Calling all Short-Medians!!!!

[Clutch]

Since I been working at a local isp in town, I have talked to many people, as well as worked on customers computers in my town. But there is really no "computer repair" place in town ( we do little repairs, nothing major because my boss doesn't want to ) but the only choice for people in my town are about 2 stores. They are wayy over priced, but yet people still love to pay them for there services. I mean it's $65 for us to come out to a house or business to install anti-virus or a printer.

So my friend wants me to get back into the "computer repair" business again, but with him. Since I did run one last year before I got out of high school. There is a office next door to the isp I work in for lease or rent. It is a small office, nothing fancy by all means, but it is in the perfect spot for a computer repair shop, with all the customers that we send down the street, it would be more convienent to send them next door right?

I told my friend I would help him in any way, money wise, knowledge wise of running a business, etc...

There is a franchise opportunity for Geeks on call (http://www.geeksoncall.com/) so I think I will get some info for him to read about, that way he will have a name already established and support from them.

Basically, I need some help as to if we should start from the ground up? ( name suggestions anyone? ) or go for the franchise branch, considering how much they will charge us.

Any help would be great, even to the things you think we might need to get the business up and running. I already know and have some things from my old business, but I could always use some suggestions.

I know prime can help a lot here, being the 1337 master of the computer business he is :)

[primesuspect]

mumble mumble bastard geeks-on-call..... talk about direct competition... mrmrmmbmbmmle

[Tropical]

I think too you should start the business but first you need to get certify or something, if you are then you can put a big logo and say, " I am certify, you can trust me" or something. You might want to take some business classes if you are in high school like accounting or if not take it in college (community college is fine) and third you need money (VERY important). Other things are customer service and satisfaction (they are a must) and a positive outlook. Also talking to prime is good too, you don't want to go into the lions alone right? and remember some business fail, is sad but true.

[TheBaron]

regardless of whether you do the franchise or not, tropical is still right about getting certified. even if you only get one cert, it would still be good for business to say you've taken a test ... people always like crap like that

[primesuspect]

i didn't have any certifications for the first two years of business.. .Didn't have any money either. Those things are luxuries...

What you DO need is absolute fire, a single-mindedness bordering on obsession, and complete and utter faith in yourself. That's all you need. The rest will come.

[WuGgaRoO]

i want IN!! NY chapter baby! lolz

[Camman]

I am reading this thread closely for all your advice as well. I already had a conversation with the almighty prime :D about this earlier this week, but I too am thinking about starting up a computer repair/service type business, mostly for businesses like on-site computer repair, maintenence of small office networks, etc.

I'm not one to take risks though, so, I'm really putting a lot of thought into it and like to get advice from those who already have tried things like this..

[primesuspect]

If you're not one to take risks, then in all honesty don't even waste your time thinking about it.

I am a veteran of a failed business, and I also worked for a failed business. I am good at failing businesses... ;) So I can tell you that the more thinking and planning and preparing you do, the less "doing" you do....

But I can tell you that there is a massive deal of risk involved with starting a business, so you'd better teach yourself to become one who DOES take risks. And you have to go balls out and just DO it, you can't hang around and do anything half ass, because if you do I guarantee you will fail.

[Camman]

damn you prime, thanks for crushing my dreams.... J/k :)

but seriously, my only thought about going ahead with it is like thinking that I'm kinda young to be going into something like this, and also I don't know if I'd be able to handle the like financial part of it, like managing money and doing the taxes type stuff like that.

