Thursday, October 31, 2024

National Society of IT Service Providers - Open Meeting November 13th

 Everyone is Welcome to the

NSITSP Q4 All-Member Meeting



Details at https://nsitsp.org/event/q4-all-members-meeting/


At this meeting, you'll meet your NEW board of directors (four new board members), and learn about our latest initiatives.


You really, honestly, should check this out, and JOIN the NSITSP.


November 13th

9:00 AM Pacific/Noon Eastern


I'll see you there!


:-)


Friday, October 25, 2024

2024 ASCII Cup Honors Excellence in Technology and Channel Partnership

From my friends at ASCII . . .

Pax8 Takes Top Honors for Outstanding Contributions to the MSP Community

Washington, D.C. – October 25, 2024 – The ASCII Group, the leading community of independent Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in North America, proudly announces the winners of the prestigious 2024 ASCII Cup. This highly sought-after award celebrates technology companies that have made exceptional contributions to the MSP channel, offering outstanding support and driving growth across the IT industry.

The 2024 ASCII Cup, along with additional top accolades, was awarded during the ASCII Edge event held on October 24 in St. Petersburg, Florida. This year’s ceremony, which also celebrated the 40th anniversary of The ASCII Group, paid tribute to the technology vendors who have partnered closely with the ASCII community. Embracing a nostalgic nod to the 1980s, the event marked a special milestone for both the group and its members.

The winners of the ASCII Cup were selected through a series of regional events held throughout 2024, where ASCII members had the opportunity to vote for the best technology partners in the channel. This peer-driven process ensured that the winning companies truly reflect the needs and preferences of the MSP community.

Throughout the year, ASCII members engaged in a thorough voting process at each two-day ASCII Edge event across North America. Vendors were evaluated in 12 categories, highlighting their excellence in areas such as keynote presentations, market opportunities, partner support, and innovation. This collective input from ASCII members showcases the critical role of vendors in the MSP ecosystem, recognizing both their innovation and their commitment to partner success.

Announcing the 2024 ASCII Cup Winners:

  • 2024 ASCII Cup Vendor of the Year – Pax8
  • First Runner-Up – CyberGuard360
  • Third Place – ThreatLocker
  • Fourth Place – Galactic Advisors
  • Fifth Place – RYTHMz
  • Sixth Place – SonicWall
  • Seventh Place – CloudRadial
  • Eighth Place – Kaseya
  • Ninth Place – Axcient
  • Tenth Place – OSTRA

"We’re thrilled to recognize the companies that continue to lead and inspire innovation in the MSP space," said Jessie Devine, VP of Channel Development at The ASCII Group. "Congratulations to Pax8 on winning the 2024 ASCII Cup, and to all the vendors who played a vital role in helping our members thrive. These companies exemplify the values of partnership, innovation, and excellence that drive the industry forward."

“We are so honored to win the 2024 ASCII Cup Vendor of the Year award,” said Rob Rae, Corporate Vice President of Community and Ecosystems at Pax8. “Our partner community is the lifeblood of our business, and this award means so much because we were selected by our peers and partners. This is a testament to the value that the Pax8 Marketplace brings and our passion for the MSP community.” 

The ASCII Group remains committed to fostering collaboration and recognizing the achievements of its members and partners. The 2024 ASCII Cup awards underscore the importance of strong vendor relationships in fostering growth, innovation, and long-term success for MSPs throughout North America.

For more details and photos of the 2024 ASCII Cup celebration, visit The ASCII Group’s Facebook page.


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-


Lessons Learned - What I Learned on My Last Real Job (the Technical)

Lessons Learned

Episode 02: What I Learned on My Last Real Job (the Technical Stuff)


Read Episode 1 here: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2024/10/lessons-learned-new-blog-series-episode.html



It is unfortunate that we are often drawn into the daily drama of our lives and only appreciate the "lessons learned" some years later. Reflection is a beautiful thing. I am grateful to have been in the right place at the right time with my last real job. 

The Internet and small office computing were taking off. I was hired to manage the "big iron," as mainframe and mini computers were often called way back when. Shortly after I arrived, the person in charge of all the other technology in the office (local area network, desktop computing, and even the security system) quit. Without batting an eye, my boss handed me all of his responsibilities. I remember thinking at the time, "Well, this guarantees a full MBO payout and a raise in the new year." 

