SMB Community Podcast: Business Advice for Small MSP Owners

We report a bit on one aspect of ChannelCon. Both Black Hat and DefCon were in Vegas during ChannelCon. So the question is: Are we any LESS secure with these folks in town? Of course this leads into a discussion of what the three of us do to keep our "devices" secure while we travel.

Somewhat related links:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2019/08/12/how-safe-is-your-wifi-connection/1984961001/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/11/20800979/check-point-canon-eos-80d-dslr-malware-ransomware-cybersecurity

All of this discussion can be used to help educate your clients. We recommend that you schedule regular security trainings as a way to engage clients on the "business" level.

Topic 2: University buys Amazon Dots for every student dorm room. Interestingly, this program is not sponsored by Amazon.

The specific device is Alexa for Business & Voice. Once again, this is the march of the advancement of voice at the user interface.

Link:
https://www.cnet.com/features/alexa-time-for-class-how-one-university-put-an-echo-dot-in-every-dorm-room/

Interesting take-away: No one who puts a program like this in place is going to do it themselves. You may or may not make money on devices, but the consulting opportunity is huge.

Topic 3: Decency - Kind of.

Internet companies in the U.S. are not held liable for things posted on their medium if those postings are not controlled by the hosting service. For example: You can't sue Yelp for ratings or comments made by users on Yelp.

Background:
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is blamed for everything from social-media bias to enabling revenge porn. Angela Chen explains the law that created the modern internet. Is it time to update this law?

The law itself: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230

Not really Topic 4: A funny story about Alexa. Try this with your friends.

Jay McBain is Forrester's Principal Analyst, Channels, Partnership, and Alliances.

He's always fun to talk to. And get ready to listen to this one two or three times. Jay drops numbers all the time. So go get a pencil before you hit "play."

You can connect with Jay at:

• https://go.forrester.com/blogs/author/jay_mcbain/

Jay is one of the most visible thought leaders in the global technology channel. He was named to the Top 40 Under Forty by the Business Review as well as numerous channel media top influencer lists, he is often sought out for industry guidance and future trends. He has spent his 25 year career in various executive channel sales, marketing, and strategy roles within IBM, Lenovo, Autotask, and ChannelEyes.

A few quick stats: Jay counts

• 54 Channel magazines
• across 200 countries
• 150 tradeshows
• A dozen associations
• Plus peer groups
• 80 LinkedIn groups
• 30 Facebook Groups
• and about 600,000 channel service companies overall

The conversation covers a lot of ground. I promise you'll get a "bigger" picture of the world you compete it.

:-)

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.

Live from CompTIA ChannelCon. Recorded in the "Think and Drink Lounge." We have lots of reflections about the activities and people at ChannelCon.

Topic One: There's a growing tendency to encourage people to skip college and just go to trade school. We comment on this advice - and look at it as a complicated question. That route may be completely appropriate for some people, but it is not a decision that should be made lightly.

Topic Two: Emerging Technologies (the CompTIA community and more). There's lots of excitement, some tempered disappointment, and a strong need to figure out how IT professionals make money with emerging technologies.

Topic Three: Vendors need to figure out how to be perpetually relevant to their channe. How do you do that when markets change, new technologies emerge, competitors attack, and business models in the channel become obsolete? And from the solution provider's perspective, how do we make money when our vendors are going through these non-stop gyrations?

From there we discuss how you engage with vendor connections you find at conference, including CompTIA.

Topic One: Can you trust Facebook to read your mind?

One thought is that it's pretty cool, no matter who creates it. But having Facebook be the creator immediately makes us nervous.

Lessons for you: Losing your customers' trust lasts a very long time.

Overall, a fun conversation about tech and trust.

Relevant Link:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604229/facebooks-sci-fi-plan-for-typing-with-your-mind-and-hearing-with-your-skin/

Topic Two: A deeper dive into Microsoft's services strategy. This starts with a discussion of gaming, but is a reflection on a much bigger picture. Sony and Microsoft are working together to take on Google.

And this is yet another march toward the dominance of services over both hardware and software.

Relevant links:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/20/18632374/microsoft-sony-cloud-gaming-partnership-amazon-google

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/07/30/microsofts-surprising-new-take-on-the-console-war-isnt-surprising-at-all/#77c16bf5a5d4

Bottom line: the relentless move to services will have a long term effect on your business!

