Each and every month membership is growing in the Association and interest in the group is increasing. What started off as a place for the small business owner to become part of a worldwide Association is now becoming a reality.

About the Association of Computer Repair Business Owners

The Association of Computer Repair Business Owners is a trade association of Computer Repair Business owners, dedicated to the advancement of the Computer Repair Business through the building of trust and professionalism of its members. Every association member pledges to adhere to the Code’s standards as a condition of admission and continuing membership in the Association.

Dan
ACRBO.com

So the question to me was “Is there a requirement that one has to be registered in their state for a year”?, “Or any other requirements”? Now this made me thing “Maybe we need some stringent requirements”….But, then reality set in and I realized no we don’t. The Association is for all business owners that feel as though they might benefit from the Association or feel that they can contribute to the Assocation. If you want to call it a “requirement” you can but what we do require is that you abide by a “Code of Conduct” in all your business dealings. To me that keeps it simple and it’s a personal preference if you feel that you can abide by them.

The thought of setting specific requirements to me is rather foolish for a number of reasons. First, when I started my business I had 20 years of experience in the industry. I worked on million dollar networks, and managed many others. So in the above case I would not be eligible to be part of that forum. Why? Becuase I was not registered in my state long enough? What is to say that the person who has been registered for a mere year does not only have “one year” of experience. What makes that business owner a better canidate then myself? To me it is a rather foolish way of doing things.

I am thinking maybe i’ll change the Association so anyone who wants to join has to meet the following requirements:

1. Your business has to be registered for at least 5 years
2. Your business has to be a corporation (no sole proprietorships or llc’s allowed)
3. Business insurance to include E&O Insurance
4. Tax statements showing at least 100K each and every year
5. At least 2 full-time employees
6. At least 1 company vehicle
7. Signed lease for at least the last 3 years of busienss showing you have a storefront

Granted I am only going to end up with let’s say about a dozen members but what a treat it will be. We can all visit the forum and tell each other how great we are and how much we respect each other for meeting the stringent requirements to join….

Wait…Another thought just crossed my mind……

How about if I keep the Association the way it is, and welcome all business owners, no matter the years of experience in the Assocaiation and help them grown their business. Or better yet, we continue to allow all owners into the Association and listen and hear what new innovative ideas they have to build a business model.

Don’t ever forget “everyone” has to start somewhere….”Seclusiveness” does not always mean better…

Dan
Association of Computer Repair Business Owners

The one thing you always read is “what can I do that is guaranteed to work”….I always read that and for some crazy reason I will read the next few replies actually thinking to myself  “I’m going to find out the REAL answer” . Well as you can guess, I never do find out. The reason for this is there is NO real answer when it comes to marketing. Every business owner must decide for themselves how much they can afford, what their area supports for advertising and basically what does and what does not work in their area.

I’ve known some businesses that can put out a few road signs and they get business daily. I know other busiensses that can spend 5K a month on advertising and just barely break even.

I think what is important is that you have to continually advertise. You can’t just advertise “when you want” and have it work. Advertising has to be done each and every day of your existence to some extent in order to have it be productive. There are literally thousands of ways a business can advertertise and nobody is going to try each and everyone of them, but you have to have a starting point.

Check around in your area and see what others are doing for advertising. Look and see if others are doing pretty much the same sort of advertising each and every month. If you can track what others are doing you at least have a starting point of what actually “might work”. But, until you actually start doing it yourself you will never know.

To compile a list of possible advertising I don’t think is needed there are entirely too many locations on the net that you can find those types of list. To me keep it simple and do the things that you can easily do with little or no upfront cost.

1. Work on your website not only for content but for meta tags, descriptions, image tags, cross linking, blogs, etc.
2. Utilize social media such as facebook, linkedin, myspace, etc.
3. Utilize SMS marketing (yes new advertising means, but who do you know that does not carry a phone with them)
3. Look for community forums in your area to joing and give feedback to others (who knows you might become the expert)
4. Volunteer to give classes at community centers or other locations that they will advertisie for you

Marketing your business should be a daily ritual and one if done properly will pay off in the long run

Dan
CmoNova.com
Acrbo.com

Having maintained over 50 websites for the past few years we have finally taken the plunge and started our own hosting company. The thought of starting it was planned for quite some time, it was just a matter of putting it into effect.

You would think starting a hosting company would not be all that difficult…wrong   So many things to learn and do that sometimes it was crazy. But, with all that said we are finally done. The business is: Veteran Web Hosting

Like everything else Veteran Web Hosting allows a discount to all members of the Association of Computer Repair Business Owners.

I think it went pretty well, but I could be a bit bias…Steve from Podnutz is a great guy and really nice to talk with. Also, if you are not aware of this, Steve has created some great videos on laptop repair. These videos are extremely high quality and full of information. Check them out here.

You can listen to the episode here.