(MBO stands for Management by Objective, a good idea that is normally poorly implemented and forces middle managers into despising their jobs. We'll hear more about this in the next episode.)


Luckily for me, I had managed people and complex systems before. And this move made it easier for me to manage both sides of the glass wall between the "big" computer systems and office desktops. One of my team was a Cobol programmer who dealt strictly with the HP 3000 systems. I hired an additional programmer who could work on smaller and Microsoft-centric systems. We gathered data from many sources, and it was easier to deal with much of it in C+ than in Cobol. This also set the stage for a major development project.

The HP 3000 family. Image source:
https://www.hewlettpackardhistory.com/item/all-in-the-family/

In 1993, the Internet was not open to the public. I wrote an essay explaining why we, as a private enterprise, should have access to this government-funded resource. Part of the deal was to provide access to information that would not otherwise be accessible to the public. And so, we had one of the first HP-MPE/x systems connected to the Internet. Subscribers no longer had to rely on modem access because we had a blazing 56K fractional T-1 line!

One interesting piece of this puzzle is that I learned some cool technology, including the details of T-1 communications, data packets, DSU/CSU, and Router setups. I noticed that pretty much everyone used Cisco routers and filed that information away for investment purposes. 

I also saw that all of our clients were going through a technology turmoil. They either had no networks or networks that could not route traffic to the Internet (and therefore to our services). I learned many different systems for fixing and upgrading Novell and NetBEUI systems so that TCP/IP played a role. I also learned the various ways to get them connected to the Internet.

In 1994, the Internet was opened to the public and I was beginning to see that the next five years would be dominated by getting millions of un-connected people and offices connected. Like everyone else, I saw the boom coming. I can't say I saw the bust.

As far as daily operations were concerned, I was lucky to have read The Emyth Revisited by Michael Gerber. I did not own the business, but documenting every procedure in excruciating detail became my standard operating procedure. I had been thrown into a bit of a sink-or-swim situation. And when I took over all technology in the corporation, that was even more sink-or-swim. I vowed to pass on a better system.

Most of my staff were college students who worked primarily during the legislative sessions in Sacramento. So, creating top-notch documentation became a high priority. We wanted to save time and money in the long run by making sure that all new employees received real training, with detailed checklists for every procedure. 

In preparation for expanding our operations into a new state, I elevated two staff members to be the Morning Supervisor and the Evening Supervisor. That freed me up to work normal hours and have a life. My staff operated from 7:00 AM until midnight, and I refused to make people work unreasonably long shifts as I believed it to be an unsustainable practice. The two shift managers did not know it at the time, but they were being groomed to take over an entire new office in another state. In the meantime, they learned processes, procedures, and some management skills.

One huge crisis occurred under my tenure. We had a hard drive failure on the HP 3000. This was almost inevitable as the drives were big, more mechanical than electrical, and old. I managed a backup system that consisted of a 57-tape reel-to-reel tape backup every night. 

When the hard drive failed, I learned the most important lesson of backups: You cannot rely on the "most recent" backup! You need multiple restore points, and good media.

The most recent backup was incomplete because it was under way during the failure. Because we sent tapes offsite every day, I had to request the backup tapes from the previous night. I loaded as much as I could from them, and then loaded any newer information I could from the newer, incomplete backup. Overall, we lost a little bit of data, but our team re-entered the day's data in short order.

Luckily, we had a great backup system in place, and it worked. It was a lot more labor than it should have been, and we immediately made plans for a better, newer, faster system. But having lived through a backup that cost the company a HUGE amount of money due to downtime, I learned to make good backups an absolute requirement going forward.

My greatest opportunity and adventure in this job was to design and manage the creation of a whole new legislative tracking system to replace the MPE/x and Cobol system. The new system would be based on Windows NT Server and SQL. Both of these were pretty new. SQL was designed for the OS/2 operating system and was updated to work on Windows NT Server when it was released in 1993. We hired a team run by a former Microsoft employee to design and build the new system. They were based in Seattle. Our first new site would be based in Olympia, Washington to track the Washington Legislature.

This was not a coincidence. I was from Washington State and had run politics-focused educational programs in the state. I had also worked on a gubernatorial campaign in college, and a key staff member for that was now a highly placed lobbyist. He gave us an introduction to the people we needed to know.

