Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2022 Karl W. Palachuk
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Here's to a super-successful 2022! |
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I added several items to the calendar below, and move a few. We're already seeing events move from early in the year to later.
Things are getting better a little at a time. Really. We just need to hang in there. And get vaccinated!
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We had a GREAT end-of-year at Small Biz Thoughts. And we're ready to hit the ground running for the new year.
Do you have a 3-item list to help you focus?
This might be a good time to start.
In Relax Focus Succeed, I describe my morning routine, which I've had now for over twenty years. I do some reading and writing. And then I take some quiet time to just think about the day ahead.
Four or five days per week, this quiet time takes place in the hot tub. When I'm traveling, I prefer a beach.
But here's the outcome: I write down three things I'm going to accomplish today. Three. Not five or eight or fifty. Like you, I have "a million" things to do. My office work assignments in ClickUp number 74.
But here's why I focus on three. These are the three most important things I need to do today. And if I'm lucky, I'll get two or maybe even three of them accomplished. The goal is not to create the ultimate and overwhelming list of things that need doing. The goal is to focus your brain and make sure you don't get distracted from the three most important things that need doing.
In The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery, I argue that you and your team should prioritize everything you do. You should put a label on tasks (e.g., High, Medium, Low) so you know whether or not you're focused on the right things.
Ultimately, it boils down to: Relax. Then Focus. Then Succeed.
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New Year's Edition - Name the three most important things you except to accomplish in 2022. These can be financial goals, but that's kind of cheating. Of course you're going to make more money, save more money, and grow your business.
Better goals might be to revamp you cloud service offering from top to bottom. Or write a book. Big things; things you don't do every year.
If you come up with some big, hairy, audacious goals, drop me a line. Good luck!
:-)
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Register Now:
My 13th Annual State of the Nation Address
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No politics! Free.
This is my 13th year in a row of doing a "State of the Nation" address for SMB IT Consultants. And I think it will be a good one.
The year we look back on is a year filled with pandemic, economic issues, ransomware, a new national association, and fast-changing environment for IT consultants. The year ahead is going to move even faster.
I review and comment on the environment we find ourselves in. Then I make some predictions and comments on the year ahead.
And finally, I present some new ideas that I hope you'll use to focus your business in 2022 and maximize your success.
Please register and tell your friends:
January 12th - 9:00 AM Pacific
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Also: Heads up!
Killing IT Live Returns January 19th. This is a Zoom meeting, so the "tech" side will be much improved. And we have chat enabled so you can heckle us.
January 19th - 9:00 AM Pacific
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New Community Members: Read the news below so you don't miss this week's great meeting!
Have a great week. Happy New Year.
- Karl P.
:-)
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Lori's Amazing 5-Week Course Starts Jan. 11th |
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Lori's Awesome Class is Back!
Powerhouse of One:
How to Be Super Successful MSP
(or Solo Entrepreneur)
Taught By: Lori Hardtke, Community Leader and Coach
- Five Tuesdays - January 11 - February 8, 2022
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
Features
1. A different, simplified approach to packaging your Managed Services
2. How to grow revenue and net income without hiring any full-time staff
3. A quick start guide to Profit First and establishing quarterly bonuses
4. Tactics on utilizing engagement letters, pre-paid support agreements & raising rates
5. Automating your business to run like clockwork
If you prefer to run a very small managed service business, you can be extremely successful – but you have to create excellent processes to make that happen. Multi-state MSP owner Lori Hardtke shows you how to grow your business to $350K and beyond without any additional full-time staff on your payroll.
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Lots more details and information on the IT Service Provider University site:
"The class Lori did was simply awesome. I learned so much. She is what I want to be when I grow up!"
- David Streit, Stephill Associates, LLC
Here's what you will learn:
- How to pick the right vendors to do a lot of the heavy lifting
- How to position your micro MSP practice to prospects and clients as though you have an army of employees behind you!
- How to sell additional technology services that are pure profit
- How to land new MSP contracts without leaving your office!
- Tactics on raising rates and going after low hanging fruit
- Ideas on how to package and price your MSP offering
- How to streamline your sales process
- Technical Business Review checklist
- Finances - the bottom line
- How to Live Your Business Dream
- …And more tips-n-tricks to help you be different and think different!
Delivered by Lori Hardtke, MSP and Peer Advisor. Lori has been an MSP (managed service provider) for many years and runs a two-state business with no employees.
