Something Constructive

In the past, I’d get pissed off at people trying to knock a chip off my shoulder. These days, all I can do is laugh and try to write a blog post while sounding out each word like Andrew Dice Clay. From the drowning well of misfortunate consultants:

Instead of gloating, why don’t you do something constructive and tell us stragglers how to improve our business?

Gloating, eh? Sorry, I don’t see it that way. Let’s review some facts: I don’t have a conference to pitch. I don’t have a book or a seminar to sign you up for. I don’t have a peer group that you need to join. So as you can tell, I have little incentive to blow smoke up your butt and gloss over the things that are going wrong. About all I have is the OWN Partner Program and if you’ve offended by Vladville then stay the heck away from it. Google anti-marketing.

So let’s check the score, for those of you looking up at the board in the 4th quarter – this blog has been here for over three years with daily (sometimes more, sometimes less) updates on the technology, business ideas and concepts. They are here, in the open, for your review. If you choose to use them, more power to you. If you choose to ignore them, your call. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme….

So much for being constructive. I’ve been outlining things for years, getting in heated arguments with the newsgroup riffraff, meeting people and speaking at conferences… and just about every step of the way had more objections about how people like me have no idea what the “real” SMB needs are. You know who you are.

Microsoft will never compete with us, they need us to sell their servers….

We build, support and manage SBS networks…….

We are trying to transition to managed services, but it’s going a little slow……

I love all the resources but I don’t have the time to follow it all so I can run my business intelligently, why can’t someone just dumb this down for me so I can run a retarded business that can fail at the first insurmountable obstacle…….

Your blog posts are so long, you should annotate your podcasts so I can just fast forward to the parts I want to see, I don’t have to read the entire book I just need the jist of it, real men don’t read manuals, my customers would never trust hosting.

You know who you are.

But guess what, it’s almost 2009, it’s cold out and the sophisticated IT providers that designed a layered business are now kicking ass. The bigger you are, the better you are doing. Size is not an exceptional indicator or obstructionist of success, I know a lot of one man shops who have kept their payroll slim and down right abused OnForce and the homeless computer fixer guys: “Clean your spyware for a penny, governor?” And now the stuff that I’ve been talking about for over a year as a clear and present trend in the IT space takes hold and you don’t want to hear how well that’s going? You’ve ignored it until yesterday and now you want to blame someone else for your misfortunes?

ExchangeDefender, one of the biggest content security networks on the planet and by far the dominant one in the SMB, has signed up a grand total of 1 SBS 2008 client (5 seats) and 0 EBS clients in over a month since their release. Yep, we track that too. My buddy Allen Miller from Cincinnati signed them up last week.

Look at the past 3 posts. When what you are doing isn’t producing desired results you change your business plan or you quit. Go read The Dip by Seth Godin.

If you are looking at me for constructive blog posts feel free to stroll through over three years of Vladville. Look at my friends Wayne Small, Susan Bradley… yeah, I know, she blogs a lot and you’re too busy blaming others for your misfortunes.

Grow the F up. Or face monster.com..

Hickory, Dickory, Dock….. OH!