Topic Three: More about how services matter. Apple announced a 13% jump in their services while iPhone hardware slows. Wearables is a huge growth area for Apple.

Related link:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/apple-earnings-the-iphone-just-stepped-into-the-background

:-)

I caught up with Rayanne Buchianico from Sell My MSP (http://www.sellmymsp.com). She gave us the big update on their 2019 Refresh.

It's more than a web site update. They've got a new valuation tool and more.

Rayanne owns ABC Solutions in Clearwater, FL. She help MSPs get their finances straightened in order to run their company most efficiently. As you can imagine, this includes some great skills that will help MSPs as they start looking at selling their companies.

ABC Solutions is a public accounting firm in Clearwater, FL. They focus on helping MSPs with accounting and bookkeeping services.

Rayanne created the very cool valuation tool you'll find at sellmymsp.com. That tool is newly reconfigured to look at Gross Revenue, Gross Profit, or EBITDA prices. Rayanne discusses this a bit in the interview.

We cover a lot of territory here, including both the buyers' and the sellers' perspectives. We also talk about the practical side of cleaning up your profit and loss statement so you're ready to go on the market.

Yes, we discuss fees with complete transparency.

Of course Rayanne will help you with the work of fixing your P&L if you need that. Such services are not included in the listing fee, of course.

My favorite surprising note from this interview: Even if you're not profitable, your clients might be worth something! Obviously, there's more money with more profit. But your business is probably worth something even if you don't make a big profit!

Disclaimer: I have used Rayanne's Company (ABC Solutions) to help me revise, update, and "fix" my QuickBooks accounts. I receive no money or even a tall beer if you spend your money with ABC Solutions or Sell My MSP. Also: The FTC has no idea how business works in the real world.

Side note: Rayanne is teaching a class on maximizing your financials starting August 6th. It's called Financial Services for the IT Services Industry. See www.greatlittleseminar.com.

Another favorite note: There are two types of business owners. One maximizes tax deductions and shows no profit on the bottom line. The other maximizes profit and ends up paying more taxes. ONE of these is far more valuable on the day you sell your business.

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're preparing for Las Vegas, ChannelCon, hot weather, and a swarm of grasshoppers! Stay tuned for our next episode - to be recorded live in Vegas.

We start this episode with a little catch-up on technology news. This includes massive profit increases for Alphabet (Google) and Amazon, the $5 Billion fine of Facebook, and Apple's purchase of Intel's smartphone modem technology. Of course we have opinions on all of this, with some thoughts on how all of this might affect IT service providers. And somewhere along the way we comment on the merger of of T-Mobile and Sprint.

Quick note on ChannelPro graphic mentioned: Find the link at https://www.channelpronetwork.com/download/who-owns-who-managed-services. The PDF link is https://www.channelpronetwork.com/file/34885/download - You'll need to be logged in to download that.

Topic Two is about Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft's commitment to open source AI. From there we explore AI in general, how much is real, how this affect related technologies, and some speculation on who to bet on.

Related Link:
https://www.technologyreview.com/f/613994/microsoft-is-investing-1-billion-in-openai-to-create-brain-like-machines/

Topic Three: What small change can you propose that would make a huge difference? Case in point is the proposal to reconfigure airline seats so the "middle seat" gets an armrest.

Related Link:
https://www.fastcompany.com/90377949/airlines-are-finally-fixing-the-middle-seat

How do you help your clients with the little things that separate you from the competition?

Homework assignment: The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor.

:-)

I always see Mr. Tim Conkle on the road - as places like ChannelPro. Luckily, I got to catch up with him on the SMB Community Podcast.

Tim holds over 30 years of entrepreneurial success in the Information Technology and Services sector. As a leading voice in the Managed IT Service Provider space, Tim is dedicated to developing simple, solid IT solutions for SMB clients and MSPs (Managed Service Providers) across the nation. His notoriously energetic nature, along with his deep-rooted passion for technology, has helped him forge solid customer relationships built on trust, dependability, and service. Tim currently serves as President & CEO of Roland Technology, President of the Board of Directors for Cytracom, and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO).

