Stuck in Houston, for now, at least.  I made several bad decisions that put me here.  I won’t try to rank them as to importance; because the effects are cumulative.  I left the Rio Grande Valley to service a computer maintenance contract with Fedex, because I couldn’t hire anyone in Waco.  I moved on the weekend; and called in on Monday to let Fedex know that I was ready to take calls.  My contact there informed me that Fedex and Techforce had broken their contract over the weekend; and that I would be covering the areas that I had been covering for Fedex directly for Techforce.

OK.  I called Techforce, gave them my numbers, and started accepting and dispatching calls.I was still making good money; and this continued for about eighteen months.  Then, President Clinton signed the H1B Visa program into law.  My larger competitors immediately began importing techs from India and Pakistan to work for far less money.

In a very short time, they were able to underbid me on contracts; and I was forced out of the contracting business.  Since I no longer needed the building I was leasing; and the lease was expiring, I made the decision to move to Port Arthur, where I could still run the online computer parts sales, and there was good fishing.

I actually found a decent job in Port Arthur, and we moved there.  The online business fell apart when I lost my best supplier.  After four months on the new job, my employer decided to add me to the group insurance; and discovered that adding an older man to the group meant an across-the-board premium increase.  Suddenly, my services were no longer needed.  I managed to stay in the area until July thanks to collections from former clients; but then my son showed up with a U-Haul truck, packed us up, and moved us to Houston.

We arrived at my daughter’s house late at night; and waited until the next morning to unload.  By noon of that day, my eyes were so irritated from the pollution that I could barely see.  That situation is still happening. 

In fact, my eyes are blurring right now (it’s just after 2:00 pm), so I’ll stop and name the mistakes made so far…

Leaving the Valley
Not returning there when the contract ended
Giving up too soon on my business.

I’ll pick up this thread again, next time.  I can promise you much to come, including the reasons behind my heart attack.

Posted on June 7th, 2007 by torone
Filed under: Personal