Terms

"I was raised and born within Southern Vermont," starts Max Mackson of Maximilian Mackson, LLC. I was homeschooled until high school, which provided me with the chance to use the computer. I was able to learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which are the language of the internet, and then continued to tinker with side initiatives."

At the age of a young adult Max entered a play program. "I learnt to be professional; we were directed by a strict director, and I'm grateful we had him since he taught me how to never miss a deadline and ensure that you're ready," he adds. Max's first IT job happened around this time. "Between my junior and sophomore year in high school, I worked at a country club in town. I worked there two times a week, updating their website. And it was God terrible! They used a bizarre third-party platform which took about half an time to accomplish tasks which using WordPress could have been completed in just two minutes." the author says.

Speaking to people face-to-face while fixing the tech certainly helped the process, says he. "I'm all about personal connection. I get a lot from relationships. In the summer in the club everything was in high gear every day. So if the printer in the kitchen went down, I had to run through the room. The kitchen was hot and bustling with everyone running about me. It was like we were 'in the zone' immediately!"

Max enjoyed seeing first-hand his effects from his work and trying to combat our difficult relationships with technology at times. "When I was working with others and I'd say to them "Okay, I've just uploaded an update to this computer' and I would get to know if the update could be beneficial to them or if they were confused. I could see these different sides and learn the way people react to technology. A lot of IT individuals will say, 'Okay, this is how things work currently; it's the new update' which is a source of irritation for me. I love working with people."

Max realized that being proficient in technology could make a difference to the lives of people. During the country club years when he was a teenager, his resentment for printers beganto surface "They just never seem to work when you want they to!" he smiles. A significant portion all of his work time consisted of repairing printers; working with hardware taught him a lot about system architecture "I eventually had to rework each of their systems throughout the years. I still do jobs for them," he adds.

Striking out by himself

In terms of formal education, Max went to Champlain College in the northern part of Vermont but he was taught something different than the syllabus. "I was one of twelve information technology majors that was really hilarious when you consider that while I was at school it was decided by the school that they would be ending the particular major! They brought us into a room and said"Hey guys, and you'll still be able to graduate. But we're not going to provide your degree after this year'!"

Max started working in audio-visual due to his theater background. "That required more fixing of technology since all classes relied on computers, projectors, and projection screen," Max says. "When the technology went down, we would walk into the classrooms that were full of many people, and they would all stare at us. Then we'd sit on the table and swap out a projector bulb!"

"I was in college just two years. I dropped out due to the fact that I felt it was difficult to follow. The internet is moving at such a rapid pace that at the point you've finished having to learn something at college, it's already out of date on the market. The professors who have to learn and to push that out to the students, it's an extended period of time." Max adds.

Of course, the pace of innovation hasn't slowed and in fact, has increased and the speed and purpose of formal education ultimately caused Max to create the company he owns. One reason why he left was because his outlook for the prospects was not as clear as that of his college: "They liked to say that they had 99percent of their students jobs immediately after graduation - which is fantastic, however, they make sure that everybody gets into the workplace. I love working with others, but not with them in this way. It did not appeal to me."

So Max went out on his own and started the search to find his first client. He had just taken the course, and the guy who was running the event had requested testimonials. Max recalls: "I sent one in, just thinking I'd practice my skills in copywriting, however, at the bottom I added 'PS If I can be of use to you, please let me know'. And Max replied: 'Well, what do you have to do?'"

Max looked over the website and wrote up an organized list of changes: "No BS, just straight to the point" and Max received a simple reply: 'Text me' as well as a telephone number. "That was how I got the job I wanted. And to this day he's one of my best clients!" Max smiles.

Projects and services

"You have all these different pieces of software powering business, but they're not communicating with one another. I'm the person who understands the software to talk flawlessly," Max says. He explains that this creates an even more efficient single system, which is able to boost business performance and save time and energy. "I consider myself to be an integrator of systems and systems. Many people like my parents refer to me as the IT guy!" he jokes.

Max says the typical client's technology stack may have 100 pieces of software in separate silos. "You have to connect everything together in order that they speak to each and each. I started working with a couple of clients in web design and then I began to focus on integration on April 20, 2021. one of my clients wanted to run a paid members only community."

Max was working with that client, a health influencer and evangelist, for a while and was having a great time. Max had no prior expertise with memberships, however he already anecdotally knew exactly what the issues were going to be. "I am now doing research on a number of software for membership. I have a way of conducting research, where I go through different lists of what's the most effective software and I'll put them together."

Max selects the software that will provide the best user experience, in both an admin and a customer side, to save customer support time for the longer term. Simplicity is crucial. "I can be in a more complicated environment but I also understand what happens when something is at a stage where it's unusable by everyday users. They want to purchase something, and they want to get access to it. It's normal: whenever you sign in to the website, I'd be aware of the reaction on their face. I'd start explaining what they were doing and their eyes just glaze over!"

The ways of integration, and the future

"Integrations may appear to be complicated," Max muses. "They have different types as well as different depths. Therefore, for a native connection such as Mailchimp you click a few buttons and the integration is approved and then you're all set. It's possible to create low-code or no-code integrations, such as Zapier's Zaps; and totally custom ground-up integrations where you create everything from the ground up."

"Generally I work within the non-to low-code sphere, because it's proven to work for my clients. For one integration, the client asked me to get very in-depth with it. They wanted to have the features of native integration but through Zapier. I had to use a dozen different Zaps to have the entire setup wired up, and also to make it feel like native but I had to include some custom code."

What made that particular project so interesting was the sheer amount of interaction. "The first day we launched the project, we ran more than 50,000 tasks on the line that was insane! I needed to improve it significantly to make sense. I ended up getting it down to less than 5000 tasks a day. That's pretty ambitious."

He adds: "That was the first occasion I worked with a customer of that scale with Zapier. I've had the pleasure of working on lots of projects over the years with different clients, some of which were more focused on design and some with more technical aspects, however, this was my favorite."

This larger scale of innovation is driving Max's future. He states: "Longer term, I want to develop software for business." Max adds his thoughts on software are a lot because it's such a key element of his career and because so many programs have become worse over the years. "It is becoming bloated and slow and isn't user-friendly anymore. It's constantly releasing UI upgrades that make it worse. At this point, a lot of people expect software to suck!"

He says he's trying to create a superior simple, user-friendly experience for users. "It's still in the design stages but I've got some intriguing concepts. The project is likely to be at least six months out, because I tend to do my work on my own most of the time. I'm not a fan of working with an agency. They hand the project over to a new, unnamed developer who is then locked up in the closet! I'm not happy in that type of setting and I tend to work with people in a one-on-one manner."

Max is a regular contributor to his blog, sharing the latest ideas and offers preferential treatment to subscribers of his list (which he lovingly refers to by the name of "#MilianFam"). In addition, as an exclusive benefit for new subscribers who join from , he has created an exclusive bonus course that, at the date of posting, has not been ever offered in any other place, at any price.