step by step, almost there.

[duketony75]

three quarters of the way through opening an appliance repair business in busy northern Virginia. so far so good but could use some work to start coming in.
 i didn't find a lot of help with the business side so maybe this will help some one
I started with a loan for 15,000.
i contacted my state department to set up my LLC. theres company's that will do it for 200$-500$ but it was easy and i got it the next day for less than 200$. bam!! I'm an LLC.
bought a 1999 astrovan for 3500$ yep there pricey out here. but it looks good and runs great
now insurance. auto and business is about $2000 a year. a little less maybe.
truck stock. 3000$ found a good parts guy and said put me together your 100 most sold parts and items. worked great.
getting the van lettered in the morning $200
shaking every tree i can to find work now but I'm not hearing anything back. a little scary.
it's going to happen. Ive been fixing this stuff since i was 18, I'm 35 now. I'm good and learning every day.

[JWWebster]

Dude once the word of mouth gets around you will build a following as long as you do the job and do it cheap. LOL

[duketony75]

im not really scared yet. in 2 weeks i will be but im sure ill be hard at work by then.

[blondejon]

I see some people putting ads on Craigslist for appliance repair.  Have you tried that?

[JWWebster]

I put em on there but never got one response.

[Ronyeager]

the lettering on the van will help a lot.  business cards and word of mouth are the best though

[Ronyeager]

Get in good with an installer who contracts with lowes or home depot.  They usually don't do repairs they just do installs and they can refer a ton of business.

[whirlpooltech]

Dude once the word of mouth gets around you will build a following as long as you do the job and do it cheap. LOL

If you plan on staying in business long you can't be to cheap.

There are people out there that are willing to pay more for great service.

To provide great service you need to know what your doing. This means you need to be experienced and it takes time to get experience. You also need to stock parts so you can complete calls the first time around.

Second trips back don't make customers happy and they cost money.

The people that are willing to pay for great service are also the ones that pay you on time.

Seems the people that are always trying to save a buck are also the ones I have a hard time collecting from.