Ok, since I am currently unemployed, and looking for work that doesn't exist, I am thinking of going out on my own as a technician. Any tips anyone can give? Where is a good source for parts and manuals, or anything else helpful. Thanks.....
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Unless you're planning on working on smallish HP printers, you're going to have a hell of a time finding parts. Most manufacturers will only sell parts to authorized dealers. You would have to find dealers who are willing to sell you parts and hope they won't charge you retail (which they probably will). Manuals I'm sure you can buy pretty easily (look up and to the right).But I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard... to be the Shepherd.
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It only takes a few years for technology to leave you in the dust. I've seen it happen plenty of times. A great tech with dealer support goes private. Then find he's working on older, and older and older machines.If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.
blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=Comment
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A O.k. Kip, I'm going to give it to you straight. It can be done (I did it & just started my 4th year in business) but it takes planning, hard work & sacrifice that first year or two. I wouldn't go back to working for someone else for anything. Punching time clocks, dealing with bad customers, cheap bosses, lazy coworkers, etc etc.- who needs it? I love working my own hours, making all the profit & beating the competition I used to work for on a sale is a rush. Yes, you can get all the parts you need from precision roller. They have almost everything you'll need. Very easy to set up an account with also, as opposed to katun who wants your firstborn just to sell you parts. If I were you, I would stick with just a few models that you know well at first. Find some good wholesalers in your area that you can buy good, used machines at good prices. The majority of what I sell even today is good used copiers that I know well & make good profit on. Find your niche. Mine was the small to mid-size customers that werent getting good service from the big comanies but they were still paying big company prices. They just had to wait untill the bigger customers got taken care of before a tech showed up to them. Also, be competitive. I have the lowest prices in my area. I also give twice the warranty that the bigger companies give. If your selling quality equipment, the extra warranty wont hurt you, but it will help you get the sell. Watch your overhead. I have about 700 square feet of office space on the property where I live. My wife is my secretary. I have no employee or building cost. As a matter of fact, because I'm able to deduct half of all my bills (phone, internet, mortgage,) & all my mileage, I don't even have to pay taxes. Another trick is going to auctions. I don't know how it is there, but in my city, they have a state surplus auction every month that I get used copiers for parts. They also have printers & fax machine cheap that I clean, fix up & resell for a nice profit. If you've been in the business for awhile, you probably know where a few accounts are you can pick up. Your going to need to get your parts stock up first, plus invoices, business cards, advertising, etc. Then you have the fun of gettting legal (business liscense, tax id #, all that stuff). I wont lie, the first year sucked. Their were times I wondered whether to feed my family or have electricity. If you make it though, its worth it all. As far as that other guy saying you'd get left behind with the technology, what else can they do to a copier? If you have some digital copier schools under your belt, you should be able to keep up. The guys that got left behing were analog guys who never got any newer training before they went out on their own. If you don't try to take on too big of machines, you should be able to go for decades. Don't forget, you can get many small & mid-size machines brand new for resale from companies listed in the Locator magazine. The only thing being the "Authorized Dealer" means is you have to deal with quotas. You big company techs reading this know this to be true. How many bad model copiers hav your saleman sold just to get inventory out the door, not caring about the tech that has to service it, or the poor customer that paid good money for junk. The biggest thread on this website it the one about "biggest piece of crap you ever worked on" . When your selling for yourself & you have to warranty it, your a lot more particular about the equipment you put out. I personally sell the copystar 1820, 2050, & 2550 new & the minolta Di series used. I found them to be best machines for the money but it will depend upon what you know. Well, it stopped raining outside so I'm done here. Good luck it you decide to go for it, and remember to treat your customers like family. They're going to be taking a chance on you, so don't make them regret it. Be choosy, though. Some accounts just arent' worth the trouble. Walk away, or even better, send them to the competition. I love sending those horrible problem accounts to the other guys.Comment
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try LPT LIBERTY PARTS TEAM FREE PH # 888-444-8778
PARTS NOW 800-886-6688
ALSO call the manufacter of the eq. they have to sell you parts
what i do is tell them what model/sn# what part called & i need the # cost availability
and let your customer order & pay for patr/shipping
that way you don't have to deal with invetory/tax/or goverment
good luckComment
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My fave form of advertising for new business has been craigslist! Tom, can you elaborate on your advert choices/methods and how effective each are?Comment
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Craigslist is O.K. if you want to sell cheap, but to make a decent profit, I'm afraid you'll just have to get out & knock on doors. As a tech., this was the hardest part of the job to learn, being a salesman, but once you find your groove its not too bad. Great when you get the sale. I get very few call from my yellow page ad, it pays for itself & maybe a little profit, but nothing great. You just have to network & meet people. I get more calls from referals from my existing customer than anything else.Comment
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I was wondering how things were going with your new adventure. I just started reading a book called "Selling Office Products Successfully" by Terrill Klett. I haven't read but a 1/4 of it and so far so good. It really starts out getting you motivated on sales. The guy explains how he started out at a dealer and didn't sell anything his first 90 days...so staying motivated and not getting depressed is VERY important! It might be worth you reading.
