Ok, this made me laugh to tears, hope it cheers you up:

Remember your senior year of high school and all the K.I.T.’s in your yearbook? Keep in touch, a promise you probably live up to every 5-10 years around reunions. That may work for friends, but that does not work for business even less so if they might rely on you for technology advice. Perhaps the worst words anyone can say to you are: “Are you still in the computer business?”

Since I dumped all my Yahoo groups subscriptions and most blogs (over 1 month clean!) I have started keeping a 30-day, 60-day and quarter folder. Every month, I drag the items in my Inbox into these folders. Then I go through the 30 day old mail folder and process the flagged items. Are there things that need an extra clarification? Do I need to touch back with some people? Any issues that I thought “I’ll catch up with it later when I’m not swamped” and then the weekend came in and I just lost track of it?
Hey, it happens. I’m human. This is why I check.

I must admit, I’m far from where I need to be with the followups so I am trying a few new things to stay in touch. The difficult part of it is the contact preference - some people look at phone calls as an interruption, some people consider email thread they did not initiate as SPAM (or it inadvertently ends up there anyhow), some people prefer mail / fax or a cell phone chat while driving from client to client.

It is often cited that it is more expensive to land a new client than to keep an existing client there. What I’ve been successful with is taking it one step further: It is cheaper to convert the existing leads to clients than to go out and get new ones. However, this takes some TLC - and lead qualification is an emotionless process the sales people use to pack their pipeline and meet goals: Are you buying in the next 30 days or not? Yes = pressure; No = Disqualify lead.

I believe our products are good enough that they don’t need to be pressure pushed - so we don’t. But I also do not believe that anyone needs to be dismissed just because they don’t need a solution here and now. Staying in touch, responsive and most importantly relevant is the difficult part.

So here is some food for thought.. how much money do you spend on advertising to pull in new leads as opposed to keeping relevant to the leads you already have?

I was sitting around writing some documentation and felt compelled to share some general knowledge on how Internet mail is routed around. The basic problem / solution here is how do I get a multihomed Exchange environment on the cheap? Enjoy.

Please first consider the following document: ExchangeDefender Deployment Guide

ExchangeDefender can deliver inbound mail to a static IP address or perform an MX lookup and deliver to the first available server. We support secure TLS delivery to both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

If you have multiple static IP addresses that you wish to deliver inbound messages, ExchangeDefender can perform an MX lookup in order to deliver mail to one or more mail servers. Larger clients tend to have multiple Internet providers on multiple IP ranges and use them to provide failover service or load balancing. ExchangeDefender fully supports this configuration.

In order to get ExchangeDefender to deliver messages to either a failover or load balanced connection that has multiple external IP addresses you need to create another MX record in your domain and add the hostnames of the IP addresses to that MX list. Your default @ MX record for the domain will still point to inbound30.exchangedefender.com but ExchangeDefender will deliver to your new MX record. Here is an example:

# Primary / default MX record
@ in mx 10 inbound30.exchangedefender.com.

# Host records for individual mail servers
mail1     in a 65.99.192.2
mail2     in a 65.99.255.3

# MX record for direct load balanced / failover access
directmail  in mx 10 mail1.domain.com.
directmail  in mx 20 mail2.domain.com.

In the example above, your default / primary MX record for domain.com is inbound30.exchangedefender.com. You have defined a hostname on each IP range you own as mail1.domain.com and mail2.domain.com. Finally, you have created a new MX record directmail.domain.com that will resolve to mail1.domain.com and mail2.domain.com

Under this example external mail for user@domain.com would be sent to inbound30.exchangedefender.com. ExchangeDefender would then route the message according to the MX lookup for directmail.domain.com which goes to mail1.domain.com or if unavailable to mail2.domain.com. This is the failover configuration. If you set the weights on directmail MX record to 10/10 (or any other numbers, so long as they are equal) then ExchangeDefender would deliver mail in a round robin fashion allowing for load balancing.

This configuration is independent of router choice, because it does not require the router to fail over the link. You could just have multiple routers with multiple gateways on your network. This configuration will work with virtually all routers and load balancers on the market because it uses DNS to route mail, not a hardware switch.

Of course, to set the MX record to deliver mail to access your ExchangeDefender configuration and click Advanced Settings for Inbound mail.

Important Notes:

• Make sure you check that the MX record exists, nslookup -q=mx directmail.exchangedefender.com should return two or more mail servers. If it returns invalid domain, something went wrong.
• There is a difference between a host (A) record and a mail exchanger (MX) record - if you point ExchangeDefender at a host the message will bounce.
• This is an advanced network topic and we strongly advise it be done by a competent IT Solution Provider, please contact us for a reference.

