Monday, January 24, 2022

Addigy Announces Addigy Innovate 2022

Received this press release today . . .

Addigy Announces Addigy Innovate 2022

MIAMI — January 24, 2022 — Addigy, the only cloud-based, multi-tenant Apple device management software that makes it easy for managed service providers (MSPs) and corporate IT teams to monitor and manage employees’ Mac, iPad, and iPhone devices from a single location, is holding Addigy Innovate 2022, the company’s annual conference, on February 22-23, 2022.

Addigy Innovate's theme this year is “Secure Your Endpoints. Scale Your Business. Strengthen Your Relationships.” The two-day virtual event will have a keynote address by Jason Dettbarn, founder and CEO of Addigy, product presentations highlighting brand-new features, live workshops, including one hosted by Ralph Echemendia, The Ethical Hacker, a cybersecurity specialist, on how IT professionals should deal with security breaches, expert panel discussions, and a live Q&A with the Addigy leadership team.

“With Apple’s renewed focus on the MacBook Pro line and business users, we’ve seen a significant uptick in interest in our products over the past year,” Dettbarn said. “As they seek solutions designed with their needs in mind, MSPs and corporate IT teams have been paying closer attention to what we have to offer. 2022 is going to be a big year for not only Apple and Addigy but also the IT community as a whole.”

The event has several new sponsors, including Augmentt, Evo Security, and Splashtop who will be presenting as Diamond Sponsors, in addition to N-able, who will be participating as a Premier Sponsor.

Addigy is expecting at least 750 attendees at this year’s Addigy Innovate, up 50 percent from 2021. Those interested can register to attend for free at addigy.com/innovate-2022/. The first 150 people who register will receive an exclusive event t-shirt. 

About Addigy
More than 4,000 organizations across the globe trust Addigy to help their IT teams manage Apple device security, inventory, reporting, mobile device management, policies, and troubleshooting. Addigy is the only cloud-based, multi-tenant Apple device management software that makes it easy for managed service providers and corporate IT teams to monitor and manage employees’ Mac, iPad, and iPhone devices from a single location, anywhere in the world. Learn more at www.addigy.com. 

Learn more at www.addigy.com.

###

:-)

Friday, January 21, 2022

Where to Catch Sherweb In Person in 2022

 My friends over at Sherweb sent me their show schedule for the year. Here's where you can catch up with them.

This list includes shows through August. Be sure to make a note to drop by their booth at one or more of these events.




 

IT Nation Evolve

January 31 – February 4, 2022

Phoenix, AZ

More info : IT Nation Evolve | Annual Agenda (connectwise.com)

 

CRN Xchange

February 27 – March 1, 2022

Dallas, TX

More info : The Channel Company - Events - Home

 

DynamicsCon

March 15-17, 2022

Virtual

More info : Home - DynamicsCon

 

Cybersecurity Expo, IoT Security Services Association

March 30-31, 2022

Austin, TX

More info : Cybersecurity Expo – Austin Texas, March 30 - 31, 2022 - IOT Security Services Association (iotssa.com)

 

Directions North America

April 3-6, 2022

Orlando, FL

More info : Directions North America (directionsna.com)

 

RobinRobin Bootcamp

April 19-22, 2022

Nashville, TN

More info : Robins Big Seminar | April 19-22 | Nashville, TN

 

IT Nation Evolve

May 9-13, 2022

Dallas, TX

More info : IT Nation Evolve | Annual Agenda (connectwise.com)

 

Connect IT Kaseya

June 20-23, 2022

Las Vegas, NV

More info : Connect IT 2021: Industry Leading IT Events | Connect IT

 

Xchange Security

July 11-12, 2022

Reston, VA

More info : The Channel Company - Events - Home

 

IT Nation Evolve

August 8-12, 2022

Denver, CO

More info : IT Nation Evolve | Annual Agenda (connectwise.com)

 

CRN Xchange

August 21-23, 2022

Denver, CO

More info : The Channel Company - Events - Home

 

:-)


Monday, January 17, 2022

Introducing Certifications from IT Service Provider University

Great Little Seminar has been training IT consultants on managed services and more since 2013. That's when I offered my first class on Standard Operating Procedures. Beginning immediately, we are now

IT Service Provider University



Please plan to join us for an introductory webinar: 

January 25th

11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern

Register now for the Zoom webinar!

https://bit.ly/itspu01 


Please watch the short announcement video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46w8DYJ2lQ


You can also learn more by exploring www.itspu.com.

