Curtis Interview
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[00:00:00]
[00:00:00] Justin: What's up everybody, I got Curtis Atkins here and we're going to talk about his business from, you know, from what I know, Curtis, what he does is he's [00:01:00] essentially flipping phones, but his primary thing is doing mobile repairs repairs and people's businesses and things like that. So yeah, man, if you just want to jump in here, kind of introduce yourself a little bit and kind of tell, you know a little bit about what you got going on currently.
[00:01:17] Curtis: Okay, yeah, sure. So my name is Curtis Atkins, like Justin said I'm the owner of RDU cell phone repair located here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've been doing business for about a little, maybe around two and a half years. So pretty much what I do is focused on doing repairs for.
[00:01:34] Mostly iphones, where I do a little bit of everything. Ipads, laptops, Mac books, PCs Samsung's pretty much I've even done some Motorola phones. I didn't even think that was a thing, but I've had like three or four of them, like in the past week and a half. So there's a market for a little bit of everything here. So usually if people contact me and if they want to do the repair, I'll figure it out and go ahead and do it. So yeah, that's I guess me, in a nutshell, I just [00:02:00] mainly do repairs, also do the flipping pretty much iPhones locally, and also ship to direct buyers from time to time. So that's my thing.
[00:02:08] Justin: That's cool. I did not even realize that people were repairing motorola phones. I thought those are just.
[00:02:14] Curtis: Yeah. That's it was crazy to me too. Cause you know, I was like, you probably could buy another one for $20 more than the repair costs, but you know, people who've come to me to do it, so I was like, hey, I'm not going to turn down if you want to do it. So yeah.
[00:02:28] Justin: Yeah. I mean, if that's what they want to do, then Hey repair it. You know what I mean? I mean, they might have some family pictures or something on there they worried about losing that, you know, they just trying to get off of it, you know what i mean?
[00:02:39] Curtis: True that. Yeah. And I've noticed how things, some people have like a company phone, so, you know, they might just get it repaired and expense it, so, you know, it doesn't really affect them, so, you know, it's a company thing. So but that works out for me. So, you know.
[00:02:52] Justin: Heck yeah and that's a, I mean, that's a side of the business that I feel like it could be super lucrative is hooking up with some of these businesses [00:03:00] that maybe have, you know, 20, 30, 40, I mean, you're in Raleigh so I mean, I'm sure there's offices there that's got a hundred employees. You know, with, with you know, work phones and stuff like that and if you could get in with a contract on them and be like, Hey, you know, everything that gets damaged, bring it to me or I'll come and I'll just spend a day all day just fixing all your stuff or something like that.
[00:03:22] Curtis: Definitely be worth it. We might get into it later, but I'm thinking about getting a office space downtown Raleigh probably the I'm trying to get it on the 1st of May, but maybe if not, then, then the next month, but yeah, you know, it's a lot of businesses, a lot of big companies I heard apple is coming here, you know RTC campus.
[00:03:40] So, so yeah, I'm trying to be just in the mix, you know, it's a lot going on downtown as far as business and, you know as far as the clubs and stuff like that, I'm trying to partner with them maybe. And you know, the bartenders, the, the bottle girls, all that kind of stuff, you know? So that's like another aspect, you know, that I just sat back and thought about like, Hey, you know, I'm right here in the mix of, [00:04:00] you know, a whole lot of stuff. If I can get it to go, then I will definitely make it happen.
[00:04:05] Justin: Yeah. And you know, we were talking to another day and we were talking about your shop and stuff like that, and you had mentioned that the area that you were looking there were no other repair shops or there was nobody else there.
[00:04:17] Curtis: Right, right. So I did a little more research and there is another guy who's kind of doing the same thing if I'm going to be doing. But he only has like two reviews. So, and either way, you know, I'm not worried about competition. There's enough out here for everybody you know, there's like a McDonald's and a burger king go on every corner almost, so, you know, it's, you know, and everybody has a phone, at least one, you know, or a phone or two or phone and an iPad. So, and I'm not really worried about as far as competition.
[00:04:44] Justin: Exactly. And Raleigh's huge. I mean, there's, Bookoo's of people in there. I don't, I mean, I don't know what the population is there, but I know it's a bunch of people. My aunt actually lives in that area when she call it Hillsborough, I think is what [00:05:00] it's called. But it's, it's kind of in that Raleigh area. So I go there, you know, every, every little bit or something I'll go visit and stuff like that. Right. So for the people that don't know I'm also in North Carolina actually just a couple hours from him and it's funny because in a, in a previous life of mine, I did wholesaling houses. And so because I was in that, I was trying to wholesale across the entire state. And so I was a part of all these Facebook groups, every buy-sell-trade group from here to the coast, from here to the beach, I was in that mug and I'm still in a lot of them. So, it's funny because I see almost every phone that you post. I see it, it like pops up in my feed. And so I try to go in there and, you know, do a like or something like that just try to boost it up.
[00:05:54] Curtis: Yeah. You definitely be showing though. So I appreciate that if it helps. I appreciate it.
[00:05:59] Justin: [00:06:00] So, so before we get too far into it you work a full-time job to correct?
[00:06:06] Curtis: Right, that's correct, so I do technical customer support. So, you know, since the pandemic well, so before the pandemic I was working on NC state campus, that's where our office was located. But you know after the pandemic happened, we were working from home and it was kind of funny because I'm the type of person that I like to work at the office.
