Work from home survey (Sept\Oct 2008 magazine issue)

Howdy dear readers – harrybbbb here and I like to post up good stuff from our magazine. This is the complete results from the recent WORK AT HOME SURVEY!

1. Do you work from home? That is, is your SMB consulting business based at home?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes		85.7%	54
No		14.3%	9
	answered question		63
	skipped question		0

2. Select all of the reasons that you would consider or do work from home?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Save gas		68.3%	43
Save time		74.6%	47
No water cooler politics		27.0%	17
Work harder and longer		57.1%	36
Save costs on rent		76.2%	48
Other (please specify)			10
	answered question		63
	skipped question		0

3. What are some negatives about working from home?
		Response Percent	Response Count
Lonely		42.3%	22
Unfocused – need work environment		46.2%	24
Trouble getting motivated		46.2%	24
Savings not really there		3.8%	2
Family interruptions		61.5%	32
Other (please specify)			12
	answered question		52
	skipped question		11

4. Please comment on the following about working from home: Effect on Income
		Response Count
		52
	answered question	52
	skipped question	11

5. Please comment on the following about working from home: Length of work week.
		Response Count
		54
	answered question	54
	skipped question	9

6. Please comment on the following about working from home: Benefits and drawbacks
		Response Count
		49
	answered question	49
	skipped question	14

The Small Business IT Community [Issue 1-2 reprint, SMB PC magazine]

G’day everyone – this is a reprint from our second magazine issue – it is Anne Stanton’s community contribution.

The Small Business
IT Professional Community
(Anne Stanton)

Individual Small Business Specialists offer quick answers, depth of wisdom and a wealth of creative resources to small businesses around the world. They are agile, sharp
and also human. It is the human strength of character and caring that shines when working with a Small Business Specialist. It is their individualism that brings an increased risk for the small business, the risk that something could happen to their dependable IT professional. An individual Small Business Specialist offsets this risk by being involved with community and partnering with peers to protect the interests of their small business customers.
Most Small Business Specialists often become a part of the small businesses they serve. Their toolkits and resources have been developed through the sheer quick wit and small business “know how” that is required to survive in this fast- paced world. They may be entrepreneurs, techno-geeks, gurus, managers or sales and marketing experts. A Small Business Specialist masters many skills. Yet they also recognize the power of shared knowledge and reach out to create even more success than they could alone. Thus, technologists and IT professionals have created local and online “communities.” These groups welcome all those interested in simply jumping in, and either participating or lurking. Joining the community is a GREAT way to reduce risk while also creating more opportunities for your business.
Take for instance a tiny group I know of with less than 60,000 people. The competing IT professionals in this group welcome the opportunity to meet monthly and share information. Why would competitors share? Does that not conflict with the very nature of competition? In more than one community, most members of the information technology consulting profession must be generalists and they also have unique interests and skills. These complementary skills and interests are discovered by others who also get to know each other. They learn whom to trust and whom to keep at arm’s length. In this context, more business is generated than an individual could have on his own.
One fine example of this that I heard about was a small IT firm who was supporting a Small Business Server (SBS) for the local town offices. The owner of the small IT firm moved to a new area and immediately recommended one of his associates from the local user group to take over the account. This associate did not have to invest any time to win the deal, he simply walked into a new managed services account for hundreds of dollars a month. The second project I learned about was a local consultant who handled the entire infrastructure for a specific company. The company had troubles with their database requiring database administrator expertise. Once again a member of the user group was able to step into the project, solve the problem, save face for the long term consultant, offer efficiency in resolution to the client and make some immediate profit. Needless to say, more opportunities are not only discovered, but they are closed into new business and profits for all involved.
The key here is a combination of skill sets. Someone who is an expert at Small Business Servers, might also have a unique understanding of plastics manufacturing and database applications. These combinations are in themselves a unique resource! Experts in paperless office, wiring, photography, databases, Windows servers, DNS, MAC and reporting services all have their unique opportunities. The community offers a place for partners to work according to their interests while also being generalists for their small business clients.
The New York SBS IT Professional Group started as a small group of core professionals who understood the potential of community. There were some key people who knew they needed to attend to see what it was all about and a handful of unknowns. Two years later the New York SBS IT Professional Group is still meeting monthly and has over 170 small business partners who, after months of really crafting and creating their “community” and getting to know each other, are trading more business than imaginable. It is not just the core original members who are getting this business. New partners are discovering the group on a regular basis and benefiting quickly.
There are other benefits from starting and/or participating in even the smallest groups of IT professionals focused on small business. Take for instance the opportunity to host and talk with vendors offering solutions and products for your customers. One vendor recently released a new SMB program. In fact, the program is particularly tempting for IT professionals because it offers a number of free solutions. But have you thought about the benefits when talking with any of the consultants who have tried the program? In a recent discussion with numerous consultants I discovered that the documentation for the products are still from the enterprise model and inches thick! The software also contains files not needed by small businesses. Yet because it exists, it takes up a huge footprint of disk space. This footprint affects backups. Feedback was also helpful regarding the process for removing the solution once installed, something not that easy to do. This kind of information is critical to vendors if they are

