Thursday, December 30, 2021

Jim Pelley Joins the SBT Roundtable January 6th - Add Humor and Creativity to Your Success Model

Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community Roundtable

Members-Only Event

January 6th - 9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern

Find out more


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.” 

Find out more.

Members - Join Us!

Not a member? Join us. Then join us for the Roundtable!

Non-members may attend this special event for only $1,099 (price goes to $1,199 on January 1st). Registration includes one year of membership in the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community.

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The Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community Roundtable
is produced every month on the first Thursday. 

We bring in special guests, often from outside the technology community, to share new perspectives on business, creativity, and being successful.

We ask folks to go "off their script" and leave the PowerPoints behind. We have an open discussion about how they find success in a world that is always changing.

Some members tell us this is their favorite part of the SBT Technology Community. Join us. (Really)

:-)

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

My 13th Annual "State of the Nation" Address is January 12th

Karl's 13th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT



Mark your calendar now and don't miss this once-a-year webinar. This will be my 13th Annual "State of the Nation" address for small business technology providers.


Wednesday, January 12th

9:00 AM Pacific / 12 Noon Eastern


Register in advance for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fgFBeeDzTd6yduKRh7SMCQ


Don't worry - No Politics Here! Also, no selling.

No cost. Just register and tune in.

Paste that date into your calendar so you don't forget!


Topics Include:

  • Highlights and low-lights from 2021
  • Technology Updates 2021 . . . and what's next
  • The Economy
  • Speculations about 2022
  • How to Guarantee Future Success

2021 was another strange year, but pretty good for many IT providers. 2022 looks pretty good as well, although with a bit of inflation. As always, I'm going to spend the year committed to helping IT service providers build successful businesses that look to the future of technology and guarantee their success moving forward.

Tune in to learn more!

The world of technology always brings change. In 2021, it also brought regulation, skyrocketing insurance rates, and a new membership association dedicated to the independent IT Service Provider. As the world finally begins to open up after the pandemic, the world we go back to is not the one we left.

I believe 2022 will be a year of great opportunities and change. 

Tune in to learn more!


Karl's 13th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT

January 12th

9:00 AM Pacific

Register Now


This webinar will be recorded and you'll be able to view at MSPWebinar.com.

- - - - -

This is always a very popular webinar - but don't worry. I have 500 seats available and and will buy more if we need them.

One of the things I've learned is that there's about a 50% drop-off rate when things are free. If registration reaches 1,000, I'll buy the extra seats.

Plan to log in early, though, to guarantee your seat.

See you then.

:-)


Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Do Yourself a Favor - Join the Community and Save - Amazing Deal

Huge new benefits.

Price goes up January 1st - but you can lock in at the current price for life

 

Please take a second to read this. I promise to keep it short.


 

Now is the best time to join the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community ever! Here's why:


  • Our rates go up January 1st. If you join now, you lock in your rate for life

  • Don't be confused by the word "Community." Membership includes ALL of my books, checklists, training, and more. Plus a great community. 

  • Beginning immediately, ALL members receive ALL of the 5-week trainings at no additional charge. This is a savings of about $6,000. 

  • We're about to launch a massive new Professional Certification program and Community members save 50% on all exams! 

  • We hold great weekly Zoom meetings of all Community members. So if you do want a community, we're here for you.


Please Take a Minute Explore My Technology Community

Join Now - Lock in Savings

Take a look and join today!


Download Value: $27,000 . . . and Growing!


Questions? Send me an email - karlp at smallbizthoughts.com.

:-)


Monday, December 13, 2021

The ASCII Group Awards Solutions Granted the Coveted 2021 ASCII Cup

 From ASCII . . .


Bethesda, Maryland – December 13, 2021 -- The ASCII Group, a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers, is pleased to announce the winners of its annual ASCII Cup, with awards given to the ASCII Cup winner and Top 10 Vendors of 2021. This year, the Cup and awards were presented at the ASCII Success Summit on December 9 in Anaheim, California.

The awards are presented each fall to technology companies that have demonstrated channel goodwill and are dedicated to helping ASCII members grow their IT businesses. The winners are voted upon by ASCII members at regional events. 

