Nothing
Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
June will be here before the week is over: How's your first-half shaping up?
Some of you saw my annual State of the Nation report for SMB IT consultants in January. As we approach mid-year, I am happy to report that my predictions for the 2023 are looking pretty good. Two items affect you immediately:
- Everyone is now comfortable with a little inflation. If you have not raised your rates in 2023, NOW is the time to do so. If clients are not on contract, just raise your rates today. For clients on contract, you should have a clause that allows you to raise rates with 30 days notice. If you don't have that clause, then you need to revise your contracts, raise your rates, and put that clause in there.
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Get trained and certified!!! The years of hiring people just because they claim to know something about technology are coming to an end. Ten years ago, you could not have hired someone with ten years of experience in managed services - because it hadn't been around for ten years! Today you CAN hire people at all levels who are certified.
So - today, you can find people with ten years experience in managed service. But, ironically, we have a massive labor shortage - especially in IT. So what do you do when you cannot find people with ten years experience?
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You need to find people who have been trained and certified!
Training has always been the best way to find people who understand your business model and understand how all the departments work together. You might not think you have departments. But, I hope you have someone focused on finances. And someone who is your primary technician. Maybe you have someone in sales or an administrative assistant.
You can now train people in Managed Services with a focus on Technicians, Management, Front Office, Sales, or Service Manager. There are lots of place to get training, but most of them are very expensive. The average courses you'll find out there are in the range of $499-$999 each. A few are more expensive than that.
Note: Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community can take all of these courses at no additional charge after they join the Community.
Please consider signing up your team for training today!
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May has beand Wednesday.
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Starts Tomorrow
Business Strategy Made Easy: Your Ultimate Success Hack
Manuel Palachuk - author of Getting to the Next Level - kicks off five weeks of great business strategy training May 30th. See ITSPU.com.
Manuel has decades of experience in IT consulting, including experience running several MSPs (and that includes a stint as President of my first MSP). Now, he's a coach and public speaker - focused on Business Strategy.
Please check out the class at https://www.itspu.com - remember that you are guaranteed to get your money's worth, or we'll give you your money back!
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Recording Posted:
NSITSP Members-Only Training - Press Relations for MSPs
This was a GREAT training, with an excellent Q&A session as well. If you are a member and you missed it, I promise it's worth you time to watch the recording.
Members will find the recording and transcript in the Member Resources are of the NSITSP web site.
Non-members: Join for only $150 . . . and then register for the free webinars!
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Join Me at ChannelPro in San Jose - June 7-8
The big ChannelPro SMB Forum hits San Jose June 7-8. I'm attending . . . to represent the National Society of IT Service Providers.
And I would love to see you there! Please join me. They sent me a code so you can skip the deposit and register right now for FREE.
Some deets . . .
The event is June 7th and 8th at the Holiday Inn San Jose Silicon Valley Hotel. It will be a full day of powerful sessions, networking time, and, of course, food and tech giveaways.
Guaranteed ROI! As a token of ChannelPro's appreciation for you spending the day with us, ChannelPro is offering you a virtual gift bag worth more than $1,400 loaded with deals, discounts, and other surprises. You will also be in the drawing for $1,000 in prizes from sponsors.
If you would like to attend the event (and we hope you do), simply register here for FREE with promo code ITMSP.
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Be My Guest at ChannelCon in Vegas!
Please add CompTIA's ChannelCon to your calendar August 1-2-3 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Rooms are very reasonably priced right now, but they WILL sell out the block. So register today.
Look for me in Booth 101!
Right now, you can register free on me - with code SBSmallBizThoughts23. This $1,200 value is yours at no cost when you register with our code.
ChannelCon is your opportunity to hear firsthand the important trends, best practices, and research from industry professionals, peers, and experts. Get the information you need to help your business grow!
Register today!
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Have a great week!
:-)
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Starts Tomorrow
Business Strategy Made Easy: Your Ultimate Success Hack
Taught By: Manuel Palachuk, Author and Coach
- Five Tuesdays - May 30 - June 27
Learn the steps an entrepreneur or business owner should follow to design (or re-design) their ideal business from the top down. And then learn how to build (or re-build) that ideal business from the bottom up.
The easiest way to gain a competitive advantage is simply to have a specific plan – because most of your competition doesn’t! They’re running week-to-week trying to strike it rich with the next big fad tactic they’ve discovered. And to have a significant competitive advantage all you need to is have a specific strategy for systematically executing your plan.
This course will break down the step an entrepreneur or business owner should follow to designing (or re-designing) their ideal business, from the top down, and then it will show them how to build (or re-build) that ideal business from the bottom up. It will show you how to share your strategy with stakeholders, leadership and the team in a way that everyone can understand and easily help execute on.
Topics for this class include:
- Learning to Paint an Enticing Picture and Compelling Story
- The Business Strategy Lifecycle
- The Pyramid of Purpose and Value
- Business Culture
- Business Compass
- Business Roadmap and Strategy
- Competitive Advantage and Competitive Strategy
- The Market and Going Vertical
- Business Analysis Tools and How to Use Them
- Measuring Progress and Success
- The Balanced Scorecard and its Perspectives (Finance / Customer / Internal Process / Learning and Growth)
- Generic Business Strategies
- Sell More
- Spend Less
- Tying Strategy to the Company Culture
- Agile Methodologies – They’re Not Just for Software Development
... And More!
