387: Know When To Fold Em'

Topics:

-Joe had a client reach out just to say something positive about Parallels 16. How infrequently do we get those feel good calls?

-Speaking of Parallels 16, Jerry has a gripe about a Parallels update that ended up costing him.

-Sam wants to inject some feel good stories and talks about a free offer from a local ISP for households with educators and school age children.

-Another great tool for educators is Safe You Tube, a site that lets you play YouTube videos for children, without potentially inappropriate ad content.

-What happened to paper cups?

-We have some follow up to the Carbon Copy Cloner Privacy Fish, from Mike Bombitch himself!

-And now we have a hot air balloon from Tech Tool Pro.

-Amy McKnight and others give Joe some credit for his PSA about being able to open PDFs in Microsoft Word.

-Jerry is annoyed by a client that is clearly multi tasking while trying to work with him remotely.

-Joe has a similar client and sees the proof with Handoff displaying multiple apps in their Mac Dock. 

-While trying to work with a new client remotely, Sam seems just how difficult it can be when leaving a lot of the work to the client.

-Sam & Joe have a live conversation about a potential new client that they are both in discussions with.

386: Interview With Brian Burke - Chief Mac Man of SellYourMac.com

Topics:

-This week were are joined by Brian Burke, Chief Mac Man of SellYourMac.com

-Brian has always been passionate about computers and even helped teach his computer class in 5th grade!

-After successfully selling products, including used cell phones in college, Brian started buying and selling a lot of Apple products online. The idea of SellYourMac.com was born.

-Brian has purchased Mac computers as old as 2008.

-Sam always has family approaching him for used Apple products. Brian will be happy to take them off his hands.

-Joe also notes that support goes along with helping family acquire older products.

-Brian points to his customer service as the secret to his success.

-That level of customer service makes Joe recall offering support around the clock in his early days.

-The crew is reminded of a local grocery store chain, Stew Leonard’s, that has similar service etiquette.

-The flip side of always catering to the customer is those that attempt to take advantage.

-As Jerry joins the fray, he wants to know more from Brian about their process, from intake to checklist, cleaning, and resale. 

-SellYourMac has custom made boxes for every model of Mac computer.  It also helps to ensure integrity of the shipment so customers can get full value. 

-Brian’s company does sell parts they don’t use. 

-The topic of repairability comes up as Joe talks of past difficulties and Brian talks of the lack of repair options in the future. 

-How much RAM should you get in your Mac?

-What’s a Mac Pro?

-Sam inquired about selling multiple computers at once. Brian directs him to their Sell in Bulk are of the site: https://www.sellyourmac.com/mac-bulk-buy-back.html

-Brian talks about an option for purchasing renewed devices: https://renewedmacs.com

-Outside of the Apple world, Brian is also a sommelier, a notary public, ordained minister, and a certified scuba instructor. He also administered his own brother’s wedding!

-Brian’s biggest passion is actually cooking. 

-Speaking of cooking, Joe talks about Green Chef boxes. Organic food, ready to make. 

-Trade In For A Purpose - Brian began this formal campaign to gift Mac computers to underprivileged students. This has an amazing impact on their lives and work on their education: https://www.sellyourmac.com/trade-in-for-a-purpose/

-Sell Your Mac is offering all of our listeners a bonus. Just use the promo code “CCP” at Sell Your Mac and Renewed Macs. 

384: Interview With Jon Brown, founder & CEO of Grove Technologies

Topics:

-This week we welcome Jon Brown of Grove Technologies and VIP sponsor of Command Control Power!

-Jon takes us through his path of leaving a 9-to-5 job and starting a consultancy to fill a visible void.

-Grove Technologies started by focusing on organizations that had internal IT and could use supplemental support.

-Joe knows the feeling of not being able to take time off when you are a team of one.

-Grove Technologies is currently a team of 3 full time people and additional 1099 contractors.

-A problem we know all too well - customers reaching out to Jon personally. He turned to Apple Business Chat.

-Joe & Jon swap stories about taking over another consultancy’s business/client list.

-Their sweet spot of size of client is between 5 and 25 users.

