Stuck In a Rut

[jaylelder1986]

I'm 30 years old, been in and out of trouble most of my teen years into my mid-20's, now all my time has been served coming up 6 years clean and i have been cooking my whole life.  I'm a father of 3, who has been a gamer most of my life, (kids are gamers as well) and have always had a love for computers since taught how to build custom computers by my father who in turn built them in the military.  For just at a year now, I have been repairing and custom building (average)build gaming computers.  With a GED and like 6 college credits in a Associates in IT, my concerns are what is there really a market for these days? Is it in repairs and custom build or would it be safer to study programming and peruse app building or stick with custom builds?

[RedWulf]

Depending on where you live you could do tech repair all day everyday, you'd probably be best off with a partner or an employer though. I live in a town of about 6-8 thousand and there are 3 computer/tech repair shops that stay in business as well as a few guys doing it on the side. 

You could study/train and get certification in various repairs and electronics(phone repair is big). 

[jaylelder1986]

RedWulf, thanks I live in Joshua Tree California, not too sure what the pop is here but over in yucca there is  like 2 confirmed shops and like 10 guys doing it on the side, just where it gets some what discouraging is in the down time, ya there comes a few months here and there where sales are threw the roof in rebuilds and upgrades with like 1 or 2 full builds then like 4 months with work here and there. That and finding good quality inventory to make reasonable profit on helps too.

[RedWulf]

11 minutes ago, jaylelder1986 said:

RedWulf, thanks I live in Joshua Tree California, not too sure what the pop is here but over in yucca there is  like 2 confirmed shops and like 10 guys doing it on the side, just where it gets some what discouraging is in the down time, ya there comes a few months here and there where sales are threw the roof in rebuilds and upgrades with like 1 or 2 full builds then like 4 months with work here and there. That and finding good quality inventory to make reasonable profit on helps too.

You might partner with one or two of the guys doing it on the side or see if one of the shops are hiring. Or just kinda slowly build your business and rep while doing an unskilled job. Facebook is always a good place to advertise, local groups and a business page. 

I hear that, its feast or famine, thats where planning and crunching come in. It won't be the easiest thing at first, but once you get some savings you can dip into it during slow periods and replace it when you get busy again. 

Also, though it will be harder to get going you could do online customs. 

 

PS on this site you can quote or use the @"username" thing to let someone know you responded. 

[jaylelder1986]

2 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

You might partner with one or two of the guys doing it on the side or see if one of the shops are hiring. Or just kinda slowly build your business and rep while doing an unskilled job. Facebook is always a good place to advertise, local groups and a business page. 

I hear that, its feast or famine, thats where planning and crunching come in. It won't be the easiest thing at first, but once you get some savings you can dip into it during slow periods and replace it when you get busy again. 

Also, though it will be harder to get going you could do online customs. 

 

PS on this site you can quote or use the @"username" thing to let someone know you responded. 

Cool, thank you, I've been partnered with my older brother for going on 4 months and had another partner who flaked off because of "down time", and in those said 4 months I doubled in sales, work and rep so i do see the fruit of my work but where I run into problems with the shops around here i feel as if they look at me as yound or "new school"  and dont even really like talking with no one under the age of 40 with out a wall of certs but i have looked into really pushing to use Facebook to promote even for just on a local scale, so I appreciate the tips and thanks again!

[RedWulf]

Just now, jaylelder1986 said:

Cool, thank you, I've been partnered with my older brother for going on 4 months and had another partner who flaked off because of "down time", and in those said 4 months I doubled in sales, work and rep so i do see the fruit of my work but where I run into problems with the shops around here i feel as if they look at me as yound or "new school"  and dont even really like talking with no one under the age of 40 with out a wall of certs but i have looked into really pushing to use Facebook to promote even for just on a local scale, so I appreciate the tips and thanks again!

That happens, honestly all you can do is let time and work build your rep and try to get some certifications. Don't forget to ask your customers to rate you on facebook or yelp.