Designing the massive database, the overall project, all the inputs, and all the reports was a massive undertaking. The project started at $250,000 and went from there. By the time it was complete, we had offices in Washington State and we'd sold a license to the Chamber of Commerce in another state. The system worked, although I spent a year learning all the hard lessons of project management and programming on the fly.

In January, 1995, I made a trip to Missouri that is very reflective of the technology of the era. It also represented the end of the era. I met the principle programmer there, and we spent four days building the system, downloading drivers by dial-up bulletin boards, and bringing it to life.

It was also the last place I ever worked without an Internet connection, except businesses where I installed the Internet connection. Once again, it was clear that the world needed people who understood the old ways and could bring businesses into the new always-on connectivity of the Internet.

We had built a great, modern "client-server" system. Today it would be considered a hosted service or SaaS. Terminology comes and goes. Technology always moves forward.

By the time I finished that trip, I knew I was going to quit my job. I needed to put some things in place before I departed. But - technology aside - it was time to go.

I'll tell you that story in the next episode.

-----

How to follow the "Lessons Learned" blog series: 

1. Follow this tag: "Lessons Learned" - the link is https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/search/label/Lessons%20Learned

2. Be sure to subscribe to this blog. Over on the right-side column, you'll see the Subscribe by Email link. Just remember to white list the first email you get. And if you filter, put them all into one folder so that you can find new installments.

3. Subscribe to my weekly Small Biz Thoughts newsletter. Go to https://smallbizthoughts.com/newsletter/. That will get you some news, some commentary, and links to this and all the content I create.

:-)


Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Lessons Learned - A New Blog Series - Episode One: My Backstory

Lessons Learned - A New Blog Series 
Episode One: My Backstory

From time to time, someone will ask me a tough question like, "What's the biggest mistake you've made?"


Or, "What's the toughest decision?"

Or, "What's the most important lesson you learned ...?"

I've decided to make a project of this. And I'll wrap it around how I learned lessons over the years, from launching my first company and moving forward. I'm going to try to present these in some kind of chronological order.

My goals, as always, are to educate and entertain. I hope all business owners, especially those new to IT consulting, will learn from my mistakes (and maybe from my wins). And, as always, I would love to have your feedback in the comments.

If you have specific questions that you think would fit in the series, please send them. I'll try to fit them in the series where they make the most sense.

How to follow this series: 

1. Follow this tag: "Lessons Learned" - the link is

https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/search/label/Lessons%20Learned

2. Be sure to subscribe to this blog. Over on the right-side column, you'll see the Subscribe by Email link. Just remember to white list the first email you get. And if you filter, put them all into one folder so that you can find new installments.

3. Subscribe to my weekly Small Biz Thoughts newsletter. Go to https://smallbizthoughts.com/newsletter/. That will get you some news, some commentary, and links to this and all the content I create.

-----

My Backstory - the Very Short Version

As with many IT consultants, I did not plan the path I took. I was a "hobbyist" from the early years of personal computing. I went to graduate school at the University of Michigan because they have a very quantitative approach to social science, and political science in particular. 

At UM, I had several jobs involving computers and database management. Back in those days, there were many operating systems to choose from. Without trying much, I learned the Michigan Terminal System (based on IBM S360), DOS (many brands), CP/M, ISIS, SunOS (Unix), and even a bit of Mac OS 1.0. Back in the day, it was common to use multiple systems if you needed to move data from other universities in order to build a local database.

I taught college for many years, but eventually decided to get a non-academic job. I was hired to manage a team of about thirty people, of whom about five were fulltime. The remainder were college students and outsourced IT folks. My team collected and entered a wide variety of information - mostly political in nature - and leaded onto an HP 3000 Mini (some would call this a mainframe). From there, subscribers paid to access the system via modem.

Of course, that meant that I had to learn the MPE/x operating system for the HP 3000. While I was there, we added specialty systems that brought in Novell, BSD Unix, and even a new system called Windows NT. Windows NT was released to the public in 1993 - about ten months into my new job. We had already adopted TCP/IP so we could connect our systems to the Internet (before it was publicly accessible).

So, in a few short years, I learn perhaps the most important things you need to know about computers and running computer operations:

1) Most operating systems do 97% the same thing. They just do it by different means, with slightly different commands. But they all have files and ways to organize them. They all have languages you can learn. And they all fall apart and need maintenance!

