Starting out in Television repair career-what it takes

I received a mail from South Africa from Mr.Johannes seeking to know what it takes(is it what or WATTS it takes) to venture into electronics repair business.

Mr. H. Kimathi

I am interested in buying your e-book course Repairing C.R.T. Television and start small by repairing for customers in my neighborhood and start earning something for myself.

Bright idea Johannes,

I am currently looking for a sponsor for a start up capital to buy some testing equipments and your e-book and need some clarification on some questions:

Noted

What are all the beginners testing equipments to be included in the Business Plan?

Every trade has his own tools of trade Johannes, for Television repairs the minimum you should have include:-

Digital/analogue multimeter, soldering iron/wire, soldering iron stand, De-soldering pump, screw driver(star/flat),Comfortable work bench- The bench needs not be expensive but the height should be that make you be seated comfortably without straining your back. Alternatively you can adjust the chair height.             

                                             

These you can get them cheaply from your nearest electronics shop which I believe they are readily available.

There are others which I consider very important but a bit expensive for someone who is getting started and therefore can be added later as you walk down the road. These include ESR meter, fly back tester, Oscilloscope etc.

Following all the instructions in your e-book will I be confident enough to tackle most of the C.R.T problems as a beginner?

In my book I have avoided all the theories taught in colleges and I have majored on real life scenarios from the technician workbench, so you will find that most of the faults you encounter are already covered in the book.

How should I be charging a customer? E.g. If I replaced a burnt Resistor only = {$ ? to the Customer} Replacing a Horizontal Output Transistor = {$? to the Customer} etc.

In setting the charges one has to consider several things: these include, cost of the spare part, time taken to diagnose the problem, and other overhead expenses like rent if you have rented a shop, traveling expenses to buy the spare parts etc. luckily with electronics most of the things that go wrong are usually not expensive like you have given an example of a resistor, others faults even don’t need spares part like the dry joints and loose connection.

This is where the customer pays you now for your knowledge, this include the investment you did studying electronics.

If my business comes to do very well how many Sets should I be at least targeting for a day for faultfinding? (As a Now Confident Professional)

Again let me say that most of electronics repairs are easy fix, but there are also few tough dogs where it can take quite a bit of your time but these are special cases.

Do you ever charge a consultation fee for just checking the set what is wrong with it before repairing, in case it becomes too much for a client to afford according to his/her pocket and end up wanting the set back without being repaired.

No... I don’t charge any consultation fees, I charge a flat rate for Television repairs and I communicate this to the customer in advance. If you find the spoil t component is more expensive than estimated charge then communicate to the customer before you replace it.

I do not know how to use an oscilloscope; will it be necessary to obtain one for this course?

No... the book is centered around troubleshooting using basic test equipment with the room to expand to advanced ones down the road.

Thank you for giving this email an attention and hope to hear from you soon.

Glad to meet you Johannes, pleasure charting with you…

Kind Regards

Johannes T. Motsei (South Africa)

Humphrey Kimathi

Author CRT Television repair course