[00:06:22] Right. So there's still everybody, Hey, you know, just work from home, just work from home. But I was like, eh, let's go into the office. It's just going to be a bit, no big deal. Then they sent out a email saying, You know, from this day forward, nobody can go back into the office and I'm pretty sure it was because of me, you know, so I was like, ah, all right.
[00:06:40] All right. I get it Monday. You know, I work from home, but now I'm kind of in the groove of working from home. And it was a blessing as well, because I also fix phones from my apartment, you know, while I'm working. So it kind of worked out really well, you know, from my, what I had going on.
[00:06:55] Justin: Yeah. That's, that's, that's definitely a lot of help.
[00:06:58] Because I mean, when you [00:07:00] don't have somebody looking over your shoulder, you know what I'm saying? You can slab by some of those phones and not have to worry about getting busted for it. You know, I mean, you definitely won't be able to do that for you still in the office, you know?
[00:07:10] Curtis: Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. I did a few flips from when, you know, when I was in the office, but you know, it's like, oh, you know, I'm just going to take a break or whatever.
[00:07:17] And it turns to 20 minutes, it's like, oh, you know, you know, So I had to kind of keep it on low or try to at least, but now work from home, you know, and I have like some meetings spots close by, like I can drive within like three minutes, like I have a Harris Teeter or Sheetz, a Food Lion, CVS. So that's kind of good too, so I can just meet people close by where I stay and still, you know, get my work done and still do my hustle on the side, you know, a lot of things working together. So yeah, it's definitely.
[00:07:50] Justin: So, so you do, I know you do repairs and you do mobile repairs as well as, as in your apartment. So [00:08:00] if you're doing repairs in your apartment, do you have people coming to your house or?
[00:08:04] Curtis: I said, well, I said in an apartment, so I just give them like the general address to my building. And you know, I'll tell them, Hey, you know, let me know when you're here, I'll meet you in the park. We'll do a, a, a pre inspection to make sure everything's functioning. And aside from whatever issue it is that I need to fix, and then I let them know, Hey, it'll be, you know, 35 minutes or, you know, up to an hour or whatever, depending on the repair, and then I tell them, Hey, you know, once it's done, I'll let you know and come back, you know, a lot of times they just chill in the parking lot, you know, they can just, you know, chill for 20, 30 minutes.
[00:08:33] Justin: Yeah, that was going to be my next question. Do they, do they just wait on it or do they run down the street and grab a coffee and then come back? Or?
[00:08:40] Curtis: It depends. It goes both ways. Some people would just rather stay there cause maybe they're not familiar with the area and since I have their phone, then I'll have another one. And those that they just like, Hey, I'll just kick it here. And then some other people that, you know there's a lot of shops and restaurants and stuff nearby, so they might just, you know, do that until I let them know the phone is ready. [00:09:00] So there's both options really, which I think is good.
[00:09:03] Justin: Yeah. That, I mean, that is good. And that's surprising to me. I feel like there would be a lot of people that were opposed to doing that. I don't know how I would feel about just, you know, showing up at an apartment building and some dude comes out and gets my phone,like, I don't see him for an hour, you know what I mean? And I can't go into his apartment. So it's cool that, that that is working for you. Do you ever get anybody that's like, what do you? No, I ain't bringing this to your house. I am not bringing this to your apartment. What do you do? What do you do for that?
[00:09:33] Curtis: Well, I mean, so, and that's part of the reason that I'm trying to get the office space is because I had one client, you know, they were pretty much sold on, you know, getting the repair done until they got to know my address. And that was like, oh, is this an apartment? Yes, it is. I do it from my home office. You know, that's what I tell people, you know, home office sounds a little better than apartment. So most people look who would have a, some people do, you know, have an issue with it. And somebody used the fact that somebody said to me, or this person in particular, [00:10:00] they're like, Hey, you know, we're going to pass on it because it's an apartment. You know, it's not a real business, even though you know I have an LLC, I have an EIN number, I have everything that a legitimate business should have. No, she does. She didn't want to go through with it. So I was like the fact that she vocalized that to me. I'll show you the other people think that and they just, you know, stop responding it pretty much. So I was like, Hey, if I'll have offices downtown, that'd be good, it's since the location, the police station is close by or whatever, you know?
[00:10:27] Justin: Yeah. I mean, I feel like that would help out a ton just for, you know, I think, you know, safety, legitimacy, like you said, I think people just see the, that you know, this dude's taking it into his house. They don't really see that as legitimate. I get the same question all the time, is you know, from people I'm buying from and stuff like that. Like, oh, so do you have a storefront or what? And I'm like, nah, I don't have a storefront. I do this out of my home office to. And you know, they're all like, you know, that's real, you know, that's cool and you know, all that, [00:11:00] but I'm not having them come to my house either. So it's a little bit different.
[00:11:02] Curtis: Right, right, right. Yeah. Ideally I wouldn't want to do that, but you know, it was just, you know, it worked at that, you know, during that time we're doing this time. So luckily everything's been good. I live in a nice area. So I live in Cary, which is like a suburb of Raleigh.
[00:11:17] So it was like a real nice area. Real chill. So that kind of helps too. I think, you know, my apartment does look nicer than, you know, the regular apartment, you know? So I think that helps, but, but you know, some people still prefer a brick and mortar, so I think transitioning into something like that, you know, it would help.