interested in having their program succeed. It can also save consultants hundreds of lost billable hours.
When you pool the resources of multiple professionals into a discussion with a vendor, the tone of the meeting changes from one of being “sold to,” to one of being informed and educated about the unique technical aspects of the vendor’s products! You have the culture to facilitate a win, not only for you as a small IT professional, but for the vendor who wants to get its message out cost-effectively and efficiently. Leveraging the small IT professional group as a way to get more from vendor relationships has proven to be extremely successful! Nowhere is this better seen then in the adoption of a number of vendor products whose business development teams have become members of the community. Not to “sell”, but as humans committed to sharing, both in asking for input so they can fine tune their products to their customers’ needs, and in helping and educating in their areas of expertise. Simply ask the CEOs of Autotask and Connectwise, two vendors who have discovered the power of community.
We also take this concept further. An international community of the leaders of these local IT professional groups has come together to share information on running a local IT professional group. They have also collaboratively pulled together a voice and a framework for educating vendors. Members also have a louder voice to the enterprise corporations that create the products clients are interested in. The International SBS Group Leaders have a web page at www.sbsgroups.com, listing many of the SBSC IT professional groups On this page, they also have a list of vendors who have committed to posting a specific contact person, a direct phone number and a direct e-mail address for any member of the community to approach. The vendor list on the sbsgroups.com web site continues to grow.
As the Small Business Specialist meets new customers
and/or vendors the Small Business Specialist is then more empowered to talk not only about their business needs, but also about their involvement with thousands of other IT professionals who might be interested in that vendor’s products – particularly those that are a successful fit for the current small business opportunity. The customer and/or the vendor then not only benefits from the expertise of the local consultant, but also from the collective voice of thousands of the consultant’s peers in the same space.
Being involved in community means:
• Opportunities
• Profits
• Connections
• Answers
• Access to real field-tested knowledge
• Peer-to-peer trust
• Resources
• A chance to form study groups and achieve more certifications
• Vacation coverage
• A regular refreshment of knowledge
• And much more
The limit of our abilities is defined more by our own egos then by any other obstacle. Being involved in community tests the ego by requiring the IT professional to open up a little bit and to perhaps admit that he does not know everything. Sometimes it is hard to get started, but IT professionals among their trusted peers can admit their limitations and grow beyond the limits of their own strengths and weaknesses. A micro-sized IT professional would be wise to invest time in a community of his or her peers. 
“If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up.” Deepak Chopra 1947
Anne Stanton is a CRM MVP, the president of The Norwich Group and a Principal in GlobalBrain LLC: Business Computer Solutions. She is a widely known consultant who often partners with other SBSC professionals to bring customer relationship management (CRM) expertise to small businesses professionals and their clients worldwide. Anne can be reached at astanton@thenorwichgroup.com

Microsoft TS2 “TS2nami” [Issue 1-2 reprint]

Hello there – I am harrybbbbb, the publisher of the SMB PC magazine. I am having my second cup of coffee on a Seattle Sunday morning and thought I would post up an olde’ and goodie – an rearly TS2nami column from Fred Pullen. Enjoy the read…

 

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

 

T

TS2Nami

by Fred Pullen

elling people about Microsoft resources is an important part of my job, so this month I wanted to share a few of my favorites.

One great resource is the Microsoft Gear Up site, which hosts sales, marketing and training information at www.ms­gearup.com. Even if you don’t sell software, it has a wealth of useful information. I love the two-page product and solution abstracts included with the Sales Tool Kit; I even keep a copy on my Windows Mobile device, just in case. If you do sell software then check out the Licensing Configurator, which can now create fully-customizable customer proposals. The Sales Support Center on the site can be used to send trial software directly to your customers, and Microsoft even picks up the shipping costs. Plus there’s a lot more!

Attending SMB Nation in September? If so, you may want to visit the newly-renovated Microsoft Visitor Center while you’re in Redmond. Located in building 127, at 4420 148th Avenue NE, the Visitor Center is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Exhibits showcase everything from the very first personal computer

to some of today’s most exciting technologies for home and business. Geeky goodness!

At the Worldwide Partner Conference, I was amazed to meet some U.S. Partners who didn’t know about the U.S. Partner Readiness site at www.MSReadiness.com. With hundreds of free or heavily-subsidized training courses, it’s a fantastic resource! There’s even a page for Small Business Specialist technical and sales/marketing training materials. TS2’s webcasts are also featured on www.MSReadiness.com/TS2; if you can’t join us live, you can watch the on-demand recording later.

Speaking of the Worldwide Partner Conference, mark it on your calendar. Next year’s conference will take place July 10-12 in Denver, Colorado. This year’s conference was targeted more at the SMB space than ever before, and next year’s should be even better! n

Fred Pullen is a Microsoft Across America TS2 presenter based in Denver, Colorado. Should he start organizing next year’s WPC party?

 

G’day Folks [magazine reprint from Issue 1-2, August 2006]

Hi there – I am harry brelsford, the publisher of SMB PC magazine and I have had way too much coffeeeeeee today. So to stay occupied and busy, I am posting up the old reprint from two years ago. It’s written by my main man Dean Calvert in Australia who (a) knows how to write (b) have a good time and (c) rock and roll with SBS!

 

S

Global Perspective

by Dean Calvert

G’day folks!

es

mall business is big business – and don’t we know it! But what exactly is “small business,” and what mak it big?

It all comes down to your perspective and has nothing at all to do with hourly chargeout rates, sales totals, staff numbers or even how much profit you make. One deal worth $5,000 can be awfully big business to one person and small to another.

Recently one of the major distributors in Australia appears to have lost some sight of how big small business can be. I won’t mention their name. However, they are one of the largest distributors here. They sent a letter to a large number of resellers, telling them their trading accounts were being closed due to them not putting through enough business. This includes those who pay for the goods before they are even shipped!

Now, in isolation a lot of these resellers wouldn’t put through a lot of business each month. So looking at things in this short-sighted way, it would seem to make business sense for them to make this change — considering the cost of transaction for low-volume resellers compared to the profit they might make from the transaction. But they haven’t factored in the “community” factor – specifically the community of Small Business Server user group members.

