Nothing
Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
It's an odd week for me. I should actually do this more often. I headed to Las Vegas for a couple days. Got here on miles. MGM pays for my room. And when they don't, Caesars does. But, somehow, it's never free.
Anyway, I'm in town to do a 15 minute interview to renew my Global Entry credentials. Technically, mine expired during the pandemic, but they were extended twice. So, in reality, they expired ten days after I got back from Singapore last year. I've had this appointment for six months, and so I'm in Vegas, Baby.
I have never done any sports betting, so I might try that. The problem is: I'm a Gonzaga grad and even if they win, the odds won't be too good. (Woe is me.)
On other fronts . . .
I'm hosting a major webinar + Q&A with Eric Simmons, the CEO of Asigra on April 19th. Please Register Today! |
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Webinar: Stop Hiding from Ransomware - Start Hunting It!
April 19, 2023
9:00 AM Pacific Time / Noon Eastern
Register Now:
You probably know that Asigra has been backing up the Enterprise since before I started doing tech support. Now find out why they're a great solution for the SMB market as well.
Free, of course.
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Chaos, Time, and Business Success
I read a good book this week: The Ship Beneath the Ice - The Hunt for Shackleton's Endurance. It was this week last year when Mensun Bound and his crew found and photographed the Endurance - Ernest Shackleton's ship, 3,000 feet below the surface near Antarctica.
As Jeff Middleton once said of my Cloud Roadshow, "It's the sort of thing you'll like, if you like that sort of thing."
One of interest side notes about this adventure is the parallel between Bound's adventure and Shackleton's is that both occurred during an emerging war in Europe. For Shackleton, it was World War I. For Bound, it was Russia's invasion of Ukraine. By the time Shackleton rescued his crew, the flu pandemic was moving across the globe. Bound's crew begin in late-pandemic and had strict protocols in place until they were self-quarantined a few weeks out at sea.
I only mention all that to point out that chaos is part of our lives. Every day, every week, and every month, something has the potential to affect your business. It might be the economy - of fear of the economy. It might be war, pandemic, or a freak ice storm. It could be all of these at once.
In my opinion, ALL of that falls squarely in the category of, "Things you can't control."
You can prepare to respond to many things (many kinds of chaos). But you can't control them. So, in your business, try really hard not to worry about all the things you can't control. But more importantly, do not pretend that change is reversable. It rarely is.
"Stuff" happens. Then we move on. That's just the way life is. For me, one of the most frustrating phrases in the last few years has been, "The New Normal." I prefer the Next Normal. But, in general, I don't like talk that alludes to getting back to some semblance of normal.
There's no going back. There's never a going back. There's only ever going forward. Despite the human need to feel comfortable and want to get back to whatever made them comfortable, you just can't go back to whatever it was. But you CAN move forward to a new comfortable.
In business, there's a lot to be said for looking to the future and embracing it before others. That doesn't guarantee success, but at least you stop wasting time looking backward when the world can never go backward. You can't fight time. You can only progress (whatever that looks like).
I personally do not believe we're headed into any kind of deep recession. I think 2023 will be a bump in the road. And a year from now everyone will be just moving ahead with their lives. Yes, there might be some inflation. You might have some clients with challenges. All kinds of "chaos" and randomness will ensue.
But I think you'll do just fine if you take your best guess about what YOU think things will be like, and then go build your business to be successful in that world.
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SMB Online Conference
Don't forget . . . it's earlybird registrtion time for the SMB Online Conference. This is a major two-day online conference May 17-18. So far we have about 140 registered attendees. Please check it out at www.smbonlineconference.com - and register today!
Speakers include
- The Killing IT Podcast LIVE! with Dave Sobel and Ryan Morris
- Paul Draper, Mentalist on Security
- Amy Babinchak from Third Tier
- Erick Simpson as himself
- Anne Hall, New Zealand Attorney
- A special panel on M&A in 2023
- and much more!
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NSITSP - Update
The National Society of IT Service Providers is hosting our first educational webinar.
Vendor Partner Brian Mahon from Insurance for MSPs is putting on a zero-sales presentation on the challenges and opportunities around insurance for IT service providers in the years ahead.
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This event is free and is open to everyone - members or not.
I say "zero" says. To be honest, Amy Babinchak and I are using this to show you the value the NSITSP is trying to bring to our community. So we will be asking you to join the NSITSP.
Obviously, Insurance is a HUGE issue today. And whether you like it or not, MSPs (and their clients) are directly affected by changes in the insurance industry.
The battles over ransomware, cybersecurity, and financial liability are critical. In fact, they are potentially deadly for IT Service Providers. Bad decisions regarding insurance can put you out of business.
Please register now for this great, educational program.
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I put up a fun product review video this week. Plus a diatribe on why you should ignore Net Promoter Scores. And more. Please check them out and give me your feedback.
Starting next week: Newly revised class on social media . . . as I see it.
Have a great week!
:-)
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Sign up now. Class starts March 21st.
Optimize Your Social Media Marketing and Advertising
Part of the "Social Media Super-Charge" Series for Small Business
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
- Five Tuesdays: March 21 - April 18, 2023
This course covers the key elements of designing, planning, and executing a modern social media strategy in the Small Business environment. We cover the use of social media for both marketing and sales.
Most small businesses "use" social media, but don't really have a strategy for using social media effectively. That strategy starts with understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various platforms. And it culminates with a unified approach to branding and how your company presents itself across a variety of platforms.
