Final Project: Mobile Device Repair

Plan: How To Earn Money Thru Mobile Device Repair

By: David Alaimo

When I saw this class offered I must admit I was surprised…When I began the journey into the IT world of 2015 I was thinking this would be about personal computers, servers, networks, programing, social media, the internet etc., etc. I didn’t think Mobile Device Repair. However, I was interested straight away.

The obvious question then that the reader must be asking is why. But we will get around to that later. First I must tell you I am no writer. I have never taken a writing class in my life, and English was my least favorite subject in High School!

When Mr Vadim Mikhailenko informed the class that this would be a 1700 to 2000-word project, (a daunting task for a 61 year-old student) I was, to say the least, not looking forward to it. But here I am at 2:50 on a Sunday morning actually doing it!

As I said before I am not a writer but I am a reader. An avid reader, a lifelong avid reader. My favorite writers were 19th century Russians. Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, Gogol, just to name a few. To me all other literature pales in comparison. I have read all of Dostoyevsky’s works, and to me he is the greatest writer in all of

history. So again you may ask why am I telling you all this? I am telling you this because my style of writing is very unconventional and free flowing like Dostoyevsky. I hope the reader will not object!

In my next installment I will unveil the Plan…

Outline

1. Business Research:

I plan to visit some of the businesses currently doing Mobile Device Repair to see how they operate.

Apple has a dedicated loyal customer base. They have two stores in the Milwaukee area, one at Bayshore Mall close to the lake, and one at Mayfair Mall which is on the West side. They have experienced technicians and use OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) parts. You must have an appointment to get work done at the Genius Bar. Quite a grandiose name in my opinion!

If you have an Android phone many people go to Geek Squad which is at Best Buy. They also have multiple locations. I go to the Greenfield store on South 76 Street, and there is another store on Hwy. 100 in Wauwatosa.

In my neighborhood (East side) there is UBREAKIFIX. I love the name, it implies competence and is definitely more reasonably priced.

2. Financing Options:

Small Business AdministrationDepartment Vocational RehabilitationCredit UnionBusiness Partner

3. Part Vendors:

AppleSamsungMotorolaIndependent Part Vendors.

4. Legal Requirements:

LicensingInsuranceBonding

5. Advertising:

InternetCraigslistWebsiteWord of mouth

This is my basic draft, there is more to come. I know this is not 700 words. I need time to do more in person research by actually going to the Apple Store, Best Buy and UBREAKIFIX this weekend. I will be taking pictures which I plan to include in this project.

Final Project Pictures by David Alaimo

These stores would be my competition if I decide to go into Mobile Device Repair.

Best Buy

Apple Store

UBREAKIFIX

There are numerous other smaller repair shops in the area, so starting this type of business would be no small undertaking.

Business Research

I have now visited the three stores pictured above. Surprising to me at least, I felt most comfortable at Best Buy on South 76th Street in Greenfield WI. I believe the experience emanates from who you deal with at each store. At UBREAKIFIX the guy was pretty busy and did not seem to want to spend much time talking to me. I asked him about Flashing the BIOS on a Lenovo laptop with a Supervisor (BIOS) password that I did not know. The laptop worked fine but if you needed to get into the BIOS you were locked out. I spent hours trying YouTube fixes and none of them worked. I have cleared BIOS passwords in the past, moving the jumper on the motherboard to clear it. As most of you probably know getting to the motherboard in

most laptops involves removing a lot of very small screws. I ended up just tuning it up, adding some great programs and selling it. I told the guy there was a BIOS password but the way I have set it up, if you don’t go to the Dark Web and start downloading pirated software you should be alright. I have never heard back so I consider him a satisfied customer. I have never had any complaints up till now from computer work that I have done. I plan to keep it that way so I can earn money in the future doing this type of work.