[primesuspect]

I was 18 when I started the first business, the one that failed miserably and almost got my house and car repo'd and my life destroyed... Don't let that discourage you!!! ;D

Another thing to keep in mind is that it's your association with people that will help you succeed - you will never be in business alone. Your immediate relationship will be with your customers obviously, but it's very healthy and beneficial to surround yourself with people who are knowledgeable and supportive. For example, my wife was very supportive (luckily) but my parents were dead set against me doing this- so I just avoided bringing up the subject with my parents. So my point is that if you lack a skill in a certain area, such as accounting, you should attach to a mentor who can teach you. Accounting is an essential skill for any business owner, so it's one of the first things you should pick up. Don't skimp - buy Quickbooks Pro for $300 - it's one of the best investments you can make. It's a very very valuable tool. Next, find a good accountant who understands computers and quickbooks. A test? Ask him/her if you can send them PDF files instead of hard copies. If they look at you like an alien, they are not for you. Ask them if they will setup your initial quickbooks file. If they look at you like an alien again, then kick them in the shin and run to a more modern accountant ;)

[Camman]

my question to you, and to any other business owners around here. Did you start off your business doing like little jobs and stuff kinda "under the radar" if you know what I mean, like I mean before officially registering your name and renting an office and stuff, like testing the waters, or did you go at it full force from the beginning? Just curious, I was thinking about kinda advertising myself as a person to do computer repairs and upgrades and stuff and see where that goes before diving into renting offices and setting up a real "professional" outfit.

[primesuspect]

With the first business, I did it the first way "under the radar"... I got myself into a horrific tax mess that I am still paying for to this day. I didn't do things correctly (because I didn't know how) and when called to account for things, I got sacked with a gigantic tax bill. I did register as a DBA after the first 6 months, but I should have done it from the very beginning.

With sarcnet industries, I did go all out immediately - I incorporated and got offices, HOWEVER I did it as cheaply as possible. I traded office space for computer services. I found a guy who needed his network of 4 computers maintained and he let me use his attic for office space. I mean, it literally was an attic -- we had to duck to walk around up there, it was horrible. But free rent. We upgraded to his closet a year later which was like, 5 feet by 12 feet. But at least we could stand upright....... Then all of the sudden one day I realized that I had enough predictable monthly income to pay rent. So I found the office where I'm at to this day and moved in. It took 2 years to get to that building.

Also, there is some myth that says that starting a business involves all kinds of expensive licenses and fees. Totally not true. For a service based business like you guys are talking about, you can get a DBA paper from your county clerk's office for around $10-$20.. (DBA == Doing Business As).. You take that DBA certificate to a bank and open a business account, order checks, and you're in business.

Incorporating costs a bit more - I paid $60 to incorporate. I pay around $900 a year to get my taxes done, and I do all my own bookkeeping. I pay City of Detroit taxes, and federal and state corporate income taxes. If you check with the city you live in, you will find out what you have to pay in property taxes. You'll have to pay tax on your assets, but it is really a very small amount of money. Just heed my warning: DO IT RIGHT, PAY YOUR TAXES THE RIGHT WAY. It's so important to find a competant accountant, I can't stress that enough.

[a2jfreak]

/me salivates.

What a topic. Taxes. Too bad this isn't KBJ. I think I might would just have to go off and rant about why the IRS needs to be abolished and how the government could generate more revenue and the average household would have significantly more money left over at the end of the month/year.

In 10+ years when I run for the Office of the President of the Unites States I will make tax reform (mainly disposing of the IRS) one of my main points! :)

primesuspect had this to say
Incorporating costs a bit more - I paid $60 to incorporate. I pay around $900 a year to get my taxes done, and I do all my own bookkeeping. I pay City of Detroit taxes, and federal and state corporate income taxes. If you check with the city you live in, you will find out what you have to pay in property taxes. You'll have to pay tax on your assets, but it is really a very small amount of money. Just heed my warning: DO IT RIGHT, PAY YOUR TAXES THE RIGHT WAY. It's so important to find a competant accountant, I can't stress that enough.

[Templar]

What's the town like that you're in. If you're sitting in the middle of a bunch of trees, a PC repair business isn't going to net you much. However, if you're in a moderately sized city, and there isn't a PC repair business yet, there will definately be demand. ESPECIALLY if you have prices comparable to sending a PC back to its manufacturer.

If I were to play the role of customer, I'd put a business that does just PC repairs on a sticky note for the fridge. I might forget about it. However, if you offer something a little extra, like home networking for competitive prices, and maybe add a little something special for free (You have no idea how many people can fall for the free item strategy. Especially "normal" people ;) )

Starting your own business and being able to put that on a resume will more than likely look damn good for you. That says management all over it. Management might not be your cup of tea, but being well rounded has proven to me to be extremely useful for getting raises and moving up.