At each ASCII Success Summit attendees vote for the vendors in 12 different categories: Best Overall Presentation; Best Partner Incentives; Best Education; Best Keynote Presentation; Most Innovative Solution; Best Market Opportunity; Best Partner Involvement; Best Rapid Pitch; Best Channel Program; Best Revenue Generator; Best Partner Support; Best in Show.

The winners at each event are selected based on the total number of votes by the MSPs and solution providers in attendance; at the end of the year, the winner of The ASCII Cup is determined by tabulating the results of all submitted ballots. 

The ASCII Group is pleased to honor the award recipients of this year's ASCII Cup:

The 2021 ASCII Cup Vendor of the Year – Solutions Granted

First Runner-Up – Pax8

3rd Place – ThreatLocker 

4th Place – Nerdio

5th Place – Datto

6th Place – Mailprotector

7th Place – Huntress

8th Place – Acronis

9th Place – Zomentum

10th Place – CaaB


“On behalf of The ASCII Group and its community, we would like to extend congratulations to Solutions Granted on winning the 2021 ASCII Cup. We also wish to recognize the Top 10 Vendors, and all of the companies that participated at our Success Summits this year. We are appreciative of the value that all of our sponsors bring to ASCII membership, and we commend their commitment to deliver state-of-the-art channel-focused solutions,” said Jessie Devine, Director of Channel Development at The ASCII Group.

Photos of the ASCII Cup celebration will be made available on The ASCII Group and The ASCII Cup Facebook pages.

For more information, please visit www.ascii.com.


About The ASCII Group, Inc:

The ASCII Group is the premier community of North American MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers. The Group has members located throughout the U.S. and Canada, and membership encompasses everyone from credentialed MSPs serving the SMB community to multi-location solution providers with a national and international reach. Founded in 1984, ASCII provides services to members including leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, marketing assistance, extensive peer interaction and more. ASCII works with a vibrant ecosystem of leading and major technology vendors that complement the ASCII community and support the mission of helping MSPs to grow their businesses. For more information, please visit www.ascii.com

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Thursday, December 09, 2021

The ASCII Group Collaborates with Amazon Business to Offer New Benefits to its MSP Members

Press Release from The ASCII Group . . .


The ASCII Group Collaborates with Amazon Business to Offer New Benefits to its MSP Members


Bethesda, Maryland – December 9, 2021 – The ASCII Group is pleased to announce a new collaboration to provide its Managed Service Provider members in the United States with direct access to hundreds of millions of items on Amazon Business, such as IT hardware and associated business products. 

The ASCII Group is a large membership-based community of independent MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers. The collaboration was officially announced at ASCII’s IT Success Summit in California. ASCII members can leverage Amazon Business as a comprehensive destination to access a wide range of products across categories that cater to their various needs, while potentially receiving additional cost benefits. This program will allow members to see shared business lists of frequently purchased items by ASCII’s participating MSPs.  

MSPs play a pivotal role in maintaining the infrastructure of businesses, and that role has become even more pronounced because of the pandemic and the necessity for secure remote working capabilities. With this growing reality of cyberattacks, MSPs have become key to the overall health of businesses in the United States. The access to Amazon Business will help equip them in that part of their mission because it gives them immediate access to essential computer equipment and key business items. With Amazon’s operational efficiencies, quick access to such items is indispensable for ASCII’s IT business owners. 

“We are thrilled to begin this crucial relationship with Amazon Business,” said Alan Weinberger, Chairman & CEO, The ASCII Group. “This collaboration is a pivotal moment within our community and the IT Channel, whereby ASCII’s vision comes full circle in terms of enabling our membership network to increase their profitability, business success, and to better serve their clients.”

“We’re excited to be working with The ASCII Group,” said Matt Roemer, senior manager at Amazon Business. “With recent supply chain challenges and the evolution of virtual work, making online procurement easier for customers of all sizes and industries is among our top priorities, and one we share with ASCII.”

The ASCII Amazon Business Network initiative is live on ASCII’s member portal and is available in the US only. 

