SMB Community Podcast

My guest this week is my friend Scott Millar from IT Rockstars and MSP Video Academy.

Scott is the founder of IT Rockstars. He has an extensive career spanning both IT and marketing.

As systems engineer at heart, Scott saw an opportunity at a young age in generating leads to his break-fix computer repair business using online marketing techniques.

This evolved into the managed service space where Scott has worked for over 15 years. Now he's helping fellow MSPs and IT business owners generate more leads and win more sales.

IT Rockstars offers IT business the opportunity to build a process into their business that will generate a steady, reliable stream of warm leads using proven digital marketing strategy and tactics.

Scot has a passion for SEO, but also realized that there are much quicker and more sustainable ways of marketing an IT business.

Find out about the four marketing pieces he offers every month, as well as some great "best practice" tips for Facebook Live and repurposing your video content on LinkedIn.

Links:

• https://www.itrockstars.net
• https://mspvideoacademy.com

:-)

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IoT Playbook - Part of the ChannelPro Network

I interviewed Mark Smith from ChannelPro Network and IoT Playbook.

Smith has been in IT for more than 25 years. He was the founder of Windows NT Magazine, a global media company that helped over 1M IT professionals. Mark is the Host of IoT Playbook, part of the ChannelPro Network.

IoTPlaybook is on a mission to find the early IoTMSP pioneers and get them to reveal their playbooks so that you benefit from the lessons they've learned from the hard way.

Playbooks show you the strategies, the business models, the technology stack, the marketing & sales angles, and everything else you need to succeed with each IoT managed service we cover.

Playbooks are designed to apply in your business right now.

Why you need to add IoT Managed Services to your business now

Links:

• podcast.iotplaybook.com
• www.FreeIoTClass.com

:-)

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I interviewed Alan Conboy of Scale Computing a few days ago.

Alan is the CTO office at Scale Computing. With more than 20 years of experience, he is an industry veteran and technology evangelist specializing in designing, prototyping, selling and implementing disruptive storage and virtualization technologies. Prior to Scale Computing, Conboy held positions at Lefthand Networks, ADIC, CreekPath Systems, and Spectra Logic.

Conboy is notably one of the first movers in the X86/X64 hyperconvergence space, and one of the first 30 people ever certified by Storage Network Industry Association.

Here we discuss Scale's latest partnership with Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection. This OEM partnership offers Acronis Backup to customers through Scale Computing channels, expands its disaster recovery capabilities and delivers archiving, enhanced data protection, and threat mitigation on the Scale Computing HC3 platform.

Sites:

• https://www.scalecomputing.com
• https://www.scalecomputing.com/blog
• https://twitter.com/ScaleComputing (@ScaleComputing)
• https://www.facebook.com/ScaleComputing/ (@ScaleComputing)
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/scalecomputing/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/ScaleComputing

:-)

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Had a great impromptu chat with Dave Sobel from MSP Radio and The Business of Tech (and the Killing IT podcast).

Dave has spent his time as both an IT Service Provider and a vendor. Now he is jumping into a new venture as an analyst and new reporter.

If you haven't checked it out already, head over to MSP Radio and subscribe to The Business of Tech - his daily five-minute podcast. Great stuff.

Dave mentions three important rules he's set for himself going forward:

1) Do things that are big, different, and significant

2) Don't talk to product marketing managers

3) Never sit on another pricing panel at conferences

Find out what's behind these and how they affect what he's up to.

I happen to know Dave has some pretty big things planned with MSP Radio, so tune in now and stay tuned.

Revevant Links:

MSP Radio: https://www.mspradio.com/

Killing IT Podcast: https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesobel/

:-)

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James Kernan: How to build Equity in your business BEFORE you sell - The 8 secrets to increasing the value of your business

I had a great chat with fellow coach James Kernan.

James is the author of the 36 Month Millionaire Program, and recently published books, Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives and Business Tips. For the past 12 years, James has served as a Principal Consultant for Kernan Consulting and provides Coaching, Advising and Mentoring programs to entrepreneurs and leaders.

We only had a half hour, but James covered a lot of territory. In today's crazy M&A environment, many people are approaching the sale of their business before they're ready. That is, they haven't done the ground work to maximize the value of their business before they get serious about selling it.

This discussion is chock-full of great advice!

Kernan Consulting offers One on One Coaching, CEO Peer Groups, M&A Consulting and online training programs. For more information on the company please visit: www.KernanConsulting.com or call: 888.VAR.COACH

Kernan Consulting empowers small-business owners to grow themselves, their teams and their profits using practical, proven and trusted business wisdom. If you want to learn how to create a winning company culture, grow a team of passionate and loyal workers who will help you win. If you want to learn how to market and sell better than your competition, and compensate your people in a way that motivates them to achieve more, then Kernan Consulting is for you. It's practical, applicable advice that can transform your business and help you become an incredible leader who others will gladly follow.

