Meet Archibald. He's about as wonderfully nerdy as it gets. Rumour has it, when he was a child, he had a fit playing chess, apparently because it was too exciting for him to handle. I don't mean to be mean at all, he's about as charming as they come, in his kooky way. If you ever meet him ask him about his collection of rare moths, it's worth it just to hear him giggle.
Archies's life changed quite considerably after the chess incident. He wasn't allowed out much, and he became very familiar with computers and calculators. Rumour has it, that had he existed in Ancient Greek times, he would have invented Trigonometry. Move over Pythagorus! Archie, you may enter.
Sometimes he'd spend many days indoors, beavering away at his computer, always with an eager grin and the odd involuntary chuckle. Appart from a frightening episode when he was 14 when he accidentally watched an advert for Alton Towers; His was a life of blissful calm that even Buddha himself woud have envied.
And then something happened that would change Archie's life forever.
He pootled off the to shops one day, on a fairly regular outing to buy some circuit boards & cheese (Cheesy straws, his favorite!), with his usual fidgety skip, he popped along whistling his favorite tune. As he was crossing the road, he tripped up on his nobly knees, and dropped to the ground, his specs tumbled from his face, andsplit and cracked on the floor. As he lay there red faced & flustered, he was approached by a girl wearing gigantic spectacles and a flowery dress with a warm & wobbly smile...
As Archie tried to collect himself and looked towards this approaching presence through a blurry haze of confusion and slight fear, he saw and felt something that precise moment that he could only describe latterly as "Some kind of cosmic explosion in my heart, and my pants". This was the day that Archie met Doris.
A match made in Heaven, and lived out on earth. Archie and Doris quickly set about writing great swathes of code. Sometimes they would be up all night, trying this, trying that, all kinds of different permutations andcombinations... genius experimentation, it was like the Karma Sutra of Tech. When it got too exciting and Archieneeded to unwind, he started doing bookkeeping for local businesses. This calmed him.
He didn't understand why all these people kept giving him all this fun stuff to do, but he didn't question it. He'd beaver away at his desk in the attic, and with Doris by his side, he felt like a "flipping super hero". He started doing the accounts and tax too for several businesses, but he needed more. Doris started to worry that he'd become a little addicted to it all. She once said that she was worried that Archie loved accounting more than her.
Archie wasn't very good at reading human emotion, but when he saw Doris' little face crumble one day, as he was doing double entry for local baker, he knew things had to change. and fast. He went for a little walk in his favorite forest, and as he skipped along, he suddenly let out a rather cute little yelp. Eureka!!!!
Combine Tech with Accountancy he thought, that way I can do loads more accounts, in far less time, thereby making everyone really happy! He got hold of some of his online friends, Wizzard, Bobbit and BadLion, and they set about writing a cr*p load of code. In fact a whole load of other people started doing it too, which rather pleased Archie in fact. He felt he was marginally more an Accountant nowadays than a coder, that's for the younguns he thought.
So Archie picked the best ones, Xero, Brightbook, Kashflow etc, and decided he'd make the best recommendations for all his clients, and get them all set up, and help them throughout the year too.
He wanted to take this idea to the world at large, and help as many companies as possible to embrace these new tech accountancy services. Doris said that lots of people found doing their bookkeeping and tax "boring",Archie literally didn't know the meaning of the word, but he found it rather funny that he could make a living by doing stuff that other people didn't like! Doris coined the line "we do the boring stuff, so you don't have too", which they both thought was quite funny, and they set about trying to get the message out there.
This wasn't really there forte though. Once Archie went out on a cold winters day and wondered around his favorite forest wearing a sandwich board saying "we are accountants", it poured with rain, and he limped home like a wet dog, with his specs all squiffy on his face. It nearly melted Doris' heart, she knew his was place was really in the attic with his computer (and pet pigeon for company), yup, they needed some help with this.
Doris put
an add in the paper for a "marketing man". And as luck would have it, the
very first person to reply was Reginald. He was a tall fellow, with none of the
cheeky & charming awkwardness of Archie,
but with all of the warmth. He confidently presented his hand to Archie, and valiantly kissed Doris on the cheek (twice). Archie andDoris thought he was rather racy. They
both noticed his bright pink braces, and had
a little chuckle afterwards whilst having their tea.
Reginald loved chatting to new people. He was intrigued by Archie & Doris, and set about finding out all about them. Who would have thought that this funny little Archie fellow would own the only Rare Peruvian Bubble Moth in the country? Reginald found their wanton enthusiasm for life delicious and intriguing. And very quickly a great friendship was struck. And Reginald was very quickly put to work.