At 11 years old, Colin first taught himself how to program the BASIC computer language. He learned to do this on a Tandy Home Computer, a TRS-80 from Radio Shack. Even at a young age computers and electronics amazed Colin and he needed to know more about them.

Continuing with his adolescent hobby, at 12 years old, Colin purchased a Texas Instrument TI-99/4A Home Computer at a local department store. A few months later, he also purchased a “speech synthesizer” so that his computer could speak.

Following through with his passion, the next year at the age of 13, Colin programmed his own video game. The game was themed upon Kibbles ‘n Bits dog food, and it included the ability to maneuver a crude dog-like character around the screen using a joystick. Fairly impressive for a kid his age.

In the early 1990’s there was a niche fad to publish little magazines that were crudely crafted and often printed using only a copy machine. These ‘zines, as they were called, were fashionable, because they were hard to come by. It was as if the recipients were in the “cool” crowd artistically. Colin decided to create his own Zine, but he wanted his to have a full-color cover and to be printed by a print shop rather than using an office copier.

Colin developed this magazine while he was a full-time college student in 1994. The magazine was created using QuarkXPress, which was expensive software, but offered a very robust publishing environment. Colin envisioned a more commercialized version of the classic ‘zine in that his publication would include dozens of advertisers.

The magazine, which ran for one year, printed articles and stories from a variety of college students, college professors, community activists, and regional artists. The publication included interviews with local and national alternative rock bands, as well as covering complex social issues such as cannabis, HIV, and racism.

In September 1995, Colin was hired by the Jamestown Community College as a Computer Technician and Network Administrator just 4 months after earning an AS in Computer Science from the college. In this position, Colin setup and managed a computer network consisting of 10 Windows machines, 3 networked printers, six AS/400 workstations, an AS/400 mainframe, and a 3-register point-of-sale system.

While working at the college, Colin was responsible for three areas on the main campus as well as the college bookstores at 2 satellite campuses in nearby cities about 30 miles away from the main location. At these locations, Colin setup remote POS systems that utilized dedicated phone lines to communicate with the AS/400 at the main campus.

Colin worked at the Jamestown Community College until December 1999 when he resigned his position in order to accept a job as a Micro-Support Specialist with a large food manufacturer in Fredonia, NY. In this position with Ralcorp, Colin continued working with an AS/400, but the workstations were “thin client” machines (rudimentary PCs with primarily communication capabilities, but very little computing power as they were used as “dumb terminals”).

In June 2000, Colin was approached by three local businesses that desired his services on a contract-basis in regard to custom programming and development. Each of the projects was large enough to involve full-time work for several months, so nearly a year’s worth of projects were being offered to him.

All 3 of the projects dealt with building a custom application for a niche small businesses, so Colin opted to use the (at the time) very popular Microsoft Access Database platform to create three unique programs. This began 4 years of computer coding projects for Colin, during which he hired 1 additional programmer to assist with the projects.

During those 4 years, the Projects that Colin was contracted for included:

• MS Access Database development (creating custom software)
• Custom Interface Application development (programs that provided communication between disparate computer programs before “API’s” were prolific)
• Visual Basic for Applications programming (creating custom solutions by connecting programs from the MS Office Suite such as Access, Excel, Word)
• HTML, CSS, and Javascript programming (for website development)
• Network Design, Implementation, and Management (small office computer networks)
• Facility Access Control Systems (reseller and installer of Apollo Security Systems)

Starting in 2004, Colin competed for and received large projects that dealt with what was called “interactive marketing” or “multimedia marketing.” This involved creating programs that ran from a CD-Rom or a USB thumb-drive that would provide potential customers with an animated presentation(s). These interactive marketing pieces allowed the potential customers to choose what sections of the presentation to view as well as all the video control functions that were expected.

Colin and his team created these Multimedia Presentations using a mix of video, 3D animations, on-screen information, photos, and detailed PDF documentation (including specs, sales sheet(s), and printable marketing kit). Some of these programs also included functionality for the viewer to be able to “bookmark” sections of video as well as include custom notes that they would enter into the program. And the notes could be reviewed separately or with the specific section of the video for which they were entered.

At this time, Colin also started contracting for more advanced website projects that included custom website applications as well as eCommerce websites. Dozens of web-based projects continued to come in, while the custom programming projects for desktop apps declined (as the software market became saturated in business applications such as QuickBooks).

Around 2004, Colin incorporated the company and hired more staff bringing the total number of employees at the time to 3 full time and 3 part time. And from 2004 through 2007, Colin and his team won several awards and special accolades from the marketing and design industries, including a Telly Award and a Davey Award.

Unfortunately for Colin and his team, in 2007 the beginnings of the Great Recession were already affecting their main customer base. Starting in 2004, Colin was opting for and receiving large projects for these time-intensive multimedia marketing projects, all of which came primarily from larger American manufacturers. Starting in 2007 and reaching its peak in 2008, the Great Recession began with these larger companies scaling back on their marketing budgets, which represented 70% of the Colin’s company’s income. The company ended up an early casualty of the Great Recession, closing its doors in January 2008.

In March 2008, Colin began working in Buffalo NY for a Catalog Sales company in the pool supplies industry (Leisure Living). Their catalog went to over a million households twice a year. The company had already invested in an eCommerce website and had been selling online for several years (poolsupplies.com).

They had steadily grown their “Internet Division” to require a staff of 7 when Colin arrived to be the new Manager of the department. Under Colin’s leadership, the Internet Division grew revenue nearly 25% his first year with the Recession bearing down on the pool industry.