Happy Thanksgiving Folks! I hope spending time relaxing, hopefully with family and the ones you love is recharging your batteries and making you look forward to cracking that SMB Microsoft Challenge I asked you to think about the other day. If not, hopefully this will:

First of all, if you’re taking a blue colar approach to IT business (I’m small, love small, always will be small because I can’t/won’t lead/hire/manage/work full time) or if you are not an entrepreneur (i.e., you see the end game being a “good job”) then this is not for you. Go back to the turkey. See ya.

Now if you are still reading this you are probably an entrepreneur and you are shaking in your boots over what the competitor with $30 billion a quarter is going to do to your business. Fear, uncertainty, uneasiness, reservations.. are perfectly natural and normal. Only arrogant fools that are about to lose their heads can go without those qualities (see: .com bust) that make someone face difficult and uncertain terrain and overcome it. It’s a part of leadership, its a part of you that people are willing to follow. So relax, take a deep breath, Microsoft or Google or GM or Walmart will do what they do, you can’t control them - but you can control yourself and what you do.

I hope you took a moment to read why this is happening. Read Karl’s excellent overview of “What are we worth to Microsoft” to get an even bigger picture. I hope that at the end of reading both blog posts you have somewhat of an understanding of how big business works and that its just as ambitious, just as greedy as you and I. Again, this is not something you control, not something you can change and not something you ought to spend your time worrying about.

Remember WHY you got in this business to begin with. I got into it because I thought I could make more money by providing a better service than the people I worked for at the time. I can guess your story may be similar to that, but it is you who stepped out and thought you were the component that will make the difference. So focus on you and what you can do - not what Microsoft does, what BestBuy wants to do or what the vendor whose stuff you sell is telling you to push.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s that simple. You need to be cognizant and aware of what the others are doing and preparing yourself and your company to do it better, faster, more in tune to your customer base.

My Story

I run an ASP, Application Service Provider. We manage 14 data centers full of servers, network gear, etc. Some applications we write, some applications we buy, some applications we rent, some applications are brought in by the customer and we just watch over their servers, their networks, their homes, whatever. Bottom line, our expertise is network infrastructure beyond a SOHO router and a T1.

Microsoft is my biggest friend out there because it enables me to do what I do and to scale it in ways that I could not do on my own. In particular, I am talking about Small Business Specialist program. Microsoft is training, filtering, financing and enabling an army of people that I can count on when I do my projects. Be it Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, London, Bonn, Vienna, Hong Kong, Adelaide or Honolulu, Microsoft is working on my behalf as a filter separating self-enabling IT folks from the charlatans and pretenders. It’s not a great filter but its a better filter than I am and more importantly, it’s a free one. I consider the filtering and enabling capability of Microsoft their primary quality.

In a far distant spot is Microsoft’s ability to design software that can interact with the garbage Dell or HP shipped to the customers site. I can offer them a whole suite of Microsoft applications to fit their need and sell myself above and below that layer. Under the Microsoft layer I am the company that knows the current state and future condition of their network and their technology business. On top of the Microsoft layer I provide guidance as things change. Nobody likes change, but everyone loves a new cell phone. How’s that for a contradiction of needs?

Finally, and perhaps key for me, is Microsoft’s inability to react to the market (see: live.com, System Center *.*, Vista *.*, etc) and its growing bipolar disorder between a company that only designs software and enables third parties to integrate it, or an integration company that eliminates one partner at a time. This uncertainty in their business model is enabling me to remain agile, to grow my solution stack,  to keep on adding clients as fast as Microsoft alienates them.

Big Picture

Big picture, as far as I am concerned, is increasing revenues and profits and client base quarter over quarter through a larger solution portfolio. I am not struggling to keep myself in a box, to think smaller or more efficient - I am struggling to grow, to reach more, to offer more and be more helpful. This is where I bump heads with some MSPs who think the only way to sustained profitability is through automation and optimization. After all, look at Microsoft - they didn’t become a $30 billion a quarter company by building a better, more secure operating system - they did so by expanding the features, even if broken, expanding markets, even if unprofitable, expanding the reach, even at the cost of angering their partners.

What drives me is seeing our solutions work for our customers and always thinking of a solution to the new problems our partners and customers identify. We provide our services at a cutthroat discount to our partners and sell them at an exponential profit margin to the direct client base - my partners help us build our products, my clients help us build our company.

What Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, GM, Best Buy or others do is relevant, but inconsequential. In 2004 I had job offers on deck from some of the above and the decision I had to make was what would make me a bigger millionaire. You can see my answer here every day, if you’re traveling in the same direction you may want to ask yourself the same thing.

Enjoy the turkey.

Ok, this hurts to admit.

I have officially sold my first Mac… six of them. In about two weeks or so there will be six designers in Pakistan equipped with their shiny new iMac’s, complete with Core 2 Duo’s, 2 GB Ram & Adobe Creative Suite.

