Starting an E-scrap Business from Scratch

Many people may not realize it but e-scrap has become a very lucrative business for many all over the world. While it is not a get rich quick type of business, it is a business model that can create a positive cash flow while helping the environment at the same time.

In this article we are going to explore how to turn electronic scrap into a business that just about anyone can start and operate with little investment other than time and hard work.

First off you will need to have a place to work. I started my company in a storage shed that was sitting idle behind my house. While it was not huge, it had power and enough room for the electronic items to be stored and dismantled.

This is not something that you would want to do inside your home unless you have a basement. It can be dirty work and it will take up a lot of space at the same time.

Now let’s talk about the tools that you will need to get started.

The first thing is plenty of screwdrivers in various sizes. Nearly every computer and other electronic items have different kinds of screws that you will have to remove. I visited my local Wal-Mart and found an 18 piece screwdriver set on sale for $5.00. It works very well. I should have picked up several of them but I then went to my local Harbor Freight store and found another similar set for $5.00. It is good to have several on hand.

A power screwdriver is also a great tool to have around. While you will not be able to take out all of the screws with a power driver, you will be able to take out some of the easier to reach ones and it really speeds up the process.

Good wire cutters are essential. One of my biggest mistakes was going cheap on the wire cutters when we first started and in the end we paid for it. The cheap wire cutters dull quickly and trying to cut through wires with dull cutters is hard on the hands.

A full set of star bit drivers is also essential. This is most often used in disassembling the hard drives that are held together with various sizes of star bits. A decent set will likely run you around $10 and it will be a big time saver.

Finally a set of small pry bars will come in very handy. These are used mostly for printers that are usually a pain to disassemble. Having a pry bar around gives the needed power to pull apart the different printers without wasting a lot of time.

Now that you have the place and the tools you will need to get some electronics to tear down. There are several different ways to approach this so we will review them below.

One of the most powerful tools that I have found is a simple form letter that is sent to various companies in my area. I sat down with my wife and created this letter outlining what our company does and how it would benefit the companies that we were contacting. The response is simply amazing.

One piece of advice is to make your service FREE. All you have to do is run down what you do, which is e-cycling and tell them that you will pick up all the items that they have for free. There are some large companies that provide this kind of service but they are charging for the service and making it free is far more attractive.

Business cards are also a great way to get things going. I usually add a business card to the letters that I send out and the companies will then pass the information along to other companies that may need the service.

Cold calling is a great way to drum up some business as well. My wife regularly sits down in her office with a list of companies and just calls and introduces herself to them and tells them about what we do. The response is amazing.

As for the companies you should target it is fairly simple. We started out with computer repair businesses in our area. In our state it is illegal to throw electronics away so the computer repair companies were having to store and in many cases pay to get rid of their junk. Most were more than thrilled to have someone that would come and pick the stuff up.

You can also target factories, hospitals, schools and all manner of businesses that use computers and may have some that need to be disposed of.

This will get you started and in the next article we are going to start discussing how to make money from the materials that you bring in.