Women Entrepreneurs: Venus McNabb

Dec. 19, 2005 — -- Venus McNabb founded GeeksOnTime seven years ago when she was just 22. Motivated by her own personal frustration when her computer broke down, McNabb found that speedy computer repair was rare and decided to do something about it.

Because she ran her own Internet business, McNabb needed assistance right away. But nothing was immediately available. Instead, McNabb, who was living in Ontario at the time, took a bus trip to the closest repair center. The effort cost her both a lot of time and money. After that harrowing experience, she decided that she would create a better way to find a good person to fix a computer.

McNabb, the mother of a 10-year-old, founded the business in Phoenix. Within its first eight months, it expanded into California and now GeeksOnTime technicians service customers -- both individuals and businesses -- in all 50 states.

"I started with $3,500 in 1999, and now we are exceeding more than $2 million a year," said McNabb, who is now 29.

In 2003, McNabb was selected as one of the top 12 entrepreneurs under 35 by Biz AZ magazine and in 2004, was invited into the International Society of Who's Who and selected as a finalist in the 2004 Stevie Awards for Woman Entrepreneurs.

"I think it is important to expect you need to set long-term goals," she said. "This isn't going [to be] an overnight process and it is going to be a lot of work."