SMB Community Podcast

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...

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 Clou...

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 ye...

I had a great chat with my old friend Nigel Moore from Australia about his new book, Package Price Profit. (You can buy it on Amazon in paperback or Kindle edition .) This book is a great overview of pricing and bundling options in the IT service industry. I particularly love his analogy about so-called All You Can Eat: Everything at the buffet is included. If you want us to make a special dish fo...

I had a great chat with my old friend Nigel Moore from Australia about his new book, Package Price Profit. (You can buy it on Amazon in paperback or Kindle edition .) This book is a great overview of pricing and bundling options in the IT service industry. I particularly love his analogy about so-called All You Can Eat: Everything at the buffet is included. If you want us to make a special dish fo...

This is a great interview with Jennifer Fields of ASTEK Marketing. I have worked with Jennifer for 2+ years now. She's the real deal. ASTEK Marketing is based in Kenosha, WI. They have an office there for doing call-downs and follow-ups on the marketing services they provide. ASTEK specializes in marketing for MSPs: strategic planning, direct marketing, executing call-downs, and more. They have a...

It's always great to catch up with my old friend Vince Tinnirello. Vince Tinnirello Vince is the Managing Director of Anchor Network Solutions, a Denver-based managed IT service provider, founded in 2002. He is the immediate past Chair of the CompTIA Managed Services Community, and very passionate about the IT Services industry and the service Anchor delivers to its clients. Vince lives in the foo...

Since selling his Managed Service Provider business, Richard has helped dozens of MSPs to grow their own companies. He works with the owners of IT businesses to help them free up their time, concentrate on doing what is important and making more money. In his interactive presentations, Richard offers some practical advice on how he would run a great MSP today — including his tips for selling MSP s...

Today's guest is Mr. Tim Taylor, author of How to Start and Run a Successful I.T. Company - Without Using your Shirt , available on Amazon, Amazon Kindle, and Audible. Tim is from Memphis, TN. He has always worked in the IT field. When he was 40, he started his own practice out of the trunk of his car. Today, he runs a multi-million dollar practice in Florida and employs over 15 people. Tim Taylor...

After a 20 year career as a commercial general contractor and 25 years as a small business consultant and IT provider, Bob Nitrio made two major decisions. The first was to move from California to Arizona for family purposes. The second was to move way from managed services and concentrate on his partnership with a software developer who had some amazing ideas for how mobile phones could be used b...

I caught up with Terry Hedden from Marketopia for this podcast. Normally, I see Terry on the road, but we're going to miss each other for the next few months. AND he's got a big sales coaching event coming up while I'm down in Australia. So, it was good to catch up on the podcast. Terry started out as an IT service provider. He built and sold a 49 person MSP in 6 years. Now he runs Marketopia, the...

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....

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 Buchianico 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 includ...

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 Conkle - The 20 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...

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 t...

I think I met Jamison about 2006 at SMB Nation. Since then, he has bought a few companies, built a few companies, and sold a few companies. Even today he owns a few companies. He calls himself a serial entrepreneur, but I consider that a parallel entrepreneur. Personally, I think all small business owners should have at least two companies. But that's another story. Here we chat a bit about TimeZe...

I met Allen Edwards all the way back in April of this year. I've already seem him at events in two states. We even shared a beer (or two) in Albuquerque. Allen help IT Professionals create great processes. Allen Edwards began his I.T. career in 1994. He founded his first I.T. company in 2002, and in ten short years led his firm through a transition from break/fix to MSP, from custom ticketing to A...

In 2008, Brooke Ferguson, MBA packed up her business consulting practice and moved it online. Her objective was simple: keep growing her business while she saw the world. Brooke spent a number of years traveling, while keeping Thailand as her "home base." Eventually, she realized that she wanted to make beautiful Krabi, Thailand her home. She has since set up her business beachside, and helps othe...

I caught up with my brother Manuel after he returned from a triumphant tour of Europe and the UK. He's got some cool things going on the second half of the year, including a big Coaches Mastermind event at CompTIA's ChannelCon . We talked about Manuel's coaching and consulting, and then did a deep dive into a few topics. First up: Culture! How do you create culture on purpose? And what happens if...

I always love catching up with Jeff Ponts from DataTel Solutions. If you attend a few conferences a year, you are likely to have seen Jeff somewhere. Jeffery Ponts is COO/Executive Vice President and founder of Datatel Solutions Inc. Datatel Solutions is an Integrated Communications Provider (ICP), and systems integrator focusing on marketing, delivering, and managing best-of-breed data and teleco...

I caught up with my good friend Joshua Liberman for this SMB Community Podcast. Josh is a great community leader and the owner of Net Sciences in Albuquerque, NM. Joshua Liberman In this podcast, Josh walks us through the various elements they offer (and bundle) for their clients. I asked Josh to talk about this because it's the basis for a presentation I've seen him make. Josh has worked on this...

I interviewed Mas Malik from Virtiant.com for this SMB Community Podcast. Mas is the VP of Sales and Marketing. Mas Malik Virtiant provides "Disaster Recovery as a Service" – without the onsite BDR hardware. It is VMWare-centric and able to recreate your environment in the cloud, so "failover" to the cloud can happen without users needing to repoint IP addresses or make other changes. As they desc...

I talked to Zack Rosenberg about his custom video program – Catapult. As Zack points out, by 2021 more than 82% of internet traffic will be against video, a number that will accelerate once everyone has 5G internet speeds. Video is pricey and difficult to do, especially when SMB's spend around 2 hours a week on marketing. Basically, Catapult creates interesting and entertaining videos that you can...

I was happy to interview Harry on the official announcement of his new book – How to Be An MSP . It is now officially released. In this interview, Harry also announces another new adventure: A serious focus on the cannabis industry as the largest new vertical opportunity for the next ten years. Harry is also launching a new site, effective immediately: http://420msp.com/ I have read the new book a...

This interview with Ken Dwight covers a lot of territory. Ken Dwight Ken train IT Pros on cutting-edge virus fighting and virus remediation. He show folks how to dig into the guts of machines to do much more than "remove" viruses. Rather than "Nuking and Paving," Ken teaches how to dig in and remove all the remnants of viruses – even those left over after AV software has removed the virus. As Ken...