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Nothing Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2024 Karl W. Palachuk
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Note that there ARE some people from our industry responding and there are some actually trying to discuss the topic in an intelligent manner. I don't want to dismiss that.
But with regard to the general nature of social media:
Second, a lot of people who just follow me but are outside our industry jumped on this post right away. I assume that these are part of the estimated 142 million "fake" accounts created on Facebook. They follow open accounts and have some kind of spiders that search for keywords, and then pounce. As we've reported on the Killing IT podcast, these attackers are only interested in creating dissent.
Third, a few very nice people who ARE in the community, are real, and are connected to me try to reply to the posts from the dissent-mongers. This only riles them up, of course. When posts are truly abusive or hate-mongering (versus simply ill-informed, on the opposite side of the issue from me, or attacking me personally), I deleted them. I think this is about eight comments from 240 total.
Fourth, at some point, a new threshold is reached and the dissent-mongers are just talking to each other, using keywords only tangentially related to the original post. So now they're attracting event more keyword-driven strangers to the post, with all kinds of divisive stupidity and less rational argument each hour. At this point, the comments might all be AI chatbots from fake accounts talking to each other.
I am not kidding about that last comment.
Overall, I found this a bit educational, although I was surprised when it happened. As one reader of this newsletter pointed out, there are no actual comments on the actual blog post that the FB post points to. That leads me to my final point - and an intro to the next article:
Fifth, ALL of this divisive and abusive activity is an artifact of social media. And, to be honest, I can only speak about Facebook since I'm not experiencing this on identical posts on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Reddit. So, thankfully, all the hatred and anger isn't about the actual issue. It's just a part of the platform I don't see very often.
I have received no comments or abuse related to this issue via email, or in the real world. There are no attacks on my blog or web sites. Nothing. This really is a 100% Facebook phenomenon. My belief is that taking real action in the real world just takes more effort than the average AI-driven chatbot troll is willing to expend.
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Attention Spans are Just Fine
One of the most alarming things I've seen in the last few years is people self-identifying as AD or ADHD (attention deficit or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). These are real issues, and not something to be proud of or to take on without acknowledging how they affect people in a very serious way.
Having said that . . . I am happy to report that your attention span is probably just fine. The proof is all over the place. What's the hottest way to learn about new things in 2024? Podcasts! Not seven-second videos (or seven-second podcasts). But real, 30- and 60-minute podcasts.
The SMB Community Podcast is probably the longest-running podcast in our industry. It currently features James Kernan and Amy Babinchak, and I drop in from time to time. But there are more than a hundred podcasts in our industry. Lot of people spend massive amounts of energy and time to produce all these. Why? Because people tune in.
Last year, I found 47 podcasts for our industry (see https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/09/the-only-47-smb-podcasts-you-need-to.html). Jay McBain found more, but I don't think most of them are direct hits for SMB IT consultants. Also, I did not list video "podcasts." I only listed those that could be found on Apple or another legit podcast aggregator.
Anyway, the point is, none of these are short-form programs. Well, one is: The Business of Tech by Dave Sobel. But it started out as five minutes and is slowly getting a little longer. It was neve sixty seconds or seven seconds.
Probably the second most popular way that folks educate themselves in our industry is webinars. No human being could keep track of all the webinars in our industry. Most are free. Most are 50-60 minutes. Some are pure education. Some are sales. Some are a mixture. But none of them are short-form!
Training is another example of long-form information. There are more training opportunities in our industry than ever. An books are yet another example. Twenty years ago, your bookshelf for IT consulting might have had fifty technical manuals and three business books. Now you could easily have fifty SMB IT-focused business books (and twenty would be mine).
Bottom Line: Ignore people who tell you that you should change your business to appeal to short attention spans. Yes, there are people who live for the infinite scroll. But, as a rule, they don't own successful businesses and they don't buy managed services because they saw a video on TikTok.
Successful business owners are more likely to look like YOU than to look like the audience for seven-second videos. Just sayin.
