Simple but crazy Luxury Punk Rock iPhone Case idea → $120k/Month

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Onto Today’s story….

Andrew Moore never imagined he would start a business designing luxury iPhone cases.

He stumbled on to the idea accidentally and he grew Felony case into a successful biz.

Now he makes more than $120k/Month.

Here is how he did it.

After graduating from college, Andrew Moore worked as a driver delivering construction supplies.

This job gave him plenty of time to listen to podcasts, particularly those focused on tech and startups.

For some time, he had an idea for a wishlist website where people could create and share lists of desired gifts.

He managed to get the site built, but he didn't know how to get people using the website.

He then decided he wanted to sell a tangible product, something that people can touch, feel, use, and form a connection with.

Something that serves a purpose and brings value.

In 2012, he was on Twitter and saw a tweet from someone he followed.

They had posted a photo of this crazy, punk rock looking metal studded iPhone case asking, “Where can I get one of these?!”

After taking another look at the photo, he thought it couldn’t be that hard to make it himself.

The next day he went on eBay, ordered silicone iPhone 4 cases and 100 metal screws in “punk” studs , the kind you usually see on studded belts and leather jackets.

He replied to the tweet, “Give me a few weeks, I’m going to try and make one”.

The next week, he was on vacation in Miami. He and his friends went to a bar and ended up talking to a girl with a multicolored mohawk,

bullet shell belt, ripped fishnets and huge platform boots - a total punk rocker.

She introduced herself saying “I’m Melanie but my friends call me Felony”.

That word stuck with him and ended up becoming the name of the brand.

When he got home, the cases and studs he had ordered were waiting for him.

His roommate at the time designed leather goods, and had a hole punch tool that was used to punch the belt holes.

Andrew used it to punch the holes in the silicone case, and then screwed in the studs by hand.

Andrew showed the first cases he made to his friends and family, and they were really impressed.

Some friends even placed orders, so he went back to eBay to buy more cases and studs, this time in more colors.

After he made the first batch of cases for his friends, he started getting orders from friends of friends.

The cases were so eye-catching that they were marketing themselves.

From the beginning, he focused on making luxury cases.

Andrew kept a note in his phone of people’s names who ordered cases and which colors they wanted.

At that time he was offering black or white cases with gold, silver, or gunmetal studs.

When he had the case made, he would text the buyer to pick it up from his house.

Unfortunately, the first batch he made had some issues - the studs were unscrewing easily.

Luckily he fixed this problem by adding a dab of adhesive to each of the threads.

He realized he didn’t want to have to arrange meetups every time he made a sale so he started with a basic Etsy site.

The product photos were taken by him on his iPhone camera.

The Etsy shop grew and eventually, he was shipping his handmade studded cases all over the world.

He decided they needed a custom online shop of their own to be in complete control of their branding and creativity.

So he started a store on Shopify while still keeping the Etsy shop running.

Their first major break was larger than anyone could have imagined, and it occurred due to a fortunate encounter.

A friend of his, who had one of the studded cases, was sitting in the front row at a Toronto Fashion Week event next to the Vice President of Holt Renfrew.

She noticed the studs on his case and inquired further about it.

He explained that it was his friend from Toronto who made them, and she immediately requested a meeting.

The following week Andrew met the Vice President and she placed an order for 200 cases.

He was on his couch for the next two weeks straight, making cases by hand for Holt Renfrew. Thankfully, they gave him a 30-day delivery timeframe.

After hand-making that order, Andrew decided he needed a better method to punch the holes in the cases,

because he was starting to develop serious hand cramps from manually punching the holes and screwing in so many studs.

Luckily, a friend of his had a tool and die shop, and he was able to make Andrew a jig on a press that punched all 26 holes in one shot.

This was a lifesaver for Andrew at the time — he crunched some numbers and calculated that this saved him 16 minutes making each case!.

Andrew did the product photography himself.

For designing the logo, he traded a case to his friend who then designed the logo.

He kept the whole operation super lean right from the beginning.

Andrew says….

“One big takeaway I can tell other entrepreneurs looking to start a company is to just start.”

“The longer you sit around and mull over ‘what could happen’, the longer you aren’t out there getting feedback and selling your product.”

He also borrowed money from friends and family in the initial stages and he payed them back promptly as soon as he received money from his sales.

He started doing instagram influencer marketing.

A large part of his initial customers came from referrals through friends and family.

The spiked cases had marketing built into them because they were so eye-catching.

People who owned a case told him that they were frequently stopped in public by others inquiring where they could buy it..

This organic growth was a significant driving force for him, especially since he did not have enough money to spend on marketing.

He also sent a lot of cases to influencers, who posted them on their instagram.

Some notable celebrities who liked and used their cases included Hailey Bieber, Devin Brugman, and Tash Oakley among others.

A lot of Magazines and Gift guides also featured them, which helped them get more exposure as well as sales.

He then started to sell on Amazon and sales increased quickly.

He took Amazon Ads, which worked out well.

Almost 80% of his revenue, started coming from Amazon.

Since he was a one-person business, he outsourced most of his work to freelancers.

He outsourced his shipping and handling.

He also hired a virtual assistant through Upwork. from the Philippines who helped him with customer service and influencer marketing.

He also hired a Amazon listings expert from India who helps upload listings onto Amazon.

Andrew says, a lot of starting your own business is about trying different things out, and keeping everything under your control.

He says One thing that has proven to be incredibly beneficial for him is to connect with other entrepreneurs, even those in different categories or selling different products.

There's a high chance they'll have encountered some of the same challenges as him and they could offer advice from their own experiences.

He also set up email marketing and marketing by text messages.

He also introduced new types of cases like silicone cases and Neon cases.

Sales continued to grow and he now making $120k/Month.

Andrew says….

“Don’t be afraid to start! Don’t overthink it, get a product out into the world and start your journey.”

7 reasons why he succeeded

1. Kept looking for opportunities

• He accidentally saw a tweet asking where to buy a crazy iPhone case and realized he could make his own

• The idea came out of nowhere - but he was actively looking for a business idea

2. Made the first products by hand by himself

• He bought silicone cases and screws from eBay to manually create the cases.

• He made the first batch by hand to validate the demand for this kind of product

3. Started with friends and family

• He first sold his products to friends and family.

• Then he got orders from friends of friends,

• This is when he knew he had a winning product

4. Started simple

• He created a basic Etsy store for order fulfillment when meeting people in person and giving them the cases got cumbersome

• Etsy gave him exposure and sales without having to invest in his own store

• Later, when sales picked up, he started his own shopify store.

5. Was Scrappy in the beginning

• He did all the initial product photography himself using his iPhone camera

• His roommate who made leather goods designed his logo in exchange for a free case

6. Remained a one-person business

• He outsourced shipping/logistics early on instead of doing everything himself

• He hired a VA from the Philippines from Upwork, to help with administrative work and influencer marketing

• This freed up time for high level strategic work instead of doing routine tasks.

7. Connected with fellow entrepreneurs:

• He connected with entrepreneurs in different industries on facebook groups.

• Since they have likely faced similar challenges, their advice was very valuable

• Building an entrepreneur support network leads to exchanging ideas/insights

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Hope you liked the story and the strategies which made them successful.

Keep Zoooming!

Yours “Making you Win” Vijay Peduru