Max Kanat-Alexander

I've decided that I want to join the ranks of successful businesspeople. For a long time, I had the idea that to be successful was to be surrounded by people who would want to feed off you, or something like that, or that being successful was to be stressed. But then I thought of the actually successful businesspeople that I knew, people who owned their own business and it was doing well, and I realized that most of them are nice folks who are doing pretty well in life. I mean, I'm not doing bad myself, really. In fact, business is getting better, and I'm doing good work for my clients. But I think it would be nice to be really successful.

Before now, I was sort of operating on the basis of "let's work as little as possible, and make a living, while doing Other Stuff." Thing is, that "Other Stuff" somehow never happens. In fact, I'm more likely to have Things To Do when I'm quite busy with work, than I am when I have endless loads of free time. And not-work is not as rewarding, personally and financially, as being really successful.

So here's to my new future success. :-)

-Max

I've always been fairly convinced that the real money in the computer business world is in end users. That is, if money is important.

However, I seem to have always worked for companies that primarily provide business services. That is, their customers are other businesses. Even now, Everything Solved provides primarily services to businesses.

I know that personally, I like to provide services to businesses because it's easier. They want exact, technical things, and they have more to spend on services (making them more likely to pay for services).

Are there actually more computer businesses that provide business services than end-user services? This would seem almost counter-intuitive to me, since it would just be like a big circle of throwing money around, particularly when you're providing services to other computer businesses (which, for me in particular is a very common thing). I mean, yes, there many are non-computer businesses where the money comes from. But how could there be more businesses devoted to other businesses than there are businesses devoted to actual end-users?

I think it's also more risky to devote a business to end-users, because usually you're depending on small amounts of money from lots of people, which means you need a volume of customers to make a profit. That in turn probably requires a larger initial investment, because you've got to hire a lot of programmers/technicians before you start seeing even a trickle of income.

However, I've also been slightly strangely convinced that the larger the risk you are willing to take with a business, the more you stand to gain--provided that you also are organized and things are well planned-out. I say "strangely convinced" in this case because it's actually not something I want to do. I don't want to depend on VCs or investments to start a business--I don't like capitalism (the loaning of money for interest, which is what defines "capitalism"--as opposed to "free market trade," which is something that I don't mind). I don't like the idea that money can make money for somebody, so I don't like taking out large loans, on principle.

So here I am, doing something that I suspect is not the best way to make money, but certainly a safe way to have a business. :-)

I suspect that this is for two reasons:

(1) My goal with this business isn't really to be a millionaire.
(2) My current short-term goal is to be a successful musician, not a computer technician. :-)

It's also possible that I'm doing it because, secretly, despite my suspicions, it really is the best thing to be doing, business-wise. :-)

-Max

So, we released Bugzilla 2.18.1, 2.19.3, and 2.16.9 today.

The cool thing was that I did the whole release process myself. I made all the packages, did the web site updates, etc. I even sent out the announcements about the release, and the security advisory.

So things are good. :-)

In other news, I'm running my own consulting business now. :-) If you know anybody who needs any computer work anywhere... send them my way! :-)

-Max

Hey y'all. The company I work for, Kerio Technologies, in Santa Clara (around San Jose, CA) is looking for a computer technician.

Basically, we need a Unix/Linux support technician who can also do cross-platform work, and can script/program. Mac OS X experience is a big plus, since we're expecting to have a larger and larger Mac customer base as time goes on.

Basically, you'd be the "2nd Level Tech Support Engineer," meaning that you'd get to answer all the questions that the 1st-level technicians can't answer. You'd be taking over that part of my job from me. :-) It is a full-time, salaried position with really great benefits.

So if you can do the job, send your resume along with a brief description of your skills and experience (a cover letter) to jobs@us.kerio.com.

And even if you can't do it, if you know anybody who could do it, get them to apply!

If you have any questions about it at all, just ask me! (Leave a comment. :-))

-Max