To learn more about becoming a member of The ASCII Group and taking part in this program, please visit www.ascii.com/onboard/


About The ASCII Group, Inc:

The ASCII Group is the premier community of North American MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers. The Group has members located throughout the U.S. and Canada, and membership encompasses everyone from credentialed MSPs serving the SMB community to multi-location solution providers with a national and international reach. Founded in 1984, ASCII provides services to members including leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, marketing assistance, extensive peer interaction and more. ASCII works with a vibrant ecosystem of leading and major technology vendors that complement the ASCII community and support the mission of helping MSPs to grow their businesses. For more information, please visit www.ascii.com


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Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Killing IT Live Returns January 19th - Register Now!

Ryan Morris, Dave Sobel, Karl Palachuk

Killing IT LIVE Returns January 19th

One of the hottest podcasts for IT professionals is going LIVE again in January.

January 19, 2022

9am Pacific

Register Now


We've moved to the Zoom platform for a much-improved viewer experience. 

Get on the list now so you don't miss it.

Register now and don't miss it!


No editing. No second takes. Join hosts Dave Sobel, Ryan Morris, and Karl Palachuk for this special live event. You’ll see behind the curtains as we prep and produce a live show. 

PLUS, we’ll stick around and answer questions so YOU can be part of the show as well.

We normally do three segments. But on this LIVE event, we'll record a 4th bonus segment exclusively for Killing IT Live!

A Big thanks to Cisco for making this possible!


It's free.

:-)


Friday, December 03, 2021

Congratulations to Vince and Amy - SBT Community Award Winners

We had a GREAT Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community Roundup meeting on Thursday. Our special "Roundup" meetings are held the first Thursday of every month for members only. We produce events that you won't find anywhere else in the IT Community.

We kicked off the December meeting with two big awards.


Our Member of the Year for 2021 is Vince Gerasolo of Da Vinci Networks, Toronto.

Vince has attended almost every weekly member meeting since we introduced them in March 2020. In 2021, he spent several months running his business from Italy and trying out a four-day work with his company.

All along the way, Vince kept us all informed on how the "experiment" is going. (It's going well, and still ongoing.) Last month, Vince wrote up his Four-Day Work Week Policy and contributed it to the Community. Of course we're planning to dig into it with the members.

On top of all that, Vince has helped out several members who needed assistance with their business.

Overall, Vince is exactly what you look for in Member of the Year. Congratulations, Vince!


Our Community Leader of the Year for 2021 is Amy Babinchak of Third Tier.

Amy has been a community leader in the SMB IT space for a couple decades. And we are blessed that she has given our organization some of the energy she brings to everything she does.

Amy attends most of our weekly meetings, offers great education to all of our members, and is a true font of wisdom for our group.

In addition to owning Harbor Computer Services in Royal Oak, MI, she runs Third Tier and is a partner in Sell My MSP. On top of all that, she's the President of the Board of  the National Society of IT Service Providers. NSITSP is in its "founding" stage and requires a great deal of time.

So it's no exaggeration that we are honored to have her give us so much of her time. Again, exactly what you would look for in a  Community Leader of  the Year. Congratulations, Amy!


The Program

Our special guest on the SBT Roundup was Paul Draper - A mentalist and anthropologist who put on a really great, entertaining, and educational program.

At Paul's request, the program was not recorded. So I guess we'll have to have him back at some point.

After the delightful magic/mentalism program, Paul talked about his experience training large IT companies about cybersecurity from and anthropologist's perspective using magic. We also discussed how he transitioned his business from live-only to Zoom-only during the pandemic.

And when Paul departed after an hour, the rest of us stayed for another hour.


The bottom line is: If you missed it, you missed a GREAT meeting.

But don't worry: You can join us and never miss another meeting. The Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community give you a great community, plus ALL of my books, classes, checklists, roadmaps, and other materials for an amazingly low price. 

But please note: The Price Goes Up January 1st!

If you join today, you can lock in the price of $1,099/year (or $119/month) forever.

Check out all the details at at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org.

We are 100% dedicated to your success!


:-)