Comparison: Small Biz Thoughts Community and The ASCII Group

Somebody asked me about the difference between the Small Biz Thoughts Community and the ASCII Group. I had to smile.

I've been an ASCII member and advocate for a LOOOONG time. I joined ASCII originally for one of their primary benefits: A massive vendor discount. I was looking to buy some RMM licenses back in the day when the vendor insisted on selling 100, or 1,000, or 10,000 at a time.

They said, "If you're an ASCII member, we can save you about 20%." Gulp. I saved enough on licenses to pay for my ASCII membership for a few years!

ASCII excels at helping members build relationships with vendors - distributors, suppliers, and manufacturers. You have a problem with a warranty? They go to bat for you. You want to start buying at the Silver level with your first unit? They can make that happen.

ASCII also has great discounts on insurance, and great assistance programs with things like their 50-state tax information program. They also have programs to get made-for-you and white label marketing.

. . . and we don't do any of that.


Check out ASCII at 
www.ASCII.com.


Check out the Small Biz Thoughts Community at
www.SmallBizThoughts.com.


Our focus is on a more vendor-agnostic community. We are all about training, best practices, SOPs (standard operating procedures), checklists, books, and helping you with the business side of the business.

I designed it this way for a very simple reason: ASCII does a GREAT job with the things they focus on!

There's already an ASCII. So why create another one? You can't fill a void by creating something that already exists.

Besides, I have been working for YEARS to put together my content. For example, my 18th book will be out in September. It will be about how to publish you non-fiction book. I co-authored it with Stephanie Chandler from the Nonfiction Authors Association.

That book will be 100% FREE to members of that Small Biz Thoughts Community.

With luck, I'll get another book out specifically for MSPs by the end of January. That will also be 100% free to members of the Small Biz Thoughts Community.

Every week we're adding more programs, more content, more downloads.

So, you see, there's no competition here. We each provide a service. We take two different approaches to helping YOU be successful. Here's a more visual comparison:

Benefit	SBT Community	The ASCII Group
Karl's Classes	Y
Karl's Books	Y
Karl's Audio Training	Y
Karl's Whitepapers	Y
Karl's Checklists	Y
Karl's Excel Workbooks	Y
Karl's Workbooks	Y
Karl's Client-Facing Materials	Y
Karl's SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)	Y
Free 3-Week Mini-Classes	Y
Zero Vendors Ads	Y
Channel Focused	90%	100%
Threaded Discussion Forums	Y
Vendor-Free Live Events	Y
Vendor Neutral Webinars	Y
Break Room - Public Domain Movies	Y
Resources for Speakers	Y
Events Calendar	Y
Non-Karl Forms, Tools, Downloads	Some	Some
Recorded Training	Y
Live Events - US/Canada	Y	Y
Live Events - UK/Europe	Y
Live Events - Australia	Y
Distributor Discounts		Y
Savings on . . . All Kinds of Stuff		Y
Group Buying Power		Y
Vendor Assistance/Troubleshooting		Y
Vendor Webinars		Y
Sales Tax Help Desk		Y
Price Comparison Tools		Y
List Serve Email Forum		Y
Vendor-Focused Live Events		Y
White Label Newsletters		Y
Social Media Marketing Assist		Y
Member to Member Outsourcing		Y
Vendor Advisory Boards		Y

If you are interested in the specifics of what's included right now in the Small Biz Thoughts Community, please check out this video:




After you watch that, decide whether you want to join ASCII first or the SBT Community first. But in the end, it's probably best to join both. Just my opinion.

Check out the Small Biz Thoughts Community at www.SmallBizThoughts.com.

:-)

Check Out the All New Book: Cloud Services in A Month by Karl W. Palachuk 396 pages - plus lots of juicy downloads

Paperback - Ebook A great resource for managed service providers or anyone who wants make money selling and bundling cloud services. Featuring all the details you need to create and sell YOUR custom Cloud Five-Pack (TM) Learn More!

Massive Content Added to Small Biz Thoughts Community

People ask me:
Exactly what will I get if I join the Small Biz Thoughts Community today?

Note: Community is at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org - Join today!

Well, today, a lot!
And we're adding more stuff all the time.

