Happy Monday, everyone.

I'm in Nashville for XChange. The last time I was at XChange, it was San Antonio immediately before the Covid shut-down. That was March 2020. It will be good to be back post-pandemic!

I have to say: Some events have been struggling this year, but most are getting better. The vendors are hungry - almost desperate - to attend events and meet partners. I find it quite interesting how much they cling to strategies that worked perfectly well in 2019. My suspicion is that a few have discovered more effective marketing. But since they're not traveling from event to event, they are not sharing their success stories with those who are.

-- -- --

Update: A huge thank you goes out to you and everyone who contributed Uli Kirkegaard's appeal after losing his house in Lahaina, HI. The SMB IT community helped Uli raise more than $58,000. That won't make everything right, but it will certainly help him and his family to get back on their feet as they begin to rebuild.

You can still contribute at https://gofund.me/b9c99deb.

-- -- --

As soon as I get home from Xchange, I'm off the road and hanging at home . . . until I'm a grandpa!

My daughter is due to deliver my granddaughter around September 19th. Whether she's early or late, I'll be in Sacramento.

Stay tuned. There might be pictures.

:-)

Coaching can be great for your business - or just not the right thing. For most MSPs, coaching is not the best option. Read on.

Because I have so many things going on with my community, plus writing and teaching, I only take on a limited number of coaching clients (one or two per year).

If you've thought about coaching, here are a few things to think about:

If you don't have time to implement big changes - don't do coaching. This is particularly true of one- or two-person shops. Time and time again, I've seen very small IT Service Providers pay for coaching and then become overwhelmed because they don't have time to implement the recommendations they've been given.

This is a natural and predictable sequence of events. After a few sessions, everyone has clarity on the biggest problems and what needs to be done. But the ITSP cannot implement the changes because they're already overwhelmed. Here are a few alternatives.

If you coach . . .

Plan to coach for a limited period of time. Most people - no matter what - reach the limit of what they can get from a specific coach. This happens for many reasons.

Sometimes, the ITSP identifies their biggest problem and then needs to go work on that for an extended period of time. Sometimes they learn a key skill. And very often, they simply learn everything they can from a specific coach.

Many people - probably most people - get everything they can from a coach and then move to another and another. In my experience, about 80% of the people I've coached with have been involved in two or more previous coaching programs.

My membership community - Small Biz Thoughts - is designed to give maximum value to small IT consultants (1-20 employees). It works particularly well for people who would be overwhelmed by coaching. If you can only change one thing at a time, my community will be perfect for you. We have a massive collection of resources, including ALL of my books and ALL of the best training available for MSPs.

So, who should talk to me about coaching?

Most people already know what's wrong with their business. In fact, both the owner and all the employees know what's wrong. What they don't know is:

1) How to get started with the fix

2) How to hold themselves accountable for taking the actions they need to take

Coaching is NOT about magically solving all your problems. It's about working together to create and execute a plan that will dramatically improve your business. It is hard work. It has to be executed "live" while you're still running your business. It will involve difficult conversations and very likely some hurt feelings. But it will also bring great rewards.

My Coaching is unique in our industry. It is intended to help you identify and reach REALLY BIG goals. If you want to grow your income 20%, join my community and read every book you can find.

If you want to transform your business completely, let's talk about coaching.

Like many coaching programs, we start with a SWOT analysis that normally takes 3-4 weeks to complete. When that's complete, we (you and I) will have identified the major problems as well opportunities unique to your company.

After that, we engage in four months worth of coaching. Under rare circumstances, we can extend this to a fifth or sixth month. But no more.

Why so limited? Because you will have a plan to move forward and a massive amount of work to do. I'll always be available for a catch-up and tune-up call. But you will be too busy implementing changes to engage in additional coaching that will ultimately lead to more work and more changes. At some point, you need to focus on implementation, so a break from coaching gives you the opportunity to do that.

One of the things that's unique is that I don't want to take all your money

and I don't believe in coaching that never ends!

Let's set some huge goals and dedicate your entire company to achieving them! This program is expensive. But it's not unreasonably expensive. And it's not a good fit for most IT companies.

I only take one or two coaching clients per year. I will never take your money and be hard to contact or too busy to help you. But this is coaching and not consulting. So you will do all the work - not me.

If this program sounds interesting, please send me an email with "Coaching" in the subject line to karlp@smallbizthoughts.com. We'll set up a Zoom call and see if my style is a fit for your coaching needs.

I've been working diligently with Nicole Singleton, the principal of Bolder Strategies, the NSITSP's new association management company. Gradually, she is engaging with the Board of Directors and the Committee chairs to help organize our efforts.

The National Society has come a long way in just two years. We are active on many fronts, engaged with CISA's small business committees, monitoring legislation, and working to create standards for the IT community.

And while I will continue to be very active, Nicole and her team are taking over the day-to-day activities. They have offices around the country in various time zones AND they have experience in all the areas where I am weak. They know how to run a national membership association. I was just "making it up" as I went along.

Nicole is a Ph.D. candidate (she has finished all the work and is preparing to defend her dissertation). She has a variety of degrees, including an MBA. She's been running Bolder Strategies for more than twenty years - so she has plenty of experience in helping associations through a variety of challenges and economic environments.

