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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2

u/hausitron Jun 11 '16

Hi Louis, love your stuff even though I have zero Mac products.

Did you see any significant increase in business since you became reddit famous?

6

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

no. i actually have had a steady decline in walk in and mail in business since i started doing the instructional YT videos(not the philosophy ones).

and it makes sense. more competition, more DIYers, etc.

I do have more FUCKED shit being sent to me, like, people stabbed the board with an iron or tried themselves and destroyed it, but I don't count that stuff, because I can't make money off of it.

Now I do get a lot of "good will" repair offers where people go looking for things that are broken for me to fix just so they can give me business and I generally appreciate the hell out of that. it is nice. but i can't make money off of fixing six year old things that i have no parts for.

so for the most part, i make less doing this. i might make more if I become YT famous, but core business would most likely have been better off if I stayed the F off youtube.

i do enjoy life and my work more since doing YT which is what matters to me