[00:11:35] Justin: Well, and you know, one thing you said right there that should stick out to a lot of people and something that I think a lot of people struggle with is you said it's not optimal, it's not the best thing, but it's working for me right now. And people get hung up on, you know, I can't start this business because I don't have 5,000 bucks to go lease, [00:12:00] you know, and an office area downtown, a storefront downtown. I don't have the money for all the insurances and, you know, the, all the utilities and signage and marketing, and it's like, you know, i've got, I mean, I've got, I've got an $80 fix it. I fix it kit. I got mine laying here somewhere. Cause I used to do some repairs back in the day. But I mean, and that's what you can start with. And I think a lot of people get hung up on the. You don't have to have thousands of dollars to get started just like you, you're starting in your apartment,and, and then from your apartment, you've realized that, Hey, I need to be mobile too. And so I've seen you post some pictures and some stories and stuff like that of it's a van, isn't it where you've kind of got it set up like a little, little mobile area where you can go to, you know, people's houses or businesses or [00:13:00] whatever, and work on their stuff. And so, I mean, that's the next step. And now you're talking about an office and you've been doing this, you said two and a half years, right?
[00:13:09] Curtis: Yeah. About two and a half years.
[00:13:12] Justin: And so it's just. You know that stairsteps and there's, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's a necessary thing that, I mean, you, you got to go up that step, you got to get comfortable on that step. Then you gotta hit that next step. You're comfortable there. Go to that next step. And before you know, it, you're going to have five or six stores and employees, if that's what you want, you know what I'm saying?
[00:13:34] But you can't just start out that way, and so let's talk about, well, I want to talk about two things because in one side you know, you've said that you are, you're still working a full-time job and you're doing this on the side. I'm assuming maybe mornings evenings, maybe a lunch break, a weekend, stuff like that. Is that right?
[00:13:59] Curtis: Yeah. [00:14:00] So, you know I have my Google business listing. So my hours are, I think. 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM. So that gives me so I work from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM for my job, which kind of sucks because it's like the bulk of the day, you know, which will be prime time to do the repairs or whatever. So I do have it set up to where I can no, come in somebody maybe at 8, 830, 9 ish in the morning. If I, if they want me to come to them, then, you know, from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, I'll say, Hey, you know, I'm, I'm doing the repairs from my home office, heres the where you can find me my, at my address here and that works for the most part. You know, some people don't like it, but, you know, I think it's, it's, it's been successful for the most part. And then, you know, after I get off, you know I continue to do the mobile repairs, so I'll drive out to wherever really, and until maybe around 10:00 PM and it's been working for me. So If I can drive out to the person I'll do that, or, but what I've noticed is like, I'll try to recommend, Hey, you know, [00:15:00] I do mobile repairs, I can come to wherever you're at, and a lot of people would rather just come to where I'm at. So, and that's part of the reason that I'm getting now a office location too, because to me, I would prefer somebody to just come to me because I can do whatever I'm doing, you know, why they fixed my phone and it doesn't interrupt me so much. That's on other people, you know, Comes to me, then me come to them.
[00:15:24] Justin: Well. And then, you know, even when you do get an office set up, you do get a location that people can come to you. You know, you can still do the mobile repairs when you can hire somebody, teach them how to do the repairs and then be like, Hey, I'm the, I'm the in-office guy. You know what I'm saying? I need to take care of the home base. I need to take care of inventory. Take care of the books, take care of, you know, all the marketing, all that stuff like that. The Hey man, here's, here's one of these little these little Ford sprinter vans that I've, I've built out and I'm going to hire this guy, and all he's going to do is drive around and do repairs all day as a, as a mobile [00:16:00] service. So, you know, you could work, you could work that out too. My question my question is, is you're kind of in an odd area. Well, for what I feel is odd. You're working full time and you're also looking for an office. So what's the, what's the what's the tipping point of you're like, Hey man, you know, I'm missing out on money. I gotta quit this job and I gotta go, I gotta go in at full blast. I got to get it right. I gotta get everything I got because for me logically, it feels like instead of doing the office, I would just try to dedicate all my time to the home office, and then once I built that up and got comfortable there, I guess, and then do a shop. So I'm interested to see what your what's your mindset is around that and how you feel like you're going to work that out.
[00:16:50] Curtis: Yeah. So the main reason why I'm getting the office space is because I'll be moving to Benson probably next few weeks, and like, so me and you [00:17:00] tried to do the the interview a few days or two days ago, and we had some internet issues, so. I was having the same issue with work. So I was like what can I do to, you know, still have good internet connection so I can be there for work too, because you know, that's very important to have the strong internet connection and be able to download you know, large files quickly. So I was like, oh man, I don't know, you know, what I'm going to do about this. So then, you know, I found the office space and I was like, okay, cool. They provide, you know enterprise level internet. So I was like, okay, cool, so that solved the job problem and then it's downtown, so I was like, okay, that's an ideal area. There's people with phones all over the place. It's a social area. So, you know, there's going to be a lot of people there at all times. And I can do the office space, you know, so it looks more professional. So I guess everything has just started kind of falling into, into place, you know, I've thought to get the office space.
[00:17:52] So If I wasn't moving, I would still do the home office, but I'm going to be moving. So I had to, I had to make some make sense and I made the [00:18:00] most sense to me.
[00:18:01] Justin: So, so are you saying you're still going to do your full-time job, but you're going to do it at this new office space and do repairs. Oh, I got you.
[00:18:11] That makes sense. That's smart.
[00:18:12] Curtis: Right, right. So it's pretty much the same thing. It's just a different location.