[TheSmJ]

With the first business, I did it the first way "under the radar"... I got myself into a horrific tax mess that I am still paying for to this day. I didn't do things correctly (because I didn't know how) and when called to account for things, I got sacked with a gigantic tax bill. I did register as a DBA after the first 6 months, but I should have done it from the very beginning.

I'm curious, how/where are you supposed to learn the "right way" of doing things (aside from someone who’s been there). I mean, what does the city expect?

I've thought about doing PC Repair in my area as well. I could easily make my prices competitive, as I still live at home, and I wouldn’t have to worry about feeding myself until I'm out of the house, and feel I could pay for everything on my own.

It funny, how much people pay for this stuff. When I was doing some "under the radar" work for someone who called me after they saw the newspaper article, for instance. The first time I did anything for them (a house call, I "fixed their sound" and "made the computer faster") they asked me how much they owed me.


Having never really thought about it, I said: "Ummm... $20....?".

The woman looked at me like I was nuts, and I immediately thought I asked for too much. She shakes her head, writes a number on a check, and hands it to me for $50. I was blown away!

She told me she would have to pay at least $100 at a store like CompUSA for them to do what I did. They would have had to wait a few days to get it done as well.

They also told me their computers have never run as well as they were when I got done with them. It’s funny too, people actually [I]pay[I] real money, for doing stuff I do for fun!

I'll be paying close attention to this thread!

[Clutch]

In my town people were paying this no certified so called technician of a lady $275 to get rid of the freakin msblaster virus :banghead: :banghead: When I ran my computer repair business I was charging $15 and hour, it was ran out of my home so I had no rent anything like that, it was cool, but my room got to small for everything I had in it.


But if you are going to start a business, do it the right way, pay your taxes like Prime said. It took $12 out of my pocket to register my name with my county at the register of deeds, and a simple call to get my state and federal tax number, etc...

Business cards only cost like maybe $150 at office depot.

But doing a service business like we are talking about has minimual expenses. The biggest thing we would have to worry about is the actuall office that we are looking at. I mean we have all the equipment, parts, knowledge to get us started no problem, but we need some minor things.


The best part is that the isp I work for now, we don't do computer repair, so if we get the office that is litteraly 3 feet from where our isp is, people will flock to it because its so convienent for them, usually we send them like a couple miles down the street for there repairs. And there is no best buy, compUSA in my town, so we should be good.


I figured if we charge $45 an hour and get like 4 jobs a day max and each job take about an hour that's $900 a week, pretty sweet.

I have to go to work now, but later on in the day if I have time I'll post back in and see what else is new in the topic.

Anyone have any name suggestions?


My friend was thinking NorthBridge computer repair

My last business name was HeatSink Technologies

[Mt_Goat]

I have been in buisness for myself twice and learned a lot from it. Prime mentioned a lot of things that hit home on the basics of doing buisness. No matter what buisness you are in there are basic rules to follow for success. After that you need to be in tune with your market as well as your competition! After a while you don't even look at a lot of it as taking risks anymore but "What it takes to succeed". If you look at it as "What it takes to survive", then you will most likely fail because you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

The first was a sideline buisness that I did while I worked a regular job. It was doing Professional Photography where I shot weddings, model portfilios, portraits and family/ group shots. I did this "under the radar" to start and charged cheap rates. It didn't take long from word of mouth to become as busy as I wanted and still keep a full time job elsewhere. I soon found that I was selling myself way to cheap and compared what I was charging with what the going rate was with the big boys. This made me think and I raised my rates 250% and brought me to right under what the other were charging. I did this for 3 years and eventually stopped as it got to the point where I needed to comit to the next level but didn't have the guts and that in reality extinguished my drive and desire which made me eventually quit.