Here's a 62 second video that answers the question:




And here's a copy of the text you see scrolling by:

• Audio program: Create a Hugely Profitable Cloud
• Audio program: Chandler Own Your Niche
• Audio program: Build Robust Email Marketing
• Audio program: Build 8 Hour Work Week in Cloud
• Audio program: Consistency and Success
• Audio program: How to Get Rich Small Business
• Audio program: Organize for Success or Die
• Audio program: Only the Excellent will Survive
• Audio program: Book Relax Focus Succeed
• Audio program: SOPs That Instantly Increase Profits
• Audio program: Seven Stages Of Building Wealth
• Book: Network Documentation Workbook
• Book: Cox Quote Me On This
• Book: Palachuk Publish Your First Book
• Book: SAN Primer for SMB
• Book: Book Relax Focus Succeed
• Book: Project Management in Small Business
• Checklist: 68 pt checklist v3 2017
• Checklist: Printer Setup Sample
• Checklist: Cloud Readiness Checklist
• Checklist: 68 Point Checklist
• Class: Relax Focus Succeed Class
• Class: 5W01 Core Standard Operating Procedures
• Class: Build Your Brand Through Service
• Class: Five Mistakes of Self Publishers
• Class: 5W10 Managing Service Board (2015)
• Class: Mini Course on LinkedIn
• Excel Spreadsheet: Billability Calculations
• Excel Spreadsheet: Contracts Schedule
• Zip file: Employee Onboarding Forms
• Workbook: Self Assessment Operations Procedures
• Workbook: Change Plan
• Workbook: Kernan One Page Business Plan
• Workbook: Business Plan Worksheets
• Workbook: Landers Accountability Workbook
• Workbook: Monthly Meditations
• Whitepaper: SOPs for SMBs
• Whitepaper: Build SOP Folders
• Whitepaper: Client Status Memo
• Whitepaper: Building SOPs
• Whitepaper: Billability Calculations
• Whitepaper: Overcoming Fear of Change
• Whitepaper: Building a Change Plan that Works
• Whitepaper: Absolute Basics of Promotion
• Whitepaper: SOP Monthly Maintenance
• Whitepaper: Backups
• Whitepaper: HaaS Starter Kit
• Word Doc: Service Manager Roles
• Word Doc: Technician Roles
• Word Doc: Hiring Process Overview
• Word Doc: TSR Log
• Word Doc: Draft client service portal AT
• Word Doc: Draft client service portal CW

That's just what we've posted so far! More and more and more will be added all the time.

Annual cost is only $999

Monthly cost is only $99

Join the Community at
https://www.smallbizthoughts.org


Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean you have to go it alone!

:-)

Still the best Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services:  Service Agreements for SMB Consultants: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services by Karl W. Palachuk  Now only $39.95 at SMB Books! Ebook or Paperback Learn More!

Mark Your Calendars - BIG All Day IT CEO Summit - December 7th

So I go together with some of my fellow coaches . . . and we decided to put on an amazing event that only we can do. Yes, we all put on our own events. And we all speak at conferences. But this is an event that could only be produced by the five of us each giving  our best information.

It's the

IT CEO Success Summit

December 7, 2018
Baltimore, MD

Price is only $199 per person.

(Note: At that price, there are no discounts available. This really should be more like $1,000. But we want you to bring your entire team.)

Check out the entire agenda here: https://itceosuccesssummit.com/itceosuccesssummit-agenda/. We've got three tracks:
- CEO Track
- Service Delivery Track
- Sales & Marketing Track

Plan for a great year-end and an amazing 2019 by attending the IT CEO Success Summit!

Here's the press release we're putting out today:

- - - - -

Five IT Coaches Announce IT CEO Success Summit

December 7, 2018 in Baltimore

Sacramento, CA – August 27, 2018. Five leading business IT coaches have combined their talents to put on a major first-ever IT CEO Summit in Baltimore December 7^th.

Coaches James Kernan, Karl Palachuk, Manuel Palachuk, Dave Seibert, and Erick Simpson, announced today that they will be holding a major one-day conference this Fall, focused entirely on providing top-level information that IT professionals can implement immediately.

“End of the year is a perfect time for this,” says coach Erick Simpson of SPC International. “We want to grab folks while they’re still in business mode and preparing for 2019. It’s one last chance to work ON your business before the holiday season.”

