You’ve seen people when their cell phones were out of commission: pacing, sweating, complaining, writhing around on the floor screaming. Or at least a couple of those things.
The crucial and essential nature of cell phones in people’s lives make cell phone repair a very viable home business. No one is going to go a long time without their contacts, photos, tunes, texting abilities, etc. And they’re not going to trust their phone to their friend Dylan who claims to know what he’s doing. They’ll go to a professional. In addition to that built-in market, here are a few advantages of a cell phone repair business:
- Low overhead getting started
- Small space needed
- Repeat business and referrals are fairly abundant
- Possibility of short hours
It doesn’t take obscure or unusual skills to get into cell phone repair. Being an avid user of them, with plenty of apps and a good familiarity with a wide range of cell phone features can be good. Familiarity with various brands of cell phones or experience selling them can be helpful, though not necessary. You just need at mechanical sense, a knack for repairs, and some dexterity.
Up and Running From Home
To get your home business repairing cell phones started, the first thing you’ll have to do is get some basic tools. You’ll need a phone open tool, cleaners, and lamps. The fact that the tools are minimal makes the business that more viable.
From there, you’ll need licensing and/ or permits.
Once you’ve learned the basics of repair, having done some practice runs, and you have the tools, you’ll have to actually launch the business. Since you’ll be running it from home, you won’t have to worry about finding a location. The only major project is setting up your home office, which needn’t be much more than a dedicated computer for some simple accounting software and some software for tracking your workflow. Get your system set up as soon as your first work starts coming in.
The next thing is for you to figure out how you want to reach potential customers and contact them. Do you want to just set up a facebook page that your advertisements will direct customers to? Will you place ads on craigslist and similar free online communities? Are you going to use skype, a different instant messenger? Will you be giving out your personal cell phone number to customers? These all need to be considered, and you need consistency, so you’re not giving out different contact information to different people. This will result in inquiries coming in from different angles, and you might ultimately miss some.
Marketing and Growing
You’ll need to get the word out and start to build up a client base. Having a facebook page with four hundred friends isn’t quite enough. You need to specifically market cell phone users in your area. This may entail posting flyers, setting up a little booth during some festival, etc., buying a cheap ad in the local high school yearbook, etc.
You’ll want to keep expenditures down and carefully aim your efforts.
At this stage, as the work starts coming in, you’ll want to have a thriving and efficient system for organizing your orders, as well as keeping your books.
You’ll start getting Yelp and other reviews and may be ready to pay for your own website. The key is to make sure you do work of the highest quality, going the extra mile, perhaps offering free advice or consultations, throwing in occasional free extras, etc.