I am interested in starting my own computer services business. It'll be home based and I'll be providing all services by my self. I don't have intention to hire any employees yet. I am based in Tampa, Florida. What do I need to do exactly? Should I form and LLC or Inc or is there anything I should look into?
If someone could help me on this, please. Reps for all posters.
Thanks.
I would encourage you to go "legal" and get a business license. Contact your county officials for protocal on how to establish a business license. All states are different.
Get business cards printed and start knocking on doors, introducing yourself and your service. Have a website which clearly outlines the scope of your service offerings + testimonials if you can get them.
Good Luck!
And when your ready to begin accepting credit card payments, contact me, I'll set that up for you !
Setup an online presence clearly setting the scope of your business
Advertise online through google adwords or other options
When you get a decent traffic to your website, go rent/purschase some rent space to add more credibility and increase the scope of your business. If you are a software programmer, take up complex development. If required hire staff for the job.
Register your company as LLC or Inc , Pvt Ltd, AB whichever is applicable
Print Biz cards
Advertise... Advertise and Advertise
Hope by this time, your biz will show some decent revenue ... worth enough to pay taxes for the same When you start paying taxes you can consider yourself established
You really do not need an LLC for just starting out, unless you think/know that you are going to be making a good amount of cash right off the bat. Get a tax id and a DBA and you should be fine for the first year.
Note-DBA=Doing Business As
Once you have one of those, you can make a bank account in the company name, send all checks in and out of that account. File quarterly taxes, and you should be fine.
is there another large city nearby that you could service? if so, make a domain for that.
this way, when someone searches, "tampa bay florida computer repair", you could come up in top 5 easily on google.
i would start off by not getting a business license, but that's just me. you can accept paypal through a virtual terminal, cash, and checks written out to YOUR name. if business goes as planned three months into it, then you should get a business license.
spend $50.00 or so on seo services like directory submission, backlinks, etc. you can buy those services on here. this way your seo can kick in soon.
put aside a budget for advertising on ask.com, google.com, live.com, etc. all the major services. but put aside a fair budget, and ONLY do the keywords that include tampa in them, and only do it within your city, because it's pointless to advertise in other states. nobody is gonna send you a pc to repair, lol.
i highly highly highly reccommend this... you pay someone (probably overseas) to put up a craigslist advertisement twice a day. 815AM, and 1015AM. put different titles, and have 20 different combinations for the titles, and a few different advertisements. they could be like:
emergency computer repair! need help?
tampa computer repair- i come to you!
i fix computers- 10 years experience!
speedy computer repair! i'll be there to help in 30 minutes!
and similar. notice i used the word help, because people search for, "computer help".
offer service charge for traveling. it can be $.30 per mile, or $.50 per mile, an hourly charge for being there, and a charge for each thing. make a list that they can view on your website or CL ad.
*all prices do not include hourly rate or traveling fee.
you can also service printers, or deliver ink/toner for an additional fee. just keep stock of generic toner at home, and you're good! make $30 a pop easy.
after getting established, you can be doing this full time in three months, i guarantee it. just follow everything like i said.
If you focus on customer service (not advertise it, just make it good) you'll excel very well in the computer biz. I have worked for my father who is running a very successful computer business out of his home for the last 10 years without spending a dime on advertising - ever! Simply talking to businesses, offices, school can you in the door to very profitable contracts.
When you start paying taxes you can consider yourself established 
