Touch down in Vegas

I have just arrived in Las Vegas in preparation for SMB Nation 2009. So what am I doing here? For starters I’m here to attend what is probably the preeminent (vendor agnostic) SMB reseller focused even in the world. What else am I doing here? Well on Saturday morning I’ll be giving a session on SharePoint called:

GS202 : SharePoint – You’ve got it now what?

The least known component of SBS 2008 is SharePoint and yet it offers the greatest opportunity. This session will explain to you in simple terms exactly what SharePoint technology is and how it can be utilized to improve your business and that of your customers. You’ll also learn how to take SharePoint beyond the default install to configure an installation that truly provides business benefits to you customers. You’ll learn how software like Microsoft Office, SharePoint Designer, Search Server Express and third party add-ons work with SharePoint and more importantly how you can extend your skills quickly and easily to sell these solutions.

Also on Saturday I’ll be doing a podcast live from SMB Nation with Karl Palachuk. Details are:

Saturday Oct. 3rd:
2:25 PM to 2:55 PM (local Las Vegas time)
SharePoint Podcast with Karl Palachuk / Robert Crane
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/749350137

Hopefully this podcast will also be recorded so people can listen to it later on.

Also importantly, I’ll be trying to network with all my peers to learn as much as I can and hopefully forge some new relationships.

Looking back on what I gained from last year’s SMB Nation I can honestly say that there was plenty of content that really helped my business in the last 12 months and I’m looking to get even more out of it this year. I certainly hope that if you are at this year’s SMB Nation you’ll come to my presentation or stop me in the halls for a chat or maybe even organise a get together over a coffee later on. If you want to meet then I’m more than willing to oblige.

If you can’t make the event then I hope that you’ll at least keep up to date with my thoughts on SMB Nation as I post them to this blog and listen to my SMB Nation podcast. Once the presentation is complete I’ll be working hard to get all the relevant documents up for those who are interested to download.

SMB Nation 2009 – Bring it on!

Metrics

I think most people have heard of the saying “if you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it” and yet many people seem to be failing to even do basic measurements. Give the plethora of free measurement tools that are available on the Internet these days (Google Analytics is probably the best example), there really isn’t any excuses.

What prompted me to write this post was a blog post from Seth Godin called “Everyone gets paid on commission”. It details how a writer got laid off from the Washington Post because his blog posts where no generating enough traffic. It illustrates how in today’s world you can very quickly determine how many people are reading or looking at the stuff you have on the Internet. As Seth concludes, “in a digital world where everything can be measured, we all work on commission”.

It again illustrates that fact that we are living in a very different world from the one that many people believe they inhabit. Personally, I spend a regular amount of time each week recording a number of key metrics around my business online. Such monitoring has highlighted issues that I am working to address. It has garnered results from tests that I have performed so I know what does and doesn’t work online. I have really come to appreciate in the last year or so how important metrics are to a business and why if you are not performing metrics you are simply fooling yourself.

It may take some time to determine what key metrics you need to track but the more you invest in determining, tracking and reacting to these the more profitable your success will become. I am always on the look out for more quality information sources as well as tools to provide metrics on how my business perform. If you know of any that work well for you please let me know via director@ciaops.com.

Google ninjas

I’m on a number of technical email lists. These lists allow people like myself to post technical questions that get read by a whole group of other technical people. The hope is that someone on the list knows the answer or has some experience they can share to help the person making the initial request. It was the sort of thing done before all the Web 2.0 stuff came along, and yes, it is really ‘old world’ stuff but for the technical people who use these lists they are yet to come into the 21st century. As I have said many times, just because you work with technology don’t assume you understand technology. Nothing could be truer than in this case. That issue, however, is not the focus of this post, it is instead around how Google is having a major impact on technical professions.

What recently used to happen on these technical email lists was that someone would post a question and someone else would tell them to use Google before they posted the question. Fair enough in my book. Now I see questions typically start with ‘I have a problem that I can’t solve using Google’. Recently one such question resulted in a reply from another member of the forum that they found the answer on Google as the top result in their search request so why could the original person find it on Google? This exchange raises some very interesting issues.

Firstly, with the vast array of information available on the Internet, in-depth technical information on just about every product and technology is available for free. How can you therefore compete on a technical ability any more? Google allows someone with much less knowledge and experience than you the ability to find a solution in potentially less time than you ever could. So, you may have spent years building up your technology knowledge but guess what? Google has just about made the playing field equal for all players no matter what their technical skill or experience level.