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Here are the specifics of what you'll learn, week by week:
Week One
- The “Why” – Tools Rundown – The Pyramid Framework
Week Two
- Culture – SWOT – GAP – Organizing the Laundry List
Week Three
- Compass – Balanced Scorecard – Strategy Maps
Week Four
- Blueprint for Success – Example Strategy Development
Week Five
- Business Strategy Meets Agile Execution
Delivered by Manuel Palachuk, Entrepreneur, Coach, Author. He believes that small business is the backbone of the world and the service industry in particular is the heart! Manuel has 30 years of business, management, and training experience in the computer and electronics industries.
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.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Management
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.
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:
Killing IT Podcast - Super Bonus Episode
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
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 690,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 930 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 360+ SOP videos
- 275+ 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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Join us every Thursday
9 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
All members welcome.
Monthly Roundtable is June 1st!
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I work with Andrew Crawford on the NSITSP Legislative Committee. So it really stood out to me when I saw an article he wrote on the Yahoo Finance page. So I reached out to him to ask how he did that.
On the June Roundtable Thursday, June 1st, Andrew will join us to talk about PR, press releases, and his big topic: His Acceptable Use Policy for AI. (That's what caught my eye in the first place.)
Andrew Crawford is the CEO and a voice of truth at Compliance Specialists. His company serves and protects small U.S. businesses from Internet Criminal data security attacks and helps business owners prevent making themselves vulnerable to business killing events. Compliance Specialists selectively partners with MSP's to provide their Written Data Security Plan required by law. This enables MSP’s to put policies in place for themselves, and for their clients, to achieve and maintain compliance with data security & privacy laws.
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Here's the last Community News video: |
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Kara sent me this photo. Mazzy the cat jumped up as soon as Kara started playing my recent video . . . and stayed to watch it all.
I may start doing cat-friendly videos just to appeal to a new audience.
:-)
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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.
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May
Dublin Tech Summit
May 31 - June 1
Dublin, Ireland
:-)
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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
Nerdio Training Camp
Jun 7-8
Las Vegas, NV
ChannelPro Summit
June 7-8
San Jose, CA (West Coast)
Join Me Live!
MSPDay
June 9
Riccione, Italy
London Tech Week
June 12-16
London, UK
Pax8 Beyond
June 11-13
Denver, CO
IT Nation Sales and Service Leaders
June 12-16, 2023
Denver, CO
Nerdio Training Camp
June 20-21
New York, NY
Infosecurity Europe
June 20-22, 2023
London, England
ASCII Edge 2023
June 21 & 22
Tampa, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
June 29-30
Denver, CO
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July
IDM (Identity Management) Dach
July 6
Frankfurt, Germany
XChange Security 2023
July 10-12
Dallas , TX
ASCII Edge 2023
July 12 & 13
Columbus, OH
CyberSecurity Expo
July 13, 2023
Manchester, UK
Nerdio Training Camp
July 19
Calgary, Cananada
SMB TechFest Q3
July 27
Anaheim, CA
MSPRescue
July 27th
Princeton
:-)
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August
CompTIA ChannelCon
August 1-2-3
Las Vegas, NV
Visit me in Booth 101
Join me Live!
Nerdio Training Camp
August 1
Toronto, Canada
ChannelPro Summit
Aug. 9-10
Newark, NJ (Northeast)
IT Nation Evolve Business Leaders
August 7-11, 2023
Denver, Colorado
XChange - Nashville
August 20-22
Nashville, TN
Join me Live!
Inclusive Leadership Network Workshop 2023
August 23
Nashville, TN
CMIT Connect Live!
August 29th
Austin, TX
ASCII Edge 2023
August 30 & 31
Toronto, Canada
:-)
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September
ChannelPro Summit
Sept. 6-7
Boston (New England)
Nerdio Training Camp
Sept 12
Atlanta, GA
Midsize Enterprise Summit Fall 2023
September 17-19
Houston, TX
ASCII Edge 2023
September 20 & 21
Chicago, IL
CanIT Con
Sept 24-26
Banff, Alberta, Canada
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept 28-29
Omaha, NE
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October
dattoCon 2023
Oct. 2-4, 2023
Miami, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Oct 3
San Antonio, TX
Best of Breed Conference 2023
October 9-10
Atlanta, GA
ChannelPro Summit
Oct. 10-11
Atlanta (Southeast)
NexGen 2023
October 15-18
Houston , TX
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit 2023
Oct. 16-18
Miami, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Oct 17
Dallas, TX
NexGen Security Workshop 2023
October 18
Orlando, FL
SMB TechFest Q4
October 19
Anaheim, CA
ASCII Edge 2023
October 18 & 19
Washington, D.C.
Beerfest with Karl
- October 2023
- Perth, Australia
More Info: Details to be announced !!!
Join me Live in Perth!
SMB IT Professionals National Conference
October 27-28
Melbourne, Australia
Join me Live!!
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November
ChannelPro CyberSecurity Strategies
Nov 1-2
Los Angeles
IT Nation Evolve Business Leaders
November 6-8, 2023
Orlando, FL
Nerdio Training Camp
Nov 14-15
Austin, TX
IT Nation Sales and Service Leaders
November 28 - December 1, 2023
Nashville, TN
:-)
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December
Growcon
Dec 3-6
Clearwater, FL
Women of the Channel Leadership Summit East 2023
December 4-5
New York, NY
ASCII Navigate in Hawaii !!!
Dec. 7th
Waikiki, HI
Join Me Live in Hawaii!
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec 7-8
Phoenix, AZ
Nerdio Training Camp
Dec 12-13
Los Angeles, CA
:-)
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January 2024
Send us your updates
February 2024
Send us your updates
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March
Midsize Enterprise Summit IT Security 2024
March 18-19, 2024
Indianapolis, IN
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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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