Frank Arndt got his first computer when he was 12 years old, and from then on he spent most of his free time in front of it. He says that when he was 17 he decided to sell everything and “just be a teenager again, play soccer and have a life. I didn’t have a computer for five or six years and didn’t need one until it was work related.”

Arndt went on to join the German military and found himself stationed at CFB Shilo in 1992. He left the military in 1995 and applied to become a permanent Canadian resident. He worked as a construction electrician and it was in 1997-98 that his boss at the time suggested to Arndt that he should rent a space that he had available and put his knowledge of computers to use. “I started doing that and through word of mouth I started fixing computers and sold computers . . . It was a one-man shop and I called it Frank’s Computer Sales and Service.” It was small enough that people could come and see Frank and buy a computer or get it fixed. That’s how it started.

Arndt tells the Journal that it got to the point where he had to tell his construction boss that he had to do it full time. With the closure of Galaxy Computers, Arndt says that people started calling him saying that they needed a technician to look after their computer system. Arndt says that’s something that he hadn’t done, so he tracked down employees who had just been laid off at Galaxy and asked them to come and work for him. “Three decided to come and work for me and started looking after the new customers we had found. I went from two employees to five and it was a big expansion for me overnight.”

A year later, CompuSmart also closed its doors. Arndt says that CompuSmart had notified him that they were shutting down, had work that had to be done and asked if he wanted to hire some of the staff. “I said ‘yeah, okay, absolutely’ and almost doubled my staff. I was really fortunate that happened.”

Arndt tells the Journal that he thinks those companies got too big at a time when the market was really competitive and if you couldn’t do enough volume it became difficult to stay in business.  “I still do today try and have the small business approach to sales and service. This is what we really try to set us apart from everyone else. The big guys shut down and helped the small guy get bigger.”

Arndt says that at one point they looked at a corporate footprint and changed the name to My IT Source. He says that a few things happened and a lot of his customers thought that he only focused on commercial accounts. “We lost a lot of people we used to deal with.”

Recently, Arndt brought back the name Frank’s Computers. “It never really left, but we wanted to make sure that we targeted consumer customers with the name Frank’s Computer and small and medium business with My IT Source. It’s really just one company.”

Today, Arndt operates My It Source, Frank’s Computer Sales and Service and MTS Connect in the Corral Centre. There are about 35 full-time employees.

When asked what advice he would give to a budding businessperson, Arndt says that you have to provide service; it’s not just about profit. “You have to establish relationships with your customers to the point where they trust you.”  He says that Brandon is a great place to do business yet small enough to keep you honest. “People talk . . . good service gets rewarded and bad service gets punished.”

He says that you have to stay ahead of the game and keep up with changes. As for growing too big, Arndt says that he is too much of an entrepreneur to pass up opportunity.