Chapter 1

Paul Cullen was a self-employed programmer and computer consultant. He lived in a small two bedroom apartment in a fifty year-old garden apartment complex in northern New Jersey. The neighbors, mostly young adults, single or recently married and just starting out their lives, kept to themselves. The complex had been built adjacent to the state highway which served as a major access route to New York City. Every morning the bus stop at the corner was packed with commuters waiting for the next bus into the City and their places of employment.

That was how Paul had started his career; working for a large consulting firm in the City. Soon the daily grind, the late hours, the never-ending traffic and delays began to take their toll. As the firm had grown, management had started to ignore some of its smaller, not-as-profitable clients. When two of his clients complained to Paul about the poor service, he saw his opportunity to escape. He told them that if they would be patient with him, and if they sent the company a formal notification ending their contracts, he could serve their needs at night and on the weekends.

Six months later, after working the equivalent of two full time jobs, he submitted his resignation and set up his own consulting business. Careful not to run afoul of the non-compete clause he had signed when he first started, he built his business slowly, advertising in trade magazines, attending trade shows and encouraging word-of-mouth advertising by his clients. It took several more years of hard work, long hours, and frugal living, but he finally had a successful business and a comfortable, if not extravagant, life style.

One of his major customers was a company whose business was electrical parts distribution. They were a small player in an industry that was dominated by two or three extremely large and highly successful corporations. The company concentrated on the nuts and bolts of the industry, small parts with low markups; they were content in filling that niche. The two owners of the business knew that they would never be rich, but were satisfied making a decent living for themselves and a providing employment for about thirty hard-working employees. The writing was on the wall; within ten years, maybe sooner, they would be forced to sell the company because each year their client base, primarily small manufacturers, were moving overseas. Paul was well aware of this fact.