Jake Morrison spent 8 years as a diesel mechanic in Brisbane — hard, physical work for AUD $85,000 a year. He was skilled and methodical. He was also increasingly aware that the mechanical skills he had — precision work with small components, systematic diagnostics, customer communication — translated perfectly to electronics repair.
The realisation came from fixing his sister's iPhone. She had been quoted AUD $450 at the Apple Store. Jake bought a screen for AUD $40 on iFixit, watched a YouTube video, and fixed it in 45 minutes. His sister offered him AUD $200.
"That was $200 for 45 minutes of work I genuinely enjoyed," he says. "In diesel, I was earning $40 an hour for 8 hours of sweaty, noisy work. I did the maths immediately."
The Shift
Jake spent 6 months training — mostly on practice devices he bought from Facebook Marketplace for $10–$30. He invested in proper microsoldering equipment. He read every resource on iFixit. By the end, he could handle any iPhone, Samsung, or laptop repair confidently.
He opened a shop in Fortitude Valley — Brisbane's commercial and entertainment hub — with AUD $27,000.
His first purchase after the lease: RepairCoreX on the free plan.
"As a mechanic, I was used to job management systems. Every car had a job card. Every repair had documentation. I knew a repair business needed the same. RepairCoreX was exactly that for electronics."
The First Months
Month 1: AUD $38,000 revenue. The combination of his mechanical precision, professional documentation, and location near the Valley's dense professional population drove rapid word-of-mouth.
"I gave every customer a professional invoice and a 90-day warranty. Most of them had never received either from a repair shop. They were genuinely impressed — and they told everyone."
Month 3: AUD $68,000. Month 6: AUD $95,000 — hired a technician. Month 12: AUD $115,000.
His Life Today
Jake earns AUD $28,000–$32,000 monthly net. He works from a proper shop in Fortitude Valley, serves a mix of walk-in customers and corporate accounts (several Valley businesses send him all their device repairs), and has not touched a diesel engine in two years.
"Phone repair is cleaner, quieter, more interesting, and pays better than anything I did as a mechanic," he says. "RepairCoreX makes the business side effortless. The rest is just skill and quality."
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