SMB Community Podcast: Business Advice for Small MSP Owners

Please check out our new “Killing IT Reading List” - at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.

Promo: Join us at the SMB Online Conference May 19-20. As a bonus, we're doing a "Killing IT Live" session. Check it out at https://www.smbonlineconference.com.

Topic 1: The Next Evolution of Facial Recognition - good and bad

Makers of facial-recognition technology are trying to figure out how to adapt to a world in which people cover their faces to avoid spreading disease.

Scouring social media and other apps for facial recognition database. Is this legal? Ethical? Also - finding children who have been victims of crimes. Sounds good, but also has some drawbacks.

Links:
How Well Can Algorithms Recognize Your Masked Face?
https://www.wired.com/story/algorithms-recognize-masked-face/

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202002/victim-identification-officer-says-clearview-facial-recognition-biggest-breakthrough-chicago-to-review-use-by-cpd

Topic 2: The Facebook “Supreme Court”

Facebook announces a board beyond Mark Z. to determine what is acceptable on their platform. Self regulation takes a different spin when you get to appoint the board that governs you - in hopes that governments won't.

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-names-20-people-overrule-mark-zuckerberg/

An interesting take-away for the previous two topics: Government regulation and self-regulation are important factors. You need to engage in these discussion with your clients.

Topic 3: Technology after the Pandemic - The Small Business Sales process

What will change after we get to leave our houses? Some things won't go back. In addition, many people are now comfortable doing a totally-online sales pitch. Others are eager to get back to the way things were.

We add our perspective.

. . . This episode brought to you by Bob's Metal Bending Shop . . .

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Nigel built and sold a managed service business - and survived the last big recession. In this interview he talks with Karl Palachuk about the lessons he's learned.

Nigel went on to found the Tech Tribe membership community and now helps hundreds of IT consultants run great businesses. Recently, he released a new ebook: Survive & Thrive: The MSP Owners Guide to Surviving & Thriving in Uncertain Times. (Available at thetechtribe.com)

Nigel talks about the current environment, the "essential" role of IT in the current situation, and being a true business adviser.

This is a 100% business-focused podcast. We talk about getting your finances under control, and keeping them that way forever. Managing cash inside your company is critical - and it needs to become a permanent process.

We also touched on downsizing. No one wants to do it, but you may have to do it in order for your business to survive. And, of course, you need to do it the right way to improve the culture within your remaining team.

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The Tech Tribe is Nigel's training and coaching community. The book (Survive & Thrive) is available for download at: https://thetechtribe.com/guide/.

Information on the Tribe generally is at https://thetechtribe.com/.

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Sponsor Info:

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:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Check out the “Killing IT Reading List” at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.

Topic 1: Virtual Events -- what you want to see

A different kind of discussion here. Would you rather rush out from quarantine to a channel-focused event, or maybe a sporting event, a social event, or even a concert?

We are still waiting for a "killer app" for online events.

Topic 2: The Economy

Where are we? Note: Wild speculation ahead!

We are clearly on our our way to recession. How soon will we start to move out of it?

How paralyzed are you by the statistics? What are the implications for business when there is so much uncertainty? In the previous topic we talked about the specifics of dealing with this regarding conference events. What about the rest of our economic interactions?

And the big question: What is the best approach for your business to take to guarantee survival in this environment?

Topic 3: Technology after the Pandemic - Office space after the Pandemic

You have to dig a bit . . . but there’s a mention of voice-activated elevators. Dave’s favorite interface!

Related Link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/23/offices-after-coronavirus/

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:-)

Host Karl Palachuk meets up with Justin Esgar to talk about the ACES Conference 2020: The Prequel - a free conference for all small to medium business owners, to help them survive and thrive in a post-Covid world!

Justin is the owner of Virtua Consulting Group, a NYC-based company that helps not only clients with IT, but other consultants as well. Virtua Computers helps those companies with Mac-Based inventory, Virtua XYZ provides software to help MSPs succeed, Virtua Consulting offers 1 on 1 consulting with MSP owners to help grow their business, and Virtua Conferences, owners of the popular ACES Conference - a business conference for IT professionals and MSPs.

Additional Links:

https://virtuaconsultinggroup.com https://acesconf.com

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Topic 1: CX Rules - Amazon makes it a little more difficult to buy - so you won’t be disappointed.

Amazon has made several subtle changes in response to the current economic environment. Specifically, their delivery times and inventory are no longer as reliable as they used to be. One example: They have reduced the “people also bought this” option so they are not automatically pushing items that might be out of stock or take longer to fulfill.

They are also pushing Kindle versions of books, which never go out of stock.

The goal is to minimize bad Customer Experience and maximize the positive Customer Experiences they can. Their assumption is that people are keeping track of who serves them well and who disappoints them during these unusual economic times.

Related Link:
https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/amazon-is-changing-its-website-to-do-something-truly-unimaginable.html

Topic 2: Good Communication is critical in these unusual times.

Here we highlight a disagreement between an IT department and the people they serve. IT is more critical than ever to every organization - and they need to learn how to work with people!

