Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 21
  1. #1
    Retired 25 years exp. Dave's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Upstate, New York
    Posts
    35
    Rep Power
    29

    If you're not working for your self

    You are getting the short end of the stick. You not earning your full potential. Get out from under management and learn the ropes of starting and running your own business. Is it easy - no. But when you are 50 and are tired of getting down on your knees to clean paper feed rollers you will wish you had. Voice of experience.

  2. #2
    Senior Tech 250+ Posts
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    401
    Rep Power
    31

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    What is the best brand/model of used machine to start own business?

  3. #3
    Trusted Tech 50+ Posts atech's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    89
    Rep Power
    28

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Quote Originally Posted by didi2005 View Post
    What is the best brand/model of used machine to start own business?
    I think toshiba is better or canon.

  4. #4
    Field Service Manager 1,000+ Posts
    If you're not working for your self

    pepper38_cnd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Windsor, ON Canada
    Posts
    1,073
    Rep Power
    51

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave View Post
    You are getting the short end of the stick. You not earning your full potential. Get out from under management and learn the ropes of starting and running your own business. Is it easy - no. But when you are 50 and are tired of getting down on your knees to clean paper feed rollers you will wish you had. Voice of experience.
    First off I'll apologize, this really belong in the Rants and Raves, because that is what i am about to do.

    Dave I feel your pain, but I think what your suggesting is just plain "BAD AVICE" for most average Techs.

    I have been in this business since 1979. For nine of those years I ran my own successful Dealership. I was forced to sell it due to divorce, and I have been working for the company that purchased it now for over 17 years. I still occasionally have one of those what if thoughts but I shake that shit out of my head real quick.

    If your a tech thinking of taking Dave's advice, fantasizing about handing in the keys to the service vehicle and cell phone, and venturing out on your own! Let me give you a picture of reality.

    Even if you are "The Best Tech in the World" it doesn't necessarily mean the you are capable of handling an entire business. You got to be "The Best Tech in the World" because somebody else invested the time and money to make you that way. Think back on all the mistakes you made ( scratched drums, blown boards ect..) none of that came out of your pocket. Some Business Owner or Company shouldered all the cost of getting you where you are today.

    Now here is what starting your own office equipment business usually looks like ( from my experience ).

    1. Take every penny you have, savings, retirement fund, kids college fund, spare change from the sofa cushions, everything and invest that in business start up.

    2. Secure credit! That means putting everything you have home, car, fist born everything up for collateral .

    3. Make sure your Spouse has a good paying job and is prepared to pay ALL the household bills for the next 3 years.

    4. Prepare to start from scratch! All those customers that you have been servicing for years. They are still going to continue with the Company you left NOT YOU!

    5. Every penny you make for the first 3 years will go right back into the business!

    6. If you make it past the first 3 years ( if you don't see lines 1 & 2 everything is gone), you may now have a positive cash flow and start paying off your debts.

    7. At this point you will have to deal with Payroll, asset management, employees, expanding insurance cost, you may need a larger commercial building.

    8. If your Spouse is still with you they are complaining about: the amount of time you spend the office, lack of vacations, your not spending time with the kids, your new secretary is too cute. ( The list is too long to handle)

    9. Five years have gone by, things are looking brighter but! The tech you hired 2 years ago and invested thousands of dollars in, although he is a very good tech, has developed an attitude. he believes the business can't survive without him, he is worth more money than you can afford to pay him, you are getting rich off of his blood and sweat.

    10. You remember fondly the simpler days when all you had to do every day was fix machines, a steady pay check, regular vacations, and dinner every night with the wife . Ahh the good old days of simply being a great technician.


    Which end of the stick is the shortest?
    Online Store is closed. Chip resetting is a thing of the past! Thank you to all my past customers.
    Now into Ip TV KODI Boxes

  5. #5
    Senior Tech 250+ Posts MFPTech's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    486
    Rep Power
    33

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Dave, are you running your own business at the moment please? I am in the same situation that you describe. My potential is on the software side of the business but this is a privilege given to only one or two guys, instead i have to waste my time driving 200 km/day to small machines and customers that were undersold and would never service on my own. I don't have any debts or kids leaving with me at the moment, my wife works, i have an entrepreneur background but I don't have any savings to invest into the business, i don't have an office or a little demo room so i can get a dealership, i don't have a sales rep that is interested in starting up a business with me in partnership or strictly commission based; cannot approach anyone or advertise otherwise the company i work for might find out and the timming will be off.
    I have a couple of ideas though i.e. offering professional services and approaching the copier companies to do all their network installs on contract basis but don't have much faith they will agree to it, another idea is to charge only a callout fee each time customers call for service and free labour providing they buy toner and supplies from me, and have an e commerce website where they place orders.
    However customers are used to service agreements and piece of mind; i would love to hear your opinion on this though.