This course starts with a business-focused overview of social media marketing and sales. We discuss taking control of your brand and managing how you show up on the web. We present a strategy for creating and managing your overall branding across all social media. Finally, we do a deep-dive into automating and managing your social media presence going forward.
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Here are the specifics of what you'll learn, week by week:
Module 1: Introduction, Overview. Marketing vs. Sales
- The Plan of The Course
- Take-Aways And Goal-Setting
- What is Marketing?
- What is Sales?
- Developing a Funnel System
- Schedules – Manual and Automated
- Which Social Media are Best for You? (Including Reddit, Instagram, TikTok?)
- The Big, Big, Social Media Strategy
Module 2: Google, Apple, SEO, And Managing Your Company's Meta Data
- Meta Data Basics
- Taking “Control” Of Your Google, Apple, and Other Meta Data
- SEO Reality
- SEO Checklist
- Data Maintenance
- Organizing and Tracking Meta Data
- Meta Data in the Big Strategy
- Drill-Down: Choosing Social Media platforms
Module 3: Graphics Overview And Tools Management
- Graphics Overview
- Branding Basics
- A Storage Strategy
- Updates, Versions
- Graphics in the Big Strategy
Module 4 Automating Your Social Media Marketing
- The Benefits of Automation
- Pacing – Creation and Publishing
- Popular Tools
- Free vs. Paid
- Focus on Your Prime Social Medium
- Strategy, Planning, and Tracking
- Hiring/Outsourcing Assistance
- Automating Social Media in the Big Strategy
Module 5 When to Pay for Advertising and Tools
- Free - A Great Place to Start, and Often the Most Expensive Option
- Comparing Tools, Features, and Prices
- Start Small – Don’t Buy Everything You Find
- Get the Most from as Few Tools as Possible
- Avoid Trying to Do Everything and Measure Everything
- Measuring Your Success
- Social Blade
- Social Bluebook
- TubeBuddy
- HootSuite, etc.
- Paid Tools in the Big Strategy
... And More!
Includes five weeks of webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and “office hours” with the instructor.
ITSP University Certification:
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.
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 650,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 900 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 360+ SOP videos
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Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Get The SMB Online Conference for FREE . . . |
Quick Summary of 2023 FREEBIES for Community Members
Community Members: Please grab your great content!
This year, that will include 23 five-week courses (which sell for $399 each). Each year, ten of these are live. So your "live classes" are worth $3,990. And recorded class are another $5,187.
You also get free access to the entire SMB Online Conference - Also a $399 value.
And all of that is on top of all of my books and trainings, plus special reports and live community meetings.
You've already paid for all this. Go get it! And if you need help finding anything, ping Kara or me.
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March Roundtable . . .
Rich Freeman was great. Do yourself a favor and watch the replay. As always, start in your personal dashboard.
I guess I jumped the gun. Rich is still the Executive Editor for ChannelPro Network for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, he's setting up a SubStack called Channelholic.
Rich will start posting great content soon.
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Here's the March Community News video, in case you missed it. |
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It's nice to get out of the Sacramento rain and enjoy mostly sunny 70 degrees in Vegas, Baby!
:-)
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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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March
CompTIA CCF
Chicago, IL
March 13-15
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 14-15, 2023
London, UK
Adobe Summit
Las Vegas, NV
March 19-20
IoT CA
March 19-21
San Diego, CA
IT Nation 2023
March 20-22, 2023
London, England
Cloudfest
March 21-23, 2023
Europa-Park, Germany
ASCII Edge 2023
March 22 & 23
Atlanta, GA
IWCE Expo
March 27-30
Las Vegas, NV
Enterprise Connect
March 27-30
Kissimmee, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
March 30-31
Orlando, FL
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April
ItaliaSec: IT Security Conference
April 4-5, 2023
Rome, Italy
The IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp
April 11-14, 2023
Nashville, TN
HIMSS
April 17-21
Chicago, IL
ASCII Edge 2023
April 19 & 20
Dallas, TX
CyberSecurity Expo
April 20, 2023
Bristol, UK
Kaseya Connect IT Global
April 24-27, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
RSA Conference
Apr. 24-27, 2023
San Francisco, CA
TECHSPO New York
Apr 27-28, 2023
New York City, NY
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May
ChannelPro Summit
May 9-10
Chicago (Midwest)
2023 SMB Online Conference!
May 17-18
Zoom
Online - Stay Tuned for Details - but mark your calendar now.
Join Me Live Online!
ASCII Edge 2023
May 24 & 25
Newark, NJ
:-)
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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
ChannelPro Summit
June 7-8
San Jose, CA (West Coast)
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
ChannelPro Summit
Aug. 9-10
Newark, NJ (Northeast)
ASCII Edge 2023
July 12 & 13
Columbus, OH
CyberSecurity Expo
July 13, 2023
Manchester, UK
:-)
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August
ASCII Edge 2023
August 30 & 31
Toronto, Canada
:-)
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September
ChannelPro Summit
Sept. 6-7
Boston (New England)
ASCII Edge 2023
September 20 & 21
Chicago, IL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept 28-29
Omaha, NE
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October
ChannelPro Summit
Oct. 10-11
Atlanta (Southeast)
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit 2023
Oct. 16-18
Miami, FL
ASCII Edge 2023
October 18 & 19
Washington, D.C.
dattoCon 2023
Oct. 2-4, 2023
Miami, FL
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November
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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December
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec 7-8
Phoenix, AZ
:-)
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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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