Robert Hartshorne, the owner of Hartshorne, LLC, grew up in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He spent most of his summers as a child in Northern Wisconsin where he still vacations to this day. He graduated in May of 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Western Kentucky University. Although his degree was in Mechanical Engineering, it was at Western Kentucky where he first started getting computer programming experience. While there, he took courses in computer programming and worked as a student assistant on a Solar Energy Computer Model program. This was, of course, before the explosion of sales of the personal computer so all his work was on Mainframe computers.

Upon graduating, Robert took a position as a Field Engineer for Dresser Industries Inc. This work entailed trouble shooting computers to the component level and programming computer systems using assembler language, the base level programming language of all computer systems. These computers, however, happened to be located on offshore oil platforms. He used these computers to help locate oil for all of the major oil companies. Based out of New Orleans, Louisiana, he spent several years working on the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. His last year with the company provided him the opportunity to work on the offshore platforms in the North Sea in both Scotland and England. Robert can attest to the fact that the North Sea is the roughest sea in the world. Hurricane force winds are common in the winter with waves reaching heights of 70 feet or more. Much of his work was on rigs that floated. When he first landed on one of the rigs, he wondered why there was rope netting like a spider web covering the helicopter landing pads. He soon found out that it allowed you to crawl to and from the helicopters in 70+ mph winds while holding on to the rope, otherwise, you could be blown off the rig. He is still in awe of the British pilots that landed the helicopters in those conditions onto a deck that was moving 20 feet or more up and down.

After leaving the oilfield work, Robert took some time to follow a career as a Professional Golfer. He worked as an assistant at Idlewild Country Club in Chicago, a former sight of the Western Open, and at Diamond Hill Country Club in Dover, Florida. This course was once run by M.G. Orender, a former President of the PGA. He eventually took a position as  Head Professional and General Manager of a Byron Nelson designed course in Montgomery, Alabama.

Due to hip problems, Robert left his position as a golfer and started work for FiServ Inc in Tampa, Florida  as a Programmer Analyst. FiServ is the leading data processing service provider for the Banking Industry and is based in Milwaukee. Robert gained invaluable programming experience while working there. His knowledge of the Banking Industry includes mortgage and installment loans, savings, DDA and customer information services.

In 1995, Robert started Hartware Products. This company provided custom software development for personal computers. In conjunction with another company that Robert was part owner, Hartware Products also provided Sales Training software for personal computers. This software was sold to most of the major drug manufacturers as well as insurance companies and the United States Air Force Reserve. It was at this time that the World Wide Web or the Internet was starting to take off. Since many customers were not using Windows, Robert developed the Sales Training software to be delivered via the Internet. At the time, this was leading edge technology. The training scenarios of the software included video and audio for instruction and mock sales sessions. Hartware Products also provided general computer knowledge training software. This software was also migrated to a web delivered product in 1997 and is our current "FREE Learning Center". Since 1995, Robert has enjoyed providing both custom software and web site development services for many parts of the country.