Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2022 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
My brother sent me a link to this site: https://www.infotech.com/. Wow. Amazing, right? He said I could do something like that one day. After all, wouldn't it be great sell memberships at $95,000 per year?
Yes, but . . . I don't want to.
I hope you know I'm teaching a course on revamping your business from a 100% customer service perspective (see https://www.itspu.com/). Well, tomorrow I actually address the question of how you discover the single most thing you need in your business.
What is that thing? It's clarity. Specifically, clarity around who you serve.
Once you know who you serve, ALL the other decisions in your business become much easier. I don't serve enterprise businesses that have massive bureaucracies and have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on employee training. There's nothing wrong with people who serve that audience, it's just not me.
I serve the Small and Medium sized business consultant. That's the S part and the M part of SMB. So I don't have to spend time trying to develop programs for enterprise clients. They're not my clients. Don't get me wrong: If they want to hire me and give a bunch of money, I'll take it. But they're not who I serve.
The flyer below is pinned to my bulletin board in my study. It is essentially unchanged from the version I printed in the book Relax Focus Succeed in 1995. My mission is not your mission. My vision is not your vision.
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SBT
What I do - everything I do - serves the purpose of helping IT consultants to be better at the business side of their business.
That focus means I don't create programs for large corporations. I don't sell crap that's not intended to be used. I don't create programs filled with fluff. I try very hard not to waste my client's money or time. And I don't create programs that serve no purpose other than to make money.
I serve a very specific audience. I have an automatic filter for the kinds of activities we engage in as well as the people we work with. If you've known me long, you know I like to joke that I'm lazy. But it's not really a joke. I waste very little time chasing riches or opportunities, because I don't need to: I serve a very specific targeted audience and they provide me with enough of what I need to sustain my life and my business.
Some of you may think this all just motivational bullshit. But it's absolutely true. It's almost a matter of pure faith. If you have a laser focus on WHO you serve, many elements of your business model fall into place.
The people who work the hardest are those without focus. If your audience is "everyone" or "all small business" then you have made a very difficult job for yourself. You can't focus on everyone. You can't market to everyone. You can't develop a program for everyone.
Who do you serve?
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Travel Update
I've added one item to the calendar and a few date updates. Please send me your updates!
As for me, I'm headed to Mexico this week and next. A little vacation. A little work from the road. A little "stress testing" my new employee to see how well we work together when we're 1,500 miles apart.
(Note: I am not going to the Nerdio event. I've received a few emails about that. My Mexican vacation is with my daughter on the other side of the country.)
Then it will be March.
Join me in Chicago for CompTIA's Committees and Counsels Forum (CCF). Link on the calendar below. It's March 14-16, so we'll miss green beer and the green river. But there might regular beer.
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Quick Shout-Out to Channel Program
You may have received an email from me regarding Channel Program's Channel Pitch. A copy is here: https://conta.cc/3HVz4Lr in case you missed it.
Check it out - and give me your feedback.
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What are YOUR plans for ChannelPro, ASCII, TechFest, or other events in 2022? Drop me a line.
HEADS UP: I'm going to be making some small changes to the SOP videos over on my YouTube channel. After I get back from vacation. Stay tuned.
Have a great week.
- Karl P.
:-)
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All New Class!
You only missed one week. Register today. Catch up and join us live tomorrow.
Customer Service for IT Service Providers
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk, Author and Coach
- Five Tuesdays - February 15 - March 15, 2022
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
Features
- What is Customer Service and Who Delivers It?
- People: Clients and Employees
- Consistent, Scalable, Reproducible, Amazing C.S.
As I always remind people: Customers just call it service. Among other things, that means "customer service" cannot be bolted on to your business after the fact. It also means you can't assign it to one specific person or department.
Customer service should be built into every piece of you business, from marketing and sales all the way through service delivery and invoicing. We'll walk through this wholistic approach to great service an show you how to build - or rebuild - your business with customer service as the ultimate profit center for your company.
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Great customer service doesn’t just happen. It’s built from the bottom up with great processes, people, and programs. In this course, you’ll learn how to build a system that provides excellent customer service while keeping your company profitable. Most companies don’t design a customer-focused service delivery with intention. We’ll show you how to attract new clients based on your service delivery.
We use a framework that focuses on people, processes, and programs. “People” includes your employees, your clients, and your vendors. And that makes clear why you need to build a customer service system that’s totally consistent with your brand.
We’ll show you how to create a never-ending loop of brand-building, employee management, and customer management. And we’ll do all this with in a way that maximizes profitability.
And of course, all of this is presented in the context of an IT consulting business.
