Nothing
Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
One of my favorite Willie Nelson songs is, "On the Road Again."
And, I'm happy to be on the road again this week. I'm driving to San Jose for the big ChannelPro Summit. If you're in the Bay Area, please register and join me! See the article below. I'm driving to SJ on Wednesday and then spending a couple of nights. Friday I have to leave early to be at a 9:00 AM event in Sacramento.
Other travel to look forward to: CompTIA ChannelCon! We have settled on a theme and now we're putting tother some fun stuff for our booth. If you just LOVE Las Vegas in August, join us! Both Kara and Jenn are going to join me at ChannelCon.
Note: If you're a CompTIA member, your registration is free. If you're not a member, you can use my vendor code - SBSmallBizThoughts23 - to save $1,200 and get in free. Obviously, the goal is to give you so much value that you'll decide to join. See article below.
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Does Your Vendor Have a Sustainable Business Model?
Regular readers know that I've been raising some questions recently about what we should expect from vendors. Among other things, I think MSPs should put a premium on the portability of their data.
Think about the advice you give your own clients. Should they put their finances in Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, or a custom program built just for their business? One factor - and certainly not the only one - is portability. There's great power in finely customized solutions. But there's also power in being able to change vendors when the need arises.
Last week, I wrote this blog post on the sustainability of vendor business models. I think it's important to realize that the vulnerability of your key vendors is also your vulnerability. But, more than that, their bad habits will affect their ability to provide you with excellent service.
I've always described the managed service business model as one in which you and your client are facing in the same direction. With break/fix, the IT consultant only makes money when the client is in pain or losing money. With managed services, you both make more money when the client's business is UP!
In a perfect world, you will have a similar relationship with your vendors. Rather than putting you in pain, they should have your success as a high priority for their success. When that's no longer the case, you should consider alternatives. But for an alternative to have any meaning, you need to make sure that the move is not detrimental to your business.
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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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You only missed one week!
Sign up now. Catch up, and join Manuel live 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 935 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.
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You Ask, We Deliver! - Two new TCP/IP Programs
Bring you staff up to speed on basic TCP/IP training and troubleshooting!
I was talking to one of our new members about what he needed in his IT business and he suggested training on basic networking. I pointed him to our Basic Primer on DNS.
But then I got to thinking about the accompanying primer we don't have yet - TCP/IP. So I created one!
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And then it made sense to create a workshop for showing attendees how to troubleshoot TCP/IP and basic networks. So I'm in the process of putting that together.
Note: These are introductory classes. They are great for making sure that everyone on your staff has a level-set on the basics of TCP/IP and networking. AND, if you think it's useful, we can do an additional training on building a basic network.
Please give us your feedback! We are always working to give you whatever you need to me most successful. If you'd like something special, please let us know.
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Here's the last Community News video: |
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I found this web developer sitting on a picnic table in Newcastle, CA.
It's about 1/4 inch long. I had a macro lens with me, but I was sure that it would scurry away before I could change lenses. So you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.
:-)
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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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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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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
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