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Meet Mark Bush

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Bush.

Mark, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The story of how I started is a long, but wholesome one. In the early ’90s, my stepdad, John, had purchased a computer from his brother when I was nine years old, and it was shipped from Virginia to Texas. It didn’t arrive the same way it left, so John told me “If you can fix it, you can have it.” Little did he know, I really enjoyed jigsaw puzzles. Armed with a screwdriver, I set to work.

With no supervision and no internet, it took me about a week of moving pieces around and playing with buttons and switches before I had the computer displaying something on the screen. I walked into the living room where my parents were, and said timidly “I fixed it.” The reply I got was “fixed what?”, to which I replied “the computer.”

John followed me into the room with the computer and went over my handiwork. He had repaired computers during his time in the US Army, and so passed his knowledge of the components’ names and what they did down to me. It was a pivotal point in my life, as I had always been fascinated with interactive electronics (it was the boom of the video game era as Nintendo launched the SNES and Sega launched the Genesis). Here was an electronic device that could do more than just play games – it could really do whatever you wanted it to do. Infinite possibilities.

I eventually got my own computer for my 14th birthday. My best friend, Grant, reluctantly ruined the surprise while we jogged around the gym at our junior high school (sorry, Mom). I was glad he did; I was still gushing with excitement at the party. My own computer meant I could get on the internet on my own, rocking that sweet 56K Dial-Up sound to connect me to AOL, while infuriating my mother because the phone line was tied up. I also played a ton of computer games.

“Are you going to spend your entire life in front of computers?” – Josie, my amazing mom, and hero, multiple times throughout my life.

Well, Mom looks like it.

I began working for Circuit City in 2003, as an “IQ Crew” technician. My first job where I got to fix computers. In hindsight, there is not a single thing about having an untrained high school kid work on your computer that isn’t absolutely cringe-worthy. There are exceptions, but they are rare.

I worked my way through various IT-related jobs at various businesses as I relocated throughout my young adulthood. After almost seven years since my first tech-related job at Circuit City, I eventually landed a job at a small mom and pop shop called “Millennium Computer Creations” in San Angelo, TX. The owner, Rodger, is a farmer at heart, but he knew computers better than anyone I had ever met. He treats customers right, the way I’d want my mom to be treated when she sought service somewhere. His prices are fair, his explanations are honest, and his service is incredible. I learned so much from him in the year-and-a-half I worked for him. I also taught myself several things in our downtime. By the end of my stay there, there was a constant exchange of knowledge between us. As I learned from him, he learned from me, as well, and that’s when I knew I had a good thing going for me. If his business could be successful, I could be successful in my own business.

I moved back to Arizona in 2012 and immediately began working for Hospice of the Valley on their helpdesk. I got there just in time, as they were in the middle of a project to upgrade several hundred computers from Windows XP to Windows 7. I volunteered to automate the process using the scripting skills I taught myself at Rodger’s shop. It was a project I had never attempted before, and a large one at that. But 80 hours later and we had our final set of scripts. In short, it worked beautifully. We also found some infrastructure to upgrade along the way thanks to the automation process. They saved thousands of billable hours and post-upgrade user confusion thanks to my automation effort. It was a great success for everyone involved and my biggest accomplishment to date.

That’s when I put in my two-week notice. You see, I was offered a position at an electronics sales store that I frequented to buy cabling. One day, I had come in with a member of the Board of Directors from Hospice of the Valley to help him buy a TV. I sold him on a TV, with warranty, cabling, new stereo, and a few extras. Just walked in with him, helped him shop, and we left. I didn’t think much of it until a few Sundays later when I needed more cabling. It was 5:55 PM. You could just feel how the owner was not amused with my interrupting his daily sales review 5 minutes till closing time.

“If it makes you feel any better, I came in about a month ago and sold a huge TV package to a friend of mine”, I said. A smile came to his face, ear to ear, as he started tapping his pen on his paper in earnest. “You’re that guy!” he replied. “What do you do?” he asked. “I work at HOV, on the help desk.”, I told Ryan as his name were. “How do you know so much about TVs?” “Well, I’ve worked on computers for quite a while, and I used to sell computers at Circuit City back in the day. TVs are just larger monitors with speakers”… I must have said exactly what he would’ve wanted to hear from a job candidate because he asked me if I wanted to work for him. “No thanks,” I said. “What about just weekends?” “Nah, I’m a good man, really.” I rebutted. “What about JUST Sundays, and if you have business cards, I’ll let you advertise that you fix computers to our customers”. If he had been a telemarketer, that would’ve been the hook, line, and sinker.

