Creating a logo is an important part of starting a small business. It’s the calling card of your business name so it should be memorable and unique. It’s going to be displayed on your business cards, invoices, letter heads, website, and advertisements.  Customers see a businesses logo as an extension of your business and from it they will judge your seriousness and professionalism.

For the computer repair business I’m starting, I decided to tackle the logo design process right after I registered my business name.  This is partly because I’m a superficial graphic design geek and I love me some nice sleek logo goodness. Also, I thought it was important to have a good logo in order to present a professional look for my computer support business right from the start.  I wanted to make sure people understood I’m not messing around with this.

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I’m always thinking about the types of services I’d like to offer for my computer consulting business customers.  Of course I offer the usual PC repair/troubleshooting/upgrading that all computer businesses offer. But I’m always curious about out-of-the-box ideas for services that will separate me from my competition.

I recently came across a post on Technibble that got me thinking.

In the post, a new member asks about the viability of an interesting niche business idea he has. Here’s an excerpt:
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Just a quick update to let you all know about another guest post of mine that was just published!

In this one, I tap into my love of Jazz music and mix it with my penchant for entrepreneurship to show everyone how music and business are inextricably tied together in my mind.  The post is part of Derek Halpern’s “Success Factors” series on his blog Prevential.  Check it out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment here or over on Prevential.  I’m sure Derek would love to hear from you also!

A Lesson In Cool: What Miles Davis Taught Us About Success

I was also recently interviewed by Tim over at his blog www.timmyjohnboy.com.  In the interview, Tim asks me questions about my opinions on a whole slew of tech-related items.  Check it out, and while your at it, drop Tim a line and get to know him, he’s a real nice guy!

“Techie” Interview Series 2 - Matt Rodela

I know, I know, I need to stop guest posting and start working on my business!! But guest posting is fun, helps me make connections, and is great practice for THIS blog!  I hope you’re enjoying getting to know me through my guest posts and reading some of my stuff in other forums.  Rest assured, I am actually working hard on my business, and  have some good content coming up for this blog, including my adventures with creating a logo for my business and what VoIP telephone provider I finally decided to go with.

I finally did it.  After many months of testing the waters, I finally dove into the Twitter ocean and created an account for Y.F.N.C.G.  For the sake of full disclosure, however, this isn’t actually my maiden voyage on Twitter.  I’ve been tweeting for about a month now for my music website, but I thought it was about time to create a special twitter account for my blogging/computer repair/small business owner persona. Why did I go through the trouble of creating another Twitter account?  What do I think the benefit will be to me and, more importantly, to you?

Let me explain.

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Welcome to the 4th Computer Guy’s Corner.  Here is where I collect a small handful of links to useful news, reviews, and blog postings that relate to small business news, productivity, tech gossip, troubleshooting tools, industry news, or any random stuff that I find helpful, and share it with you all.  Feel free to comment about any of the links and let me know your take!

Stay tuned after the links for an update on my first customer.

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When it rains, it pours!  This marks my second guest post in one week!  I didn’t intend to have two guest posts published so close together like this, but alas, that’s how the stars have aligned.  And I am not complaining!

The blog I contributed to this time is called BizBox, which is the the small business blog of the online daily web magazine, Slate. I came into contact with editorial producer Marc Tracy after they picked up on my article 7 Things To Look For In A Small Business Bank.  Mark has been wonderful to work with and really knows what he’s talking about when it comes to small business.

This time around, I’m writing specifically about this blog, Y.F.N.C.G., and how it’s been a valuable asset to my start-up success.   I also seem to really like writing posts about groups of “4″ things.  Guess I like even numbers…

Four Ways Blogging Has Helped Me Start My Business

Check it out and let me know what you think!

So how did hings turn out with my first official customer as a business owner?

If you’ll recall in my initial post on the subject, a customer was referred to me a bit before I was fully prepared to start taking on customers.  I decided to take the client, mostly for experience, but also to get a bit more money into my business account.  The lady wasn’t too specific about the problem (are they ever?), but I thought it sounded like a corrupt HD.  Turns out that it was.

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Head on over to the Small Business Trends website to check out guest post I wrote for them called 4 Overlooked Ways To Grow Your Service Business.

If you think the article would be helpful to others, please give it some social bookmarking love and pass it on to friends!

I’m honored to have the opportunity to write for such a wonderful website. Thanks to Anita Campbell and the team over at Small Business Trends for allowing me to contribute to their wonderful community!

Although I don’t think I’m really ready for it yet, I decided to take on my first customer as owner and operator of Jiffy-PC, my computer consulting company.  I say I don’t feel I’m ready for it because there are still a few things I wanted to get settled before taking on customers, like getting a separate phone line established and printing up some business cards.  But my girlfriend approached me with a referral and I couldn’t resist.

I have had numerous customers before this, but they have all been off-the-record jobs, or jobs for other companies. The person I meet tomorrow will be the first official customer that I take on as a business.  How does that differ from my customers before?  Not much.  The only difference, really, is that I will provide her with an invoice after my work is done.  That invoice will contain my company logo and if she pays by check, it will be made out to Jiffy-PC. Other than that, nothing much is different from before.

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I’ve been writing this blog for almost 6 months now.  It’s been more fun, and more work, than I ever imagined.  But it’s a passion of mine, and for those of you who know me, when I find a passion, I stick with it!  So I fully intend to keep posting here for the distant foreseeable future.

In these last 6 months, along with growing my blog and joining many wonderful communities online, I’ve also been slowly piecing together the framework of my business.  The going has been slow because, well, I have a lot of other things going on, and I’m in no rush.  I want to do things carefully and do them the right way so that when I finally decide to do this full time, I’ll be ready!  Plus, the discovering, theorizing, and postulating aspects of starting a business are fascinating to me!

But, I can’t be “starting a business” forever, so onward and upward I go. This post (well technically my last post,but who’s counting?) marks the begging of the next phase of my business, Trial and Error.

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