Home 
A fondness for tinkering with computers combined with three years of Computer Engineering at the Cebu Institute of Technology led Dominick Perez to finding his niche repairing personal computers and cellular phones.
Perez was already accepting repair jobs for his friends before he put up his own shop in Colon Street in 2005.
Perez said he was not able to finish college because his parents, who are fruit vendors, couldn’t afford to send him and his two siblings to school.
“Even during high school I already had a job working for my ninong doing tailoring jobs to earn income and pay my tuition as well as help my parents,” he said.
Perez recalled that business was profitable when he first started. For a simple consultation, most repair shop operators would charge P250. There were fewer repair shops then and they did not have to compete as much for customers.
“So I earned a lot back then and I'm able to pay the rent for that shop in Ramirez Building in Colon which cost really high,” Perez said.
On average, he would earn P1,200 for consultations and repair of cellphones and computers in 2005.
“It's that profitable. I recovered my starting capital of P1,300 in just one day of operation,” he said.
For the business, Perez spent P250 for a work table, P700 for a second-hand hot air system, which is like a big soldering iron, and for other items for the shop which all amounted to P1,300.
But business was no longer as profitable when many new repair shops opened including service centers for cellphone and computer brands opening in Cebu. It was more convenient for customers to go there and have their phones and computers, especially those still within warranty, repaired.
In response, Perez eliminated his consultation or check up fee of P250. It worked until most of the competitors followed suit.
“Nowadays with all the competition, I only earn P300 per day on average.”
Perez closed his Colon shop and opened another one in Basak Pardo in 2006, where he now accepts all his repair jobs.
To compensate for the small income and distant location, Perez provides home service for clients. Computer owners find it inconvenient to bring their units to his shop.
“But some of my customers with cars still drop their units here,” he says.
The shop occupies part of the space of his godfather’s tailor shop.
For a month's rent and electricity, he pays P500.
He sometimes gives extra for the electric bill which his ninong pays.
Perez also innovated and expanded his business when he won the Season 2 Kapamilya Negosyo Na! program of ABS-CBN in partnership with University of San Carlos College of Commerce Alumni Association, Inc. in 2007.
Perez used his P10,000 cash winnings to set up a coin-operated computer system to surf the Internet or play games.
“I have installed three computer units in Tri-J Marketing. That's right in front of my shop, one unit in Ibabao, Basak, Pardo, two units behind Viterbo, and two units in Lapu-Lapu City,” he said.
According to Perez he earns at least P80 a day for every unit, which he combines with his earnings from repair jobs and uses it to maintain the shop and his salary.
“We were really trained by KNN people to set aside a salary for ourselves as managers because that's how to manage a business properly and make it grow,” he said.
Through KNN assistance of P5,000, Perez was also able to register his business.
His wife helps him manage the business.
“She usually takes charge of other products that we also sell in the shop like cellphone casings and other accessories.”
In a month, Perez earns P8,000 to P9,000. He said he spends P2,500 for operations, which includes the telephone bills.
Perez has bigger plans for his shop, which he intends to achieve in five years' time.
“I want to design my shop as a one-stop computer and cellphone shop having all the needed parts and accessories available and also set it up in a more accessible place where there is more people traffic plus the ease of getting there,” he said.