The traffic on the mailing lists for the user groups has been nothing short of incredible. Members are voicing their pain over these changes. They are asking about alternative sources for some of the products this distributor handles, even to the extent of discussing the formation of a buying group.

What this shows is that the distributor was looking only at its own business as part of this change. It simply isn’t aware of the community of resellers in its marketplace.

Some time ago, I was involved in a Microsoft partner roadshow which included representatives from Trend Micro and Hewlett Packard. Trend Micro understood the SMB community. They’d already been “inducted” and were engaging with the user groups. HP Australia was not so keen and took some convincing to become “SBS friendly.” The history speaks for itself. HP released a number of ProLiant servers bundled with SBS and their sales took off. They have continued to ask the community for feedback about new server bundles (configuration and pricing) and the community in turn has embraced their products.

Microsoft has certainly shown it sees the potential in the

SMB space, as have Trend Micro and HP. (I’m talking about Australia here rather than a global perspective, so things may vary where you are.) It’s time now to take this message to the rest of the channel, impacting other vendors and now, more importantly perhaps, the distributors that take these products to the reseller community.

Individually we can only make a small impact on the world around us. Together, as a growing and vocal community, we can take on the “big guys” and show them that small business really can be big business for them.

Our plan with this distributor, and it may well amount to nothing, is to gather our collective numbers and make them aware of the community they are affecting. The business they stand to lose individually may not be much, but collectively it can be huge. Perhaps we’ll get an exemption to their recent changes for members of the SBS user groups or perhaps we won’t. But at least they will know that there’s a community of small businesses throughout the country that are not afraid to speak up and demand to be heard.

We can show them that small business is big business.

Don’t be afraid to engage with the SMB community you are a part of and to raise your collective voice – make a change to the world you live in.

In other news, the SBS user groups around Australia continue to be a rather rowdy lot and have been discussing these hot topics at meetings:

·       Mobile phones/devices

·  Quoting systems – making it easier to prepare quotes and keep them up to date

·  Managed services (this seems to be a hot topic all over the place)

·  Data protection – this includes replication to off-site storage locations (but Australia tends to have limited bandwidth options and data can be soooo expensive)

·  VoIP for SMB

·  Virtualisation of SBS

·  Disaster recovery solutions – including drive imaging

The other big news is that SBS has managed to squeeze its way into TechEd Australia. On August 24 we’re going to have five cabana sessions, which is a first for Australia. Last year we only had 2 sessions covering “SBS2003 SP1” and “Security with SBS.” The sessions for this year will be:

·SBS2003 R2 – patching is just the start of it

Global (Continued from page 26)

·                Disaster Recovery for SBS

·                SharePoint – demystifying SharePoint Services in SBS

·                Exchange – Preparation and recovery of data in SBS 2003

·                Mobility and Small Business Servers

If you’re in the neighborhood, make sure you drop in for these sessions. International visitors will be entitled to a free Vegemite sandwich!

Finally, it was a real treat to spend time with friends at the Small Business Symposium and Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Boston. The Symposium was a great event, particularly since it was the first of its kind. Hats off to Microsoft and the team that put it all together. The number of topics presented, the quality of the speakers and of course the cocktail party for the launch of this magazine were all top rate. I look forward to attending the Symposium next year to learn and share more.

So remember, big business has nothing to do with the physical size of your business. Engage with the community around you, make a difference to the world you live in and you too can be a big business. Something I’ve been teaching my son, Reece, for the last few years is that Batman is the best superhero of all. Why? Because he’s just an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. You too can be Batman (or Batwoman). You can be a superhero to the people on whose businesses you make a positive impact. By doing this, you can become the biggest business you can possibly ever hope to be.

Here’s to a great year ahead and I hope to see you at SMB Nation in Redmond in September. n

Dean Calvert is Managing Director and Principal Consultant for Calvert Technologies (www.calvert.net.au), a Microsoft Certified Partner and the first Small Business Specialist in Adelaide, Australia (the wine capital of the world). Dean also facilitates the Adelaide SBS user/partner group and has spoken at various events throughout Australia & the US (including SMB Nation!). Dean can be reached at dean@calvert.net.au.

How to get your clients to crawl naked over rsuty nails and broken glass to read your marketing promotions [SMB PC Issue 2-1 reprint]

TGIF! I am Harry Brlesford, the publisher of SMB PC magazine and I frequently post up past articles for your reading pleasure. This was a classic column in August 2006 from Robin Robins….read it!

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

 

Money Shaker

by Robin Robins

How To Get Your Clients

To Crawl Naked Over Rusty Nails and

Broken Glass To Read Your Marketing Promotions

O

kay, I admit that I embellished a bit on the headline – but you just learned the most important lesson I have for you today. If it’s not immediately clear to you,

then it will be revealed later on in this article. But first, let me
give you my thoughts leading up to this headline and article.

In an article I read from PC Magazine titled Overeager Spam Filters Cause Headaches, an AOL spokesperson was quoted saying, “We are forced to bounce up to 80 percent of all incoming Internet e-mail as suspected spam. Our spam­blocking software is now blocking 2 to 2.4 billion messages every day.”

Now before you spam-haters start getting happy about this news, there is an underlying lesson here that should concern you as a business owner and legitimate marketer: AOL customers did not complain about having a complete stranger screen and withhold their personal messages, even though some of the messages were, without a doubt, incorrectly identified as spam. Could there have been messages, promotions, and offers from companies they genuinely want to hear from? Of course! But these small few are greatly overshadowed by the dump truck of off-target, boring, offensive, and “professional” spam that fills up our inbox every day.

