I’ve been plugging away at my business plan over the past few days and have made some decent progress. I’ve been trying to write it as professionally as possible so it’s taking a some extra time to make sure I have all the wording all nice and pretty.

The worst part about the whole thing is the market research.  It’s hard enough to find decent numbers for places like Toronto and Vancouver never mind Halifax or maybe even a smaller town where I grew up. I guess it might not be that the numbers are hard to find, it might just be hard to find for a non-numbers person such as myself. Regardless it will come eventually.

Aside from that I am working with someone (sort of) on a new project that hopes to be launched into beta  sometime in the not too distant future. I don’t want to say much about it right now because I am not sure what exactly my involvement in this project will be and the details aren’t all worked out as to what the final product is actually going to look like.

I am also working on an eComStation related website project that, as soon as some bugs are worked out, will be launched. I hope that will happen within the next week or two before I return to my regular day job but I am not 100% sure yet.

~TheNerd

I wanted to throw out some advice that I wish someone would have given me what I first entered the IT universe.

If you happen to be one of those people who loves new and exciting things, you might just want to stay away from the big corporations and government organizations. On the other hand, if you are a person who values are most towards having a stable job with many benefits, then you might want to go for one of those places.

It is my experience in the corporate world that has shown me that most corporations like to create a homogeneous and stable environment that does not promote the use of cutting edge technologies but rather promotes the use of technologies that have been proven over time. While this is a good thing for the organization it might not be what all technicians are looking for.

If you want to play with new technologies and have a chance to live on the cutting edge you might want to op in to a job at a smaller, private company. If you really want to live on the edge you might want to even look for a job at a Web 2.0 start up. Then you would really have the chance to play with new stuff.

Anyway I though I would share that with you :).

~TheNerd

I haven’t given up on my business dream yet. I’ve put my business plan on hold for a few days while I read a book called The E Myth by Michael Gerber. This book was recommended to me by Mike Muise and is apparently one of the “must reads” for anyone interested in starting a small business. Thus far I have managed to read up to chapter 3 and I must say it’s quite engaging.

I will probably need to buy a book on business plans (Business Plans for Dummies maybe?) as I’ve got about as much as I can done and now need some “help”. A business plan is quite involved and I would prefer to do it right the first time around so that if I do ever decide to proceed on my quest that I will be well prepared and have something to show the financial institutions and/or investors when the time comes.

I’m learning a lot about business and entrepreneurship and am loving every minute of it.

~TheNerd

I’ve recently started listing items on eBay again and it got me thinking about the changes I’ve seen in the past 10 years.

When I first signed up on eBay, a little over 10 years ago, you didn’t need a credit card and there was no such thing as “Buy it now”. eBay was still full of Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers. At that time your user ID was your email address and it was publicly displayed, there wasn’t much worry of your inbox being harvested for spam.

At one time you could sell firearms, animals, and human body parts. Most of those categories were short lived because eBay soon found out there was lots of liability associated with them. Then there was eBay Motors, a separate place to sell your used cars and parts. There was no such thing as Half.com, Paypal, or Skype. You had to sit around and wait for a cheque or money order to show up in the mail and then hope it didn’t bounce.

When I first signed up, people used to actually take care when they left feedback. Buyers didn’t leave negative feedback on whim just because there was a speck of dirt on the box. Buyers and sellers actually communicated and solved their problems, what a strange concept. I remember when Safe Harbor was put into place, what a relief it was to have a way to solve those extra difficult problems.

So many things have changed over the years, some good and some bad came of it. The one thing I really do miss about eBay is the true sense of community. Now they have communities (forums and such) but you don’t make the personal connections you once did. I’ve made many friends over the years on the site but that happened mostly in the past.

~TheNerd

Thanks to Nodatilu (who commend on a previous post) I’ve decided that I am going to try creating a business plan for my computer shop business idea. I never really thought of using that as a gauge to see how sound this business really is. I must also thank Mike Muise (who happens to be my brother in-law) for his words as well. They got me thinking that my dream of being my own boss might not be a total pipe dream.

I must admit, I’ve already started to fill out a template. It’s probably been seen by just about every financial institution but it was provided free of charge from the BDC on their website so I figured it must be fairly safe to use. If you would like to see what I got myself into click here  to download a copy of the files.

