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He owns a company that expects to gross a million this year - but first he needs to graduate from high school.
By AMY SCHERZER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2002
He got his first computer at age 10, an old Gateway his Dad brought home from the office. Sim City was the first game he remembers buying.
"That Christmas, I actually got a top-of-the-line Micron with Windows 95," says Tyler. He studied it inside and out.
"The Micron was under warranty so I could take it apart and break things like crazy," he says.
By eighth grade, teachers were excusing him from class to fix their computers. It occurred to him that he could earn a living.
A neighbor up the street, Joann Frazier, says she was his first paying customer, in 1997.
"I bought a computer and a printer from him, and he taught me how to use it," she says. "Then I got a scanner and he made me a woman of the 21st century."
Frazier and Tyler's mother told all their friends, and Tyler's career was launched.
In the beginning, he charged $15 an hour.
He was too young to drive, so clients would pick him up.
A babysitting job for Malcolm Taaffe, then a vice president at Merrill Lynch, led to a non-paying, summer internship.
Two weeks into the internship, at age 14, Tyler was on the payroll.
"Technology-wise, I was a neophyte," Taaffe says. "I told him what I needed, and he got me up and running."
Tyler took charge of computer acquisition, setup, training and troubleshooting.
Taaffe was struck by his sense of personal responsibility and compassion.
"He never complains," Taaffe says. "There's never an ill word about anyone."
When Taaffe changed firms, he took Tyler with him to UBS/PaineWebber, where the teenager worked 10 to 15 hours a week.
"Once again, I trusted him, carte blanche," Taaffe says. "He'd go off and do whatever had to be done."
By the middle of 10th grade, Tyler was a serious businessman. In January 2000, he formed CoolTronics.com, a sole proprietorship. Largely self-taught, he trained to be a Microsoft Certified Professional.
Now he charges $45 an hour for residential consulting, repairs and upgrades, and $60 commercial.
About eight months ago, he established a partnership with Dell.
"I'm their youngest partner," he says.
He could be, says Sebastien Roegiers, a Dell senior account manager. He calls Tyler "impressive."
"When he told me how old he was, I was like, 'wow,' " Roegiers says.
As a Dell reseller, Tyler must sell a minimum of $100,000 annually in Dell equipment. "The more volume, the better the discount pricing," Roegiers says.
That's how Tyler can beat Dell's online prices.
If he's the youngest Dell dealer, he's also the most junior member of the Junior League's community advisory board.
Earlier this year, after selling, updating and networking three Dell computers in the Davis Islands headquarters, the Junior League asked him to be the board's technology director.
"I was the only one who had to get out of school to go to the luncheon," he says.
So now what happens, when the boy voted "Most Likely to Succeed" leaves home for college?
Strategically, he picked Santa Clara University, partly because it's a Jesuit school, but also because it's down the street from Yahoo, Intel and Ebay.
Come September, he'll put his Tampa business in the hands of two high school friends. He's training them now, and informing clients.
"California is only a cell phone call away," he assures them.
And Tampa, just a plane ride away.
Who knows, business could be even better out west. College students are a prime target for new computers.
"I will be selling some Dells in California," says Tyler.
- Reporter Amy Scherzer can be reached at 226-3332 or scherzer@sptimes.com.