This is just a small example of a growing consumer and government trend towards abolishing any and all types of “push” marketing.

Without a doubt, we are quickly moving towards a “pull” or permission-only selling environment where customers are in 100% control and must be compelled through positioning and excellent marketing to desperately seek you out instead of feeling as though they can ignore, delete, or lock you out of their lives without consequence.

The Do Not Call List, Junk Fax laws, the CAN-SPAM Act, and even HIPAA are all in full force and are only getting more restrictive about how you can (or can’t) promote your services — and your prospects are 100% in favor of it. As worrying as this is to any legitimate marketer, I can’t say that it isn’t justified.

So many bad marketers have ruined it for the rest of us by shoving their boring, off-target, no-value sales pitches in our faces constantly, and in places they are not welcome. Instead of working on making their marketing more interesting and relevant to the recipient, they just up the frequency and find new and more annoying ways to interrupt us. That is why consumers are fighting back.

I recently saw a full-page newspaper ad for a car dealership that simply said, “We at Southgate Chevrolet are proud to be a General Motors Dealership. We know that the Chevrolet vehicles we sell are as good as or better than anything out there.” Those were the only words on the page and the rest of the ad was taken up by white space; no testimonials, no headlines, no guarantees, no offer, and certainly lacking any type of persuasive sales presentation for their cars or their dealership.

Can you believe the stupidity of this ad? Here’s the translation: “We have nothing special, unique, or valuable to offer our customers. We have no good reason why you should buy our cars, other than the comfort you will get out of knowing that the crap we sell is no worse than the crap everyone else is selling. BUT, we’re proud to say that.” Amazingly, they spent a LOT of money to run this anti-sales promotion for their dealership.

So what does this have to do with my outrageous headline?

If you want to have any kind of success in marketing to your clients, you better make sure you are delivering the most relevant, compelling, and interesting marketing messages to the most targeted, high-probability prospects for one simple reason:

If your “professional”, plain-vanilla marketing looks exactly like everyone else’s and does not clearly and instantly communicate how you are going to resolve your prospect’s top concerns, wants, or needs, or if it does not promise to deliver a result they desperately want (as the headline for this article did), it is viewed as an intrusion and is automatically deleted, ignored, or trashed.

My headline was outrageous, but I bet it stopped you in your tracks and compelled you to read this article. If you’ve read this far, I at least have a chance to sell you on my ideas and possibly even my services. Plain, boring, “professional” marketing does NOT accomplish this. It gets deleted, trashed, ignored, and filtered.

The next time you are sitting down to write a sales letter or any promotion, ask yourself, “What would I have to promise to deliver to my customers to make them want to

crawl naked over rusty nails and broken glass to respond or buy?” Is it doable? Maybe not to that extreme, but if you start with that goal in mind, you are certainly in a much better position to come up with a more compelling offer than “we focus on IT so you can focus on running your business,” or, “we make IT easy,” or, “reliable IT support.” I would only hope that your services would fulfill on these promises! What’s so amazing about being reliable? While it may be true that you are more reliable than the next guy, just saying it is just not compelling.

If you are like the vast majority of computer consultants, you’ve probably used one or more of those phrases in your marketing. It might even be your tagline on your business card. These terms are horribly simplistic and obvious and that is why your marketing is producing zero results. These generic platitudes get your message trashed before it even has a chance to get read, much less acted on. Change your message to promise salvation from a problem or to deliver a result your prospects want, and they will WELCOME your communications. This is the core principle of getting prospects to seek you out. This is not a new concept, and it is being enforced now more than ever.

To overcome the invisible fence put up by all prospects, I’m coaching my private clients to pick vertical niches and focus on sending results-based marketing campaigns that emphasize actual case studies and raving fan clients.

For example, I have a client that recently set up a wireless network and document imaging solution for an eye clinic. He has a written and audio testimonial of that client saying the solution helped them increase sales for other procedures, cut patient wait times in half, reduced bottom line costs, and made the entire office more productive. He is now using that case study to promote the results to all other eye clinics and doctors in his area. So far, this has proven to be far more successful at attracting new clients than a generic flyer talking about document imaging solutions and HIPAA compliance.

I have another client that wrote an entire story about a CPA who walked into his office one morning to discover his office had been burglarized. The thief stole everything – laptops, servers, routers, and printers, from his office.

Fortunately, my client had set up an off-site backup of his data and had this CPA up and running again within 24 hours. Here’s the headline to other CPAs: “What Would You Do If You Walked Into Your Office and Discovered Someone Had Stolen All of Your Computer Equipment Housing Your Client’s Sensitive Data? Read on to see what [Name] of [Company] did when this devastating event happened to him…”

The only downside of segmenting your list and targeting vertical niches is that it adds up to more work for you in segmenting your list, getting testimonials, and developing case studies; however, the results and return for the extra work pay off exponentially.

The way I see it, you have one of two choices: either you step up the time and effort you invest into creating marketing messages that are truly relevant and based on promising results, or you’ll just have to settle for the pittance of responses captured by generic marketing, and learn to be happy with what you have.

What’s your decision? n

Robin Robins has over 14 years experience in direct sales and marketing. Robin is an independent marketing consultant, sales trainer, and author that specializes in low risk, low-cost marketing strategies for small computer resellers, solution providers, and IT consulting firms. To learn more about Robin, visit her online at www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com

 

Meet Marie McFadden – Microsoft Insider [Issue 1-2 reprint]

Hello there folks - I am harry brelsford, publisher of SMB PC magazine and I anjoy posting up past issues for your pleasure. Here is a column featuring the amazing Marie McFadden (who I understand will be attending SMB Nation 2008 in about two weeks in Seattle!)

