Nick Krichevsky has already been offered three full-time jobs on top of the side business he runs. For now, though, he’s sticking to his schoolwork—after all, he’s only 12.
The student at Albert Leonard Middle School in New Rochelle admits the people at the Apple Store were most likely joking when they invited him to work at the Genius Bar at The Westchester. (He also got an offer from the Apple Store on 14th Street in Manhattan, but, then again, maybe not.) His year-old computer repair and consulting business, iFixYourTech, which he launched last summer, has already netted him more than $2,000. He has 10 regular clients, spread out from Larchmont, New Rochelle, and Bronxville to Manhattan, but is happy to expand—as long as his parents can drive him (he specializes in house calls). He charges $15 an hour.
“If we can’t fix it, it is FREE,” his website, iFixYourTech.com, promises. “The other guys will charge much more than that.”
“I can pretty much do anything,” says Nick, who stands five feet tall. “I just love computers.”
At three, he was watching his dad set up a new computer. “I had just opened up the box,” says his dad, Stuart, a literary agent in Manhattan, “and Nick told me, ‘Oh, you can listen to music through your headphones.’ I said I didn’t think so, and so he pointed to a little headphone icon. ‘Yes, you can,’ he said. ‘Right here.’”
“Nick is a young Steve Jobs,” says Joe Barlow, owner of Outerluxe in Larchmont. “He’s poised, knowledgeable, unflappable, and cost-effective. For my PC needs, I would say without reservation that Nick is as good as—and probably better than—any adult.”
Elyse Fields of New Rochelle agrees. “I used to use an adult, and had to schedule an appointment for a week in advance. Now all I have to do is wait for the school bus to drop Nick off. Although if it is raining or snowing, I give him a ride home.”
