At the age of 16, Chiu spent 30 Singaporean dollars (about 23 US dollars) to buy a domain name and asked his father for help in registering the company, as he was a minor. Almost a decade later, the project, which started as a side hustle for brothers Zamus (26) and Amos (24), now has over 20 employees and is expected to generate about 2.3 million dollars in 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. During the first three years of the company's existence, the brothers were still in school, so they had to work between classes or in the evenings. Chiu said: "What many people don't know is that there is a lot of education and licensing behind some of the services we provide, and it goes beyond just using a screwdriver and a hammer." Before expanding, the brothers handled most of the jobs themselves, such as changing light bulbs and repairing furniture. "We were young and not very good businessmen," he added. Chiu also noted that initially, he and his brother did whatever people hired them to do, even setting an alarm for 4 a.m. to ensure they could respond to early messages from potential clients. The Repair.sg project only began to grow and expand in 2021, when the brothers decided to turn a hobby into a full-fledged business. They also decided not to go to college to focus on work. Despite the Chiu brothers belonging to Generation Z, they chose manual labor over administrative work, or in some cases, over attending college. Chiu said that although he and his brother enjoy their work, they faced a lot of rejection from both their parents and strangers. Some clients even mocked their work at a young age, considering that "manual labor is for those who do not succeed in life." Due to the stigma associated with blue-collar jobs, Chiu said he and his brother tried to keep their work a secret for a while. "I'm glad I didn't listen to anyone and continued working, because if I had been forced to sit in an air-conditioned office 5 days a week, working at a computer, I don't think I would have felt the same amount of happiness, satisfaction, and joy that I feel today running this business with my brother," Chiu said. Zamus Chiu earns over a million dollars a year from a small investment he made 9 years ago for 23 dollars. The 26-year-old young man bought a domain name "Repair.sg" in 2016 to launch his startup. This site, which was previously just a name, has transformed into a real company that provides online home maintenance services in Singapore. In 2024, his company "Repair.sg" earned about 1.7 million Singaporean dollars (approximately 1.3 million US dollars), CNBC reported. Chiu said: "When I was younger, my dream was always to work in big tech companies. I was searching online, and it seemed like there was no place to find service providers." He added: "For the first seven years, until early 2024, the company was on the verge of collapse most of the time. But one day in early 2016, I discovered a gap in the market." "My parents were looking for a service provider to fix something at home," he added.
