Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2021 Karl W. Palachuk
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OK . . . You verified . . . mostly |
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I mentioned in my class last Tuesday that I had a very strange experience with Amazon books. Several of you verified my results. One person had dramatically different results. But most were about the same as mine: A couple of books marginally related to being a service manager in IT and a surprising number of blank gift books/journals.
On one hand, I get frustrated when people manage to "game" the search algorithms. On the other hand, that's kind of what I attempt to do when I have a book for sale. Although, for me, I want to game it so I appear in the correct category and results when people are looking for my topic.
Tomato, tomato. (I'll leave it to you to pronounce those differently.)
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VR meeting room front: Dylan works for me, primarily on Google Ads management. But in his spare time, he does 3D artwork and graphics. SO . . . He's going to be designing a custom meeting room for us in Spatial.io.
Stay tuned. Once Kara and I have figured out how to really use this environment, we're going to hold a public meeting. If you don't have a VR headset, I have to say that I am loving my Oculus Quest 2. Here's an Amazon affiliate link, just in case you're interested.
You can set up a free account at Spatial.io, even if you don't have a VR headset. AND you can even join meetings. So, when the time comes, I hope you'll join us and hang out.
One of my favorite quotes is from William Gibson:
"The future is already here . . .
It's just not widely distributed."
[ Side note: I very rarely use affiliate links, but I try to be very transparent when I do. It's not a major source of income for me. So far this year, I think I've earned about $14. ]
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Calendar Update
My calendar is primarily for in-person events. But I also includes events where I speak, if they are open to everyone. SO: Join me May 11th for the
Egnyte MSP Forum
May 11th - Online
Keynote by Karl W. Palachuk
Join me Online - plus a separate Q&A forum
Also added this week: My good friend Jim Roddy posted a note that the Retail Service Provider Association has announced their live - in-person - show for 2021! You can check out the details Here . . . and in the calendar below.
Retail NOW 2021 is
July 25-27 in
Nashville, TN
. . . at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel
If you haven't experienced the Gaylord Opryland, you should! It's a truly amazing experience. Some of us refer to it as Nash-Vegas.
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Outsource to Upwork: Give It a Try!
I do a LOT of outsourcing. I have hired two nieces, four repeat-resources, and about a dozen total strangers in the last year. My favorite place to find talent is Upwork.com. Their search process is a little odd, but it gets the job done.
What do I mean by odd? Well, somewhere in there system there's a sophisticated list of categories, jobs, and skills. But you don't have access to that until you start to post a job. So, I end up putting in some search terms, reviewing some resource profiles, and jotting down the skills and categories I run into.
I also love Fiverr.com - especially for creative stuff. I had the robots for my door hangers made by someone I found on Fiverr. See below.
And, every once in awhile, I find someone on Craigslist. Personally, I go to CL more often when I want to hire someone locally who will (at least potentially) work in my home office. As you can imagine, that hasn't happened since 2019.
A few thoughts on outsourcing this "virtual" resources.
First - Determine where you want to look. I used to have a rule against hiring friends and relatives. Then I hired my brother, who worked his way up to being president of one of my companies. So I had to forget that rule.
With my nieces, I have always started out with one specific task and then gradually increased responsibility as they proved themselves with various skills. Sometimes, I have a job and simply ask, "Can you help with this?" So far, no one has taken on a task they can't handle. I some times hear no, and that's okay.
In most cases, I will try to see if someone I've already worked with is a good fit. If not - or they're too expensive for the job I have in mind - I generally go to Upwork. You can literally find any skill level for virtually any job on Upwork. You will even find agencies who shop for new work there.
Second - Expand what you think is possible. Almost any task can be made easier by having some or all of the work done by someone else. Some work is fairly obvious. If you want someone to go down a list of contacts and verify their current mailing list, web site, and email, there are a billion people on earth who will do that. Literally.
But sometimes you might think a job takes more skill or specialized knowledge. For example, I needed to come up with some screening questions for a research project. If I sat down to do it, it would take a great deal of concentrated time and effort. So, I turned to Upwork. I defined the project and hired two college instructors from the Philippines to draft questions for me.
I knew they would not come back with the finished product. But I also knew that they would come back with some good questions and a lot of fodder for the kinds of questions I could/should be looking at. Once I started poring through their work, it primed my brain. So, when I sat down to give my focused attention to the job, it took less of my time than if I had started from scratch.
Important Note: You don't have to outsource the finished product. You can outsource the research or rough draft of a product. Once you get good at this sort of outsourcing, you can have someone on Upwork do the first draft, then have one of your employees or other outsourced personnel do the second draft. That way, you can just put the final polish on the project.
I don't outsource writing since I love it and spend one or two hours per day writing anyway. But I do outsource research and almost anything that involves data-gathering. Everyone you find on the Internet has access to the Internet, right? So they can do research, and it won't cost a lot.
