I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin called Crivitz (pop 996). I went into the Navy immediately following high school, and was stationed in the San Francisco bay area and Seoul Korea. I was a communications specialist, and had an e-mail address in 93 or 94 (I don't remember) and was curious about computers. I had played with the Bank Street Writer as far back as 7th grade, but still, when I got out of the Navy in 96, I denied my geekiness and thought I wanted to be a teacher, so I went to UWM for elementary education. My first "personal" e-mail address was [email protected] because that's what I thought I wanted. My sophomore year, I was elected to the treasurer of my student organization, and negotiated myself an office and a computer. I dove headfirst into web design and learned fast to reach out to people online that I needed help from. I created a website dedicated to the 1980s (what looks like my first site but that was actually done in 99 site is still up at http://www.angelfire.com/pq/philgee ), and learned quickly the value of building relationships online.
I moved from education to working at ExecPC/Voyager.net for a year as a tech support guy, to utilize my skill communicating to end users and my technical skills. I did that for a year, as I said, and moved from there to Strong Investments to work as a registered rep (again, helping people use our web site to find what they needed, in addition to helping them with their investment choices). I did this for 2 years, and then moved to Baird in downtown Milwaukee and have been there for the past 6 years. About 2 or so years ago, I got started blogging, I published my first book on in 2006, and am hard at work on my 2nd-4th books. I love the relationships I've developed online, and have as many friends because of my blog as I do locally, and that's saying something because I am uber-connected in Milwaukee with Young Professionals, Help Desk Institute, Urban Ecology Center, my church, Toastmasters, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and more.My LinkedIn Profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/philgerb . If you're on LinkedIn, send me a note and let's get connected.
You can check my blog out at Make It Great!
