Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2021 Karl W. Palachuk
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Quick note on holidays.
Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I hope you love your consulting business. If not, then I hope you find love somewhere!
:-)
Today is President's Day in the United States. So, if you're outside the US, you may need to wait a day to get a response from some folks.
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If you're inside the US, you should have a standard list of holidays. Maybe 10-13 holidays, depending on the calendar, you business, your faith, and your commitment to a balanced life.
Despite Americans' never-ending commitment to work ourselves to death at an early age, you really should take some time off and recharge your batteries!
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Newsletter Feedback Update
We got some good responses to our quick survey about this newsletter. If you haven't given us feedback yet, please take minute and do so.
We have a super-quick and easy survey about this newsletter.
Please take 60 seconds and give us some feedback here:
Thank you.
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Slow Down, Get More Done
I have to make a confession: I have violated one of my own "Absolutely Unbreakable" Rules for Success. The rule has been part of my life for more than twenty years:
Slow Down, Get More Done
I first put that in a book in 2005. The book was Relax Focus Succeed. But more recently I wrote an entire chapter on this theme in The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery.
The rule - Slow Down, Get More Done - takes many forms. The specific variation I am violating has to do with over-scheduling.
I've had a tendency all my life to over-commit myself. In my early years, this led me to over-work myself until I collapsed. Now that I'm (much) older, It just means that I have a growing list of things going undone at the end of the day.
Note: I still spend quiet time in the morning, meditating and preparing for my day. And I still quit work between 5PM and 6PM. So, I'm not falling into the trap of working all day and night. The tendency is there. But after decade of work, I know for a fact, that long days are simply unproductive and relieve me of the ability to recharge my batteries.
So the big result for me is pretty straight forward: When I over-commit, I simply increase the list of un-done things at the end of the day. And the fix is obvious, if not easy: Schedule less and commit less until you begin to catch up.
For me this experience is similar to when a company stops marketing. In the short term, you focus on the work in front of you. But down the road, there will be less work in front of you because you stopped marketing today. For me, I am too busy to create the all the new content I want to create. I'm behind on writing a book; I'm blogging less; I haven't launched a program I hoped to complete this year. etc.
But don't worry! I get myself into this pickle about once a year. And then I work my way out of it.
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Have you heard the new term for "what's next?"
The After Time
I've heard several people start talking about what they miss, and what they want to get back to, in the After Time. When this virus is gone, and we move on to the next normal, what will you do?
What do you miss? For me - no surprise - I miss travel. And I miss people. Most people don't realize that I'm actually borderline introvert. But I also enjoy getting together with my friends all over the world.
This is the beach I was on in Thailand a year ago. I want to go back as soon as I can.
As for business . . .
I am working with some folks inside my Community to help them evolve to the next level of IT consulting. From my perspective, this preparation for the near-future includes two very important elements:
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Education. Technology doesn't stop advancing because of Covid. Your people don't stop evolving. Your clients keep moving forward. Education is the way you keep up and plan to move ahead.
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Focus on the Future. Technology consulting changes fast, all the time. And we are at a critical point in our history. More and more vendors are abandoning the channel to create direct-to-buyer programs. You need a strategic response. A new generation of business owners is emerging. How will you serve them? Again, you need a strategy.
The pandemic put a lot of things on "hold" - but not everything. Research kept moving along. Evolution of technology kept ticking along.
What's your plan for the After Time? Personally and professionally, how are you preparing for it? I'd love to hear your feedback.
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Quick note for SBT Technology Community members: PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch the Community News video, and read the newsletter. We posted lots of great sales related materials in the last month. Grab these materials!!!
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That's the news for now. Have a great week.
-- Karl W. Palachuk
:-)
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Newly Revised Class for 2021
Position Your IT Firm for Growth or Sale
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Sign up Today
Position Your IT Firm for Growth or Sale - Totally Revised for 2021
5W19
Taught by Rayanne Buchianico, Author and Coach
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
You're guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
As your business matures, you want to take control of profits and your financial house. You invested the time to set up your chart of accounts, align income with COGS for easy measuring, and organize your reports and service desk. You have the information you need; this course teaches you how to use it.
This class provides unique content from a unique teacher! Rayanne is a managed service provider from Tampa, FL. She is also an accountant and an Intuit Certified ProAdvisor. In addition to her MSP business, Rayanne helps I.T. consultants to take control of their finances and understand their own business at a deeper level.
Topics for this class include:
- Create KPIs specific to your company
- Benchmark against your peers
- Detailed cash flow management and measure debt against income
- Measure service-level profits and improve profitability
- Identify red flags in your business, make changes before they become problems
- Prepare your company for growth, sale or merger
- Use margins to price your services for profit
- Income Tax Planning and Projections
- Action plans for success
... And More!
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Weekly Agenda
Week One
- Plan
- Organize
- Documentation
Week Two
- Valuation Methods
- Working Capital
- Tracking EBITDA
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Week Three
- Build KPIs
- Develop Trends
- Labor Costs
Week Four
- Cash Flow Forecasting
- Debt Reduction
- Controlling Costs
Week Five
- Workshop - Bring is together
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Only $299 per student
Delivered by Rayanne Buchianico, Accounting Professional and QuickBooks Advisor. Rayanne has been an MSP - managed service provider - for many years and advises MSPs on how to get the most out of their QuickBooks and PSA integrations.