As CEO of The 20, Conkle is the driving force behind a business revolutionizing the IT industry. By utilizing a proven multi-million dollar sales model and an execution framework that he developed, Tim helps MSPs attain profitability and success. Through The 20's business model, Tim has advised more than 175 MSPs in sales and operations, resulting in catastrophic revenue generation and millions of dollars in savings from process improvements and single-funnel vendor access.

If you're interested in attending The 20's Vision conference, you can Save $100 off your ticket with the code PALACHUK. See www.the20vision.com.

Contact Info:

Web - https:/www.the20.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/The20MSP/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-20/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/the20msp

:-)

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're all back in the house for Episode 17.

We kick off with a discussion of bandwidth. With all the talk about 5G, the US continues to have some pretty slow internet access. See

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/12/20681214/mobile-speeds-slow-ookla-5g

Dave notes that there is actually a lot of channel potential here. How should solution providers be looking at bandwidth? Does partnering to sell connectivity make sense? What is the channel takeaway?

From there we return to one of our ongoing conversations: What do we do with the mega-sized IT companies? One suggestion is to force them to share some information about their data.

Of course that has several layers. Would sharing make a difference?

Article mentioned: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613629/making-big-tech-companies-share-data-could-do-more-good-than-breaking-them-up/# .

One potential outcome is that an open data architecture can result in new products and services. As a solution provider, how do you make money on privacy as a feature?

. . . And how do you educate clients on this? Give us your feedback! How do YOU educate clients on this?

Topic 3: Almost the entire country of Bulgaria was hacked! The attack was not sophisticated, and the attacker was far from a genius. And what will be the response? Probably nothing, or close to nothing?

How much noise is too much noise about security? Does anyone care about security anyway?

Dominica DeGrandis is Director of Digital Transformation at Tasktop, where she helps customers improve the flow of work across value streams. Responsible for introducing customers to flow-based aspects of digital transformation, she guides IT teams and business teams to learn and adopt new ways of working to improve performance.

Dominica is the author of "Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow." She is a huge fan of using visual cues to reveal mutually critical information across organizations to inspire change and spur alignment. Dominica lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and extended family.

Here we talk about metrics, work flow, and the great benefits of minimizing WIP – work in progress. We also talked about engaging managers in the discussion of work flow and metrics.

DeGrandis is excellent at seeing how processes work and finding ways to help participants literally see how work flows through the system. She advocates using Kanban boards to create a view of what's going on at various levels in an organization. This can also help individuals see how their specific metrics affect the larger business goals.

We also discussed the topic of "Priority vs. Calendar." DeGrandis has a talk on this subject. She talks about The 30 Minute Jam, the All Day Cram, and the Triple-Book Wham. Many people – especially creative people – need large blocks of time on the calendar in order to reach and maintain "flow" and get quality work done.

I love her assertion that most people have more control over their calendar than they believe.

Lots of good stuff here. Enjoy!

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.

Quick note at the beginning: The Smithsonian will be projecting a Saturn V rocket on the side of the Washington Monument as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the moon landing. See http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/07/09/smithsonian-project-saturn-rocket-washington-monument/.

As a follow-up to last week's discussion of Microsoft making changes to their partner program, we now discuss the reversal of that policy. The bigger discussion we want to have is around your long-term relationship with Microsoft specifically and vendors generally. One big lesson is that you shouldn't be angry because Microsoft is moving in a different direction. Another is that you have to decide whether your long-term trajectory is the same as Microsoft (or any other vendor, for that matter).

Related story: https://www.channele2e.com/channel-partners/program/microsoft-backs-down-abandons-partner-program-changes/

Next up . . . Google admits they’re listening to us. We are SHOCKED . . . (not). See https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/google-admits-to-listening-in-on-private-conversations-via-assistant/story/364104.html.

Two interesting points here. One: We all ignore the license agreements, but we've matured to a point where companies can be a lot more open about this. Two: While we might not have anything to hide, privacy is about simply expecting that no one else is tuning in. And of course, one more nod to digital ethics.

Is this something you can use to start a client-facing conversation?

. . . that leads into . . .

Startup "Superhuman" is doing cool, automated things with email. And that includes GPS tracking and other tools that people may not realize they are giving up just because they open email.

See https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/12/superhuman-offers-users-a-shortcut-to-empty-inbox-nirvana.

Dave notes that we hold start-ups and smaller companies to a different standard that big companies like Google.