 

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

I

Microsoft Insider

by Beatrice Mulzer

caught Marie McFadden on a Saturday afternoon with a cup of coffee in her hand. She had just taken a little nap – deservedly so – after returning on a red-eye from

Seattle, WA, having been seated next to a one -year-old baby. But despite the long night, Marie is her usual perky self and starts sharing exciting news for Microsoft Small Business Specialists! The Small Business Specialist Community managed newsgroup was just launched this July and Microsoft anticipates that SBSC’s will find a lot of value in this as they are helping their clients.

Meet Marie McFadden!

Title: Global Managed Newsgroup Lead Location: Charlotte, NC

“We are super, super excited about this offering. It’s a managed newsgroup and it is only available to Small Business Specialists” says Marie, “We have a four (4) hour response time for the initial response and any follow up responses, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST Monday-Friday (excluding holidays).” There is a team of engineers dedicated to this newsgroup and the supported products include most of the Office product stack, Windows Server, Exchange Server, Terminal Server, Windows XP and Small Business Server. “We feel these are the products that most Small Business Specialists hit on all the time.” If Small Business Specialists encounter support needs that are not covered in the Small Business Specialist Community Managed Newsgroup, there are always the other partner managed newsgroups, giving you currently a choice of 78 newsgroups to pick from.

Responsibilities: Manages the partner managed newsgroups, helping the support delivery teams with technical or process questions. Ensures that there is readiness in place for upcoming products e.g. Exchange 2007, Vista and Office 2007 launches coming up.

Education: Marie holds a Bachelors and an MBA in Science and Business. She also has the MCSE title for Windows Server NT 4.0, 2000 and 2003, and was one of the first to achieve the MCSA.

 

Age: 46 years young! Work Experience: June 2006 marked Marie’s nine year anniversary as a Microsoft employee. She worked seven years prior to that for an environmental consulting firm managing their IT, office, training and management. Prior to that she worked at Burroughs which later became Unisys. Philosophy: You should be really passionate about what you are doing for a living. You spend so much time on the job, you have to love what you are doing. Because that is what drives you to be the best you can and to help others.

Easy access to the Small Business Specialist Managed Newsgroup via the Small Business Specialist Home Page on the Microsoft global partner site.

Biggest challenge: “Making sure that we did everything right getting the newsgroup offering out there, looking at current numbers of Small Business Specialists and anticipating the number of Small Business Specialists in the coming year. We want to make sure that we have enough staff on board so the partner experience in that community is top notch.”

Lessons learned: Murphy’s law! “Give yourself plenty of time. We learned that we need to give ourselves more time then we think we need. You learn it every time and you think you got it and the next time you are learning the same thing – call it optimism!“

Next steps: “It is all about the partner experience. The most exciting thing in the newsgroups right now is that we are preparing for the upcoming product launches. This is going to be a great year, especially for Small Business Specialists, with all the products coming out. “

Partner Feedback: Marie points out one newsgroup in particular ”…there are partners visiting in the newsgroup that if they see anything that they like or dislike and would like to comment or recommend improvements on, we have a newsgroup called Partner Feedback. That is a great place to post your thoughts, or ask questions about Licensing or Action Pack or anything that really doesn’t fit in any of the technical categories that we provided. The Partner Feedback newsgroup is like the voice of the partner and I would really love to hear what is on everyone’s mind.”

Marie visiting Zhou Zhang village just outside of Shanghai

Start using the Partner Feedback and Questions newsgroup for all non-technical inquiries and comments!

“One of the really great things about Microsoft is that everyone helps everyone else because the primary goal is to help the partner and help the customer. There are too many products to know everything about them. And if I have a problem related to Exchange I can talk to the support team that does only Exchange and we work together to resolve the issue.”

The final word? “If partners give us their thoughts in Partner Feedback, that will help us improve support in the community to meet partners’ needs.” n

New & Exclusive to SBSC Small Business Specialist Community Managed Newsgroups 4 Hour response time from 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST Monday-Friday! Where can I find the newsgroup? Go to the special SBSC page on the US Microsoft Partner portal and click on the hyperlink (https: / /partner.microsoft.com/global/ 40021525?PS=3 – shown above) or enter “Small Business Specialist Community Managed Newsgroups” into the Search box on the partner site.

Visit www.smbnation.tv to hear interviews and perspectives related to

Computer Franchises Survey [Reprint from Issue 1-2]

Hi gang – a reprint from an early SMB PC magazine issue for your pleasure!

 

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

 

A

nother month of community survey has brought some interesting insights from across the globe. This month we asked small business technology

International sales compen­sation guru Ken Thoreson, who met with us at WPC Boston in mid-July, offered that franchises can be the right business model for the right person. “The success rate for franchises, whether restaurants, cleaning or SMB consulting or are much higher and make sense because the modules, methodologies and processes are generally in place for a person to execute upon.” Ken Thoreson,. Acumen Management, Vonore, TN, USA

consultants (and all Small Business Specialists!) what their thoughts were on the franchising business model.

On the one hand, you might view franchises as stifling creativity and turning everyone into “sandwich-making robots.” Our hometown of Bainbridge Island has actually banned franchise restaurants in order to keep Mom’s diner (locally owned) from closing down. This is an extreme case and not reflected by the small business technology consultants who responded below.