2) Everything changes all the time. Many (maybe most) of the operating systems from the 1980s were obsolete by the middle of the 1990's. Entire generations of hardware had come and gone in ten years. And the future was being invented every day.


I was in that job for about three years when I realized I had to quit. But in that time, I had become "dyed in the wool" with computer operations. I had managed a three state computer system with over a million dollars worth of equipment and managed a budget of another million on top of that. I managed dozens of employees, programmers, outsourced personnel, and a team of people I'm still friends with today.

But when it's time to leave, it's time to leave. And no matter how much anxiety, pain, and fear you have, stepping into the world of self-employment is the greatest step you can take. 

I learned a few lessons as I headed for the door. I tell you about them in the next two installments.

:-)


Thursday, October 17, 2024

Community Members - Don't Miss Your New Year Rollover Bonus

Every Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community membership includes at least one 5-week course at IT Service Provider University AND one certificate for a free certification exam. These refresh at the New Year.

It does not matter when your membership started. Even if you signed up yesterday, you get one credit this year and another one next year.


Which means . . .

If you use up your credit NOW - before December 31st - you get a new credit on January 1st. So, if you haven't taken advantage of this great member benefit, please do so! You can use your credits for live or recorded classes. And if you register for a recorded class that's offered live next your, you can just attend. No further action required.

To grab your credits/discounts:

1) Log into https://www.smallbizthoughts.org

2) Click on the Dollar Sign ($) to the left of your profile picture in the upper right-hard corner

See the list of available classes at IT Service Provider University here.

https://www.itspu.com/schedule/

Questions? Just ask. That's what we're here for.


ALSO: Don't forget that you always have access to a dozen recorded 3-week courses inside the Community, including:

Deep Dive Into The Client Roadmap Process

The fundamental tool we’ve used to managed ongoing client relationships for almost twenty-five years.


From Break/Fix to Managed Service

Move yourself and your clients to managed services


Local Advertising for ITPreneurs

Learn the essential local marketing for IT Service Providers. Class includes Citation Management, Reputation Management, Website Optimization and more. Acting on this step-by-step advice will make it easier for prospects to find and engage with your business.


Weeding Your Client Garden

Just like a real garden, you have to get rid of clients who cannot grow with your company, as well as those who are difficult to work with, unprofitable, or don’t fit your culture. And no, you won’t lose money.


Supercharge Hiring, Team Building, and Sales with DiSC

In this three-part mini course, Erick gives you a great introduction to the value of personality profiles and lots of hands-on knowledge so you can learn to apply these profiles within your own company.


KPI Class: Key Performance Indicators for IT Service Managers

Curious about KPIs? Need some more ideas for what to track? Karl has your back with this 3-part class.


Client Onboarding for Managed Services

What could be better than adding a new client? Doing it consistently the same every time, building your culture, and setting a very high standard for your new relationship! That’s what an onboarding process does for your company.


Build a Client Newsletter that Works

A newsletter is the easiest way to keep in touch with your current and prospective clients. Here’s how to do it right.


Year of Intention – 2021

A yearly planning guide for intentional success! Offered in 2021, but can apply to any year.


Employee Onboarding

Onboard your new employees with intention and keep your company culture strong while you’re at it.


How to Get New Clients – Especially if You’re Starting Out or Starting Over

Solid, basic advice that Karl and Amy could offer to folks who are getting started marketing in this industry.


A Practical Introduction to Relax Focus Succeed

RFS is a guide to balancing your personal and professional lives and being more successful in both. It lays out my philosophy of finding success without driving myself 80 hours a week, being constantly stressed out, or having a heart attack.

-----

Education. Yeah. We do that. :-)

Jump in and use your benefits!!!

:-)






Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Good Books on Running a True Consulting Business

I got a great question from one of my newsletter readers, Marlon. I'd written an article that mentioned how true consulting - selling advice rather than pushing licenses - has faded from our industry and needs to make a comeback. So he asked the question: "Do you have any recommendations for books that talk about good old consulting?"

What is "Consulting?" Consulting consists of 1) being an expert in something, 2) giving excellent advice, and 3) creating solutions that help the client be more productive, more profitable, or more efficient. It includes "solving problems," but it goes way beyond that. Solving problems is reactive. Creating new solutions to improve a business is an active, forward-thinking process.


