Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2021 Karl W. Palachuk
|
|
Quick note: If you need a birthday gift any time soon, you can't go wrong with the Oculus Quest 2. Assuming your gift budget is in the $299 range.
I'm not a gamer, but I am thoroughly enjoying exploring 3D learning and techniques. I watched a few videos of swimming with the whale sharks. I've done that in real life and these immersive videos made me want to go do it again.
I bought headsets for my staff and I'm pretty sure that my daughter will get one for her birthday.
My staff and I took delivery of our VR headsets last week - and we've been having fun ever since. I have to say, I am impressed with how much content there is available. Not as much "included" or free as you would expect for $300, but maybe I'm just expecting too much.
Here's how my original wish list is stacking up. Bold = Tried that.
|
|
- VR conference/meeting
- Google Earth VR
- National Geographic
- Plays/shows/interactive dramas
- Travel apps (a tiny bit)
|
|
- Guided meditations
- Facebook Spaces/Oculus Rooms
- Real 3d movies
- . . . things I haven't heard of yet
|
|
|
I haven't found a meditation that really stands out yet. I think the artists are too absorbed in their art to slow it down to the point of contemplation. The one that instructed me to close my eyes was a little odd. I don't need a VR headset to do that.
The headsets have a see-through mode that is pretty cool. It could be used for augmented reality, although I haven't found any apps for that yet.
The only thing to make me feel like I might get disoriented is the International Space Station experience. But maybe that's just because it seems real.
|
|
-- -- --
Calendar Updates keep coming in!
Vendors are slowly adding "Live" dates. I can't imaging the planning behind these. Event sites normally want serious guarantees. And those are hard to make when you don't know how many people will show up.
One of the ongoing discussions on the Killing IT Podcast is how fast things will come back - and whether things will ever be back to what they were in 2019 and before. I think they'll come back in full force. A few vendors may choose to just keep things virtual, but not so many that you'll notice.
As for my live Roadshows . . . I am hoping to be vaccinated in the next week or so (California is opening shots to all adults, starting Thursday). After that, I need other countries to decide to let Americans in.
I have planned events in Canada, the UK, Amsterdam, and Berlin. It's looking like Berlin may not be open to me by August. We'll see about the rest. If the Canadian Roadshows don't happen in May, I'm going to plan for September.
See calendar updates below.
Please keep sending me events/links for in-person events you hear about!
|
|
Finally: PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out the classes over at Great Little Seminar. We have FOUR absolutely brand new classes coming up fast. James Kernan is teaching sales, and then I'm doing three brand new classes on social media.
Note, also, that annual subscribers to the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend all these classes for free. Even if this is the only benefit you take advantage of, it will save you more than the cost of membership.
Stay well, and have a great week.
-- Karl W. Palachuk
:-)
|
|
You only missed on class!
Managing Your Service Board
|
|
Sign up today. Catch up with the recording.
Join us Live Tomorrow.
Managing Your Service Board – Setup, Core SOPs, and Daily Procedures
Course 5W10
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
This course covers the most important pieces of making your PSA (Professional Services Administration) service board work effectively. Your PSA is the brain center of your entire operation.
Most Managed Service Providers don't use their PSA systems efficiently. In fact, most of them only use 10-20% of the capabilities of their PSA. This costs you money because you have the tool to run everything in your business more effectively. But if you don't put the right information into the tool, then you can't get the reports you need to improve your business.
This course covers the daily operation of a managed service business - or any IT shop with a service board and one or more technicians who execute the service. It assumes you have a service board or PSA (Professional Services Administration) and a service manager.
Whether you sell “break fix” or flat fee services, a service board will take your company to the next level – if you use it right. In addition to covering setup and core standard operating procedures, we'll get into the "nitty gritty" of running a service board and managing the service department.
Which PSA?
This course is not PSA-specific. I used ConnectWise for four years in my business. Then I switched to Autotask and used that for five years. Eventually, I move to SolarWinds and used that for more than five years.
On top of all that, I've worked closely with coaching client who have used all of these products. This course is intended to apply to all PSAs. I will point out areas where differences are most obvious.
You will learn
- How tickets should flow into, through, and off of the service board
- How to set up the core components of a service board
- Priorities
- Statuses
- Workflows
- Time Estimates
- The most important processes and procedures for making the board work effectively once it's set up
- Introducing new processes to you employees
- Getting clients to understand the new processes
- Time tracking the right way
- The most important reports you need to run
- Every Day, Every Week, Every Month
- When it's time for client renewals
- Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with service board management
- Building an Action Plan that works
Additional Topics Listed here:
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts at https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com.