The IT CEO Success Summit will have three tracks – CEO, Service Delivery, and Sales & Marketing. As coach Dave Seibert of SMB TechFest says, “We want larger companies to bring their leadership, attend all the tracks, and go home with a long to-do list of best practices.”

“It’s also a very coaching-focused event,” adds coach Manuel Palachuk of Manuel Palachuk International. “We designed it to be interactive and to draw people in. If you want to sit, fold your arms, and listen, then we’d rather have you stay home and make room for someone else.”

Coach James Kernan of Kernan Consulting pointed out that IT Professionals are generally smart and have a lot of skills, “But they’re overwhelmed. They don’t know what to do first and what to do second. That’s where a coaching-focused event pays off. We want every attendee to leave with a list of actionable goals that they can execute right away.”

“Execution is the key,” says coach Karl Palachuk of Small Biz Thoughts. “As I always say, nothing happens by itself. You need a plan and a process, but it’s worthless if you don’t execute. We’re going to motivate IT CEOs, service managers, and sales people to focus on getting things done.”

Each track in the IT CEO Success Summit will be packed with information. Each could be a separate one-day conference. That means one person won’t be able to attend everything. And that’s where bringing additional staff is key.

“We set the price low,” says Simpson, “because we want folks to bring two or three people. At a thousand dollars, companies might send one person. At $199 they can bring the whole team and go home with a massive amount of information and motivation.”

About the IT CEO Success Summit

The IT CEO Success Summit is scheduled one day only – December 7, 2018 in Baltimore, MD. The cost is only $199 per person. A limited number of vendor sponsorships are available. For more information, visit www.itceosuccesssummit.com.

The IT CEO Success Summit is a collaboration of coaches James Kernan, Karl Palachuk, Manuel Palachuk, Dave Seibert, and Erick Simpson. For questions, please email [email protected].

##

- - - - -

Exact Location:
The Westin Baltimore Washington Airport
1110 Old Elkridge Landing Road
Linthicum Heights, MD, 21090

Check Out the #1 Best-Selling book on Managed Services ever! Managed Services in A Month by Karl W. Palachuk 3nd Edition - Newly Revised and Updated with TEN new chapters

Paperback - Ebook - Audio Book Unlike some books with old copyrights that sell for $60 or more, this book is 100% up to date and is only $29.95. Now includes information on making cloud services part of your managed service offering! Learn More!

SMB Roadshow Heads to Boston - Managed Services + Cloud Services

SMB Roadshow Boston

Sept. 5th

Killer Combo: Managed Services and Cloud Services

I love the content of this year's SMB Roadshow.

This special event is co-sponsored by ChannelPro SMB Forum. Registration includes a free pass to the ChannelPro SMB Forum.

We've only got THREE shows left this year. So if you haven't signed up yet, now is a great time. Here's what we're up to:

First, I cover a massive - but extremely important - topic: 

The 25 Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Running a Service Business. 

These are literally the rules I created in my own company. They are phrases and beliefs that summarize how a successful business works.

And I'll bet there are some real surprises in there.

I have tried to keep this presentation under two hours and I can't do it. Too many questions - and great audience participation. Plus - there are several slides that will pay for the cost of the seminar if you just follow that one piece of advice.


Our overall theme is about moving to the future and living in the new world that's emerging so fast. If your marketing used to work and hasn't performed so well lately, you might want to look at some of the new tips and techniques available today.

Finally, I close with a presentation on merging Cloud Services and Managed Services to create the Killer Combo. Again, I am sold on the exponential nature of change in our world today. This topic has been super fun because huge changes are happening all the time. I update my slide deck after every show!

How do you adopt exponential change into your business today?

- - - - -

FAQs . . .

So, we get questions. Here are a few answers.

Q. Are there downloads?
A. Yes! Including slides, there are about 75 pages of downloads, including exercises and checklists.

Q. Is the seminar recorded?
A. Yes! We have audio recordings of the seminars - not video. In fact, some people like to listen to different cities. My material is a little different each time. And the Q and A is always different. So we'll post up several cities' recordings.

Q. If I signed up for one city, can I switch to another?
A. Yes! In fact, if you paid for one city, you can attend any other city at no additional charge. Not sure everyone needs that, but it's a "feature" we offer.

