“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” -Benjamin Disraeli

For one of my upcoming posts I’ve been scouring the web trying to find statistics on how many small businesses fail after a certain amount of time. The first few articles I read said that over half of small businesses fail during the first year and that something like 90% fail before their 5 year anniversary. These are dismal stats and definitely very disconcerting to a newbie business owner like myself. I continued digging, hoping to find some good solid numbers to back up what I had read, but as it turns out, there really aren’t any.

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As I had mentioned in my previous blog post, I treated this Saturday as if it were a work day, scheduling my time  on research and planning for my computer support business. Even more importantly, the day was meant to be an experiment to see how well I could handle working from home on a self-paced schedule, which is something I’ve never done before.

In part one of this two part series, I’ll take a look at the work-from-home productivity aspect of my day at the home office.

So how did it go? (more…)

I’m going to spend all day tomorrow, Saturday, researching items for my small business.  I intend to wake up MUCH earlier than I normally do on weekends and follow a schedule of activities devoted to nothing but furthering my upcoming computer-support business.  Since I work a typical 9 to 5 job Monday through Friday, I don’t have much time during the week to get good momentum going on my business planning.

However this is more than just a planning day for me; this is the first of many experiments I will conduct on myself to see if and how I’ll be able to handle working on my own. 

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I’m about 42.75% ready to start a business according to the Smart Start Assessment tool provided by the Maryland Small Business Development Center’s website.  It’s a great resource for anyone interested in starting a small business and I’m thrilled that something like this is available.  I took this assessment a few weeks ago, let’s see how I did…  (more…)

There’s a blog that I subscribed to called Life Reboot.  It chronicles the “thoughts and experiences of Shaun Boyd”, a young man who decided to quit his job in IT and restart his life in pursuit of his dream to become a writer.  He’s had mixed success and is now looking for a job again, but his posts are insightful and well written and one of his posts from 2006 really stuck a chord with me. (more…)

“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.” -Chinese Proverb

I’ve recently decided that I am going to take my time with this whole starting-a-business thing.  My overall timeline is going to be simple.  The initial goal for my business is to be a part-time extra-income generator for me starting sometime before the end of this year. This blog, and the filing of my DBA paperwork, have already set the gears in motion for that. Then, in about 5 years, I’ll decide if I will make the leap to running this thing full-time. This is slightly contrary to the more aggressive timeline I originally had, and I’ve changed my “About” page to reflect this accordingly.

Five years is a long time. Why am I setting this goal so far ahead? (more…)

Want to try your hand at fixing computers in your spare time, but don’t have the time or resources to find customers yourself?  The answer you’re looking for may be to become a service provider. (more…)

I’ve stumbled upon a lot of articles recently about computer techs using their powers for evil.  Here are some of my favorites: (more…)

A while back I was thinking it would be smart to consult with a lawyer to see what kind of things need to be done to set-up my business and trademark my business name.  I was pretty sure, at the least, that I’d need to file for trademark protection for my company name and file a DBA (Doing Business As) which will allow me to start a bank account under the name of my business.

So I called a local lawyer who specializes in helping small businesses.  You’d think that, being someone who is supporting the cause of the small business owner, she’d charge fees that small business start-ups can afford.  Boy was I wrong.  Here are some of her fees: (more…)