Includes five weeks of Zoom 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. This course has an associated professional certification exam and may be applied to specialist certifications in Management, Sales & Marketing, Service Manager, or Front Office.
Class Content
Unit 1: Vendors/Affiliations/Peer Groups
Unit 2: Sales Process for Services That Are Pure Profit
Unit 3: Plans, Pricing & Agreements
Unit 4: Finances – Increasing Cash Flow with Profit First
Unit 5: Automating Your Business to Run Like Clockwork
Note: * Member of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge.
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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: Why You Should Have a Probation Period |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: More than 780 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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Welcome to All The New Members!
Thanks to the end-of-year push, we have LOTS of new members. Jump in and get your value.
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Please attend our Weekly meetings on Zoom! |
The first Thursday of every month, we have a special SBT Roundtable with a special guest.
Join us this Thursday - January 6th
9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
Our guest is Mr. Jim Pelley of Laughter Works Seminars. Our topic is: Add Humor and Creativity to Your Success Model
The link is at the top of your dashboard.
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No need to register in advance, but you might want to log in five minutes early if this is your first Community Meeting.
Jim Pelley is Director of Laughter Works Seminars. A professional speaker for the past 34 years, he has taught people how to put more humor and creativity in their lives to become more creative, more productive, and less stressed!
Jim has left them laughing at more than 2,972 organizations worldwide, including: Intel, American Express, Pepsi, Chevron, Walt Disney Company, Motorola, Ritz Carlton Hotels, … not to mention the Casket and Funeral Supply Association of America.
Prior to starting Laughter Works Jim was a contributing writer for the original Saturday Night Live Show, and while at California State University, Sacramento, he developed a Graduate Level course entitled “The Role of Humor in Communication.”
Join Us!
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The January Newsletter and video went out last Friday. If you joined after that, send me an email and I'll get you a copy.
Most of the juicy good news is in the Video, available by clicking the thumbnail on the right.
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We have lots of great stuff going on in January. Contact us if you need a tour or need help finding anything.
Thank you!
:-)
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Odd Icons
I bought some lubricant for me treadmill. These icons caught my eye.
First one looks like I should not snort it up my nose. All good.
Second one suggests that one of the multiple uses is nuclear fusion. That's cool.
Third encourages me that I don't need a wrench to apply the oil. Excellent.
Fun is where you find it.
:-)
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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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January
Karl's 13th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
January 12th - 9:00 AM
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National Retail Federation NRF 2022: Retail's Big Show
Jan. 16-18
New York, NY
SMB Techfest
January 20
Anaheim, CA
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
FREE, of course.
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February
Cisco Live
Feb. 7-11
Amsterdam
Cannatech Expo
Feb. 8-11, 2022
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
ASCII Success Summit
February 16-17
Houston, TX
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit
February 17 - 18, 2022
Singapore, Singapore
NerdioCON
February 21-23
Cancun, Mexico
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
ASCII Success Summit
March 23-24
Kansan City, MO
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April
Channel Partners Conference & Expo
April 11-14, 2022
Las Vegas
SMB Techfest
April 14
Anaheim, CA
KB4-Con
April 20-22, 2022
Orlando, FL
ASCII Success Summit
April 20-21
Chicago, IL
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May
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Chicago
May 5th
Ingram Micro Cloud Summit
May 17-19
Miami Beach, FL
ASCII Success Summit
May 24-25
Boston, MA
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June
RSA
June 6-9
San Francisco, CA
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Texas
June 7th
Women in Tech Global Conference
June 7-9
Location TBD
Cisco Live
June 12-16
Las Vegas
Channel Evolution Europe
June 14-15
London
ASCII Success Summit
June 15-16
Long Beach, CA
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July
SMB Techfest
July 21
Anaheim, CA
ASCII Success Summit
July 27-28
Toronto, ON
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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
Channel Company xChange
August 21-23
Denver, CO
ASCII Success Summit
August 23-24
Miami, FL
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September
Channel Futures’ MSP Summit
Sept. 12-15, Orlando
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Baltimore
Sept 13th
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo
Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022
Phoenix
ASCII Success Summit
September 28-29
Parsippany, NJ
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October
ASCII Success Summit
October 4-5
Dallas, TX
SMB Techfest
October 20
Anaheim, CA
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November
ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd
IT Nation Connect 2022
November 9 - 11
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na
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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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