Best ways to make money from computer skills?

[ScottButler]

Hi,

I really enjoy working with computers and was wondering if it was realistic to be able to make some extra money from computers from my situation. I know that it's possible but I'm hoping to find out how best to go about it. I don't want to make a fortune (At least not just yet ), but I would like some extra cash because I haven't yet left school and I want to start my own business and start earning my own money asap. Obviously I'm ruling out getting a job at this stage.

My skills at the moment: (Not very much compared to you guys)

I know a bit about advertising, you can advertise for free or very cheap on facebook, gumtree, ebay (+ similar), local papers, business directories, posting leaflets, crossloop (not looked into how useful this is but the idea seems good) blogs, free ads, word of mouth etc

I can google stuff. This sounds stupid but I've managed to fix 4 computers recently (not many I know) from viruses and general slowness by googling how to fix things.
Mainly by using simple tools like system restore, msconfig (start menu), AVG antivirus, Spybot, CCcleaner, disc cleaner, defragmenting hard drives, also restoring to factory settings or re-installing windows (not done this one yet but I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem) as a last resort.
I know there's other methods like loading virus scanners in safe mode, that I am prepared to practice before I do it for real but I first wanted to ask what the best methods of making money from computers are so that I can choose which areas to focus on learning.

This article also looks good and I'm hoping to find and bookmark a lot more like it to help me learn other useful tricks:

How To: Clean an infected PC

So I figured there's a few ways to make money from computers that I can think of:

Buying and selling:

Buy old / slow / virus ridden computers, fix them then sell them on. Also look for bargains going on ebay etc and snap them up before selling on at a profit.
I know there's a lot of people with old computers lying around collecting dust because they've slowed down or caught viruses and the owner has decided to just buy a new one rather than fixing the old one but is this a realistic way of making money?

Possible issues:

Travel: I should be able to work around this.
Pricing: I'm thinking I could use a website that buys laptops to guestimate a price and then haggle from that to buy a laptop, then either add a percentage on to the sale value or look on ebay and other 2nd hand computer sales places to guestimate a selling price.
Inability to resolve: Learn more skills, google, ask on forums, learn by practice, test before buy, sell parts if all else fails.
Advertising: Using advertising methods stated earlier plus any others that I can think of.
Advertisement quality: Research how advertising works and copy and adjust other peoples ads that look good
Other unforeseen: ???

Fixing:

Well I know there's a lot of people who get frustrated with their old, slow, virus infested computers but don't have the skills or time to learn how to fix them. I checked out the going rate for fixing PC's and I would be more than happy to have a go at fixing peoples computers for a lot less than half of what the pro's charge. I guess this is a good way of making extra money but I'm worried my current skills will mean that I could end up looking stupid if I offered to fix somebodies computer and couldn't. How many more skills would I need to learn before I could advertise myself as somebody who can resolve PC issues?

Possible issues:

Travel: I should be able to work around this.
Pricing: I'd just do it on a very cheap hourly rate to start with, plus a bit if I need to pick up or drop off the computer.
Risk of damaging property: Insurance / disclaimer / extreme caution
Inability to resolve: Learn more skills, google, ask on forums, learn by practice.
Advertising: Using methods stated earlier plus any others that I can think of.
Advertisement quality: Research how advertising works and copy and adjust other peoples ads that look good
Other unforeseen: ???


Building:

This one is probably more difficult as it would involve more skills and investment to start in parts and soldering irons etc but if it's a lot more profitable than the other 2 options together then I'd be happy to give it a go.

Possible issues:

Learning: I'd need to learn this all from scratch.
PC's going out of fashion: As far as I know building laptops isn't a viable business option and not many people want tower computers nowadays.
Pricing: I'd have to find out how to buy cheap and work out how much I can sell it for
Inability to get it working: Trying to build an expensive PC from scratch then finding it doesn't work isn't really an option I want to think about.
Advertising issues: As above

I guess my problem is that I really want to learn how to make money from computers (even if it's just a small amount) but I don't know how realistic any of these ideas are or how many more skills I need to learn in order to actually start making money for them.

I know I have a lot to learn but could I make even a little bit of money with the skills I have or do I need to learn a lot lot more before taking on this challenge, if so can anybody point me in the right direction of what I need to learn and if possible where I can learn it and basically what I need to do to make it happen?

Any advice is much appreciated, even if it's just to tell me I should get a paper round.

 

[liams7]

Hi Buddy,

I love your enthusiasm its fantastic and i love that you want to get out there but with out really any skills what so ever, i wouldnt really put yourself out there yet.

If i was you i would try talking to your mum and dads mates, find the ones that need pcs, See if you can help them out, Im sure some will have viruses, slow pcs, ask if you can fix them for £15

then get yourself in to some sort of training, Apprenticeship.

I wouldnt go getting paid work because if you cant do it you will run in to all sorts of issues.

Friends family thats your best bet.

 

[ScottButler]

Hi Buddy,

I love your enthusiasm its fantastic and i love that you want to get out there but with out really any skills what so ever, i wouldnt really put yourself out there yet.

If i was you i would try talking to your mum and dads mates, find the ones that need pcs, See if you can help them out, Im sure some will have viruses, slow pcs, ask if you can fix them for £15

then get yourself in to some sort of training, Apprenticeship.

I wouldnt go getting paid work because if you cant do it you will run in to all sorts of issues.

Friends family thats your best bet.

Thank you for your honest reply, I appreciate it.
I do really want to start making my own money but I do realise that I could be trying to run before I can walk by trying to start some sort of business already.

At the moment I just feel there's not any real options for training that I could do now to help me achieve my goals as quickly as I want to achieve them.
I did speak to my dad about it, he helped me with some of the ideas on marketing so I guess I can ask him if he knows anybody but I don't want to rely on him to do everything for me.

I agree with you that I have few skills but I feel I can help people make their computers work a lot faster which seems to be some kind of useful skill, even if they probably could work it out themselves if they took the time to find out how.

I guess I should ask more friends if they have slow computers and offer to try to fix them for free before I start trying to charge people that I don't know.

Another option would be to buy a friends or a friends parents old computer that is either very slow or has viruses so that they have replaced it and don't use anymore for £15 or £20 and try to make it work a lot faster then try to sell it for a small profit to see if I can get started that way before playing with other peoples property.

If I could fix another 5 or 10 computers for free and do a good job without harming anybodies computer, do you think I could then consider offering a service?

Sorry if it seems like I'm not taking your advice, I just feel that I don't want to wait for 3 years to find and finish a course that might not be all that useful when I could teach myself enough to be able to provide a valuable service a lot quicker than that.

Do these ideas seem destined to fail?

 

[deepee]

Where about in the uk are you?