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Speaking of webinars . . .
My friend Allen Edwards is putting on a great webinar this Wednesday
March 20th
9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
with the National Society of IT Service Providers. Topic:
Building a Process Culture
Everyone is welcome. Register now at https://nsitsp.org/events/.
And while you're there, consider joining the NSITSP if you're not already a member.
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Other tidbits . . .
I had a great trip to Vegas. I know many people don't like Vegas. I love it. I found an amazing new-to-me restaurant thanks to SBT Community Member Raymond Smith. I had a view of the Sphere from my room that was mesmerizing. And I learned about a show I need to go back and see.
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Right now, I have no work related travel for a long time. With luck, I'll get the next book out well before the year is over. Stay tuned.
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Lori Hardtke has completely revised her amazing 5-part class on how to be a super successful solo entrepreneur. See below. It starts tomorrow. So sign up today!
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Kara Schoonveld, my Community Manager and web development genius, has been working for over a year on the totally-revised Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community . . . and we are almost ready to move it into production!!!
Stay tuned to smallbizthoughts.org . . .
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HUGE shout-out to Huntress. They have agreed to do a mini-series of podcasts with me on the SMB Community Podcast. And if you're not familiar with Huntress, you can learn more and sign up for FREE at https://huntress.com/karl.
If you're not a regular listener, you can learn more at SMBCommunityPodcast.com, or search for it on iHeart Radio or your favorite podcatcher.
Note: I did record some interviews in Vegas at the Channel Partners conference. So those will also be on the SMB CP soon.
(Yes - Huntress is sponsoring the podcast. But they did not pay for a mention in this newsletter.)
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I put out a new Relax Focus Succeed blog post this week, as well as a video on the Community Plus membership. Scroll down for links.
That's the news for this week. Spring has officially arrive in Sacramento. I hope it reaches you soon. Have a great week!
:-)
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Join me live at . . .
-
Measuring Success: The Unpopular Truth about KPIs, SLAs, and SMB IT - April 10th - on Zoom
- SMB IT Professionals - Oct. 25-26, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia
- ChannelPro SMB Forum - Nov. 12-13, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA
Links below in the events calendar - or at WhereInTheWorldIsKarl.com.
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Revised for 2024!
Starts Tommorow
Powerhouse of One:
How to Be Super Successful MSP
(or Solo Entrepreneur)
Taught by Lori Hardtke, Community Leader and Coach
- Five Tuesdays
- March 19 - April 16
Register Now - Only $399*
Features
1. A different, simplified approach to packaging your Managed Services
2. How to grow revenue and net income without hiring any full-time staff
3. A quick start guide to Profit First and establishing quarterly bonuses
4. Tactics on utilizing engagement letters, pre-paid support agreements & raising rates
5. Automating your business to run like clockwork
If you prefer to run a very small managed service business, you can be extremely successful – but you have to create excellent processes to make that happen. Multi-state MSP owner Lori Hardtke shows you how to grow your business to $350K and beyond without any additional full-time staff on your payroll.
You hear it all the time, you need to work "on" your business not "in" your business. You need to hire staff and delegate in order to grow.
But what if you could grow your business to $350K or more without any additional full-time staff on your payroll?
Tired of sitting in traffic to make that meeting across town and filling up at the pump every few days? What if you could master running your MSP practice remotely nearly 100% of the time?
Ever dream of having no monthly A/R and no debt?
Then this class is for you!
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Only $399
Here's what you will learn:
- How to pick the right vendors to do a lot of the heavy lifting
- How to position your micro MSP practice to prospects and clients as though you have an army of employees behind you!
- How to sell additional technology services that are pure profit
- How to land new MSP contracts without leaving your office!
- Tactics on raising rates and going after low hanging fruit
- Ideas on how to package and price your MSP offering
- How to streamline your sales process
- Technical Business Review checklist
- Finances - the bottom line
- How to Live Your Business Dream
…And more tips-n-tricks to help you be different and think different!