[00:18:16] Justin: Yeah. Yeah. So that, yeah, that's super smart really. I didn't even think about that. That's that's, that's good. I liked that. So that gives you the ability to. One have a have a dedicated space for your full-time job, be laid out and have all your stuff, your desk. Cause I mean, I think everybody that's probably listening to this has had that, that moment where they're like, man, I'm trying to do. I'm trying to do this on my couch. I'm trying to do it in my kitchen table. I'm trying to get in my car, going down the road and just having all that stuff in one area will, will definitely help out. But now you're going to add your actual business to it as well, so, and just mingle it in. So yeah, that's, [00:19:00] that's cool. That's smart. I mean, I hope that works out.
[00:19:03] Curtis: Thank you. I appreciate it. And it's a coworking space too, so. Another benefit is other entrepreneurs and, you know, startups and small businesses are there too. They'll hold all kinds of like networking events and stuff like that. Yeah. It's open 24 hours. So, I mean, I probably wouldn't want to come late, but I will, if that makes sense, you know, they have security and all that kind of stuff. So it's good for me, you know, repairing, it's good for my full time job it's good for if I want to flip phones, people can meet me there. You know, it looks legit. And I don't have to run in and out of that apartment and up and down the stairs, like it'd be now.
[00:19:35] Justin: So, yeah. And that, that gives you that, that also gives you the ability, like you said, To network with all the other people there, because everybody that has a business, what do they need? They they're going to need services for their phones, or they're going to, they're going to have, you know, 10, 11 pro max's that they need to rotate out because they need to put 13 pro maxes into the rotation. And [00:20:00] so, you know, Hey man, I can buy those phones. I can get you some phones.I can you know, repair, whatever you got. Hey, whenever you, whenever your dude, you, you know, whenever your employee or whatever drops a phone, Hey, just slide on down here. I'm three doors down, you know what I'm saying? I'll get you fixed up same day. And you know, those people know people and those people know people and, and that word of mouth, man, and being there, seeing you every day, talking to them. Building that relationship that builds that trust and, you know, they feel comfortable being able to tell other people about you and your services as well.
[00:20:43] Curtis: Right. I agree. And yeah, that's what I was thinking about too. Like, you know, working from home, you know, I'm pretty much in my apartment, you know, the bulk of the day, whether doing my full-time job of repairing. So this gives me an opportunity to, you know, be out, meet new people, hand out my business cards, just, you know, have conversations, [00:21:00] just introduce myself. Whereas now I can't really do that because, you know, I was stuck at the apartment. So there's just a lot of good things, you know, I feel like will come of having, you know, this office space. Yeah. So I'm gonna just try it out, you know and see how it goes, but I think it'll go really well. So I'm excited for it.
[00:21:17] Justin: I think it will too. I mean, it sounds like you thought it through, it sounds like you got a good plan in place for it to work. So you know, you, we, we talked briefly about that you you know, you've repair, you do all this repair stuff, but you also flip phones too. And so, you know, as well as I do, if you've been in, in this phone game for any length of time at all, everybody says you either flip or you repair, there's there's only a handful of people that will be like, man, I flip and I repair and not only do not only do those people repair their stock, that they buy, you know what I'm saying? They're buying, you know, an iPhone 11, it's cracked, they're putting a [00:22:00] screen on it and then they're reselling it. But you know, it, you know, like me, I, I don't do repairs. I did in the very beginning to get my capital buildup, but I don't now. I try to focus on some volume and margins currently. You are buying and fixing what you're buying and reselling, but you're also offering that service to the public.
[00:22:25] And so there's not a whole lot of people that are doing that. So I wanted to kind of touch on how do you, how are you working those two together? And what I mean by that is, you know, whenever you go. Are are, are, are you buying phones that people just don't want to spend the money on repairing? Or are you marketing for phones to bring them in? You know, what does that look like for you?
[00:22:50] Curtis: So really it's a mixture of everything. Like, I feel like I don't want to leave any money on the table, you know? So the repairs is, you know, my primary thing, but you know, definitely do a [00:23:00] fix and flip so I can get the phones for, you know, a heavily discounted price, fixed them for relatively cheap. And then, you know just regular phone flipping. I know already kind of how much I can make. So I'm kind of already calculate that. So, you know, when I go to buy the phone, I know how much the parts will cost. So I already kind of factor that in, and then I kind of already know a margin or a range of what I should be able to make up for that.
[00:23:22] So that's what I do, or so I mostly buy damaged unlocked iPhones. But that's what I normally sell to the public. And then if I have, you know, just a regular iPhone that's carrier locked or iCloud, well, I don't even do iCloud locked no more, but I did it for a little while before, you know, the iOS 15 I don't want no problems with that.
[00:23:48] So yeah, it just depends on what would make the most sense at the time, you know if it's something that's broken and I feel like I can make the most money just fixing it and flipping it, I'll do that. Or if I just want to buy it as is and sell it [00:24:00] as it is, I'll do that. I also do carrier unlocking for the iPhones, so sometimes I could buy a carrier locked phone depending on w ho the carriers with. Do the the carrier unlock fix it, and then sell it as unlocked, you know, but I do definitely disclose, Hey, this has, you know, a bypass unlock. Usually people are fine with that. As long as I explained, you know, the details and whatever, and they can always reach out to me and I can unlock it again, if for whatever reason they, they reset their phone. So basically it just depends on what makes the most sense and what makes the most money, how I kind of decide how I want to. Go about selling the phone whatever makes the most profit is what I'll go with. So I.
