A blog for Small Business Consultants and the vendors who serve them. It contains Opinions on business success, News in the SMB consulting space, and Information on what I'm up to. All material Copyright (c) 2006-2020 by Karl W. Palachuk unless otherwise noted.
I have been honored to serve on CompTIA's Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity Executive Council for 2020. There are several positions open for 2021.
If you've opted out of competing for the Nobel Peace Prize, you can still jump in contribute something to our community.
As I mentioned back in August, Diversity Isn't Just for the Enterprise! Our entire industry needs to increase diversity and make everyone feel welcome. This CompTIA community is working to make that happen.
Here's the somewhat official announcement (suitable for sharing on social media):
Change the world. In the tech industry, we often talk about
how our technology can change the world. But it's the people in tech that drive
the change. Now more than ever, there is an opportunity to drive systemic
change across the entire industry, an opportunity to make it more diverse and
inclusive.
Hewlett Packard (HP) has a very famous set of guiding principles they refer to simply as “The HP Way.” You can search that term and find a couple of different variations. These guidelines help employees, managers, sales people, and administrators to have a common framework.
The HP Way is short and to the point. But it guides how people treat each other, the role of profit in decision making, morals, integrity, teamwork, and more. And, of course, the title of David Packard’s autobiography is The HP Way.
Early on in my first company (KPEnterprises), I started using the term The KPE Way. After all, there is a preferred way that I want employees to talk to each other and our clients. There’s an emphasis on working with clients we enjoy being around.
Yes, money and profit are on the list as well, but profit needs to come in the context of a broader business strategy. As you’ll see with the Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery, our guidelines cover as much on the personal side of business as the practical side of service delivery.
There is also a connection between our “rules” and our standard operating procedures (SOPs). For example, we have an SOP on how to talk to a client on the first service call.
Your branding consists of everything you do. That means, the way you treat other employees is part of your brand; how you invoice is part of your brand; how you manage projects and work orders is part of your brand. Everything. Everything. Everything.
Here’s a story that makes this point.
Two Electricians
Several years ago, I moved into a new-to-me old house. The electrical was definitely not up to twenty-first century standards. I knew I was bringing in several computers and other electronics, so I needed good, well-grounded electricity. I also wanted to install my hot tub, which requires a 50-amp dedicated 240-volt circuit.
So I called several electricians and got bids from three.
The first and second electricians were the two extremes with regard to branding. The first guy showed up in jeans. I told him what I wanted, which included two new 30-amp circuits plus the hot tub. He went around and inspected the circuit breaker box.
His recommendation: Well, the breaker box is completely full, but we can make it work. We’ll replace a bunch of full-size breakers with half-size breakers. The 50-amp circuit is a bit of a stretch, but we can make it work.
He started talking about a $1,200 price tag. But as we talked more, he talked himself down to a $900 price. And eventually he said he could do it all for $800. I never asked for a discount. He literally talked himself down.
I had already checked out his contractor’s license online so I knew he was licensed and bonded. In absence of any other information, I took his quote at face value.
Enter Electrician Two. Well, Electricians Two. Two guys showed up in uniforms. They put on booty covers to cover their feet as they entered the house. I told them what I wanted. They immediately demonstrated that they were miles ahead of the competition.
First, they took off some receptacle cover plates and looked inside to check out my assumptions about the grounding. They used a ground fault tester to verify that some outlets were not grounded properly. I had done this with a basic tester that simply said “ground fault.” But they found some grounding, which means that incomplete grounding was taking place due to the wiring practices of the 1960s. The outlets had three-wire Romex, could be grounded easily, but were not grounded.
Second, they looked at the breaker box and said that it needed to be replaced. They recommended a 125-amp box, which could be gotten at a reasonable price. BUT it meant that they had to patch the wall where the old one came out. AND they would need to upgrade the connection to the electrical utility.