Flatten the World. Some people don't like the idea of sending work overseas. Of they think you're taking advantage of someone if you hire them for $10/hour when they would cost $25/hour in the U.S. (or Canada, the UK, or Australia).
As for hiring around the world: I think it's one of the most important things we can do. When I hire someone from Nigeria with a Master's Degree for $8/hour, I get a great resource and they make a lot of money by their standards. On a global scale, there might not be much I can do to help the world spin in the right direction. But this is one of them.
Anyway, the next time you want to save yourself some effort, consider checking out Upwork. It takes of practice to learn to manage people remotely, especially in other time zones. The the possibilities are great!
:-)
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Grab this free Door Hanger!
Here are those robots I mentioned.
I have ordered a bunch of these door hangers. In fact, they've been shipped and are on their way to me right now. If you want one, please fill out the form here:
Right now, I'm limiting this to the US because of the cost of overseas postage. But if you're elsewhere, you can still fill out the form. If I can find a reasonably-priced way to get it to you, I will.
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Thanks for reading. Feedback is always welcome.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with a colleague who might also enjoy it.
Have a great week.
-- Karl W. Palachuk
:-)
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MSP Professional Sales Program
Starts Tomorrow
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Sign up today.
MSP Professional Sales Certification Program
Course 5W22
Taught By: James Kernan
Five Tuesdays
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
Want to master MSP sales? Small Biz Thoughts has partnered with award-winning sales training company Kernan Consulting to offer the MSP Professional Sales Certification Program. This content-heavy, motivational program will reveal how top-producers succeed in 2021’s uncertain marketplace:
1. Bring new prospects into your pipeline
2. Shorten the sales cycles
3. Increase average deal size
4. Sell value so you do not have to compromise on price
Learn the industry’s best practices on the overall sales process from Prospecting, Qualifying, Needs Analysis and Assessments, Connecting your value proposition to the customers issues. Tips to get through the Sales Process faster and Closing the Deal!
The MSP Professional Sales Certification Program will include five live training sessions delivered in 60-minute classes. Designed for technology business owners, sales managers, and sales professionals, this training program covers industry best practices for selling contractual monthly recurring revenue.
The MSP Professional Sales Certification Program includes five 60-minute trainings. After completing all five sessions, you will receive a sales certification from Kernan Consulting. All five sessions will be recorded LIVE and delivered with a PDF workbook. For more information on James Kernan or Kernan Consulting please visit: www.KernanConsulting.com
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Weekly Agenda
Week One - What is Value Based Selling?
- Why value-based selling is best
- 5 principles of value-based selling
- Matching your solution to their business challenge
Week Two - Qualifying
- Why you do not chase after every opportunity
- 8 step process to qualify all opportunities
- The power of NO
Week Three - Sales Process
- 7 step sales cycle
- Emotional sales cycle
- The customers buying process
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Week Four - Framework for Successful Sales Departments
- Create your Sales Plan
- Goals/KPIs
- Unique Sales Proposition (USP)
- Compensation Plans
- Corporate Marketing Leads
- Sales Skill Training/Mentoring
- Communication/Meeting Schedule
- The Right Tools
- Staffing the sales team
- Documented Sales Process
Week Five - Negotiating/Closing
- How to overcome objections
- Trial closes
- How to ask for the order
- Letter of Understand technique
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Only $299 per student
Delivered by James Kernan
James Kernan is the author of the 36 Month Millionaire Program, and recently published books, Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives and Business Tips. For the past 12 years, James has served as a Principal Consultant for Kernan Consulting and provides Coaching, Advising and Mentoring programs to entrepreneurs and leaders. Kernan Consulting offers One on One Coaching, CEO Peer Groups, M&A Consulting and online training programs.
James is a frequent speaker for TechSelect, CompTIA, XChange, Convergence, Robin Robins Bootcamp, HTG, Mastermind Peer Groups, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, and Microsoft IAMCP events. He has been recognized and written up as an extraordinary “example of success” in industry publications such as CRN, Business Solutions, VAR Business, CRM Today, and Inc. Magazine.
Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download.
This course is intended for business owners and sales people.
A Few Details . . .
- Each course will be five one-hour Zoom webinars
- There will be handouts and "homework" assignments
- Class webinars will be recorded and made available to paid attendees only.
- All calls start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time
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All the Resources That Are Fit to Print |
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Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
Relax Focus Succeed:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday
The Cheeky Sales Coach Podcast / Video - New episodes drop every Wednesday
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The 7 Channels of Sales Success |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Note: We started auto-posting the podcasts to YouTube. Those are not listed here as YouTube Videos since they're listed under the podcasts above.
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: More than 700 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 275+ SOP videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Small Biz Thoughts Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Heads Up: May News Comes out Friday |
Our May newsletter is almost done. As always, we have new content - free for members.
