Nothing
Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
Reminder: Our office is closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Holiday. I hope you get to take a day off as well!
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THANK YOU to everyone who attended my annual State of the Nation Address last week! As always, we had a great turn-out and over 7,000 downloads already.
. . . Plus: Feel free to check out everything else you find there. It's all for you!
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Harry Brelsford sent me a note about his upcoming event in Chicago next month.
MSP Rescue will be
February 17th
Chicago
Information and Registration at:
As Harry says, "It's time for MSPs to INNOVATE in 2023 to THRIVE under any economic scenario." You can view the entire list of speakers and topics at that site - https://msprescue.pro/. |
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Reminder:
Amy Babinchak Announces Amazing Growth-Focused Peer Group
My friend Amy B has decided to double the size of her business (from about $1.5M to $3M). She doubled the size of her business a few years ago, she's got a process, and I'm sure she'll be successful.
So she said . . . Why not let others join her on the journey and everyone can double the size of their business. As a result, she is starting a new 12-month peer group.
You MUST start in January and commit to twelve months.
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I've been reporting on our transition from QuickBooks Online to Xero as of January 1st. Unless something goes wrong, this is my final report.
So, two weeks in, I'm making the final clean-up.
I believe I've finished all the 2022 data entry in QBO. For me that includes all bill-pays that need to be entered in 2022. We use accrual accounting, so 2022 activity has to be entered in 2022, even if the money will leave my bank account in 2023.
Now, I am generating every report I think I might need. Luckily, the past reports generated for past tax years are a great list. But you never know when you'll need just one more odd report.
Overall impressions:
I generate a LOT of reports to export to teachers, vendors, authors, and for internal use. So far, the reports I need appear to be easy to find and generate.
We also do a lot of transactions. One book sale, for example, often hits Stripe or PayPal, then fees are removed, and batch deposits eventually make their way to Chase bank. Between online book sales, online classes, online paid events, and Community memberships, we have a decent volume of transactions. All of this seems to be flowing well.
My simple criteria for moving to Xero is that I wanted something a little less expensive and a LOT faster to use. It is successful on both counts. In fact, going back and forth between the two in the week between Christmas and New Years, Xero was the clear winner.
Finally, as you might expect, there is a certain pleasure in moving away from Intuit, a company I have gradually come to believe has been greedy over the years, and has among the worst tech support I've dealt with in thirty years of business.
Don't get me wrong: You can get ahold of tech support. But more often than not, they can't fix anything and you're left with nuking the database or restoring from an earlier backup. That's never the support a client is looking for.
With luck, my companies will never use QuickBooks again. Wish me luck.
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This article is not an endorsement or a paid placement. I am not claiming that Xero is right for your business. I'm just letting you know what I'm up to.
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Thank You for the Feedback!
After my State of the Nation address, I had a few great email exchanges with people who requested new training, new checklists, etc. That's exactly what I'm looking for.
What's your greatest pain point and how can I help?
It's often frustrating for me. Whenever I do polls or surveys, I often get a very small response. And most responses are along the lines of, "We love what you do. Keep it up." And I appreciate that.
But then, an online presentation has thousands of interactions and generates a series of emails in which people actually request something they need. Plus we had a handful of people contact us to begin creating online certification plans for this team. That's what we're looking for!
Anyway, thank you all. I am eternally grateful to this community.
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Have a great week!
:-)
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You Only Missed One Week! |
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Sign up now.
Catch up today.
Join us live Tomorrow!
Core Standard Operating Procedures for IT Providers
You’re guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
Taught By: Karl W. Palachuk
Newly Revised Course
- Five Tuesdays: January 10 - February 7, 2023
When I take on new coaching clients, they have many of the same issues over and over again. This is true of clients with $10 Million in revenue as well as those under $1 Million. And almost all of them boil down to SOPs – Standard Operating Procedures. Or the lack thereof.
Everyone knows you need SOPs. In fact, you probably know which ones you need. But where do you start?
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You will learn:
- A practical introduction to SOPs
- The relationship matrix of SOPs
- Clients
- Employees
- Vendors
- Internal Organization
- The Ten Most Important SOPs for your IT Consulting
- Business
- SOPs management, organization, and updates
- Implementation strategies internally
- Implementation strategies for clients
- Service Department SOPs
- Building
- Training
- Deployment
- Upkeep
... And More!
Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with SOP development and deployment
Building an Action Plan that works
Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular “SOP Friday” posts at http://sopfriday.com.
Includes five weeks of webinar classes with related handouts, assignments, and “office hours” with the instructor.
This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Manager
This class will be recorded. Each unit is generally posted within 24 hours of the live class. These recorded units will become the On-Demand class and you’ll have lifetime access to it.
Class Content
Unit 1 Introduction and Organization of SOPs
Unit 2 Managing Time and Money
Unit 3 Service Delivery and the Service Board
Unit 4 Practical Operating Considerations
Unit 5 Putting It All Together
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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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Our YouTube IT Consulting channel now has more than 640,000 views!
Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 880 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 350+ SOP videos
- 265+ 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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New Members:
We meet every Thursday at 9:00 AM Pacific on Zoom. Join us. The link is at the top of your Dashboard.
ALL Members: Please engage us and get maximum value from your membership!
Here are three big tips for 2023 - besides accessing the thousands of downloads at SmallBizThoughts.org! |
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First - Take Classes at IT Service Provider University!