I think the hardest thing with sales is getting over rejection and keeping a positive attitude. Ppl are real assh*les sometimes when ppl try to sell them something, even though ppl at their own companies do the same thing.
Other words of wisdom I can offer:
1. Save ALL your receipts do make sure you get every penny you can from the IRS.
2. Don't do sales on account or give customers credit. The biggest thing that will cause a business to go under is poor cash flow. Make people prepay, finance, or do deposits. Seriously, just one or a few clients not paying or having hard times themselves WILL make or break you. Don't worry about losing business or the sale if they can't finance or prepay. Better to lose that sale then give them parts, machines, supplies, etc. AND be out the money.
3. DON'T play the cheapest alternative game. In other words charge enough to make a profit and be in line with competitors. I've learned a few things in my life and one is that being the lowest price doesn't guarantee any sales. In fact you'll have to work even harder to make up the discounted profit than your competitors will. A lot of it is psychological. You have to believe that your product and services are worth the rates...if you don't why should customers. Also, it's better to price higher than raise prices later, this gets noticed and pisses ppl off.
4. You have to find ways to make ppl aware that you are out there. You can be the best guy, have the best products, and the best prices but if you can't inform ppl that you're there, then how will they find you to do business with you?
5. Have patience and don't lose hope. Milton Hershey built a multi-billion dollar food/entertainment empire (although I think their chocolate is disgusting). He also failed miserably about four times before getting it right. Persistence eventually pays off. I myself, had a huge loss and exhausted my entire savings the first year I was in business. I gained weight, was stressed as hell, and very scared...luckily, one of my marketing campaigns brought me some good fortune and I did well.
6. There will be roller-coaster rides. Even though things went well for a while, the economic crap really hurt. Customers were going out of business which meant I might be too. Fortunately, I'm still surviving and working on a comeback...remember get paid up front. We had too much in receivables, now we do almost 100% prepay or deposits, even for schools and nonprofits.
7. Have a well written contract. Our contract is very clear. If a customer doesn't pay (there are some things that are not prepay like cpc programs, but an initial deposit and additional deposits are still sometimes required) they don't get service. Too long of non-payment and we WILL cancel them until their account is current.
Hope this helps.Comment
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Hi KIP-Doc, I came across this thread. NOW tell us what has happened since then ! Did you eventually" go out on your own" as you were thinking or you secured a salaried job ?
I hope you didn't succumb to FEAR, DOUBT, CRITICISM & Negative influences of other people. TOM & kingpid gave you excellent pieces of advise based on their experiences and that of many others, I, included. For a trained tecnician, with an engineering background knoweldge,and an open mind receptive to new ideas, willing to learn always (constant studies), and learning the lessons as quickly as they appear ( plenty of manuals etc), cooperation with other techs, I don't see how the technology can leave you behind !
Just be determined and confident; have DESIRE & FAITH, as well as PASSION in what you want to do. Be PATIENT & PERSISTENT, MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS despite the numerous challenges u will be faced with. And if you are a believer in GOD,do not cut the umbilical cord that connects you with him. HE is the supreme intelligent and omnipotent; the source of all power & wealth. Be nearer to this source of wealth by maintaining your GRATITUDE to him. Abide in him,& HE WILL IN TURN ABIDE in you, and you will be successful in all you do. It has happened to me and many others, it can happen to you.Comment
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Yeah. It would be interesting to hear what happend.
I've got a friend that started for himself about 3-4 years ago.
Ha had collected quite a few service manuals, and gets more from friends. If there are other manuals he need, he buys them.
He has no problem keeping up with the technology. He read a lot of service manuals and also a lot of computer/network stuff.
In the beginning he got a few machines from former customers that wanted to throw them away.