It’s a good thing they also provide an example of a filled out business plan because I really know nothing about what I am doing. I guess it’s good and bad, at very least I will learn some new things about entrepreneurship. Also, there’s a second part, which is a spreadsheet, used to calculate all the financial stuff. I’m sure I’ll need help with that but I’ll tackle that part when I get there.

As of now, I am about 1/4 of the way through the first draft. I’ll try and post some updates as I go along so you can follow my progress.

Cheers for now!
~TheNerd

The more I think of it the more I realize that I was never really meant to work for other people. I believe that my true calling is running my own business. Over the years I’ve dabbled in business off and on but haven’t really had the resources to make a true go of it.

My first business was called Harbourview Electronics and was based out of my parents house. I started it when I was about 16 years old and mainly sold things on eBay. My next venture came when I was about 17 years old. I started a company with a friend, we called On The Verge Technologies, Inc. Nothing much happened with that as we didn’t have much time because we were in high school.

A few years later I bought out a carpet cleaning business from a friend and started running that in my spare time. At that time I had a full time job and didn’t have the energy to work a second job in the off hours. I eventually traded my gear from that business to a car dealer in exchange for a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier (along with my truck). This business actually paid for itself though :).

So now I have another small business called Nerfd Technologies. This one, I run out of my apartment in my spare time. I’ve been doing relatively well actually, but it’s just part time and more of a hobby than anything. I sell computer equipment, design and maintain websites, and provide general tech support for home and small business users.

What I really want is to be able to focus all of my energy on my own business. I want to open a computer store (or some other sort of store) and be able to run it full time. I have family members who are in business and have been very successful so I believe I would have some resources there to draw upon for help and advice. The only problem with this idea is that some people don’t think it’s a good idea or that it’s too risky. I’ve always been a risk taker and that is part of the appeal of a new business.

I know I have the experience needed to start a computer business. I’ve been working in the IT industry for 5 years now and I’ve got just about all the experience I need for this type of venture. Anything else I could do through contractors. The biggest part, that worries most people, is the up front financial cost (duh!). I know it would cost at least $20,000 to get me going. This should cover a few months rent as well as the initial stock for the store. I would have to pay myself an hourly wage of some sort but could get away with a small amount (enough to pay personal bills) until the business started making enough money to allow for a bigger payout.

Some days I feel like this is just a vague pipe dream. Will it ever happen? I don’t know but I sure hope that it does. I’ve always wanted something to call my own and have the freedoms that come with an established business. As I mentioned earlier I am intrigued and interested in the risk associated with the whole idea as well. The though of it is invigorating.

~TheNerd

“Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today announced that Google accounted for 67.25 percent of all U.S. searches in the four weeks ending March 29, 2008.” (Source)

Here is a breakdown of the top search providers.

1. Google - 67.25%
2. Yahoo! - 20.29%
3. MSN - 6.65%
4. ASK - 4.09%

It doesn’t appear that Google’s momentum is ready to slow down anytime and this goes to show that maybe all these Google nuts aren’t crazy after all

~TheNerd

Have you ever wondered why tech support people are cranky? Well it’s your fault. If you only knew how many times people call and yell at us for things that we have no control over or have nothing to do with. Do you talk to your mother that way? Probably not. I bet you’ve even heard the saying “Do onto others as you would want them to do onto you”. That definitely applies when you call tech support.

Here is a list of some simple things you should keep in mind when talking to tech support on the phone (or email):

1. Be nice and don’t yell
2. Explain your problem not what you want us to do to fix it
3. We don’t care if you’ve had a bad day
4. It’s not our fault you left things to the last minute and then your computer broke
5. We are your peers so don’t talk down to us
6. We never let “gremlins” loose after hours to mess things up. We already have enough to do.
7. Remember that your problem is not necessarily the most important thing on our agenda
8. We are not a counseling service and we don’t care about your “non-tech” problems
9. We don’t always want to help you with your home computer
10. Just because you can do it at home doesn’t mean you can do it at work

So there’s a list of 10 things that you should always keep in mind when you call tech support. A little bit of respect goes a long way towards creating a healthy relationship with your techies and will get you faster service in the end. Being disrespectful does not make anyone want to help you and will, most often, result in slower response and repair times.

Cheers!
~TheNerd