Managed Services in a Month - How it Started

Managed Services in a Month 

- Lessons Learned, Episode 41

September 2007 was a big month for me and for my business. I'd been writing my blog for awhile as well as speaking across the US and UK on "managed service." It seems hard to believe today, but that phrase really didn't mean anything before 2006 when Erick Simpson and I released books with that name in the title.

So, in September 2007, I got an email from someone who said, "Managed Services doesn't work for me." And as I'd often answered that question from the stage, I tried to put an end to this conversation by blogging the answer once and for all. See https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2007/09/managed-services-doesnt-work-for-me.html.

LOL. I didn't put an end to the conversation - I started a much bigger one.

The same day, I wrote a blog post simply entitled "Managed Services in a Month." See https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2007/09/managed-services-in-month.html.

I made a simple promise: I'll show you how to completely change your business model in thirty days. I then proceeded to write ten LONG blog posts on how to accomplish this. I gave lots and lot of details and tried to make it as practical and step-by-step as I could. Plus I answered a few questions. I finished with a final note on prepayments September 22nd.

My blog exploded - in a good way.

My personal email was inundated with emails and questions. My blog traffic went through the roof. Several people told me that they checked my blog every day for the next update. 

I wanted to make this material more accessible to readers, so I collected it all up and reposted on a site so the posts were in chronological order (blogs are the reverse of that by default).

That's when I realized this could be a book. And I began making that happen. I filled out more details on several topics, integrated answers to questions into the context of the book, and added a few additional chapters. 

That's how Managed Services in a Month was "born." About 80% of it was written in a series of blog posts. And by early 2008, the book was in print. It has been in print since then, expanding with the second and third editions. 

The lesson I started with was, "You can completely revise your business model in one month." The lesson I finished with was, "I can write a whole book in one month if I try."

I am eternally grateful to this community for making the initial blog posts popular, and for making Managed Services in a Month the best selling book on managed services for seventeen years - and counting.

All comments welcome.

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Episode 41

This Episode is part of the ongoing Lessons Learned series. For all the information, and an index of Lessons Learned episodes, go to the Lessons Learned Page. 

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