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IT Pros: exclusive shows await you on Patreon, focusing on the more challenging aspects of running your practice and working with clients and employees.

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

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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

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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.

425: The Appointments You Make Are Equal To The Appointments You Take

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Topics:

-Jerry shakes Sam’s tree to get the skinny on a fancy pants email signature he has from Wisestamp.
-As a part of his updated signature, Jerry includes features like a “pay now” link and social media buttons.
-One concern Sam has is including the Harmonizely link to book time.
-We continue part of a conversation from a “patron only” episode.
-What are the fees of waiting for payment vs a fee of a credit card transaction?
-Sam uses Moonclerk, integrated with Stripe for credit card payments.
-Harmonizely is now a full part of Sam’s workflow. He is now convincing Matt on his team to do the same.
-simplybook.me has acquired Harmonizely and has added to their already impressive features.
-Joe talks about a book called “The 4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris.
-Sam talks about the mindset he needs in order to be able to take tech support calls.
-As part of being cautious with available time, Jerry explains methods used to curate his available time on Harminzely.

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

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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.