SSD: Make Your Old Computer Your New Computer

Hi, my name is Tony Whitney. I am the owner and founder of Y-Not Tech Services in Lethbridge, AB. I thought I would write a little about myself so that you can get to know me. I feel it is important for my clients to trust me and knowing a bit about my past and my love of computers might help in that respect.

Growing up my family didn’t have a computer in my younger years, but I learned early on that I loved them. The old Apples with 5 inch floppy disks in my elementary school’s computer lab, the single newer PC in the same school’s library (it had a CD-ROM!), the computer at the office where my mom worked and the hours I would spend on it. Later on, the computer my grandparents owned. I would spend as much time on all of them as I could. I would fiddle around with the settings and loved seeing how things changed based on what I did. I eventually learned that I could control these things. And it was wonderful. My family got a computer of our own when I was in Junior High School. By this time the internet had started to come into its own and I taught myself how to build webpages using basic HTML code. The family computer became my favorite place. I would spend hours after school sitting behind that old CRT monitor, chatting with friends, writing web pages, playing around with Windows Registry tweaks, reading all the technology news I could find online, and avoiding writing that English essay that was due the next day.

Had to go way back in the archives for this one

My Junior High School had a computer lab too. It was a bit more up to date than the Elementary School’s was. It was a small school and my computer teacher was… Well, she told me the only reason she taught the computer class was because she needed the computers in her classroom so she could teach the accounting courses she specialized in. She didn’t know much more about computers than what the curriculum explained, and some of that wasn’t completely clear to her. Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Franks was a great teacher and I learned many wonderful things in her class! But I quickly discovered anything she taught us was just barely scratching the surface of the topic. I was intrigued by these things and started to research them further. Mrs. Franks saw that while she showed the class a WYSISYG (what you see is what you get) web page designer, I would write a web page using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) code instead. This led to me first explaining the basic code that makes up webpages to my class. Then later she would come into my other classes and pull me out so I could come and explain it to her other students. This continued with some other subjects as we covered them in class, even going so far as her ordering an extra copy of software she had to teach so I could take it home to learn and then teach it to her so she could teach it in her classes. I found an appetite to explore and learn the world of computers and technology. I love teaching myself about computers, figuring out how to solve new challenges. This is how I learned to solve computer problems.

Apart from the Computer Classes throughout Junior High and High School, I don’t have any formal training. I have taught myself through experience, personal research and online courses. After graduating from High School I started working at a retail store that sells Computers and other technology items (they sold other things too, but I tried to stay in the technology section) as a part time sales associate, and then as the Head of the computer and technology section of a new store location when it opened. My career with this company would last 6 years. I enjoyed my time in these positions, especially the times I could speak with customers and help them find the right products to fit their needs. At one point my store was in need of someone to take over the Technician position and I jumped at the opportunity. I had been dealing with customer complaints for some time about our previous Technician. Customers would wait for weeks to get their devices back, with no updates on the status of the work. The tech was smart. He had an A+ Certification and knew how to fix computers, but he was disorganized. He would forget about customers from the week before while working on the ones that just came in that morning. When I took over the position our average turn around time went from over a week to 2 days and our store started having the highest numbers in the district. And I found my true calling. I loved locking myself in that room, surrounded by computers. Life was good. Mostly.

I quickly found that working for a large box store retailer meant that the customers best interests were not always the highest priority. As time went on, more and more policies were implemented that were designed to take value and choice away from the customer and put more dollars into the hands of the shareholders and CEO. I get it. That’s how big business works, but it felt wrong to me. It was at this time that I decided I wanted to work for myself. Every time I would visit my grandparents, their neighbors would have a list of things they wanted my help with.

• How do we program the VCR?
• Can you show us how to email pictures?
• I can’t get my new phone to work properly.
• My computer takes 30 minutes to turn on, can you help me?

It always amazed me how much more I enjoyed these interactions than what I was doing at work. Even though many of the problems were the same. The difference was that I could solve them MY way, instead of the way that made the company the most money. This is what I wanted to do! I even started jotting down notes and plans to make it happen.

Around this time my wife and I decided to start a family. That job in a retail store was not paying the bills. It was at this time that I should have opened up my own tech business. But the cost of living in our city was sky rocketing and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to provide for my growing family, so I moved South to Lethbridge and got a job at Frito Lay. It was the safe choice. Maybe it was the right choice, but it didn’t make me happy. 4 years later and I’m still not happy, despite numerous promotions and a wage nearly 2 times as much as I ever made at the retail store. Making Doritos just isn’t my calling. I’m only working there three days a week now (three nights a week) and I want to use my free time to follow my dream of building a tech business with a truly personal touch. One that puts the client first. One where I get to decide how best to meet the client’s needs.

I want Y-Not Tech Services to be your go to solution to all your technology frustrations or needs.

Why not let Tony help you?
Why not let Tony fix that?
Why not let Tony teach you?