About
I'm Geoff Neil. Since 2002 I've been the owner and only technician of Mollifiers Inc., an independent IT practice in Los Angeles.
How I got here
I didn't start in IT. In the mid-1990s I sold advertising for a Los Angeles weekly newspaper, and the production process for my advertisers' ads wasn't working well. So I bought my first PC, taught myself to use it, and started producing my clients' ads faster than the official process could. Software, and then hardware, came easily to me. Computers reward the logical, objective way I like to work.
An apprenticeship
An IT services firm on LA's West Side hired me as a service technician, judging that I knew enough to be trained. I was soon promoted to Director of Client Relations, but I kept doing hands-on work. I was usually the first person on site, explaining to clients what would be done and why. The experienced network engineers there took the time to explain their work to me, and over six years that became a thorough education in networking and systems.
On my own
In 2002 I co-founded Mollifiers with a colleague from that firm, and a couple of years later I bought out her share. I've stayed a one-person business by choice. I didn't want to be responsible for an employee's livelihood, and my clients have always known exactly who will answer.
About 95% of my work has come by referral, and I've never really advertised. Many of my clients have been with me for fifteen to twenty-five years, and I've grown with them through office moves, new systems and changes of staff.
Now
I'm semi-retired and work mostly with long-standing clients. I take on new small-business clients selectively, usually by referral. This site is a record of what that work has been. Mollifiers is still my business and the place to contact me.