What's Stopping Me................

Thanks for the advice guys, keep the idea's, fears and so on coming. Another thing that I was thinking of was who would I go to for supplies? Drums, Developer, Toner, Masters, Inks. Everyone I have worked for used manufactures for supplies, are there third party suppliers?

[Copier_Guy]

Very enlightening story about the effects of not being adaptable. You do have to be adaptable and most of all versitile. It is rough out there and you have to be brave and persistent. I would try to develop a little clientele before I go out there and also try to find other hustles to help sustain you through those hard times. Definitely start working with computers and networks, because computers will lead to copier/printer jobs and vice/versa. Going it alone is definitley not for the faint of heart, but the rewards are greater than humping it for Scrooge's Cheap Ass Cousin!!

Good Luck out there!

[blackcat4866]

I think this story should illustrate my point:

I started out on 1988 doing this. I heard stories of a local legend, a genius in copier repair. He had been out on his own for a few years by then. He had started to hang around our store hoping to catch a few fixes in casual conversation. Not that he needed any help. This guy was good.

He wasn't getting rich, but he was doing fine. New car, making the house payments, etc...

I guess it became obvious around the 8th or 9th year. All the machine he had been trained on were obsolete & gone. Or the parts weren't available. Then the first digitals started showing up. They are different enough that that its not so intuitive any more. And there weren't any cool forums, where his buddies could bail him out.

Gradually, he lost his customers, car, & wife. It ends worse, but you get the point. Without the dealership support its hard to keep up to date.

Been a tech since 98, seen alot of changes come down and can say that I have adapted quite well, everything from Sharp being the ghetto brand to winning awards and when Konica and Mita's were just Konica and Mita and not there new elongated names. Now I am not saying I am gods gift to any company that I have ever worked for, because I'm not. I've upset customers, co-workers and even owners in the past. We all have. Been thru more classes than I care to count and still run into machines that leave me looking at the machine going . Factory trained on Sharp, Konica, Mita, Savin and picked up quite a bit on the other manufactures to include duplicators, Duplo, Rizzo and so on.

Took a break from the industry for awhile, when I left I was at 40k a year, my first year back I'll be lucky if I make 30k. Got all the other training that is required for us. A+, Network+, so why am I working for a guy who makes scrooge look generous. Why aren't I out there doing my own thing. If any indie's or even other techs who have been pondering this , read this, chime in. I own my own tools and vaccum, so whats stopping me? How hard is it to pick up machines for service. I need advice. I am in Central California and wondering what my next move should be. Do I go to another company and hope that things stay better for longer than 90 days, or should I branch out?