Secondly, no longer is it your technical ability that will distinguish you, it is your ability to find relevant information faster than your competition. However, I ask whether many people actually spend time improving their informational sources? Likewise, I ask whether many people actually spend time improving their searching skills? I know for a fact that most people do neither! Most people don’t know that Google has advanced search options. Most people don’t know that Google allows the use of operators (+, –, AND, OR, etc) in searches. This means when they use Google they get millions of results rather than thousands. Give that order of magnitude difference with results returned how effective do you think learning more about improving your skills with Google is going to pay off? Seems like simply math to me but nobody seems to do it.

So don’t be fooled into believing that all that technical knowledge you have accrued over the years is going to put you in good stead. Your most likely younger and smarter competition are investing their time in improving their informational sources as well as improving their ability to search these sources. Honestly, as the power of search technology improves and the amount of information available on the Internet increases, your ability to compete technically doesn’t stand a chance. So spend time improving your searching skills grasshopper and become a true Google ninja.

To now include MOSS

After many requests and a desired to cover the entire SharePoint product spectrum I have decided to now include information about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) into my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide offering.

At this stage I’m unsure whether I’ll change the name or simply have 2 distinct products but what I will tell you is that from now until January 1 2010 the MOSS information will be in ‘beta’. That simply means I want to get it up to a certain volume before I release it commercially as well a getting feedback from subscribers. I will also tell you that all existing Guide subscribers will automatically receive all this new MOSS information as part of their existing subscription and will continue to do so as long as they continue to subscribe. I have also decided that I will make this offer available to any subscriber until the 31st of December 2009. This means that if you become a subscriber before this date you’ll not only get all the existing Windows SharePoint information but you’ll also get all the MOSS information that I create.

Aside from all this don’t forget that SharePoint 2010 is due soon, with a beta expected in October, and that too will all be included in the Guide (for Windows SharePoint and MOSS) as it becomes available. Best of all you’ll still get all this for $299! Chances are that after 31 December 2009 the MOSS offering will require a separate subscription so if you have ever thought that you may need information about SharePoint in the future now is the time to jump on board.

The new MOSS guide will include many of the same topics of the existing Guide such as installation, database management, search and so on, however it will also incorporate a whole new range of topics specifically geared to MOSS including portals, advanced document management, Excel services and more. For as much information as I have created for Windows SharePoint (over 1,400 pages now) I reckon I can easily double that for MOSS.

For more information about the Guide visit www.wssops.com or send me an email (director@ciaops.com). Don’t forget you have until 1 January 2010 to jump on board to receive all the benefits before the content starts to split.

As a further aside, I’m also contemplating (well almost certain now about) creating a guide dedicated to the SharePoint offering in Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). If you think that would be worthwhile please let me know as well (director@ciaops.com).

Kiva

There are so many worthy charities these days and everyone has their own preferences but for me I can’t go past Kiva.

What I like about Kiva is:

1. You can choose directly an individual you wish to help. You can see their circumstances and why they need the money.

2. The money that you provide is a loan, meaning the individual works to repay this amount over time. As with any loan there is a risk that repayments will not be able to be made but this is extremely small and you get advised of that potential prior to making the loan.

Once the loan has been repaid you can either choose to reloan the money or you can, if you wish, withdraw the amount. Personally, I like to keep reloaning the money because I like the idea of being able to keep helping people all via a single donation.

3. The Kiva web site allows you to easily keep tabs on each loan that you have made and the progress in which it is being repaid. You also get a page that shows you all the loans you have made. Take a look at my loan page as an example.

4. The Kiva site incorporates the concept of ‘social networking’ so you can see all the other people from around the world who have also loaned money to the individual, because any total loan is usually made up of many small donations.

5. Finally, being a entrepreneur myself I enjoy the concept of helping other entrepreneurs get ahead. I know how hard it can be sometime to get started, grow and expand so I feel a closer sense of attachment to people like these who are not simply asking for hand outs, all they are simply asking for is assistance to grow their business to provide themselves, and others, a better life.

I would ask you to have a look at Kiva and see the good that it is facilitating everyday for individuals who are not as lucky as people like me. I think that when you take a look you’ll find that it is a great way to help others help themselves which is really the best help there is.

SMB Nation 2009

If you haven’t already heard I’ll be going to SMB Nation 2009 in Las Vegas from October 2-4 2009 to not only speak about SharePoint but also to take advantage of the great content that is always on offer.