-When transitioning a new client away from a PC MSP, it started them down a path of a partnership acquisition opportunity.

-Jon is very forthcoming about the talks about selling his company.

-He also reelizes his bookkeeping practices and business hygiene wasn’t where he wanted them to be.

-Once presented with a business valuation, he ultimately decided to continue building his business. He also learned a few key things that they were looking for.

-We learn about the EBITDA method of a business valuation.

-We discuss the race to the bottom that seems to be the model of PC MSPs. 

-Jon talks about needing to contribute to the community in order to be able to reap the benefits of that community. 

-Part of a value of a company is how much clients rely on the actual person selling. 

-Jon also discusses an opportunity to join forces with fellow Apple consultancies. 

-After the acquisition didn’t move forward, Jon was approached about an “acqui-hire”. 

-Sam proposes joining forces in CT and become Command Control Power Consulting. 

381: Apple Pay?

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Topics:

-Jerry recalls an amusing call into his smith.ai service. 

-Is it Apple Pay, Apple Cash, Apple Card, or “paying with a credit card inside your watch”?

-“We have one more season before 2020 is hindsight” -Joe Saponare

-Joe wants to know how each of our businesses are doing. 

-Joe considers network projects. 

-Some A/V projects can get extremely costly. Are we in the wrong business?

-There is more of a wow factor with A/V installations whereas Wi-Fi is supposed to just work. 

-Safari Password Suggestion creates conversation with end users about security. 

-PsiMac has developed good verbiage and documentation regarding passwords, iCloud Keychain, and overall security. 

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

380: Go 5Ghz Or Go Home

Topics:

-Sam worked on a job to replace an entire Ruckus installation with Ubiquiti UniFi APs.  Not surprisingly, the cost was a lot lower for UniFi.

-He decided to initially only use the 5GHz frequency since 2.4GHz has few options for channels and many other devices operate on that frequency.

-Jerry grills Sam on his decisions for the UniFi installation.

-Sam explains how he made adjustments by creating different WLAN groups in the UniFi controller.

-Joe reminds us of a PSA Jerry put out to the group in relation to the latest UniFi controller version and the issues it was causing.

-While on the topic of UniFi, Joe revisits a job he did with outdoor Mesh Pro access points and outdoor waterproof electric outlets.

-Pro tip! Take photos of your work to show future clients what your company is capable off.

-Another Pro Tip! Don’t use hidden SSIDs. They do not offer any security benefit and can also cause a device to use more power.

-While on a job with a WatchGuard firewall, Jerry describes how he uses MAC addresses to allow staff devices to bypass content filters. However, a new feature of iOS 14 is MAC address randomization. This could have completely sent his work into a tailspin but fortunately he found his answer quickly. He was able to relay the changes necessary to staff: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211227

-Sam finds that app age restrictions in MDM affects the ability to deploy a browser like Google Chrome, since it technically has the ability to access inappropriate websites.

-Jerry wants to know Sam’s method for competing in the PC market.

“I make the mistakes so you don’t have to” - Jerry Zigmont

“He spun a good yarn until the very end” - Joe Saponare

“I do not enjoy supporting PC clients….at all” - Sam Valencia

379: Too Close For Comfort

Topics:

-Joe has been in the Pacific Northwest recently and shares some of his experiences being in areas affected by the recent wildfires.

-After being in Colorado for two months, he went to Washington, where he hiked North Cascades National Park.

-The haze of smoke and smell of fire on a regular basis became a worry.

-We learn a lot about air quality index measurements and how to observe it in Apple Maps. In the Seattle area, they saw an AQI of 220, a considerably unhealthy number.

-They eventually made it to Montana

-As they drove through Spokane, they experienced an AQI of 492.

-We think of our friends that live in those areas that are affected and they don’t have the luxury of leaving the area.

-While in safer territory, Joe experiences a comically opposite situation when a sprinkler system goes off in the middle of a work day.

-Sam has an uncomfortable conversation with a neighbor that invades his personal space.

-The hosts get political and discuss their feelings on the current state of affairs and who to vote for president.

-A big shout out to Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network and his endorsement of Joe Biden.