Filemaker Go on iPad and iPhone

By putting one single Filemaker database file into the cloud, teams of people can take core business data “into the field”, viewing and updating it in real-time. This could be the single most useful application for small business I’ve seen in years.

I’ve implemented a complete multi-user Case Management solution for a client in a fraction of the time it would have taken using Web 2.0 or other technologies.

Interested in talking with me?– leave a comment here and I’ll contact to you.

In the spring of 2008, leaving an established career, and a great paycheque to take a job at a yet unopened retail store seemed crazy. But we’d both been to Apple Stores in other cities, and knew they were special places.

After 3 interviews and a series of meetings, I got a job offer by mail. A beautiful package of information and agreements needing signatures forecasted the attention to detail and care that would go into my induction and training.

Over the next couple of months, the training began. There were about 60 people in the class, held in a meeting room in a local high-end hotel under some degree of secrecy. We’d all made it through the selection process and were “the chosen”.

The training was unorthodox. The concepts, behaviours, and policies being instilled in us were different from anything any other employer had ever shared. This was an employer like no other.

Everything they did was different. They empowered us with the skills, authority, and desire necessary to surprise and delight our customers. None of this was to the exclusion of good business sense– we were taught how to judiciously go beyond where average companies would go.

Having worked as a Business Analyst and Software Architect for years, I’d read a lot about Steve Jobs, Apple, and the business of technology. Nothing had prepared me for this experience. Osmosis, passion and a little magic had come together to bring the entire organization into harmony. Steve’s passion had spilled all the way down to me– a simple Product Specialist working in one of the hundreds of Apple retail stores.

I spent two and half years there, and every shift I worked was a learning experience. I learned about retail. I learned how to relate deeply to the customers I was responsible for helping. I consistently met and exceeded “business metrics”. And as long as I was committed to my work, Apple was committed to me.

I took many lessons with me when I left Apple. I’ll never forget my time there. It’s clear to me now the effect that Steve Jobs had on every single member of this organism. It really is “in our DNA”.

The truth is, nobody can replace Steve Jobs, and nobody needs to.

Then, for about two and a half years I worked for Apple. That changed the game for me. It reaffirmed that care, hard-work, and always choosing to “do the right thing” were the most important elements in business. I learned that profitability, customer loyalty, and self-fulfillment are some of the rewards for those basic values.

I also realized that all my experience and education in Business and Technology was not in vain– that my philosophy of agility and enablement were right all along. In fact, one of the most respected technology consulting firms agrees with me:

“IT needs to get with the program and understand that organizations are going to demand a much more transparent and agile method of IT delivery in the future. People want to get things done with a single tap rather than go through a three month tender process.”

This is where I come in… starting today, I’ll be offering my services to small businesses with some specific needs:

• PC to Mac migration
• iPad and iPhone business process analysis
• Mac/iPhone/iPad business system design
• Business Process Definition
• System Requirements Analysis

Some of these services are traditional, some are new ideas… the point is, small business can benefit more immediately from these things. They can level the playing field, and realize monumental increases in productivity and Return on Investment.

And they can have fun doing it, and sleep at night.

Jay Maisel

Jay’s advice to come well rested was fitting. Spending 5 more than full days learning from him, experiencing his work, practicing, and receiving his critique was amazing. His mansion studio drew me in warmly, and then became a comfortable, safe place to taste a lifetime of compelling art. Deeply experiencing the very heart and soul of a working photographer’s world changed my relationship to my photography, and rebooted my life in some ways.

Wood, steel, terrazzo, stained glass … everything with the patina of years of experience, the soul of the studio made it easy to let my guard down, and really hear what he had to say. In this place, anything but Jay’s complete honesty would feel wrong. I LOVED it when, presented with one of my images from the day before, he said “Ok … now you’re just yanking my chain”. He always seemed to know exactly how to be hard, compassionate, and humerous, and his love of the art form shows through.

Breaking bread with my class and our teacher was an important, and obviously well considered aspect of the week. The places we experienced were beautiful not only for their menus, but for their light and vibe also. These times were a chance to absorb a part of lower Manhattan history and culture in a way rarely experienced by so many visitors.

Jay and his team made me feel like this was my home. Each of them shared their knowledge and experience generously and genuinely. I will never forget.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

I seem to do my best thinking horizontally. Perhaps lying on the couch with my feet elevated gets more blood to my brain?