The second was a trucking company where I went into it full bore and kept in mind the mistakes I made the first time. I did so much homework on the market, competition and the costs involved that it made me stop and think if I could really do it or not. When I realized "how I was thinkig", I imediately went to work on the next step of getting everything set up and making my contacts. I had already made contacts with my some of my potential customers and their suppliers as well as checking on equipment. I was charging the average going rate for the services I provided and concentrated on the downfalls of other companies service and support. I had anaylised what they could be doing better and incorporated those points into my selling points. So instead of selling myself by means of lower price I kept my rates high and brought up the standard of quality. During my 9 years of this buisness I only ever lost 2 customers, who were cheapskates and eventually went out of buisness themselves. Thinks grew very rapidly as I had started by myself with one truck and one trailer to hiring a helper part time. He ended up driving my second truck full time in less than 1 year from when I started. I ended up with with 6 trucks,27 trailers, 11 employees, 4 contract drivers with their own trucks and doing 3 million dollars in buisness a year. Remember what Prime said about single mindedness? I realized I was loosing my wife due to how possesed I was. Even after 9 years I was still putting in 70+ hrs a week so I decided to sell it to a friend who ran an outfit twice as large as what I was doing and always liked what I did. Still lost the wife and should have kept the buisness in the end.

[primesuspect]

Templar had this to say
Starting your own business and being able to put that on a resume will more than likely look damn good for you. That says management all over it. Management might not be your cup of tea, but being well rounded has proven to me to be extremely useful for getting raises and moving up.

But your statement implies that you are not planning on having your business in x years... This is one of the things I meant when I said fire and determination. The point is, you won't have a resume... You'll never be working anywhere again. You're on your own from now on. If you operate with the thought in the back of your head that you're simply doing resume-building, then you are setting yourself up for failure. This is a lifestyle change.

Pricing:

Did you know that one of the most common reasons for startup-business failure within the first three years of business is undercharging? You cannot undercharge. Think about retail markups. They are sometimes like 1000%.. Nobody complains. You have to understand that the money that comes in does more than pay your salary. It pays for your entire business to operate.

Okay, I used this example before when I was explaining the price of a cup of retail coffee to someone, after they said "The coffee only costs them about ten cents a cup!!!":

Assuming it takes 2 minutes from the time the customer walks in to the time the coffee is served:
Coffee shop cup of coffee: $2.00

- cost of coffee beans: .10
- cost of cup: .02
- electric bill for time it took to make coffee: .03
- cost of water: .02
- cost of employee to transact sale: .20
- cost of payroll taxes for that 2 minutes: .5
- cost of maintenance for industrial coffeepot: .10
- cost of maintenance for grinder: .05
- cost of water filtration system: .05
- cost of advertising to get person in store: .20
- cost of city property taxes: .05
- cost of rent in desirable retail district: .20
- climate control for customer comfort: .05
- sugar: .01
- cream: .05

so on and so forth

You can get crazier with this, and calculate the wear and tear on the floor, the hinge wear on the doors opening and closing, the replacement cost for silverware, the cost of disposing of the trash that's inevitably created, etc.

The point is, when you're "at work" every single thing you do costs you money. Your cusotomers must pay for that. If they don't, then you will go out of business eventually. So, you've got transportation costs (huge), materials cost, tools cost, software cost, training costs, you name it.

They are paying for your expertise. As TheSMJ said, if you don't fix it, Best Buy will - for $100

FYI: sarcnet industries charges $100 minimum for any on-site call (we don't do home computers), or $50 bench rate per hour if they bring the computer to us. Either way, it's a minimum of one hour. Our maintenance program costs $75 per computer per month and $85 per server per month. Ten computers + a server = $835 a month. I've never heard any complaints about our pricing. The service speaks for itself.

[Enverex]

Clutch had this to say
My friend was thinking NorthBridge computer repair
My last business name was HeatSink Technologies

http://www.eslkidstuff.com/images/corn.gif

NS

[Al_Capown]

Think about maybe having a 48 hour free repair period and advertise it with a giant sign or something and have the ISP company give out handouts. This would just be for the first 2 days but it could definetly get the word out.

