Our Story

My family is originally from Casco and Algoma areas. Some people may recognize some of my past family members businesses such as Lakeview Lumber in Algoma and many long time Algoma residents may remember the Hoffmann Sip & Chat from the 70's in Cedar Corners. If you are wondering, yes, I do still have the famous family pizza recipe from there and no, I cannot share it. :)

How did you get your start in IT?

I grew up in a small town similar in size to Casco. My school in the mid 1990's didn't have a lot for technology and had one computer connected to the internet by dial-up modem in a special area of the library that had to be reserved to use. One of the problems we had throughout the school was that we had a lot of computers to sit and type papers at but then we had to save them to a floppy disk and go to a computer that had a printer connected. I started working with the school to setup mini computer networks that connected pods of computers with the "printer computer" at that pod so that any of the computers in that pod could print. At about the same time the school had a consulting company come in to look at networking the whole building (k-12) so internet could be shared and the district could start utilizing computer based attendance and gradebooks. After the owner of the consulting company saw my mini networks in 1997 he gave me his business card and offered me a job for when I graduated high school. The rest they say is history.

In June of 2014 I was sitting at my aunt and uncles dining room table having coffee with them. My uncle was talking about the technology challenges his business was having. I suggested to him to let me take over the work as a side job since they didn't need someone fulltime and that I could become their virtual IT department. As the story goes, the rest is history and FTS Technology Group was born.

I worked my regular 8-5 job and returned calls during my lunch hour and helped people over the phone then. If I couldn't resolve the problem over the phone, I would schedule to go on-site after-hours if I didn't need to go, there or I would take vacation time and leave early and go to the customer. I used my personal savings to buy customer hardware to invoice them and then reimburse myself after their payment. Eventually I got busy enough I had to make the choice of doing it fulltime or not accepting any more customers.

In 2017 business necessitated that I have a location with better internet as I was working out of my home which was located in the country at the time. I found a location in downtown Algoma and signed my first business property lease. After being in that location for about a year, the owner decided to put the building up for sale. We then made the bold move directly across the street. We stayed in that location for about 3 years when we had the opportunity to partner with another business and purchase the Richmond Center at 305 Steele St (right next door to my original office space). So, we packed up the office and once again moved across the street. Who are these crazy people that keep moving back and forth across the street? US...FTS Technology Group and we are now in our forever home of the Richmond Center!