The Founder's Truth
This page exists because trust is earned. Every claim on this website is backed by documentation, and every piece of this mission was born from lived experience. This is the story of how 603 Circle came to be — and why it has to exist.
The full story isn't on this page — it can't be. Our family lawyer broke down in tears. A VA case manager read the summary and called crisis intervention as a precaution. What follows is the version we can share.
WHO I AM
Before Everything Fell Apart, This Is Who I Was
I grew up in Maine, attended the University of Maine, and dreamed of becoming an English teacher. Life took a different path. I served 12 years in the United States Air National Gaurd as a Computer Communications Specialist, earning several commendations during Desert Storm.
No matter where my career took me, I never stopped working with kids — coaching, volunteering, showing up.
Leadership came naturally. I captained every team I played for. I stuck up for people who couldn't stick up for themselves. In my twenties, I stepped in to defend a woman being harassed by a stranger. Ten men beat me so badly I tore both labrums, I've had 4 orthopedic surgeries on them. The next morning I showed up to coach middle school football with black eyes because I'd volunteered to lead those kids and I wasn't going to let them down.
That's who I am. That hasn't changed. What changed was everything around me.
In 2011, I founded Commerce Forge LLC so I could work from home and be present for my newborn son.
Over 15 years, I helped national e-commerce brands achieve 30–200% revenue growth. Sixty to seventy clients. A small team.
We averaged $300,000 a year. I maintained an 825+ credit score. I paid every obligation. I helped strangers, I did things right. I've never had so much as a speeding ticket. My wife didn't have to work, I worked at home with my family every day. My hard work had paid off.
Track Record: 15+ years continuous operation · 60-70+ clients served · 30-200% revenue growth · National e-commerce to local SEO expertise ·
WHAT HAPPENED
The Journey That Built 603 Circle
January 2020 - EVERYTHING CHANGED
Single Father Overnight
My 10-year marriage ended by surprise and in just 60-days I became a single father to three undiagnosed children — ages four, six, and eight. No warning. No transition. No family or friends around. Just me.
MARCH 2020 - COVID-19
Impossible Circumstances
Less than three months after becoming a single father COVID-19 shut everything down. My clients needed me to save them, I needed to save my business. I was homeschooling three children everyday with no help.
At the end of lock down my son was hospitalized for violent behaviors later identified as autism. I visited every day. I held him while he thrashed. I was the only person who could calm him down though I patiently held him until I bled.
Revenue collapsed. I was stuck in a hospital caring for a child in trauma on a waiting list of over 500 children who needed mental health care as a result of COVID-19 (and divorce). I couldn't keep my business alive. The SBA offered EIDL loans as a lifeline — I signed in a panic, shell-shocked by what life had just thrown at me. I was granted $433,300. I didn't want that much, but I put it in savings just in case.
The money went to keeping the business alive — paying my team, covering operations, trying to survive while raising three kids alone during a global shutdown. Then Adobe acquired the open-source platform my company was built on. Replacing lost clients became nearly impossible. Slowly, I had to let the team go. The money ran out. The SBA payments became due.
They took every cent my business made. I paid back $33,000 while my family went without income. The principal balance increased by $150. Every dollar left New Hampshire entirely just to pay the Federal government interest - not the lifeline it was advertised as. While other businesses folded and people declared bankruptcy, I kept paying — because that's who I am. It nearly killed us. We had no money to live on.
2022–2023 — The Impossible Years
My son was again admitted to a hospital and I was there supporting him, running back and forth to Boston twice a day, hiring town parents to help babysit.
When he was transferred to an institution, the hospital said he couldn't be released unless I found supports that barely exist — a child psychologist who does psychotherapy, multiple times per week. The one I found didn't take insurance. $350 a week. An hour away. I had no income. I paid anyway. I took him every week for a year.
He was sent to a special school. Then my daughter was hospitalized for the same behaviors and melt downs. She was eventually also diagnosed with autism. My oldest diagnosed with a hearing disorder. I fought the school system for services for every child. Fought the state for assistance for every child. Fought the federal government for assistance for every child. All while trying to keep our house and put food on the table.
During this time, police cars and ambulances came to our house. Not once did a neighbor knock on our door to ask if we were okay.
2022- The One System
I advocated for a cross functional team of experts from Dartmouth-Hitchcock to evaluate all aspects of my two autistic children's lives to suggest how I could better help them. Their conclusion: it is impossible for one person to provide the care these children need and earn a living. They recommended I place my children in residential institutions.
I refused. At this point, they were all I had. Business gone, friends gone, marriage gone, breaking what was left of my family apart would have devastated us all.
I am attempting something medical professionals said cannot be done — because I will not abandon my children.
I fought SSI for two years. Both children were approved as medically disabled. Then payments were denied — because I had borrowed money on credit cards to pay the family law attorney that DCYF told me to hire. They counted debt as resources. The system punished me for following its own instructions.
I advocated for in-home support and won a caregiving stipend. SNAP immediately counted it as income and stripped our food assistance. The money meant to care for my autistic children had to buy groceries instead. The system punished us for getting help.
I contacted the Governor's office. They requested a waiver, then disappeared for 56 days. I contacted five state representatives. One said intervention would be "inappropriate." The rest stopped responding.
Two physicians, three therapists, and two DHHS workers all told me the same thing: move to Massachusetts. Seven New Hampshire professionals — and not one could identify adequate services within the state for a family with disabled children.