If you are still undecided on whether you should attend let me give some reasons from my perspective:

– I obtained a whole swag of information from last years event that I was able to immediately implement in my business. It wasn’t only just technical information but also some business information that really changed my perspective in how I run my business.

– It was a fantastic opportunity to meet with a wide variety of resellers and IT providers from all over the globe. Some of the ideas that these people shared with me during our discussions again made me think really long and hard about the way I do business.

– I was able to forge some great relationships during the time. I not only met many new people, I also met people whom I’d only spoken to online. In the end, most business comes down to human relationships and nothing beats the traditional ‘face-to-face’ conversation to build stronger bonds.

– It provided me an opportunity to speak with some vendors who were offering products and services I had never even considered. Many also conducted very informative sessions where you could not only see the product in action but also ask questions and get feedback from other resellers on how they may implement such a solution.

– I was able to step away from the day to day grind of my business and take some ‘time out’ and really think about my direction for at least the next 12 months. How often do we every really do that these days?

There are, of course, plenty of other great reasons to attend not the least of which this year is going to be the sights of fabulous Las Vegas. There is certainly no place like this anywhere else in the world. As a destination flights are cheap, accommodation is less than $100 per night and there is always something to do even after the conference closes for the day.

So what am I looking forward to this year? Well, the agenda is now available and what appeals to me the most at the moment is:

GS401: Virtualization for the SMB world – Dana Epp, Wayne Small
GS201: Alternative Solutions in the SMB Space – Eriq Neale
SM302: Twenius – The BIG BANG “How To” of Effective Twitter for Beginners and Pros!- Dan Hollings
SM401: Social Media Panel – Aaron Booker, Dan Hollings, Harry Brelsford, Jim Locke, others
BS301: Selling IT Services; How not to suck at it! – Stuart Selbst
GS202: SharePoint – You’ve got it now what? – Robert Crane (can’t miss this one can I??)
Podcast Karl Palachuk & Robert Crane Pod Cast booth in the Exhibit Hall – Karl Palachuk, Robert Crane (or this one !!)
GS101: Windows 7 are you ready? – Dana Epp, Oliver Sommer, Susan Bradley
SM403: Local Internet Marketing Strategies – Dan Hollings
BS401: BusinessSpeak Panel – Matt Makowicz, George Sierchio, others
GS402: GeekSpeak Panel – MVPs, Gurus, other technical notables
SM201: How To Use LinkedIn and Facebook for RAPID Business Development –
Harry Brelsford
Speed Dating – Meet the Guru’s “Up Close & Personal” – come and join me on a table

Clearly there is heaps of great content and more being added by the day. However, if you are still tossing up whether to attend don’t forget that the early bird discounts end soon so call 206-201-2943 or 1-888-SMB-NAT1 and ask for “Harry” for community discounts!

I can’t wait to get to Vegas and get focused on my business while having a ‘whale of a time’. If you’re planning to attend let me know (director@ciaops.com or http://www.twitter.com/directorcia) as I’d love to catch up and chat about business, SharePoint or whatever.

Roll on October!

Guide promotion

After some discussion with SMB Books we have agreed to make some special offers on my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide.

-> You can now purchase the product via a 3 instalment payment option. This means that it is only $99.99 over three consecutive months. This means that you’ll get access to the full Guide from your first payment and continue to do so for a whole 12 months upon making the remaining payments. Hopefully, this will make it a little easier for those who have been considering the guide but need to also keep an eye on their cashflow.

-> If you buy the Guide and any other product on the SMB Books site you’ll also receive a $20 discount off your total purchase price. There are plenty of other great reference books available on SMB Books covering all facets of technology and business. Unfortunately this offer can’t be used with any other offers (like the part payment mentioned above) and is a special offer unique to the Guide. When you make a purchase use the code CRANE09 at the checkout to take advantage of this offer.

-> When you buy the Guide you’ll also receive a free copy of my “Overcoming email frustrations for OUtlook” in PDF format. This is book that shows you 10 ways to overcome the most common frustrations people face when dealing with email.

The Windows SharePoint Operations Guide is now almost 1,500 pages in length and 4GB of information on the subscribers DVD and growing every month. Why spend time hunting around the Internet for information about Windows SharePoint? It is all here in one regularly updated location. From installing to maintaining and customizing the Guide contains it all and more so visit www.wssops.com or email me (director@ciaops.com) for more information.

Don’t forget all the other free documents I also have available on http://www.slideshare.com/directorcia about SharePoint and other topics.