Two Princeton High School sophomores sucessfully turn their computer hobby into a business.
By: Jessica Beym
Unlike the Geek Squad, the 24-hour computer support task force that sends agents out to make house calls, Cranbury PC Repair won’t be seen driving to clients houses in two-tone Volkswagen Beetles.
But they may be seen riding their bikes down Main Street or getting a ride from their parents.
Fifteen-year-old Michael Weiss and 16-year-old Chris Kim, two Princeton High School computer-savvy sophomores, decided last summer to start up their own computer troubleshooting business, Cranbury PC Repair, after realizing that instead of just fixing friends’ and families’ computers, they could turn their hobby into a professional business.
Installing new hardware, removing viruses, setting up networks, or removing those annoying pop-up advertisements are skills that Mike and Chris said they have come to be familiar with after years of experimenting on their own computers.
"It’s something I’ve picked up gradually," Mike said. "The Internet makes it so easy to learn everything, so I’ve just read a lot about computers and other problems people have had with theirs and how they fixed it."
When they started up last summer, they created fliers and posted them around town to advertise, Chris said. They even set up a Web site, www.cranburypcrepair.com that lists contact information, services, and prices, which are much lower than their competitors’, they said.
Need hardware installed?
"Why charge $130 for something that takes five minutes?" Mike said.
Cranbury PC Repair’s price is $30.
Even with their low prices, the two young businessmen said they have only had a chance to sell their professional services less than a dozen times. Being students, and not having driver’s licenses has hindered the business a bit, they said.
But making money isn’t really what they’re interested in.
Mike and Chris, who are enrolled in the Cisco Networking program, a two-year course offered at their high school, said what they really would like is to learn as much about computers as possible through school and trial and error.
While they said the computer course at school is informative, they’ve really learned a lot just by tinkering around on their own computers. By increasing the speed for quicker browsing, installing video cards to improve the graphics for games, adding memory and hard drive space to handle more programs, Mike and Chris have been able to self-explore the world of computers and they said they are fascinated by it.
"You have to have a real interest in computers and electronics," Chris said, adding that he started working on computers when he was just 4 years old. "You run into a lot of problems, but you’re always coming up with new ways to fix them."
While they both want to work with computers in the future, Mike and Chris both said they have no idea where their hobby and skill will take them, whether it’s college or a new business venture.
"The computer field is so broad and it’s always changing," Chris said. "There’s a lot we know, but there’s a whole lot more we don’t know."