432: Skin In The Game - Part 1 with Tim Nyberg of The MacGuys+

Topics:

-Tim Nyberg joins us as a guest co-host

-Half of Tim’s small business clients have either gone away or gone out of business.

-Tim had to adjust his business to being a “one man show” again.

-The stress of letting people go is tough for any business owner.

-Joe’s latest newsletter impresses Jerry.

-The frequency of newsletters and their purpose is debated and discussed.

-Infusionsoft is Tim’s CRM. He uses RepairShopr as well.

-Another consideration is the ratio of educational vs marketing newsletters.

-Naturally, the conversation begins to shift to sole proprietors vs a small business with employees.

-What questions are you trying to answer in your business model?

-Joe talks about how he used to carry RAM in his bag when he visited clients.

-The Personal Support Plan by Watchman Monitoring was the spark for some consultancies using the MSP model.

-As we discuss the age old question of charging for Watchman Monitoring, Jerry has gone the route of moving clients to a larger package to include Addigy MDM as well. 

431: Pavlov's Squirrels

Topics:

-Jerry describes some of his wireless challenges in his house as he moves from Eero to UniFi. 
-The UniFi Doorbell G4 is the latest addition to his UniFi suit of products.
-Using a headless Mac mini, he utilizes Home Bridge to add devices that are not HomeKit compatible.
-Similarly, Sam uses a Chamberlain Wi-Fi garage door opener with a “Home Bridge” device that is extremely unreliable.
-“Hey Squirrely”
-Hardware availability and keeping devices in stock is a constant challenge and moving target.
-Sam tried to get a straight answer out of UniFi support for default settings to enable/disable to improve network functionality. They supplied a support article: https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/221029967-UniFi-Troubleshooting-Connectivity-Issues
-The UniFi Smart Plug is a very useful device at an excellent price point: https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-accessories/products/unifi-smart-power
-Joe & Sam gush over their Apple Silicon computers and Jerry shares his unhappiness. 
-Target Disk Mode and Apple Silicon. Is this still a thing?
-Joe prefers using Time Machine backups as a migration source.
-Jerry uses Fiverr.com to hire a VoiceOver actor for a customer voicemail system.

428: Easing into Managed Services with Allen Hancock

Topics:

This week’s episode of Command Control Power will be a patron only feature. You can find this episode if you are a supporter of Command Control Power on Patreon. You can also click on the Support link in the menu above. If you are not yet a supporter, feel free to sign up! We think you will enjoy hearing it. Let us know your feedback if you do. In the meantime, enjoy a highlight from an older episode.

424: Ducktape and Popsicle Stick Solution

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Topics:

• Jerry recently took the Addigy Certified Expert training

• Text Sniper is an incredibly useful tool that is like OCR for your screen: https://www.textsniper.app.

• Jerry uses it during a presentation to capture text for notes.

• Addigy integrating Splashtop is a welcome addition to their feature set for remote support.

• Joe tells a funny story about Outlook reminders in his latest peeves corner.

• He prefers first party because he likes to know Apple’s solution first and know the ins and outs.

• The group discusses Mail issues.

• Western Digital MyCloud Drive isn’t our favorite choice for customers.

• We have to choose the right equipment or software for our clients based on what is right for them but also what we can support well.

• Sam shares a funny story about trying to talk to a tech person at Staples.

• Should the group start a show where they go to local stores and ask tech questions?

• Joe talks about the times before he was an Apple consultant and shares the story about how he found out about the Apple Consultants Network.

• Is Sam Neo from the Matrix?

• The crew talks about older, unreliable software like Retrospect

• Jerry has an internet recovery issue with a local Mac mini acting as a content cache

423: Dress Your Best & Billable Rates

Topics:

• Jerry talks about the used Mcintosh amplifier from 1967 he recently got for himself.

• He gives a warning about energizing older products like this because it can be dangerous.

• What is appropriate to wear on the job?

• Sam shares a story about his clients dog ripping his brand new corduroys.

• There’s a certain value you provide when you dress the part.

• Joe shares some of his favorite button down shirts.

• The group discusses raising rates and how to communicate that you are doing so with clients.

• Sam explains that he has stopped giving discounts to new clients to win them over because he charges what his services are worth.

• Jerry likes to slowly creep his rates up so it isn’t a huge jump.

• Sam recently increased his hourly rates and he explains how he’d rather have longer term relationships with his clients and his pricing shows that.

• Adding valuable monthly services helps you to bill outside of hourly labor.

• The group discusses billing for network monitoring.

422: 2015 Interview With Alsoft Makers Of Disk Warrior

Topics:

For this week’s episode of Command Control Power, we have decided to run a little experiment. We are making this episode a patron only feature. You can find this episode if you are a supporter of Command Control Power on Patreon. You can also click on the Support link in the menu above. Sign up if you are not yet a supporter. If you are a supporter of the show, you can simply log in to Patreon and you will be able to enjoy this week’s episode which we promise is extra juicy. It has some interesting client issues and interactions and we think you will enjoy hearing it. Let us know your feedback if you do. In the meantime, enjoy a highlight from an older episode.