Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2022 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
I don't know about you, but I've always had the same reaction to sales people who show off their "fancy" watch: I wonder who's paying for it. The theory is that if they show off their "wealth and status," I will believe that I can achieve the same thing . . . if I just buy this [car] [house] [boat] [PSA].
You know the watches I mean. They look like some kind of steampunk operation used in World War II, but they're brand new and cost in the range of $10,000 - $30,000. And, yes, someone is now bragging that theirs cost more.
I'm repeating the graphic from last week, because I want to draw your attention to something other than the cool checklist that went to the moon. Do you see it?
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There's a great old Timex Velcro'd to the astronaut's arm. Not a $10K watch, or a $5K watch. Not even a $100 watch.
This was probably a $10 watch in 1970.
Anyway, that's how my brain works when I see Shaq playing records at a conference. Yes, it's cool. Don't miss the selfie. But keep in mind who really paid for it.
Many conferences have moved beyond paying for good, relevant, business-focused speakers to embracing sports stars and movie stars who provide experience rather than content.
Don't get me wrong. The experience is great. But does it do anything to improve your business strategy or tactics?
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What's really going on here is as old as time. Companies don't pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to impress YOU. That's a nice side benefit.
This is really just a set of executives peacocking for their competition.
Amazing. F-ing amazing.
Over the top.
"They spent $4 Million on their conference. Well, we spent $5 Million!"
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The strangest part of all is: Spending money is not a measure of success! In fact, it's often the opposite.
Motor ratings are very similar. You should only compare motor performance based on horsepower. But very often, you'll see motors rated by amps or amperes. Amps are a measure of electricity used.
Why does that matter? An inefficient 5-amp motor will draw a lot of power to produce one horsepower. An efficient 3-amp motor will produce the same one horsepower. If you (incorrectly) assume that the relationship between amps and horsepower is stable, you can end up spending a great deal of electricity to buy a small amount of horsepower.
Ultimately, YOU are paying for all the money spent by your tool vendors to put on a show for you. Enjoy the show. After all, you paid for it.
But don't forget to attend the training and business sessions that might actually help you run a better business when you get back home.
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NSITSP: Voting takes place now through Friday
Remember: All Paid Members are eligible to vote.
We are electing all positions for the first time. This includes our Board of Directors and all committee positions.
Voting ends Friday. But don't put it off. Vote Now, while you're thinking of it.
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There are more than three months left in the year . . . Don't stop now.
It always amazes me how people start slowing down as soon as the year-end is in sight. It's a bit like looking to the side while driving: You unintentionally start moving in that direction.
Don't forget three things:
1) You have more than 25% of the year still to go. Outperform in Q4 and you can outperform for the year.
2) One minute after this year is over, the next year is under way. So those nice divisions of month and year are just numbers on a calendar page. Your business needs to work through the end of the year, and into the next.
3) It only takes a very small effort to outperform most others.
Most people never put out the extra effort. Let's say "most" is two standard deviations. That's about 95% of the population. But we can ignore the bottom since they're clearly not competing. That means the cumulative percent is about 98% are behind you if you just put out some effort when most people put out no effort.
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In this era of Quiet Quitting, there are some people removing themselves from the game altogether. But many others are learning the important lesson: If you put out a little more effort than others, you will always be in the highest rank.
I suspect that many so-called Quiet Quitters are really just the regular under-performers showing their hand. Now that there's a name for it on Reddit, it seems okay to admit that they intentionally under-perform, and always have.
Anyway . . . It's always okay to ignore most of what's going on out there, as long as you stay focused on your business, your employees, and your clients.
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Keep sending me 2023 events! We've added fourteen events to the calendar since last week. Check them out.
That's it for this week. Send me your list of live events, especially for 2023.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
- Karl P.
:-)
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Current Course:
Core SOPs for IT Service Providers
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You only missed one hour. It's recorded. Sign up, catch up, and join us live tomorrow!
Core Standard Operating Procedures for IT Service Providers
You’re guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk, Author and community builder
- Five Tuesdays - September 13th - October 11th
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
This course will cover the most important procedures you need to have in place to run an efficient and highly profitable Managed Services Business.
Whether you're a new Computer Consultant or an experienced Managed Service Provider, you need to create successful processes that will propel your company forward. Nothing is more critical to making profit than having the right processes and procedures in place!
When I take on new coaching clients, they have many of the same issues over and over again. And almost all of them boil down to SOPs - Standard Operating Procedures. Or the lack thereof.
Everyone knows you need SOPs. In fact you probably know which ones you need. But where do you start?
