About DN PC & Repairs

I got interested in computers when I was 14 after my best friend’s dad showed me a PC he had built himself. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had seen, and not long after that I ordered my first computer — a roughly $500 prebuilt that didn’t even have a dedicated graphics card.

The first upgrade I ever did was installing my own graphics card. From there, one project kept leading to another. I eventually moved the system into a different case, installed new fans, upgraded the motherboard, and became more comfortable taking computers apart, rebuilding them, and understanding how the different components worked together.

Most of what I learned came from hands-on experience. I spent a lot of time watching technical videos, researching questions as they came up, and talking with people who were already working in the field. If there was something I didn’t understand, I wanted to figure out why it worked the way it did instead of just following steps.

Around that same time, I found my great-grandparents’ old Nintendo Entertainment System and decided to see if I could get it working again. I ended up replacing the 72-pin cartridge connector and bringing it back to life. That was one of the first times I repaired something outside of a computer, and it helped reinforce how much I enjoyed troubleshooting hardware and figuring out why something wasn’t working.

The software side came naturally from having to troubleshoot my own computer. When Windows, drivers, programs, accounts, networking, or other software didn’t behave the way they were supposed to, I learned by working through the problem myself. That gradually gave me experience on both sides of a system — not just replacing hardware, but understanding the software running on it too.

As I kept learning and taking on more projects, I started realizing that the skills I was building could become more than a hobby. What began with upgrading my own PC grew into custom builds, hardware repairs, software troubleshooting, data services, upgrades, and eventually helping other people with their devices.

That eventually became DN PC & Repairs.

Starting the business also pushed me into an entirely different kind of learning. Along with the technical work, I’ve had to learn about quoting jobs, pricing services, communicating with customers, invoicing, policies, taxes, recordkeeping, advertising, managing appointments, and the day-to-day decisions that come with operating a real business. A lot of that has been learned the same way I learned computers — by researching, asking questions, doing the work, and improving as I gain experience.

Today, at 18, I operate DN PC & Repairs in Piqua, Ohio. I still approach the work the same way I did when I first started: hands-on, curious, and willing to research a problem until I understand what is happening and how to handle it properly.

I’m also still learning. I regularly research new hardware, repair methods, software, tools, and services that could make sense for the business. As I gain experience and become confident that I can offer something properly, I continue expanding what DN PC & Repairs can do.

What started with seeing someone else’s custom PC, installing my first graphics card, and fixing an old NES has grown into a business that I’m continuing to build one job, one skill, and one lesson at a time.