How I got here
I came into the world in Haiti, and did all my schooling there, from primary to high school. I migrated to the U.S. at 19 years of age. When I got to the U.S. in 1999, it was the first time I physically saw a personal computer, at my family's home in Florida. Right there, I decided I would learn everything about this box. That's where the journey started, and I never looked back.
I was in adult English school at Lindsey Hopkins in Miami when I started my first job, in Key Biscayne. A professor helped fill out my income tax return, and I sat and observed. That was back in 2001. Since that day, I said that if he used a computer to do it, I could do it too, and from that day on, no other person has done my personal taxes. I would do it for friends and family, and in 2010 I started doing it professionally, because more and more people were asking.
Early on, I noticed a few things that I love: helping people, and electronics and how they work. I was working and attending ESOL classes at Miami Dade College when I found a brochure about free computer training at Job Corps. I quit my job, signed up, and finished the program at Job Corps in Morganfield, Kentucky, within two months.
Then came Henderson College. They had just started a CCNA program in the fall of 2002 and came to the Job Corps computer program to recruit students. I ended up one of the 8 students selected, and the only one to finish the program. I earned an Associate in Science there, along with the CCNA and a second A+.
From there, I took a job in a factory with a company in Evansville, Indiana, making car and truck windshields and windows. When the machines and robots had problems, I would stay close to the engineering team and ask all types of questions. Over time, I moved to working with the engineering team, within six months in the plant, and was moved up to shift supervisor, because I was responsible for the machines and lines for the night shift.
From there, I applied to the program at IU South Bend and studied electrical engineering technology, completing the coursework. While in school, I started working for Crown Audio. I was always working full time while in school, sometimes holding two jobs. In 2008, I moved back to Miami.
I would fix computers and electronics, and continue to study. I got my Florida 2-14 license, because I was curious about numbers and about helping people. I worked in repair management and as a life insurance agent, and started doing taxes professionally. During the tax off-season, I would take classes and continuing education courses. I took courses toward the Microsoft certifications, passed the exams and earned Microsoft Certified Professional status in 2013, and became a Dell certified field engineer in the process.
Then I accepted a role as the IT administrator for a nonprofit in Miami Beach. By studying and taking courses in accounting, I started to do not just taxes but also bookkeeping.
Using software like QuickBooks and Xero, I saw how many gig workers and small businesses were having a hard time keeping up with their books. I started thinking about and designing a program that would address those issues. I tried going to India to develop it, and quickly realized you cannot make a programmer into an accountant, and vice versa. So I went back to study. And here we are today: House D7.
Why I build
When I'm designing a product or working on a concept, I don't just look at what already exists. I look at the people I know, serve and grew up with, and the different environments they live in.
I look at my grandma and grandpa's shop, where I worked from the age of five to 19. At my mother, a street seller, still selling her goods every day. At working with my father in wholesale food distribution, import and export, a company that is still going today. I came from a family of hustlers, a working family.
Everything can be improved on. Nothing is infinite.
You are not above or under anyone, and no one is above you or under you. It is the same 24 hours for everyone. Manage your 24.
What my late grandpa used to tell me
I look at many clients throughout the country. I look at a client who runs a large IT firm and needs to know when each of his tenants has paid. I look at countless clients starting businesses with no financial tools and no proper handle on cost, labor and supply chain.
I design products with my family and the people I know in mind: the vendor with no control of inventory, or no way to keep track of it. Cash-only transactions. Tools that only the highly educated can use, and that need major training.
So I ask: Are the people in my grandpa's shop able to use it? Would it make my family's shipping company easier to run, with more control? Is a client like a tire repair shop owner, who runs his business across a language barrier, able to use it and finally understand his cost of goods? Can the IT firm use it to know when each tenant pays their rent?