Third, we had a lengthy discussion about the wiring options for the hot tub. They recommended setting it up so that any hot tub we bought could be connected legally and safely.
Fourth, they said that we didn’t have to add all the circuits I originally asked for. They recommended setting up three sets of outlets (as I wanted) but putting them all on one 20-amp circuit.
Fifth, they wanted to set up a ground system that brought the water heater and HVAC into alignment with modern code and safety standards.
Total estimate: $8,300. Yes. Ten times more than Electrician One.
The second electrical company got the bid simply because they started the engagement by doing everything the right way. I did talk them down about ten percent, but I had to do the talking.
Electrician One is very much like the consultant who starts with some false assumptions.
False Assumption One: It’s all about the money. I don’t want the house to burn down. I don’t want a half-baked job. I don’t know all the troubles that could come my way. And if the second quote was a few hundred dollars different, I might go with the $800 quote. But the difference was so dramatic that I had to take the higher quote seriously.
False Assumption Two: The buyer wants to make the old equipment last longer. If the old box had five open slots and was in great shape, things might be different. But it was already full and I didn’t know what he had in mind to make it expand to fit my needs.
False Assumption Three: The buyer knows what’s going on and what needs to be done. I knew enough to know what I think I wanted. But, on one hand, I was asking for more than I needed. And, on the other hand, I had no idea what I already had. The grounding issue turned out to be minor. But Electrician One didn’t do the simplest test to verify that I knew what I thought I knew.
Electrician One made this all about money. And left a potential $7,000 on the table.
Electricians Two were far more professional in every way. They worked from assumptions of success.
Successful Assumption One: We’re going to do the job right. There is a right way to do this. It’s in the client’s best interest to do it the right way. Avoid the discussion of “Can we do it cheaper?” until the client brings it up.
Successful Assumption Two: Know what you know. Unless your client is in your business, verify that what they tell you is accurate. It’s not that the client’s lying, but they simply don’t know. (And even if they’re in your business, it’s still good to verify.)
Successful Assumption Three: Deliver your pricing very matter-of-factly and without apologies. This company actually had a very good technique: They pre-printed several common tasks and listed a high/low range for each. Then they quoted the low end of that range.
Electricians Two also added an overall air of professionalism in how they presented themselves and their work. There was no talk about cutting corners. They didn’t say so, but I found myself comparing their professionalism to their competition.
I did get a third quote around $4,500, but decided to go with the more professional, higher-end contractor. In part, it’s because their overall approach is very much in line with mine. They can be passed over in favor of other contractors and still be okay. Why? They can get rejected for nine jobs at $800 each and still come out ahead with one job at $8,300.
They work from a mentality of abundance and not a mentality of scarcity.
So what’s the “Your Company Way” that defines your branding? What guiding principles do you use for employee onboarding, sales, service delivery, billing, and every other thing in your business?
In the next chapter we’ll talk about this with a focus on documentation. You might be tempted to say, “We have no SOPs,” or “We don’t have a consistent way of doing things.” But that’s rarely true. You do invoicing: How do you do it? You hire people: How do you go about it? You deliver services: How do you do it?
As you go through this book, I encourage you to start collecting ideas that reflect your way of doing things. Perhaps keep a folder or a document on your laptop or tablet. Start with my Absolutely Unbreakable Rules and work from there. Cross out what doesn’t apply, edit some, add others. Make it your own.
And it’s okay if some of these are aspirational. That is, you want them to be your rules even though you don’t follow them today.
My Absolutely Unbreakable Rules are included in the downloads that accompany the book. Go to www.absolutelyunbreakablerules.com for more information.
:-)
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Absolutely Unbreakable Rules
For more great tips on your personal and business success, please check out my new book:
The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery
Today Amazon announced Amazon Music Podcasts. And, I'm happy to announce, our podcasts are available there!
[Side note: The word "music" in that description is simply because that's the division of Amazon doing the distribution. I'm sure they'll change the name at some point.]