Q. If I sign up for a future city, can I access the downloads now?
A. Yes! When you sign up for any city, you'll receive information on accessing the attendee downloads page for the 2018 Roadshow. You will have access to all handouts, slides, and MP3 recordings.

Q. So do I have to show up?
A. No! You can treat this like a virtual seminar and I promise you'll still get your money's worth!

Q. I only see three more cities. Will you be adding cities?

A. No. 

At this point, we have added all the cities we can for 2018.


Bottom line for you: Sign Up NOW - that way, you won't miss this great show no matter what happens. Scheduled Cities:

• Boston, MA - September 5th
• Details

- - - - - 

Registration is only $259 per person!  Register Today!

:-)

Webinar: Straight-forward, Straight-up Sales Talk on Building High-Performance Sales Teams - Stephan Schiffman

I got a note from Josh over at Bering McKinley. They're hosting a big Sales webinar with Stephan Schiffman. Here's the memo:

Straight-forward, Straight-up Sales Talk on Building High-Performance Sales Teams with Trainer & Author - Stephan Schiffman

Tue, Aug 21, 2018
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT

Hey Karl we have over 110 people registered where normally we only have about 50.  The speaker is my personal favorite sales trainer, Stephan Schiffman….

Check it out and see if it would be a good fit for you to throw out:

Please register for Straight-forward, Straight-up Sales Talk on Building High-Performance Sales Teams with Trainer & Author - Stephan Schiffman on Aug 21, 2018 12:00 PM CDT at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/498297962371138819

Stephan Schiffman is well-known in the sales community as having authored over 50 books, worked with 9,000 plus companies (including IBM & AT&T) and having trained over 500,000 sales reps. But what you might not know is that he is taking time out of his busy training schedule to join Josh Peterson of Bering McKinley around a lively discussion on his best practices related to cold calling and building a performing sales force.

Learn from this well-known sales legend as he and Josh:
• Examine real-life holes in the Bering McKinley “sales game”
• Review select sales steps for successfully building a producing and profitable sales team, and
• Look at what selling looks like in 2018 and beyond

The bar is rising for all of us. Hear from the best on how to keep up.

P.S. And, you can be sure that Josh will ask Stephan, “Is cold calling is dead?” Let's see what he has to say about that!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
- - - - -

:-)

Check Out the Managed Services Operations Manual Four Volume Set The Managed Services Operations Manual by Karl W. Palachuk Over 1,100 pages - plus lots of juicy downloads

Paperbacks - Ebooks - Audio Books Standard operating procedures, policies, and practical advice for IT consulting companies of all sizes. From the author of Managed Services in a Month. Learn More!

FREE 3-Part Course: Tune Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Business relies on LinkedIn. Not only should you be there, but you should be getting the most out of your presence. Starts Thursday August 16th.

I am offering a three-part mini-class on tuning up your LinkedIn profile.

This course is exclusively available to members of the Small Biz Thoughts Community.

In addition to improving your online presence and marketing, this course also has a "contest" built in. Everyone who attends will commit to updating their profile and improving their social media presence. Then each attendee will grade the others' profiles.

The winner will receive a great marketing prize: A six-foot pop-up banner to use when you hold local events, speak to the Chamber, etc.

Format
The mini-class will meet three times. Each meeting will be about 30-60 minutes. I'll give a little information, do a demo, and then open the floor for a general discussion (and potentially a show and tell).

Learning from Fake Profiles
In this Thursday's class, I'm going to show you how to spot fake profiles. This is the process my administrative assistants use to determine whether to accept connection requests.

Here's the juicy goodness: Make sure YOUR profile doesn't look fake! Make your profile robust and professional. Make it a business tool!

To Register
You must be a member in good standing of the Small Biz Thoughts Community (only $99/month). Go to the "Classes" section and click on the Mini-Class: LinkedIn graphic to begin registration.


The Small Biz Thoughts Community
Great Content. Great Community.

Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean you have to go it alone.

Still the best Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services:  Service Agreements for SMB Consultants: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services by Karl W. Palachuk  Now only $39.95 at SMB Books! Ebook or Paperback Learn More!