As with so many things in small business, there are a few resources, but not enough. I know of two older books that are still excellent. Plus I have some advice on a few others to assist you along your path.

Three Kinds of Books

There are three categories of books you need as a consultant. You need 1) Books about running the business, 2) Books specifically about running an IT business, and 3) Book on the art of consulting - giving actual good advice to your clients. (A fourth category, of course, would be technical training. That's a separate discussion.)

I literally only know two books that I would recommend that give you a good, solid introduction to all three categories - running a business, running an IT business, and the delivery of true consulting. Those books are:

SMB Consulting Best Practices by Harry Brelsford - https://amzn.to/4eLptr7 - This book is old and could use a tune-up, but it's rock solid advice advice on running a true consulting business, as opposed to a technology-focused fix-it business in which you end up providing advice at some point in the client relationship. If you want to run a true consulting business in IT services, this is the place to start.

The Computer Consultant's Guide: Real-Life Strategies for Building a Successful Consulting Career by Janet Ruhl - https://amzn.to/3BJURYF - A solid second place. This one is more obviously outdated, but it's still excellent and at least touches all the bases. A quick read compared to Brelsford's tome, but it also contains a lot less detail.


As for books on running a business, there are many. Perhaps millions. The best advice I can give you here is to start reading something that sounds interesting and keep reading for the rest of your life. General good advice never goes out of date. One of my favorite collections of information is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy - https://amzn.to/3XAkm6Y - This is an Audible program and is good to listen to more than once.

When it comes to running an IT consulting business, I recommend all the books we sell at our store - store.smallbizthoughts.com. I also sell Erick Simpson's books, which are available on Amazon. Those four books are outdated, but hold up very well if you're getting started. And, like mine, they are full of great forms, tools, calculators, etc.

As for the general world of running a consulting business, we get back to the fact that almost everything along these lines is written for people selling multi-million dollar projects. So you have to do a lot of thinking on the fly as your read to figure out how advice might apply in the world of small business consulting. Perhaps the best book here is Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss - https://amzn.to/3BMkfwR - I like this book because it has a strong focus on growing your business as a consulting practice. Keywords are growing and consulting.


Thanks to Marlon for the question. I would love to hear other recommendation on the topic of true advice-focused consulting books and resources. Drop those recommendations in the comments. 

:-)


Friday, October 11, 2024

How Many Events Should You Attend?

This is a commentary on an article my friend Harry Brelsford posted in his recent newsletter (subscribe at https://www.smbnation.com/). Harry notes that there appears to be an inverse relationship between attending too many conferences and being financially successful in this industry.

It started with one conversation. Harry thought, “That's an interesting perspective.” Then he did a little bit of research, and talked to some people, and collected some stories. His article mentions three different perspectives. He now has a much stronger opinion that it might not be in your  best interest to attend too many industry events.

As you know, there are hundreds of events in our space, many of them very highly focused on a specific vendor or a very specific niche within the industry. But it's worth considering how many events is the right number for you? One of the things Harry mentioned is that a lot of people, myself included, used to regularly attend the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. Well, they got rid of the term “partner” a long time ago, and I stopped attending when Microsoft stopped actually trying to engage us, help us, or see us as partners.

Other conferences are often very specific to a product. For example, DattoCon and IT Nation are focused on their users and partners. And, of course, on the products and services they sell. If your company uses one of these as your primary system for running your business, it's probably in your best interest to attend their event at least once. But only attend if you focus on educating yourself, improving yourself, learning the software more thoroughly, learning some new features, and getting to know people in your industry.

It's perfectly fine to say, “I attend no conferences in IT,” but my suspicion is that the people who say that don't define themselves first and foremost as technology consultants. They define themselves first and foremost as business owners. And chances are very good that they go to conferences and events that are focused on learning marketing, learning training, learning sales, improving their employee relationships, improving their customer relationships, local networking events where they can meet prospective clients, and events that allow them to get involved with their local community. None of those things has to be focused on running an IT business, but all assist in running a business generally.

In my experience, almost all of the very large MSPs that I've worked with in the U.S. (and there are some huge exceptions), have an arrogant perspective that they made it on their own and they don't need the community. They don't need to talk to people in the industry. Some of them have the ridiculous belief that they have a secret sauce, and that their secret sauce is part of what makes them successful.

