20 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Computer Business

January 12, 2012 By 10 Comments

Improve Your Computer BusinessOver the three plus years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve experimented with many strategies for growing my fledgling computer consulting business. Some have worked well while others have fallen flat and turned out to be nothing but hype.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I only present topics about things that I have personally tried and experienced as I start and grow my computer repair business.  Yet, for new readers, it may be hard to find the best information among the hundreds of blogs posts on this site.

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Filed Under: Computer Guys Tool Box, Growing a Computer Business, YFNCG Tagged With: , , ,

Four Reasons to Sign Up for the YFNCG Newsletter

October 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a while, you may not have noticed a new feature there in the right column: The YFNCG Newsletter.

Even if you did notice it, you may not have felt compelled to sign-up.  You may already have signed up to receive blog updates via email or RSS.  However, those are simply ways to syndicate existing blog posts.  The YFNCG Newsletter is different.  It’s a way for me to connect with you more directly and more personally.

So if you’re on the fence about signing up, here are a few compelling reasons why you should.
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New Design, Same Blog

May 25, 2011 By 9 Comments

If you’re reading this at YFNCG.com then you’ve already noticed something (okay, everything) different with the look of the blog. If you’re reading this in a feed reader, or in email, hop on over to the website to take a look.

As I explained in a previous post, I’ve been working on a face lift for Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Call it a celebration of my new freedom from the 9-5. Call it a spring cleaning of sorts. In reality, I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time but never had the time. Now that I’m waiting for my computer business to ramp up to fill my full-time availability, I’ve had some down time to work on the redesign of this blog.

If it ain’t broke…

On the post where I announced my plans for a redesign, Mark made a comment that my blog is great the way it is. I appreciate that Mark! And I agree, the previous design of YFNCG was awesome.

However, it was a pain to change or add anything to the layout. Most of the places the blog fell short were in the back-end, behind the scenes in the way the site was coded. I use WordPress as the CMS behind this blog and I had a custom theme designed by a 3rd party. It was a unique, eye catching theme, but it was very inflexible and I had a hard time updating it and adding new features to the website. I needed something a little more flexible.
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Why I’m Giving Away My Secrets and How You Can Help

April 27, 2011 By 5 Comments

One of the benefits of having quit my job to pursue my passions full time is that, especially at first, I have more time to do what I want when I want. I’ve taken this opportunity recently and met a fellow consultant in my area for lunch. It was a great opportunity and one I probably wouldn’t have had time for had I still been employed. The lunch was fun and we exchanged a lot of great ideas and thoughts on running a computer business in our area.

One statement and question this gentleman asked really got me thinking (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact wording):

“I’m surprised that you’re giving away all your strategies for running your business on your blog. Aren’t you afraid you’re going to help out your competition by letting them in on your secrets?”

I’ve always know that by blogging I’d be sharing with the world my experiences with consulting. I’m aware that there’s a possibility that anything I say can be used against me by my competition. So why do I continue to spill the beans on this blog? After all, it takes a lot of work and time to write blog posts regularly, keeping them fresh and worth reading.

After he asked that question I explained to him my reasoning behind this blog and how it has helped me way more than it can ever hurt me. I’d like to use this post to expand on some of the key points I made to him during that lunch. Then at the end, I have a job for you!
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Filed Under: Stories from the Trenches, YFNCG Tagged With: , , ,

I’m Quitting My Job!

March 23, 2011 By 17 Comments

I’ve been fortunate enough for the past 6+ years to be gainfully employed in the IT department of a mid-sized pharmaceutical company.  I’ve risen the ranks from intern, to help desk, to infrastructure and server support.  I’ve been paid well and treated well.  And next week I’m going to throw it all away by resigning.

For about three years I’ve been growing my computer consulting business in my spare time.  If you’ve followed my progress here on YFNCG you know that originally I had set a goal of 5 years to grow my part time consulting business to the point that I’d be ready to take it on full time.  Right now I have a handful of steady clients, but not nearly enough to make a living.  I’ve discovered there are over a hundred competitors doing roughly the same thing in my area. It’s hard work and I’m doing it without any formal business training.  Yet in about two weeks, roughly 2 years shy of my original goal, I’ve decided to jump into doing it full time.

What would motivate a guy like me to leave a steady well-paying career-focused position in IT in order to run a business in a highly competitive market with uncertain income potential?  One word…

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Filed Under: Stories from the Trenches, YFNCG Tagged With: , ,

Y.F.N.C.G. is one year old!

July 27, 2009 By 5 Comments

This past Saturday, July 25th, marked the 1st anniversary of this blog.   It was exactly one year ago on that date that I published my first post here at Y.F.N.C.G. and began my adventures in blogging and entrepreneurship. It was in that post that post I laid the foundation for what has been a wonderful and challenging year.  A year which saw me plan, and begin running, a part-time computer consulting business.

Although currently this blog is on a temporary hiatus so that I can spend more time on another totally unrelated project, I’m still working hard at starting my consulting business.  Yes, I still consider my business in it’s start-up phase.  I am taking on a limited number of clients, but most of them are friends, or friends-of-friends.  I don’t plan on diving into my business full force for a while still.

So in the mean time, and to celebrate one year on the web,  I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some milestone posts from this past year:

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Guest Post: Would You Like Fries With That?…

February 02, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Happy February all you friendly neighborhood folks!  Lets kick the month off with a guest post, shall we?

This time I’m flexing my blogging muscles for Matt Ringer over at SmallBizBee.com.  I’ve been a loyal reader of SmallBizBee for a while now. Matt’s posts are easy to digest and always insightful, perfect for a small business beginner like me!  Both Matt and I have been blogging on our respective websites for about the same amount of time, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing SmallBizBee really start to take off from the very beginning.

In the article, I take a look at some of the techniques the Fast Food industry uses to consistently stay successful.  I then offer suggestions on how all small business owners can use these techniques in their own entrepreneurial endeavors.

But enough of my yapping.  Head on over to SmallBizBee.com and check it out:

Would You Like Fries With That? The Fast Food Approach To Thriving In A Down Economy

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A Jazzy Guest Post And A Techie Interview

January 22, 2009 By 3 Comments

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.

Filed Under: Interviews, YFNCG Tagged With: , , , ,

I’m On Twitter! Why Should You Care?

January 20, 2009 By 3 Comments

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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Guest Post: Four Ways Blogging Helped Me Start My Business

January 16, 2009 By 1 Comment

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!

Filed Under: Growing a Computer Business, YFNCG Tagged With: , , , ,
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