    didi2005, I think that if you start your own business you either stick to what you are best at or just try to service everything and learn as you go. There is no such a thing as best brand/model.

    pepper 38_cnd
    I really appreciate sharing your experience and reminding us of the reality. Many big servicing companies such as Danka, IKON, PB are history.
    I understand that the company invests for the techs but only for the ones that work their asses off and skip coffee breakes and lunches, drive around like maniacs because the customers were promised a certain response time and they expect the tech yesterday. The pressure is just too high for what a tech get paid. The service manager is going to run reports on the number of calls you do in a month, the callbacks, response time, the amount of parts spent per call, etc. and will make you feel bad. If a customer requests another tech because they don't like you for some reasons, the company will have no problem throwing you under the bus. If you said something to the customer and the customer has a selective hearing you will be in trouble, if you missed something in a service call (we all do) you are in trouble. We all know how imperfect the copiers are, well, every time i asked for help with a tough technical issue in the field let's say i regretted it. Thank God for this forum!!
    Most importantly the company won't give you training on what you want!
    As a tech they give you a territory and you are on your own anyway, but you are not allowed to manage it in your productive way either.
    Besides, if a tech cannot fix at least 4 machines a day not only the company is not investing in him but they will let him go in a heartbeat.
    I am sorry but I would not appreciate the training and the investment a company does for a tech if the company does not appreciate what a tech goes through during his day of work.
    I understand, running a business is not easy and most importantly is not for everyone otherwise no body would work for others. But, being a copier tech is very challenging and underpaid job. Honestly i am not sure which end of the stick is the shortest.

  6. #6
    Senior Tech 250+ Posts MFPTech's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    486
    Rep Power
    33

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Did i mention that i am supposed to take the online courses and check the manufactures tech bulletins on evenings and weekends and not within business hours? Did i mention that if i have no calls i have to go to the shop? Did i mention that I had to call sick in order to pass my latest Microsoft exam on Win 8 (and pay from my pocket of course) otherwise I would not be granted the time off because we are too busy ... blah blah blah .... sorry for ranting but it ticks me off when i read that "You got to be 'The best tech in the world because somebody else invested the time and money to make you that way" - No sir! I appreciate the opportunity that the company gives me to work on their machines but it's my hard work and dedication, it's the sacrifices that i make to learn and develop professionally. No company gives a shit about any tech if that tech doesn't make money for the company. I know many successful businessmen that lost the wife and business because they couldn't handle the hot sexetary and i am sorry about it but people make choices and live with them.

  7. #7
    Senior Tech. 2,500+ Posts NeoMatrix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Sunshine State QLD.
    Posts
    3,514
    Rep Power
    104

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    (I feel another rant coming on, sorry in advance.)

    I'm starting out working for myself ,Pepper38_cnd has some good advise, and to balance the equation MFPTech has some good advice.
    Pepper38_cnd has the valid honour of knowing Harry Hindsight,and with that honour comes the ability to make a choice.
    I believe it really comes down to how much responsibility are you will to take on.

    Will the life choices we make leave us fulfill with our life purpose when we are sitting in our retirement rocking chair?
    Will I be sitting in my retirement rock chair thinking if I could go back in time, what would I do different.
    Will those choices leave me without a purpose and direction? Once you lose your purpose and direction there is only a void.
    How do we fill that void in our life stream?

    I believe you will always come out a winner if you either work for yourself, or work for some one else. The simple fact of the matter is, win or lose ,either way you gave it a try, which fulfills that "purpose and direction" in your life stream. I think it was one of the rockstars who quoted "when life becomes mundane and boring it's time for a change"...

    To put it simply --just get off your assets and have a GO!!!, no matter what you choose in life. There is no real winner or loser.
    Except those losers who never decided one way or the other.

    In the end money doesn't real exist, as it's based on a pure "promissary system,which is allied on self-permission and good-will".
    Therefore, the illusion and trickery of the money-system is a measure of how much self-permission you have to behave like a civilised human being.

