SMB Community Podcast

Josh Peterson has been a friend and mentor to me for many years. I am happy to interview him about his company and what he's up to.

Josh is the co-founder Bering McKinley, a consulting firm for MSP's and IT Solution Providers. He has been in the IT Solution Provider arena for the last 15 years. First as an owner, then as a management consultant with Taylor Business Group for 8 years, and now as founder of Bering McKinley.

Additionally Josh is a maniac for strong financial accounting practices being followed at business of all sizes. He believes, as Peter Drucker did: "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Josh has a deep respect for anyone who has the nerve to start their own business but also believes that only gets you so far. Sooner or later you have to take accountability for your business and perform at extraordinary levels to enjoy the lifestyle you deserve.

In this interview, Josh talks about the Bering McKinley Peer Teams. Note – that's not groups. Listen and find out why.

Web site: www.beringmckinley.com

Check out the interview here: This interview is 30 minutes.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

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

Lisa Hendrickson

Lisa Hendrickson is "Call That Girl" – an Office 365 and Outlook specialist. In this 30 minute interview we cover her business strategy, supporting O365, migrating email to the cloud, SEO blogging, and much more.

Lisa has grown a thriving business serving several audiences. She created the business to serve end users. But over time she's found herself helping I.T. consultants figure out how to move Exchange email up to the cloud with Appriver's Office 365 offering.

We have recently started selling Lisa's great 7-video training set: Outlook Troubleshooting for Technicians. See http://www.smbbooks.com.

Check out the interview here: This interview is 30 minutes.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

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

Mark Smith is the Executive VP of EH Media, publisher of ChannelPro magazine, as well as CEPro, Commercial Integrator, Security Sales and Integration. In a former life, Mark founded Windows NT magazine.

As I've mentioned in several settings, I'm a big believer that all the really fast-moving technologies are merging and adding TCP/IP into their offering. The key to success, of course, is to add recurring revenue and become a managed service provider.

In addition to some great stories from the past, we also cover the challenges of making money in the years ahead in all areas of technology service. EH Media has created a program to train everyone who's interested in technology service in the secrets of recurring revenue and managed services.

The program is call RPM: Recurring Profits Mastery.

Starting May 17th, I'll be teaching a new course on how to create your managed service offerings and go from "zero" to 100% managed services. It's called MSP Kickstart and it's a detailed 6-week online course.

The price is only $997.

But I requested a limited time discount! Check out the details at http://ehimpact.co/order-kickstart.

Then enter code kpkickstart to save $202. That makes your final price $795!

You literally need ONE new client to pay for the whole course.

Here's what you get:

Week 1: Adopt the MSP Mindset so you can position your company to take advantage of the cloud service opportunity

Week 2: Create a Profitable Offer so you can focus your efforts on the clients that will most likely buy your new offer and generate the fastest profits

Week 3: Service Agreements. You'll create the 3 key agreements so you can start selling your new profitable offer.

Week 4: Client Meetings. You'll be scheduling client meetings and learning what to do before, during and after the meetings so you can sell benefits, overcome objections and get signed agreements.

Week 5: Tools. You'll learn the right tools, checklists and processes so you can start running your managed service business after you've made a sale.

Week 6: Generating Leads. You'll learn how to use the 68-point checklist strategy to schedule "free network checkup" sessions so you can CONVERT those free network checkup LEADS into new clients.

Note: This is NOT the Cloud Five-Pack training. Go see SMBRoadshow for that. There is almost zero overlap between this course and the Cloud Five-Pack training.

Check out the interview here: This interview is 30 minutes. Audio Listen to the Podcast.

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

Harry Brelsford is the founder of SMB Nation. In this interview Harry announces a new Marketing as a Service platform called Pivot. We talk about marketing and analytics in the SMB community – and a lot more. See http://SMBNation.com/pivot.

Harry stresses that modern marketing requires analytics. You are wasting money if you just do a little SEO and buy Google ads. In addition, there are lots of things involved in marketing that the average MSP owner can't do or shouldn't do. You really don't have time for analyzing your clients, split-testing ads, and all the other modern elements of marketing.

Subscriptions start at $300/month. You need one one client to pay for that.

Links mentioned in our conversation: http://www.smbnation.com http://SMBNation.com/pivot http://www.blabpredicts.com/ http://www.lumapartners.com/lumascapes/social-lumascape/

Check out the interview here:

This interview is 30 minutes. Audio Listen to the Podcast.

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

Manuel Palachuk (yes, we're related) is a business coach, author, and trainer. This week he announced the launch of the MSP Pro Acedemy – a training and certification site for managed service providers and IT Professionals of all sizes. More details at www.mspproacademy.com.

In addition to launching the academy, Manuel has started an Indiegogo campaign to speed up the release of the first course materials. Contributions there will get your great prices on his book, the Academy, and more.

For more about Manuel's coaching, visit www.ManuelPalachuk.com.