We've also had really good turn-out on our weekly calls. Whether you're new or old, why not join us every Thursday at 9:00 AM?
This Thursday is open forum for all Community members. If you want your topic addressed first, fill out the form at the top of the Community Dashboard.
Also check out the new forum for posting offers, announcements, events, etc.
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Next Thursday - May 7th - is the SBT Community Roundtable.
Our guest will be Mike Semel - the security and compliance guru. If you're not familiar with Mike, you'll love this discussion. If you are familiar with Mike, you'll also love this discussion.
Have your questions ready. We're going to focus on strategy and business, rather than the specifics of CMMC, HIPAA, or misc. security challenges.
Join us!
The link is different from the weekly meetings - and it's on the top of the dashboard.
. . .
See you Thursday at 9AM Pacific time!
If you need something, please post a question in a forum or email Kara (your Community Manager) or me.
:-)
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Simple Pleasures
I've added a place to set drinks . . . while watching the humming birds.
The crafting of my yard is mostly related to attracting and watching hummingbirds.
:-)
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What's Here?
This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.
If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.
Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.
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April
If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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May
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
May 3-7
Dallas, TX
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
May 3-7
Melbourne, Aus
Egnyte MSP Forum
May 11th - Online
Keynote by Karl W. Palachuk
Join me Online - plus a separate Q&A forum
Robin Robins Big Seminar 2021
May 11 - May 14
Orlando, FL
ASCII Success Summit
May 19 & 20
Houston, TX
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June
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Hybrid Event - But words has it, it's LIVE!
June 9, 2021
Dallas, Tx
ASCII Success Summit
June 16 & 17
Cincinnati, OH
IT Nation Secure
June 21-23
Orlando, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Omaha, NE
June 24-25th
Channel Sec Europe
June 24th
London
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July
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
July 8, 2021
Raleigh, NC
ASCII Success Summit
July 21 & 22
Chicago, IL
Retail NOW 2021
July 25-27
Nashville, TN
Black Hat USA
July 31-August 5
Las Vegas, NV
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August
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
August 2-6
Englewood, CO
Defcon 29
August 5-8
Las Vegas, NV
SMB Roadshow - Manchester, UK
August 10th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Cardiff, UK
August 12th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - London, UK
August 17th
Tentative . . . but count on it!
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
ASCII Success Summit
August 18 & 19
Raleigh, NC
IT By Design Build IT LIVE 2021
Aug 30 - Sept 1
Jersey City, NJ
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
Aug 30 - Sept 1
Gold Coast, Aus
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September
CEDIA Expo
Sept 1-3
Indianapolis, IN
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Sept 2, 2021
Boston, MA
ITBOG (Business Owners Group) Cruise Conference
Sept. 3-6
Departs Miami
SMB Roadshow - Vancouver
Sept 7th
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Toronto
Sept 9th
Join me Live!
SMB Roadshow - Montreal
Sept 14th
Join me Live!
Managed Services Summit Live
Sept 15th
London
SMB Roadshow - Providence, RI
Sept. 16th
More info: https://www.smbroadshow.com
Join me Live!
Channel Live
Sept 21-22
Birmingham, UK
ASCII Success Summit
September 22 & 23
NY / NJ area
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
San Diego, CA
Sept 23-24th
IT Partners
Sept. 29-30
Disneyland, Paris
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October
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Oct 6, 2021
Atlanta, GA
DTX 2021 (Digital Transformation)
Oct. 6-7
London, UK
DattoCon 2021
Oct 11-13
Seattle, WA (I think)
SMB IT Professionals National Conference - Australia
Oct 15-16
Surfer's Paradise
Join me Live. I'm going to do my best to be there!
Sherweb Accelerate
Oct 18-20
Hollywood, FL
More Info: https://info.sherweb.com/accelerate.html
Kaseya Connect IT
Oct 19-22
Las Vegas
ASCII Success Summit
October 27 & 28
Orlando, FL
I'm hoping there's a trip to the Gold Coast in my future. Stay tuned.
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November
Channel Partners Evolution
Nov. 1-4
Las Vegas, NV
Managed Services Summit Live
November 2nd
Amsterdam
ASCII Success Summit
November 3 & 4
Houston, TX
IT Nation (Connectwise) Evolve Peer Groups
November 15-19
Sydney, Aus
Managed Services Summit North
November 16th
Manchester, UK
ChannelPro SMB Forum - Live Event
Nov 16, 2021
Los Angeles, CA
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December
ASCII Success Summit
Orange County, CA - December 8 & 9
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Event
Dallas, TX
Dec 9-10th
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If you know of in-person events we should list, please let us know.
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January
Send us your updates!
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February
Send us your updates!
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March
Cloud Expo Europe
March 2-3, 2022
London, UK
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April
Send us your updates!
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May
Send us your updates!
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June
Send us your updates!
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Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. |
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Small Biz Thoughts is a subsidiary of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. |
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