The SBS Show will be making its triumphant return from the extended spring break tomorrow. This is quite exciting because the type of content I'm coming back with is both inspirational and creative. In short, it is not what you would have expected out of the SBS Show because now that people actually know who we are the reception we have from the SMB IT community is fairly impressive. SBS Show has been and always will be about the community and the spirit of getting involved with other IT peers and learning from one another. We can all learn from one another, I hope the SBS Show can help drive that.

So what are we going to cover in the coming SBS Shows? For starters, looking at security consulting as an opportunity. Then utilizing the power of community and networking to make you a better and more comprehensive IT professional. In between we'll play some stuff from the community to let you "meet" some people virtually.

But let me ask you, what would you like to see/hear/do?

SBS Show #15 on Managed Services is the most anticipated SBS Show episode ever - we taped four shows after we decided to go back and redo #15 to give this important topic the fair attention it deserves. Joining us are Amy, Chad and Steve and they talk about all aspects of managed services that have made Mobitech successful. You've seen these folks share details of their business and process in the newsgroups before but you've never seen it to this extent. 2+ hours of recording, you will want to set some time aside, break out a pen and a paper and listen attentively. There are no show notes for this one, we simply asked everything we could think of and the scope and length of answers will surprise you. If you are not thrilled with this show I will give you your money back! When you are done listening to this show sign up for the MobilizeSMB tour which is coming to a city near you. The event is completely free and will give you a chance to discuss managed services and strategies with the Mobitech team in person. Seating is limited so register today. For more on managed services software and concepts please Scharag this wiki. Download the SBS Show #15 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode15.mp3

SBS Show 18 is an adult and with the age of maturity we look at a responsible topic of protecting your network with a firewall. Amy Babinchak (ISA MVP) joins us for an hour of basic questions about firewalls and general security in small business: what is a firewall, why do you need one, what does it do, which one to get and so on. This is the show you can send to your customers and give them a second opinion by an ISA expert, MVP and an author. 01:00 Who are you, what do you do? 04:00 What is a firewall? 06:00 What is ISA? 11:00 Small business threats: What does ISA stop, do I really need it? 14:00 Am I too small for a firewall? 15:00 What do firewalls do? 17:20 How does ISA compare with other solutions? 19:00 Why should I upgrade to ISA 2004? 22:50 Different ISA versions? 24:00 How do you sell ISA? 29:00 Case Study Time. 39:50 ISA Controversies: Safe on SBS? Appliances? 47:00 Will you help me configure ISA? You can find out more about Amy Babinchak at her web site (www.harborcomputerservices.net) and more about her ISA work on her blog (isainsbs.blogspot.com) Download the SBS Show #18 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode18.mp3

SBS Show 17 is almost at age of consent so we discussed a mature topic on a mature product: Migrating SBS. Small business networks are very mature and going from the old server to the new server is no longer a shotgun-reinstall method. Jeff Middleton is the father of SBS Migration and we talk to him about the swing process, news at sbsmigration.com, approaching documentation through subscription. We talk to Jeff about other topics as well: about being a consultant, IT Professional, SBS user groups, piracy, and religious experiences. You will want to listen to the 70+ minutes covering these topics: 0:01:40 What is Swing Migration? 0:22:00 How is Swing Migration Changing? 0:27:00 Microsoft's take on Swing Migration? 0:37:00 What is on the sbsmigration.com Portal? 0:48:20 ITPro Mash Project for New Orleans Update 0:51:30 Support for ITPro/SBS User Groups & Discounts 1:01:01 ..Jeff on Tour 1:03:00 ..Jeff on Piracy 1:07:00 ..Jeff on Consulting & Managed Services 1:09:00 ..Jeff on Swinging Download the SBS Show #17 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode17.mp3

Joining us for SBS Show #16 are few leaders of SMBTN groups: Jim Locke, Roger Otterson and Andy Goodman. They discuss the concept of partner groups and going beyond the networking/technology discussions and towards actually doing business. Every partner in the small business community should listen to this show, especially if you work on your own: 06:00 What is SMBTN, why did you get together? 09:55 What does SMBTN offer people/groups that join? 14:55 What benefits do SMBTN members get from major software/hardware vendors? 19:08 Joining SMBTN from the SBS group leaders perspective? 20:45 SBS group benefits under the SMBTN umbrella 22:35 What is SMBTN really all about? 29:47 What benefits do members realize from SMBTN? 39:22 How does one go about joining SMBTN? 44:10 SMBTN conference? Download the SBS Show #16 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode16.mp3 SMBTN Annual Conference is at Buena Park, CA from Mar 30 - Apr 1. If you're curious where the SBS Show #15 went, Chris was put in charge of editing the SBS Show on Managed Server because we couldn't hear one of our guests. Look for it this week! In the meantime, the Inside SBS crew will be making its trumphant return with a talk on Mobility. Look for it early next week.

