I do this for a living (8 years)
You'll almost never need pliers. Buy yourself several screwdrivers, some tiny for laptops and some normal size for desktops. Get a smartphone that can browse the web - that will be indispensable when the PC you are working on can't. Buy a rack of RAM - that solves most of the speed problems people will hire you for. Buy USB hard drive caddies - one each for 2.5 and 3.5 inch HDs, one each for SATA and PATA. That's 4 total. Buy hard drives by the half dozen - don't bother getting big ones, just 160 or 250 GB of SATA and 80-120 of PATA which can stay at home for bigger problem where you need to replace a hard drive.
You need a good OEM copy of as many versions of Windows as you can find. A Dell XP Home disc will work fine on another maker's computer, the only difference is that if you install on a Dell it will be pre-activated, but if you install anywhere else you must type in the license code from the sticker on the PC.
Always have in your car these parts - 2 wireless routers, 1 power supply, 1 DVDRW drive, 2 wireless USB cards, 1 wireless mini PCI card, 1 wireless microPCI card, 1 good USB and PS2 keyboard, 1 good optical USB and PS2 mouse.
Nothing is more valuable than "first do no harm". You'll (have to) learn this the hard way, but NEVER EVER do anything that puts your client's data at greater risk than it was when you got there. Always back up important irreplaceable data before doing anything risky.
Buy a stack of 4 or 8 GB USB flash drives to sell to clients as quick easy backup methods. The script I created works wonders for simplicity:
xcopy "%userprofile%\Favorites" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Favorites"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Outlook"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Outlook Express"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\OE Address Book"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Outlook Autocomplete"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Outlook Signatures"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Firefox"
xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\All Users Docs"
xcopy "C:\drivers" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Drivers"
xcopy "%userprofile%\Desktop" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\Desktop"
xcopy "%userprofile%\My Documents" /c /d /h /e /i /y "x:\Backup\My Documents"
pause
Make it automated with System Scheduler. If a backup requires the user to do anything, it will never happen. Count on it.
Don't ever waste your time building PCs for anyone. It's a ton of your time, a ton of financial investment, very very very little profit, and a huge liability down the road if something breaks. You'll be expected to fix it for free if it turns out to be bad hardware, which a certain percentage of parts are guaranteed to be. Let them buy off the shelf from any PC maker, you do the fixing later.
Oh, and come up with a friends and family rate that you feel comfortable with. Don't fix anyone's computer for free unless you are trying to get laid. If you're good, then you'll be busy, and you'll HATE wasting time fixing computers for free. Your friends and family are your best source of referrals (at least at first) so you want to be happy to work for them, not bitter because you're doing it for free. Your time is limited and valuable, treat it as such.
That being said - if someone calls because their internet doesn't work, be sure to spend 5 minutes trying to help them over the phone. NO ONE knows what a modem or a router are, so help them find them, and restart over the phone. If that fixes it, great - you would have been paid almost nothing anyway and doing 5 minute jobs is hell on scheduling. Plus they will LOVE you forever and they will refer you to friends who have real problems. If you are impatient or condescending to your clients, they will hate you, and won't call you again. They'll call me instead.
Good luck. Don't compete on price with the neighbor's kid. Be better and more expensive and give the best service. Wins hands down. I should charge for this advice...
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