We submitted the SMB Community Podcast and The Killing IT Podcast some time ago.So, we were happy to see them magically appear among the podcast in Amazon's inaugural offering.
Free of course.
I'm sure Amazon will figure out how to make money from the more popular podcasts. Today, they have not announced any advertising of fees.
I signed up right away. Of course, I also signed up for several others (Dave Sobel's Business of Tech is also pictured here).
We shall see whether this pod-catcher becomes one of the big podcast distributors. My suspicion is Yes. After all, Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla of online content.
SMB Community Podcast - September 2020
As you can see, Apple and iTunes are the ultimate podcasting system.
The name pod-cast comes from the days of the Apple iPod. It was not the first MP3 player, but quickly became the most popular. And with the RSS protocol, you can subscribe to a podcast and have it automatically show up on your device when a new episode is published.
I've never seen stats from a podcast that did not attribute at least 50% of listenership to Apple/iTunes.
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SO: Amazon has their work cut out for them. But if anyone can contend as a newcomer to this space, it's Amazon.
My podcasts each list several other options for subscribing. You can check them out here:
Do you want to know something very simple you can do to reduce stress during an unexpected "emergency?" It's surprisingly simple: Be a good partner who is good to work with.
Here's a recent example from my own company. We recently experienced a concerted attack on one of our web sites. This is a site that generates revenue, and which people rely on daily. In the middle of upgrading WordPress from 5.4.x to 5.5 and then 5.5.1, a new malware hit the systems.
My primary web developer did a great job of tackling problems with a combination updated security programs, patching and re-patching, and tracking down the "real" problems. With the primary system upgrade, plus patches, plus reboots and clearing various layers of caching, it was quite a job to make sure you are addressing the real problem and moving things forward.
As you can imagine, it was very stressful for my developer.
. . . and she was in the middle of a move.
On Friday, I told her to focus on her move. After all, she'd scheduled the days off. There is no need for this issue (series of issues) to interfere.
Why? Because we have a very understanding audience. They know us, they trust us. They will forgive us. And I have ways of helping everyone get what they are looking for, no matter how finicky the web site is.
I know you've heard the concept of a "bank" of goodwill. Well, it's true. You make deposits with every single interaction you have. That includes interactions with clients, employees, vendors, and strangers. Over time, people know whether or not you are good to deal with, and whether you fulfill your commitments and keep your promises.
If you do all those things, people notice. And when things go sideways, they forgive you - quickly and easily.
It also helps a great deal if you are honest, open, and even a little vulnerable. When people know that you're a real person, working hard and doing your best, they give you a little slack. And that goes a long ways.
To be honest, this is much easier in a small business than in a large business. We have a closer relationship with our clients. We also have easy ways to fix problems and get people what they need. So, we can manually perform every task that should be automated in a perfect world.
In this case, we're experiencing the first real problem with this web site in almost three years. Everyone knows we'll fix it and fulfill all of our commitments. And that faith in our past performance goes a long ways.
As I texted to my web developer: Relax Focus Succeed. :-)
I received the following press release from my friends at ASCII:
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The ASCII Group Announces National No-Cost Health Service to its Members
Bethesda, Maryland – September 14, 2020 – The ASCII Group is pleased to announce the launch of its exclusive new ASCII Telehealth Service, available to the ASCII community at no charge. The ASCII Group, a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, MSSPs, VARs and solution providers, has partnered with a national agency to provide 24/7 virtual access to local board-certified physicians.
The collaboration will allow ASCII to provide telehealth access to its community across the country. This includes a consult with a doctor licensed in the state of where the business owner or their employees reside, by phone, secure video, or app, with wait times under 10 minutes. Physicians have the ability to write prescriptions in all 50 states. In addition, family members of employees are also covered under the no-cost program, exclusive to ASCII members.