[00:24:37] Justin: Gotcha. Yeah. I mean that, I mean, that makes a lot of that makes a lot of sense. And making me feel bad because you know, I've got, I, I do this as a full-time gig now, you know, I've got three kids, so a lot of time goes into taking them to school, bringing them home. My toddler, he goes to a school so i bring him home, and so their, their schedules [00:25:00] are just mingling throughout the day. So I really only have just a handful of hours each day and that those are broken up. And so, you know, I always find myself like nah, you know what I'm saying? Like, I ain't even repair and that I don't have time for that or, or that stuff like that. And you know, like right now I've got a. Let's see, I got, I got four watches and then a couple of iPads and about 20 phones sitting here and I gotta, like, I gotta get some stuff sent off. And so for me to even think about, you know, I got this, I got this blue XR here with a shattered back, for me to even sit here and think, man, I'm just going to fix that flip it local gah, like I don't even think I've got time for that. And you're working a full you're working a full-time job [00:26:00] and you're making time for it, and you're going out here in the streets, and, you know, repairing and stuff for people. So maybe I need to, maybe I need to step my game up and start doing some repairs. I don't want to do a lot, but maybe maybe sit backs or something. You know what I mean?
[00:26:16] Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just depends on what works best for everybody, you know? You know, especially the bag last, like I'd have the laser machine, like that has been like a godsend because I used to hate seeing the phone. It was listed for a great price. The back is cracked, that's it, but I don't have a machine or I don't have a way to fix it. So I have to, you know, pass on a soft by let me get this machine. I can use it for customer repairs and personal repairs or fix and flip. So it just made sense. So, you know, I made the money back very quickly.
[00:26:44] Justin: So what's a machine like that run roughly like a ballpark.
[00:26:47] Curtis: So the one I got is the. The Forward Blue Laser, the company's called Forward. They're based off China. We can get you can get the machine stateside though. So mine was around 1800 [00:27:00] after shipping and it comes with the fume extractor, that was one of the reasons why I got it too, because it was on the cheaper side of, you know, all the other models that I saw. It's also enclosed. So yeah, exactly, exactly. My dad he comes by, he calls it a microwave and I'm like, man, dad it's a laser bro. That's a laser. But yeah, so that's been really good to me, man. So. Yeah, I definitely like that part, you know, fixing the back glass, it's a easy fix. You can fix, you know, the back glass cheap, you know, it does take a little time to fix and to get it, you know, to where it's not, you know, it looks like it should look like a, the original back glass did, but I think it was worth it.
[00:27:42] Like the profit is there to, to me, to where it makes sense, so.
[00:27:46] Justin: Yeah, I did, I think I've repaired or swapped out, two or three back glasses. And I did those with a heat gun and, and, and and a what'd you call it a like a [00:28:00] laser or not a laser, a like a razor blade.
[00:28:06] Bruh by the time I got done with that, I was like, dude, I got like three hours in this thing trying to chisel all this stuff off. I done burnt my fingers, you know what I'm saying? And, and then, and then I put it all back together and I'm sitting here looking at it and I'm like, I don't even think this looks good enough to sale. You know what I'm saying? Like this, this. I threw a case on it and it, I mean, it did sell, but you know what I'm saying? Like I got to look and I'm like, I just don't think this is worth all that, but like you you've got that laser. And so it's paid for itself. I know everybody raves about having lasers and it just makes life so much easier. Yeah. You know, I think, I think if you're in the repair game, whether it's flipping or as a service like you do, I mean, I definitely think that is, that is a must, that's probably one of the first things I would buy [00:29:00] if I was doing repairs on a regular basis.
[00:29:03] Curtis: Right, right. Yeah. It's definitely worth it. I feel like it's paying for itself several times over. So yeah, I would.
[00:29:11] Justin: So let's talk about you know, you've been in it for two and a half years. Let's, let's talk about kinda how you got started, how you, how you ended up in the phone space at all. You know what I'm saying? Like, was it an accident? Did somebody put you on game or, or you know, what, what did that look like?
[00:29:32] Curtis: Yeah. So I kinda got started. So it was, you know, some time before, like maybe like, I don't know, 2018, I was working at Walmart. I was working at a Walmart overnight. We was kind of helping to remodel the Walmart or whatever, and I had a Samsung phone at that time. So I always like to listen to music while I was working or whatever. And like every two or three weeks I would drop off. Right. So that was 200, $250 a pop every time to get it fixed, you know, for, you know, the Samsung [00:30:00] phones where, you know, a lot more expensive to fix iPhones. So, you know, but I kept doing it cause I was like, well, I need a phone. And then, you know, looking back, I probably could have bought a new one for the same price, but, you know, I just wanted to get it fixed. So, so I was like, man, that's a lot of money I'm spending. So that kind of got the wheels turning in my mind. Well, if I could fix it, but I didn't really, you know, stick to it or whatever. And then I was watching YouTube, you know, cause I've always been, you know, working multiple jobs, so at one time I had like four jobs. I was trying to pay off my student loans. I did that. But you know, I was grinding heavy, so I was like, okay. How can I make, you know, the money I want to make it not work so much or whatever. So I was just looking up side hustles and you know, ways to make money investing, all that kind of stuff. So I came across this channel it was called JT hustles. Back then, I think it's called something else. It was a guy he just, you know, puts people on game about, you know, different jobs or different services. They can offer different things they can do to make, you know, to increase their income. So he had one guy come on from tech connect. [00:31:00] That's a repair shop in Clayton, I think. And Clayton, North Carolina. So a guy was just talking about, Hey, he repairs, phones. You know, he makes no certain amount of money per phone or, you know, per hour. I was like, that's pretty good. You know? So. That kind of sparked the interest back up again, you know, from the Walmart days to, you know to, to, to that point. So I was like, okay, well, you know, this guy's talking good. You know, he lives relatively close to me, maybe like 45 minutes. So let me see what he's talking about. So I did his course. And then I have some old Samsung phones laying around. I tried to fix those. I did a terrible job. They were like old phones laying around. So, you know, it kind of sucked. I lost money trying to fix it, but you know, you're learning. So, you know,
[00:31:42] Justin: I, I tried to do a, I tried to do a glass only eight plus for like my first repair. How stupid
[00:31:51] Like how dumb was that it was, it was an S8 plus. And I thought, and I thought, you know what? I'm just gonna, I mean, [00:32:00] online, it looks easy. The LCD's good. I'm doing glass only. And I made it maybe like an inch in it and then it just went black.
