Nothing
Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2022 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
Happy 2023 to everyone in the IT community!
I have avoided going out for New Years for many years, just because I'm not really a midnight kind of guy. But this year, I got invited to a fun event. An old bank building downtown was turned into a restaurant with a balcony. They had a 6-9 PM party so they could get the dinner crowd. At 9:00 PM they celebrated New Years in New York. Then they proceeded to set up a DJ and charity gambling for the 10pm - 1am crowd.
Anyway, it was nice to celebrate New Years with a live band and get home before the drunks and crazies came out.
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Next Week:
My 14th Annual
State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
Wednesday, January 10th
Free, of course.
I look back at 2022 and look forward to 2023. Of course I give an update on my predictions. And then I present some new information and a theme for the year ahead.
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Book Reports
Last week, I mentioned that I was going to read two books and report on them. Here are my reports. Note: Not every book you read is awesome; not every book is a masterpiece for the ages. But reading any book should give you a few good tips you can incorporate into your business and your world view.
"Choke" by Sian Beilock. Choke addresses the hard question of why we choke. In other words, why do we fail in critical moment despite massive knowledge and preparedness? The best examples are in sports (The well-paid athlete who does this for a living misses the shot), but it's also true in many other aspects of our life.
This book is filled with great research about the mind, which I love. And some of the tidbits are interesting. There's also a great discussion of how many important tasks are not like sports at all. Taking an exam (in school, professional certification, etc.) is not a normal activity after the age of 18 for most of us. So, unlike an athlete who does something hundreds or thousands of times per year, many of us choke while doing something that only matters once or twice in ten years.
There are also some important things that are bound by old or irrelevant procedures. Many job interviews, for example, are often performed the same as they were in 1950, despite all the research that's been done since then.
At first, most of the "conclusions" is this book are completely predictable. Be prepared. Stay focused. Don't obsess. But eventually, the author gets around to some new science and insights.
I'd give the book three stars. If you can get past the first few chapters, there's some good stuff there. But it probably won't change your business or life.
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Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara was a bit of a surprise. It's another one of those "customer service" books that assumes you can run a marathon every day and provide over the top service non-stop. So, I picked it up knowing I was suspicious of the advice.
The pleasant surprise for me is that there's some great advice here. Guidara runs high end restaurants that charge ridiculous prices, so they can fund the ridiculous things they do to provide next-level service. That's not a small point.
Consider this: If you charged enough money, you could add pretty much anything to your managed service bundle. You just have to be audacious enough to do it. Remember, in the end, the customer is paying for whichever services you provide them. And YOU determine whether you want to compete at the high, middle, or low end of the market.
Two of my favorite ideas from this book are the 95/5 rule and the norm of charitable interpretation.
The 95/5 rule is about finances. The idea is to watch 95% of your expenses like a hawk. Be frugal and careful and precise. That pretty much guarantees that you're going to be profitable because you don't make bad financial decisions, or make decisions without regard to the effect on your budget (income or expenses).
And that attention to detail gives you the flexibility and power to be a little more frivolous with the remaining 5%. The author does not address recurring revenue, but it struck me that recurring revenue is a great way to practice the 95/5 rule. As your recurring revenue grows to cover your basics, and then your entire budget, and then provide extra revenue, it also gives you the freedom and power to provide some "extras" the client wasn't expecting.
One of my rules regarding customer service is that you should not have Standard Operating Procedures that lose money by default. No systematic, regular part of your business should lose money. The 95/5 rule could actually give you a budget for those otherwise eccentric extras.
The rule of charitable interpretation is something I am always working on in my life. When something bad happens, or someone behaves poorly, we should assume the most charitable explanation first. Don't jump to conclusions. Consider that the other person might be having a bad day.
We all want to be judged by our best intentions, but we tend to judge others by the actions we can see.
This concept can help to build a great culture. You still have to have rules and guidelines, but start by assuming the best until proven otherwise. This is a good rule for life as well as work.
Overall, I'd give Unreasonable Hospitality four out of five stars from the perspective of someone who's not in the Michelin Star restaurant business. Plenty of good advice, especially about culture. But I'm still not sold on the "unreasonable" part as a sustainable concept.
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I've been making notes about our move from QuickBooks to Xero. We are putting all of 2022 into QuickBooks and 2023 into Xero.
We had orders (income) through late December 31st, so whose need to be entered into QB by end of day Tuesday (the first work day of the year).
All new orders/activity starting January 1st go into Xero. A few bills-payable and some scheduled expenses need to be entered. We have no accounts receivable except one vendor who spent a month guaranteeing we'd get the money by the end of December.
Anyway, things are smooth so far. There's one oddity, I've found, which may be due to my inexperience with the tool. I received a prepayment for services that are part of 2023 revenue. I created an invoice for January 3rd (first work day of the year). But I can't find a way to apply the payment because it doesn't show up on the list of invoices awaiting payment.
