Some Thoughts on my Electronic Repair business
Why I may want to STOP this service center:
· Because soldering involves lead and I have heard enough about lead poisoning and its smoke.
· One spends hours together trying to work out where the fault lies and sometimes is not able to locate the fault or when he discovers the fault finally, and because of non-availability of spare parts, is not able to rectify the problem .Now, when the customer sees it he sees no result. And I cannot bill him. I lose valuable time and energy in that very stressful but uneventful effort. Time that I could have spent with my family, on my thoughts and on traveling around the country.
· In this fiercely competitive world, when Items are getting smaller & cheaper with more and more features which means more technical difficulty in repairing, hence, the need to charge more. With depreciating eyesight combined with the products getting smaller one does not know how long he can survive in this field. But, here is the summary and also where the problem is, because this new item (without any service manual) is monetary vise- cheaper and also smaller making that much more difficult to read, access it with a normal soldering iron, as well as brittle and electronically fragile makes it that much more stressful for the repairman to service it. And for the effort put in, if the repairman where to charge accordingly, it becomes uneconomical for the customer to repair, drastically forcing the repairman to slash his service charges so that the customer approves of the repair and so also that he could serve his purpose there, paradoxically in this world of high costs. Also companies themselves are making their products unserviceable making the item NON-technician-friendly.
· I think what happens to professions which die down slowly is that for example in my shop, I would be burdened with lots of work because there aren’t any new generation people coming in to work, (new generation because you need sharper eye sight, sturdier hands, the drive to learn about the new technology, and more hands on experience on new technology, etc) and because these new generation people clearly know that this field has no future would not pursue this field leaving me alone to struggle to keep my shops so called “honor” and work towards “trying to finish the job somehow” even if it means making a loss, ultimately ending up ruining my & my families life in it.
· In the continuous struggle to deliver things on time I might end up procrastinating some of the more time taking work and the customer after being turned away a couple of times hearing “work is not done” would give up on the item even after the item is repaired. Now the item is at the shop repaired, and undelivered, and the repair effort does not serve any purpose for anyone, the customer probably having lost the drive to see the item repaired or having bought a new piece by this time. That is one of the reasons one sees a lot of items stored up on shelves at such repair shops.
· Sometimes I think that if I had been able to sit and finish repairing one thing at a time that I could finish more things than, repairing many things simultaneously at one time leading to many half done things and some sort of chaos. So if the worker/repairer was protected from directly answering to the customer and continue undisturbed with his investigations then, probably he could work with more continuity and concentration. But again being protected from the customer the technician would not know the customer, his requirements and pay potential . Similarly if the billing were to be separated from the worker then, probably the technician could charge more or is that my individual problem that, I am unassertive and easily agree to discounts.
· Some days I am not able to perform because I am distracted by the unappointed arrival of the customers and what they would say and also when I keenly listen and follow the CNBC channel or other channels on my TV sitting inside my cabin.
· Because I think this would not ever really become a credit job. I can clearly remember my dad when introducing me to his friends or family would tell that I was doing ‘engineering’ even when we all knew that I was doing a technicians course and was going to be one. Here, clearly he was trying to protect himself and me from the dirty word ‘repairman’.
· Because, repairing, most of the times is an unappreciated job.
· In my more than 20 years of experience, my work was once appreciated by a customer named Sooraj. After listening to and trying out the supposed to be irrepairable amplifier, Sooraj disappeared and reappeared a little later with a cake in hand which said thank you, WOW!. That memory still emotes me.
· Because the final repairing cost can only be known after the repairs and the customer is not always happy with the bill.
· Because, repairing involves handling negative energy. Problem- being a negative event.
· Because repairing exists when there are problems and people want instant solutions faster and cheaper and too at their place, it is getting to “ No longer a lab job”.
· The important secret is to know what your limit is and say NO to anything outside of its boundaries. Now here I am going to contradict this by saying that unless and until one takes up new challenges and learns by opening those new items and sincerely studying them without the intention of destroying the item, one is not going to progress. Even though it means lost time for one and the customer.
I start my day, the customers keep coming in, and then if the I have to say ‘no it is not done’ to two or three customers in a row, it sometimes sucks and drains me, especially if deep inside I am unsure if I want to continue with this repair business. Now, when this happens and I am not able to supplement with more positive drive then, I happen to spend the rest of the time just waiting for the day to get over with and somehow escape home to my family.
HOW I COULD BETTER MY SHOP
· If I could give an estimate of the work (cost and time) to the customers before I actually make or do the repairs I could freely charge more. But I know this is not always possible.
· I should start a program of taking a look at the items atleast the same day and arriving a conclusion and report back to the customer atleast the next day. This would certainly reduce a lot of stress .
· I should compulsorily take advance for the work to be done.
· I think I should use my “Gone out for spares” board more liberally. What happens is that I wait for somebody to sit in the shop, for me to be able to go, Even though, I know very well that nobody would be able to do that, except myself.
PLUS POINT ABOUT THIS BUSINESS
· Service / Repair business needs the least of financial investment in stock. And is less risky and because of this reason one could get out of this business easily and sooner.
