This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
From crack screens to tech buyback business, welcome to Cytosol School. Welcome as well to a brand new month, episode 3043 here as we kick off the 1st of May. Of course, you might be listening later and that's okay. We do our best to make everything evergreen. You can listen to the entire archives completely free.
Hopefully you'll learn something, get some ideas, a point of inspiration, maybe save you some time in trouble in your quest to create a new source of income. That's what we're all about. Now today's segment is known as Throwback Thursday. Every Thursday, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. Last week in this series, we heard from a pro videographer who ditches travel hassles by mailing filming kits worldwide and directing online course shoots entirely from afar.
He does this all from Montana. He doesn't travel. He used to travel and now he doesn't 'cause that's what's best for him. So today in our latest feature, we're going to hear from a college student who scaled from fixing cracked iPhone screens to creating a buyback platform that turns over $20,000 in inventory every month. As I said, it's all done by a college student.
He's making some real money and that's really what side hustle school is about. It's not just helping you make a small amount of money. I mean, that's a good start, but it can often go far beyond that initial start. So let's hear how it worked out for Jason. Going to pass the microphone over to him.
I'll be back at the end for a few words of wrap-up. [Music]
I'm Jason, a senior at the University of Michigan and my side hustle started with the cracked phone screen. Back in my freshman year, my roommate dropped his phone and couldn't justify the cost of an expensive repair. I'd always been good with my hands, so I offered to fix it. After a few YouTube tutorials and a $15 replacement screen, the phone was as good as new.
By sophomore year, I was replacing two or three phones a week for classmates, but I noticed something. Most people didn't actually wanna keep their repaired phones forever. They just needed them functional long enough to sell or upgrade. That's when the light bulb went off. Instead of just repairing phones, I could offer to buy them outright, fix them and resell them myself.
This shift became the foundation for my buyback platform, which now turns over $20,000 worth of devices every month. The concept was simple. Sellers would come to me with a phone or tablet they no longer wanted, and I'd offer a quote based on its model, condition, and current resale value. If they accepted, I'd pay them on the spot, refurbish the device, and list it for sale on platforms like eBay. I started with a basic Google form where people could input their device details to receive a quote within an hour or two.
At first, I kept the operation small, just friends, classmates, and local referrals. But as demand grew, I used a no-code tool to create a full website where users could quickly get their quote, schedule a drop-off for shipping, and track the status of their sale. The real breakthrough came when I partnered with local businesses. Many companies had outdated employee devices sitting around collecting dust. I started reaching out, offering bulk buyback services.
This gave me steady inventory, higher value laptops, tablets, and newer phones that I could refurbish and resell. By junior year, I was turning over $10,000 in inventory a month, and sometimes more. A big part of this was streamlining my process. I created a pricing algorithm that factored in repair costs and market trends, allowing me to make instant offers that were both competitive and profitable. Devices with minor damage were fixed and sold, while heavily damaged ones were stripped for parts to minimize waste.
As the business grew, I hired two part-time assistants, one to handle repairs, and another for logistics like shipping and packaging. I also set up a partnership with a local repair shop to outsource overflow work during busy seasons. Today, my buyback platform is more than a side hustle. It's a scalable business model that's helped me start a retirement account. Watching this business grow from fixing a single cracked phone to managing $20,000 in monthly inventory has been an incredible journey, and proof that turning a small repair gig into something bigger was worth the risk.
[Music]
Hey, Jason, thanks for sharing those updates with us. Definitely sounds like you made some smart moves. $20,000 in monthly inventory, even if the profit margin is, what, a third of that? That's pretty great, right? That is really well done.
Listeners, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of thousands of episodes. This is gonna be a fun month. We've got all kinds of cool stuff coming out, so I hope you'll subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. I always appreciate those five-star reviews as well. Ratings or reviews only takes a second.
Makes a difference in discoverability, and we're gonna keep trucking along new episode out tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