“The number one business request we receive from the MSP community is providing our leverage to lower the cost of health care for business owners and their staff,” said Alan Weinberger, Chairman and CEO, The ASCII Group. “We are thrilled to be able to provide this important service to the industry for the first time, and see this as a pivotal moment to enable the service sector of the IT industry to become more profitable and have employees priority needs addressed in a new way.”
About The ASCII Group, Inc:
The ASCII Group is the premier community of North American MSPs, MSSPs, VARs and solution providers. The Group has over 1,300 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 and VARs to grow their businesses. For more information, please visit www.ascii.com.
I'm a huge advocate of working from highest to lowest priority for everything - in both my business and my personal life. For this reason, I have a task management system that uses priorities. If you have a PSA or service board, you can manage all your tasks there. If you find it useful to keep tasks separate, you might have a task tool as well as a PSA.
I have tried several tools. Most of them do too much. I don't need to manage the construction of a hospital or build a supersonic jet. I need to make sure that my social media campaigns are executed in a timely manner. That's about 1/1,000,000 as complicated. So I don't need to pay $99/month for a system that does everything. I don't do everything.
Most recently, I tried Asana.com. But it lacks the single most important feature: Priorities! There are convoluted ways to set up priorities, but they're not a native feature. As a result, sorting by priority is also convoluted.
We finally settled on Clickup.com. Priorities are enabled by default. And the defaults - Urgent, High, Normal, Low - are just fine. I have always preferred this four-level system:
Emergency = Priority 1 - Can only set itself
High = Priority 2 - Generally applies to a company-wide problem
Medium = Priority 3 - The default priority
Low = Priority 4 - Schedule it when you can. Don't go out of your way.
So, Urgent, High, Normal, Low is an easy conversion. I can change these system-wide, but there's no real need to.
Fear: Everything is High Priority!
One reason I've heard over and over again for not adopting a priority system (or for letting clients set the priorities) is that everything will be set as High Priority. And, as we all know: If everything is high priority, then nothing is high priority.
And that last piece of wisdom is actually the key to why the system works. When people start creating tasks and assigning priorities, they realize that they can't make everything high. Some things just need to be medium or normal. This is actually a powerful lesson that they teach themselves as soon as they start putting tasks in the system. When someone goes to enter ten or fifteen tasks, most of them naturally fall below the "high" threshold.
Note, also: Priority, Importance, and Urgency are not the same thing!
Let's use the example of printing payroll checks. The check printer is very important. Getting out payroll on time is very important. If the payroll check printer breaks, then getting it fixed is very important. But if you have two weeks before payroll, the ticket is probably set at High priority - not set as an emergency. And, if the printer breaks several times a year, then the ticket might actually be set to Medium priority since you know the fix and can get to it any time in the next twoo weeks.
If time drags on, the ticket will become more urgent (not more important, just more urgent). When it gets to be two days before payroll, the ticket will be Urgent and an Emergency priority will make sense.
Here's a simple best practice that will help you see the difference: When a client creates a new ticket, ask them how urgent it is. You'll be amazed at how non-urgent things can be, even if they're very important. In fact, something can be important and high priority and still not be urgent. Your income tax falls into this category. It only becomes urgent if you ignore it until filing day.
Here's my best advice:
1) Use priorities
2) Create a task or ticket for absolutely everything that needs to be done!
3) This allows you to work from highest to lowest priority at all times
4) Let clients choose the priority of tickets. Give them guidelines to assist in making choices.
5) Train everyone in your company to assign priorities, pay attention to them, and work according to them.
The long-term benefit of using priorities is that stress will automatically be reduced. Why? Because again and again, you will find that almost every task you create is Normal or Medium priority. Almost nothing is high priority. This happens automatically over time.
One of the Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery is "slow down, get more done." One way to apply that is by using a priority-based system.
The Most Important Checklists for Any I.T. Service Provider – W508
Totally Revised!