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.
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:
Relax Focus Succeed:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday
The Cheeky Sales Coach Podcast / Video - New episodes drop every Wednesday
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SOP: Managing Your Backlog |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Note: We started auto-posting the podcasts to YouTube. Those are not listed here as YouTube Videos since they're listed under the podcasts above.
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: More than 700 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 275+ SOP 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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Weekly Meetings are Going Strong! |
We started weekly meetings in March of 2020 just to check in with members during the original pandemic "shut down."
Now, those meetings are one of the most popular elements of our Community. I have been thinking about whether we need to make changes when we regularly have more attendees than Zoom can show on the screen. That day will probably come in 2021.
Our big monthly meeting is this Thursday - "Third" Thursday at 9AM Pacific. The link is right at the top of your Dashboard. We'll see you there!
Here's an overview of our monthly meetings:
1st Thursday: SBT Roundtable - Note this is a webinar format and has a different link
2nd Thursday: Regular online Zoom meeting
3rd Thursday: Monthly member meeting (with a few slides)
4th Thursday: Regular online Zoom meeting
5th Thursday: Regular online Zoom meeting (as needed)
Next month's Roundtable will be with be with Janet Schijns from the JS Group. Don't miss it! Link is at the top of your Dashboard.
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Sales Materials Galore!
In the last six weeks, we've added a LOT of great sales-related downloads.
If you're a member, you can access all of these free of charge!
Social Media Cheat Sheet - This asset is intended to help you spread the word effectively on social media – and to get assistance from your friends and business partners to spread the word even faster.
Security Sales 2021 - workshop and workbook. Everything about the threat landscape has changed during the past five years - except, perhaps, the way you sell security. It's time to update that.
White Paper: Sales in the Era of Zoom - Written by Carolyn Heinze exclusively for member of the SBT Technology Community. This document will help you build and execute a remote sales process for 2021 and beyond.
Updated Technology Roadmap - with 2021 supplemental questionnaire. Designed to help you start the conversation with your clients. What is their plan for getting back to the office (or shutting it down)? Will it be all at once or in stages? Do they need additional technology? Will they be moving more resources to the cloud?
Best place to see all of this is in the What's New section.
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If you haven't seen the February News video yet, please check it out.
As always, our goal is to help you to be as successful as possible!
If you need something, please post a question in a forum or email Kara (your Community Manager) or me.
:-)
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Recall, a few weeks ago, that my electricity was out.
I only need electricity for . . . everything I do. But I have 1000 va and 1500 va backups for my all of my equipment, so I can generally stay up at full capacity for about two hours when the lights go out.
But I need Internet no matter what.
When I told the story of running to a local hotel for the day, some people asked me about my backup Internet. Well . . . I dropped that in 2020 because I hadn't used it in five years. All I can get at my house is a slow, horrible ATT connection. So I was paying hundreds of dollars per year. Paying for one night in a hotel is definitely cheaper.
Anyway . . . I decided to look around for better alternatives. I found a 5G Mifi device from T-Mobile on sale for $7/month. I have to pay for data, but that's pretty cheap, and I can notch it down as far as $10/month.
It's super each to use. So far speed tests in my home are around 20MB down and 25MB up. Theoretically, if I'm ever in a place with actual 5G, it will go much faster.
But I'm told it's fast enough to do a Zoom call and not be embarrassed.
We'll find out tomorrow. Comcast is planning an all-day outage so they can start laying fiber cable in the neighborhood. So, with luck, I'll have much better Internet before the year is over.
:-)
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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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February
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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March
XChange +
March 7-9 / Live + Virtual event
Orlando, FL
Register now and don't miss my presentation!
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April
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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May
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
May 6, 2021
Chicago, Il
SMB Roadshow - Vancouver
May 11th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Toronto
May 13th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Montreal
May 18th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
ASCII Success Summit
May 19 & 20
Bethesda, MD
SMB Roadshow - Providence, RI
May 20th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
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June
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
June 9, 2021
Houston, Tx
ASCII Success Summit
June 16 & 17
Cincinnati, OH
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July
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
July 8, 2021
Raleigh, NC
ASCII Success Summit
July 21 & 22
Chicago, IL
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August
SMB Roadshow - Manchester, UK
August 10th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Cardiff, UK
August 12th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - London, UK
August 17th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
ASCII Success Summit
August 18 & 19
Raleigh, NC
SMB Roadshow - Amsterdam, NE
August 19th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Berlin, Germany
August 21st
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
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September
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Sept 2, 2021
Boston, MA
ITBOG (Business Owners Group) Cruise Conference
Sept. 3-6
Departs Miami
ASCII Success Summit
September 22 & 23
NY / NJ area
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October
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Oct 6, 2021
Atlanta, GA
SMB IT Professionals National Conference - Australia
Oct 15-16
Surfer's Paradise
Join me Live. I'm going to do my best to be there!
ASCII Success Summit
October 27 & 28
Orlando, FL
I'm hoping there's a trip to the Gold Coast in my future. Stay tuned.
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November
ASCII Success Summit
November 3 & 4
Houston, TX
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Nov 4, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Nov 16, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
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December
ASCII Success Summit
Orange County, CA - December 8 & 9
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If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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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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