This problem will solve itself tomorrow. But I work hard to get prepaid for everything and I need to keep my records straight with regard to accrual accounting. So I just need to learn the tool.
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This article is not an endorsement or a paid placement. I am not claiming that Xero is right for your business (I can't promise it's right for mine). I'm just letting you know what I'm up to.
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Final Tidbits -
The SMB Community Podcast is being rebooted this week.
We've added Amy Luby as a new host, along with Amy Babinchak, James Kernan, and me. And we've dramatically changed the format.
It will be a little extra work for us, a lot more work for our producer Nai Saechao, and a lot more interesting and fun for you!
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Have another great, short week - and a wonderful New Year!
Please join me for that State of the Nation Address!
:-)
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Next 5-Week Course Start January 10th |
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Check out all the courses at IT Service Provider University
Core Standard Operating Procedures for IT Providers
You’re guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
Newly Revised Course
- Five Tuesdays: January 10 - February 7, 2023
When I take on new coaching clients, they have many of the same issues over and over again. This is true of clients with $10 Million in revenue as well as those under $1 Million. And almost all of them boil down to SOPs – Standard Operating Procedures. Or the lack thereof.
Everyone knows you need SOPs. In fact, you probably know which ones you need. But where do you start?
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You will learn:
- A practical introduction to SOPs
- The relationship matrix of SOPs
- Clients
- Employees
- Vendors
- Internal Organization
- The Ten Most Important SOPs for your IT Consulting
- Business
- SOPs management, organization, and updates
- Implementation strategies internally
- Implementation strategies for clients
- Service Department SOPs
- Building
- Training
- Deployment
- Upkeep
... And More!
Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with SOP development and deployment
Building an Action Plan that works
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular “SOP Friday” posts at http://sopfriday.com.
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 Service Manager or Operations Manager.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Manager
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.
Class Content
Unit 1 Introduction and Organization of SOPs
Unit 2 Managing Time and Money
Unit 3 Service Delivery and the Service Board
Unit 4 Practical Operating Considerations
Unit 5 Putting It All Together
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 620,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 870 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 350+ SOP videos
- 265+ 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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Kicking Off 2023 with a Great Roundtable! |
Remember: We meet every Thursday at 9:00 AM Pacific on Zoom.
That includes December 22nd and 29th.
Join us. We want to hear about your end-of-year challenges and victories. And we always end up with an amazing conversation. Join US!
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January 5th Roundtable: Yvette Steele - Author and Advocate
Yvette is a longtime friend and collaborator of mine. We worked together on the CompTIA Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity executive council.
Now she's the author of a new book entitled the Impactful Inclusion Toolkit. This book is available to "pre-order" now, but it ships later this week! So I've already ordered my copy.
She'll join us on the SBT Roundtable Thursday, January 5th to kick off our year.
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New Zoom Link after January 1st !!!
The link is always in your dashboard. Log in, click your name, and plan to join us live on Zoom.
The December 22 and 29 meetings will use the same old 2022 link. But please check your dashboard - There's a new link for the weekly meetings and Roundtable starting with the January 5th meeting!!!
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Non-Members: If you want to get your 2023 headed off in the right direction, join our community NOW!
:-)
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Humorous webinar of the week.
For the 2023 SMB Online Conference, we are looking at the new Conference features of Zoom. We loved (and attendees told us they loved) the 2020 Zoom format, and we want to take that up a notch.
So, I signed up for the big "New features" webinar from Zoom. But, about 40 minutes in, and before they could start talking about the conference product, the presenter's internet apparently went down.
The irony was strong. And the reactions from the crowd were swift.
Someone else popped in and completed the webinar - but not the scheduled content. So, I never did see the content I signed up for.
:-)
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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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January
Send me your events !!!
Karl's 14th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
January 11th - 9:00 AM Pacific
Join me Live Online!
CyberTech Global Tel Aviv
Jan. 30-Feb 1, 2023
Tel Aviv, Israel
:-)
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February
ChannelPro Summit
Feb. 1-2
Dallas (Southwest)
Zero Trustworld 23
Feb. 1-3, 2023
ChampnionsGate, FL
Cisco Live!
Feb 6-10, 2023
Amsterdam
SMB TechFest
Feb. 9-10, 2023
Southern California
MSPExpo
Feb 14-17, 2022
Fort Lauderdale, FL
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Conference and Expo
Feb 15-16, 2023
Phoeniz, AZ
ASCII Edge 2023
February 22 & 23
Newport Beach, CA
MWC Barcelona 2023
Feb 27-March 2, 2023
Barcelona, Spain
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March
XChange March 2023
March 5-7, 2023
Orlando, FL
More info: https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-march
ChannelPro Summit
Mar. 8-9
Dulles, VA (Mid-Atlantic)
CloudExpo Europe
March 8-9, 2023
London, UK
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 14-15, 2023
Londong, UK
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
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
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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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
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