Nothing Happens by Itself
Copyright © 2022 Karl W. Palachuk
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Greetings!
How's Your Year Going?
I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with the "numbers" inside my business, but I do keep a close eye on them.
One of my fundamental beliefs is that you get better at whatever you put your focus on. Even without a specific plan, you'll get better at finances, technology, or customer service by simply bringing it into your consciousness.
That's one reason why I at least glance at my numbers every day. Many people do this once a week. Some people I've met never look at their numbers.
The funny thing about reviewing your numbers is that it takes a while to understand what you're looking at, if you don't do it often. But if you do it everyday, then it takes seconds. Or maybe a minute.
Well, we're not more than 1/3 of the way through the year and there's some noticeable inflation in the mix. So, if you're not used to tracking your numbers, this might be a good time to start.
If nothing else, you should start building a plan for the second half of the year.
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How is your cash flow? Remember: When times get tough, cash tends to disappear. Is cash flowing into and out of your business about the same each month?
And maybe more importantly, do you have enough cash available in case cash flow slows?
It's also a good time to talk to your clients. How does their year look? Will they have cash problems? Will they need to make cuts? You can speculate, but you'll probably be wrong. One of the other absolutely unbreakable rules is: Don't have both sides of the conversation. If you want to know how your clients are doing, ASK.
Some companies (perhaps yours, perhaps your clients) have seasonal cash flow. How will this affect the rest of 2022 for you?
May is a great month to look at your monthly numbers. You've got some idea how close it is to last year. And if there's trouble ahead, it is probably visible by now. You might not have a "plan" per se, but now's a good time to determine whether you need to plan for changes in the second half of the year.
If there's trouble brewing, the worst thing you can do it to ignore it. If you need to make cuts in your business, or other important changes, it's best to do them from a deliberate perspective rather than having to suddenly make cuts.
If you have a monthly spreadsheet for the year (which I recommend), it's not a good idea to change projections all the time. But every three or four months, it does make sense to tweak those projections based on the realistic environment your business is in.
And the truth is: Even if it's all good news, doing a business self-tune-up two or three times a year is always a good idea.
Just a few thoughts on a sunny day in California.
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Strategy Folder
On a mostly unrelated note, do you have a "strategy" folder? In my file storage, I have an operations folder to hold additional folders such as finance, personnel, etc. And one of those sub-folders is called Strategy.
That's where I throw text files of ideas, pictures that inspire me, and Excel spreadsheets of possible new adventures. It's basically a holding place for the old adage - working ON my business.
The very act of occasionally opening this folder and browsing the contents will jump-start your brain. To see, how, read my 2018 blog posts on the RAS or Reticular Activating System.
The best part: There are no instructions. Create the folder. Throw ideas in there. And then browse through it once in a while. Your brain will do the rest.
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A Big Thank You to everyone who attended the NSITSP meeting last week. I did a summary blog post at https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com, and will do several follow-up posts on the NSITSP web site.
I honestly believe we are doing important work for the industry. Please join us:
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Those are my thoughts for the week.
Have a great week.
- Karl P.
:-)
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Next Five Week Course:
Project Management - Starts May 31st
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Our of our most popular classes.
Highly Successful Project Management
Based on the book, Project Management in Small Business.
You’re guaranteed to learn something that will make or save you the price of admission!
Taught By: Karl Palachuk, author and coach
- Five Tuesdays - May 31st - June 28th
- All classes start a 9:00 AM Pacific
This course will cover the most important aspects of project management for small business. It is intended for computer consultants, VARs, and managed service providers. Whether you sell projects on a Time-and-Materials basis or flat fee, it is critical to manage them successfully. Successful projects are more than simply profitable. Successful projects make you look good. They make the client more productive and potentially more profitable. They help you build a positive relationship.
Tuition includes the book in PDF format along with all associated downloads.
This course is intended for consultants who are new to project management as well as those who have been running projects for years and would like to take a serious step up to the next level of professionalism and profitability.
This is an intensive 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.
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You will learn:
- Different kinds of project management; What’s best for this job?
- Tools to Use for managing your projects
- Documentation at all stages
- Pre-Discovery Process
- The Discovery Process
- Documentation and Communication
- After the Project
- Checklists of all kinds
- Project Planning, Quoting, and Selling
- Why Projects Go Wrong
- The Scope is Everything
- Closed Loop Project Management
- How an Ant Eats an Elephant
- Managing Projects in Your PSA
- Microsoft Project
- Client Training
- The Evaluation Process
- Managing Time / Managing Employees
- Outsourcing Options
- Creating Repeatable, Successful Projects
- Building an Action Plan that works
- and MORE!
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Technician
- 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 Setting the Stage – What is a Successful Project?
Unit 2 Project Planning, Quoting, Selling
Unit 3 Closed Loop Execution
Unit 4 Staffing and Repeatable Success
Unit 5 Implementing Your PM Process
Delivered by Karl Palachuk, author of Managed Services in a Month and many other books for MSPs – managed service providers.
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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SBT Technology Community News |
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Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:
Our YouTube Channel is now reaching about 14,000 views per month. Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!
A quick guide to my Playlists:
- Total: Over 800 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
- 340+ 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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May Monthly Meeting - Thursday the 19th |
It's "Third Thursday" already. Join us on Zoom for our regular meeting, plus a few announcements.
We've had a number of members joining on a regular basis. Keep it up!
If you haven't attended a weekly meeting, don't be shy. It's a very low key and often very educational discussion. ALL members are welcome. Share your victories and challenges.
And if you want your question to be on the top of the pile, fill out the form on your Community dashboard. The link is there as well.
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If you haven't seen the May news video, check it out here.
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That's it for this week. I'll see you at the meeting on Thursday.
Thank you!
:-)
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This is the kind of sign you can expect at the place I go for dinner.
:-)
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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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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
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
June 23-24
Chicago, IL
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July
SMB Techfest
July 21
Anaheim, CA
ASCII Success Summit
July 27-28
Toronto, ON
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CompTIA ChannelCon 2022
August 2-4, 2022
Chicago, IL
Join Me Live!
Celebration of Community - Karl W. Palachuk - Not a Roadshow
August 6th
Edinburgh, Scotland
Join Me Live!
Celebration of Community - Karl W. Palachuk - Not a Roadshow
August 9th
Glasgow, Scotland
Join Me Live!
Celebration of Community - Karl W. Palachuk - Not a Roadshow
August 11th
Manchester, UK
Join Me Live!
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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
DattoCon
Washington, DC
Sept 11-13
IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo
Sept. 14-15 --> was January 18 - 20, 2022
Phoenix
ASCII Success Summit
September 28-29
Parsippany, NJ
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Sept. 29-30
Omaha, NE
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October
ASCII Success Summit
October 4-5
Dallas, TX
SMB Techfest
October 20
Anaheim, CA
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SMB IT Professionals Conference - Australia
October 21-22
Gold Coast
Join me Live !!!
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November
ChannelPro SMB Summit
So Calif
Nov 3rd
Acronis Summit in Miami
November 7 - 9
Miami, FL
IT Nation Connect 2022
November 9 - 11
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/connect-na
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December
James Kernan's Millionaire Mastermind Quarterly
Dec. 8-9
Las Vegas, NV
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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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