[00:32:10] Curtis: Yeah. Yeah, man. I was the same way. I did a few terrible jobs, like the first two or three ideas like this trash man. I was like, oh my God, this is crazy. And then you kind of got to get used to working with small parts and all the little screws and, and keeping track of which screws go where, cause that's another issue too. And you can damage the motherboard by putting the wrong screw in the wrong place. So, you know, just getting all that general information. So I took his course, you know, it was really good. It's really informative that took him, probably all the courses that I can take like that are available, that I know about, you know, just try to borrow from different people to, you know, get different things. Like some people are good. Like the guy from Tech Connect in Clayton, he's kind of a generalist. So that's why I work on different stuff other than just I-phones where a lot of the courses, you know, strictly focused on iPhone's or just [00:33:00] iPhone's and Samsung. So, yeah, so that kind of started the ball rolling so I'm like, okay, cool. So I started, you know, doing fix and flip. 'cause I felt like I would rather take my time kind of, and if I mess up, like I did the first couple of phones, at least, you know, this, my loss, or I can just cut my losses there and I have to buy somebody a new phone.
[00:33:21] Justin: Momma aint gotta lose her picture's of all her kids.
[00:33:25] Curtis: Exactly. Right, right. And not going to freak out on me and everything. So a way that kinda, I feel like builds up your confidence too. Like once you work on a few on your own that kind of gives you the confidence, because that was another thing too, working with customers, you know, the confidence is not necessarily there when you first start out because it's like, oh, I don't know how this is going to go, what if I mess up? You know, what if I take too long, all that kind of stuff, kind of peeps in your mind. But I feel like when you fix it on your own, it kind of builds up. Okay. I know what I'm doing, you know, I don't know how to interact with people, so that's just put the two together and it should go far. So, but I will tell you my [00:34:00] first customer repair it went good except for I damaged the face ID, but I didn't realize it until so, and they didn't know, it looked fine, then it hit me back and I was like, Hey, the face ID isn't working. So i had to go back, take a look at it. I was like, yeah, the face ID is messed up. I definitely know broke it somehow. So I had to replace their phone, but it worked out because I just started using the phone myself. I unlocked it, so i can use it with my carrier and then, you know I held it for a little while and then I sold it off. So I kind of made my money back to that paid for, you know, replacing the fall. So that's a good thing, too, with being able to repair, you know, you kind of can go into a whole lot of different. So my bad, I got a little long winded.
[00:34:43] Justin: Nah, nah, you're good. You're good. And it wasn't, you, you kind of started dabbling in what my next question was going to be was you know, what were, you know, maybe some failures or some uh oh's, some mess up moments. It sounds like that was probably your first one. Have you, [00:35:00] have you had any that's just like, it was just bad. It was just like, it was just bad.
[00:35:07] Curtis: So not that I can remember, it, I have that happen, recently. I did well, last week I did a none last week, maybe two weeks ago. I did a 12 pro max bet glass repair. It was my first time. So I told him it's going to take like five hours. Cause I was like, no, I can not mess up this phone as my first one. It's a lot of money I cannot mess up. So I was like, Hey, you know, I just told him five hours because I just want to give myself more than enough. To get it done. So it worked and also the issue was they had a cracked camera lens. So I put the new bag glass on and I replaced the lens and I test now I do a pretest and a post test and everything looks fine. Right. So then they hit me back and I was like, oh my camera has like some spots on it. So that was like, look, can we do about that? And I was like, oh crap. Like. So I tested it too. So I was telling him, Hey, you know, I tested it and I had y'all look at it and everything was [00:36:00] fine. So I was like, okay, I can probably refill, we fund you for the lens or whatever it is. Like, I kind of want to, you know, have the camera working like it should. So like, all right. So I had to eat that because I don't know if it was my fault or their fault, but, you know, I was like, I'd rather just fix it and have a happy customer, you know, and just right it off for taxes or whatever, rather than somebody leaves me a bad review, you know? So I have five star reviews. I have like 40, 5 star reviews on Google and some other places. So I was like, Hey, I don't want to mess up my reputation or do I want to lose. 90, 100 bucks to fix their device. And I think I may $180 on their repair. So even after they're messing up or replacing the camera, I still made like 90 bucks, but it did take me a long time, but you know, sometimes you just have to roll with the punch and, you know, eat, eat, eat the crap sometimes.
