Meet Nick Sutherland, Entrepreneur

Nick Sutherland is a 17-year-old entrepreneur who started his business out of the basement of his home. He then grew it to what it is known today, and the company, HQC International, has warehouses globally.

1. What gave you the idea to start your own business?

Back in 2013, I took a high school business entrepreneur course, and I started up a small phone fixit business called CellFurb. While fixing phones, I soon realized that there were no phone part suppliers in Canada. I then began research on where I could find high quality parts and began to establish relationships with Chinese manufacturers. By late 2013, I came to the conclusion that I had found a market niche and began work on my new sole proprietorship business, HQCParts.

2. As a young person running a business out of your home, how did your family and friends respond?

As a young teenager running a business out of my home, my parents were very supportive and proud. As HQCParts grew, my mother used her own business knowledge to encourage and support me. My friends were customers of CellFurb and were very interested and supportive of my new business.

3. Do you sell spare parts to individuals doing DIY projects to repair their electronics, or do you only supply parts on a wholesale basis to retail repair shops?

We generally we supply to our wholesale customers but we do offer individual part sales on our website (ShopHQC.com).

4. What do you think were the key factors in your business growing from your basement to warehouses worldwide?

In late 2014, I came across an opportunity to partner with a prominent customer. With Derek's support, we were able to take HQCParts to the company it is known as today.

5. How did you come to choose the name HQC International?

When trying to come up with a name, I came across the slogan High Quality CellPhone Parts but then decided to adopt that name as HQCParts. After about a year of HQCParts, we decided to reflect our growing sphere of international business and changed it to HQC International. In the beginning of 2015, we incorporated the business, creating HQC International Inc.

Thanks, Nick!

Introducing RingMyCellphone.com

Have you ever needed to call your own phone number? It happens to me when I'm in a rush and trying to find my phone, and sometimes there isn't someone else around to call it right away. Luckily, someone has come along and set up a ring my phone website for just this sort of situation.

The website uses a free, automated tool that works with VOIP calling. You simply visit the home page, enter your phone number, and you'll get a call.

You can call international numbers with the service as well. In fact, you can also use the Ring My Cell Phone page to find international calling codes as there's a thorough list posted on the site.

This is a clever and simple site. It makes me think about what other reasons I might have to call my phone...! I think lost cell phones are the number one reason people use the site, but you could get creative with it, too. Maybe you're working on your laptop in a coffee shop, and someone won't stop bothering you, so you visit the website and make your phone ring and politely extricate yourself from the interaction with the other person by saying you have to take the call.

Well, now that you know the site exists, if you ever come upon a situation where you want your phone to ring, you can take advantage of the free service of ringmycellphone.com.

Introducing SmartMobilePhones.net, a Source for Phones and Accessories

Personally, I find choosing a mobile phone to be one of the bigger shopping challenges of modern life. How do you know which phone is best for your personal needs? Where can you easily compare the prices and features of different phones? I'm appreciative for sites like Smart Mobile Phones which put all the popular phones and accessories into one easy-to-browse place.

The owners of Smart Mobile Phones created their site to offer a "customer-friendly" experience for people looking for smart phones, specifically iPhones and Android phones. You can contact the site owners if you have questions, comments, etc. This is a newer site, and I get the impression that the owners are going to be responsive to customer feedback as they continue to grow the site, so if you have input, let them know!

The site gives you a lot of good prices on smart phones, and you can compare prices and features to find the deal that works best for you. When it comes to iPhones especially, prices can vary depending on the cell service provider, so it's useful to see the different options brought together on a single page. And with Android phones, different manufacturers have created phones that offer a variety of looks, capabilities, and more. It really does help when a site like this presents your options all together.

Smart Mobile Phones is seamlessly integrated with Amazon to offer easy ordering as well as access to additional information like customer reviews. It's a smooth and simple way to shop for phones and phone accessories!

Introducing MyPowerPebble, a Portable Phone Charger

MyPowerPebble is a useful and nice-looking phone charger that fits easily into a pocket, purse, briefcase, schoolbag, glove compartment, or any other small space. It's round, smooth, and shaped like (you guessed it!) a pebble, and it gives you three to five hours of talk time or up to twenty additional hours of music. If your phone is about to die, and you're in the middle of an important conversation, you can simply plug your phone into MyPowerPebble and continue your conversation.

There are other backup power supply products for phones, but MyPowerPebble distinguishes itself by its sleek and customizable look. There are a variety of packs of skins you can buy to make the case look just the way you want.

This product has already been molded, created, and tested. It's in production now, and the company is ordering the very first shipments to arrive in the United States. If you're interested in trying it for yourself, there's a unique way to support this innovative product and be among the first people to own and share MyPowerPebble with others. The company has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds in order to take the handy device to the next level with distinctive packaging made for big chain retail stores. Supporters of the campaign can receive MyPowerPebble and various skins--there is even an option to receive custom-branded products so that you can distribute MyPowerPebble as an innovative way to promote your own brand.

It's great to see a new product which is not only useful but also has a fun and classy look!

Meet Paul Grossinger, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of MMGuardian

Paul Grossinger is one of the co-founders of MMGuardian, which is an android application that protects kids from cyber-bullying and texting while driving. It also lets parents block kids' phone use in school.

1. What motivated you to create MMGuardian?

My co-founders and I realized that parents needed an effective way to manage their children's smartphones. Texting and driving, cyberbullying, sexting, and even general phone management are major issues parents struggle with that we designed MMGuardian to solve for parents.

2. Looking at your website, I noticed a lot of features parents can use. Would you tell us a little more about the specific features that come with the purchase of MMGuardian?

Absolutely. With MMGuardian, parents get comprehensive parental control. That includes: the ability to lock or locate your child's phone anytime with simple text commands, advance scheduling capability for locking and locating, blocking capability for calls and apps that you deem unsafe, text message monitoring, and the ability to stop teens from texting while driving.

3. What devices currently work with MMGuardian?

MMGuardian Parental Control works with all android smartphones. MMGuardian Tablet Security works with all android tablets.

4. What prevents kids from disabling or reconfiguring the apps themselves?

MMGuardian includes proprietary uninstall protection and tamper prevention technology, which parents can enable to stop teens from reconfiguring or removing the application.

5. How have parents and kids responded to your product so far?

MMGuardian has been greeted with excitement by parents across the US, and MMGuardian Parental Control has been installed by over 120,000 parents and won six product awards.

Thanks, Paul!