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Nothing Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2024 Karl W. Palachuk
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Hello Karl, -
I am sad to say that one of my blog posts got a lot of negative reaction last week. I expected a certain group inside the small business community to be unhappy. What I didn't expect was a full on attack from Internet trolls.
The post was basically about the need to make women feel welcome. It walks through a few numbers around women entering (or not entering) the industry, and the dramatic rates of departure.
Of course there are some people who just plain disagree with me. I can handle that. But the trolls on social media were out in full force. At first, I wanted to engage them in discussion. Then I clicked some profiles to see who they are. Overwhelmingly, they had no friends, no history, and profiles filled with memes. Some even had made-up names.
If folks seemed real, I left their comments up. Then I noticed that many comments had spaces entered into key words that Facebook and others might be scanning in search of troublemakers. Finally, I noticed that some comments had a letter or two that looked different. This is common when folks are using a Cyrillic keyboard.
Overall, I don't like to hinder open discussion. But when it's just spewing hatred and stupidity, I don't feel bad.
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Onto the point of the blog . . . I am open to any ideas about how we can create a less toxic and more welcoming environment for women in our industry. It seems to me the answer is to get them when they're young, and make them truly feel that they are welcome to contribute.
Suggestions welcome.
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Channel Partners Conference - Vegas
One of my long-time favorite conferences is Channel Partners. It's actually a conference that most MSPs have traditionally ignored. CP is primarily the premier event for telecom resellers. But for more than a decade, they've been trying to encourage attendees to get into managed services.
The big roadblock in that transition has been learning TCP/IP and network infrastructure. In fact, I remember the horror people expressed at a CP breakout about seven years ago when someone asked the question, "Do you mean we have to learn computer networking?"
We laugh. For decades, telecom people have failed to make inroads into managed services for the simple reason that it's easier to learn telephony than it is to learn network engineering.
As the world of telephony evolved, however, the telecom folks had no choice. They hired people who understand TCP/IP. Then they started developing services like SD-WAN that rely heavily on modern network technology.
And now, after all these years, they're ready to take over the world.
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If you're headed to Channel Partners, join me in the ChannelWise coffee coaching room. My understanding is that there will be a bout thirty coaches. So it's a good event. At least say hi.
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And that's the news from the road until next week.
When I land back home in Sacramento, my grandfatherly chores begin. I'm babysitting Thursday.
I'm also off the road for a long time. I've loved the last fifteen years of being a sometime road warrior. But I am actually happy to be traveling a little less. I have lots of projects at home and all this travel sorta gets in the way.
Besides, if you have to choose between one more presentation on how kubernetes will save the world and playing with this little angel, I think you'd choose the angel.
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Quick shout-out to MGM rewards. They have made my last few trips to Vegas really great. I stay at a different MGM property each time. This time, I have a view of the Sphere from my room, which is mesmerizing. And they gave me enough food credits to last the entire stay.
I used to favor Caesars properties, but MGM lured me away.
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Scroll down. We have new videos, podcasts, and blog posts!
The last week of my class on Managing Your Service Board is Tuesday. Then Lori Hardtke's amazing (and newly revised) class starts next week.
That's the news for this week. Have a great week!
:-)
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Join me live at . . .
- Channel Partners Conference - March 10-13 in Las Vegas, NV
- Coffee Coaching with ChannelWise at the big Channel Partners Conference - March 13th in Vegas, Baby.
- 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 next week.
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 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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New Members: Catch the Live Community Tour with Kara on March 14th (the Second Thursday) at 7:30 AM.
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.
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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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In the hallway at a local medical office . . .
I'm not sure if there's a real problem with "stuff" being placed on the new fixtures - but somebody was sold some cool, scary signs.
I don't really think anyone is watching. The signs are cheaper than cameras.
:-)
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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
MSP Summit
March 11-12
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://channelpartnersconference.com/msp-summit
Join me Live!
XChange UK
March 6-7
UK
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/xchange
Channel Partners Conference & MSP Summit
March 11-14
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.channelfutures.com/channel-events
Join me live!
Coffee Coaching with ChannelWise
March 13th
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.channelwise.com/coaching-cafe
Join me live!
Gartner Data & Analytics Summit
March 11-13
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/data-analytics-us
Microsoft Envision AI Tour
March 12
Paris, France
More Info: https://envision.microsoft.com/en-US/paris
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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