405: Accruing Technical Debt

Topics:

• Jerry brings up clients that you need to be more up front with billing for your time so there is no confusion that can lead to an unpaid bill.

• He talks about one particular client that has aging hardware/software and they are scrambling for support. He tries to set expectations early.

• That rings a familiar bell for Joe who might be more inclined to start helping someone right away.

• With Sam’s monthly clients, he has formal paperwork that mentions “discovery”. Often times customers are more inclined to accept that if they know it will save them costs moving forward if you are already familiar with their environment.

• Jerry talks about smaller clients to possibly start small and move incrementally to earn some money up front.

• “Technical debt” is a term Joe coins from all of this.

• Realizing Joe may have missed an opportunity for calling out chargeable items, he realizes that he may need to get more comfortable onboarding a larger client.

• Sam talks about he learned from a similar situation.

• Jerry talks about a very strange problem his client who could not find any of her mail, her inbox was empty (and Time Machine wouldn’t work!)

• Joe remembers back when emails would disappear after updating to Catalina.

• The group discusses the many issues everyone has with mail and the recovery service.

• Tim Nyberg of The Mac Guys shared some feedback about using the mobile support feature of Splashtop which leads into a conversation about using it.

• He has a remote support feature on his website (themacguys.com) that helps you download the correct version of Splashtop.

• Sam has to break the news that he had to let go of a really nice office space.

404: Let's Just Say His Name Was Bill

Topics:

• Joe performed a fully remote project with a client where he had to help extend their Eero network into their outdoor garage studio all through email.

• He works on a similar project for another client who gives him hard time about billing and the story ends with a surprising twist.

• The group talks about the difficulty of charging for remote work.

• How and when should you let a client know that there are going to be billable charges for a remote assessment and evaluation?

• Some difficult clients aren’t worth the money. But it’s a tough decision if they represent a large portion of income.

• Joe talks about “Fire Client Friday”.

• When does a client go too far?

• The group discusses how to figure out who you want to work with.

• Sam feels like he’s in an awkward position of assisting a previous employee of a client who may be turning around and billing for the answers.

• Joe and Jerry give Sam good advice on how to approach the issue.

403: I Hope You Find Honest Work One Day

Topics:

All roads lead to automated support…

• Someone tried to hustle Jerry and he exacts revenge.

• Scammers get scammed.

• Is the warrantee on your car expiring?

• Jerry felt like a hero after fixing a client’s difficult 2013 mac. Hint, it had to do with /private/tmp

• Should we officially not recommend hardware updates for 2013 iMac computers since they cannot run Big Sur?

• Joe praises Addigy for their new feature “Addigy Live Desktop” and talks about how useful this tool can be.

• He shares a very helpful tip that solved the common problem of getting stuck while trying to restore from a Time Machine backup with Synology.

• Sam ends up in a familiar situation with a client who just won’t listen to him and ended up getting themselves into a difficult situation when network equipment fails.

• The group shares ideas to help Sams issues with a problem client.

• What do you do if you have a client who won’t take your security advice and they can possibly get themselves into trouble?

• Jerry has a client who likes to mess around with the Unifi gateway.

• He has a Pro Tip for managing the date/time on a UniFi Gateway via SSH.
  admin@ubnt:~$ set date ntp 0.ubnt.pool.ntp.org

• Sam hopes Joe finds honest work someday.

402: Never Lose Your Trash Again!

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Special Thanks to our friends:

Topics:

Happy 400th episode!….2 episodes late.

• Joe dropped his iPhone 11 Pro Max. He ends up replacing it with a new iPhone 12 pro which leads into a group discussion about iPhone repairs and carriers

• He talks about the difficulties he had and the time it took when trying to get two carriers on his new phone. eSIM and physical SIM setup order is important!

• Sam sets up three separate Genius Bar appointments for his iPhone 11, Apple Watch series 3, and AirPod Pro issues. This leads into a second unexpected event that causes him to be locked out of his car.

• Pop quiz - What did Sam forget when he restored his iCloud backup to a new phone?

• The group speaks about being treated as a normal consumer when purchasing technology or speaking with customer service.

• Sam reveals his oversight with Google Authenticator.

• iCloud Drive presents a challenge to Jerry in an experience he had with a client losing a very important file in iCloud drive.

• Joe piggybacks off of Jerry’s story and talks about his client also losing data.

• Should you use the trash to store files? PsiMac may have an offering for you!

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

401: Interview With Ryan Grimes Of My IT Indy

Topics:

This week we welcome back Ryan Grimes, President of My IT Indy. https://myitindy.com/

• Ryan speaks about how his business has changed since he was first on the show in 2014 (Episode 43)

• Who consults the consultant?

• The group speaks about UniFi and notification issues.

• Ryan discusses a story about dealing with a client that went silent, and what he learned from it.

• Ryan also shares his personal experience with COVID, and how it affected his personal and business life.

• One of Ryan’s ex-clients was phished after ending the business relationship.

• The group talks about the problems small business owners face.

• Joe brings up the security issues that clients often have which leads to a more in depth discussion about cybersecurity.

• Clients will often zone out on important topics. Sometimes it takes the “cool” features to get buy-in.

• Collaborating with others in our industry can create benefits for us all.

• “Be excellent to each other and don’t be a butthead.”

400: Interview With Justin Esgar & Tim Pearson of the ACES Conference

Topics:

-This week we welcome back Justin Esgar and Tim Pearson of the ACES conference.

-Justin gives a recap of virtual ACES.

-He explains how the plans changed for last year’s virtual conference that was originally supposed to be an in-person conference held in Atlanta.

-Justin and Tim speak about the struggles of having an online conference for the first time.

-This year this ACES conference will be taking over the month of May. Every Thursday (tentatively) from noon to 2:30 EST two speakers and a round table session discussing all the aspects of your business. Throughout the month there will also be a couple of other surprises. Tickets will be on sale in February. First 100 people who sign up get a gift box.

-ACES Conference Slack is open for questions http://acesconf.herokuapp.com/

-What will the roundtables look like?

-Joe and Tim speak about the benefits of attending a conference like ACES.

-Joe tells a story about an experience he had at the 2017 ACES conference that helped him with his business recently.

-For the newly initiated, what is ACES?

-Justin explains why he started ACES and speaks about how welcoming the ACN community is.

-Everyone talks about how interacting with more people helps you improve your business and learn more.

-Tim shares a head scratcher with the group that involves remote access.

-The group discusses internet providers and cellular service companies.

-Justin talks about how they are going to continue the “Women in IT ACES Scholarship”. Three tickets will be given to women in IT who apply here: https://acesconf.com/women-in-it-equality-scholarship/

-Follow Leonard Fienstein on Tik Tok!