I've been in this industry for 30 years, and I've not yet found any secret sauce. I have found good processes and bad processes; good behavior and bad behavior; hard workers and not-so-hard workers. I've found all kinds of people and advice, but I've never found a drop of secret sauce.

I pride myself in having helped tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 IT consultants to improve their businesses. But you know what? I don't have any secrets. When I tell help people or coach people, I’m sharing knowledge and wisdom learned from my experience – and the experience of those I’ve worked with. Those who study creativity know one thing above all else: We don’t create new ideas; We combine ideas. As the Bible reminds us, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

There's no secret to:

  • Get up
  • Have a great set of processes and procedures
  • Have great employees
  • Have great clients
  • Have a great offering
  • Have a bundle that works all together
  • Then marketing it, push it, sell it, and
  • Providing good service so your clients will stay with you forever

That's it. Those are the secrets. Execution is the thing that separates one group from another.


So, How many events should you attend?

There are certain conferences that I love to attend because they stretch my brain just a little bit. Either I'm going to learn some technology that I didn't know before, or a business process or a procedure that I didn't know before, or I just know that I'm going to engage with really smart people that are going to help me put some of the puzzle pieces together in a new way.

My favorites at this time, are the Channel Partners conference and the Xchange events. These events tend to have larger partners who do pretty well with sales and marketing. They also face some challenges that I would describe as, “The next set of problems you’re going to have” as you grow your company.

Back when I used ConnectWise or Autotask or SolarWinds to run my companies, I attended their conferences. I do recommend that you attend the conference for your primary tool vendor. As the business owner, you probably know what you need to know about the product/service. Your service manager should attend and learn everything they can.

The value for owners is to engage with people who are helping in the development of the products. Plus, it’s great to meet people using your toolset to solve problems you also face with employees, clients, and service delivery. All of those conferences also give you a very rounded view of what it's like to be in this industry. And that can be critical to your business.

When you attend, you should actually attend the sessions. Go to presentations and workshops. Open your brain and learn a little bit. Note: All of this costs money, especially the larger conferences. If you're gone from home for three, four, or five days (when you add travel days), that's time away from the family. That's time away from your business. Then add hotel charges and expensive road food. Plus, most of these events also require air fare and other transportation.

Events like this can cost you several thousand dollars per person. So, YES, it's legitimate to say, “I don't have to go every year.” For the most part, I do not encourage you to go every year. I think you should go to your big conferences about once every three years.

Regional events are another story. I think one regional event a year is probably good for everybody. These include the ASCII forums, the Channel Pro events, and SMB TechFest. These are each set up in a specific city, and then they get the local people to come, and maybe a few others.

These events are great for staying in tune with what’s going on in your chosen profession. You meet people running a business at least somewhat like yours, facing challenges like yours. You get introduced to new vendors that you might not have seen before. And you get to have unhurried conversations with peers to find out what are they worried about, and what they’re doing about it. If you’re lucky, you’ll even find yourself in a few strategy sessions.

Some of these conferences have a lot of small IT consultants at them. Some have a lot of very large IT consultants at them. You need a variety. It's like everything else in life. You need to expose yourself to a little bit of everything. 

Note: What you see on social media is not real. (Shocking, I know.)

As Harry notes, when you look at all of the hundreds of industry events from the perspective of social media, you quickly see that a lot of people go to many, many events. They are choosing to do that because it’s part of their personal entertainment, or they are vendors and don’t have a choice. Almost everyone who attends "everything" is a vendor of some kind.

All those regular attendees know each other. They see each other in a different city every week. They've got a different life. They've got a different approach. Their industry is not IT consulting. Their industry is selling into IT consultants. You are the client for them. You are the prospect. You are the customer. They're part of the channel, but not necessarily part of the service provider industry

Remember, in IT Consulting, about 99% of all the IT consultants in the world have ten or fewer employees. This industry is by nature small businessNo one of any company size at these events is very much different from anyone else. Really. We all have a great deal in common. So, it’s really good to know the people in your industry. It’s good to know the trends and the challenges.