By spring of 2009, with the Great Recession at its height, Colin crafted a new plan for their Online Marketing approach. That year the department grew revenue again by another 25% at a time when all of their competitors were down by double digits due of the Great Recession. Colin also increased their staff from 7 to 10 employees in addition to himself.

In July 2010, Colin took a new position in Rochester NY with a food distributor that did most of their businesses buying and selling large quantities of fruit (Brothers International Food Corp). They had created a fruit snack (Brothers-All-Natural “Fruit Crisps”) and had been selling it in stores across 60% of the US geographically as well as selling it online for several years. Under Colin’s leadership and utilizing his Online Marketing Plan, the company’s online sales grew by 40% his very first year.

In his second year, Colin garnered endorsements for their fruit snacks from two national health experts, and one of the endorsements was filmed on a TV show that was seen in over 25 million homes across the US. That year by following Colin’s detailed marketing plan, their online sales grew by another 60%

However, noise about Colin’s success was loud enough that Colin was invited to speak at the Internet Retailer Conference & Expo the following year in 2012. That year the conference was held at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center, and being the online retail industry’s premier conference for many years it drew nearly 10,000 attendees.

Colin’s presentated to thousands of his colleagues and explained how a small business could create a “big” impression online in order to grow their online sales exponentially in a relatively short time. Colin detailed specific examples that could be duplicated with the proper effort and knowledge, and his presentation was well received and highly rated.

Starting in October 2012, Colin began a long career relationship with Dr. Julia Kinder. As a physician, Dr. Julia was in a practice as a General Practitioner in Missouri. Additionally, she had two businesses launched and was looking to expand into two more markets while maintaining her current business ventures. After a few small updates to her existing websites, in 2013, Colin went to work creating a large online store dedicated to Down Syndrome and offering products to assist the parents of children with DS.

In 2014, Colin also constructed PhysicianCareerOpportunities.com to reach physicians and other medical professionals who were interested in starting their own business venture. Ultimately, Colin and Dr. Julia worked on dozens of Digital Marketing projects spanning autumn 2012 through autumn 2019. During those seven years of working for Dr. Julia, Colin coordinated numerous social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns, website modifications & overhauls, marketing videos, and blog posts.

Concurrent to his working with Dr. Julia, Colin also grew a list of active clients looking for effective Digital Marketing to grow their businesses online. During those years, Colin created marketing assets and conducted online marketing campaigns for businesses spanning the following industries: consulting services, speaking services, medical devices, consumer products, church furniture, solar panels, and even tree trimming services. You can learn more about the Digital Marketing services Colin provides at: ChaseItMarketing.com

However, starting in mid-2017, the Digital Marketing landscape began to shift dramatically. More companies started to seek options to outsource Digital Marketing projects overseas OR to utilize one of the multiple services providing a Do-It-Yourself approach to website development (such as Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, etc.).

By the end of 2019, Colin was ready to assume employment with a single company rather than continue working in an ever tightening freelance market. But then, the Pandemic struck and life stood still for everyone (except medical professionals and essential workers).

Starting in April 2020, while the world shut down from the Coronavirus, Colin decided to write. Enrolling in an online writers workshop and joining a local writers group that was meeting via Zoom, he improved his writing capabilities and authored two novellas in the horror fiction genre. Afterwhich, Colin’s creative mind went to work developing an artistic photography website.

From August through October, Colin created FringeRoc.com including the imagery used throughout the website. He also created a Zazzle online store (“FringeRoc”) with over 300 products for sale. Colin developed 70% of the products in the store, from the design process to entering the product info to the on-site display of the products (Zazzle handles everything else from the ordering process through the product delivery for the end customers).

Colin’s love of creative endevours and marketing projects led him to revisit ChaseItMarketing.com for his consulting work and Colin-Chase.com for his marketing career. However, with the Pandemic devastating the country, Colin began thinking of his old career that had been more heavily dependent upon his coding ability. By the end of 2020, Colin’s thoughts had turned toward his love of computer programming once again.

So, Colin reacquainted himself with C++ (the language he used in college many years ago). After creating a Hangman Game in C++, his focus moved to higher level languages and specifically to Python. Python is pervasive in many industries as it provides a rich programming environment that can be run on most systems from high-end servers to small embedded microchips.

Currently, Colin is still interested in Coding, but he’d like to focus on learning the Dart computer language and the necessary Flutter environment provided by Google. This is the development environment for cross-platform Apps to be created (cell phone apps for iPhones and Android devices, but using the same code base). Colin’s interest in computer programming is primariily personal, as he is much more apt to use HTML and Web Development skills in his Marketing and eCommerce career.

Starting in May 2022, Colin become the company’s Marketing liaison for Broadcast Media (including Spectrum, Sinclair Broadcast Group, & WHEC) and Print Media (including Design magazine, Home magazine, ValPak coupons, and more).

Colin has also become the marketing liaison for the company’s manufacturing sources (Four Seasons Sunrooms, Velux Skylights, Andersen Windows, TimberTech Decking, etc.). Colin ensures proper messaging and imagery are used, and he secures “comp” funds for Ads in which he includes the manufacturers’ logos.

Additionally, of equal importance, Colin is the Direct Supervisor for the company’s Appointment Center (including 5 staff members). Colin coordinates training, manages hours & schedules & commissions, and reports results to management team and owner.