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk & Manuel Palachuk
- Five Tuesdays - Sept 15 - Oct 13, 2020 -- Register Now
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
Checklists are critically important to creating SOPs - Standard Operating Procedures - for your company.
This course is intended for managers and owners of a managed service business. It covers many facets of the "checklist mentality" that the instructors have used at a variety of successful I.T. consulting businesses.
In addition to building hundreds of checklists and standard processes for KPEnterprises in Sacramento, CA, the authors have both written books, trained individuals, and coached teams on successful processes and habits for running a modern, successful managed service business.
This course will cover daily the use of checklists in daily operations as well as the "larger picture" of running the entire company. It will address both internal checklists for running your own company and external checklists for managing client relationships and client technology.
This is an intensive live webinar course over a five week period. All assignments are voluntary, of course. But if you want feedback on assignments, please complete assignments during this course and email them to the instructor.
Delivered by Karl Palachuk and Manuel Palachuk, authors of the Network Migration Workbook and many other books for MSPs - managed service providers.
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.
Remember: Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community receive huge discounts. More details at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org - or email the Community Manager.
I was looking through my statistics over on YouTube. I have almost 1,000 videos posted there. Over 250 are "SOP" (standard operating procedure) videos for IT service providers.
As I was browsing the most-viewed list, I realized that there's power in the so-called Hive Mind. What people are viewing most turns out to be a great introduction to some of the most important things you need to know to run your business well.
So, if you're new to IT consulting, new to managed services, or just want a little tune-up, here's a list that will give you a good introduction.
(If I were a classic 21st Century marketeer, I'd bundle these into a an Amazing Master Class - and sell it for $1,000 or more. But I'd rather give you all this for free in hopes that you'll decide to join my newsletter, buy a book, or join the Small Biz Thoughts Community.)
Enjoy.
If you like something, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe to the channel.
Over at the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, we have a special get-together we call the SBT Roundtable. In September, our topic will be: The Power of Asking the Right Questions. This is a members-only event.
Our guests are two genius-level life coaches: Debbie Leoni and Jenifer Novak Landers. They are recognized as a couple of the elite life coaches in the U.S. But wait - that's not all. They are both entrepreneurs and published authors.
Here's the twist: This discussion is NOT about life coaching. I want to talk to these women about their super power - asking the right questions. A lot of the training life coaches focuses on finding the right questions. Questions help us get to the root of issues. But they can also be used to encourage people to look at problems from a different perspective.
Our goal, of course, is to bring a unique perspective to your business. Sometimes, you need to just stop working-working-working and think about your business. Please register now and join us . . .
As an entrepreneur and dreamer, Debbie Leoni has always been influenced and intrigued by the human psyche and what it takes to succeed. Debbie’s passion for success led her to become a small business owner in her early 30’s and since then she’s become an international coach and speaker, assisting hundreds of small business owners. Debbie supports her clients to unleash their power by recalibrating their mindset towards high performance and an enhanced ability to accelerate personal growth resulting in success.
Jenifer is a professional coach specializing in entrepreneur coaching and the creative process. She is certified through JFK University and established her business, Fully Expressed Potential in 2005 to help professionals with business and personal growth. As a speaker and workshop leader, she brings 20 years’ experience as a business owner to inspire a thriving entrepreneur lifestyle. Jenifer is the author of Fully Expressed Living, The Guided Meditation Coloring Book. As an award-winning illustrator for children’s books, Jenifer established a publishing company to support authors to realize their dreams.
So, some people read my blog on the ChannelPro Network site. Some on Blogorama. And so forth. An RSS feed is, after all, really simple syndication. And that means it's also really easy for me to create a list of my favorite blogs.
If you want to read the things I try to keep up on, a good place to start is my Blog Roll. First, go to my actual blog - https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com. On the right side, you'll see my blog roll. Here's a picture from yesterday.
I change this from time to time, but it's pretty consistent. I had some blogs listed here for years, but they slowly evolved.