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You will learn:
- A practical introduction to SOPs
- The relationship matrix of SOPs
- Clients
- Employees
- Vendors
- Internal Organization
- The Ten Most Important SOPs for your IT Consulting Business
- SOPs management, organization, and updates
- Implementation strategies internally
- Implementation strategies for clients
- Service Department SOPs
- Building
- Training
- Deployment
- Upkeep
- Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with SOP development and deployment
- Building an Action Plan that works
and MORE!
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Manager
- Technician
This class will be recorded. Each unit is generally posted within 24 hours of the live class. These recorded units will become the On-Demand class and you’ll have lifetime access to it.
Class Content
Unit 1 Introduction and Organization of SOPs
Unit 2 Managing Time and Money
Unit 3 Service Delivery and the Service Board
Unit 4 Practical Operating Considerations
Unit 5 Putting It All Together
Note: * Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge. See details in the Community
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All the Resources That Are Fit to Print |
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Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday
National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog
Relax Focus Succeed:
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Our YouTube IT Consulting channel now has more than 530,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 835 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 345+ SOP videos
- 265+ Relax Focus Success videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Members: Look for the News on September 30
- and Our Roundtable on October 6th
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The SBT Technology Community Newsletter goes out on the Final Friday of each month. So look for it on September 30th, along with the news video.
And on the First Thursday of every month we have our members-only Roundtable.
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Russell Benaroya will be our special guest on October 6th.
Russell Benaroya is an author, entrepreneur, coach and speaker focused on helping people achieve their highest and best use by staying in their genius zones. Russell has spent the last twenty years in investment banking, private equity, and entrepreneurship and today is the cofounder of Stride Services, an outsourced accounting and strategic finance firm that helps business owners use their data for better decision making. Russell speaks on topics designed to help business leaders build more successful businesses through a combination of self-discovery and tactical financial tools.
We'll talk a bit about Russell's book, One Life to Lead. But, as always, we try to get folks to abandon their "script" and have a rock-solid business discussion on the SBT Roundtable.
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Members join us - Free!
Non-Members pay only $1,199 (includes one year of membership)!
Also join us for the weekly Zoom call. We continue to have good turnout and great discussions - every Thursday at 9AM Pacific, Noon Eastern. Join us!!!
The link for the weekly Zoom call is always in your Dashboard.
All meetings are recorded, along with the transcript, chat, and links mentioned on the call.
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That's it for this week. I'll see you at the meeting on Thursday.
Thank you!
:-)
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I might be a nerd. My first thought was, "Are those lightsabers or sonic screwdrivers?"
:-)
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What's Here?
This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.
If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.
Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.
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September
InfoSec World
Sep. 26-28, 2022
Lake Buena Vista, FL
ASCII Success Summit
September 28-29
Parsippany, NJ
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept. 29-30
Omaha, NE
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October
ASCII Success Summit
October 4-5
Dallas, TX
SMB Techfest
October 20
Anaheim, CA
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SMB IT Professionals Conference - Australia
October 21-22
Gold Coast
Join me Live !!!
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Xchange NexGen Security
Oct. 23-26, 2022
Orlando, FL
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November
ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd
Acronis Summit in Miami
November 7 - 9
Miami, FL
Tentative: Join me Live!
MSP Community Block Party
Nov. 9, 2022
Orlando, FL
IT Nation Connect 2022
November 9 - 11
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na
Service Management World
Nov. 12-16, 2022
Orlando, FL
Managed Services Summit North
Nov. 16, 2022
Manchester, England
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December
Cybersecurity & Cloud Ezxpo
Dec. 1, 2022
London, England
Cisco Live!
Dec. 6-9, 2022
Melbourne, Australia
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec. 8-9
Las Vegas, NV
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January
Send me your events !!!
Karl's 14th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
January 11th - 9:00 AM Pacific
Join me Live Online!
:-)
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February
MSPExpo
Feb 14-17, 2022
Fort Lauderdale, FL
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March
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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April
The IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp
April 11-14, 2023
Nashville, TN
RSA Conference
Apr. 24-27, 2023
San Francisco, CA
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May
2023 SMB Online Conference!
May 17-18
Zoom
Online - Stay Tuned for Details - but mark your calendar now.
Join Me Live Online!
:-)
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June
Cisco Live!
June 4-8, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
IT Nation Secure
June 5-7, 2023
Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center
Orlando, FL
Infosecurity Europe
June 20-22, 2023
London, England
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July
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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August
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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September
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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October
dattoCon 2022
Oct. 2-4, 2023
Miami, FL
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November
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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December
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. |
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