/
/

Site Navigation

Your Account

Choose Language

Discussion Topic

Options

Support Community for New/Growing/Established Repair Businesses

Repair techs have started businesses using iFixit tools and manuals for years, and we hear great stories from them all the time. Every repair business’ story is unique. But whether the fixer is an enterprising youngster like Owen Cunneely or an experienced tinkerer with a brick-and-mortar operation like Jonathan Edwards, iFixit provides everything we can to make these diverse enterprises as successful as possible.

Now, we’d like to start a more purposeful support network to help grow the budding visioneer into a successful repair shop CEO.

To do this, we need your help. We’ll keep doing what we do best: teaching everyone how to fix everything. And we need all of you to do what you do best on iFixit meta: share! So, for those of you who have years of repair business experience under your belt (or at least a few good stories to tell), we’d love your feedback:

  1. What resources (think: marketing pointers, customer service best practices, Pro Tech Toolkit, etc.) would have been useful when you were starting your business?
  2. How did you get your first 50 customers? How do you continue to grow your business today?
  3. What was your biggest mistake or most helpful lesson learned?

And, for those of you who are in the beginning steps of starting a repair shop (or are considering starting one soon), we want to help you find your way. Tell me a little bit about your business or plans at jeffs [at] ifixit [dot] com, and we'll see how iFixit can help you grow.

Reply to discussion Subscribe to discussion

Is this a worthwhile discussion?

Yes No
Score 7
Add a comment

3 Replies

Filter by:
Most Helpful Newest Oldest

Options

Hi Jeff: We're not a business but we do help people repair stuff: are you interested in our experiences? www.fixitclinic.org. -Peter

Was this reply helpful?

Yes No
Score 1

1 Comment:

Hi Peter: I tried emailing you, but I think I might have the wrong address. Could you please email me at jeffs [at] ifixit [dot] com? Thanks!

by

Add a comment
Most Helpful Answer

Options

When it comes to Mac repairs and IT support and service, word of mouth is going to be your best publicity in the beginning. One happy customer will tell a few of their friends / family etc and one day you'll get a call from that lead. In my experience, a friend of a friend of a client has often turned out to be a much better (read: higher spending) customer than the original client!

Once you have a steady income, if you wish you can then perhaps spend some if it on an SEO campaign, to get you ranked high in your local area's search results. But be careful who you use, all these SEO firms promise the world but only a few actually deliver results when they say they will. One good thing about SEO is that you will see results quick if the firm is doing what they're supposed to do.

When I started my company, The Mac People (www.themacpeople.com), one of the very first things I did was check the domain name was available. You don't want to start a company only to find that the domain name is unavailable, thereby having to use a domain name that doesn't match or that uses an unusual TLD.

That said, keep your customers happy, admit when you've made a mistake and put it right if you need to. And competing on price isn't always the smartest thing to do. The kind of customers you want should be the ones who recognise - and are happy to pay a premium for - quality, personal service.

Was this reply helpful?

Yes No
Score 8
Add a comment

Options

Here's my list of things I find essential to doing any capacity of IT work, just to give a idea what you need

  • some sort of toolkit
  • Business class laptop or desktop(Thinkpad/Latitude or Optiplex or ThinkCentere
  • Some sort of smartphone(android or iOS is fine)-this could also be used as a camera
  • basic phone for business if you want to keep your main number private, but have at least one smartphone
  • Tablet
  • Laser printer for the office-try and find a LaserJet 4250 if you can

Optional, but may be worth getting

  • Portable printer-most people use eMail now, but you run into hard copy people at times, or those who don't have a printer and want a hard copy;I don't own one and would only get one if it was cheap-I prefer premade forms I can print before going to the job on a Laser printer, as they are much cheaper to run
  • dedicated digital camera
  • Paper/pen

Was this reply helpful?

Yes No
Score 0
Add a comment

Join the discussion

Jeff Snyder will be eternally grateful.