Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2021 Karl W. Palachuk
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Final Outing of the Year: ASCII |
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The final big event of the year is ASCII's Success Summit in Anaheim.
I am heading south on Wednesday. If you're in SoCal and haven't registered, consider joining me. I'm not speaking, but rumor has it you can find me in the bar.
So if you've ever considered buying me a beer, this is your last opportunity for 2021.
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Raising Rates
I had a great chat with someone after last week's advice to raise your rates. She said she just had. After we talked a bit, I encouraged her to raise them again January 1st.
Too many people in this industry (actually, most small businesses) try to sell on price. Stop it!
Pay attention to what YOU actually do in your business and what you see other people do. Very often, when you see something you want, your first response is, "How do I get that?" That's not about price.
Granted, if "that" is $1,000 versus $100, you might decide to put off buying or shop around. But if the price is $165 versus $160, you're just going to buy. And if there's a price around $40, you're going to assume it's not really the same thing.
Research shows that price is normally about the third most important consideration for buying. So stop focusing on price. Instead, lead with competence, professionalism, and certifications.
Just a thought.
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Heads up!
It's just a rumor right now, but it's possible that Field Effect will be making quarterly appearances on the SMB Community Podcast in 2022.
As cybersecurity becomes increasingly important to our industry and our clients, a regular update on trends and tactics will be very handy.
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SBT Community Prices Go Up Jan. 1st |
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Speaking of price increases . . .
If you've had a good year and need a great business expense for 2021, you can join the Community today - and lock in the price for life.
Starting January 1st, the Annual Membership is going to $1199 and the monthly is moving to $129. All existing members will continue at the price they're already paying.
One GREAT reason to join is the free training you'll get. We put on ten five-week classes every year. And we have an additional ten on-demand classes - all intended to help you be more successful as a managed service provider or any kind of serious IT service provider.
We have a Big Announcement coming in December. We are re-branding our classes and introducing an amazing program to help you and your staff improve your operations and professionalism.
Community members may attend all classes at no additional charge!
This really is a great deal. The cost for twenty class is just under $6,000. And, of course, the Community includes all of my books, white papers, checklists, and more. It's very easy to get your money's worth immediately.
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I've added five new live events to the 2022 calendar. If you know of scheduled in-person events, please send them my way.
That's about all the news for this week.
Have a great week. - Karl P.
:-)
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You only missed two weeks! |
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Sign up now. Catch up. And join us live tomorrow.
Service Agreements for I.T. Consultants
Course 5W16
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
Five Tuesdays
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
You're guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
Based on the best-selling book Service Agreements for SMB Consultants, this course covers everything you need to know about developing your service agreements. And the book subtitle is important, too: A Quick Start Guide to Managed Services.
Most IT Professionals sign - or don't sign - contracts for the wrong reasons. Most think contracts are intended to draw battle lines for when you have a disagreement with your clients. In fact, that piece of the relationship is almost always outside the contract! We'll explore why you really need contracts or service agreements.
We'll also look at various options, including a 2-page "terms of service" as well as managed services, programming agreements, and more.
Tuition for this course include the ebook version of the newly revised and expanded Service Agreements for SMB Consultants! That includes all the downloads from the book as well.
You will learn
- Defining Yourself and Your Relationships
- Define Yourself
- Define Client Relationships
- The Language of Service Agreements
- The Service Agreement Construction Kit
- A Sample Credit Agreement
- Boilerplate: A Sample Service Agreement
- Flat Fee or Managed Services Parts
- The Managed Service Agreement
- Getting Help and Managing Agreements
- Getting Help - Lawyers, Accountants, etc.
- Managing Your Service Agreements
PLUS lots more.
This class is filled with great advice and tips on running your I.T. company and moving into the world of recurring revenue with managed services.
Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download.
This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.
Week One: Introduction and Defining Relationships
Week Two: Money, Money, Money
Week Three: The Parts – Part 1
Week Four: The Parts – Part 2
Week Five: Managing Contracts . . . And Relationships
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Only $299 per student
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts at http://sopfriday.com.
Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download. All classes include suggested "homework" that is totally action-focused and intended to move your company's marketing forward.
This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for front office and financial managers.
A Few Details . . .
- Each course will be five one-hour Zoom webinars
- There will be handouts and "homework" assignments
- Class webinars will be recorded and made available to paid attendees only.
- All calls start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time
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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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SOP Talking Across Your Prospect |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: More than 770 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 320+ SOP videos
- 100+ Relax Focus Success videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Small Biz Thoughts Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Prices Go Up January 1st
Members always lock in their price for life.
Annual membership will go to $1199 on January first. Monthly membership will go to $129.
Join now and you can lock in the lower rate forever!
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Congratulations Vince and Amy! |
Members: Don't forget -
You attend all of our 5-week courses Free
Ten live classes per year. Plus ten on-demand classes.
That's a $5,980 value!
Grab your discount code in the Community.
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Please check out the newsletter. Discounts on training, roadshow, and more.
If you're a member and it's not in your inbox, contact us and we'll figure it out.
The video is here for everyone:
:-)
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In case you're not sure what you're seeing here . . .
Convertibles can't have roll bars, right? So instead they have these pillars that pop up in a fraction of a second like an airbag when the car tilts too far.
This car had no visible damage - except that his pillars deployed and punched through his back window. Oops.
Spotted in Sacramento, CA.
:-)
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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.
Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.
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December
Women of the Channel Summit East 2021
December 6-7
New York, NY
ASCII Success Summit
Orange County, CA - December 8 & 9
Join me Live!
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit
December 8-9
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Dallas, TX
Dec 9-10th
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January
Karl's 13th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
January 12th - 9:00 AM
National Retail Federation NRF 2022: Retail's Big Show
Jan. 16-18
New York, NY
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo
January 18 - 20, 2022
Phoenix
Cyber Threat Intelligence Summit & Training
Jan. 27 - Feb. 5
Bethesda, MD
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Killing IT Live!
We return for a great live event.
January 19th
9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
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February
RSA
Feb. 7-10
San Francisco, CA
Cisco Live
Feb. 7-11
Amsterdam
Cannatech Expo
Feb. 8-11, 2022
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit
February 17 - 18, 2022
Singapore, Singapore
Xchange+
February 27 - March 1, 2022
Dallas, TX
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March
Cloud Expo Europe
March 2-3, 2022
London, UK
ChannelPro SMB Summit
New Jersey
March 9th
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April
KB4-Con
April 20-22, 2022
Orlando, FL
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May
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Chicago
May 5th
Ingram Micro Cloud Summit
May 17-19
Miami Beach, FL
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June
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Texas
June 7th
Women in Tech Global Conference
June 7-9
Location TBD
Cisco Live
June 12-16
Las Vegas
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July
Send us your updates!
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August
CompTIA ChannelCon 2022
August 1-3, 2022
Houston, TX
More Info: Coming after ChennelCon 2021 ;-)
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Charlotte NC
Aug 9
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September
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Baltimore
Sept 13th
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October
Always a busy month. Send me events when you know them.
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November
ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd
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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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