The Duke Nukem Forever production of the SBS Show is out, asking what will be big in SBS in 2006? We've rounded up some SBS industry leaders to answer that question and we also covered some of the things we are doing, additional audio content thats going to be available from the SBS Show and a few surprises. 00:51 The Year Ahead 01:26 Kevin Royalty, SBS MVP, Solution Net, Inc. 09:36 Roger Otterson, SBS MVP, SMBTN, Qualitec Consulting 21:20 Amy Luby, CEO Mobitech, Greater Omaha SBS What we're doing in 2006 29:04 Susanne Dansey 31:40 Chris Rue 38:14 Vlad Mazek 42:33 The Year of the Customer 45:56 Extra SBS Show content, Whither Inside SBS? Download the SBS Show #14 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode14.mp3

Tomorrow night we'll tape the 14th SBS Show. This will be our weekly excursion into the world of small business with "My Fair Lady" cast of Vlad Mazek, Chris Rue and her majesty Susanne Dansey. I am not totally sure what we will talk about but I'm taking input (off air please). We're going to look at things we're changing around for 2006 to respond better and things we're looking forward to seeing and accomplishing this year. Perhaps this gives you some ideas on what opportunities may be waiting for you!

It's good to be the king! Harry Brelsford took a break from his skiing trip to stay at his cabin and talk to us about the state of small business IT, franchising, starting and growing and IT practice, world-wide trends even down to new business ideas, personal style and plastic surgery advice. Harry, like everyone else we invite on the show, is a big contributor to the SBS community and will certainly be back to discuss some of the subjects in depth but we wanted to get to know Harry… for those of you that don't get to sit down and have coffee with the big time SBSers this is a good intro and overview on what IT business involves and where its going. Download the SBS Show: http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode13.mp3 Show Notes: Time Description ===== ======================================= 1:37 Who are you? 6:44 Where is SMB Nation going next? 10:12 How did you get started? 12:46 What are you talking about now? 15:49 So whats new? 17:20 How does Microsoft work? Workshops? 20:15 Is there an opportunity in IT franchises? 26:19 How do you build a consulting practice? 32:08 Succcessful franchise organizations 43:00 One-man-band vs. Build-and-grow IT firm? 44:03 Whats the value in SBS user groups? 50:40 Whats the current buzz word in smallbizit? 52:20 Grilling time: Do you have a stylist? 55:00 Where are the ebooks? Opinion on piracy? Harry Brelsford's notes (www.smbnation.com): SMB Nation Amsterdam 2006 (April 6-7 2006) registration NOW OPEN! SMB Nation complimentary evening workshops: January = USA, February-April = EMEA SMB Technology Watch newsletter, free and goes bi-weekly starting in February!!! Join our 7,000 readers.

SBS Show #12 features Beatrice Mulzer talking about her new book: "Making It Big In Small Business 2006: Top 15 Successful SMB Consultants Share Strategies and Lessons Learned"; As promised in the SBS Show #11 with Eriq Neale where he talked about his new technical reference, SBS Unleashed, we are doing our part to review some of the books that we feel would make you a better technician or a business(wo)man with SBS. The better business part, in my humble opinion, is covered by Beatrice's new book. It is a detailed look at the business leaders that have built successful practices on SBS Worldwide. In her own words "SMB Consulting Best Practices is a wonderful MBA book, and this is the next step. It is a look at how others have successfully implemented Harry Brelsford's techniques." Download the SBS Show Episode 12: Click Here http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode12.mp3 We're also running a little contest. During the show I read a small passage from the book so the first person that emails me with the person that said what I read gets a little unique SBS Show prize.

New year is coming up and so are New Year resolutions. I'm sure you'll promise to exercise more and lose weight but SBS Show is here to help you make a promise you can actually keep - Become a better consultant and a better IT Pro. Joining us this show is Eriq O. Neale, the lead author of SBS 2003 Unleashed, to discuss what is in the book essential to everyone supporting SBS. However, we talk about a lot more than just the book: How do you make a transition from having a job to going out on your own, how to do a good default SBS install, how to integrate a Mac in your SBS network, going beyond SBS wizards. Download the SBS Show Episode 11: Click Here 7:10 Becoming a consultant 15:18 SBS Unleashed Books, writing process 21:30 What sells the book 30:00 Refrence book 37:53 Background and Mac maintenance 49:00 How much SBS can I get on my Mac 1:00:00 Q, Inc. Podcasts, webcasts, business, blogs, books and boards oh my Eriq's Links: http://www.eonconsulting.net http://www.eoncall.com http://simultaneouspancakes.com/Lessons http://www.eonconsulting.net/OnQ http://www.smallbizserver.net/Forum/tabid/53/view/topics/forumid/36/Default.aspx Vlad's Take: The reason you need to get this book is because it is written for you. Here is what I mean by that: This book is written by people that participate in the big SBS community. This book addresses the real world and the ups and downs of running SBS on the net instead of a Microsoft spec-sheet. Anne Stanton, Chad Gross, Susan Bradley, Amy Babinchak, Susan Bradley, Javier Gomez, Tim Barrett, Frank Clark, Henry Craven, Ed Walters contributed chapters to this book. Download the SBS Show Episode 11: Click Here