If a blog goes silent for a few months, I put it on the watch list (or maybe the don't-watch list). Eventually, I feel obligated to remove blogs that are no longer active.
Note: If you have suggestions, I am happy to consider adding your favorite blog to this list (even if it's yours). Just note that those who disappear will disappear.
So, who's on the list?
Well, some folks are active more than once a day.
On the top of that list is ChannelE2E. My old friend Joe Panettieri does a pretty good job of writing something every day. Yes, a lot of is is rah-rah stuff for whoever bought advertising. But that's the game. There's a lot of good news there as well.
Of course I cover my own stuff, including the SBT Technology Community, the SMB Community Podcast, The Killing IT Podcast, and my Relax Focus Succeed blog.
Hey, it's my list, right? :-)
Other great news, commentary, and information sites include Jay McBain's Forrester blog, the ChannelPro Network blog, and Richard Tubb's Tubblog.
Note: Good vendor blogs are included when appropriate. If you have a vendor blog you can't live without, I'm happy to consider it. Let me know. A link is always appreciated.
Another category is thought-leader stuff. On one hand, this includes technical information. Net Sciences, Robert Crane, and Amy Babinchak are on the top of that list. One the other hand is business related info. Killing IT, Erick Simpson, and Manuel Palachuk top that list.
The intention here is literally to give you a starting place when you don't know where to start. If you were getting in this business today, I think you would do well to read each blog on this list. I do.
Not on the list.
Two kinds of blogs have been removed over the years. I think Susan Bradley's was listed here for more than ten years. But she started blogging on another site, more commercial in nature. And, to be honest, my primary focus is on the business side, not the tech side. So we eventually dropped it.
Other, similar contributors have moved outside my primary focus.
Saddest of all, I would say, is Microsoft. We used to list the SBS blog. But, of course, that product died in the last recession. The Exchange blog was awesome for a long time. Eventually, even Microsoft stopped posting to that blog. And when the Windows Server blog went fives months without a post, we dropped it.
One reason I blog: So I don't have to drop myself from the list. :-)
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Note to vendors: If you want to buy yourself onto this list, pick a number with five zeros after it and send me an email.
This four-volume set is the definitive guide to Managed Services. From the front office to the tech department, we cover it all. Every computer consultant, every managed service provider, every technical consulting company - every successful business - needs SOPs!
When you document your processes and procedures, you design a way for your company to have repeatable success. And as you fine-tune those processes and procedures, you become more successful, more efficient, and more profitable. The way you do everything is your brand.
How to Deliver Successful, Profitable Projects on Time with Your Small Business Clients
Small Business project management is simply not as complicated as project management in the enterprise. But small business projects have the same challenges as enterprise projects: They need to achieve their goals effectively, on time, and within budget.
They also face the same primary challenge – staying inside the scope of the project!
This great little book provides a simple process project planning and management process that is easy to learn and easy to teach to your employees, fellow technicians, and sub-contractors. You’ll learn to track any project, explain all the stages to clients and employees, and verify that everything is completed on time and under budget.
The authors show you a great technique for making sure that scope creep is a thing of the past! Make every project a successful and profitable project!
Great for new I.T. Consultants or anyone who wants to transform your break/fix business to a profitable Managed Service practice in 30 days or less. (Really)
Includes chapters on cloud services in the Managed Service world.
Only $29.95
Order NOW and get started on a path to recurring revenue!
I make every attempt to honestly state what I believe and enjoy the freedom of posting whatever I feel like on this blog. This is a big complicated world and I have many interconnected personal and professional relationships.
I may in some way receive money or other benefits from any of the products, services, or companies mentioned in this blog as a direct or indirect result of my actions on and off this blog. Any experience mentioned here is just my experience and I have no knowledge about whether it represents a typical experience with any products, services, or companies mentioned.
Whenever it is possible to have both an honest and a misleading interpretation of my statements, please assume honesty. Thanks. - karlp
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