Northbridge Computer Repair? Think of something that's catchy. Hrm like... Geeks Anonymous Computer Repair. Definetly involve some word referring to nerd, geek, you know "silly" words that are used to describe those in the computer industry. I think as an "under the radar" store that approach would work much better than a more professional "MSA Technologies", for example. However, if you get to the point where you are a completely "official company" I would recommend a name change.

I have no business experience, I'm 15, but my dad does run his own successful business. He mainly does it through the contacts he gained by working for companies in the past.

Good luck.

[Mt_Goat]

Name change = Failure due to lack of association, this tactic is often used by failing buisnesses that almost always seal their fate by changing their name.

No "under the radar" - Do it right from the start, there are a lot of little things that can be written off during the first year. It is amazing how much little stuff adds up during the first year.

[Clutch]

Well the office next door to the isp I work for is like $1,600 a month for rent, which is wayy to expensive for my friend. So I think what he is going to try to do to begin with, is do the housecall type deal, or go and pick the computer up and bring it to his house and fix. He has basically the whole bottom of his house that is nothing that we are going to try to clean up for a "work area".

I was thinking of $45 a hour, minimum of one hour work for anything and go up from there. That price is a little below the going rate of my town that people are paying, and it is a good price for the work we are going to do.

As far as a name, the question is still hanging over our heads.

I am also going to get up with computer associates, my isp bought a bunch of copies of panda anti-virus from them $8 a pop and we charge $25 to customers for it and $65 to go to there house/business to install. So I will see if he can get up with ca for something like that.

[primesuspect]

Spyware diagnosis and removal is a big thing right now. You can do a special, buy antivirus and get a free spyware cleaning. I would also suggest donating $5 via paypal to the koalla.de guys who write Spyboy Search and Destroy for every customer you use it for...

[profdlp]

Just a few thoughts on the subject:

1) Do anything you can to keep your expenses down. Spending a fortune on rent, fancy flyers, etc will suck a lot of profit out of your business right off the top. You don't want to be in the position of having to spend the first three weeks of every month just meeting your financial obligations.

2) Don't let rule #1 cause you to skimp on quality. If you replace someone's MB and there is a problem, they are going to come to you to fix it, regardless of the manufacturers warranty. They won't likely be a repeat customer if you sell them new parts, charge them labor to install them, then tell them "Hey, it ain't my problem" if things go wrong. One of the most ignored things in business is that you often get more credit for promptly fixing up a bad situation than you would had everything gone smoothly to begin with. What would you be more likely to remember: A nice (uneventful) dinner with good service, or a manager who gave you 1/2 off the meal or a free desert because you had a problem. Once a customer gets the idea in their head that you will do whatever it takes to make them happy, they are yours for life.

3) Finding the right balance between #1 and #2 will go a long way toward determining whether you are successful or not. You can't just make a buck then cut-and-run, neither can you give away the moon just because someone would like you to.

4) I offer my customers a credit equal to about 1/3 an hours labor for every referral. If they can send me three customers then the next time they need me the first hour is free. Word-of-mouth is going to beat anything else you try. Don't expect much from passing out flyers, newspaper ads, etc. Every satisfied customer you have becomes an instant salesman for your business.

5) Don't get too cute with the name, nor be too imperious. You don't want to give the impression that you are Billy-Bob who "fixes stuff", neither do you want to give a new customer the impression that you are a Fortune 500 company - they will be disappointed when you don't show up in a company truck, wearing a uniform, and carrying a laptop with satellite internet access to the corporate office database. A good strategy is to pick a name with local ties. Something like "Tar-Heel Computers" or "Raleigh Computer Services", etc, will let customers know that you are a local guy who is tied to the community, not some nebulous outfit merely maintaining a branch office in town. Also, it can cost big bucks to pay a lawyer to do the necessary research to secure the rights to a name. Chances are, there may already be a "Tar Heel Computers", etc. If you live in a smaller town it's easier - just check the local phone book.