 The conversation was ugly from the getgo but the customer was pretty much standing there with check in their hand, just waiting to give me money. The question, and I quote: “What do you think about those Mac computers?” which in Vlad language translates to: “How do you like it up your ass, with lube or with broken glass on a stick?” – there is just no pretty way to answer a question like that. Moreover, Mac is usually just something I use to emasculate my partners from California..

Anyhow.. iMac’s. “What did the designer use in school? Mac? Ok, buy a Mac. Add more ram. Done” There was no feature conversation, no processor options, no versions of the OS. Just wham, bam, thank you ma’am, it will be in Islamabad in 2 weeks. Oh, you want VoIP too?

I feel very, very dirty. Off to cry in the shower.

Anyone that has ever met Karl will certainly claim he is one of the nicest people out there. He is. But when you blog, a lot gets lost in translation. Perhaps the reason most people don’t blog. I can tell you that most people think Susan Bradley blogs with a viking horn hat on, laptop in one hand and a pitchfork in the other. She is also one of the nicest people I know. Andy Goodman has on many occasions told me that there are people out there that are afraid to call / email me because they don’t want to be murdered over the phone. I don’t claim to be nice, but damn.. Check this one out:

First email:

Second, tell me about lunch. I only want to sound like the successful Vlad, not the guy who ends up pissing off more people before 7AM than most people do all week.

Second reply:

And give me credit for not using the phrase “All asshole, all the time.”

Every time you blog, your words are read in the context of the emotional state of the reading party. If they are having a bad day and you say “Indian” the wrong way, you just sounded like a racist. If they haven’t had a proper breakfast and read your blog post in the morning, you could be the guy that ruined their entire day by bringing them down.

Even if you had a grin from ear to ear as you wrote it.

So here is a little blogging advice: Anything negative you ever post will backfire on you one way or the other. There is no such thing as “constructive criticism online” or something you’re posting to get people to see things in a different light. People do not like change, people do not like to be told they are wrong, people don’t like to be criticized, put down, discouraged or encouraged to change.

So you should shut down your blog now, go to sleep, and hide in your little cubicle. Right? Wrong. For every 10 people that cannot look past the words and understand the message (the people that couldn’t think less of you) you will have one person that will now be your friend and your undying advocate because you can talk about both good and the bad. And perhaps people can respect you for being fair, not for being a fanboy. And perhaps those are the only friends that you want, that will give you the good and the bad, for the folks that just like you when you smile are going to be gone the moment you actually need to count on them.

So yes, all asshole, just not all the time.  Welcome to the club, Karl. Andy too. Thank you for making the SMB tech blogs less of a place for people to lie to one another.

Woke up quick at about noon,

Just thought that I had to be in Orlando soon?

Ok, enough with NWA references but this probably means I can no longer make fun of Erick Simpson’s Compton back yard, I got my own little thugville here in Orlando. #1 in forclosures, #11 in murders.

Hell, even cops shoot other cops here!

So bring your kids to Orlando’s fine tourist attractions, they can meet Mickey Mouse and Spungebob Squarepants, just make sure you don’t go to the three o’clock parade, anytime you see a car creeping up with a bunch of people on the back of it you know some violence is about to go down.

Earlier today I had a chance to have lunch with one of my local partners. We sat around and chatted about Karl’s latest posts and he remarked how much Karl is starting to sound like me. Poor Karl. I laughed at first but then he threw two more questions my way:

Given what you know, how can you afford to continue to sell Microsoft software? Moreover, how can you continue to be supportive of SBSC, SMB partners, smallbiz in general if its all being obsoleted and consolidated?

Ouch. I know my answer, but that would be one hard kick in the balls if I were a Microsoft employee. I have always been able to draw the distinction between people that work at Microsoft, and what Microsoft sells itself as. And as I have proudly told you all before, I  copy Microsoft.

So while I know what my answer is, I want you to think of your own answer to the question above as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday. You may just either figure it out or have a sudden change of heart. For once, I leave you to this without my opinion.

Pardon the bucket, just testing.

info@owndemo.com

mapstiab@owndemo.com

postmaster@owndemo.com

Rock on.

The consumer yawn over the big “Black Friday” sale grows louder and louder. Interestingly enough, nowhere is this more pronounced than in technology, the one thing people are actually willing to part with big sums of money for.

This year.. looks pretty pathetic. It is dominated by large screen television sets, which by the look of things just look way out of touch. Nobody is sitting around thinking they could use an extra TV in the game room for $1,000 or more. Meanwhile, the “laptops” they are trying to push this holiday season aren’t even appropriate for the third world use - get this, they are selling a Celeron with 512mb ram with Vista for $229. Good lord, and you think people hate Vista now, wait till they crank it on that Celery on battery-saving mode.