Today we’d like to introduce you to Quang Le.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Quang. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I came to the United States as an international student from Vietnam at Boston University. My education funding came from government scholarship, family, and work. I started selling laptops on EBay as a side business when I was in school to make extra money for the tuition. When the recession hits in 2008, particularly hard in Vietnam, all of the scholarship money was not renewed. Originally, I wanted to go to law school after college because it had always been my dream to study the laws in America. I panicked after the funding dried up, and I decided to invest my money in a company that a friend told me was a good company. The company looked good on paper, but it turned out to be a massive pump and dump scheme and its executives were arrested for securities fraud. I lost over $40,000 in the scam. Needless to say, I was devastated and had to drop out of school. I spent three years working as a helper in a small construction company to make ends meet. I was clinically depressed those three years, and negative thoughts were pervasive. The way that I saved myself was the promise that one day I would go back to college no matter how long it takes, and I would not let my dream die.
I scrapped up enough savings to start a business with my friend, at first selling iPhones and iPads. I thought with the smartphones market becomes more matured, people will hold off on their purchase longer, and the repair service industry would grow. We discovered that there is no good supplier for smartphone parts and most repair shops would buy parts online sites such as eBay or Amazon to repair phones. So we decided to start a wholesale business to supply quality parts for the local market.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. Sourcing good products for repair was a challenge as there is no standard for smartphone parts. So developing a good relationship with supplier requires a lot of time and patience. It was a lot of trials and errors. Refurbishing lcds was also very challenging as the fragile nature of the smartphone lcds require a lot of tiny details to be done right. We broke countless screens trying to improving the service.
Please tell us about Turtle Screen.
We are a smartphone parts distributor in the Boston area. We want to create a brand that our customers can trust and is accessible. We chose Turtle Screen because in Vietnam, the turtle symbolizes longevity and wisdom.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1457 Dorchester Avenue
Boston, MA 02122 - Website: www.turtlescreen.com
- Phone: 6175067759
- Email: info
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turtlescreen/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/turtle-screen-boston-2
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