More than a name change: We have certifications!


We have moved over all of our classes and student logon information from our Great Little Seminar site. So if you've ever taken classes from us, you should be able to log in and view your course history.

We have also added quizzes to the old courses. So, you can access the courses you've taken and now complete the associated quizzes. Very soon we'll be adding certifications associated with all courses.

We have a GREAT selection of courses - twenty in all. This really has become the greatest source of information you can find on building a successful and profitable IT business.

AND our instructors include some of the brightest and most successful people in the SMB IT community. Every course is guaranteed to be many times what you pay for it.

One successful exam qualified you as an ITSPU Certified Professional.

We have five pathways to success, based one the various departments in your business:

  • Technician (service delivery)
  • Management/Ownership
  • Service Management
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Front Office/Admin

If you complete the right combination of FIVE certification exams within a pathway, you will be an ITSPU Certified Specialist. For each Pathway, there are core (required) exams and general exams.

Join the webinar next week - We'll explain the details and take all of your questions.


And we'll see you January 25th.

Action Steps:
1) Register for the webinar
2) Watch that quick video
3) Join us on January 25th

:-)


Saturday, January 15, 2022

All Member Meeting Feb. 9th - National Society of IT Service Providers

 Join us - Literally!

NSITSP All Member Meeting 


Feb. 9th - Everyone's welcome

All-Member Meeting Feb. 9th

Register for Free: 

https://bit.ly/nsitsp-feb9


Thank you to everyone who has already joined us.

We have a very active Board of Directors and five very active committees. In this meeting we will give an update on our progress.

A major highlight will be the presentation of the organization's Mission, Vision, and Values. The Board met in special session every other week for two months to settle on these simple but powerful statements.

As always, the NSITSP is committed to transparency. We want to present what the Board has come up with and get your feedback/discussion. It is our belief that these statements will help people who are "on the fence" to commit to our group and join as Professional members.

Join us - and give us your feedback.


Next Up, we're going to tackle the official organization (and we hope industry) Code of Ethics. I posted up my personal draft at https://www.nsitsp.org/about/, but the Board will work with a special taskforce to draft the official code of ethics based on the Mission, Vision, and Values of the organization.

Again . . . your input is welcome and invited!

-- -- -- 

Please do us a favor: Promote this meeting on your social media!

You can copy the graphic above, or see additional samples at https://www.nsitsp.org/news/help-us-promote-the-all-member-meeting/

Here is a sample post for your social media. Edit as you see fit.

All-Member Meeting Feb. 9th 

National Society of IT Service Providers

Everyone Welcome!

https://bit.ly/nsitsp-feb9

#managedservice #ITConsulting #NSITSP


Thank you! I hope to see you online February 9th. Register Now: https://bit.ly/nsitsp-feb9


:-)




Thursday, January 06, 2022

The ASCII Group Announces 2022 Keynote Speakers and Content for IT Events

My friends at ASCII sent me their event info for the year.


Bethesda, Maryland – January 4, 2022 – The ASCII Group, a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers, is pleased to announce its distinguished lineup of speakers for its 2022 event series, which will elevate attendee experience with enhanced professional development presentations for IT business owners and professionals.

The ASCII MSP Success Summits will be held in person with an enhanced agenda focused on education, whereby providing attendees the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in various aspects of business building and MSP best practices and techniques. Sessions will feature MSP-led content from ASCII members and industry thought leaders.