Results

“Franchises are a good idea if you are not an entrepreneur yourself but like to run your own business. I already have my own business and just passed the Small Business Specialist Certifica­tion yesterday and consider it an added bonus. I like running my own business and having the responsibilities and everything that comes along with it. “ Philippe Moufflet, Boston Computer Support Experts, United States

“I think Franchises are a great idea. It’s something I have been looking to do for about one year now because I get a little of my work from an ISV back in the UK, he has a software package that he sells to vehicle accident repair centers. It manages the whole workflow, tracking time and materials. I install SBS Premium to run his application on. But because we work nationally I am running all across England and it is difficult for me to cover the entire area. So I am looking at building this business together and start franchising outlets that are too far for me to handle and start partnering with SBS partners in the other areas.” Tom Crosbie, Crosbie IT Ltd. United Kingdom

 

Thinking Technology, Ltd. is the #1 reseller of Small Business Server in Hong Kong. When we asked Simon Wong and Charles Ngai about the franchise business model, they both said that, “the franchise business model is an excellent way for people just entering the technology business, especially if they don’t have much experience in running a business.” Simong Wong & Charles Ngai, Hong Kong, Thinking Technology, Ltd., Hong Kong.

Survey Question of the Month This month, please click over to www.smbnation.com and complete the survey where we ask for your opinion on retail establishments in the SMB consulting space. This includes many readers who have a “storefront.” ?

Thinking Technology, Ltd. is the #1 reseller of Small Business Server in Hong Kong. When we asked Simon Wong and

Charles Ngai about the franchise business model, they both said that, “the

franchise business model is

an excellent way for people

just entering the technology

business, especially if they don’t

have much experience in running a business.” Simong Wong & Charles Ngai, Hong Kong, Thinking Technology, Ltd., Hong Kong.

you are not an entrepreneur yourself but like to run your own business. I

“I think Franchises are a

great idea. It’s something I

have been looking to do for

about one year now because

I get a little of my work

from an ISV back in the UK,

he has a software package

that he sells to vehicle

accident repair centers. It

manages the whole workflow,

tracking time and materials. I install

SBS Premium to run his application on. But

because we work nationally I am running all across England and it is difficult for me to cover the entire area. So I am looking at building this business together and start franchising outlets that are too far for me to handle and start partnering with SBS partners in the other areas.”

Tom Crosbie, Crosbie IT Ltd. United Kingdom

 

already have my own business and just passed the Small Business Specialist Certifica­tion yesterday and consider it

Franchises are a good idea if

International sales compen­sation guru Ken Thoreson, who met with us at WPC Boston in mid-July, offered that franchises can be the right business model for the right person. “The success rate for franchises, whether restaurants, cleaning or SMB

consulting or are much higher and make sense because the modules,

methodologies and processes are generally in

place for a person to execute upon.”

Ken Thoreson,. Acumen Management, Vonore, TN, USA

 

an added bonus. I like running

my own business and having the

responsibilities and everything that

comes along with it. “

Philippe Moufflet,

Boston Computer Support Experts, United States

 

 

 

Home Technology Build – Makeover TV show [Issue 1-2 reprint]

This is a special article about long-time SBSer Marc Harrison in NJ doing a segment of the popular Extreme Home Makeover Show on TV.

 

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

Centerpiece

by Beatrice Mulzer

Home Automation Makeover

M

arc Harrison of Silicon East, Inc was approached by home builder Pinnacle Companies (New Jersey, USA), who had been tasked by the Extreme

Makeover: Home Edition ABC hit reality series with the

rebuilding of the Llanes family, Bergenfield, NJ home.

The Silicon East team Sam, Marc, Gary and Shaun.

The Llanes family suffers from severe disabilities. Due to a hereditary condition, Isabel, the grand­mother, and Vincente, the father, are blind. The two teenage daughters, Guinevere and Carrie, have the same hereditary disease, and are also going blind. The son, Zeb, is deaf; and Maria, the mother, is currently recovering from cancer surgery.

The goal of the

project was to use as much technology as possible to

improve the quality of their lives. Marc was brought on

board as the overall technology coordinator to manage the

project implementation. Marc’s first step was to approach

the Microsoft Accessibility group, leveraging their expertise

Marc Harrison (Silicon East) and Brian Stolar of Pinnacle Companies (the builder of the home). Pinnacle Companies

is a client to Silicon East and very progressive in the adoption of technology in homes.

and helping to choose the right technology. It turned out to be a great move because the Accessibility group was instrumental in procuring and donating the technologies.

Terminating CAT-5s and installing wireless access points – Marc overseeing the work of a low-voltage technician.

Some of the technologies used in this extreme home

makeover were screen readers, book readers, voice synthesis and voice-recognition software to aid the blind family members, and make computer interaction as easy as possible. A system that converts speech to text and speech to sign language on a computer screen was implemented for the deaf son, which now enables him to communicate directly with each family member, something he was never able to do before. Previously, his mother had to act as the intermediary and facilitate communications.

Marc and Tanya McQueen from the construction designer team. Tanya added her artistic decorating and design spin onto the home.

Marc shares, “The home now has a wired PC-based intercom which has voice recognition capabilities as well as the ability to go to the Internet to get information.” You can ask the system, “What will the weather be tomorrow?” and a synthesized voice will read the information back from the system. The intercom system also automates functions like turning lights on and off, adjusting room temperature, and opening and closing shades and blinds. Anything

that         could         be
automated was.

Jon Corzine, the most technical savy governor New Jersey ever had (and a friend of Bill Gates), discussing the 30 MB FiOS fiber optic service Verizon put into the home.

