Some good news

We don't often post about our work. Our focus is on our family, some of the things we're thinking about our family and a lot of the daily things we do, struggle with and celebrate. And we leave work out of it.

But today is a special day for me (and us) work-wise. In 2004 I incorporated Johnson-McCormick Technologies, LLC - an Internet start-up. The goal was to make an awesome music download service that competed with iTunes, but mashed in MySpace, Facebook, and charitable contributions, all the while creating an awesome user experience. We did that, but as anyone who has been near a start up will confirm, things don't go as expected. And it's been a slow, painful slog that somehow is also a wildly whipping roller-coaster.

In any case, over the last few years as I have quadrupled dutied on two full time jobs (major corporate job and start up and then left one), being a very involved father and a dedicated husband (I do try), and Heather has whip-sawed (yes, there is an "awed" in sawed and that's how I feel - I am in awe of her hanging in there) back and forth emotionally, time-commitment and financially and dealt with me in my near-insanity, total immersion, forgetting everything and being constantly distracted, we have ploughed ahead to find out selves in a new place.

In the last 18 months we've launched a new live video concert and corporate events service. It's really pretty cool if I do say so my self and my team is completely amazing. We have a major music festival coming up in October, so that is very exciting. www.rvibe-live.com is the concert site. We're not announcing the corporate site yet.

So tonight, we're celebrating our first major paying customer. We've signed a huge corporate account and today I deposited our first check. And that, is tremendous. It feels different, it feels great, and we're so happy to finally take this kind of step forward.

This was the scene of Heather and my celebration. This is a big deal for us, it's a big deal that Heather has hung in there, believing in my nuttiness and supporting me (in all the most important ways) in getting here (including some key, critical strategy here and there).

There is a lot of hard work ahead of us for sure, but man of man, it's so important to celebrate things when you can.

PS: Note the bbq chips? When we were in Burgundy France in 2003, we stayed at this beautiful Chateau and much to my uninformed American chagrin, when we ordered a glass of Champagne, they served us bbq lays chips. Only upon polite inquiry did we find out that it was intentional and that there is pretty much no better food to go with a glass of good Champagne that strong bar-b-que chips. Who knew!?!? The French apparently. And now, we always have them with Champagne. Now that's how to celebrate, the Earth and Heaven together.