Simple Phone dropping problem → $125K/Month Phone Accessory Empire

🏖️ Creative Entrepreneur fun one-liner:

"Why do entrepreneurs make great magicians?

They turn invisible things into visible things!”

Onto Today’s story….

Simple Phone dropping problem → $125K/Month Phone Accessory Empire

Jean-Philippe Brousseau,

who was prone to being clumsy with his smartphone,

was like many of us.

JP was prone to dropping his phone and,

dealing with the dreaded shattered screen.

He almost cracked his screen every other month,

costing him $100+ in frustrating repair bills each time.

Little did JP know,

his clumsiness would lead him to launch,

PhoneLoops, a 100k+/month mobile accessories empire.

JP, who graduated in mechanical engineering,

worked on product development and project management.

He had never operated a business before Phone Loops,

and he started it slowly,

while working other jobs.

It was his first entrepreneurial attempt.

In 2013, JP was visiting Montreal and,

met up with a buddy at a local pub.

While enjoying a few weekend beers,

he wedged a straw between his phone and its case,

to create a kickstand,

so he could watch a video hands-free.

In that moment, a lightbulb went off in JP’s mind.

After breaking phone after phone,

JP realized the problem wasn’t him,

but rather the device itself.

Smartphones were too light,

too thin, and too slippery!

He thought,

"How come those $100 point-and-shoot cameras come with wrist straps,

but expensive iPhones don’t?"

JP decided then and there,

to solve his butterfingers dilemma,

once and for all.

He set out to design a universal phone grip,

that would provide a secure,

yet comfortable hold.

Over the next few months,

JP developed early prototypes of what he called “Petite Loops”,

using special 3M adhesive.

He carefully tested different materials and shapes.

Finally satisfied with having a working product,

JP built the first batch of Loops by hand,

in his apartment.

He then contracted with a local manufacturing shop,

to produce 500 units,

which he packaged individually for retail sales.

He saw good sales from these.

Next, JP reached out,

to local promotional product vendors,

to inquire about customizing the Loops for corporate clients.

He got a few orders.

Within a few more months,

he had ramped up production capacity,

to be able to handle larger-scale orders.

As a solo entrepreneur,

without a lot of money,

JP had to be creative in spreading the word,

about PhoneLoops.

He started a Kickstarter campaign in 2014,

and contacted friends, family,

friends of family,

to gain some traction,

by raising about $7000 out of his $4000 goal.

It slowly started to spread,

through word of mouth.

He also got in touch with local media,

newspapers, TV, and radio stations,

as they tend to relish good startup stories.

He ran Google and Facebook ads,

targeted at mobile accessory buyers.

He also did outreach to tech bloggers and influencers.

He also sold the Loops direct, through his own Shopify store.

These grassroots marketing approaches steadily grew sales.

This gave JP the confidence to quit his engineering job,

to focus on PhoneLoops full-time.

The orders were small, but repeat business was high.

JP got his big break in 2015,

when PhoneLoops was featured on CNET,

a top technology site.

Practically overnight, the brand went viral across the US,

and demand skyrocketed.

JP had struck a chord,

with butterfingers consumers, nationwide.

Fulfilling thousands of orders,

required JP to triple his manufacturing capacity and,

warehouse space, which he did.

He also brought on 2 customer service reps.

Revenue for 2015 topped $700K,

as PhoneLoops gained traction globally.

On the heels of cracking the American market,

PhoneLoops attracted even bigger opportunities.

JP received an invitation to have custom,

Oscar-themed Loops,

included in the 2016 Academy Awards' gift bags,

given to presenters.

Soon after the Oscars cameo,

JP landed a deal with two investors,

on Canada's “Dragon's Den” show,

modeled after “Shark Tank.”

While the deal eventually fell through, after taping,

the national exposure he got took PhoneLoops to new heights.

Website traffic tripled.

By 2017,

PhoneLoops had sold over 500K units, worldwide.

JP says,

"Our motto here is simple: FOCUS.

Focus keeps momentum. The rest follows."

JP filed for intellectual property rights,

to withstand copycats.

Over the years, he got burned multiple times,

by consultants overpromising results,

they couldn’t deliver.

But this didn’t deter him. He kept moving.

Competitors emerged.

Instead of fearing them,

they studied their competitors’ weaknesses.

Then, they found ways to make their offer better,

with clear differentiators competitors couldn’t copy.

PhoneLoops were a compact, unobtrusive,

lightweight solution,

for a one-handed grip on any smartphone case.

It was also the only grip accessory,

that didn’t interfere with wireless charging.

JP says,

"The key ingredients behind PhoneLoops' meteoric rise,

have been relentlessly focusing on customers,

staying nimble enough to change directions,

and surrounding myself with talented team members,

to offset my weaknesses."

Thanks to JP's accidental discovery of his problem,

with dropping phones,

PhoneLoops has blossomed into a leader,

in the mobile accessories space.

Now,

JP makes $125k per month,

doing what he loves.

JP says,

"Just start.

What can you accomplish in the next 15 minutes to get the ball rolling?

Do it. Repeat."

"Almost everything you need to know is out there,

so consume what is relevant to your next baby step."

But for JP,

this is only the beginning.

He says “Be on the lookout for new ideas because,

they are sometimes right in front of you.”

Armed with a notebook filled with hundreds of new ideas,

JP begins each day by asking himself:

“What everyday problems can I solve next?”

He knows that obsession and tenacity will keep leading him to success.

By identifying an unsolved annoyance he faced daily,

JP turned his butterfingers into a $125k/month business.

7 Reasons he succeeded.

1. His Frustration

JP was prone to dropping and,

cracking his phone screen,

This common frustration sparked his idea.

costing money in repairs.

He noticed phones were too slippery,

and lacked accessories like camera wrist straps.

By identifying an unsolved annoyance he faced daily,

JP turned his butterfingers into a $125k/month business.

2. Testing idea quickly and with less money.

JP prototyped early versions of the PhoneLoops,

using simple 3M adhesive,

and testing different shapes and materials.

He handmade the first small batch to test demand,

before contracting a manufacturing shop for 500 units.

This allowed JP to validate the idea,

with minimal upfront investment

before ramping production.

3. Validating Demand

JP set a modest $4k Kickstarter goal,

to fund a pilot production run,

and gain a customer base.

To his surprise,

he raised $7k which proved there was demand.

The campaign also started word of mouth referrals,

and built awareness of his product even before the product was even made.

4. Didn’t fear competitors, he was prepared

When copycats emerged,

JP analyzed their product weaknesses,

instead of getting intimidated.

He focused on differentiators,

like not blocking wireless charging,

which others lacked.

JP set his product apart,

by improving on competitors' flaws.

He also applied for patents.

5. Recovering fast from setbacks

JP got burned early on by overpromising consultants,

but didn't dwell on the losses.

He also had a big "Dragon's Den" investment,

fall through at a critical moment.

But he rebounded quickly,

instead of losing momentum due to early stumbles.

6. Solved problems customers didn’t realize they had

Many people didn't recognize dropping phones,

as a solvable daily annoyance

until PhoneLoops.

The product showed them,

a convenient grip was possible to prevent cracked screens

from clumsy fingers.

Often,

customers don't know they need a product,

until it appears and solves their problem.

7. Focus

JP says “What can you accomplish,

in the next 15 minutes to get the ball rolling?

Do it. Repeat.”

Taking consistent small steps often leads to faster progress

than attempting large, inconsistent leaps.

🧁

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

Keep Zoooming!

Yours “Making you Win” Vijay Peduru