Here I was jobless, in a new city, without a relation, and not knowing a single soul. My outlook on life was to always look for a silver lining. I was in San Francisco. So, I toughed it out, started my own consulting business, relocated into the inner city, and made a new life. I established 4 clients which sustained me for the next 15 years; two of which I established wonderful relations with. I had set them up with Microsoft servers, but after going gray with the stress and seeing only $$$$ given to Microsoft for solutions (and not guaranteed to work solutions at that), I decided to leap into Linux. I’d always read ‘steep’ learning curve, but once there you’d be happy you jumped. And I was! I went from systems crashing daily to no crashes for … wait for it … wait for it … NEVER! That’s over 10 years. Needless to say, I’ve been a Linux fan ever since. So, you might ask: “Why isn’t my consulting business still my primary source of income?”. Believe it or not, it is exhausting being the goto for everything. ‘Everything’ for which a corporation has multiple departments and personnel delivering the same service. As technology broadened so did my learning curves. Throw in a marriage and I decided it was now time to go back to work for someone else. But, I will look fondly back on the experience and friendships that only small businesses can fulfill.