Check out the interview here:

This interview is 30 minutes.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Manuel's Coaching: ManuelPalachuk.com

MSP Pro Academy: MSPProAcademy.com

MSP Pro Academy Indiegogo campaign: https://igg.me/at/mspproacademy

Coaching Offerings: https://www.manuelpalachuk.com/start-here/program-fees

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

Debbie Leoni is my life coach. I thought it would be useful to introduce her to the SMB IT community. I get questions about why I have a life coach coach and how that's different from a business coach. I hope this interview answers those questions.

You can learn more about Debbie from her web site at www.debbieleoni.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook. She has some great Facebook "Live" videos. So keep an eye out for those.

You can buy Debbie's book – I Am Fearless – from her web site, on Amazon, or over at SMB Books.

Check out the interview here:

This interview is about half an hour.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Debbie's Fearless Web Site

www.debbieleoni.com

Debbie's Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/deborahannleoni

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

I had a great chat with Kendra Lee on the subject of Hiring and Managing Your First Sales Person. We talked about writing ads, choosing a "hunter," setting goals, and managing them through the first year.

It was a great discussion. You can learn more at http://www.klagroup.com. You'll find Kendra's blog there as well.

If you're interested, you can request a free half-hour consultation with her.

Check out the interview here:

This interview is about half an hour.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

KLA Group:

http://www.klagroup.com

Kendra's Blog:

http://www.klagroup.com/blog

Karl's Blog:

http://blog.smallbizthoughts.com

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

You know I'm all about SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). So I was happy to talk to Raj Goel about his "SOP Culture" project. He has defined a series of SOPs for I.T. Professionals. They are available on a subscription basis.

Check out the interview here:

This interview is about half an hour. Links mentioned in the video are linked below.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Andy Parkes' Blog:

http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog

Jay McBain on the most visible leaders in the channel:

http://www.jaymcbain.com/2016/10/100-most-visible-channel-leaders-2016.html

Raj on Creating Obvious SOPs:

https://www.brainlink.com/creating-obvious-sops/ Raj on SOPs:

http://www.sopculture.com/secret-to-brainlinks-success-process-and-sops/ VIDEO that you should watch before or after this interview: https://youtu.be/HD-8eB20M6c

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

I had a great talk with Rayanne Buchianico yesterday. We covered Sell My MSP, QuickBooks, important reports to run for your business, and the next course she's teaching over at Great Little Seminar in October.

Here's the video:

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Robert Crane's Blog:

http://blog.ciaops.com/2016/09/azure-site-recovery-is-cool.html

Andy Parkes' Blog:

http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2016/09/13/command-prompt-and-the-clipboard/

Rayanne on Robert Crane's Podcast:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-112-rayanne-buchianico/

Sell My MSP: http://www.sellmymsp.com/ Rayanne Buchianico Accountant and MSP Business Consultant

Rayanne has over 25 years of accounting, tax and business experience in the SMB sector. She specializes in working with IT Professionals and MSPs to improve profitability through accounting systems, financial reporting, and PSA integration.

Rayanne was awarded the 2012 Jim Locke Memorial Community Award by SMB Nation and SMBTN and was named to the SMB 150 list by SMB Technology Network (SMBTN) and SMB PC magazine in 2011 and 2012. She partnered with Bigger Brains to provide the QuickBooks 2013 video training course.

She is the founder and leader of the Tampa Bay IT Pro Group, and is the past Treasurer of the Global IT Community Association for both the North American Board and the Global Board. Rayanne is the owner of ABC Solutions, LLC in Clearwater, Florida. ABC Solutions provides accounting, tax, and accounting systems consulting services to SMB IT companies throughout the United States.

The course: Financial Processes that Make All The Difference

Xero

https://www.xero.com/us/

PeachTree – MAS90 – Business Works

http://www.sage.com/us/sage-50-accounting

Great Plains / Microsoft Dynamics

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/small-midsize-business.aspx

Topics for this class include:

• Separation of duties – Handout includes a list of accounting/financial duties for students to complete
• What services are profitable
• Separating out information on the P&L for management decisions
• Entities and tax considerations – understanding how your entity is taxed. Handout is a tax projection worksheet for 2014 taxes
• Cash flow forecasting – Handout is a cash flow projection spreadsheet to forecast revenues and expenses
• Understanding margins and ratios – Deep dive into the P&L and Balance Sheet to understand how the numbers work together to make decisions. Handout is a worksheet on calculating and
• understanding the ratios & margins.
• Understanding the balance sheet
• Controlling inventory & Cost of Goods Sold
• Action plans for success . . . and More!

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

I interviewed with Dave Seibert from SMB TechFest about the Fall show. This event is held four times per year in Anaheim, CA.

This is always a good event. And this year, I'm pairing it up with my 12th Annual Fall Seminar. More about that on a future podcast.

Audio Listen to the Podcast.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

The Need to Know Podcast (Robert Crane) http://blog.ciaops.com/

How to Manage Your Daily Workflow (LogicNow blog) https://www.logicnow.com/blog/how-manage-your-daily-workflow

3 Magic Questions a Sales Manager Must Know (Ken Thoreson) http://yoursalesmanagementguru.com/2016/08/3-magic-questions-a-sales-manager-must-know/

Attend SMB TechFest for free at … http://www.SMBTechFest.com/karl

Karl's Fall Seminar http://www.smbpreday.com

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