If you're new to IT consulting, I would say, pick one event a year. It can be small. It can be regional or local. That way, you don't have to travel and you won’t spend more than one night in a hotel. Note: Do not overdo the partying. Spend a lot of time meeting human beings and talking to them about business. If it all turns into a big party, you're probably just wasting your money, which is fine. I'm not going to spend your money.

But if you go to these events again and again and again and you don't learn anything, and you don't grow as a business person, as a business owner, or as an IT consultant, then attending events has become one of your hobbies. Instead of having a boat, you have IT conferences. I don't judge. Just know what you’re doing, and don’t fool yourself that it’s all focused on growing your business. Think of this as an investment. 


I wrote a book called The IT Consultant's Year of Intention. One of the things I talk about in that book is planning for next year. You should write down which conferences you're going to go to. And you should actually have some goals. Write down your goals. What are your goals for attending each event? For example:

  • To meet new people
  • To meet a specific vendor
  • To learn certain things
  • To discover new technology
  • To have “this” question answered
  • To meet one person who can help me with one topic

Really ask yourself: Why are you going to this conference? Make it measurable. Write it down. And when the conference is over, evaluate yourself. Did I meet those people? Did I find those vendors? Did I get those questions answered? How much did it cost and was it worth it? And would I do it again next year or the year after that?

Having a three-year rotation of events is probably not a bad idea. You should take these events seriously – which includes not wasting money going to everything. Have intentional goals for when you attend conferences or even online webinars. Make sure that it fits into both your budget and your educational needs, and where you are in the evolution of yourself as an IT consultant. Don't just go because people said you should go or it looks fun or it's held in Vegas.

The Book

You don’t need the book to set goals or have a great year, but it’s only $30, and it might help. If you’re not a member of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, you can find it on Amazon or at my store.

If you ARE a member, just put in the keyword “intention” and you can download the book for free. Plus you’ll find a three-part recorded class to watch.

Thank you for being a member.

(Non-members, find out more at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org.


Give me feedback! What do you think? How many events do you attend? Do you get significant value from each of them? And does the value exceed your total “event” expense for the year? Be honest.

😊

 

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Financial Processes for the IT Services Firm: 5-week course starts October 15th

Financial Processes for the IT Services Firm – 5W07

Taught By: Rayanne Buchianico


Five Tuesdays

October 15 - November 12 - 

Register Now

All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern


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

Rayanne always updates her class and handouts every time.


There are few things more important than the finances of your business. But most technology consultants didn't get into business to run balance sheets or figure out cash flow.

This class provides unique content from a unique teacher! Rayanne is a managed service provider from Tampa, FL. She is also an accountant and an Intuit certified ProAdvisor. In addition to her MSP business, Rayanne helps I.T. consultants to take control of their finances and understand their own business at a deeper level.

Quick Intro Video:

Topics for this class include:

  • Learn to read and understand your Balance Sheet and P&L Statements
  • Create a chart of accounts that makes sense for your business
  • Separating out information on the P&L for management decisions
  • Entities and tax considerations - understanding how your entity is taxed. Handout is a tax projection worksheet for this year's taxes
  • Cash flow forecasting - Handout is a cash flow projection spreadsheet to forecast revenues and expenses
  • Understanding margins and ratios - Deep dive into the P&L and Balance Sheet to understand how the numbers work together to make decisions. Handout is a worksheet on calculating and understanding the ratios & margins.
  • Use margins to price your services for profit
  • Calculate billing and burden rates
  • Action plans for success

. . . and More!



Unit One: Introduction to Your Company’s Finances

Unit Two: Cash Flow Forecasting

Unit Three: Margins, Ratios, KPIs, and Breakeven points

Unit Four: Jobs, Budgeting, and Internal Controls

Unit Five: Planning for Taxes

-- -- --

Delivered by Rayanne Buchianico, Financial Coach and QuickBooks Advisor. Rayanne has been an MSP - managed service provider - for many years and advises MSPs on how to get the most out of their QuickBooks and PSA integrations.

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

Each class is 50-60 minutes, although we often take extra time for questions.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Owner or Operations Manager.

Only $399.00 

Register: Financial Processes for the I.T. Services Firm


-- -- -- 

About IT Service Provider University

ITSPU is the premier training provider for real-world education in managed services and all aspects of running an IT consulting firm. We provide twenty-five courses (five weeks each) on all aspects of business side of running your company.

