Master Computing – Version 2

The Blog.  Where to begin...  I guess I will start with a personal introduction and history of the company.

My name is Justin Shelley.  I am happily married with four children. As of this writing, the kids range in age from 4 to 13. My first introduction to computers was with the Apple IIe. While most kids my age used their computers for video games, I wanted to take it apart and see what all the circuit boards looked like. My father added a modem, a second floppy disk drive (5 ¼ baby!), a dot matrix printer, and many other state of the art peripherals. I was fascinated with all of it, and instantly addicted. When I wasn't admiring the innards of the machine, I was learning to program in BASIC. I guess I can't really say I had no interest in video games, since I did program my own very cheesy version of Space Invaders, which I played on occasion.

So now I am officially locked into the "geek" category, I suppose. I guess that would be compounded by the fact that I have little interest in sports, I play the Piano, I enjoy going to the symphony with my wife, and socially I am a bit reclusive. That being said, I can't stand the use of the term "computer geek" or "computer nerd". I think these terms are degrading and rude when applied generally. I have no idea why someone would want the word "geek" as part of their company name!

Besides, I don't fit perfectly into the geek group. I never played D&D. I hate video games. Never watched Star Trek. I prefer contacts to glasses. I enjoy the outdoors, guns, 4x4 trucks, camping, and I absolutely love motorcycles. I grew up on dirt bikes (starting with a 50CC Honda Mini Trail when I was 5 years old). I had my first street bike when I was 15 (a Honda CB550-four). And my all-time favorite was my Vulcan-88.

Enough about me.

I started Master Computing back in 1997 with a small "office" carved out of my bedroom.  It was just me and my good friend, Brian.  I knew there was plenty of work out there for those who were willing to pound the pavement. I was young, full of energy, and determined to conquer the world. So after purchasing a few business contact lists, I sat on the floor on one side of the room, while Brian sat on the floor on the other side of the room, and we started dialing the phone. "Hi, this is Justin with Master Computing. Can I talk to someone about your computers?" We would call all day until someone said yes. Then we would excitedly jump into the tech-mobile (Was that geeky? It sounded a little geeky. Crap!) and race off to the rescue of our new-found customer.

At times we went door-to-door and once in a while even sent out a direct mail piece. We spearheaded a couple different projects, like RenoMall (semi-successful for a time, then not so much). Slowly but surely we began to lay a foundation. All this time, I was still trying to put myself through college. But as the business began to shape up, I faced a harsh reality: I didn't have time to be serious about both the business and school. I had to choose one or the other. There are plenty of times when I think back to that decision and wish I had stayed in school, but I was too starry-eyed to quit now, so I dropped school and dove head-first into Master Computing.

Soon we moved out of the bedroom and into a small office down town. As things got busier, I suckered my sister into coming to work for me as my bookkeeper. Then, for a time, her husband helped me out running data cable. I hired various technicians as the workload increased (some were better than others), and eventually we opened a second location. My father, brother, and various cousins joined me at one time or another, making it a true family-run business.

By this time, we had two locations, 10-ish technicians, and customers which ranged from schools districts to hospitals, banks to libraries, attorneys, CPAs, Real Estate agencies, and more. Things were going great, with an even better outlook. But then came trouble. I hate to admit it, but I wasn't at all prepared for the bomb that hit our economy. I found myself smothered by overhead, buried in bills, and a customer base that dropped out from under me by about 70%. It devastated me financially. I cut costs everywhere I could, tried desperately to find new markets to break into, and eventually had to let most of my employees go. Telling them that they no longer had jobs was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. These were more than employees; I considered them to be friends. Just like me, they had families to feed.

For quite some time, I struggled to keep the business alive, working once again out of my home (this time I built an office in my garage). I dabbled in other markets, such as phone systems, automated reminder calls, website/database programming, etc. They all brought in money, but it was never enough. I eventually had to look for outside employment.

So that was Master Computing version 1. Today I am well into the process of rebuilding the company: Master Computing version 2, or MCV2 for short (What? Ok, fine. A bit geeky. Shut up, it's a computer business!) Besides, who's really going to read this post? I never say any of this out loud. We are still just Master Computing to the public. If you do read this, keep it quiet.

I am determined to build the company up better this time. Lessons learned: Stay out of debt! Pay as you go. Plan for the worst. Work for the best. And keep those costs down! For that reason, I am still operating out of a home-office. Not my first choice, but since all of my work is done on-site or behind the scenes, I absolutely do not need a storefront or public presence (yet). The day will come, but not before it is soundly justified. Because the DFW area is spread out, and I live in Denton, we have a "virtual" home in Flower Mound at a place called SmartOffice. There we can camp out, use the conference room, meet clients, or just grab a cold coke.

For the time being, we can get by with one full-time and two part-time technicians. My wife helps out with the books, and I work long days. But again, this is the rebuilding phase. We are once again pounding the pavement. The economy is (hopefully) moving back in the right direction. We have some new ideas on how to keep costs low for our customers (see our main website for more information about unlimited service plans). And most important, this is my passion. Not only will we rebuild, but we will reach new heights.