The other day on the radio I heard a biographer talking about this famous hollywood actress from the 30s and 40s who in the 1950′s invented the principal of radio frequency hopping that is still used today in technology like Blue Tooth devices. This got me thinking about what could I create? And then it hit me. A company.
Okay so I’m no Donald Trump or anyone. I don’t have any money to speak of. What I do have though is a pretty good set of skills for computer and networking repairs. I also have some pretty decent ideas on how to get the most out of a computer. My neighbors are quite envious of the fact that I don’t pay $160 a month for cable but yet can watch as much TV as I can.
So I decided that I need money. Well, who doesn’t need money today? I’m still behind where I was in 2008 before I took a 4% pay cut at my last job. So what’s a better way to earn money than to start up a side business. In my case, it’s going to be computer repair. I’m not giving out too many details until I get everything registered and trademarked (coming very soon) but I will say I have a very open and flexible business model and with my experience in the field I think I can do this in a way that might just open some eyes in the small business world. I guess only time will tell which sucks because I’m excited to get this thing off the ground.
One of the things I am excited about is my open ended business model. I’ve designed a near flawless starting out fee and pay structure and the best part is that this model requires no capital to get started. You do obviously need a few things such as a phone number and a computer with internet but since I’m already working I have all of those things.
The other exciting part is that I’m striving to run my company on as much free software as I can manage. Just to prove that it can be done. Now not all of it will be totally free but I’m trying to keep my expenses to a minimum while getting things off the ground.
For example I am using a seven dollar per month Skype phone plan that includes an online number. For my business I will use this phone number. For my private number which will be like my business cell phone, I’m using Google Voice. Using an iPhone someone gave me, Google Voice, and Skype, I can take phone calls, and text from the same online number for free and I can use my Skype number as the main business phone number. It rings to my iPhone with no service on it as long as I am connected to WiFi. Someday I will get service but for now it’s not too shabby.
One of the other cool things I am doing to save money is that I leased a web domain for $2. I scored that deal on GoDaddy.com. I am going to host my domain from a box I already have running 24/7. I am also going to make an attempt at hosting my company’s email from that machine as well.
Two other things I’m working with is trying out Google Calendar for a shared calendar option to schedule service calls. It is also free to use. The other thing is that I’m going to be playing with free invoicing software. Actually I’ve already tried it out and as soon as my logo is ready I will be able to print invoices to PDF and email them to customers.
Since my starting capital is next to nothing, my pay schedule has to be creative as well. So I’ve developed a get paid as you work plan. If things go well, I hope to transition over into a more traditional type of payroll system. I had to find a way to give incentive my employees to do the work to bring in revenue while the company has no immediate way to fund a payroll.
The next part of the plan is to build up a customer list. I’ve got some solid leads and some good referrals. I’m just trying to make sure everything else is ready before the phone starts ringing.
I’ll try to keep posting as I discover more money saving solutions for running a small business out of your house. Someday I hope to have an office somewhere but for now I think we can hit the ground running right out of my front door. Remember, there is always a way.