Marc in front of the Llanes’new home (the old one was demolished) expanding the living space for the family from approx. 1000 sq. ft to 2,2000 sq. ft.

“There are digital talking book players, Braille displays, a Braille printer that can be controlled wirelessly by computers throughout the house, bank note readers, vibrating alarms and smoke sensors that give spoken warnings.” Marc says. “It took a total of twenty different technology companies to bring it all together. “

As for Silicon East’s role, Marc thanks his entire Silicon East team for doing a monumental job. “It wasn’t until Wednesday night, with about 18 hours before the family got home, that we were really able to get to work. We worked feverishly as furniture was put in place to unpack, set-up, and configure all of the computers and assistive technology for the family. By my calculation we went 46 hours with just a three-hour break for sleep. And we wouldn’t leave until they literally threw us out so the final house cleaning could take place. But in the end the Silicon East tradition of always making it work prevailed, and everything almost miraculously came together. There is just so much technology in this home and my belief is that we’ve given this family literally a new start in life. Most of us take technology almost for granted today, and for me it was a true epiphany to recognize that what we were doing would literally deeply change the lives of this family.” Marc walked away from this project a changed person. He says, “If you ever have the opportunity, you must take time from your life to contribute to one of these projects.”

Marc also extends a big thank-you to all the partners who came through for Silicon East with very meaningful donations. Included are Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, SonicWALL, and Intel. n

The entire house was torn down and rebuilt within seven days
– an incredible feat undertaken by THOUSANDS of
volunteers, working around the clock.

We are unable to show interior pictures of the home. To see the inside and get the full story you will have to catch the show around mid-September, usually airing Sundays 8/7 CST. Go to http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/ for more information.

Editorial [Issue 2-1, August 2006 reprint]

Hi gang – here is the editorial from our second magazine issue – a blast from the past!

 

enjoy…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

 

EDITORIAL

Harry Brelsford and Beatrice Mulzer

SMB Partner Community AUGUST 2006 | Vol. 1 n Issue 2 PUBLISHED BY SMB Nation, Inc. Bainbridge Island, Washington Harry Brelsford, Publisher Editorial Staff EXECUTIVE EDITOR Beatrice Mulzer EDITOR Barbara Wallace CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Robin Robins, USA Susanne Dansey, UK LAYOUT Al Alarakhia COVER ART DIRECTOR Michael Young CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mark Mulvany, Ireland Diego Salato, Italy Nick Pieters, Belgium Leen Kleijwegt, Netherlands Andy Wendel, Germany Dean Calvert, Australia Steven Teiger, Israel Suresh Ramani, India Andrew Watson, UK Stuart Raj, Indonesia Mikael Nystroem, Sweden Shelagh Harrop, South Africa Dana Epp, Canada Ken Thoreson, USA Anne Stanton, USA BUSINESS STAFF Harry Brelsford, CEO Beatrice Mulzer, Vice President Alicia Christen, Office Manager Kristal Sagdahl, Circulation Andrew Watson, Sales Manager EMEA SMB Nation, Inc. PO Box 10179 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 USA Telephone: 360-779-1140 Fax: 360-779-1140 E-mail: sbs@smbnation.com © Copyright 2006 SMB Nation Inc. All Rights Reserved Please contact us for reprints and reproduction of content.

Reap What You Sow-ism!

Welcome back. We greatly appreciate your feedback on the first issue of SMB Partner Community magazine and believe we’ve struck a nerve with you in two ways (and perhaps more): community message and business purpose.

Community Message

Call it a softer and gentler information technology era compared to the “Yuppie” 1980s and the IPO 1990s. Today’s small business IT consultant is seeking some form of personal fulfillment beyond professional gains. You are looking for ways to give back. Perhaps you’ve been motivated by Bill Gates’ move over to his charitable foundation? Whatever the reason – it’s all goodness. Here are a couple of examples of doing right by your Small Business Specialist Community.

Midwest Values

Allen Miller, a Small Business Specialist from Cincinnati, OH, USA, has launched www.smallbusinessspecialist.org. His goal is to provide free business advice to aspiring Small Business Owners or their IT Decision Makers on IT related questions. He has teamed with SBS-MVP Kevin Royalty, Kentucky SBS user group leader Tim Barrett and others. “We are here to make your life easier and hopefully impress upon you the value of engaging your own consultant for an ongoing relationship,” Miller shared.

Spare Change

Funny how small things add up big. During our worldwide tour last
year with Microsoft and HP to promote the Small Business Specialist
Community, we kept our “spare change” from each country and

donated it to the Solaidom Dominican Republic (DR) School Project

(www.lesateliersdechantal.org) to better the lives of earnest educators and eager

students in an emerging economy.

Students from the Dominican Republic School

The $1,085 USD donation is but a small way for us, acting in a socially responsible fiduciary capacity, to transfer some of our Small Business Specialist success back to grateful recipients. It’s a hallmark of our business practices here at SMB Partner Community magazine.

Alyssa Johnson (right) receives the donation in 20 different
currencies from SMB Nation’s Harry Brelsford (center) and
Beatrice Mulzer (left)

Triple Bottom Line

So why did we pick Alyssa’s DR school project cause? Because she impressed us with her “triple bottom line commitment” at her own consulting practice (where she has assisted Small Business Specialists with promotions and graphic design engagements). “My company, Oro Azul, is a triple bottom line business (people, profit, planet), meaning that where possible [we are] working to improve the lives of people in communities locally and internationally as well as working with environmental projects.” Johnson told us. “Oro Azul is committed to managing the company and measuring success in a way that balances these facets.”

BEST PRACTICE: Get involved in a community project helping others with your Small Business Specialist expertise and watch your goodwill come back to you ten-fold.