This was months before I left Hospice, though. I had gone from Sundays to weekends over the course of a few weeks. Eventually, the stars aligned, and Ryan asked me to go full time. “If you come work full time, I’ll let you put a banner up in the store. Imagine how many customers you’d get then!” He was right. It’s what I had been wanting the whole time… despite HOV offering me a junior programming position shortly after the upgrade project was over, I just couldn’t stave off the zest for getting my hands back onto repairing hardware. My computer business had been growing at a steady pace at Best Deal In Town. As the name implied, I really did get offered the Best Deal In Town.

After a year and a half of helping to sell TVs, it was time to move on. My business, RAD Computers – Resourceful, Affordable, Dependable Computers, had grown to the point where I was working two full-time jobs, and one was more fun and more profitable than the other. It was time to say goodbye to my friends at BDIT. It was right before the Black Friday of 2014. I’ll never forget not having to wake up at 3 AM to be there by 4 in the freezing cold. Well, there’s nothing to remember. I slept until noon.

So, began a long journey of working every single day. Weekends, Evenings, Holidays including Christmas, New Years, my birthday, cold, flu, strep, migraines, even though a major surgery in 2017. I worked every… single… day… for a little over five years in a row. I was like a machine. I knew not when to stop, I knew no hour to be too late to work; my only limitations were pure exhaustion and power outages. I had reached a point of maximum saturation in my day. I was working sometimes from 7 AM to 2 AM and couldn’t take it anymore. Seven days a week of this was just too much. I had to hire someone to help take the load off. A friend of mine knew I was looking for help and introduced me to Brittany, who would later become my fiancee.

A year and a half go by really fast when you’re in love, and I’m both in love with her and my work, so this past year and a half has been a blur. We’ve since gone from working in my small apartment to having a retail location with 1200 square feet, and we’re expanding into a second location in North Scottsdale, coincidentally starting it as a satellite store inside of Best Deal In Town – Scottsdale, off Redfield Rd. In the past six years, I’ve been in business, I’ve also managed to become the #1 rated computer repair company on Yelp in the Phoenix metro area. We service everywhere from Gold Canyon to Buckeye, Anthem to Maricopa, and sometimes Tucson. I now have a crew of four including myself. Paul and Aaron are the other two. Aaron runs the shop, Paul does the on-site, Brittany does the overflow, and I crack the whip, albeit I can’t help but get my hands into the more interesting projects… I just love fixing computers.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My biggest struggles along the way were with finding mentors that actually knew what they were doing. You’d be surprised at how many franchised repair stores are just run by people that are more interested in making a return on investment with no knowledge of how to actually fix computer issues. I’m lucky I got to work with Rodger at Millennium Computer Creations. Where lots of people claim to be computer doctors and computer geeks but just don’t cut it, Rodger is the real deal and a great mentor.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in computer repair, particularly for home users and small- and medium businesses (SMB). We’re known for free diagnostics, Resourceful technicians, Affordable Prices, and Dependable service. We wouldn’t really be RAD without those core values. I’m most proud of our service, as viewed by our customers.

In 2018, we managed to hit 100 five-star reviews on IN A ROW on “Yelp.com” the user-review platform. This was from the time of our creation in 2013 to 2018, we went five years in a row without a single recommended review under 5-stars. Thank you SO MUCH to the community for that. That was the most amazing feeling ever. They’ve since changed their algorithm, which they do frequently to help keep the platform legitimate for reviews, and we’ve dipped back to the mid-’70s, but we’re still completely five-star as of 2019 March 26th!

One thing that sets us apart from nearly every other computer repair company on the planet is that we live-stream a lot of computer repairs on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Mixer for anyone to watch and learn. I believe the knowledge I have should be shared with the world, to make better technicians out of those that are interested in learning (aspiring technicians) and to minimize the chance that your computer will wind up in the hands of someone that’s going to screw it up. It also provides evidence as to what kind of work is being done, as a lot of other companies out, there are not very honest in their practices. I like to say “we’re also ‘Honest’, but ‘RAD Computer Experts’ sounds way better than ‘HARD Computer Experts’ … wouldn’t you agree? 🙂

We also allow kids up through age 18 to come in and learn how to do the basic computer troubleshooting, repair, and building that we do. That’s how I got started, so it only feels appropriate to help others gets their start, too.

Lastly, we post lots of great tech information, virus alerts, giveaways, and contests on our Facebook, so LIKE AND FOLLOW US!

What are your plans for the future?
We’ve already started our satellite store in Scottsdale. We’re not advertising for it yet, but we will be soon. After that, I’d like to open up at least two more stores in the Phoenix-metro area. The west valley could use some RAD Expertise, and so could the developing far-east valley. Eventually, I’d like RAD Experts all over the United States, starting with the top ten major metropolitan areas.

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Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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