New 5-Week Class - Core SOPs - Attend Free - Here's How

I posted a "News" update today on my YouTube Channel. Here's the big news:

First Free Class
My very popular 5-week course on the Core SOPs for Small IT Providers start September 11th. This live course includes lots of handouts and supplemental materials, time for Q&A, and office hours if you need it. A great deal at $259.

This course starts Tuesday September 11.

Now here's the real news: Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Community (only $99/month) can attend this class for FREE. Limited to the first 30 members who sign up. So don't delay.

If you're a community member, browse to the Classes section to get the free code.

If you're not a community member Join Today so you can attend this class free!


Second Free Class - Starts August 16 (Thursday)
We also have a free 3-part mini course on Tuning Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Monthly mini courses are always free to community members.

If you're a community member, browse to the Classes section to get the free code.

If you're not a community member Join Today so you can attend this class free!





Description for the 5-Week SOP Course:

Core Standard Operating Procedures for Small IT Providers
Instructor: Karl W. Palachuk

- Five Tuesdays - September 11 - October 9, 2018

- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific AND 4:00 PM Pacific

You're guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!

This course will cover the most important procedures you need to have in place to run an efficient and highly profitable Managed Services Business.

Whether you're a new "Computer Consultant" or an experienced Managed Service Provider, you need to create successful processes that will propel your company forward. Nothing is more critical to making profit than having the right processes and procedures in place!

When I take on new coaching clients, they have many of the same issues over and over again. And almost all of them boil down to SOPs - Standard Operating Procedures. Or the lack thereof.

Everyone knows you need SOPs. In fact you probably know which ones you need. But where do you start?

Checklists you will learn:

• A practical introduction to SOPs
• The relationship matrix of SOPs
• Clients
• Employees
• Vendors
• Internal Organization
• The Ten Most Important SOPs for your IT Consulting Business
• SOPs management, organization, and updates
• Implementation strategies internally
• Implementation strategies for clients
• Service Department SOPs
• Building
• Training
• Deployment
• Upkeep
• Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with SOP development and deployment
• Building an Action Plan that works

Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts at http://blog.smallbizthoughts.com.

Join the Small Biz Thoughts Community Today

Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean you have to go it alone.

Still the best Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services:  Service Agreements for SMB Consultants: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services by Karl W. Palachuk  Now only $39.95 at SMB Books! Ebook or Paperback Learn More!

Which Photo Should You Use for Your Profile?

I stumbled onto an interesting site the other day called Photo Feeler at https://www.photofeeler.com.

The basic idea is pretty straight forward: You upload a photo and other people rate it on a few criteria. There are three categories: Dating, Social, Business. If you're patient, you can just patiently wait for people to vote via the "karma" system. You rate other folks' photos and they rate yours.

Or you can buy credits with cash and the votes will come in much faster. Plus you don't have to feel obligated to rate others' photos.

Not super scientific - BUT maybe as random as all the people who will see your picture on social media, web sites, etc. So it's something versus nothing.

Anyway, I decided to try out some photos in each category. This is primarily because you don't get measurements of all traits in all categories. The traits reflected in the voting are:

Confident

Authentic

Fun

Smart

Trustworthy

Attractive

Competent

Likable

Influential

Here are the photos I put up for the dating category.

Lesson One: As women have been telling me for years, I'm just not attractive. So I need to work with that.

Lesson Two: The playing around pictures dramatically impact the perception of intelligence. Throw on a suit and you look smarter.

Lesson Three: No matter what I do, I look trustworthy.

Actually, all of the pictures scored well on "trustworthy," which just leads me to wonder whether people are unlikely to vote others down on trustworthiness without meeting them.

Another way to look at that is that people are trusting by default. I guess that's a good thing in the 21st century, but could get you in trouble on the Internet (or in politics).

Next up, I posted my two most commonly used business photos.

Note that "A" is the same as "A" above, but with different scoring. Both scored pretty well.

I've always worried that the "E" pose looked too fake, but photographers always ask for it.

Lesson Four: Listen to the photographer. If nothing else, let them take the picture and see if it works.

I suspect that the suit is once again responsible for high ratings on competence and influence. So I guess Lesson Five (at least for men) is to go ahead and wear the suit. It does no harm and has a significant positive impact on impressions. I suspect this is also true for women, but I'd love to see some feedback on this from female readers.

