About Us

Ten Talents is a family-owned business, offering web based consulting services focusing on small to mid-sized organizations. 

Amy Mead has a Bachelor of Science in Math and Computer Science from Allegheny College. After graduating, she worked as a software engineer for Eastman Kodak. The Meads are blessed with 3 children and Amy was able to stay home and raise them. She hadn’t lost her passion for her work, so once the kids started school, Amy and her husband, Ted, looked for an opportunity to leverage her interest in programming.

Ted Mead has an associates degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University. He attended Rochester Institute of Technology, going nights for a BS in Electrical Engineering. He switched interest to Computer Science and attended SUNY Brockport. The nights took their toll and marriage swayed his interests. From that point on Ted’s experience came from the school of hard knocks and he was fortunate to get involved with the Internet in the mid 80’s. Ted has worked for Kodak, University of Rochester, Digital Equipment Corporation, Wellfleet/Bay Networks/Nortel Networks, and now Cisco Systems. Throughout that career he has developed a very broad sense of Internet technologies and acts as an advisor to the business. Ted has a job with a company that specializes, in what he calls, “Internet Plumbing”. His company leverages Internet technologies to a very high degree. Their use of the Internet results in significant productivity gains allowing for multi-millions of dollars in cost savings.

Aaron Mead graduated from Appalachian State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Computer Information Systems. Aaron brings fresh eyes and thoughts to the business as well as a deep knowledge of social media and current web technologies.

History

When “web technologies” first started to appear in the early to mid-90’s, we believed in it so much so that we started a business in 1998. At the time, there were a lot of people cranking out web pages. Remember all the “flashy” sites with a lot of graphics and sound? This is not what we were about. We knew at that time that web technologies were much more than doing “marketing material” under glass. We saw the importance of enabling Internet applications as a means of helping a customer generate more revenue and operate more profitably.

We discovered an Internet Franchisor focused at Internet applications for the small to mid-sized market and to distinguish ourselves from the competition, we purchased a franchise territory in 1998. Our role in the operations of the franchise was mainly sales and support for applications we sold from the franchisor. We were also responsible for consulting with businesses to help them recognize benefits from the Internet beyond just a slick glossy. Once we matched a business need with an Internet application, we would then take on the role of putting everything together. We hired a sales person, Amy did the consulting and site construction, and the plan was for the business to generate enough income where Ted could quit his job and we could all do this full time.

Well, those were the plans. In around 2001 and 2002, we were tossed a bit of a curveball. The Internet craze burst and the franchisor went bankrupt. During that time, everyone was so focused on going public they often lost track of what customers really want. We believe this was a key reason for the collapse. You can only pay so long for full page WallStreet Journal and USA Today ads!

Fast forward a decade and here we are. We have learned quite a bit about running a business focused on the small to mid-sized business market. We learned that SMB’s are not necessarily interested in spending a lot of money on technology. At the same time, they do recognize the importance of Internet technologies. We have become what we were originally trying to avoid – a local Internet Consulting Firm. While we are certainly small, we have a lot of experience delivering web-based solutions, priced appropriately for the small to mid-sized market. We do this all by maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. Delighting customers brings us great joy and we look forward to the opportunity to earn your business.

Why the name ?

There is a parable in the Bible that talks about talents. Talents were given to people and the Lord multipled the talents of the individual who received the talents and used them.

The Lord has blessed us with capabilities in technology. We feel privileged to use those gifts. We pray that the Lord will allow us to use them completely for His glory and not our own.