WiGoMan Blog - Tech Care (Repair, Reuse, Recycle) Industry Leader

Congratulations to everyone who has been fighting for the right to repair. Yesterday (June 10, 2021) the NY state Senate had a floor vote that was 51-12 in favor of right to repair. This is big in three ways; 1) It's the first bill to make it out of committee and actually get a floor vote, 2) It was also the first bill to win a floor vote, and 3) 51-12 is a healthy margin -- sounds like the Buccaneers vs. Lions last year.  If you're not familiar with how a bill becomes a law now is a good time to review the School House Rock video on the subject. I'm Just a Bill (Schoolhouse Rock!) So a hardy congratulations to everyone at Repair.org, iFixit, US PIRG, and the newly formed Fight for Repair organization.  This is a hard fought victory and these good people deserve all of the credit for continuing the fight. If you care about the right to repair then they also deserve your financial support! Gamechanger, Right? Yea, sure it is. A win is a win is a win. This wi...

I love this industry and I am passionate about seeing it prosper, especially the independent small businesspeople that make up most of its members. I started, like many of you, with an idea and a dream. I started my first tech repair business at the same time that Justin Wetherill, Eddie Trujillo, and David Reiff started uBreakiFix -- obviously they did a little bit better than I did. I realized, a little too late, that I needed help. I needed someone to help champion my business. Our industry is taking care of tech after it's sold (repair, support, reuse & recycle)  and is a relatively new industry that is still finding its way. There are a lot of great companies within the industry doing some wonderful things, including UBIF, to help people take care of their tech after it's purchased. The "Tech Care" industry has helped many creative small businesspeople get into business while also helping a unique set of people find jobs that they can excel in. Truly the Amer...

...the trade route. It effects every aspect of the tech care industry and the existing trade route needs to be broken in order for everyone in the industry to thrive. Right to Repair is an important issue but it is unlikely to move forward or help the industry until we overcome this stumbling block. Just like the Silk Road (pictured above) trade routes have been around a long time and once established they become almost unbreakable. Trade routes still exist on a macro and micro level as an established route that traders follow all over our world. When disrupted it can cause lots of problems -- like the Ever Given that was recently stuck in the Suez Canal. The fact is trade routes often become taken for granted as the way business is done. Modern consumers establish trade routes as well. How many of you "have" to pick up your Starbucks before work? And big, huge corporations like Starbucks or McDonalds put a lot of planning into where a location goes. They know how to find t...

No man is an island , or woman for that matter!  ( full credit to English poet John Donne ). Please allow me to take that thought a step further and say that no business is an island either. In other words, you and your business can't succeed on your own. Everybody needs somebody sometime ( queue, Dean Martin ). Friends, in the last 15 years I have seen a lot of tech repair companies rise and fall. I have seen honest hardworking people start high quality repair shops all over the country and I have seen cheats, scoundrels and opportunists try to do the same. I've seen good ideas and bad ideas tried over and over again. I have seen business after business enter the tech repair industry with so much excitement and passion only to see some of them fail, burnout or move on all too soon. Sound familiar? Not yet? It will be. Why? Because up until this year the tech care industry has lacked a true professional trade association that was designed to help the industry thrive...

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the TECH CARE ASSOCIATION ! The worlds first non-profit professional trade association for companies in the tech care industry, those that repair, refurbish and recycle tech products. Today we officially launch our website at www.TechCareAssociation.org as we start accepting new members. Today we start working for you to make the industry that takes care of tech thrive! Today we all start to work together to help realize the long missed potential of the industry. Today is the beginning of something big! My vision for our industry started many years ago but is realized today for us all. My vision is to help the industry grow to new heights -- or to put it in simple terms, WE WANT TO DOUBLE YOUR BUSINESS . Talk (or in this case type) is cheap. So let me layout some of our plans to you here and then you can check out the website and join us. FIRST - ORGANIZE & COMMUNICATE CLEARLY The problem is that most companies...

The Tech Care industry is a fractured one, tribal in nature. A collection of thousands of companies in repair, support, reuse and recycling that often really only care about themselves and their own tribes' success. Sometimes that tribalism gets nasty. For instance,  I recently heard a story about a repair shop that once had to take out a restraining  order on the owner of a rival store. I often hear p arts suppliers who take every opportunity to trash a competitor over the "real" quality of their parts.  R2 certified recyclers saying that other R2 recyclers aren't REALLY following R2 standards .  YouTube personalities that constantly complain  about the work of other companies. Then there is the  folks who are supposed to be trying to help the industry move forward but put down companies that don't support a cause they claim should unite the industry. Now imagine for a second what this tribal cannibalistic industry could do if it worked toge...

As I walked into the conference area of the hotel in Nashville on the first day of ERC 2020 I realized that this year was going to be much different than years past. I took a deep breath as I prepared for non-stop interaction with many of the great people in the tech repair, reuse and recycle industry. I was really looking forward to shaking some hands, giving some hugs and getting up close and personal with my friends in the industry. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks as I heard an all to familiar sound...   ...my alarm clock that snapped me back into reality. As I awoke from my slumbers I decided that today -- since it was the first day of the virtual conference -- I would go ahead and take a shower before noon and even wear pants before logging into the first session of the  VIRTUAL ERC 2020  show. As I headed into my HOME OFFICE I took the opportunity to shake hands with my 13 year old daughter -- who is attending virtual school and working on her handshake...