About.
About GHHSoftware.
GHHSoftware is - well... me! Grant Hickey. I live in Lake Orion, MI, and have been providing IT services to businesses and individuals (officially)
since 1999. I started out providing PC support for friends and relatives, and eventually had a coworker ask if I could create an MS Office (Word, Access)
custom application to send direct-fax (yes - fax!) advertisements for his father's phone business. I decided at the time to simply get a DBA and
started providing services as GHHSoftware, and that's how it all started.
Around 2010, I started getting requests from larger businesses for larger, more complex and involved custom software solutions. At that time, I decided
to form an LLC, and have been GHHSoftware, LLC ever since.
My Background
I worked for Radio Shack in the 1970's, and when they first offered their Model I TRS-80 in a small card in the 1977 catalog, I became obsessed with having
my own computer, so purchased it and put it on lay-away for a year until I could afford to have it ($599 back then). Keep in mind, this was
4 years before the IBM PC was was first introduced.
I quickly learned all about the built-in BASIC programming language, and then kept expanding the system, getting all the technical documentation I could
get my hands on, until I had learned virtually everything about it, down to the signals running around inside.
This initial knowledge served me quite well. While working at a roller-rink in Rochester, MI, the owner had need for some custom software to assist in
running his other businesses, so did custom programming on the side. Here I learned about DBase, and wrote several applications in that as well as some
stuff in BASIC.
When I got married for the 1st time in 1992, I completed an Associates degree in Small Computer Technology, but got my 1st full-time IT job based on all the
custom work I had done previously.
Since then, I have been fortunate enough to go from job to job, learning new technologies and increasing my expertise of design, coding, analysis, troubleshooting
and more.
Today, I work (my 'real' / 'full-time' job) at a large company who provides the vast majority of automotive data (parts, procedures, diagnostics, more) for the entire western hemisphere.
My experience has grown in most areas of IT - software, hardware, networking, security, web, mobile devices, and includes expertise in the most up-to-date
technologies from Microsoft, Amazon, Intuit, SalesForce, and more.
What I Offer
I started GHHSoftware with the goal of making premier expertise available to the small business owner and individual. Most retail places that offer similar services
both charge too much (over $100 for many services, regardless of outcome), and feature "experts" who know too little to help with many of today's IT problems. What I've found
is, those with the expertise and experience to be really valuable, don't work for the retail chains, but go to an IT company which can afford them.
Since this is my
side job, I can offer my services at a discount. Just some of the advantages of working with me:
- Your first consultation is completely free. I'll come out and find out all about you and your business, and then explain what I can offer, and we can see what
might work for you. You may find that you really don't need anything more than what you have now, or find what you're looking for is currently out of reach, or
impractical - or - you may find one or more opportunities to implement some ideas which greatly enhance your business! But - either way, that first meeting is
free of charge, so you haven't wasted anything in just finding out.
- I often do quite a bit for my clients, "off the books", so to speak. I constantly answer emails and quick calls & texts, without charging a dime. This is something
you don't often find with any other services, since their livelihood depends on charging for whatever they can.
- For custom software solutions, or implementing a new technology, any time I spend learning is on me. I frequently wind up contacting a 3rd party to learn how to
interface with their software for a custom solution, or research technologies to find a best fit for a new project. The time spent enhances my expertise, so I only
charge for the time spent implementing a solution, not learning about it (as it should be).