Your membership includes ALL the courses at ITSPU. Right now, that's twenty 5-week courses! We offer ten of them live every year. All of them are available on demand. And we have programs to allow your staff to attend as well.
PLUS, we're adding three new courses during 2023! The first of these - on Management and Leadership, with Coach James Kernan - Starts next month. Sign up now for FREE!
Grab your discount code in the Community and then head over to ITSPU.com to register today.
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Second - Register for the SMB Online Conference (free)
The theme this year is: Nothing Happens by Itself!
Our promise for the SBT Technology Community is that we are constantly offering new, fresh, and valuable content to you at NO Additional Charge. That includes the SMB Online Conference - www.smbonlineconference.com.
The conference is two days: May 17-18. It includes some of your favorite speakers in the IT Community, plus some genius folks you might not have seen before.
Grab your discount in the Community and register today. OR email me and I'll make sure you're signed up.
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Third - Join our weekly calls
Our weekly calls are filled with some personal discussion, and lots of talk about business challenges and victories. You can view all the recordings in the Community. PLUS, we have summary notes and transcripts. So you can see the amazing variety of topics.
Perhaps the greatest statement of value that members receive is the fact that meetings often last 90 minutes of more.
And, on the First Thursday of every month, we have a Roundtable discussion with someone who can shed some light on some aspect of business that we don't often get to focus on. Those recordings are also available in the Community.
Overall, these weekly gatherings are a great on-going conversation!
:-)
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I think I'll submit this tree in my backyard as an official graphic for the dictionary definition of denuded.
This is a Pomelo tree. The fruit is a bit like grapefruit. It's primary purpose is to trade with neighbors for homemade kimchi. (At least for me, that's the only purpose it serves.)
Our crazy weather should be over in a few days. Then - poof! - it will be Spring in California.
:-)
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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.
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January
CyberTech Global Tel Aviv
Jan. 30-Feb 1, 2023
Tel Aviv, Israel
:-)
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February
ChannelPro Summit
Feb. 1-2
Dallas (Southwest)
Zero Trustworld 23
Feb. 1-3, 2023
ChampnionsGate, FL
Cisco Live!
Feb 6-10, 2023
Amsterdam
SMB TechFest
Feb. 9-10, 2023
Southern California
MSPExpo
Feb 14-17, 2022
Fort Lauderdale, FL
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Conference and Expo
Feb 15-16, 2023
Phoeniz, AZ
MSP Rescue
Feb 17
Chicago, IL
ASCII Edge 2023
February 22 & 23
Newport Beach, CA
MWC Barcelona 2023
Feb 27-March 2, 2023
Barcelona, Spain
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March
XChange March 2023
March 5-7, 2023
Orlando, FL
More info: https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-march
ChannelPro Summit
Mar. 8-9
Dulles, VA (Mid-Atlantic)
CloudExpo Europe
March 8-9, 2023
London, UK
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 14-15, 2023
Londong, UK
IT Nation 2023
March 20-22, 2023
London, England
Cloudfest
March 21-23, 2023
Europa-Park, Germany
ASCII Edge 2023
March 22 & 23
Atlanta, GA
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
March 30-31
Orlando, FL
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April
ItaliaSec: IT Security Conference
April 4-5, 2023
Rome, Italy
The IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp
April 11-14, 2023
Nashville, TN
HIMSS
April 17-21
Chicago, IL
ASCII Edge 2023
April 19 & 20
Dallas, TX
CyberSecurity Expo
April 20, 2023
Bristol, UK
Connect IT Global
April 24-27, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
RSA Conference
Apr. 24-27, 2023
San Francisco, CA
TECHSPO New York
Apr 27-28, 2023
New York City, NY
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May
ChannelPro Summit
May 9-10
Chicago (Midwest)
2023 SMB Online Conference!
May 17-18
Zoom
Online - Stay Tuned for Details - but mark your calendar now.
Join Me Live Online!
ASCII Edge 2023
May 24 & 25
Newark, NJ
:-)
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June
Cisco Live!
June 4-8, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
IT Nation Secure
June 5-7, 2023
Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center
Orlando, FL
ChannelPro Summit
June 7-8
San Jose, CA (West Coast)
Infosecurity Europe
June 20-22, 2023
London, England
ASCII Edge 2023
June 21 & 22
Tampa, FL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
June 29-30
Denver, CO
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July
ChannelPro Summit
Aug. 9-10
Newark, NJ (Northeast)
ASCII Edge 2023
July 12 & 13
Columbus, OH
CyberSecurity Expo
July 13, 2023
Manchester, UK
:-)
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August
ASCII Edge 2023
August 30 & 31
Toronto, Canada
:-)
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September
ChannelPro Summit
Sept. 6-7
Boston (New England)
ASCII Edge 2023
September 20 & 21
Chicago, IL
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept 28-29
Omaha, NE
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October
ChannelPro Summit
Oct. 10-11
Atlanta (Southeast)
Acronis #Cyberfit Summit 2023
Oct. 16-18
Miami, FL
ASCII Edge 2023
October 18 & 19
Washington, D.C.
dattoCon 2023
Oct. 2-4, 2023
Miami, FL
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November
Send me your events !!!
:-)
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December
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec 7-8
Phoenix, AZ
:-)
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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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