Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

New York Times best selling author Chet Holmes is renowned for his business growth strategies. He’s perfected them over the past two decades, working with over 60 of the Fortune 500 and countless small to mid-sized companies and is now helping businesses of every kind and size implement these strategies to achieve breakthrough growth for themselves.

I am pleased to announce that the Computer Repair Business Weekly podcast has scheduled Chet Holmes to talk to our subscribers about the importance of a revenue model in your PC repair business. Chet will also talk about some of the methods he uses to transform average companies to award-winning powerhouse organizations.

The Computer Repair Business Weekly podcast will be featured on the topITshop.com website and will begin posting in December of 2009. Chet is a VERY busy man and is in high demand as a speaker and as a consultant. We are fortunate he found the time to spend with us and I can promise you this is a podcast you will not want to miss.

Follow topITshop on Twitter to receive a notification as soon as the podcast goes live!

Steve from Podnutz and I recorded the second installment of Computer Repair Business Weekly this afternoon for the upcoming topITshop.com website.

This episode focused on the nuts and bolts of starting a computer repair business.

Many techs who decide to start their own computer repair service center assume that all that is needed to start an IT company is to know how to fix things properly.

This podcast is intended to give the listener a crash course on the boring managerial business garbage that must be done to avoid silly (and expensive) problems.

What Did You Cover in the Podcast

We touched on a lot of different topis in the 45-minute show, but here are some of the highlights. If you have questions about these topics, this podcast is definitely for you:

• Accounting Setup – Cash or Accrual – Which is better? Bookkeeper or Accountant?
• Banking Setup – How many accounts do you need and what kind of fees should you expect?
• Basic Marketing Setup – Your name, your cards, and your URL – Get it right the first time
• Legal Setup – Sole Proprietorship, LLC, or Corporation – Which is right for you?
• Government Compliance – Get the permits you need, pick the right lawyer

When will the Podcast Be Available

We will be releasing the podcasts once each week once the topITshop.com site is up and running. We expect to have the site up by December.

If you want to keep up on the latest topITshop developments, follow topITshop on Twitter.

This week Steve from Podnutz and I recorded the first episode of Computer Repair Business Weekly. The podcast will be featured on the topITshop.com website and is designed to help current and aspiring independent computer repair shop owners keep their heads above water and MAKE MONEY.

The podcast will be released in weekly installments on topITshop.com as well as through iTunes when the website goes live in December 2009.

Steve recently sold his own computer repair company and I have owned and operated Schrock Innovations for over 10 years. The two of us have different perspectives and experiences to draw from and together on the podcast we offer some pretty unique conversation.

What Did You Talk About?

For example, in this episode we talked about why it is important to think about what kind of business owner you want to be before you open your doors to the world.

There are two kinds of business owners – Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.

Small business owners enjoy a less expensive start up and easier management, but typically their operations grind to a halt if they don’t show up to work.

Entrepreneurial operations are more expensive and complex to start up, but if the owner executes properly they can run on their own as a systematized operation. This allows the entrepreneur to make his or her exit at some point and move on to a new venture while their old one continues to bring in money.

Where can I Listen?

The podcasts will not be released until the topITshop website goes live in December. If you follow topITshop.com on Twitter, you will know exactly when we launch and we will tweet when the podcast is released.

If you follow my Tweets you might know about a project I am working on called topITship.com.

Schrock Innovations does a great job breaking technology down for our customers and clients into understandable and practical servings. One of the reasons Schrock has been so successful is that its somewhat rare to find a tech company that can do that.

What is topITshop.com?

The idea behind topITshop is to serve the other sode of the equation – other IT shops.

The website will feature video reviews that you can’t find anywhere else (not even cNet), informative articles about how to conduct business more efficiently, as well as marketing advice and proven-effective techniques for building a sustainable business.

Every year thousands of IT professionals ditch their employers to venture out on their own, and unfortunately most of them will fail. They typically fail because the owner is a technician, not a businessman.

When the new venture is created, the entrepreneur fails to realize that the skill set required to be a good technician is completely different than the skill set needed to build an effective revenue model and execute it.

topITshop.com is designed to help tech entrepreneurs and their employees bend the learning curve, survive the initial volitile start-up years, and prosper in an ethical way.

When Will it Launch?

We have the website designed, and have released it to our coders this week. I am anticipating a November / December launch, but there are a lot of loose ends that need to be wrapped up before that can happen.

Some of the content for the website includes:

• A Weekly Podcast Called “Computer Repair Business Weekly”
• Video Reviews of Components you will actually order (not cool stuff you can’t sell)
• Marketing Advice Articles
• Guest Contributors
• ID10T Stories (shop owners you know that we all have these)
• Tips on Refining Your Business Practices

Want to Be a Part?

If you are involved in the IT industry and believe you have content that would be valuable to others in the industry, we might be interested in talking with you.

If you are interested in becoming a contributor, email me your information, a description of what you believe you have to contribute, and what you want in return for your contribution.

This website is based on predictable, accurate, high-quality content, so make sure you bring your A-game!