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Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, author and coach. Karl has built and sold two successful managed service businesses in Sacramento, CA. He is the founder and president of the Sacramento SMB IT Professionals Group, and author of more than twenty books, including Managed Services in a Month.
This course 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, but is very useful for every single employee in your IT business. This course has an associated professional certification exam and may be applied to specialist certifications in Management, Sales & Marketing, Service Manager, Technician, or Front Office.
Class Content
Unit 1: What is Customer Service and Who Delivers It?
Unit 2: People: Clients and Employees
Unit 3: Processes for Success
Unit 4: Customer Service programs and automation
Unit 5: Consistent, Scalable, Reproducible, Amazing Customer Service
Note: * Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge. See details in the Community
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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:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday
National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog
Relax Focus Succeed:
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RFS: Frustration, Overload, Stupidity, and Making the World a Better Place |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Almost 800 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 335+ SOP videos
- 250+ Relax Focus Success videos
Plus . . .
- Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
- Product Reviews
- and more
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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SBT Technology Community members: Keep an eye out for the new March newsletter.
The newsletter drops on the final Friday of the month so we can promote the first-Thursday Roundtable. It's all very complicated.
All you need to know is to keep your eyes open. And if you don't see it, check your spam filter, mark it as safe in your spam filter, and email us if you think you're not on the list.
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I am very happy to say that several of you have contacted me about scheduling time to strategize about the FREE courses you should take over at ITSPU. That's a separate web site, but I own both. So members can attend courses at no charge.
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Join our meeting - every Thursday at 9:00 AM Pacific on Zoom.
First and third Thursdays are special programs. Every other Thursday is open forum. See the link on your dashboard.
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Our upcoming March Roundtable with Dave Seibert is March 3rd. Stay tuned for details. But, for sure, don't miss it! This is an exclusive members-only event.
March 3, 2022 - 9:00 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
The link is always at the top of your dashboard.
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Thank you!
:-)
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Just in time for some events . . .
The National Society of IT Service Providers has printed a bajillion cards to hand out at various events. If you are a professional member and want to request a packet of fifty cards to distribute at industry events, drop me a line.
Plus, I'd be interested to see if your QR code reader can read from the amateur photo pasted via jpg via email, through your screen's (probably) 60 Hz lines. Mine can.
:-)
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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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February
NerdioCON
February 21-23
Cancun, Mexico
Xchange+
February 27 - March 1, 2022
Dallas, TX
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March
Cloud Expo Europe
March 2-3, 2022
London, UK
ChannelPro SMB Summit
New Jersey
March 9th
Comptia Communities and Councils Forum
March 14-16
Chicago, IL
Join me Live!
MSP World
March 22-24
Orlando, FL
ASCII Success Summit
March 23-24
Kansan City, MO
Cybersecurity Expo, IoT Security Services Association
March 30-31, 2022
Austin, TX
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April
Channel Partners Conference & Expo
April 11-14, 2022
Las Vegas
Join me Live!
SMB Techfest
April 14
Anaheim, CA
KB4-Con
April 20-22, 2022
Orlando, FL
ASCII Success Summit
April 20-21
Chicago, IL
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ACES Conference
Online - Karl is the Keynote Speaker
May 5th
Join Me Live Online!
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ChannelPro SMB Summit
Chicago
May 5th
Ingram Micro Cloud Summit
May 17-19
Miami Beach, FL
ASCII Success Summit
May 24-25
Boston, MA
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June
RSA
June 6-9
San Francisco, CA
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Texas
June 7th
Women in Tech Global Conference
June 7-9
Location TBD
Cisco Live
June 12-16
Las Vegas
Channel Evolution Europe
June 14-15
London
ASCII Success Summit
June 15-16
Long Beach, CA
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July
SMB Techfest
July 21
Anaheim, CA
ASCII Success Summit
July 27-28
Toronto, ON
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August
CompTIA ChannelCon 2022
August 1-3, 2022
Houston, TX
More Info: Coming after ChennelCon 2021 ;-)
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Charlotte NC
Aug 9
Channel Company xChange
August 21-23
Denver, CO
ASCII Success Summit
August 23-24
Miami, FL
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September
Channel Futures’ MSP Summit
Sept. 12-15, Orlando
ChannelPro SMB Summit
Washington DC area
Sept 8th
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo
Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022
Phoenix
ASCII Success Summit
September 28-29
Parsippany, NJ
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October
ASCII Success Summit
October 4-5
Dallas, TX
SMB Techfest
October 20
Anaheim, CA
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November
ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd
IT Nation Connect 2022
November 9 - 11
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na
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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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