors. I'll post the other pics at the same time. In the next couple of days...

 

I'm so excited!

I went to meet with a prospective client (not my previous employer) today and it went very well. They want me to build them a zone heater control box (2 zones only). They want me to source the parts and build it, but they want to actually pay for the parts, so no opportunity for parts markup, but oh well. I know most people wouldn't have agreed to it, but I need the work.

I presented some of my previous work and we went over some possibilities for upgrades on their machines. I have a very strong feeling that there is a lot of work for me there, contingent on the successful delivery and installation of this zone heater control box. It's actually a much more promising prospect than I am making it sound, but I don't want to get too specific.

 

I have done many industrial consultation/design jobs where the client supplies all components. That's ok. You are charging them for the consultation.

One word of caution. Your design is your intellectual property (IP).
Make certain that the client understands that the design remains your IP and they cannot use your design to manufacture future units unless that is what you agree on. Get this down in writing.

If the client wants to mass produce a product using your design, negotiate a royalty. Do not sell your IP.

 

I'm so excited!

I went to meet with a prospective client (not my previous employer) today and it went very well. They want me to build them a zone heater control box (2 zones only). They want me to source the parts and build it, but they want to actually pay for the parts, so no opportunity for parts markup, but oh well. I know most people wouldn't have agreed to it, but I need the work.
.

This is actually good starting out. So now as usually when the wrong parts arrive they can't bitch at you.

 

Strantor,
I started working for myself at 21 years of age and enjoyed every minute.

My advice.

1) Do not let your business consume your life & take time for yourself too.

2) Your reputation for honesty & integrity is hugely important. Never do anything that might even be perceived to affect it even if you have to lose money. "Your Honour is like a matchstick - you need only strike it once and it's gone"

3) Collect what's due to you and avoid letting bills run up , no matter how good the customer is. Big bills are more painful for him too.

4) Pay for as much as you can when you get it and avoid credit , otherwise you will forever be playing "catch up"

5) Cut costs to the minimum for the effective running of your business. Most business sink or swim on the level of overheads.

6) RB is right. You are running an electronics business not a restaurant. A little bit of chaos in the workshop and a few dents in the van are no harm.
I would always be very wary of doing business with a firm renting expensive premises with expensive offices and new vehicles. I know that in the end of the day it is me the customer who pays for it all.

7) The cheapest and most effective advertising is a happy customer singing your praises. I have never paid a penny in advertising in my life and run a hugely successful business.

8) If you ever get time read the book "In Sam we trust" - the story of Sam Walton founder of WALMART .He started from scratch but eventually made it. He knew a thing or two about running a business.

 

@cork ie , you have a lot of Loosewires bio in that little piece. except # 8 never heard of Sam Walton

until all this Walmart stuff started to happen. Hurting a lot of small business,that is fighting back now

every time they try to open a new store. Small business are packing city halls all over the country to

stop them,if they lose,take the flag.

 

@cork ie , you have a lot of Loosewires bio in that little piece. except # 8 never heard of Sam Walton

until all this Walmart stuff started to happen. Hurting a lot of small business,that is fighting back now

every time they try to open a new store. Small business are packing city halls all over the country to

stop them,if they lose,take the flag.

I agree with you 100% we have similar here in Europe.
The book is worth reading because it is a biography warts & all and Walmart weren't very happy about it.
What I learnt from it was how successful he was in the early days setting up his first stores by sheer dedication.

 

I agree with most of what Cork said but a couple things. In the US image actually does matter and there are companies/businesses that will pay higher prices just because they think there gonna get something better. There are many biz's over here that care about what you look like and what your vehicle looks like. From what it sounds if your in maintenance it shouldn't matter about the car, but you still gotta dress nice.

2nd is I don't think we can go with the Sam Walton model of business. That worked for a time but the era of big corp's which he created totally changed the rulez of biz especially small biz. Luckily with big buy failing if geek squad goes under IT tech will be a decent job again.

 

Image was every thing in my first business.

I had to resell every color t. V. That i set up.

I had to keep corp exc happpy

 

That was actually a funny pun that I actually understood.