Now I will tell you about the Apple Store at Bay Shore. When I first walked in I was overwhelmed with the physical beauty of the place. Apple knows their market. Their products are so aesthetically beautiful, and their packaging is pure genius. Unboxing an Apple product is almost like a spiritual experience! But as you all know the prices are very high. To be perfectly honest I have an iPod Nano which I like. But I bought it used. That is the way to afford Apple products if you are not a Hedge Fund Manager. I had a first generation iPad which was a great tablet. But the thing is they are not always consumer friendly when it comes to upgrading their OS. They would rather have you buy a new Tablet every year. You can Jailbreak Apple products but there are tradeoffs. That said if I had to buy a Tablet it would definitely be an iPad. I have also had a 2012 MacBook Pro. That was a fine computer. I got rid of it because I am so much more comfortable in the Windows environment. Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 are all operating systems that I am comfortable using. I do think that Windows 7 is the best OS in the world. I know some of you out there are saying, no way David! Apple or Linux is the best. My biggest pet peeve with Apple is the proprietary nature of their Ecosystem. It’s almost like a religion! I don’t know enough about Linux to make a judgement but I have

heard many good things about Linux. We use a Linux program at work to Wipe hard drives, and it works great. It’s a command line interface not a GUI. I plan to learn both the Linux and Apple OS’s in 2016. That will be my New Year’s resolution.

Now for Best Buy. What I really like about Best Buy is I can get almost any Electronic product I want there. I bought my Desktop from them. It’s an ASUS Quad Core A10 that regularly clocks in the 4 GHz range. It’s like flooring a Corvette with a 427c.i. motor. Pure ecstasy!!! Only you hard core geeks will appreciate that. It’s got 8G of DDR3 Ram with X64 architecture. It’s the best Desktop I have ever owned. The price was reasonable. Another thing I like about Best Buy is some of their people are very knowledgeable when it comes to troubleshooting questions. I have learned a lot from them. Geek Squad is expensive but they know their stuff.

I am telling you folks this because these are the stores we are up against if we start businesses in this field. Not to mention all the smaller shops and people working out of their houses (that’s low overhead). But it can be done. To me it’s about time and level of commitment. I still have not decided if I am going to venture in to this world. But I am seriously considering it.

Financing Options

As for financing options I would need to build a substantial customer base before I would even consider it. If and when that time comes I would think of a Small Business Administration Loan first. A person needs a very solid business plan before SBA will loan you money. I have talked with them in the past about financing a business venture so I know this first hand. My second choice would be a Credit Union. It’s my experience that Credit Unions are more apt to deal with a new small business than major banks are. I have also considered a partnership. It would be very convenient and helpful to find a person to work with in this type of business. There are many advantages to a good partnership. Two good techs can disseminate troubleshooting options much better than one. When I think of partnerships that worked out Harley Davidson comes to mind right away. That’s probably because I am a loyal Harley rider! There are many more partnerships that have stood the test of time, and they started from scratch. Think of Briggs & Stratton, Procter & Gamble, and Smith & Wesson.

Parts Vendors

As for Parts Vendors I would set up agreements with each Vendor individually. Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, EBay, and the vast multitude of parts vendors on the internet. Also overtime building up an inventory of new and used parts would be essential.

Legal Requirements

Licensing, Insurance, and Bonding are the three most important legal requirements. Here I would have to spend some money. I would probably set up as an LLC, Limited Liability Corporation. This is where one cannot afford to make mistakes. One wrong decision or mishap could cost you your business. In a world with very stringent regulations I would definitely pay an attorney to make sure this is set up correctly. All the more reason to be properly prepared and committed before making this move.

Advertising

Advertising is a key component to making a small business profitable. To start I would post on the Internet and on Craigslist, probably under services offered. Word of Mouth is the best recommendation I can think of. In Real Estate they say; what are the three most important things? Location, Location, Location. In a Mobile Device Repair business, I believe the three most important things are; Reputation, Reputation, Reputation. If the business takes off and the future looks bright and I know without a doubt this is what I want to do, I will pay a professional Web Developer to build a great website. I could do it myself on WordPress but it would not be great. I have seen so many small businesses with cheap and shoddy looking Websites and it is a total turnoff for me. This is not where you want to cut costs. I am looking forward to the future…