September 5th, 2025 Welp, I never saw it coming. I mean, I saw the signs. Several clients had been DOGED. We were bleeding money. And I was the highest-paid employee. But there's a difference between knowing the math and actually getting the call. I was the VCIO and TAM at Envision IT, a 25-year-old MSP. Twenty-five years. They'd survived Y2K, the 2008 crash, every tech bubble burst. If they could make it through all that, surely they could make it through whatever 2025 was throwing at us. Except 2025 hit different. One client lost $60K a month in federal funding and couldn't pay us. Just... stopped. Another had their five-year contract terminated mid-cycle. Not because they were unhappy with our work. Because someone in Washington decided their program shouldn't exist anymore. We watched nearly $150K in monthly recurring revenue vanish. Not because we screwed up. Because the federal government decided to redraw the playing field while we were still playing on it. My...
It all started with the PlayStation. Oh, how I loved this damn machine! It's like nothing else mattered. All I wanted to hear when I came from school was "chicken"; signifying that I had picked up a familiar item in a mysterious location as I played (very badly) Tekken 3. I would often play with the neighbor kids as soon as we were finished our homework. I enjoyed the challenge of pressing buttons that I didn't know the function of. Mashing widely until K.O appeared on the screen. Even until my friend was red-faced and rage quit. Good times, until the game paused midway. Seemingly out of nowhere, the game would stop and laugh at our inability to continue. This single moment is where I had my "Oh Hell Naw!" moment. I was determined to get that game working. My reputation as Tekken King was at stake. I had kids owing me lunch over these games, and tomorrow was a favorite, potato bread PB&J with apple jelly! I wasn't about to let this slide. At that ...