I have an interesting industry observation I’d like to share with you. Why is that the most successful MSPs in our space attend the fewest events? Conversely, less successful MSPs attend too many events. Let me assert my argument.

Successful MSPs

I won’t name names but here we go.

Mid-west MSP: This gentleman goes back to the start of SBS. We met on the partner advisory council in 1998. We were all young and dumb but several elevated in our community. He used to attend the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) (which then became Inspire) as his annual event.

The amazing sweepstakes contest has launched. Let's cut to the chase! 

Here is the basic story and you can click through (at the bottomw to join the sweepstakes. 

Are you a Managed Service Provider (MSP) with a passion for driving technology transformation? Here’s your chance to make a significant impact on a local small or medium-sized business (SMB) in your area while boosting your own capabilities!

Acer is excited to announce the Technology Transformation Sweepstakes, running from September 18, 2024, to November 19, 2024. The winning MSP will receive cutting-edge Acer equipment and a $5,000 cash prize to help a deserving SMB take their technology to the next level. This is not just a contest—it’s an opportunity to showcase your skills, support your community, and grow your business.

Let’s keep is simple. Our popular one-day workshop, MSP Rescue, is coming to the Microsoft office/event center in Irvine just in time for back to school. This is a professional one-day “continuing education” gathering for MSPs, channel partners, resellers and VARs etc. Our popular format is all panels (no PowerPoint slides).

If you are a living and breathing MSP, you couldn’t miss the recent news on ConnectWise. Let’s start with the acquisition.

SkyKick and Axcient

I knew the founders of SkyKick (Evan and Todd) when they worked on the SMB team at Microsoft and the broke out to start SkyKick in the early part of the 2000-teens.

We’ve quickly turned the corner on 2024 and are sprinting towards 2025. What better time to reflect on what remains for the next several months. I’ll take a stab at it!

1. Industry Consolidations – Both on the vendor and MSP sides, I’m seeing continued consolidations.

That’s not a surprise with the number of cybersecurity vendors entering the SMB MSP space has accelerated. Need proof? Just survey the aisles at large MSP events you like to attend. Admittedly, many of those cybersecurity vendors are “one and done” logos but you’d be surprised with the M&A activity occurring in the background. Heck some times I wonder if folks created ISVs just to be acquired.

On the MSP front, as many in our space are aging out and private equity is circling the wagons to prey upon MSPs, you are seeing folks thinking getting acquired is looking pretty darn tootin good. Just had a cup of coffee with an MSP

Harry Brelsford and Rob Rae discussed the three pillars of MSP success: community, education, and innovation. They emphasized the importance of these pillars in helping MSPs grow their businesses, with a focus on Pax8's investment in the Pax8 Academy and their use of AI and industry best practices. Later, Harry Brelsford and Rob Rae discussed the significance of community in the MSP space, with Rob Rae high lighting the growth of the MSP community and the number of attendees at the conference.

I recently conducted a limited investigation of dogs v. cats. The focus was food. The methodology was an on-site visit to a grocery store to compare similar treats for both dogs and cats. The baseline results were the cat food was nearly 29% (28.6807% to be exact) more expensive.

This was calculated, as seen in the pictures below. The dog kibbles/treats were $4.48 and the cat kibbles/treats were $5.98. What does it mean?  On the surface, cats are more expensive than dogs. But I have questions.

Are food manufactures profiting off the deep love and affection cat owners have and will pay whatever it takes to keep Maggie the Calico Cat happy?

When asked, the community always responds strongly! Here are some examples.

Katrina

In late August 2005, Katrina struck and overall did $186.3 billion in damage with New Orleans taking the biggest hit. The legendary Jeff Middleton (and SBS MVP), a New Orleans resident,

gave a passionate speech a few weeks later the the thrd SMB Nation Fall conference. It was emotional and motivated several SMB Nation members to go to New Orleans and assist in the IT recovery for small and medium businesses (SMBs). I recall Bob Hood from Chicago as one of the volunteers.

For giggles, go to the LinkedinRoastMe site HERE – drop in your LinkedIn profile URL and get ready to laugh. Basically we’re talking about high jinks to take your mind off matters. Here is an example of roast (LOL): “Oh, Juliette, a Business Analyste Métier at Vaudoise Assurances? You must be the life of the party—if the party is filled with spreadsheets and SQL queries! I mean, nothing screams excitement like analyzing insurance claims all day. Your skills in crime analysis must be quite handy when you're trying to figure out who stole the office coffee. And Tableau software?