Links:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/online-learning-sputters-again-in-fairfax-as-proof-mounts-that-district-was-warned-of-issues/2020/04/20/e9d2042a-830f-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html

The School Board tried to blame IT… and IT struck back and got their letter in the WaPo:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/sbts-s-april-19-2020-letter-to-fairfax-county-school-board/4a5941a3-7e50-47f4-8818-3396a4097c06/?fbclid=IwAR00u5qY7lM6WdzbOdfcrTOVxabZP0f_WEPBpaSqOIt0b7CTutuHTDg5K70

Topic 3: Technology after the Pandemic - Cutting edge technologies to help keep the food chain safe.

IT - and blockchain in particular - will change the way we keep food safe.

Key quote:
“Gartner predicts that 20% of the Top 10 grocers worldwide will be using blockchain by 2025 to improve food safety and traceability by creating a secure ledger documenting its production, quality and freshness.”

Link:
https://diginomica.com/critical-role-it-assuring-food-safety-pandemic-times

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Host Amy Babinchak talks with Janet Schijns about how to generate demand, social selling, tactics to use when times are bad and community based IT marketing - you won't want to miss this.

Janet Schijns is CEO and Co-Founder of JS Group, a go to market consultancy dedicated to achieving results in the channel. Janet was the 2019 Channel Influencer of the year and is a known expert on go to market.

Additional Links:

https://jsgnow.com twitter @channelsmart linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetschijns/

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Topic 1: Community Rant - Helping your clients with finances.

We cannot believe that there are "experts" recommending that you lower your rates, forgive debts, and be the financial support for your clients in the rough times ahead! Just because someone bought time on a webinar does not mean that you should be taking their advice.

There are ways to cut costs by offering different services. Please do not create a "loss leader" service in a recession! Cash remains king.

Please do not simply charge less and give the same level of service: That breaks the value chain.

Topic 2: Education and Online Learning - How much opportunity is here?

Sending all the student home has made clear that there are systemic problems with "universal" online education. Many students do not have the Internet connectivity or resources to simply switch to online education.

In addition, there are lots of teachers who have never used online tools to deliver education. And if all the colleges go online, they will compete in ways they have never competed before.

Yes, there's "opportunity" here, but the world is more complicated than that simple statement implies.

Topic 3: Technology after the pandemic - Robots Welcome to take some jobs

We were struck by the article below on how robots are being accepted instead of feared, at least in one specific example. There have been commentaries for years about the fear of robots taking jobs. But in this strange pandemic context, we're finding that robots are welcome to do certain jobs that humans aren't interested in doing.

Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/coronavirus-workplace-automation.html?referringSource=articleShare

:-)

Host James Kernan interviewed Tim Taylor.

Tim is the Founder and President of TaylorWorks, Inc., a leading Managed Service provider in Central Florida. For over 20 years, TaylorWorks has provided companies with proactive IT consulting and support services. Tim has successfully guided his company over the past several years to 300% growth rate. Tim also has a consulting practice, www.timtaylorconsulting.com, where he helps MSPs grow their practices and become more profitable.

Additional Relevant Information http://www.timtaylorconsulting

Links:

Podcast https://twitter.com/ttaylor614 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TimTaylorConsulting/ Web http://www.timtaylorconsulting LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorworks/

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We start with a nerdy technology catch-up.

Topic 1: The Channel Gets a Boost

We all know that there's been a spike in spending as the first response to the big stay-at-home orders. So most tech companies have seen a good influx of cash. We recommend that you consider this a short-term boost. CRN thinks it will be a longer term up-tick. We discuss.

Related Link:
https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/coronavirus-driving-massive-surge-in-tech-purchases-the-channel-company-research

Topic 2: Should you lower rates in response to economic downturn?

(No. Here’s why.)

We agree that this is definitely NOT the time to lower your rates. Raise value, but don't lower rates. Create new offerings, if you need to, but always be strategic about it.

When you rely on recurring revenue, dropping rates is a critical error because it echoes across the months ahead!

Topic 3: Technology after the pandemic - Changes to cities

Once everyone moved "home" in response to the pandemic, some of them may not go back to the office. How extensive will this be?

Many people will go back to business as usual, but we also think there will be a lot of permanent changes. This includes restaurants, commercial offices, and many of your clients.

Feedback welcome!

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Interview: Harry Brelsford from 420MSP

Harry joins us for the one year anniversary of the launch 420 MSP (www.420MSP.com).

Harry released How to Be an MSP - vertical edition focused on the cannabis industry last year at this time. His community has grown significantly. If you listen carefully, he digs right into the technology of the cannabis vertical.

Perhaps the biggest thing going on right now in the industry is the growth of legalization. Harry talks about the challenges of this along with the culture of the industry vertical. One piece of that is the acceleration of legalization in response to the "quarantine" orders regarding the current virus pandemic.

Several states have listed cannabis outlets as "essential" businesses during this very strange era. As a result, Harry believes that legalization will move from a five-year horizon to perhaps at two or three year horizon. That's speculation, of course, but gives a strong argument about the growth of this industry during the economic downturn we're about to experience.

We covered lots of other great territory as well. This is a great business-focused discussion.

Primary site: https://420msp.com/

Book: https://420msp.com/2020/01/how-to-be-an-msp/

Conference info:

June 1-5, 2020 Online https://420msp.com/answers-20-20-conference/

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.