Starting a PC buisness?

[FinalShot]

Lo guys,
When I turn 16 I plan on making quite a bit of cash by working, but an idea came to me.
Why not start an online computer business? Its relativaly easy, I have HTML experience, build or even buy a professional website... And bang your all started!
I have ALOT of experience building computers myself... Can build and repair like a professional, as long as I know the source of the problem.
I could do it on Ebay, but a computer website seems better. Won't get MUCH orders, but enough to make more then the average part time job.

I could EASILY make competitive rates against other companies (They charge over 200 pounds, or 350 dollars more then what it costs to build it, such as dell), and offer warranties etc etc.
Shipping would be for my country only (UK, wouldn't cost much).

So why don't you guys think I could do it?
Please say so, cause it sounds tempting
Otherwise its a hard time for me, with a parttime job.
Thanks
Final

 

[venk]

1) Margins are razor thin in the industry, it would be near impossible to build cheaper than Dell


2)Even if it were, who is going to handle the tech support? You'd be overwhelmed really quickly.

3)Computer Service is a better field than Computer building since you are charging for the tech support and it is very easy to undercut Geek Squad prices.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Wow, you're actually in the UK and your English still sucks...

 

[SVT Cobra]

because there are not a lot of other people out there who have the same job

I like your ambition but there is so much to cover

plain and simple:

not gonna happen

 

[Chompman]

Originally posted by: FinalShot

I have ALOT of experience building computers myself... Can build and repair like a professional, as long as I know the source of the problem.

That is like 9/10 of the job by finding what the problem is.

 

[keeleysam]

You can't do it becaue you are just 16 and nobody outside your family will trust you. They will call 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

No need to start off that large, do something on a small scale and offer your services to people you know. Like many others, you may want to know where the nearest exit doors are, computer repair/service can be a PITA.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt
Wow, you're actually in the UK and your English still sucks...

haha :beer::beer:

While your actual work on the system itself may be easy, you're going to have to keep track of customer information and be sure you can keep it confidential. You're going to have to keep track of billing and billing history as well, equally confidential. How are you going to find the money to start up? How are you going to advertise? How are you going to go about offering warranty? How are you going to solve issues for customers once you have more work than just one person can do, but are not making enough money to hire a second person to help you? How are you going to handle tech support for customers post-sale?

 

[KingofCamelot]

Can you? Yes.
Will it work? Probably not.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
You can't do it becaue you are just 16 and nobody outside your family will trust you. They will call 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD

Right. And the Geek Squad are going to buy plane tickets and fly to England to fix a computer.

 

[imported_Kensai]

I think it would be easier for you if you did repairs..

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Topic Summary: Can I?

Yes.

 

[MaxFusion16]

it's not nearly as easy as you think, at 16 your thought process is overly simplified.

in short, just stick with a job, don't even bother.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
it's not nearly as easy as you think, at 16 your thought process is overly simplified.

in short, just stick with a job, don't even bother.

You'll never get anywhere in life with a defeatist attitude.

Go for it. By all means, try. Fail miserably (as you most likely will, based on statistics). Learn from your mistakes and try again. Fail again, learn from your mistakes, etc.

That's how a true entrepreneur (checked, and holy hell I spelled that right the first time) learns and grows.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: keeleysam
You can't do it becaue you are just 16 and nobody outside your family will trust you. They will call 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD

Right. And the Geek Squad are going to buy plane tickets and fly to England to fix a computer.

At the prices they charge, they could...

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: keeleysam
You can't do it becaue you are just 16 and nobody outside your family will trust you. They will call 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD

Right. And the Geek Squad are going to buy plane tickets and fly to England to fix a computer.

At the prices they charge, they could...

Oh be realistic. :roll:

 

[Noirish]

Got Dell?

 

[EyeMWing]

I did at your age, and was fairly successful. I started selling to friends - and it grew from there. I was doing an average of 1 machine/week personally, my 4 associates were averaging 1/day. I only did the SPECIAL ones - very high performance, very special customers, very unusual software loadout, etc.

I'm 18 now and had to torpedo it. It just got too big to handle. Do yourself a favor, kid, and do service. You get repeat customers that way, and can charge out the nose for things you hate doing.

Oh, and I only ever saw about 8 machines come back for service. 2 of those were hardware, the rest were morons who loaded up on too much crudware and were too stupid to hit the autorestore key when prompted during boot.

 

[0roo0roo]

dot com bust missed u? go flip burgers, more reliable money. every pimple faced geek can build computers these days.. plug and pray actually did become plug and play after a while. no more manual irq or dma switches on cards and such. its not much of a skill anymore. as for websites, theres software out there that automates it enough that even momma can make a pretty decent one.