Last week I mentioned that I lost my phone while on vacation in Mexico. Luckily for me, I'm far less reliant on my phone than many others. Also, I was with my daughter and daughter-in-law. So anyone I needed to communicate with urgently was probably sharing a beer with me, and no technology was necessary.

My daughter was a little confused that I wasn't more irritated. Oh well.

I was lucky in three important ways. First, I simply don't rely on the phone for talking to people. I rarely take or make phone calls.

Second, I don't use the phone to create things. I also don't use my iPad, Kindle, or Android tablet to create things. These are devices for consuming information, not producing it. I create things on my laptop and desktop.

Third, I don't keep things on the phone. In fact, I don't even buy an extra memory card anymore. Photos are moved to my laptop regularly while on vacation. So I didn't even lose any pictures. This also means I don't store usernames, passwords, etc. on the phone.

Find my device didn't find it because it was turned off. But T-Mobile allowed me to disable service in case the phone gets found.

The only place I was unlucky was my heavy reliance on two-factor authentication. The main thing I discovered is that the overall system is very clunky and in dire need of a new version.

Some of this is my own fault. I had some restore codes in Exchange public folders, some in a password vault, and some on my NAS at home - which is powered off when not performing a backup. Of course I have a "backup" of the authenticator data. But, of course, it wasn't up to date.

As I reconstruct things, backup codes all go in the password vault as text notes.

-- -- --

Anyway, knowing I will need a phone at some point, I went into T-Mobile on Saturday. Their process for filing a claim for a lost phone includes proving who you are - which they do by sending an SMS message to the phone. Which you don't have. Because it's lost.

So, I'm not the only one with a process that needs improvement.

Please take a minute and check out our advertisers. Field Effect has a great approach to security. If you're not sure who they are, see their podcast appearance on the SMB Community Podcast.

Richard Tubb joined us this week. If you're not familiar with him, you really will do yourself a favor by checking out https://www.tubblog.co.uk/books/. Follow everything he does!

And of course Erick Simpson has been a sponsor for quite some time. He's always a great resource for information and training. See all things Erick Simpson at https://ericksimpson.com/.

-- -- --

Have a great week.

- Karl P.

:-)

Taught By: Karl Palachuk and Manuel Palachuk

- Five Tuesdays - March 22 - April 19

- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific

Features

This course is intended for managers and owners of a managed service business. It covers many facets of the “checklist mentality” that the instructors have used at a variety of successful IT consulting businesses.

In addition to building hundreds of checklists and standard processes for KPEnterprises in Sacramento, CA, the authors have both written books, trained individuals, and coached teams on successful processes and habits for running a modern, successful managed service business.

This course will cover daily the use of checklists in daily operations as well as the “larger picture” of running the entire company. It will address both internal checklists for running your own company and external checklists for managing client relationships and client technology.

This is an intensive live webinar course over a five week period. All assignments are voluntary, of course. But if you want feedback on assignments, please complete assignments during this course and email them to the instructor.

Sample Handouts for this course:

Unit 1 What is a Checklist / Sample: Daily Backup Monitoring and Maintenance

Unit 2 Employee Hiring Process / Exit Process

Unit 3 New Client On-boarding / Client Off-boarding / Quarterly Client Roadmap

Unit 4 Monthly Maintenance Checklist / New PC Checklist

Unit 5 The Pre-Discovery Checklist / Class Summary

Delivered by Karl Palachuk and Manuel Palachuk, authors of the Network Migration Workbook and many other books for MSPs – managed service providers.

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

SOP: KISS your PSA!

You can always check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

OR my Relax-Focus-Succeed Channel at https://www.youtube.com/relaxfocussucceed

Dave Seibert was our featured guest on the March members-only Roundtable. Members can access the recording here.

Among other things, Dave talked about his unique strategy for expanding his business empire. Unlike all those people obsessed with M&A, Dave's got a strategy that keeps his business fresh, always cutting edge, and very profitable.

Plus he gives some great info on attending conferences and keeping the mental DNA fresh.

Our April Roundtable guest is George Sierchio - and the topic is mergers and acquisitions. So it will be a great follow-up. Details soon.

-- -- --

The March news video is out. If you haven't seen it, click above.

That's it for this week. I'll see you at the meeting on Thursday.

Thank you!

:-)

We ran into a LOT of people from Minnesota, Ohio, New York, and other places generally described at "cold."

And even though I don't work very hard, it's great to actually get away once in a while. My preferred relaxation travel is generally 4-5 days with 1-2 hours of actual work. But taking eight days is pretty darn good as well.

What's your idea of a good vacation?

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.

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.

New Jersey

March 9th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

More Info: https://www.comptia.org/events/all-events/comptia-communities-councils-forum-(ccf)-2022

March 22-24

Orlando, FL

More Info: https://www.mspworldconference.com/home

March 23-24

Kansan City, MO

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

March 30-31, 2022

Austin, TX

More info: https://www.iotssa.com/cybersecurity-expo-austin/

More Info: https://www.channelpartnersconference.com/

April 14

Anaheim, CA

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/karl

April 20-22, 2022

Orlando, FL

More Info: https://www.knowbe4.com/kb4-con

April 20-21

Chicago, IL

Moe Info: https://asciievents.com/

More Info: https://acesconf.com/

Chicago

May 5th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

May 17-19

Miami Beach, FL

More Info: https://www.ingrammicrocloudsummit.com/

May 24-25

Boston, MA

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

June 6-9

San Francisco, CA

More Info: https://www.rsaconference.com/usa

Texas

June 7th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

June 7-9

Location TBD

More Info: https://www.womentech.net/women-tech-conference

June 12-16

Las Vegas

More Info: https://www.ciscolive.com/us.html

June 14-15

London

More Info: https://www.channelevolutioneurope.com/

June 15-16

Long Beach, CA

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

July 21

Anaheim, CA

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/karl

July 27-28

Toronto, ON

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

August 1-3, 2022

Houston, TX

More Info: Coming after ChennelCon 2021 ;-)

Charlotte NC

Aug 9

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

August 21-23

Denver, CO

More Info: https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-plus-august

August 23-24

Miami, FL

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

Sept. 12-15, Orlando

More Info: https://www.themspsummit.com/

Washington DC area

Sept 8th

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022

Phoenix

More Info: https://www.iotssa.com/cybersecurity-expo-phoenix/

September 28-29

Parsippany, NJ

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

October 4-5

Dallas, TX

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

October 20

Anaheim, CA

More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/karl

So Calif

Nov 3rd

More Info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/

November 7 - 9

Miami, FL

More Info: Coming Soon.

November 9 - 11

More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na