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What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome while starting your business?

“The biggest challenge has been my age and being able to make customers trust me. They are understandably wary about giving their iPhone to an 18-year-old who lives halfway across the country. It’s definitely about trust.”

The life of an iPhone is hazardous. Cracked screens courtesy of a tumble to the pavement, waterlogged circuits from a dip in the swimming pool. Charles-Robert Miller III has seen it all.

It was one such accident that caused Miller to launch iPhixiPhone.com, an interactive Web site where he advertises his iPhone repair services to customers around the world.

“I broke my iPhone, and Apple told me it would be $200 to fix,” Miller says, shaking his head. “I said, ‘There has to be a cheaper way to do this.’”

Miller took his damaged iPhone apart, found an iPhone parts supplier in China and rebuilt it himself. Now he repairs three iPhones on a slow day; some days he works on as many as 10. Each phone is placed in the mail within 24 hours of receipt.

The jump from personal solution to bona fide business was easy, Miller says. Two weeks putting together a business plan and another two weeks building the Web site, which features customer testimonials, a description of services and a PayPal system, and Miller began receiving his first iPhones in April.

Miller’s fees run much lower than Apple’s because it covers only the cost of the parts, a $20 service fee and postage. Services cover the 2G, 3G and brand-new 3GS model out on June 17, ranging from a $70 camera replacement up to a full 3G iPhone repair—which replaces virtually every part in the phone—for $350. A 2G model full repair is $400, Miller says, because the older model requires more delicacy and expensive parts.

Miller has a cordial relationship with Apple’s corporate offices in California, but local Apple retailers aren’t nearly as accepting of his services, he says. Miller hopes to earn an Apple certification to lend an air of legitimacy to his business, but not at the expense of his customers.

“They want me to set up a line of credit with them, but that would increase my prices because they charge more for parts,” he says. “I’m talking to them about it, but if I make my prices higher, the business is pretty much useless.”

Miller works hard to forge a bond with his customer base that affords enough trust to ship iPhones for repair despite his young age. He has had customers from every state except Nevada, and he’s fixed iPhones from as far away as Australia and Singapore.

“I put my personal cell phone number on the Web site, and customers call me.” Miller says. “If I think you should go to Apple, like if you are under warranty, then I’ll tell you. I’m very open.”

Miller, a recent graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Catholic High School in Hammond, plans to move the business when he begins attending classes at the University of Virginia in the fall.

“I really love doing this,” Miller says. “I find it fascinating, and I get to help people out at the same time.”

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