[00:36:54] Justin: Yeah. And you, I mean, you bought experience. I mean
[00:36:57] Curtis: Exactly
[00:36:58] Justin: That's what you got to look at. [00:37:00] You paid for some firsthand experience. And you, and you also helped you also helped your name in the community because somebody is gonna, he's gonna, he, or she's going to talk about that later. They're going to say, you know, you know, I had this, my phone. I took it to him. He fixed it and something was messed up on it. He doesn't know what happened. I don't know what happened. All I do know is that he made it right. You know, however, however, it was, you made it right. You gave him some money back or got him a different phone or whatever, whatever that looked like, all he cares about is you fixed it, you, you made the situation better and you know, you still made some money, but you got a lot of experience with it. So, you know, sometimes, sometimes you just got to chalk it up as you know, that one's for the education investment to the education. I think we all, I think we've all been there, you know?
[00:37:59] Curtis: Yeah. [00:38:00] So, yeah, and that's how I looked at it too. Like, Hey, you know, it's a learning experience, you know, I definitely want to, because I kind of try to pride myself on excellent customer service. Cause I've been doing customer service jobs in one facet or another pretty much since I was in high school. So I was like, you know, all my cousins, I want to be like the Chick-fil-A of phone repair, you know? So they were happy, so I'm happy, you know, Hey, I'll make the money back. So it was not even a.
[00:38:25] Justin: So if you were, you know, talking to somebody that's looking to get into repairs or somebody that's looking to get into flipping, you know, what kind of advice could you give somebody that's just looking to start out, you know, maybe they've looked around on some YouTube videos like you did, you know, maybe they've, you know, heard some podcasts or something about it. And, and they're just kind of interested. They're like, you know, I mean, I'm not, I might be interested in. Flipping a phone I'm not being arrested in you know, getting into some repairs. What do you have that you could give that person [00:39:00] that would you know, maybe get them started on the right track or, or save them some hassle you know, things like that.
[00:39:07] Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. I would say, you know, definitely give it a try. Try to look for a good resource because, you know, yes, there are YouTube videos. And yes, you can learn from YouTube. I still do that. I, you know, check YouTube videos on stuff that I haven't repaired before. But you still kind of have to have that familiarity with, you know, how to, how each phone kind of functions, you know? Cause it's, it's not hard, but it's a lot that can mess up. And that's the, that's the thing, that's the kicker, you know? So Definitely find like a good resource that you depend on. I would say even maybe try buying the course or just maybe get an old phone that you don't care if you damage. Like that's how I started off. I just had old phones laying around like, Hey, you know, if I mess it up, who cares? You know, nobody's using it. So yeah, just try to find a good resource, somebody that you can trust or, you know, online resources that you think is good and start there. I recommend doing [00:40:00] the fix and flip because it helps you learn. While at the same time you're making money. So that I feel like, well, to me, the money was the motivation, you know, so I was like, okay, cool. You know, I can fix this if it messes up. Okay, cool. I'll make a loss, but you know, I'll fix it. Or I may, you know, 50, a hundred, 150, whatever. You know, and that, that kind of gives you a motivation to keep doing it and keep doing it, keep doing it.
[00:40:24] So that's how. And yeah, the flipping too, that's definitely a great route to take, you know just try to find, you know, good deals locally, maybe Facebook, OfferUp, Facebook marketplace OfferUp, even eBay. Maybe he can find some good deals. There's mercari.com. There's a lot of online resources where you can find a decent deals but locally though, probably would be your best bet. If you can find a phone locally where, you know, cheap enough price. If you, if you fill in, you know, gung ho to, you can go ahead and, you know, do paid Facebook ads to kind of really get, you know, [00:41:00] people interested in, you know, selling you their phones. You can do free group posts. So this subscribed to a whole bunch of groups in your area, that's what it means.
[00:41:09] Justin do. That's kind of how we kind of got cool a little bit was we would see each other in the groups Yeah. So we can try that. Just say, Hey, you know I, buy phones buy iPhones or buy Mac books apple watch, whatever. And just give it a try, see how it goes. You'll probably be surprised at the response you get.
[00:41:24] And you know, just takes that one. You know, you might get a lot of rejection, but it just takes that one of the kind of, you know, restorative confidence and get you onto the next sale, the next sale and scaling up from there. So that's my advice.
[00:41:37] Justin: Yeah, that, I mean, just getting a started, you know what I'm saying? That first, that first time you make money, man doing this and you're like, holy crap, this actually works. It's this is cool. And then you do it again. You're like, holy crap. It worked again. And then you do it again and do it again. And then you screw up, eat some money and then [00:42:00] you start like, and then you start back from like none, all that money you just made doesn't even exist. He just lost 40 bucks on this phone and then quit it's over. It's done. And no, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta get the mindset right. And realize you're going to have some losses. You're going to have some stuff happen. You're going to buy some stuff that you shouldn't have bought. Something's going to happen. And you just, you just gotta roll with it and, and, and just keep on rolling.
[00:42:32] One other thing I did want to talk about almost forgot about, but so you've been, you've been doing it for a couple of years. And so you've kinda got to see the transition from, you know, maybe the, the sevens, the eight, the eight pluses. We've got a home,you got a home button. You don't have face ID and, you know, I've been in those phones, I've been in a couple of the newer phones and there's a lot of differences. [00:43:00] You know, a lot of stuff that, you know, how you used to do it, you don't necessarily do it now. And so just wanted to talk about how has, you know, how have those changes through the years you know, affected your business and how how do you, kinda stay on track to know what you have to do for the next model. You know, things like that.
