Max Hawker finds success with Cannonvale phone screen fixing business
When you think of social media influencers, you probably don’t think of a self-confessed ‘nerd’ tinkering with broken iphones and motherboards. Watch this Whitsunday self-starter who has built a global following.
Technology
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If you thought TikTok was one app you could do without, five minutes with Max Hawker will make you think differently.
The former D and E grade high school student, turned bored retail sales worker, turned self-made business boss is a vocal advocate for the video streaming platform after using it to build a global following of 328,000 people and 3.8 million likes in just a few short months.
One of his videos amassed 3.6 million views, another 2.9 million views and many other over the million view mark.
Mr Hawker’s videos, showcasing his passion for solving IT issues big and small, have racked up millions of views and boosted his six-year-old IT repairs business to the point he can barely keep up with demand.
Followers from all around the world are now sending the 29 year old broken iPhones and laptops to fix in his Cannonvale home workshop, and his website traffic has increased more than 5000 per cent.
Mr Hawker is not entirely sure what it is that makes his videos so popular but knows TikTok viewers appreciate authenticity and the more lighthearted tone of its content compared to other platforms.
His videos are fast-paced, conversational, and always have the satisfaction of seeing something broken brought back to life.
He makes a point of interacting with his audience too, acknowledging their likes and comments to show he is grateful for their support.
“I’m just filming what I do throughout the day, and 95 per cent of my life, if I’m not sleeping, eating or catching up with mates is work, work, work, so my content’s pretty much based around work,” he said.
“I don’t have an angle, I’m just 100 per cent myself, and if people like it, they like it.”
Mr Hawker said he did not think much of TikTok when he created his account early last year, but when he saw how quickly his content could amass thousands of organic views, compared to other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, he realised he was on to something.
“I posted my first video with a friend, just for fun, and it got 300-and-something views within the first couple of hours – my [business’] Facebook page has well over 1000 followers but my posts there would be lucky to get even 100 views,” he said.
“By my 10th or 15th video I was getting about 3500 views and I just thought, ‘holy sh*t, this thing’s a mother for organic [views]’.
“Then about my 20th video I cracked 200,000 views and it was almost bizarre seeing such an escalation.
“It blew my mind, I was calling people up saying ‘hey, you need to get on this’.”
About half of Mr Hawker’s audience is in Australia, with the rest spread between the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand and Canada.
He said the majority of his business now came from TikTok and he had just taken on his first employee to help him manage the increasing workload from that expanded customer-base, and may recruit more before the end of the year.
All this without passing his HSC or completing any formal training – just a natural talent for everything tech, a lot of hard work, and a helping hand from an underestimated marketing tool.
“I absolutely sucked at school and I used to have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it, but the truth is if you work on anything long enough, you’re going to get good at it,” he said.
“I think it’s really cool people are interested and I know there’s plenty of people that have walked the same path that perhaps don’t fit the school curriculum.
“I used to beat myself up and feel inadequate and now I’m waking up happy and doing what I love everyday.”
Mr Hawker said his story showed anyone with a business, product, or professional profile to promote should seriously consider adding the app to their arsenal.
“Everyone’s heard of TikTok but they’re all still sleeping on it,” he said.
“I know most people are quite shy about putting themselves out there, and people have this attitude in business like ‘would it work? This or that? Facebook or Instagram?’
“I say why not ‘and’? It’s there, why not be involved? Even if you think it doesn’t make sense for your business, the alternative is you don’t know. You should at least find out.”
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Originally published as Max Hawker finds success with Cannonvale phone screen fixing business
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