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Only $399
Top Take-aways:
- A different, simplified approach to packaging your Managed Services
- How to grow revenue and net income without hiring any full-time staff
- A quick start guide to Profit First and establishing quarterly bonuses
- Tactics on utilizing engagement letters, pre-paid support agreements & raising rates
- Automating your business to run like clockwork
PLUS lots more.
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Here are the specifics of what you'll learn, week by week:
Unit 1 Vendors/Affiliations/Peer Groups
Unit 2 Sales Process for Services That Are Pure Profit
Unit 3 Plans, Pricing & Agreements
Unit 4 Finances – Learn how to break through to a 6-figure salary
Unit 5 Automating Your Business to Run Like Clockwork
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Delivered by Lori Hardtke, an MSP, a Certified Profit First Professional, a technology educator, author, and coach. Lori has been an MSP (managed service provider) for many years and runs a two-state business with no employees.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Manager
- Front Office
- Sales & Marketing
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.
Register Now - Only $399*
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 | |
Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos | |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog
Relax Focus Succeed:
.
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Join us every Thursday
9 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
All members welcome.
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Member Notes
The March Year of Intention Breakout meeting will be this Thursday - March 21st.
All members are welcome to join us.
If you're interested, join us on the regular Thursday Zoom link at 10:00 AM Pacific. The link is always in your Community Dashboard.
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Check out all the juicy new content in the Community by checking out this link:
https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/category/whats-new/
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Welcome New Members: Catch the next Live Community Tour with Kara on April 11th (the Second Thursday) at 8:30 AM Pacific / 11:30 AM Eastern.
All Members: We are about to launch a Major Refresh and update of the Community!
Keep an eye out - It will magically appear at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org.
-- -- --
Community Plus Members - That's most of you:
Please watch my latest video on getting the most from your Community Plus Membership! Get your free classes. Download two dozen books. Get the checklists and calculators and tens of thousands of pages of other downloads !!!
We know we have an overwhelming about of great content for you. If you're wondering where to start, check out the Roadmaps. Or send us an email. We're here to help.
-- -- --
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Members: Grab that Free Training!
We have a great co-marketing program with IT Service Provider University. And you can engage at any level you choose.
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Community Members receive one free 5-week course each year from our list of twenty-five courses.
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Community Plus Members can access ALL twenty-five courses free of charge.
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Team Members can also engage with me to do a deep-dive on the live classes. We have two teams doing this right now with the Managing Your Service Board class.
If you have questions, or want to learn more, send me email to me at : karlp@smallbizthoughts.com.
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Here's the last Community News video: | |
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On the ceiling of a Hilton . . .
I have no explanation. Just weird.
:-)
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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.
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March
NVIDIA GTC
March 17-21
San Jose, CA
More Info: https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/
Datacenter Dynamics Converged
March 18-19
New York City, NY
More Info: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/dcd-connect-live/connect-nyc/2024/
CloudFest
March 18-21
Rust, Germany
More Info: https://www.cloudfest.com/
Midsize Enterprise Summit IT Security 2024
March 18-19, 2024
Indianapolis, IN
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon
March 19-23
Paris, France
More Info: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe/
ASCII Edge 2024
March 20 & 21
Houston, TX
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
Days of Knowledge
March 21-22
Birmingham, England
More Info: https://www.directionsforpartners.com/conferences-and-events/days-of-knowledge/uk-2024
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 25-26
Hollywood, FL
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/cio-us-east
Microsoft Fabric Community Conference
March 26-28
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://fabricconf.com/#!/
MSP Rescue from SMB Nation
March 27
Los Alamitos, CA
More Info: https://msprescue.pro/
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April 2024
Fortinet Accelerate
April 1-5
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.fortinetaccelerate.com/home/3861565
Intel Vision
April 8-9
Phoenix, AZ
More Info: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/events/on-event-series/vision.html
Google Cloud Next
April 9-11
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://cloud.withgoogle.com/next
North American Cloud & Collaboration Summit
April 9-11
Dallas, TX
More Info: https://www.collabsummit.org/
Special Webinar with Karl:
Measuring Success: The Unpopular Truth about KPIs, SLAs, and SMB IT - April 10th - on Zoom
April 10th
On Zoom
Register Now: https://mspwebinar.com
Join me Live online
ChannelPro LIVE
Apr. 10-11, 2024
Orlando, FL
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
Days of Knowledge
April 12-13
Odense, Denmark
More Info: https://www.directionsforpartners.com/conferences-and-events/days-of-knowledge/nordic-2024
Directions
April 14-17
San Diego, CA
More Info: https://directionsna.com/
Black Hat Asia
April 16-19
Singapore
More Info: https://www.blackhat.com/asia-24/
ASCII Edge 2024
April 17 & 18
Newark, NJ
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
eMerge Americas
April 18-19
Miami Beach, FL
More Info: https://emergeamericas.com/
TDWI Transform
April 28-May 3
Chicago, IL
More Info: https://na.eventscloud.com/ereg/newreg.php?eventid=777592&_gl=1*x88u25*_gcl_au*NjI4NDAyOTQxLjE3MDE3Mjk1NjI.