Medicaid denied treatment for my spinal stenosis. I'm in physical pain every day and can't get care — because good providers don't take Medicaid, and the ones who do have waitlists measured in years.
Ironically, my sense of responsibility worked against me at every turn. Local aid programs asked "how far behind are you?" — and because I was honest and kept paying my bills, we didn't qualify. I drained my savings. I drained my retirement. I maxed out credit cards. Family and friends slipped away when things got hardest.
January 2025 — August 2025 - The Save
After 398 job applications, I received an offer on January 20th. Senior Director of Digital Strategy at $150,000 per year. We had been going to food pantries. We couldn't have Christmas. It was just in time.
I worked 70-hour weeks across two jobs while still advocating for my children. My mental health actually improved while working. I paid off every credit card. I rebuilt.
I had to leave meeting to meet my son at the hospital three times. My daughter appeared in the background of a video meeting. My employer said it was "disturbing to a coworker and the company was very political." I went on vacation for a week. The first day back I was let go. No explanation given. No negative feedback. Only positive feedback and accolades from the CEO on down.
I had a potential discrimination claim — my ADHD and anxiety weren't accommodated, and I was effectively fired for being a single parent to disabled children. Lawyers said they'd take the case but warned it could take one to two years to resolve. I gave up the claim because my family needed unemployment income immediately. Then unemployment denied me too.
New Hampshire Employment Security claimed I was "earning" $592 per week from my LLC. This is false. The business received zero income. It operates at a net loss. Federal SBA loan covenants legally prohibit me from taking distributions — taking money would trigger default on $433,000, and we would lose our home.
Four determinations issued. Same wrong conclusion. Dragged through the holidays while demanding $854 in repayment. My children had no Christmas for the second year in a row. Our last two holiday dinners came from food pantries.
I don't agree with their ruling. But it was ludicrous to keep paying SBA loans while I was skipping meals so my children would have enough to eat.
I did some soul-searching. What I was living through in New Hampshire was not unique to me. Families everywhere in this state are falling through the same holes. And I had something most of them don't — 20 years of digital experience and the skills to build something about it.
I stopped paying the SBA money I didn't have. I closed down the e-commerce business that existed only to shield me from them taking everything I own. And I started building.
People with no assistance, losing their homes, no money for food, no mental health help — none of those people are participating in the local economy. And local businesses need those people to survive.
There was the circle. A community that the state and federal government won't help has to help itself.
603 Circle became the mission. SNHLocal.com became the directory. MarkBMarquis.com became the service arm. ReviewsNH.com became the trust engine. Everything I've built, I've built myself. Late nights after putting three children to bed. No paycheck. No help.
I fully expect the SBA to come for me at some point and punish me despite my circumstances and efforts. We may lose our home. We may lose everything. If I can get 603 Circle running, find partners to continue it when the SBA axe falls on me, I'll be proud to have made a difference for others. Maybe someday my children will be proud of me too.
February 2026
Son With Autism Has Only Passion Taken Away
"Performing way above capacity for too many years." — Medical providers, documented evaluation
"Condition is situational — caused directly by circumstances. He cannot recover until circumstances change." — Clinical assessment
$33,000 paid to SBA. Principal increased by $50. Every dollar left New Hampshire. I'll die before I can pay the SBA back.
398 job applications. 1 offer. Food pantries and clothing donations for children.
2 physicians. 3 therapists. 2 DHHS workers. All said the same thing: leave New Hampshire.
DESPITE EVERYTHING
I'm Still That Person
Last year, in the middle of everything you just read, I met a graduate student from Kenya. She had just moved to the United States to start school and discovered she was pregnant. She couldn't work. She couldn't get state aid beyond WIC. She was living in conditions in Manchester no mother should face.
I knew she and her baby wouldn't make it. So I brought them into my home. I housed and fed them until she was on her feet and her baby was born safely.
Not because it helped me. Because it was right.
I don't know why I'm wired this way. By all logic, I should be focused solely on my own survival. But even in crisis, I find myself trying to build something that might help others. Maybe it's because I know how hard it is to navigate these systems alone — and I know the referral lists everyone trusts are full of dead ends.
There are nights I cry, terrified for my children's futures, feeling the weight of everything. But rather than give in to despair, I pour my energy into 603 Circle. If I can help others facing what I have, maybe together we can build something stronger than the systems that failed us.
"I didn't build this for a profit margin. I built it because I lived through the failure. 603 Circle is my response. We are building our own safety net, powered by local commerce, because waiting for the state to fix it is no longer an option."
MAKING CHANGE
Still Building. Still Fighting.
Despite every word on this page, I've spent late nights building a free community resource — SNHLocal.com — that doesn't just list services, but verifies they actually work. Because I've been referred to two-year waitlists no one warned me about, clicked state agency links at 2 AM that returned 404 errors, and been told by seven professionals to leave the state because they couldn't find help here.
SNHLocal documents the waitlists, flags the broken links, and holds the safety net accountable. No other platform in Southern New Hampshire does this.
With investment partners, I go full-time on this. Without them, progress stays slow — and the families who need it most keep waiting.
SUPPORT THE MISSION
Help Keep the Circle Moving
Your contribution funds the work no one else is doing — verifying whether community services actually work, documenting waitlists and broken links, and sustaining the capacity of a single father of three children with disabilities who is building this infrastructure because the systems families depend on are full of dead ends.