Preface: The annual cost for new members at Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community goes up July 1st. If you join before then, you lock in the lower price for life.
I've been getting inquiries about folks who want their teams to have access - especially to all the great training we offer. Here are the best ways to maximize you investment, based on the size of your team.
Note: This video covers these options over on my YouTube channel:
One Person Shop
This is super easy. The annual membership is the best deal. You save over the monthly option. And your membership includes all access to all of my books in all formats, plus all of our checklists, SOPs, spreadsheets, examples, and specialty Roadmaps.
AND you get access to every class over at IT Service Provider University (ITSPU). There are currently 26 five-week courses, which sell for $399 each. To the value of your member is worth more than $10,000 in training alone.
The annual membership price will go up $100 on July 1st. So you can join now and lock in the lower price for life.
Very Small Shops
If you have one or two employees that should have access to the books, tools, and training, the best option may be to simply share a login. Yes, we allow that. Our intention is not to take all your money. Our goal is to help you to be successful.
Not that this requires that you have a pretty good relationship with your team, which is likely if it's only one or two people. One membership gets you one login. And if you share that one login, everybody shows up as you. So, if your employees make comments on forums, they will appear as you. This has not been an issue. Just keep it in mind.
More importantly, there's access to the classes over at IT Service Provider University. I own IT Service Provider University (ITSPU.com), so I've just given all the members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community full access to the classes over at ITSPU. So, if you have one log on, you have $10,000 worth of training available at ITSPU. That's a spectacular deal, no matter how you look at it.
But if you share your log on, one of your employees logs on as you. And so they can take a class, but it goes on your transcript, not their transcript. It would be better if everyone used a unique login and tracked the classes they've taken. So, we've done is made it easy. You can buy an additional class for an employee for only $99. Your employee just needs to use the code that's available in the dashboard. They take it over to itspu.com, log in, and they can sign up as themselves and build their own transcript.
Now, if one employee take three of four classes, you are still way ahead of the cost of a second membership. But if one employee is looking at ten, or fifteen, or twenty classes (or 26), you will be better off with a second membership for $1,199 (price goes up to $1,299 in July).
With classes at $399, the cost of three classes totally makes the annual membership worthwhile.
Teams: Four or More
If you have four or more people who need logins and training, the Team Membership is the best option. It's currently $3,299, going up to $3,599 in July.
A team membership allows you to have up to ten people with the same email domain log into the system, access all the resources at smallbizthoughts.org, participate in the community, be in our forums, etc., AND have full access to all the classes they need to over at IT Service Provider University.
The beauty of a team membership is that you manage it. For example, say you have eight people on your team. You put in their names and their email addresses. They get an invitation, they click through, and they set themselves up. It's that easy.
Now, let's just say that somebody gets married, moves to another country, and you need to replace them. You manage that login. Just remove one login for the person who left and you add a login for the person who joined. You manage all of it with a simple interface.
But wait! There's more. :-)
I also make a special offer to Team members. If you want to meet with me and your entire team, I will arrange that. I'll work with you and help you figure out the best way for your employees to take advantage of all of the training and all of the resources over at smallbizthoughts.org.
We are currently working with several Teams to help they determine the best training and certification pathways. Some are taking classes together at the same time and then meeting with me. Some are each going in different directions and I'm working with the service manager to maintain a tracking sheet.
This is a bit like a light version of coaching, and we don't charge anything extra for it. We know that a Team membership is a commitment from you, so we also step up on our end.
Education and Certification
The real, major benefit of any of these options is education.
I like to remind people that, ten years ago, you could not have hired anybody who had ten years experience in managed services. In 2013, there were zero people who had ten years experience as a service manager in the managed service business model.
There were zero people who had ten years experience as an office manager in the managed service business model. There were zero administrative assistants, zero technicians, and zero sales people. Nobody on your team had ten years experience because the business model hadn't existed that long!
Today, you can hire people with ten years experience. But you can't find them! In 2023, people with that kind of experience are hard to find and really expensive. As a result, this is a great time to "grow your own" managed service team.
IT Service Provider University is focused 100 % on the managed service business model and helping you to grow your employees so that they understand the business model. We have five different pathways for
- Service technician
- Service Manager
- Owners and Managers
- Sales and Marketing, and
- Front Office
This is a great way to tune up your team - and make sure they all understand the bigger picture of why your business is run the way it is. They each get their own login at ITSPU. They each get their own transcript, and they can each earn individual certifications. Ultimately, if they pass five exams within a specific pathway, they can become a certified specialist within that area of managed services.
ITSPU is a great way for you to spend a reasonably small amount of money and get a massive amount of training for your entire team. If you buy the team membership, I will work with you to help lay out which exams your people should take, and in which order.
Bottom Line: Whether you're an individual or a team, the killer combo is Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community and IT Service Provider University.
Where to start? The home for everything is smallbizthoughts.org. Scroll all the way down to the bottom. You'll see three nice options. You can do a monthly option. But really, what you want to do is do the annual program. That saves you the most amount of money. One membership gets you all of my books, etc., plus the entire $10,000 worth of training over at ITSPU.
The Team Membership saves you even more, if you use it. And I'll be honest, if you're not going to use it or you're not sure, get one membership. Put your toes in the water. Take a few classes. We think you'll do what over a hundred others have done and say, "I just need all my people to do this."
If you're thinking about investing in training for your entire team, this really is a spectacular deal.
If you have any questions at all, go to the web site, fill out the form, send me a note. I'm happy to talk to you. Or you can just email me and I will be happy to schedule a Zoom call.
We really, honestly, are 100% committed to your success!
:-)