As Bolder takes over, we will begin some major moves to attract members and vendor partners who can help us in our mission - to increase professionalism in our industry and continue our work to give YOU a seat at the table whenever someone is talking about our industry (governments, the media, insurance companies, clients, and more).

Please check out https://nsitsp.org today and join us. Commitment starts at only $125 - so you know you can afford it. NOW is a great time to click that link!

Thank you.

:-)

That's the news for this week. Let me know if I can help you with anything.

Please share this newsletter if you enjoy it.

Have a great week. And stay safe.

:-)

Links below in the events calendar - or at WhereInTheWorldIsKarl.com.

Taught by Larry Mandelberg

Author and Coach

- Five Tuesdays

- August 15th - September 12th

BONUS: I am buying a copy of Larry's book for everyone who attends this course!

Every business that has failed did so because of leadership’s inability to adapt to change. Learn how to prepare for the inevitable changes your successful business is racing toward now, and the changes continued success will impose on you in the future.

In the business world, change lurks around every corner. And the more successful you are, the more change your business will face. But no business ever failed due to external forces or finances. External forces can be anticipated and deflected, and finances are always lagging indicators of prior bad choices. Businesses always fail because success always brings change and unfamiliar problems without instructions on how to handle them. Without knowledge, experience, or instructions, leadership is forced to guess.

Author and Coach

Week Five - Putting it all together to become a sustainable, extraordinarily spectacular organization

Delivered by Larry Mandelberg, author and coach.

Includes five weeks of webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Owner or Operations Manager.

Meets Certification Requirements for:

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.

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

Our YouTube IT Consulting channel now has more than 9,185 subscribers and 710,000 views!

Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!

You can always check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

OR my Relax-Focus-Succeed Channel at https://www.youtube.com/relaxfocussucceed

I own both the

AND

IT Service Provider University.

That allows me to provide a unique benefit that no other community can: All Community Members have access to all of our courses at no additional cost!

No one has a better selection of courses geared 100% for SMB IT consultants. Really. We have twenty-five cources on Finance, Management, Service Delivery, Sales, Marketing, and even running the Front Office.

We literally cover every aspect of running your managed service business. We do ten live classes each year and the rest are always on demand.

If you're a member of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, this may be your greatest benefit - use it! Just taking twenty courses will save you $7,980!

Grab your discount code in the Community and then head over to ITSPU.com.

-- -- --

GREAT new member content:

Updated Network Documentation Forms . . . to accompany the new basic networking series.

See the article above. The Introduction to TCP/IP and Troubleshooting TCP/IP Trainings are posted in the Community.

The final course is:

August 16th

You can find out more about these in the What's New area of the SBT Technology Community site: https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/category/whats-new/.

I created these trainings by request of a Community member. The goal is to make sure you and your techs have a solid understanding of the basics of TCP/IP - the protocol that runs the world.

Get all the details and a much longer description in This Blog Post.

Here's the last Community News video:

Great living video art at the Nashville airport. I haven't been here in two years. The inside of the airport is grand and beautiful and sparkly new. The outside is a construction zone disaster.

It is always interesting to me that money is spent on the "experience" inside a building like this but no money is spent on the experience outside. And before you say there's nothing you can do during construction, pay attention to Disney, high-end Marriotts, and casinos. You can improve the experience . . . if you care.

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.

More Info: https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-august

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

More Info: www.cmitsolutions.com

August 30 & 31

Toronto, Canada

More Info: https://events.ascii.com/

:-)

Sept. 6-7

Boston (New England)

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/channelpro-smb-forum-2023-boston

More Info: https://getnerdio.com/nerdio-training-camp/#trainingregister

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

September 20 & 21

Chicago, IL

More Info: https://events.ascii.com/

More Info: https://www.canitcon.ca/events/canitcon-2023-banff-1

Sep 18-21

Huntington Beach, CA

More Info: https://summit.sandlerpartners.com/2023

Sept 28-29

Scottsdale, AZ

More Info: http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind

Oct. 2-4, 2023

Miami, FL

More Info: https://www.dattocon.com/

More Info: https://getnerdio.com/nerdio-training-camp/#trainingregister

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

Oct 9-11

Washington, DC

More Info: https://msspalertlive.com/2023

Oct. 10-11

Atlanta (Southeast)

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/channelpro-smb-forum-2023-atlanta

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

Oct. 16-18

Miami, FL

More Info: https://promo.acronis.com/summit-2023-pre-register.html

More Info: https://getnerdio.com/nerdio-training-camp/#trainingregister

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/registration.asp

October 18 & 19

Washington, D.C.

More Info: https://events.ascii.com/

More Info: https://www.smbitpro.org/conference-2023/

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/content/2023-events-registration

More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/evolve/agenda

More Info: https://getnerdio.com/nerdio-training-camp/#trainingregister

More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/evolve/agenda

:-)

More Info: https://web.cvent.com/event/70970f2a-39dd-46ad-9469-1c6e7733071e/regProcessStep1:74825d1d-ed84-4213-ac63-741430f5a2d4

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

More Info: https://navigate.ascii.com/

Dec 7-8

Phoenix, AZ

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

More Info: https://getnerdio.com/nerdio-training-camp/#trainingregister

:-)

Send us your updates

More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events

Send us your updates

More Info: https://www.mspgeekcon.com

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