About Roger Due & Online Profits For Apartments

My business, marketing, sales, support, training, Internet, management, & software accomplishments span more than four decades. I also have an MBA from Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, in addition to a B.S. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Raised on a southern Indiana dairy farm

I am the oldest of 9 children and my wife is the youngest of 10. In the 3rd grade my dad took sick with the mumps and uncle Bill had to come over mornings & evenings to milk the cows and take care of the farm. Brother Bob & I thought it was a lot of fun to help our uncle. Little did we realize that from then on we would be doing farm chores every morning & evening until we graduated from high school. The fun soon wore off.

Although I was very active in 4-H projects and showed cattle at both the county & state fairs and won many awards, I decided early on that I wasn’t going to stay on a farm.

Experimental physics became my career focus

An excellent high school math teacher, Mrs. Dorthy Lawless, introduced me to scholastic competition and I placed in the top two ribbon categories at the state level three years in a row in science & math. I also entered science projects and achieved awards at the state level.

Between my junior & senior year I was one of 60 students selected to attend the Indiana University High School Science Institute for several weeks and was then the only one selected to work in the Physics Department’s Cyclotron Lab for another six weeks.

I went on to major in physics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Between scholarships, working in the physics lab for Professor Raymond G. Herb, and student loans, I self-financed my education and graduated with a B.S. in physics. My original objective was to pursue graduate studies in experimental nuclear physics, but a change of plans was in the wind after I started graduate school.

Computer software development transition

After working with computers and Polaris/Poseidon electronic component verification for two years at the Crane Naval Ammunition Depot in Indiana, I decided that I was better suited to the hi-tech industry. I then moved to the Boston area where I developed software for computer operated test equipment, CAD/CAM, computer diagnostics, and industrial automation systems.

I worked across many different engineering disciplines, especially with EE’s (electrical engineers) when designing and implementing software and found that my physics background came in handy. I also managed development groups in several companies and was often asked by Marketing & Sales to interact with customers and prospects.

I enjoyed working across multiple disciplines to simplify complex requirements to arrive at a workable solution.

Achieved what others thought was impossible

Let me tell you a little story from one of those companies. I was hired by the V.P. of Engineering at Atex (no longer in business) to start a new Diagnostic Software Group to test the PDP-11 computers and all product hardware manufactured by the company. These diagnostics were to be used by Manufacturing as well as Field Service and Customers.There were quite a few people who didn’t think it could be done.

One of the smartest employees I hired was from Data General, one of the top mini-computer companies at that time, and he later told me that the main reason he joined was to see how we were going to accomplish our objective, since his management at Data General always told him it couldn’t be done.

As we started having success and gaining credibility, one of the Customer User Groups asked me to present at their Annual User Conference. Then they asked me to present again the next year. I was told that they appreciated that I didn’t use hype and we actually delivered on what was promised the year before. We had developed a unified plan for achieving results and a strategy to carry it out that really worked.

Earned an MBA from Babson College

While still in the Boston area, I attended graduate school during evenings at Babson College, one of the top entrepreneurial schools in the area, to earn an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) with a focus on marketing.

Moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico

My wife & I moved to the Albuquerque area in the fall of 1991 and we really love it here. The weather is much better than in Boston and it felt like home from the first day. She enjoys playing tennis all year long outdoors and hiking with others throughout the state. New Mexico and the Southwest really has a lot to offer. We also enjoy downhill skiing throughout New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Became active in community affairs

I soon became involved in community affairs. When we first lived in Corrales at Pueblo Los Cerros, I was elected to the Board of Directors for a 3-year term and served the last 2 years as Chairman. Those were very active years where we accomplished a lot and I learned that I could facilitate achieving significant results in that setting.

We were also very active in our local church and a few years later I was elected to a 3-year term on their Board of Directors with 2 of those also as Chairman.

Started Manzano Software Company in 1992

It was started  with a partner to develop a database intensive software product for community based organizations that work with MR/DD (Mentally Retarded / Developmentally Disabled) individuals. This evolved into the Compadre Program Support application that tracks medical information, assessments & evaluations, program plans (vision, outcomes, goals, objectives, behavior support plans, safety control procedures, & supports) and creates relevant reports at the push of a button. The original application was developed under MS-DOS and while I was busy doing a complete rewrite for Microsoft Windows, my partner left and I carried on, handling the development, marketing, training, & support.

This Microsoft Windows application runs on desktop & laptop computers as well as servers. For example, one of our largest customers in Illinois runs Compadre on a server that tracks over 350 clients, with over 50 users (up to 12 simultaneously), and is accessed via the Internet over the entire state.

As I am sure many of you have come to realize, starting and maintaining a business can present many challenges as well as rewards.

An effective online presence is now key to attracting more customers

The Internet has been an important tool in our business for a long time. Most businesses would now agree that it takes more than just throwing together a simple website to attract the right customers.

There are now many ways that a local business can leverage online services to get more customers and improve profits. As you are probably aware, there is a lot of hype out there today. How do you sort through what is for real and works and what is noise?

We have invested a lot of time and resources to identify what is relevant. I am also a member of a Mastermind group with experts from around the world that focuses on helping local businesses.

We look forward to working with you to identify the right online presence for attracting more tenants for your Apartments. Contact Roger Due at the Manzano Software Company to explore how we can help take your business to the next level.