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.
|
|
Weekly Agenda
Week One
- Core Components
- Building Blocks of a Great Service Board
- Documentation
Week Two
- Core Processes and Procedures for Success
- Time Tracking the Right Way
|
|
Week Three
- Implementation and Daily Processes
Week Four
- A Day In the Life of the Service Desk
- Policies that Drive Profitability
Week Five
- Build and Maintain a Well-Oiled Machine
- Getting the Details Right
|
|
|
Only $299 per student
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.
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
|
|
All the Resources That Are Fit to Print |
|
Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos |
|
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
.
|
|
SOP: Tracking Credit Card Auto Payments |
|
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
|
|
Small Biz Thoughts Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
|
|
Last week was another big week for new sign-ups. New members: Please join us on the regular Thursday Zoom calls - 9AM Pacific every Thursday!
Look for our Community Newsletter on the final Friday of the month. If you missed the last one, let us know.
All Community meeting links are at the top of your Dashboard.
Here are our upcoming Thursday meetings.
- April 1st - SBT Roundtable with Dave Sobel
- April 8th - Regular Thursday meeting
- April 15th - Third-Thursday all-member meeting
- April 22nd - Regular Thursday meeting
- April 29th - Regular Thursday meeting
If you're a member, join us.
-- -- --
|
|
Dave Sobel to Join the SBT Roundtable - April 1st
Long-time community leader Dave Sobel joins us for the April SBT Roundtable. Members will find the link in your Dashboard.
Dave is a former MSP and has worked with a few vendors. Currently, he runs the MSP Radio network, producing the Business of Tech podcast and videos.
And, of course, Dave is a co-host on the Killing IT podcast.
For many years, Dave has been a community builder and a pioneer in the SMB IT consulting community.
Members, plan to join us!
-- -- --
|
|
In case you haven't see it yet, please check out the April News Video. This video is open to everyone, not just Community members.
If you need something, please post a question in a forum or email Kara (your Community Manager) or me.
:-)
|
|
My "Spatial" Avatar has spindly arms.
My staff and I have been playing with "our" meeting space at Spatial.io. We want to customize it a bit and figure out how to use the environment most efficiently.
Then we'll host some kind of event. Let me know if you have a VR headset compatible with Spatial. You can use a free account to attend meetings.
Stay tuned.
:-)
|
|
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.
|
|
April
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
|
|
May
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
May 6, 2021
Chicago, Il
SMB Roadshow - Vancouver
May 11th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
Join me Live!
Robin Robins Big Seminar 2021
May 11 - May 14
Orlando, FL
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!
|
|
June
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
June 9, 2021
Houston, Tx
ASCII Success Summit
June 16 & 17
Cincinnati, OH
IT Nation Secure
June 21-23
Orlando, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Omaha, NE
June 24-25th
Channel Sec Europe
June 24th
London
|
|
July
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
July 8, 2021
Raleigh, NC
ASCII Success Summit
July 21 & 22
Chicago, IL
Black Hat USA
July 31-August 5
Las Vegas, NV
|
|
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!
|
|
September
CEDIA Expo
Sept 1-3
Indianapolis, IN
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Sept 2, 2021
Boston, MA
ITBOG (Business Owners Group) Cruise Conference
Sept. 3-6
Departs Miami
Managed Services Summit Live
Sept 15th
London
Channel Live
Sept 21-22
Birmingham, UK
ASCII Success Summit
September 22 & 23
NY / NJ area
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
San Diego, CA
Sept 23-24th
IT Partners
Sept. 29-30
Disneyland, Paris
|
|
October
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Oct 6, 2021
Atlanta, GA
DTX 2021 (Digital Transformation)
Oct. 6-7
London, UK
DattoCon 2021
Oct 11-13
Seattle, WA (I think)
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!
Kaseya Connect IT
Oct 19-22
Las Vegas
ASCII Success Summit
October 27 & 28
Orlando, FL
I'm hoping there's a trip to the Gold Coast in my future. Stay tuned.
|
|
November
Channel Partners Evolution
Nov. 1-4
Las Vegas, NV
Managed Services Summit Live
November 2nd
Amsterdam
ASCII Success Summit
November 3 & 4
Houston, TX
Managed Services Summit North
November 16th
Manchester, UK
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event
Nov 16, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
December
ASCII Success Summit
Orange County, CA - December 8 & 9
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Dallas, TX
Dec 9-10th
-- -- --
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
|
|
January
Send us your updates!
|
|
February
Send us your updates!
|
|
March
Cloud Expo Europe
March 2-3, 2022
London, UK
|
|
April
Send us your updates!
|
|
May
Send us your updates!
|
|
June
Send us your updates!
|
|
Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. |
|
Check out all my "Channels" |
|
Share on YOUR Social Media: |
|
Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