Since 2013, ITSPU (formerly Great Little Seminar) has educated thousands of IT consultants on service management, finance, client relationships, employee operations, and more. You can review the entire course list at https://www.itspu.com/classes/.

From organizing your finances to developing your company culture to managing your service board, ITSPU has your back.
  • Earn badges & certifications
  • Step-by-step how-to on topics you need
  • Delivered live and on-demand for “always on” access
  • Taught by well-known industry experts
  • Improve your culture, consistency, service delivery and more

:-)

Tuesday, October 01, 2024

Do You (Accidently) Have Resentment-Based Pricing?

 It costs money to be in business. We all know that. Some people place a great deal of value on having the "the best" software, equipment, and supplies. Others value a few things, but are happy to get by. For example, you might be willing to spend a little extra for a great printer, but believe that any kind of paper is fine. 


Price and value are subjective. As are the concepts of "best" and "good enough."

I was writing an email to a friend about a specific kind of software, and got to thinking about the things I'm happy to spend money on (e.g., the Microsoft Office suite), and those I'm less happy with. And that's when I realized that there are actually things I've bought over the years that I resent. I pay the price but I don't like. On a bad day, I hate it.

Traditionally, the king of all resentment-based products is QuickBooks by Intuit. We all know people who skipped three, or five, or maybe ten years worth of upgrades because (like me) they don't use any functionality that's needed to be changed since the first version I ever bought. I only upgraded QB when I had to. When I needed three licenses, I "saved" some money by buying a three-user license. But that led to spending even more money when it could no longer be used on the newer version of Windows.

Again and again and again, I felt like I was continually re-buying a product that 1) Was over-priced in the first place, and 2) Didn't need an upgrade! It just need to work when I got a new computer.

A close second for me is the Adobe suite. I bought Adobe products for designers, admins, and myself for a couple of decades. Individual products, ever-changing bundles, and upgrades without end. If you've gone down that road, you probably know how I feel: Like I've bought the exact same product over and over.

Where does it end? For me, when I needed to have my financial package used by three people in different locations, moving to the hosted version made sense. But the hosted version is (even today) very clunky compared to the desktop version. I love keyboard shortcuts and can be lightning fast without a mouse . . . until I have to use the hosted version. 

Once the clunkiness was built in, Intuit lost their edge. There are lots of clunky programs that cost a lot less and provide the functionality I need. So we moved to Xero. It's less expensive than QB, but not necessarily "cheap." But I feel no resentment when I pay my monthly bill.

Microsoft was on the border of resentment-based pricing for all the same reasons. And they floundered for more than a decade before they figured out a cloud money that works. Now, at $99/year, all the resentment has faded. Yes, it's still paying for something I wish they'd stop changing for no good reason. But the price is quite reasonable for me.

Now consider: How do your employees view your pricing? Are they happy to pay your monthly bill? Is it fair? Is it good for their business? Is it just another expense?

Or is it consistently higher than they'd like? Is it just on the other side of what they think is reasonable?

This is important. You should talk to clients about this. And maybe dig a little to make sure you've gotten to their true feeling. Because resentment grows when it's ignored. One day, a resentful client will make one too many payments and feel just a little more resentment than they'd like. And that's when they're open to looking at other options.

There's Good News

If you have reasonable pricing (with a reasonable profit), you're probably fine with most clients. But there are many companies who are being nudged to constantly increase prices - a lot. Ten and fifteen percent increases work once in a while, or when you need to get in line with the market.

But non-stop large increases will inevitably lead to resentment. 

Who would do such a thing? Companies that have merged and merged again, gobbled up a bunch of small businesses, and are now funneling money out of the business and into the pockets of the investors without regard for the health of the company or the strength of the client relationships.

As long as you're not one of those companies, you probably don't have a lot of resentment from clients when they pay their bills. And, best of all, you can go to market by targeting disgruntled prospects who are just about ready to give up on their overly-greedy IT service providers.

Sadly, we're seeing resentment-based pricing in many industries, primarily driven by investors who absolutely don't care about the industry, the businesses, they own, or the clients they serve. So, clients and prospects are seeing this with business office pricing, and with many services they buy. That includes IT services.

You need to know that this is happening and decide how you're going to respond. And, ironically, the less-greedy IT service providers are going to be gaining clients who have finally gotten fed up with over-greedy ITSPs.

:-)