Eric Mack On-Line

Inspired by Bob Walsh and his excellent MicroISV and Clear Blogging books, I've decided to launch a new blog to record and share my journey creating a MicroISV to launch the public version of the eProductivity template for Lotus Notes and GTD. I wrote the first version of the template in the late 90's and arrived at a version I liked around the turn of the century (that just sound cool, doesn't it?). This project has been percolating and, in some cases, calling to me, ever since.


So what do I plan to blog about?
I plan to blog about the process of starting a MicroISV (a very small, efficient, independent, internet-based, software company, not owned by Microsoft) and the lessons I learn along the way.

Why do I want to blog  about starting a MicroISV?
I have six reasons; here they are:

I want to:

INFORM friends, associates, and potential customers of where I'm at and give them a glimpse behind the curtain, so to speak. For years, I've received countless emails and inquiries from folks asking me to sell my product to them. (Since I did not not have a support infrastructure in place at the time, I chose not to sell the template; instead, I provided it free,  to my existing clients, as part of my ICA consulting services.) Several people have written to remind me that they been waiting patiently for my promised public launch of the template. (One guy in New Zealand even threw down the glove and challenged me to get it done before he goes on his book tour, this summer. Challenge accepted.) This blog will be a place for me to share the latest news of what's going on with everyone, as I bring this product to market.

SHARE what I'm learning with others. I've learned much from people, books, seminars, and from fellow bloggers who've taken the time to share their knowledge and expertise via their blogs. I hope to return something to the community.

RECORD the experience of starting this MicroISV, the decisions I made and why, as an on-line story, a knowledgebase of what happened. If, someday, IBM buys my small company, and the name eProductivity disappears from the web, at least there will be one place that future generations can go to get the real story.

INVOLVE people from the Notes and GTD communities in the development of the public release. For example, one of my upcoming project will be to take the feature list and split it into two lists: eProductivity Essentials and the eProductivity Pro versions. This blog will allow me to reach interested people who can provide valuable feedback on the development process.

LEARN from others. My experience with EricMackOnline.com has taught me that people will often post helpful comments and links to relevant resources about the topics that I choose to write about. I've also developed many on-line friendships along the way. I expect that this blog will be no different.

HONOR THE LORD.  If you've read my blog for any length of time, then you know that I believe that there's a spiritual element everything that we do. I believe that, as a Christian, I'm called to heed the Bible's instruction to "...work as if unto the Lord, and not for men..." (Romans 3:23). In the seven years that I've been blogging, I've received many comments and personal emails from people writing either to encourage me or to share how they were somehow encouraged by what I had written. Each one seemed to come at just the right time, too. There are many stories that I can (and plan to) share about how I believe the Lord has opened doors for me in relationships and work experience. I believe that our work, and by extension this blog, is a primary tool to meet and serve others. It is my desire that this new blog will be a way to honor the Lord and share those stories and, hopefully, to be an encouragement to others along the way.

Why not simply post to EricMackOnline.com?

My Eric Mack On-Line blog was never intended to be focused on a single topic area, hence my logo and tag line. Over the years, this blog has become very popular with people in the GTD, Tablet PC, Lotus Notes, Mind Mapping, and Productivity communities as well as other communities of interest. I don't want to alienate folks with a steady stream of posts about a MicroISV. By creating a separate, focused, blog, I can attract and serve people who are specifically interested in getting things done with Lotus Notes and GTD. EricMackOnline.com will continue to be a multifaceted web site posts on a variety of topics. I hope that you will return often; you never know what you will find.

OK, so what's the name of your new blog on eProductivity?

You'll have to wait for my announcement. It won't be an original name, just functional.  Tanny's generously offered to help me create this new blog site, based on the powerful DominoBlog  (now IBM blog) template for Notes/Domino. It's in the works.

The suspense is killing me; I can't wait.; I want to know more.

That's what  the contact link on the menu bar is for. If you use Lotus Notes and GTD be sure to sign up here.

If you don't use Notes or GTD but want to follow my journey, bookmark this site or subscribe to my RSS.