I live in Disley with my wife, three children and dog (Milo). Born in 1978 is an advantage as both Apple and Microsoft were formed in the same era. In my early days, I loved to take electrical items apart to see how they worked. At secondary school I used to repair and upgrade personal cassette players (Walkmans). In addition to this, I would program games for my friends Amstrad and Acorn BBC comp
uters. I completed my diploma in Business & Finance when I was 21 years old. I started my first full-time role as Assistant to the Finance Director for a clothing manufacturer based in Hyde, Stockport. The company needed to move with the times, and I had the IT knowhow. They were happy to pay for my training in exchange for me to develop their IT infrastructure. At the same time in 1999, I worked part-time outside of my daytime job as a freelance IT professional for small businesses. In a period of 5 years, I built numerous servers for different companies and developed multiple computer systems from scratch. I gained extensive knowledge of both legal and financial framework. I experienced pioneering IT technologies which the new telecommunications companies had just began to operate. In 2005, during the broadband revolution, I setup a company called B4 Computers and I began to operate from my home workshop. These were the best days of my life :-)
Because business was that good... I decided to open my first shop in High Lane and offered apprenticeships to youngsters who needed a foot on the industry ladder. In 2010, I had 4 workshop engineers and 4 call-out computer engineers. I decided to expand with a second shop in Hazel Grove and change direction. I established Stockport Computers to appeal to larger organisations began to tender for contractual services. After years of working all hours, everything serious, shops struggling to compete with Amazon and the arrival of my second child I decided to keep things simple! When the last of my apprentices had progressed to per-sue their new ventures, I decided to close my shops and work from my original home workshop which I missed. I still operate from my home workshop in my original van. I still socialise and sometimes work alongside my experienced apprentices. My business isn’t just a job to me but it’s my way of life. This means everything I do is important, and I have meaningful relations with my customers.
