ThisWeek:
Nicholas Fala has two passions — bicycling and technology.
Bicycling is a hobby. His technology skills, on the other hand, allow the Westerville North High School junior to make a living, a very good living.
Fala said he became interested in computers when he was 10, around the time he was making money mowing lawns. His expertise grew and soon he was repairing Apple computers for family and friends.
Business really took off when Apple introduced iPods and Fala became an expert at repairing them. Then came the iPhone.
In 2007, his business had grown so big that it was no longer a hobby and he began the process of forming his own company, NF Technology Services.
His parents, Tony and Betsy Fala, supported him but his father told Nick that he had to do all the work to form a limited liability corporation (LLC).
Fala operates NF Technology Services out of his parent’s Westerville home, specializing in Apple products for both businesses and individual consumers. He promotes his company via online and print advertisements. In addition to servicing and repairing Apple computers, iPods and iPhones, Fala sells refurbished Apple products through his company Web site.
What’s more important than money, though, is what his son is learning along the way, he said. He pays his sales taxes, fills out quarterly returns, corresponds with customers, designs Web sites.
“He knows more than I do,” Tony Fala said. “He’s a pretty determined kid. … He wants to be his own boss. I used to think he needed to work in corporate America to learn, but now I tell him to just go for it.”
Photo by NF Technology Services.