We always hear these amazing stories of incomparable feats of great strength, victory, and valor but have you ever stopped to realize that YOU can do anything?  You really can.

Do Anything You Set Your Mind To

This blog is just getting started and I hope that those who visit find some value in the posts.  I touch a lot of different projects (daily) as the CEO of a web development company and work closely with all of our clients.   My time is spread thin lately which has left me asking myself “do I really need a blog too?”.  The answer is yes.  I love to share information that will help others and I love learning new things each day.  This blog is just a small touch of the things that go through my head each day and I hope you all are enjoying it as it grows.  I plan to post regularly about tips and tricks for web designers, project managers, and small business owners as well as stories and information that inspires.   This entry will hopefully be the latter.

$150 Paperweight

About a year ago, Blackberry released the Q10.  For those who are Blackberry lovers (such as myself) you are aware of the pro’s and con’s.

Blackberry’s are very well known and loved but unfortunately there is an epidemic in the nation (world) of phasing out phones with keypads.  Everyone is going touchscreen and the business users who love their Blackberry’s may be left in the dark.  Then along comes the Q10.  It has a nice slick touchscreen but it also has a full qwerty keypad.

Retail price?  Around $600.

Around August of this past year, I seriously considered paying this price.  But like most things that I feel are not necessary (I had a perfectly working older Blackberry model), I decided not to invest in this new phone.

I know most of you are thinking “why not get a 2 year plan and pay about $150 for the phone?”.  Well, I am on a multi-account phone plan and I am not for sure how long I will stay on the plan.  I wanted a Blackberry that I could take with me if I left our plan in the future, so, I decided to stay with my old phone.

Flash forward to February-March of this year.  At least 6 months have passed.  I revisit all of the different provider sites and see the same numbers.  The Q10 is going for $500-600 if you outright buy it and $150 if you sign up for a 2 year plan.

Nothing has changed.

A good friend of mine tells me that he just got the Q10 and wouldn’t it be great if I had one?  He tells me about all of the amazing new features, the super fast processor, and so on.  Sure, it sounds lovely, but……….and then it happened.

He is an avid Craigslist user and found a clean and unlocked Q10 for $150.  We drive up immediately and purchase the phone.  It works, it is clean, and it is unlocked so I can take it wherever I want.  We go and get the new mini sim card and BAM…… we quickly see what is wrong with it.  The keypad is broken.  Not only that, but when you touch the BACK of the phone it starts typing.  There are major issues with the phone making it a $150 paperweight.

Lesson #1 – If you see something for retail $600, on eBay for $400, and go with a local seller for $150, it is probably too good to be true.

$20 = $600… or does it?

I was pretty bummed.  My friend told me that there are videos to replace the keyboard and maybe we could do it.  He felt responsible and wanted to help me out so he bought a replacement kit.  The kit contained all Blackberry Q10 OEM parts except for the screen and motherboard.

He spent $20.

The idea was that I could replace all parts on the phone to fix my issues.  Keep in mind, I said “idea”.  We were not 100% sure that this would even work.   But if it did work, this $20 would transform my paperweight back into a $600 phone with new parts to boot!

This phone is SUPER sensitive.  It is literally a microcomputer and super hi-tech and gorgeous.  The keyboard alone is 5 layers when you look at the schematics online!  I was so scared that I would destroy the tiny parts that I couldn’t dive directly into the project.  I needed some time.

Panic.  No Confidence.  Too Complex.

A few weeks went by (I am a very busy person!) and it was 1pm, Easter Day.  I decided I was going to sit down and take the phone apart.   I had a dinner to go to at 5pm.  I figured that if things didn’t go well, it would take a couple of hours to (hopefully) undo the damage and at least get the phone back to the original messed up state.

I clear off my table, setup my tools, clear off my old parts/new parts sections and partitions to sort screws.  Now, keep in mind that I DID follow a video.  I will admit to that, however, it was still very hard.

I decided to watch the video one time through before beginning.  I got about halfway through and realized that I was in over my head.  I closed the video.  I started complaining to my friend (who often gets me out of technical jams!) that I simply could not do this.  He told me that I could and would and it would all go well.

His confidence in me was awesome, however, it was no reality.  On a scale of 1 – 10, the complexity of the tutorial video was around 20.  They say that the human brain can easily remember the first 9 steps to a task but after that, it becomes blurry.  This is how I felt.  After about 100 steps (just watching that is), I was overwhelmed.

You Can Do Anything.  Really.

So, I started.  It was 1:19pm.  I took the phone apart.  I started with the back, then the motherboard, then the keyboard, then the screen, then the case.  I then had to put it all back together.  A couple of times, when removing adhesive, I thought I may have damaged something.   When I finished the whole project, it was 3:27pm.  I did not have any difficulties along the way, things went smooth and fast but it still took 2 full hours!

The moment to plug the phone in arrived and I was was terrified.  But guess what, it WORKED!  My new keyboard is beautiful.  The new case is nice too.  My $150 phone is now a full valued $600 phone and I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF!

Now, reading this, you probably cannot understand how difficult this was so I want you to know that I regularly take on many projects that require rebuilding and creating.  This project was more difficult primarily due to the TINY parts (and all of the anxiety that comes from reading about people breaking phones trying to repair it at home).

I feel pretty much “on top of the world” right now.  This is just one reminder in a big world that I can do anything.  Whatever I put my mind to, if it can be achieved, I can achieve it.

I know, I know, it is just a phone. JUST a PHONE.  Truly.  But it was the challenge and the end result that is the true story here.  This is not a story about saving $450 on a phone, it is a story about conquering your fear.  Looking something in the eye that scares you and doing it anyway because you need to.

I hope this little story has helped you in some way realize something in your life that you are backing away from and need to face.

You can do it.

You can do ANYTHING. Really.