[00:43:21] Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. So so to me, I feel like at the core, most phones are the same or at least for each brand. So, you know, a Samsung phone is a Samsung phone. iPhone is iPhone pretty much. So you pretty much have the core parts. And the layout is pretty much always going to be the same. So the only difference was, you know, the iPhone was you had the touch buttun up until the 8 plus and then from the X series on you have, you know, touch ID, you know, I'm sorry, face ID. So it's, it's pretty much the same thing, you know, getting off the screen, you know, you still have to do the same process to get screens off for the most part, except for now the 12th series is a little bit different because that [00:44:00] adhesive that holds the screen down to the frame is like, like gorilla glue or something, man, like, like. So I did my first screen, or I took, my first 12 Promax screen off. And it took me like an hour, but that was because I was trying to take it slow because I'd rather go slow and do it. Right. Then try to rush and mess up, you know? So, and that was a learning experience like you were saying earlier, you know, I was just learning, you know, which ways I need to go about it. So I feel like there are slight variances, but the core of repair is the same for pretty much all of the. So as long as you follow those kinds of core principles and you can brush up, but YouTube videos or, you know you probably get to know other people that do repairs around you or, you know in different places. So you can reach out to them and say, Hey, you know, like I'm part of a million different groups. So that's what I did for the 12 Promax screen. I was like, Hey, You know, I have this tool that's still in this tool. What do you think would be the best approach? Which tool should I use, you know, to accomplish this task of taking off the 12 Promax screen without [00:45:00] damaging it. So they know they gave me some feedback. So you're going to have some people that you can lean on. If you might be stuck, if you can't reach them, you know, YouTube videos are always good. So just having those resources available also is good justification needed. But I think the core of repair will always be the same.
[00:45:18] Justin: That's cool, Yeah. It's I mean, I can't stress the importance of having other people that have already done what you're doing, what you're trying to do, whether, whether they're a direct mentor to you or whether they are a mentor that they don't even know, they're mentoring you because you're watching their YouTube stuff. You're checking out their blogs or, you know, whatever it is that you're using from them, they may not even know that they're a mentor, but it's important to be able to have those people in your life and a group of people around you where you can bounce ideas off of and be like, Hey, you know, I've been doing this, you know, is this working for you? Or [00:46:00] what have you changed? You know, stuff like that. That, that definitely definitely helps at least in my business, for sure. That helps tremendously.
[00:46:10] So we're, we're about to the end, but I gotta have, we're, I'm doing this for every interview. You gotta give me a good dad joke.
[00:46:22] Curtis: I forgot. I don't even do jokes like that. Don't know, I'll try it out. Probably I'm probably going to mess it up, but it is what it is, I guess.
[00:46:30] Justin: It's all good, It's for fun man, it's for fun.
[00:46:35] Curtis: So I went to I went to the, I went to the I went to the fair, right? And I got myself in a pickle, but it ended up being a good deal. I probably, I probably mess it up.
[00:46:51] Justin: Nah, nah, that's good. That's good. I love that, dude. These, these are gonna be, these are going to be so much fun. Be so much [00:47:00] fun. Nah, that's what bad jokes are, they're so terrible that they're hilarious. And they got puns in them and they're just, they're just fun. They're my jam. You know, I really appreciate you coming on. I feel like we've got some, some, some good tips in here. Some good information really enjoyed having you on. I appreciate that. Excited to you know, I mean, we talk fairly regular anyway, but you know, I'm excited to see what happens with your office space and. to see how your full-time job and the office space works together and, and see how that growth starts taking place. Cause I I'm telling you, man, I think that once you get in there with those people, those other people and, and just being surrounded by that hustle, you know what I'm saying? You get into that, you get into that, that that environment of like, like a sales environment, man, you get into a sales environment. [00:48:00] It's just buzzy, man. It gets you Jack. You know what I'm saying? And, and so I think getting in that that space with those other people and just seeing it hustle all the time, it's probably gonna, you know, lite a fire under you that you thought, man, I thought I was going, but man, these people, I don't, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta put more in, I gotta do more. I gotta do this. I gotta do. Right. It's going to be cool to, to see all that mingle together and see what comes out of it.
[00:48:31] Curtis: Yeah, I agree, man. I think being in an ecosystem like that, you know, what a lot of people doing, you know, a lot of different industries and, you know, have a different approaches to different things, you know, but you know, business is business. I Feel like, so a lot of things can apply, you know, in different niches. So. Yeah, man, I'm excited. I think it's going to be good. It's gonna work really good. So I'm looking forward to it and I'll definitely keep you posted on how it is. And I appreciate you inviting me on man, you know, we've been chopping [00:49:00] it up, you know, for for months, years, maybe, you know, off and on. SO I'm excited to see what you got going on and, you know, I appreciate you, you know, bringing me on to be the second guest and I'm excited to see what you do in the future as well. Definitely keep.
[00:49:19] Justin: Yeah, I appreciate that, man. I'll I'll catch you later.
[00:49:24] Curtis: All right. I want to have a good evening, man. We'll talk later. I appreciate it. Bye-bye
[00:49:35] Justin: Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the phones2freedom podcast with me, your host Justin Frye, for free resources and materials, head on over to phones2freedom.com. And if you enjoyed the show, I would love to see you subscribe to our podcast on whatever platform it is that you prefer to listen on. [00:50:00] Thanks again. And I'll catch you guys on the next one.
