Mouse Pad Computer Shop

[Mouse Pad]

Hello everyone,
My name is Aaron Johnson. I am the co-owner of a small town computer repair and sales shop called Mouse Pad. We specialize in quite a few services ranging from disc and CD repair to virus removals to house calls.
At the Mouse Pad, we try to keep the most competitive prices compared to other computer shops we have locally and we match hardware prices found online.
I joined the Tech Forums to discuss, learn and teach what I know about computers, both hardware and software, with the community. I am sure the community will help teach me more than I can teach them but that's what everyone comes here for, to learn.
Thanks for reading my introduction and I look forward to meeting everyone on the forum community!

Until next time,
Mouse Pad Computers

 

[Chasee]

Hey Aaron!

That's awesome man!

What I'm curious about is business, and how you run your business. I too have started a very small, manageable business refurbishing computers and cleaning the software. I'd like to know how you began, and how you became the co-owner.

Hope to see you around!

 

[Mouse Pad]

Hey Aaron!

That's awesome man!

What I'm curious about is business, and how you run your business. I too have started a very small, manageable business refurbishing computers and cleaning the software. I'd like to know how you began, and how you became the co-owner.

Hope to see you around!

Well, the company began with another, original owner named Doug. I'm not quite sure of his last name but he was the man who started it all. He ran the Mouse Pad for 4 years and built it into a small town empire. He was making 150k a year when he found out he had a tumor in his brain that was terminal. During this time he decided that it was in his best interest to give the business to his good friend, my father.

My father then ran the business for 8 years. After 8 years of poor management he was making his living by hustling out of the shop.

I was assistant GM at a near McDonalds for three years and had went to college for business management. After the franchise got sold out to some poor owners, I decided to come to work for the Mouse Pad and improve the business that I'd one day inherit.

After just a month, we've upped sales for the shop by 125%. We're trying to learn and expand our knowledge so we thought it'd be a good idea to come to an online forum where people who do what we do congregate and talk about the stuff we do, thinking that we'd learn a thing or two along the journey.

That's our story!
Mouse Pad

 

[Trotter]

Great to have you with us. Quite a few here work on computers in one fashion or another so feel free to post up any questions you might have or to chip in where you see someone needs help.

 

[Chasee]

Well, the company began with another, original owner named Doug. I'm not quite sure of his last name but he was the man who started it all. He ran the Mouse Pad for 4 years and built it into a small town empire. He was making 150k a year when he found out he had a tumor in his brain that was terminal. During this time he decided that it was in his best interest to give the business to his good friend, my father.

My father then ran the business for 8 years. After 8 years of poor management he was making his living by hustling out of the shop.

I was assistant GM at a near McDonalds for three years and had went to college for business management. After the franchise got sold out to some poor owners, I decided to come to work for the Mouse Pad and improve the business that I'd one day inherit.

After just a month, we've upped sales for the shop by 125%. We're trying to learn and expand our knowledge so we thought it'd be a good idea to come to an online forum where people who do what we do congregate and talk about the stuff we do, thinking that we'd learn a thing or two along the journey.

That's our story!
Mouse Pad

Wow! What an incredible story! That's really awesome man!

Congratulations, I bet you are quite a successful individual! Is your business anywhere in the Houston area? Have you ever thought about going global?

Also, what are some strategies that you used to up sales, if you don't mind sharing the information. Give us some tips that you used to make your business successful again!

 

[Mouse Pad]

Wow! What an incredible story! That's really awesome man!

Congratulations, I bet you are quite a successful individual! Is your business anywhere in the Houston area? Have you ever thought about going global?

Also, what are some strategies that you used to up sales, if you don't mind sharing the information. Give us some tips that you used to make your business successful again!

Well thank you, I've had somewhat of an interesting go at life I guess.. lol.

We are located in southern Missouri and are not in a large town at all, so as you can imagine, our income is limited, which prevents us from opening up another store or expanding until we've backed up some money (Which will take time since our management just switched over). But that is something we plan on doing in the future.

We basically applied better systems to the following to increase sales and productivity in the shop:
1. Accounting.
2. Organization of inventory.
3. Managing the companies bank account.
4. Applying an organized payment period for employees.
5. Apply a fixed Salary for the employees. (Meaning they get paid one way only, not switch from hourly to commission depending on the business that day)
6. Monitoring the income and expenses of the shop by the hour, and react to "danger zones" which conclude of Labor Hours, non-productive work habits and unprofessional presentation.
7. We installed a security camera system.
8. Last I can share is presenting the customer with an organized, professional atmosphere when they enter the shop. We purchased multiple display cases to eliminate theft and present the customer with a more professional appearance with our product.

 

[Chasee]

Well thank you, I've had somewhat of an interesting go at life I guess.. lol.

We are located in southern Missouri and are not in a large town at all, so as you can imagine, our income is limited, which prevents us from opening up another store or expanding until we've backed up some money (Which will take time since our management just switched over). But that is something we plan on doing in the future.

We basically applied better systems to the following to increase sales and productivity in the shop:
1. Accounting.
2. Organization of inventory.
3. Managing the companies bank account.
4. Applying an organized payment period for employees.
5. Apply a fixed Salary for the employees. (Meaning they get paid one way only, not switch from hourly to commission depending on the business that day)
6. Monitoring the income and expenses of the shop by the hour, and react to "danger zones" which conclude of Labor Hours, non-productive work habits and unprofessional presentation.
7. We installed a security camera system.
8. Last I can share is presenting the customer with an organized, professional atmosphere when they enter the shop. We purchased multiple display cases to eliminate theft and present the customer with a more professional appearance with our product.

No kidding! Hahaha.

Well, that's really awesome man. And I'm super happy for you. Good luck with everything!

 

[Mouse Pad]

No kidding! Hahaha.

Well, that's really awesome man. And I'm super happy for you. Good luck with everything!

Well thank you and you as well.