He fixed them up, and started to print advertising flyers. He delivered (and still does) flyers all the time.
He also advertised that he fixed other electronic stuff, and household appliances because he needed the money.
Now he is more or less a copier/printer/network guy only.
He makes about twice of what I do btw. But the first year was hard. He had to get money from the bank at 20% interest.
He still operates out of his garage (that is now rebuild a lot). Where he has a small display of new and used machines. He also have his repair shop and storage there. He is very eager to get used machines, that he later can use for spare parts. He went through containers at night outside his competitors and picked a lot of parts for free.
In his ads he also says he will collect old machines for free. That way he get machines that can be fixed and sold - and also a spare part supply (for expensive parts like print controllers and stuff like that).
He does still not sell a brand of his own. He sell smaller machines from HP and Lexmark. He does not make any money on the machines - but he sell them with a click price deal. He has no problem getting parts so far.
He service many copier brands (usually 3 years or older). He has also been contacted by a copier brand that has no tech in the area. He get calls from them, and he fix the machines. So now he get parts and manuals from that brand.
He plans to start selling a brand next year. He will also hire another tech then.
Right now, his wife and sometimes his daughter is in the office (garage) and handle paperwork and they sell smaller printers/copiers when customers come.
He has also made money on small Brother machines that he sells with a click price. He orders toner and drums from China, and gets a higher profit.
But still.. he works a lot of hours. He loves to be his own boss.
Another source of income has been networking and IT support. He serve businesses and families.
He help families to set up a small network at home, add a back up solution and share a printer. Maybe connect it to the TV too. This is done for a cheap price. When they need new computer hardware they call him. It gives him another income, and he is not dependent on the copier business alone.
He made over 110 000 us dollars in 2010. But he have expences too. Electricity and gas. I'm sure he gives some money to his wife and daughter too.
He also accept service calls at 20:00 hours in the evening. To get an advantage over other techs in the area.
He has also some models he like better then other - and is now advertising his services to owners of these models. They can save money by letting him fix them. No need to buy a new printer/copier yet.
I've though about doing the same. But it will be hard to get through the first year. And paperwork.. and what do I do if I get ill? Lets say you get swine flu and is in bed for a week. I guess the customers would be pissed if they had to wait for a week to get service. So I would have to have a person that can help me in cases like that.
But I have no rush.
Sometimes it is better just to get a paycheck too. But I'll see what happens. The amount on the paycheck is important too.
I just found out that I get paid about 6800 us dollar less then average for my job/profession. It kind of makes me loose my motivation. Especially since I have a lot of bills to pay . . and it's hard enough to make ends meet.Comment
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Going out on your own
Wooo..oow! That is an excellent piece Lotec. I hope that for this guy you describe, the sky is now the limit. That is what determination, confidence, courage & self conviction can do for one if you maintain your focus on the goal despite the initial setbacks and hardships.
Successful men in all callings never stop learning, especially in the field related to their major purpose, business or profession. Those who are not successful usually make the mistake of believing that knowledge acquiring ends when one finishes school. School merely puts you on the path to acquiring practical and specialized knowledge. Immediately u stop acquiring the knoweldge related to your profession or business you become obsolete.
Making $110,000 a year (as did that guy), I suppose is a lot more than many techs who are employed earn per year. In an economy like ours, in my country in particular, even after paying all taxes and other business expenses all amounting to about 40% of that income, you would still live much more than a comfortable life. In fact aftersome 5years or so , you would be reinvesting your money into REAL ESTATES & other businesses and possibly '' Retire young and Rich", and in the multi-millionaire's club.
One thing though, working for someone else will never make you rich, if that is your ambition. Although we all must start from 'somewhere 'in order to gain the much needed experience, ultimately one day, " you will have to mind your own business" and venture on your own. There is real freedom and hapiness there for those searching for it.Comment
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That is a good story Lotec, I appreciated reading it as I am an Indy myself. I started out of my garage and 20 years later I am still working out of my garage, Indy one man show.
Although we are going through the worst recession to date, I am still around, I have watch many BIG companies go down. I am in New York where the recession hit us on the nose.
I can tell you one thing in the Indy business, you need friends, you cant do it by yourself. You need friends with contacts and friends you can discuss everyday troubles with, it helps you get through tough times.
I am not an authorized dealer of any but I sell new Canon/Sharp/Copystar and with my friends in the biz and these forums, I am able to squeeze out a living.
Good luck all!Comment
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