How It Started

I’ve basically been the computer guy my whole life. Like a lot of families back then, we had one of those candy-colored iMacs. You know exactly the ones I’m talking about. They were fun, they looked cool, and they were perfect for hanging out in chat rooms and messing around online. But they couldn’t do the stuff the PCs could, and once I figured that out, it was over.

I started building computers because that was the only way to play the games I wanted. I ordered parts from Tiger Direct piece by piece and slowly built my first machine so I could play EverQuest. The GPU overheated like crazy, so I had to take the case off and put a box fan next to it just to keep it running. Didn’t matter. I was hooked. I loved it.

I helped friends build their machines too, and somewhere in the middle of all that, the software side started to pull me in. I built the classic old-school HTML websites like everyone did back then. I even got kicked out of a high school computer class for “hacking.” All I did was view the source code of a webpage, change a few things, save it, and open it in my browser. The teacher freaked out and thought I broke into the school network. That was my last high school computer class, but I never stopped learning on my own.

I messed around with batch files, read anything tech-related I could get my hands on, and always stayed up to date. Friends and family called me when they needed help. I kept building gaming rigs, but deep down I knew what I really wanted. I wanted to be a programmer. I dreamed about it.

While I was working at a factory, I got the chance to go to school and have it paid for. It felt like a dream. Around that time my first son was born, and I wanted to build a life where I could work from home and do something I loved. But life was stressful. I worked full time in the evenings, took care of my son in the mornings, and studied whenever I could. Then the factory started laying people off and I decided to leave.

I kept studying as long as I could, but eventually I had to put school on hold. Money was tight. But the foundation was there. I had enough knowledge to keep going on my own.

Around this time I met someone who would become one of the most influential people in my entire life. He became a close friend and eventually the best man at my wedding. I’d share my textbooks with him and we’d work on things together. The guy was an absolute wizard. He taught me things I had never even heard of and was always working on some wild personal project. Eventually he got hired as a programmer where we worked, and later I followed.

Fast forward to today and I’ve been programming for almost twenty years. I still love it. I still study. I still push myself. Before the easy website builders existed, I was out there making sites for people who didn’t have the time, money, or know-how. I tried to walk away a few times, but people needed the help. For some businesses, their website was literally the only advertising they had.

That’s when I asked Abbie to start helping. She handled the design side while I handled the technical side. But as we worked with more business owners, we kept seeing the same gap. Some people didn’t need a full-blown website. But Facebook alone wasn’t enough either. They needed something simple, professional, and clean. Something between Facebook and a full website. Basically a digital business card.

That was the spark.

That’s where Hutch Connect was born.

With Hutch Connect, small businesses could finally have that perfect middle option. Not just a page to send people to, but a spot where one listing could feed another. Someone searching for lawn care might stumble onto a photographer. Someone looking for a tattoo artist might find a local restaurant they didn’t know about. Everything in one spot.

We decided from the beginning we were only going to list businesses we trusted. Real people. Real quality. The idea caught on immediately. Our first goal was to onboard two partners a week. That lasted about two minutes. It blew up fast. We were onboarding one business a day. We even had to force ourselves to limit it so each partner could get a full twenty-four hours in the spotlight.

Along the way we started meeting business owners face to face. Hearing their stories. Learning what drives them and what slows them down. We wanted to see them win. And honestly, it didn’t take long before they weren’t just partners anymore. They were friends. Neighbors. People we genuinely cared about.

That was the beginning.
That was the foundation.
That was the moment Hutch Connect stopped being an idea and started becoming something real.