Happening Stuff

So, the shortest month of the year is over.  Didn’t seem that short to me.It started with me going back out to Washington DC to meet with the staff of Ohio Congressfolks and Senators (as part of the CompTIA DC Fly-In event).  This is the 4th year I’ve done this, and it’s always interesting and eye-opening.  The discussions centered around the need to include technology in discussions about improving infrastructure (it ain’t just about roads and bridges).  About 28 states are represented at this event, many by folks who do this sort of thing for a living.  For Ohio it’s usually me and one or two other folks.I was then a presenter (one of five) to several hundred other MSP (Managed Service Providers) on a webinar talking about our marketing and sales processes.  More on that later.We did our second networking event (in conjunction with my alma mater Hiram College) at Quarter Up video arcade bar, and over 40 folks came out and had fun.Our Management Team held a day-long retreat (our second this year), with the goal of developing the management framework to take us to the next level.  Based on the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model, this is a long-term investment that we’re already seeing pay off.  I almost feel like one of those entrepreneurs you read about in the papers.I said almost.This week I’ll be heading to Nashville for the annual Boot Camp, which is a great event put on by Robin Robins’ group at Technology Marketing Toolkit.  A big part of the event is the contest “Better Your Best”, where 5 finalist MSP’s will demonstrate their techniques and strategies that helped them grow.  The finalists were selected based on demonstrated improvements from 2017-2018.Simplex-IT is one of the five finalists.  Admit it, your respect for this award just went down a little bit, didn’t it<g>?Well, I can tell you that the other four finalists did a great job with their organizations.  I can only assume that they needed a fifth and were desperate<g>.  Seriously, we had a great 2018 and are proud of our accomplishments.2019 isn’t looking too shabby so far, I might add.So, I’ll be in Nashville speaking about our successes.  In late March I’ll then be down in Austin, Texas speaking at another conference.  A lot of the talk is about our CoMITs (Co-Managed IT services) program, which is seeing a lot of success.  In fact, my book on it is on target to be released in May.And I suspect by the end of March we’ll have more information to share.  Exciting things are happening, just not quite ready to share them yet!