Links:

• https://kernanconsulting.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan
• https://twitter.com/jkernan
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/
• https://www.instagram.com/james_kernan/

:-)

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In this podcast, I interview Andrew Lassise, a serial entrepreneur who has built Rush Tech Support from his living room in 2014 to a multi million dollar managed services provider. He got sober in 2013 and has an incredible story of triumph over alcoholism and growing and scaling an IT company

Andrew also has a podcast, Self Made & Sober. He talks with entrepreneurs who are in recovery and are successful in business.

We kick it off with Andrew's story of hitting the bottom while being pulled over for drunk driving. It was in climbing out of that hole that Andrew found his love for IT service delivery.

An interesting twist here is that Andrew has ended up with a podcast where people tell their stories. They open themselves to vulnerability. And their stories help them go to their clients and prospects with their values and integrity on display.

An interesting person and story - I think you'll agree.

Links:

• www.rushtechsupport.com
• www.selfmade-coaching.com

:-)

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I had a lot of fun recording this podcast with Nicholas Ford (Account Executive - Partner Network at SherWeb) and Jacob Wellman (Associate Account Executive at SherWeb). In addition to working together, these guys are friends who have built a great culture in their department.

See the photo we discuss at www.smbcommunitypodcast.com.

Topics include fun at work, building a fun culture, and figuring out how to motivate people and teams. And while we have a lot of fun here, there's also lots of great advice about building your team.

You can connect with these guys on LinkedIn:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-ford-b5a371b1/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-wellman-7a879412b/

Comments welcome.

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I interviewed Ahin Thomas, Vice President of Backblaze. He describes himself as "A former bartender, songwriter and hand model."

Ahin previously worked as director of eCommerce at Sears Holdings, was the co-founder and CEO of Vintners' Alliance, and was the head of marketing for Symphony Commerce.

In this interview, Ahin talks about Backblaze's major products: Computer Backup and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. Computer Backup provides unlimited data storage, native clients that silently run in the background for Mac/Windows, and affordable prices with rock solid endpoint backups that do not require maintenance.

Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage works well with an established company and includes reliable/predictable pricing in an industry where it is lacking. It also empowers companies to "move to the cloud" and leaves room for MSPs to make a profit where they can switch to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, giving customers a discount vs. Amazon S3, and pocket the difference.

Relevant links: - https://www.backblaze.com - https://www.backblaze.com/blog/ - https://twitter.com/backblaze (@backblaze) - https://www.facebook.com/backblaze (@backblaze) - https://www.youtube.com/backblaze

:-)

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I caught up with Chris Wiser last week and grilled him on some of the secrets of creating a million dollar business.

The number one need in this industry is sales, and all the elements that lead to that (leads, prospects, appointments). But, as Chris says, even if MSPs get those opportunities, they can't close "without lowering their price."

Chris Wiser is the Founder and CEO of The Wiser Agency, a Digital Marketing, Coaching & Sales Agency based in Austin, Texas. The Wiser Agency focuses on helping IT & Managed Service Providers grow their businesses through Online Marketing, Advertising, and Sales Training. The Wiser Agency's '7 Figure MSP' system currently has over 200 clients all on their way to adding 7 Figures of revenue to their businesses this year.

You can apply to be a partner at www.7figuremsp.com.

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/OfficialChrisWiser

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cwiser

Web: www.chriswiser.com

Web: www.thewiseragency.com

:-)

I interviewed Keith Gillette, founder of TaskTrain, a new documentation tool for checklists and procedures. He describes TaskTrain as "A practical tool to scale your business by eliminating avoidable errors & increasing operational efficiency.

Keith Gillette is a "process pragmatist" and Founder/CEO of TaskTrain, a process management SaaS application streamlined for SMBs. Keith has more than 25 years of IT operations management experience in both embedded and virtual CIO roles. He holds a Master of Science in Information & Telecommunications Systems Management as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Keith is a Six Sigma-certified senior member of the American Society for Quality.

As a systems administrator, Keith was often burned by lack of system configuration and procedural documentation, so he became diligent in documenting everything he did. He carried that lesson with him when he advanced to IT leadership. His motto became "If it's not documented, it's not done."

Based on that experience, Keith launched TaskTrain as the tool he wished he had back in the day.

Web Site: https://TaskTrain.app LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/tasktrain/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Task_Train Facebook: https://facebook.com/TaskTrain/

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