6) Figure out what you really need to live on, then plow ALL of the rest of the profits back into the company. If you clear $5,000 one month don't start living a $60,000 a year lifestyle. The corporate yacht can wait. Spending those extra profits on building up a decent parts inventory will make you much more popular with your customers. It is far better to tell them that you have their replacement sound card, power supply, or whatever, "back at the shop" (or even better - "out in your car"), than it is to tell them that "I'll have to order it". Most people who hear that will instantly assume that A) You are a rinky-dink outfit, and B) It could be a long time before they get there problem fixed.

7) To balance out #6: Don't buy too many parts, either. If you've ever been to a computer show & sale (like MarketPro Shows (http://www.marketproshows.com/visitor/search.asp)) you'll see lots of "last-years" hardware and software. Most of it is there because it was bought from a failed business who thought they would sell it and guessed wrong. Depreciation on computer parts is murder. Keep one each of the big $$$ parts (MB, CPU's, Memory, etc.) and replace them as they are used. For less-expensive parts, buy according to need, price, and expected obsolescence. Examples: If you can get a better deal on a dozen case fans go for it. If they aren't needed you can always reasonably recommend them as add-ons for people whose current fan isn't broken. Don't put any money in peripherals. Most people who want a webcam will just go to CC or BB.

8) Always keep in mind that not everyone is as geeked out as we are here. Selling grandma a $300 video card so she can read email (even if you can pull it off) will only get you the reputation of being overpriced. Also, keep in mind the replacement value of their current system before you get into labor-intensive repairs. People will feel cheated when they realize they just paid for six hours of labor at $45/hour (that comes to $270, for you Liberal Arts types...) to get their old P75 back in action. One of the most difficult tasks you'll have is explaining to someone why the computer they paid $2,000 for in 1996 is not worth fixing. I always keep a current list of ebay offerings - once they see that they could buy a replacement for $50 they are not likely to want to cough up for even one hour of labor. You can still make money off them by doing data recovery/backup.

9) Offer a lower rate for computer lessons. There are lots of people who would love to have someone knowledgeable show them how to get the most out of MS Office, rip their own VCD, make an autoplay picture CD, etc. These folks may not have anything wrong with their computer right now, but they will remember you when they do.

Good Luck! :wave:

[RWB]

I'll have to dig out the time tomorrow or this weekend to read through this thread. I am going to be starting a Digital Media Buisness hopefully soon, so this could be very useful.

[Clutch]

Very interesting points pro Kudos.

The side we are going to do with building computers, which we probably will not do many of, is going to be soley based on what the customer uses there computer for, that is the way I ran it with my last business to. So if they do no gaming, then I dont go all out of the video card but may throw in a extra 256mb of ram or so.

I like the referral bonus thing, we have one at the isp I work for and it does bring in some customers. The big time advertising does nothing though in my town, we just spent like $4,000 to advertise at the local cinema and so far nothing and this has been up for a long time, it just isn't worth it.


The best thing is that I deal with people in my community every day with there internet problems, since we are there isp so I know how to talk things out with them, and I know that not everyone will know to double click when they are supposed to.

Knowing your target market is a key issue in running a business. Once we get the prices thing set up we will build on a name, I like the local tie in thing that pro mentioned, kudos again m8


As far as parts, I think I have a little of what we will need, and I am also going to buy some extra sound cards, etc...I just bought a bunch of fans when xoxide had there xhour sale when they were $1 a peice so I have some of those left over.

I also got the book "Start your own computer business" that I boght on amazon when I was starting mine last year, pretty good book.

[Al_Capown]

This thread is doing nothing but pumping me up. Man I think it would be extremely fun to create my own business. Since I have fun doing this stuff everyday why not make money for it. I think I'm going to go make up a sheet with a company name, my name, my number, the computer I can build and dell's and HP's comparable prices.

[Al_Capown]

I got inspired tonight around 9-10 pm and i decided to write this up. It's about 3 am and I need sleep. Link http://www.geocities.com/al_capown/CarmelTech.doc

Night

[Clutch]

Linky no worky Al :(

[Clutch]

n/m al I saved it to my hard drive and it opened.

