Erik Lilleland, Author at Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy

5 Books That Every Computer Business Owner Should Read

January 29, 2017 By Erik Lilleland 2 Comments

When I first started my computer repair shop I was well aware of one simple fact: That I knew virtually nothing about starting a computer repair business.

Rather than bang my head against a wall trying to reinvent the wheel, I decided early on that I was going to find the most successful people in our field, and attempt to emulate what they’ve done to become successful. After talking to countless other computer repair business owners, and spending hours pouring over forums and Facebook groups I managed to find a common theme: Hard work alone isn’t the key to success in this field. In order to thrive, you’ve got to expand your knowledge base, and step out of our comfort zone.

Some of our peers were even kind enough to offer me reading lists of what they considered absolutely “must read” books that would help me make my business thrive, and even take it to the next level. After reading dozens of these books, I’ve compiled a short list of 5 books that every computer repair business owner should read. [Read more…]

How to Deal with a Chargeback

July 28, 2016 By Erik Lilleland Leave a Comment

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of running a successful computer repair business. That’s why we have processes in place (you do have your processes documented, don’t you?) that can help us ensure that our clients get nothing but the absolute best service and walk away happy.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we can’t please everyone all of the time, and every now and again we run into a situation where we have an unhappy client. Sometimes, fortunately very rarely, a client will be so upset that they’ll initiate a chargeback or credit reversal on their payment.

How can we handle such a troubling outcome? It’s not quite as difficult as you may think.
[Read more…]

10 Ways to Keep Your Computer Business Running Smoothly

June 23, 2016 By Erik Lilleland 2 Comments

In life, everything, every experience, every interaction, every fumble can be a learning experience. Nowhere is this more true than when you’re running a computer repair business.

Computer repair business owners not only have to keep up with the ever-changing nature of technology, but we also have to keep our businesses running smoothly. This gives us ample opportunity to learn some things the hard way.

I’ve gotten myself into the habit of writing down these little “lessons” as they happen, and keeping them where I can always refer back to them.

Here’s a few of the things, in no particular order, that I’ve had to learn the hard way over the years. [Read more…]

6 Steps to Getting Started with Apple Mac Repair

May 17, 2016 By Erik Lilleland 4 Comments

If you’re a member of, or follow any of the many computer repair business owner’s forums online, you’ve probably noticed the inordinate amount of Mac hatred that seems to permeate the community. Surprisingly, a lot of technicians flat out refuse to service the various Mac computers that manage to find their way into their shops.

I suspect that the reason for so much Mac “resistance” (to put it kindly) from some of our colleagues is that they’re just unfamiliar with how a Mac operates, and might be a bit afraid of the possibility of unintentionally messing up a customer’s expensive piece of equipment. It’s possible that in their minds it’s better to just pass on the work than it is to take an unknown risk.

To me, that’s just plain crazy. Not only are they leaving a ton of money on the table by refusing to do these repairs, they’re also making themselves look rather silly in the eyes of potential clients. There’s an old axiom in business; “If you make a customer happy, you’re lucky if they tell more than two people, if you upset a customer, you’ll be lucky if they tell less than ten people.” Imagine all these potential customers telling their friends and families that the local computer repair shop can’t repair their computer.

Today I’m going to help you get past that feeling of uncertainty, generate another (rather profitable) source of revenue for you and your computer repair business, and blow away your competition by offering a service that they can’t, won’t or don’t. [Read more…]

Getting started with offering managed services to home users

April 12, 2016 By Erik Lilleland 5 Comments

Running your own computer repair business, either part or full time, can be a pretty awesome and rewarding experience. The biggest challenge would probably be building up a steady stream of income. Having a steady revenue stream can help to break the “feast or famine” cycle, and provide your growing business with some much needed income stability.

Arguably the best way to stabilize your income is to provide services that generate a recurring revenue.

An easy, and often overlooked, way to start generating a steady source of income is to start offering your residential clients a “managed antivirus” service. [Read more…]

When is the Right Time to “Nuke and Pave”?

March 05, 2016 By Erik Lilleland 4 Comments

A big challenge of running a computer repair business, whether you’re just a one-man operation or managing an entire shop full of technicians, is keeping your services profitable.

One of the most common, and potentially profitable, services we all provide to our clients is malware removal.

Whatever your preferred methodology of virus remediation, from time to time you’re bound to come across those problem machines. The ones that seem like no matter what you do, or how many hours you spend plugging away at a fix, Windows just doesn’t seem to be running right. As time goes by, reinstalling the operating system seems more and more like the right thing to do. Finally you bite the bullet and do the old “nuke and pave”.

Once everything is back up and running and you see the computer purring like a kitten you tell yourself that you should have just reinstalled hours ago.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but in the future how could you possibly know when is it time to go with the nuclear option?

In one of his more famous songs, Kenny Rogers says that “you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em” and “know when to fold ‘em”. As technicians and business owners we’ve got to know when it’s worth it to struggle with some obscure virus, and when it’s time to break out the big guns.

When faced with this all-too-common dilemma try asking yourself the following questions:

How soon does the customer need to be back up and running?

Is this machine “mission critical”? Do they need to have everything back up and running as soon as humanly possible? If so then quickest and most efficient thing to do is to re-image the drive and restore the data from a backup (you are making sure that your client’s data is backed up, aren’t you?).

A re-image can often take only a fraction of the time that a more complex malware removal will take. If time is of the essence, then a re-image might just be the way to go.
[Read more…]

The Biggest Mistake I Made That Prevented Me From Growing My Computer Business

February 04, 2016 By Erik Lilleland 9 Comments

Like a lot of technicians who decided to take the plunge and go to work for themselves, I thought that all I would be doing all day every day would be fixing computers. I didn’t see any need for having anything written out. I was a one-man band, and I was sure that I could figure out anything that would come along. For the things I couldn’t figure out, I’d just “wing it”.

And “winging it” worked…for the most part. Sure things would be a bit disorganized and hectic every now and again, and maybe I’d hesitate a little when a client would ask a question that would catch me off guard, but at the end of the day each job got done and my customers were happy and my business kept growing. That’s all that really matters, right?

As it turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
[Read more…]

Posts by: Erik Lilleland