Microscott

Scott Browning has a lot of experience with computers. Before opening his own repair shop called Microscott Workshop in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Grâce neighbourhood in 1998, he had worked for 12 years just one block over on Sherbrooke Street at TYFU Computers. His former employer fell on hard times, and when they laid him off temporarily, he started thinking of what else he could do and the possibility of going into business for himself seemed plausible. After attending an EI conference that year, he connected with the right people who helped him make his dream a reality.

There were some doubts at first that he might become a success in the business. There were already a lot of other computer stores around town in the late 1990s, but he didn’t let that stand in his way. Today, he has a stable of regular clients and many people in the neighbourhood know him and his expert services well.

“In the business, we're progressing,” Scott says with confidence. “It’s not so much about desktop computers anymore. It's about laptops, tablets and phones. I think with families in general, it’s like it was with TVs back in the 1980s. Most families own more than one. It's the same thing now, with computers.”