My name is Chip Cooper. I grew up in Fairway, Kansas and went to KU where I was the treasurer of my fraternity. I didn’t want to keep track of payments, etc. on paper so my dad purchased an Epson QX-10 computer for me to use. IBM released its first personal computer at that time. I thought mine was a lot better because it had 376KB floppy drives and the IBM only had 360KB drives!

I typed papers for other students and wrote a program to handle billing and accounts receivable for the fraternity. I graduated from KU in 1986 with a BS in business. After graduating, I married Tracy, my high-school sweetheart and we moved to Arizona to "get away" for a few years. I was intending to go into banking (because my dad was a banker) but found a part-time job with a computer rental company. I became the full-time operations manager of AccuRent Computer Systems where we rented computers to businesses and convention guests.

The owner of AccuRent purchased a MicroAge Computer Store which was a full-service retail/training store. I became the training manager and taught classes on a wide variety of software packages. We moved back to Kansas City in 1990 where I continued teaching classes for another MicroAge on the Plaza.

When the MicroAge was closed, I went to work in the IT consulting division of Ernst & Young - a large accounting firm.I decided I didn’t want to travel so I resigned and started working on my MBA at Rockhurst University while providing contract training.

Two years later I received my MBA and started Just Ask Computer Services. I advertised for the first year on radio and in The College Boulevard News. I still have some of those very first clients. All new business since then has been through word of mouth.

I have seen a lot of changes in the computer industry and am continually learning new things which keeps it interesting plus I really enjoy helping my clients with their technology issues. We all have our gifts and with a name like Chip, mine had to be computer related!