Think Again!

If you think that American CEOs only peruse hobbies like
shooting video and riding bicycles, besides making
donations, start taking notes. We caught Harry Brelsford

(CEO, SMB Nation), walking the floor at the Microsoft World Partner Conference in Boston, July 11-13, promoting SMB Partner Community Magazine. Measures like these show the commitment and tenacity it takes to be successful in any business endeavor, especially if you are the helm of your business. Our commitment to you is to help make you financially more profitable by showing you the path of least resistance. Hence this issue will give you a new perspective on franchising, the 70-282 exam and, most of all, the Small Business Symposium – Microsoft’s way of handing you the tools to build a successful future as a Small Business Specialist and reap what you sow!

70-282 Re-examined [Issue 1-2 reprint]

Hi folks – I am starting to post up a few blasts from the past – older articles that still make sense from past magazine issues. I will do this several times per week. Let me know what you think!

 

cheers…harrybbbb

Harry Brelsford, CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com

Microsoft Small Business Specialist SBSC, MBA, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE, CNP

PS – did u know I host an annual conference in Seattle each october for SBSers and SMB consultants? This year we help launch SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) between October 4-6!

 

A

A few years ago, there was a popular book from a Pacific Northwest author reciting “everything you know, you learned in kindergarten.” This book was about lessons in life

learned at a young age that should guide adult behavior (sharing, fair play, etc.). If you were to update that writing for the Internet world of newsgroups and unsolicited e-mail, you might also add:

·                        Don’t purchase stocks based on Internet chat room tips

·     Filter and discern what you read about the 70-282 exam in on-line newsgroups

Several months ago – Microsoft refreshed the 70-282 certification exam. This is one of the exams that you can successfully pass in order to become a Small Business Specialist (the other exam is the 74-134 exam focused on system builders). Shortly thereafter, the popular newsgroups (Small Business Server and Small Business Specialist Community newsgroups hosted by Microsoft, Yahoo and private sites) started to become populated with posts that commented on the 70-282 certification exam. Some posts were complimentary; other posts were critical. Such is life in the on-line newsgroups.

Watch What You Say In Public

It is important to remember that when you take the 70- 282 examination, you do agree to an on-screen non­disclosure agreement that essentially prevents you from discussing the specifics of the examination with others. To be honest – in preparing this article – I reviewed many newsgroup posts and I believe a few “posters” crossed the NDA line. That’s not exactly the behavior we’re seeking in

by Harry Brelsford

bona fide Small Business Specialists!

Also – I was unable to “re-take” the 70-282 exam again as I’ve already passed it and proudly hold the Small Business Specialist title. Once you have passed a Microsoft certification exam, you cannot take it again for quality assurance and privacy purposes. So this article required other forms of legitimate investigative reporting. You’re certainly not going to catch me violating my NDA in this article!

Just The Facts Please!

Here is the current situation.

·    The 70-282 examination is a great exam that accurately assesses the business technology skill set of the small and medium business (SMB) technology partner.

·    It is not an SBS exam. While you, like I, love SBS, it’s important to put that love struck blindness aside for a moment. The 70-282 examination is about Microsoft products and solutions in the SMB space. Granted – historically many, if not most, of the questions were keen on SBS.

·    Domain exam objectives remain relevant. This is where I spent a lot of time researching this article and worked closely with sources inside Microsoft. Bottom line? The 70-282 certification exam adheres to the domain text objectives published at the Microsoft Learning site (www.microsoft.com/learning). Such was the case yesterday, today and tomorrow. Period. That’s good news on our home front as our infamous 70-282 “red book” at SMB Nation Press remains relevant for the aspiring Small Business Specialist’s consumption.

• Test writing techniques. Test writers in an academic or professional environment will often populate an exam with nonsense answers to through you off. I should know as I taught at the University-level for a dozen years in the early years of my career. So if you see possible answers that appear to be distracters more than bona-fide technical questions, there may be a plausible explanation; where Microsoft mentions a specific product, you may in truth don’t need to know the product but rather understand the scenario of the question. It’s not really fair or accurate to make posts on the newsgroups saying “…the !@#$^& 70-282 exam tested me on this and that product.” Having nonsense

answers does not constitute a departure from honoring the domain test objectives.

• Mis-information and expectations. So you believe what you’ve heard on the newsgroups about the 70- 282 exam, you walk into the testing center with a chip on your shoulder and perhaps you under-perform in your test-taking attempt. It makes sense to me. Instead

of focusing on passing the test, you were more interested in online drama. When you retake the 70- 282 exam, might I suggest you reboot your attitude and leave the gossip in the garbage.

Microsoft’s Statement on the 70-282 Exam

We know that maintaining the value of the MCP credential is as important to you as it is to us. As part of our ongoing effort to keep Microsoft certifications strong, credible, and valued, we will monitor and update content periodically to help protect program integrity and exam security. These updates are just one of the many steps we take towards keeping exams as security-enhanced as possible. This helps maintain the value of Microsoft certifications and ensures that only qualified information technology professionals are identified as MCPs.

Exclusivity

So what if Microsoft refreshed the 70-282 exam? It was approaching 3 years in age and needed an update to keep it relevant in my opinion. At a minimum, Microsoft’s commitment to devote bandwidth and resources to refresh the 70-282 exam signals that it wants to maintain a certain element of exclusivity associated with the Small Business Specialist title! Do you really want to have “paper” Small Business Specialists in our community? n

So talk back to me (send mail to editor@smbnation.com). We’ll
print selected reader response to this article in a future magazine.