It's Memorial Day in the U.S.

I hope you are able to take some time off work. Our offices are closed.

-- -- --

Ukraine heads up: My long-time friend Rob Marenich is the co-founder of a nonprofit that is providing services for victims of the Ukraine conflict. These folks were, briefly, refugees in Poland and other countries. But now they've returned home to cities without services.

I say heads up because I'm going to organize a call with Rob about the crisis and what IT people can do to help. The call will be convenient to people in the European time zones, since those are the folks who can most easily contribute goods and services.

Anyway, no details yet. But stay tuned.

YouTube Updates. I've linked my recent blog post below. There are four new features you might notice on YouTube. Two of them are pretty cool. ;-)

MSP Radio . . . Speaking of YouTube, Dave Sobel's YT channel - MSP Radio - is growing fast. He won't overtake me this week. But he probably will by the end of June. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu0s5jO5LM-iLZgOK_seAzA - And subscribe.

NSITSP YouTube . . . And as long as you're in the neighborhood, please subscribe to the NSITSP channel. We need just NINE more subscribers before we can get a custom URL. Some people just can't remember "UCDF4jjX3iWr3JUMfXM9b5Gw" - not sure why. But a custom URL will help them.

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Last year, I wrote some blog posts and hosted some meetings. And before I knew it, the National Society of IT Service Providers came into existence. Many of the readers of this newsletter have become the leaders and volunteers that make that organization go.

I've struggled with analogies during the launch period.

But as the months passed, I've come to realize that what we're really doing is turning a flywheel. In the beginning, it takes a lot of energy to get the wheel to move a tiny bit. With a little bit more energy, the wheel moves more easily. Eventually, it makes one revolution.

As the wheel turns, it takes less energy to keep it going. And even increasing speed takes less energy than the original movement. After our official incorporation last year, we are finally seeing the big flywheel turning more easily.

Now we're ready for the next step.

Our membership realizes that we need vendors to succeed. Without vendors, we have no products or services to resell. This includes creators, suppliers, hosters, and distributors. It also includes the tools we use to run our business, supply services to clients, and evaluate ourselves as business entities.

Basically, if you have a booth at an IT show, you're a vendor; If you're walking up and down the aisles, you're a partner. In fact, we already have vendors serving on committees and the Board of Directors.

Everyone is welcome in the NSITSP. Personally, I like to think of all of us as part of the SMB IT technology ecosystem. We all need each other to be successful so that we can be successful.

Now the NSITSP is launching our Vendor Partner Program. If you are a vendor, PLEASE join us June 15th. Amy Babinchak, President of the Board, and I will be hosting a meeting to present our program and answer all your questions.

June 15th - 9AM Pacific / Noon Eastern

Find out more HERE - or just go ahead and register HERE.

I'm not sure about you, but *I* have a very busy Summer scheduled. Some business. Some personal adventure.

We have a great Project Management course starting tomorrow. See below.

I'm putting together the details of a trip to Scotland and the UK in August.

AND, if you're a member of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, we have some cool programs scheduled. We do NOT take off time for the summer. Your business doesn't close for the summer, and neither do we!

Those are my thoughts for the week.

I hope you have a great, short week.

- Karl P.

:-)

Based on the book, Project Management in Small Business.

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.

You will learn:

ITSP University Certification:

Meets Certification Requirements for:

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.

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.

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

The Inverse Relationship between Size and Service

Our YouTube tech channel is now reaching over 15,000 views per month. Subscribe today and don't miss a thing!

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

If you haven't seen the May news video, check it out here.

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

Thank you!

:-)

A bit of wisdom . . . from my favorite dive bar. This "ad" is on their juke box.

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.

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/

June 23-24

Chicago, IL

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

July 21

Anaheim, CA

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

July 27-28

Toronto, ON

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

More Info: https://connect.comptia.org/channelcon/home

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

More Info: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/2022/03/heads-up-making-non-roadshow-roadtrip.html

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/

More Info: https://dattocon.com/

IOTSSA Cybersecurity Expo

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/

Sept. 29-30

Omaha, NE

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

October 4-5

Dallas, TX

More Info: https://asciievents.com/

October 20

Anaheim, CA

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

More Info: https://www.smbitpro.org/smbit2022/

So Calif

Nov 3rd

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

November 7 - 9

Miami, FL

More Info: https://acronis.events/summit2022/

November 9 - 11

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

Dec. 8-9

Las Vegas, NV

More Info: https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event

View this and previous newsletters at