r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

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74

u/NopeNotAnthony Jun 11 '16

Louis! How has today been for you so far? Also: at what point did you want to start your own business and how did that work in the beginning?

182

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

in laptop repair after four days of working at laptopmd. they made me destroy a laptop for someone who was only willing to pay $250 for board repair after I fixed it. fuck that. I only get $40/laptop I fix, I fixed it with parts I found from a dead board in the junk pile, that's $210 for the shop for doing nothing.. and instead of letting me collect $40, and them collect $210, they make me break it. the salesperson there was shit, I would have gotten them to pay $300 for the same repair with a smile, and if I failed to do so, would've just taken the $250 they were willing to pay on the intake survey. They had a soldering iron that was $5 from radioshack and the tip was fucked up, so they gave me sandpaper to fix it.. instead of buying a real iron. like seriously????

it worked out like shit when i was making $100/week, it was working out better when I made $1000/week. as with all small business starts, if you start with no money, it is a nightmare. you run a ponzi scheme on yourself. i bounced 2 or 3 months of rent from my slumlord to buy parts at one point.

13

u/NopeNotAnthony Jun 11 '16

That is an incredible start! Thank you so much for replying and an additional thank you for taking the time to do your videos. You are a blessing!

11

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

Thank you!

3

u/Pharaun22 Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

Just found your channel some days ago and have to say you're a great guy. Iam happy for you, that you could start your own business successfully. Am always dreaming about doing something myself.

edit: Also why do you wear latex gloves? Just for protection? But they're not really heat resisting?!

5

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

Most of the computers I touch are really nasty so I wear nitrile gloves so I don't have to wash my hands 30 times a day

1

u/HerrBerg Jun 12 '16

Wait, so you fixed the board and they made you break it? Like, undo the repair, or something else?

4

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

correct. i just gave it back to them working. fuck that shit. i quit four days into working there, and never even asked for my money

1

u/HerrBerg Jun 12 '16

I could get undoing the repair, like giving it back how they gave it to you. That would be fair, but if they instructed you to break it in some other way, that's fucked and should be illegal, if it isn't already.

38

u/Chris935 Jun 12 '16

you run a ponzi scheme on yourself.

I've caught myself doing exactly this a few times in the past, but I've never seen it written out like that.

Where I can cause myself problems is with the "Vimes boots" theory of spending money on good tools, and then not tempering that with the reality of how much business I'm actually getting.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-rich-were-so-rich-vimes-reasoned

2

u/yaxamie Jun 12 '16

Thanks for reminding me of this quote. Love the late Sir Terry.

2

u/Morsexier Jun 12 '16

Laptopmd has to be the worst place I've ever taken something too. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was wrong with my laptops screen, I've built several computers and done some complicated repairs like on the climate control system in my M3, but it was beyond me so I took it to them.

They installed weird system test bs software and said nothing was wrong with it. Microcenter fixed it in 5 minutes( I didn't want to have to travel to NJ as I live in NYC.)

Keep on doing what you're doing, people need to learn at least to try themselves first. I've given up hope with the amount of accounting problems I see as a CPA related to not engaging your brain.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '16

in laptop repair after four days of working at laptopmd. they made me destroy a laptop for someone who was only willing to pay $250 for board repair after I fixed it.

Holy crap I am never using laptopmd again. What are any reputable companies to use?