August 05, 2025

629: Balancing Tech Support: Accessibility, Solo Entrepreneurship & Innovative Solutions with Adam Rice

August 05, 2025/ Jerry Zigmont

In this episode of Command Control Power, the hosts are joined by returning guest Adam Rice of Ask Adam. They discuss the challenges and benefits of being a solo tech support consultant, including balancing large business clients with residential work. Adam shares his innovative equitable pricing model, designed to make tech support accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial situation. The conversation also touches on tools like TailScale and Alectrona Patch, effective strategies for leveraging tech tools as a solo consultant, and the nuances of building and maintaining client trust in both residential and business settings.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome Back, Adam Rice!

00:28 Adam's Background and Living in Philadelphia

02:08 Residential vs. Business Clients

02:47 Solo Consulting and Family Involvement

06:45 Challenges of Hiring and Subcontracting

16:35 Marketing Strategies and Client Demographics

21:39 Private Equity and Client Stability

27:20 Navigating Business Without Contracts

28:33 Shifting Focus to Residential Clients

29:58 The Importance of Client Relationships

31:47 Discussing Business Rates and Models

32:54 Implementing Equitable Pricing

35:03 Challenges and Benefits of Sliding Scale Pricing

48:58 Tools and Techniques for Business Efficiency

57:53 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans

March 04, 2025

607: DDM Deja Vu & Other Mysteries: A Kale Salad for Your Mac

March 04, 2025/ Jerry Zigmont

In this episode, the hosts delve into maximizing earnings from the Amazon Affiliate Program, including the requirement to link clients to a webpage first for tracking and credit. They discuss the importance of managing Mac software updates through MDM and the emerging DDM approach, addressing their methods and challenges with client systems. Additionally, they touch on using Ubiquiti equipment effectively and maintaining client hardware. The episode covers practical insights, from affiliate program strategies to technical management of software updates in Apple devices.

00:00 Introduction and Recent Conversations

00:56 Amazon Affiliate Program Insights

02:44 Challenges with Amazon Affiliate Program

03:54 Creating and Managing Affiliate Links

15:59 Exploring Other Affiliate Programs

21:58 Ubiquity Product Confusion

27:23 Persistent Network Issues

28:01 Unify Setup Challenges

29:57 WiFi Optimization Strategies

31:08 Wake from Sleep Troubles

36:43 Software Update Management

39:31 MDM vs DDM: A Deep Dive

48:37 Custom Solutions for Updates

51:01 Concluding Thoughts and Future Topics

May 14, 2024

Best Of CCP - 071: Adware & Malware Focus with Thomas Reed of

May 14, 2024/ Jerry Zigmont

March 19, 2024

558: Battery Powered M4 iMac

March 19, 2024/ Jerry Zigmont

Topics:

-We talk about on air meltdowns and recall similar situations when dealing with clients.

-When dealing with a financial site, Jerry works with support to “enable cross website tracking”. Tech support is impressed with his technical prowess.

-Similarly, Sam has experienced issues loading the Microsoft 365 admin panes when in Safari private browsing. Refreshing and reducing protection features allows it to work.

-Joe mentions using profiles in Google Chrome as a resolution. Sam uses Arc for this purpose.

-Joe & Sam talk about their 1Password experiences.

-1Password searching can now search note contents (again).

-They also adjusted their billing methods to bill for unverified accounts.

-Joe explains how to find items in macOS.

-Jerry was dealing with a client that kept having QuickBooks issues using Parallels. It turned out to be a feature that will “pause” Windows when idle.

-In another Parallels story, Jerry finds a resolution to his problem with Joe’s help…by finding our own show notes!

-Should you run AutoCAD on Parallels?

-Jerry runs into an issue with MacPractice at a high priority client after a security update. Unbelievably, MacPractice not only does not support macOS Sonoma, but even the latest updates of Ventura.