    We take permission(money) off other people so we can give more permission to get others to do what we want. The more permission you have, the more "POWER" you have.
    And because power is base on the money system, it is just an illusion and trickery.
    Some of the most famous entrepreneurs have quoted" money is simply an accounting entry on a computer". A monetary loan from a financial institution is just "permission you give to yourself to behave civilised". The financial institution is there to force you to honour the self-promise you made when taking out the loan. In return for monitoring your self behavoir, the institution wants you to go out and get more permission(money) and return that permssion back to the institution who altimate goal is power. So there you have it, the democratic system as we know it is based on the illusion of self determined slavery. But the democractic/capitalistic system is a step up from the law-of-jungle communists an imperialist systems. Having said that each governing system has good points and bad points. I don't really want to turn this thread into a political debate which ends up like religious debates...

    In the end,how much self-permission(money) do we really need?


    The point of this discussion being the greatest of all weath systems is the human spirit ,and the all important life experiences we can accumulate along our journey .... The beauty of life is the fact that we are all different,an each person makes their own choice as to how they get true spirtual value out of their own life experience. No body has the god-given right to judge who's life determination or experience has any better or worse value than any other, we where all created equal. So don't be discouraged on this thread by one persons experience or the other --"JUST GET IN AN HAVE A GO!!! ". You'll end up with a gold mine of personal spirtual wealth and experience both good an bad to share with others, "No one -- absolutley no one, can do your own experiences for you".
    Last edited by NeoMatrix; 03-08-2015 at 01:32 AM.
    Inauguration to the "AI cancel-culture" fraternity 1997...
    •••••• •••[§]• |N | € | o | M | Δ | t | π | ¡ | x | •[§]••• ••••••

  8. #8
    Field Service Manager 1,000+ Posts
    If you're not working for your self

    pepper38_cnd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Windsor, ON Canada
    Posts
    1,073
    Rep Power
    51

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Great discussion guys!
    When I previously posted, I was not trying to discourage but rather get anyone considering venturing out on their own to think very hard about what they may be getting into. It appears you are giving this some serious thought. MFPTech you mentioned you didn't like servicing small machines. As an independent those are the more likely customers that will call on you, and if you can get Dealer rights to a product line those are probably the products you are going to sell in your first couple of years in business. It's not likely that anyone is going to even consider purchasing a Production Machine from a relatively new Dealer. You mentioned selling supplies ie: Toner, if you are not an Authorized Dealer you will not be getting the best price on supplies and it will be difficult to compete, unless you go with no-name generic supplies and that opens up an entirely new service/reliability issue.

    Make a Business Plan, then research what would be involved in putting your plan into action. I found a good Accountant was one of my best resources, and he helped me with my Business Plan, not to create the Plan but to review it and point out strengths and weaknesses. In my case I was able to secure a Product Line, as an Authorized Dealer and that helped, but keep in mind the product doesn't sell it self, and customers are always reluctant to deal with the new guy in town. Sales competitors are ruthless, and when they are up against the "New Guy" they will be certain to point that out to the customer. Service may be where the continuing revenue comes from, but keep in mind nothing happens service wise until equipment is SOLD! I found once I had 30 to 50 customers on CPC Contract I had sufficient monthly revenue to grow my business ( in my case that took about 2.5 years ). If you are an Authorized dealer your supplier can be very helpful but keep in mind their only objective is to move equipment and often encourage new Dealer to purchase stock way beyond their means.
    Online Store is closed. Chip resetting is a thing of the past! Thank you to all my past customers.
    Now into Ip TV KODI Boxes

  9. #9
    Senior Tech 250+ Posts MFPTech's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    486
    Rep Power
    33

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    Thanks for posting back! I would love to learn from the experience of someone that has been there, done that! Sorry didn't mean anything against you, but you gave me a reason to vent lol

  10. #10
    Technician
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    44
    Rep Power
    27

    Re: If you're not working for your self

    MFPTech.

    Bit cheeky of me, but I'm looking for a new addition to our team and Surrey is our core territory........we let tech's train in company time and if all calls are done you can go home...actually most of our calls are over and done with by 4.30!
    PM me if you'd like a chat..absolute discretion is assured and I really don't know many in the industry...in fact I steer clear of befriending anyone in the industry so I will not know your existing employer!

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Get the Android App
click or scan for the Copytechnet Mobile App

-= -= -= -= -=


IDrive Remote Backup

Lunarpages Internet Solutions

Advertise on Copytechnet

Your Link Here