HTC Inspire 4G Display Assembly Replacement
enBackstory
Yes, I'm calling my life before iFixit the "backstory." Maybe that makes me a superhero? Probably not.
I grew up in a great place to be from: Lodi, California. Heard of Lodi? Of course you have because some punk named John Fogerty wrote a song called "Lodi" with the chorus: "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again." For your enjoyment while you read the rest of this page:
I went to aptly-named "Lodi High School" and devoted myself entirely to Competitive Speech and Debate, competing at State and National Finals several times and earning a quad ruby my third year.
Luckily, I didn't get "Stuck in Lodi." College brought me to UC Berkeley, where I got a degree in English. My most memorable times at Cal were happily spent at Caffe Strada drinking a mocha and reading War and Peace, Wuthering Heights, Notre-Dame de Paris, etc., etc.
While I loved Berkeley, the greatest time spent in college was in a UC extension program in Paris, France (not Paris, Texas). My mom was born in Tavannes, Switzerland and has family all over France. So, it was a great time to reconnect with European family and drink in the culture and history of the center of the world.
Just before graduation, the economy took a dump and job prospects for a newly-minted English major were bleak. Passionate about politics, I took an internship as a political writer in Sacramento and eventually moved to San Luis Obispo where I worked as an organizer and District Representative for Senator Sam Blakeslee. After running a few successful campaigns for local candidates (I'm omitting any mention of the unsuccessful ones—he he), I decided I was tired of politics and hung up my spurs.
After being a happily unemployed patapouf, I decided my future would be well spent at iFixit.
iFixit Pro
My first grand project at iFixit has been iFixit Pro, a free resource to help people start and grow repair businesses.
The scope of the project is truly ambitious—and we've worked with people from all over the world to develop the curriculum. I even got to go to Nairobi, Kenya to teach a repair business workshop. There, I smooched a giraffe. Not sure which one of us was the luckier. ;)
iFixit Marketing Projects
I have a lot of fun at iFixit marketing existing products and dreaming up new ones. My favorite project must be the Action Hero Toolkit, a playful celebration of MacGyver's birthday.
Repair Guides
While it isn't in my job description to create guides, I thought it would be a good idea to more fully understand the time, skill, and passion it takes to create a truly awesome repair guide. So, I've endeavored to create a guide whenever I break something. Here are a couple guides that are makin' my hands internet famous:
Life Outside iFixit
I enjoy woodworking and gardening most deeply but when my patience for delayed gratification is short, I'll happily watch some really terrible TV to remind myself just how derivative that one episode of "Friends" really is.
Thanks for pointing that out. We're unable to find a different resource at this point. If anyone has a good link, please add it to the page!
I checked all the links and they seem to be working. I even attempted from multiple Google users and they all worked. Make sure you're logged into your Google account and try again? I'm not sure what else to tell you..
Yes—you may use those templates for whatever repair venture you have in mind. Good luck!
Yes—feel free to share the Repair Technicians' Creed with your customers in any way you like.
Thanks, Adam—Glad to see you're in the Pro Talk forum, too!
So glad you think the wiki is good. I spent a silly amount of time building that Cash Flow Projection.. So, as an excel expert, let me know if you have suggestions for how to make it better. Feel free to email me at pro at ifixit dot com.
At least 1 week—and probably no more than 1 month.
You have to balance three things: investment, cost fluctuation, and shelf life. These three things are interrelated.
Shelf life: How long is the item going to last? Consider the actual shelf life of the product. (For example, batteries lose their life even when not in use.) And consider the demand of that individual repair. It's hard to put repair on sale.
Cost fluctuation: Parts cost varies wildly over time. iPhone 6 display assemblies are hugely expensive right now—chances are that in 6 months the full repair service will be cheaper than the part costs right now.
Investment: Shelf life and cost fluctuation are both important to watch because they represent losses on your investment. And, chances are, your investment is very limited and will need to be stretched to cover many SKUs, marketing, tools, etc.
That's my $.02. Whatever stock level balances product life, cost, and investment with the actual work you do—that's the stock level you want.
Excellent suggestion—anything else you want to add to that list?
Of course we'll keep selling the RROD kits! :)
The work we did with Microsoft to pull together refurbisher resources didn't come with any strings attached. Feel free to email me about the program (not sure what restrictions you're talking about): jeffs (at) ifixit (dot) com.