There are very few blogs and even forums I can recommend to people that are looking to get into the managed services. Having seen Erick’s MSP Bootcamp I’m pretty convinced that if thats the strategy you’ve selected, Erick’s stuff will pay for itself immediately, not to mention the support systems. Believe me, it’s worth the money and everyone I sent to Erick has thanked me for the referral.

But when it comes to freebie advice there is the unquestionable 600 lb gorilla of all-things-service and his name is Karl Palachuck. If you’re new to this blog, Karl has written more professional self-help books than you can stick into a small airport store. Everything from whitepapers to workbooks to full on gudes, books and motivational guides. Karl is your man.

And over the last 2 weeks he has been writing about managed services, a series of posts that is likely to become a public blueprint for what you need to consider before heading the managed way: Managed Services in a Month.

Managed Services in a Month: Part one, Part two.

Oh, and if you like that stuff you’re really going to like guys books. I own them all, I’ve raffled away two of them and believe me, reading this stuff will save you days and months in the future.

Now, if you made some horribly poor choices in your conference budgets (and haven’t had the mind to cancel yet)  make damn sure you get there on Friday (9/28). Karl has a now legendary free seminar the day before the event that will include HaaS and Perfect Projects Every Time, something he has blogged about at times but nothing quite ties it in together.

Pro: Which brings back the ever-present Vladville keyword, WTF is the value? No matter how good you have it, I hope you still remember how hard it is to make money. So when it comes to parting with that money you ought to expect the very best, not just the best effort. In my biased (yes, Karl has helped Own Web Now and Shockey Monkey and the SBS Show immensely, so I speak from experience) opinion, Karl’s books and seminars bring it all together. That’s the value. Will you learn something so earth shattering that it changes the very fabric of your life. No. But the little tips mixed in with know-how, mixed in with templates, mixed in with best practices make putting your business plan in effect a matter of filling in the blank, not sitting around with a lawyer / accountant / financial advisor / dog / your BFF and thinking of a better way to build a wheel.

Con: If you’re going to the conference in search of eyecandy, $100 to watch some blonde shake her rack is probably a better investment. But if you’re trying to improve your business, Karl’s free seminar or $100 towards his books will pay off on the flight back home.

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