Keynote Speaker – Paul Nadeau, “How to Get to ‘Yes’; Tips and Techniques for Getting the Sale”

As a world-leading hostage negotiator and criminal interrogator, Paul Nadeau’s daily challenge was to get suspects to admit to heinous crimes, free hostages, and surrender to the police. For sales professionals, the challenge is to get clients to sign on the dotted line. Although the stakes aren’t the same, you can use Paul’s unique approach to understand human behavior and win in sales. Closing is not an art — it’s a science. It takes establishing trust and rapport, asking direct questions, reading voice and body language, adapting to cues, and handling objections. Paul’s talk is a roadmap to get you there. 

Additional MSP peer education and industry speakers include:

"Where MSPs Fail Horribly at Selling Cybersecurity and How to Correct It", Scott Bliss, President, Maximum Performance Management

"Live Legal Review: Where MSPs are at Risk When It Comes to their MSA Agreements", Bradley Gross, Esq, Law Office of Bradley Gross, P.A 

"Key Takeaways: How One MSP Hit $1M as a Solo IT Entrepreneur", Stanley Louissaint, Principal, Fluid Designs

"How MSPs Can Leverage Local Media to Sell for You & Build Your Celebrity Status", Paul Nebb, CEO, Titan Technologies

"How to Garner Larger Clients Without Managing Endpoints", Mark Weiner, President, BizCom Global

“The vision for our MSP Success Summits has always been to bring forth to our MSP community straightforward content that can be easily applied to their IT businesses,” said Jerry Koutavas, President, The ASCII Group. “Our featured lineup of expert speakers, educational content and a cutting-edge technology showcase pavilion will provide all ASCII event attendees with actionable business knowledge.”

ASCII events are the foremost in the channel, and bring together over 1,500 MSPs, innovative technology vendors and top industry thought leaders. Designed for MSPs looking to increase revenue, enhance current business models and network with peers, ASCII events take place over a two-day format.

 

ASCII MSP Success Summits 2022 

Houston, TX February 16 & 17            

Kansas City, MO March 23 & 24  

Chicago, IL April 20 & 21    

Boston, MA May 24 & 25

Long Beach, CA June 15 & 16

Toronto, Canada July 27 & 28

Miami, FL August 23 & 24     

NY / NJ area September 28 & 29

Dallas, TX October 6 & 7   


For more information or to register for any of the events, visit www.asciievents.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


-30-


Wednesday, January 05, 2022

Don't Miss My Annual State of the Nation Address - Register Today

 

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, January 04, 2022

Lori's Amazing 5-Week Course - How to Be Super Successful Solo MSP


(Side Note: Next week, we launch ITSPU - IT Service Provider University and move everything from Great Little Seminar over to ITSPU. The first course to run on the new platform is Lori's amazing and spectacular course. Join us!) 

. . .

Powerhouse of One: How to Be Super Successful Solo MSP 

(or Solo Entrepreneur)


Taught By: Lori Hardtke, Community Leader and Coach

- Five Tuesdays - January 11 - February 8, 2022

- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific

Register Now!

Only $299 per student - five hours of training*


Features 

1. A different, simplified approach to packaging your Managed Services

2. How to grow revenue and net income without hiring any full-time staff

3. A quick start guide to Profit First and establishing quarterly bonuses

4. Tactics on utilizing engagement letters, pre-paid support agreements & raising rates 

5. Automating your business to run like clockwork

If you prefer to run a very small managed service business, you can be extremely successful – but you have to create excellent processes to make that happen. Multi-state MSP owner Lori Hardtke shows you how to grow your business to $350K and beyond without any additional full-time staff on your payroll.

You hear it all the time, you need to work "on" your business not "in" your business. You need to hire staff and delegate in order to grow. 

But what if you could grow your business to $300K or more without any additional full-time staff on your payroll?

Tired of sitting in traffic to make that meeting across town and filling up at the pump every few days? What if you could master running your MSP practice remotely nearly 100% of the time?

Ever dream of having no monthly A/R and no debt?

Then this class is for you!

-----

"The class Lori did was simply awesome. I learned so much.  She is what I want to be when I grow up!" - David Streit, Stephill Associates, LLC

-----

Here's what you will learn:

  • How to pick the right vendors to do a lot of the heavy lifting
  • How to position your micro MSP practice to prospects and clients as though you have an army of employees behind you!
  • How to sell additional technology services that are pure profit
  • How to land new MSP contracts without leaving your office!
  • Tactics on raising rates and going after low hanging fruit
  • Ideas on how to package and price your MSP offering
  • How to streamline your sales process
  • Technical Business Review checklist
  • Finances - the bottom line
  • How to Live Your Business Dream

…And more tips-n-tricks to help you be different and think different!