Note also that the only way for me to appear "attractive" up above was with a smile and suit. :-)

Finally, on the "Social" front, I tested a few more. Note that "E" is the same as up above. And while it scored quite well for business, it didn't do so well for social.

Lesson Six: What works for business may not work for social. But I think we all know that. The challenge is that I use "social" networking for business.

Overall, "F" is one of my least favorite pictures. But I got talked into using it despite the Aloha shirt and over-orange face. Turns out, it's a great social media picture. But the odd pose of "E" is more business-like.

Lesson Seven: What works on LinkedIn is different from what works on Facebook.

Lesson Eight: I already knew that. "F" is my profile picture for Facebook and "E" is my profile picture for LinkedIn and lots of miscellaneous Google properties. And that's been true for about two months prior to doing this research.

Overall, I think we tend to have a good idea of what works in various settings - but we can also be very wrong because we have to project our personal impressions onto others. And we're often surprised what works when we didn't think it would.

In all, I paid just under $30 to get all the feedback above and more. There are also comments and voting breakdowns. So I think this tool is a good place to do some A/B testing of your mug shots to determine whether they work for you. Or, more precisely, if they give off the impressions you want in various settings.

If you give this a try, I'd love to get a report on your results.

:-)

Check Out the Managed Services Operations Manual Four Volume Set The Managed Services Operations Manual by Karl W. Palachuk Over 1,100 pages - plus lots of juicy downloads

Paperbacks - Ebooks - Audio Books Standard operating procedures, policies, and practical advice for IT consulting companies of all sizes. From the author of Managed Services in a Month. Learn More!

Have You Tried Meetup for Your Business?

In case you haven't checked it out, hop over to Meetup.com and look around.

I belong to several Meetup groups. In fact, it's my favorite "local" networking group. I am also the organizer for several Meetups. And, most recently, I created one for local Sacramento SMB IT Professionals.

Our local group started out as a "Small Business Server" user group, as did so many local IT consulting groups back in the day. Bob Nitrio tells me we started the group in 2004.

Bob and I have co-organized the group since day one. I was president and mostly ran the group until I sold my first managed service business. Then Bob became president and ran it until just recently.

Bob is moving to Phoenix so all of his family can live close to each other. Good for him, but sad for me.

Anyway, with all the changes over the last few years, I'm going to try to re-start and re-fresh this group. We had a list of about a hundred people who technically belonged to the old group. But, as with so many such groups, we tended to get the same five people at all meetings.

Time for a reboot!

So I started a new Meetup group. I added a picture and description. And then I wandered off to Comptia's ChannelCon. I figured I'd send an email and invite all the old folks to join the new group.

In all, the Meetup group was up and open for business, but ignored for about ten days. When I checked in again, we had over 30 members - mostly complete strangers!

Of course I was very pleased. Now I have to organize a meeting. It would be great to get them all together, along with the older members. At any rate, it's great to see the interest is still out there! We just need to make sure we provide value to the members so they'll show up.

If you are looking for a tool to organize people locally, I highly recommend Meetup.com. It is particularly powerful at making you look like an expert if you can appeal to your small business clients and you are the organizer/presenter.

:-)

Check Out the Managed Services Operations Manual Four Volume Set The Managed Services Operations Manual by Karl W. Palachuk Over 1,100 pages - plus lots of juicy downloads

Paperbacks - Ebooks - Audio Books Standard operating procedures, policies, and practical advice for IT consulting companies of all sizes. From the author of Managed Services in a Month. Learn More!

Free Webinar - Learn the Cloud 5 Pack Offering - August 21st

How I Sold Millions of Dollars Worth of Cloud Services

(How I Built a 7-Figure MSP Using the Cloud 5 Pack Formula)

Tuesday

August 21st

11 AM PST / 2 PM EST

Replay Available Here

I am very proud to be working with ChannelPro Network to offer a great webinar based on my Cloud 5-Pack Offering.

Last year, I traveled the world teaching IT Service providers how to create a 7-Figure Managed Service business using the Cloud 5-Pack formula.

Notes:

1. If you attended last year's Roadshow, then you have 95% of this information. No need to attend. (But please tell your friends about it.)

2. If you missed last year's Roadshow, PLEASE do yourself a favor and attend this webinar.

NOTE: We have held this training twice already in 2018 - and helped almost 100 IT professionals to become successful Cloud Service Providers already!