Thought I would gather a list of "equipment" one might need to get up and running repairing computers.

- AT style keyboard ( never under estimate that every computer you work on will accept a ps2 keyboard )

- Serial mouse ( same as above, except with a mouse )

- USB keyboard/mouse ( you know the mini gateways that only accept a usb keyboard and mouse? there out there )

- Screws ( all kinds, thumb screws, regular screws )

- Screwdrivers, IC pullers, screw grabbers ( usually all comes together in a pc toolkit package of some sort )

- Boot disks, ( bootdisk.com will be your friend for this one, get one for all operating systems )

- memtest on a floppy along with spyware tools

- thermal compound, extra fans

- ISA cards

these are what I could think of off the top of my head, and are very important to being prepared to run a computer repair business.

Add along to the list if you would like, there are some things I missed I know


Now to al: looks pretty good man, you can tell you spent some time configuring your systems, but remember prices change all the time, so mark them up enough to go with prices rising or falling.


Also, if you are making a flyer use big, bold font to jump out at the customer for words like 40GB hard drive, 300 ghz processor, etc..it makes them think "wow"

As far as your prices, I would set just one price for computer configuration, diagnostics, system restore, etc..but that is up to you.

[Camman]

mtgoat had this to say
I ended up with with 6 trucks,27 trailers, 11 employees, 4 contract drivers with their own trucks and doing 3 million dollars in buisness a year. .

I was just reading through this thread as I'm chatting over this business thing with a friend of mine who's interested in going into this with me, and just noticed that, holy crap mtgoat, you must be pretty rich, eh!?

[primesuspect]

lol! There is a big misconception about self-employment. Most people seem to think that owning a business==rich owner..

HA!

Just because a business turns 3 million doesn't mean the owner sees even a tiny fraction of that. I'm sure mtgoat will back me up on this :D

[Camman]

no no, don't crush my dreams, I are teh going to be rich, hey speaking of this business thing, prime, I gotta show you a name/logo I came up with so you can comment, it's no sarcnet industries with a double green S, but, its kinda neat :D

[Camman]

little something I came up with based on my idea for a name
(I live in the Seacoast area in NH)

what do you guys think of the name/logo?

edit: just noticed that domain is registered to someone in the area...hmmm, damn

[primesuspect]

I like the logo, but if the domain is already registered, I would try to think of some other names :(

Which is one of the reasons that we made up a name for sarcnet. It means nothing, and so the domain was surely available :D

[keto]

But it was a VERY sweet name and logo, keep going , ur on the right track

[Camman]

heres another one I came up with, I think its pretty good, I figured people would associate elite=the best and plus all the really technologically-minded people would get a chuckle as well.
Or do you guys think elite is too "eh" like people would think stuck up or something, I dunno, check it out, give me feedback :)

[Camman]

or the slightly expanded version incorporating stuff from the first design...

[keto]

the one above this post = Outstanding. Elite is a STRONG word to have in a business name, go for it

[Camman]

thanks for the great positive feedback! here's just one more slightly different design, lemme know what you think, looks good or too much going on ???? Im not sure, I kinda like it, but i love feedback, almost as much as I love playing with photoshop.... :D I almost feel like I'd rather spend all day designing logos for people instead of working on computers!! :)

I think I like Seacost Elite better than Seacoast Systems anyway, Seacoast Systems sound like I'm trying to rip off Cisco or something

[primesuspect]

We have a winnah, folks.

I like the one right above this, with the [ ] .. that is 1337

[Camman]

i just didnt want it to sound too tacky like "Motherboard Computer Company" or too like trying to be techno awesome "Super Mega Computer Corp" (obviously extreme examples) you guys think it sounds okay?

[keto]

I prefer without the [ ] but it's about the thinnest margin of difference I can imagine

[Camman]

and of course, I couldnt be done without doing this one, the Short-Media edition

:D :D :D

[EyesOnly]

You just had to didn't you. :) :) BTW doesn't Prime have the copyright for that or am i wrong? If not go for it. many people will wonder where the name came from. :D