Kaseya Connect Global
April 29-May 2
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.kaseyaconnect.com/
Microsoft 365 Conference
April 30-May 3
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.m365conf.com/#!/
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May
Red Hat Summit
May 6-9
Denver, CO
More Info: https://www.redhat.com/en/summit
RSA Conference
May 6-9
San Francisco, CA
More Info: https://www.rsaconference.com/usa
ServiceNow Knowledge
May 7-9
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://knowledge.servicenow.com/events/k23/getupdates
SMB TechFest
May 9-10
Irvine, CA
More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/showdates.asp
European Collaboration Summit
May 14-16
Wiesbaden, Germany
More Info: https://collabsummit.eu/
Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit
May 14-16
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/applications-us
ChannelPro LIVE
May 15-16, 2024
Baltimore, MD
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
Dell Technologies World
May 20-23
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/events/delltechnologiesworld/2024/index.htm
IBM Think
May 20-23
Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.ibm.com/events/think
Microsoft Licensing Boot Camp
May 21-23
Atlanta, GA
More Info: https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/members/get-training
Nutanix .NEXT
May 21-23
Barcelona, Spain
More Info: https://next2024.nutanix.com/
MSP GeekCon
May 21-23
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.mspgeekcon.com
ASCII Edge 2024
May 22 & 23
Denver, CO
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
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June 2024
Cisco Live
June 2-6
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.ciscolive.com/global.html
Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit
June 3-5
National Harbor, MD
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/security-risk-management-us
ConnectWise IT Nation Secure
June 3-5
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/secure/cybersecurity-conference
VeeamON
June 3-5
Fort Lauderdale, FL
More Info: https://www.veeam.com/veeamon
Microsoft 365 Educon & PWRCON
June 3-7
Seattle, WA
More Info: https://pwrcon.com/
Infosecurity Europe
June 4-6
London, England
More Info: https://www.infosecurityeurope.com/
ChannelPro LIVE
Jun. 5-6, 2024
Columbus, OH
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
Databricks Data + AI Summit
June 10-13
San Francisco, CA
More Info: https://www.databricks.com/dataaisummit/
European Power Platform Conference
June 11-13
Brussels, Belgium
More Info: https://www.sharepointeurope.com/european-power-platform-conference/
North American Information Security Summit
June 16-18
Denver, CO
More Info: https://infosecurity-summit.com/
Commsverse
June 26-27
Weybridge, England
More Info: https://www.commsverse.com/
ASCII Edge 2024
June 26 & 27
Chicago, IL
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
XChange Best of Breed
June 2024
East Essex, England
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/xchange
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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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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. | |
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AI Transparency Statement
We do not use artificial intelligence apps in the writing of any content for this newsletter. Some of our royalty-free paid graphics might use AI-generated images. But all of the writing is by Karl W. Palachuk, or others as noted.
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