Delivered by Lori Hardtke, MSP and Peer Advisor. Lori has been an MSP (managed service provider) for many years and runs a two-state business with no employees.

Includes five weeks of Zoom webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager. This course has an associated professional certification exam and may be applied to specialist certifications in Management, Sales & Marketing, Service Manager, or Front Office.


Class Content

Unit 1: Vendors/Affiliations/Peer Groups

Vendors can make-or-break you.  You’ll learn what to look for in vendors & peer groups.

Objectives:

  1. Creating guidelines for your perfect client
  2. Establish specific criteria for vetting vendors
  3. Picking vendors that will be an extension of your MSP


Unit 2: Sales Process for Services That Are Pure Profit

How to add certain services to your MSP offering that are pure profit and won’t require any additional staff to manage them.

Objectives:

  1. Educating your clients on your offering
  2. Creating Proposals that sell
  3. Onboarding new services to your clients


Unit 3: Plans, Pricing & Agreements

A very simple approach to packaging your services that make your life easier from sales, to pricing, to agreements, to invoicing.

Objectives:

  1. Understanding the 4 key areas of focus for all clients
  2. How to price your offering
  3. How to present your proposals, engagement letters & support agreements


Unit 4: Finances – Increasing Cash Flow with Profit First

How to start using Profit First (by Mike M.) in your MSP to change your cash flow and ultimately your bottom line. Cha-Ching!

Objectives:

  1. What is Profit First & how to get started
  2. Establishing a rhythm for paying yourself and your peeps not only payroll but quarterly bonuses!
  3. Learning how to track key financial numbers 


Unit 5: Automating Your Business to Run Like Clockwork

Key areas of your business that you should automate as much as possible

Objectives:

  1. How automation can impact your business, your bottom line and even help you grow
  2. Picking the right tasks to automate immediately
  3. Selecting the right tools to assist with automation


Only $299 Per Student*


* Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge.

:-)


Monday, January 03, 2022

Where You Can Catch Up with Acronis in 2022

 My good friend Amy over at Acronis sent me a note about where you can catch up with them at various shows in 2022. Of course, everything is subject to change for a variety of reasons. So conventioneer beware.



Catch Acronis at . . .

SMB Techfest
January 20
Anaheim, CA


ASCII Success Summit
February 16-17
Houston, TX


Acronis #Cyberfit Summit
February 17 - 18, 2022
Singapore, Singapore


NerdioCON
February 21-23
Cancun, Mexico


ChannelPro SMB Summit
New Jersey
March 9th


ASCII Success Summit
March 23-24
Kansan City, MO


SMB Techfest
April 14
Anaheim, CA


ASCII Success Summit
April 20-21
Chicago, IL


ChannelPro SMB Summit
Chicago
May 5th


ASCII Success Summit
May 24-25
Boston, MA


ChannelPro SMB Summit
Texas
June 7th


ASCII Success Summit
June 15-16
Long Beach, CA


SMB Techfest
July 21
Anaheim, CA


ASCII Success Summit
July 27-28
Toronto, ON


ChannelPro SMB Summit
Charlotte NC
Aug 9


Channel Company xChange
August 21-23
Denver, CO


ASCII Success Summit
August 23-24
Miami, FL


ChannelPro SMB Summit
Baltimore
Sept 13th


IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo
Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022
Phoenix


ASCII Success Summit
September 28-29
Parsippany, NJ


ASCII Success Summit
October 4-5
Dallas, TX


SMB Techfest
October 20
Anaheim, CA


ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd


IT Nation Connect 2022 
November 9 - 11

. . . and tell them Karl sent you. 

For a weekly calendar filled with live, in-person events in the SMB IT community, consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter. I promise you'll love it - along with 10,000 other people!

:-)