I will lay out a program that could literally become your business model for the next five years. And best of all, this program will pay for itself with the FIRST client you sign up!

What You Will Learn In This Online Workshop

• Cloud 5 Bundling: How to create a profitable bundle of cloud services that will give you a competitive advantage and deliver tremendous value to your customers.
• Cloud 5 Pricing: How to price your offer to achieve a 73% or more margin.
• Cloud 5 Delivery: How you can setup your business so that it can be supported by an administrative assistant, freeing you up to work on your business instead of in your business.
• Cloud5 Marketing: How to get your ideal prospects to sign up to meet with you and close them quickly.

- - - - -

Hundreds of people attended my Cloud Roadshows last year. But millions missed out. Here's what one attendee says about the Cloud 5-Pack seminar:

Ken Shafer - Portland, OR

:-)

Check Out the All New Book: Cloud Services in A Month by Karl W. Palachuk 396 pages - plus lots of juicy downloads

Paperback - Ebook A great resource for managed service providers or anyone who wants make money selling and bundling cloud services. Featuring all the details you need to create and sell YOUR custom Cloud Five-Pack (TM) Learn More!

IoTSSA Named Best Start-Up at ChannelCon

I had a great time at ChannelCon. And please note for the record that IoT is now clearly a technology you should be paying attention to in our space. How do I know? Because IoTSSA was awarded the Best Start Up at the show.

Press Release:
- - - - -

IoTSSA Named Best Start-Up at ChannelCon

Washington, D.C. ‒ The IoT Security Services Association (IoTSSA) announced it has been voted the Best Start-Up by attendees of CompTIA ChannelCon, the annual industry tradeshow and collaboration event.

“Our team is thankful for the outpouring of support from the channel community and value our industry partnership with CompTIA. In collaboration with our partners, we will continue building, strengthening and delivering a variety of cyber security resources for MSPs and MSSPs.”

CompTIA ChannelCon 2018 is the technology industry's premier annual education, networking and partnering event. The award for Best Start-Up is determined by attendees and presented at the conclusion of the trade show expo. 

About IoTSSA

IoTSSA is a community of IT Channel Partners connecting industry security experts and vendors with IT service providers. Through a combination of live and online events and resources, the organization delivers resources that help improve MSPs increase their cybersecurity knowledge, expertise, and revenue opportunities.

About CompTIA

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $4.8 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the more than 35 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world's economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. 

Visit www.comptia.org to learn more.

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Cool Tool for Creating Video Ads

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I subscribed to a new tool around the first of the year . . . and completely ignored it until last week. I knew it was super cool, and I knew I wanted to use it, but I was just too busy to dig into it.

Luckily, I dropped a shortcut on my desktop. I literally have ZERO icons on my desktop except the recycle bin. But for the last eight months I've had this one icon staring me in the face and reminding me that I already paid for it, so I should learn it.

Anyway, right before I left for ChannelCon, I finally dug in and created a few videos with VideoScribe. Here's my first:

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I was trying for 30 seconds. I think I got it to 35. But I wish it was 60 because I feel like the drawing is zipping around too much. So far, people I've asked say it's fine. But I suspect they're just being nice.

Anyway, I'm trying to follow a story arch here. You have a problem. Things are changing fast. Clouds are everywhere. Technology is changing super fast. You have to be good at business as well as technology. And so forth.

Basically, the story takes time. And I haven't got it. :-)
But I'll keep practicing.

Anyway, I've recommended this tool to several people. And I'm going to have some folks start using it in-house for my own marketing. So what did I have to do? I had to document my work! As part of my documentation, I created this super-quick VideoScribe video:

Notice: 26 seconds. ;-)

There are LOTS of good YouTube videos on creating cool stuff with VideoScribe. One of my favorites is Sarah Dewar's channel. She has ten VideoScribe tutorials. The first is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLe1f_VQa-M

I particularly like her stuff because she actually shows how she makes an animated cartoons with this tool. AND she has some killer educational examples. So look around her channel.

VideoScribe is pretty cheap - $144/year. There are a few minor annoyances, but I'm sure they will be improved soon. Also, there's a 7-day free trial available.

So far, I love this tool.

Feedback welcome.

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