Time to Level Up

Out of the Marine Corps, my first civilian job was as a field agent for a start-up records retrieval company in Torrance. One day, I am on a naval air base in Tennessee. Less than two weeks later, I am trying to figure out how the Los Angeles freeway system worked. It was a comically bad first day, but that is a story for another time.

Over the next couple of years, I learned this business inside-out. At least, I learned enough to be dangerous. That was the big upside to working in a start-up. I spent my first years as a field agent, then moved into sales, expediting, billing, collections, and production. Just about every hat was worn.

Needless to say, I only thought I knew it all. Like everyone else in this business, I learn everyday how much I do not know.

In May of 1997, the owners of our company announced that they would be selling to a larger company in the Los Angeles area. The options were to come over as part of the deal, or to not. I really only had one option, as I was not willing to go to a bigger company and sell my time to make someone else look good. Been there and done that. I was in my early twenties after all, so time was running out. I guess patience did not feel like a luxury that I could enjoy, due to the circumstances at that time.

One big problem. I had no experience writing software. Shockingly, Fry's Electronics did not have anything on the shelf. Neither did Best Buy, Comp USA, or Circuit City. I guess that this industry, which had become my whole world for the past few years, was not so mainstream. If I was going to get software in place, someone would need to write it for me. After all, I had never coded anything in my life, outside of making the rocket ship look like it was flying through the clouds in 7th grade.

"25,000 dollars. For that much, we could get this to the point that you can start your business." That is the estimate from a friend of a friend. Was that the exact quote? Close enough. He could have said, "A billion dollars and your right arm and leg." It would have felt equally undoable.

Of course, I did what most of us would do. I nodded along as if it sounded reasonable, despite being devastated on the inside. At that age, that money was not going to be earned through legal channels. So again, I was faced with options, which were not really options.

1. Steal the money and risk prison.
2. Go with the sale of the company I was working for and punch the clock.
3. Get a computer and learn to code.

As was the case previously, there was only one option. A good friend of mine got me a used computer. With the little bit of money I had, I bought a coding book and dug in. The first drafts were awful, but it got better and better. Aside from the rare meal, and the sales job that I got to keep the electricity running (so that the computer could stay on), coding became my obsession. I was not going to be denied.

After about 18 months, I was far enough along to start my business. By this time, I was married with a son. So guess I found a little extra time from coding and working.

In the summer of 1999, I moved my wife and 4-month old son to Bakersfield and started an affiliate service. In the late 90s, we already had the ability for our clients to place orders, get statuses, and get their records from our site. Of course, nobody cared. They wanted to fax orders, call for a status, and have us mail printed records back to them. The customer is always right, so we put in the work. At that time, most companies were not even allowing their staff to have Email or use the internet.

However, a few of our customers appreciated the technology we offered and started to ask questions about how they could get these tools working in their own operations. It became very clear that there was not a strong software solution for this industry, and that the void needed to be filled. Over the next few years, I transitioned from a guy that hauled a scanner around the Central Valley of California to a guy that spent my days and nights building solutions to meet the challenges of this industry.

More importantly, I became a guy that helped people to live out their dreams. In the past 25 years, we have dealt with many start-ups whose success would be contingent on their ability to get things done quickly and affordably. One of the great joys of my life, outside of my family, has been in helping small operations to become larger operations. I have greatly enjoyed telling a person, "Yes, we can do that." I have been fortunate to do it many times, and look forward to doing it many more.

I hope that all people, of all ages, with all financial means, can come to us and be told "Yes". Business is hard enough, and I personally enjoy working with companies of all sizes, to help them in leveling up. We have ensured that no start-up ever needs to get floored with a $25,000 estimate, when all they really want to do is use their skills to realize the life that they can envision for themselves and their families.

There is a lot more to my story. I look forward to meeting you one day to share more of the ups and downs. More importantly, I look forward to hearing all about your story, and how we can help you to write it.