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Heard Us On The Radio?

Register for the
Sacramento
Business Technology Seminar Series
More Info

KPEnterprises was a
Small Business Specialist for ten years before Microsoft created a certification
for it!
Quick Links
KPEnterprises
Great Little Book Publishing
Relax Focus Succeed
SMB Nation
Email KarlP
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Check
Out Karl's Blog at
http://smallbizthoughts.blogspot.com/.

Consulting Resources
This is our "products
page" for I.T. Consultants. Here we'll feature information about books, CDs, and
other products that can help you be more profitable, make more sales, get the
right clients, and generally be more successful in the I.T. profession. Some
things here we buy, and some we sell.
Please feel free to
contact me if you have any questions or feedback:
karlp@kpenterprises.com.
Quick links:
Mailing
Lists/Shopping Cart | Printing |
Marketing | T-Shirts |
Making Money Documenting
Networks | Network Documentation Workbook |
Servers Alive | Kaseya (delivering
managed services) | ConnectWise (service tickets, resource management)
| Mailing List Software |
Credit Card Processing | Hosted Services |
Spam Filtering | VOIP | Caricatures
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Tools We Use:
Mailing Lists /
Shopping Carts |
Tools We Use:
Printing |
Tools We Use:
Marketing |
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I came across
Web Marketing Magic after reading a great little book on Marketing
Seminars by Fred Gleeck. See
www.fredgleeck.com.
The web site,
WebMarketingMagic.com, is the home of Fred's great auto-responder /
mailing list / newsletter / shopping cart programs. LOVE it!
The shopping
cart can easily handle distribution of downloadable merchandise. In
fact, when we distribute PowerPoint slides, we actually give out a web
link and people request the slides. We snag their email address,
automatically add it to the mailing list, and send an email with the PPT
download.
The
auto-responders can be set up to deliver a series of messages after
someone joins the list. For example, one day later, 30 days later, 60
days later, etc.
I don't know
what the current incentives are, but there's always an offer going on. I
use and love this product.

Click Here to try the World's Smartest Shopping Cart system. |
At a minimum,
we all need business cards. We use VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.com)
for all of our business cards -- for three companies!
For Relax
Focus Succeed we use VistaPrint for post cards with motivational
sayings. For KPEnterprises, we use VistaPrint for post cards inspired by
Robin Robins. And for Great Little Book we use VistaPrint for flyers and
book advertising cards.
In the past
we have purchased rubber stamps, letterhead, and labels from VistaPrint.
We like them
because we can upload our graphics and preview the output immediately.
We have never been disappointed in an order.
Once you
begin ordering a few items, you'll get discount codes by email, but only
if you let them send you email.
The link
below will give you a discount right away.
Visit
VistaPrint
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The
Technology Marketing Toolkit from Robin Robins is the
ultimate marketing tool.
I first ran
into Robin at SMB Nation. I was impressed with her ability to sell. So I
bought.
When I opened
my "toolkit" I was extremely pleased. Even though the price was high,
I felt that I got a lot more than I paid for.
Then the
monthly mailings started showing up and I got even more!
In addition
to the baisc T.M. Toolkit I have purchased Robin's Silver
membership and subscribed to her Managed Services master mind group.
Every single
product I've purchased from Robin has paid for itself. Warning: you have
to do some work here! But if you do what Robin says, you will make more
money than you spend.
Robin
provides much more than marketing advice. Her monthly calls are filled
with great advice on running any business--but especially an SMB
Consulting business!
Go to
www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com and tell them Karl sent you! |
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Tools We Use:
Cafe Press -- T-Shirts and
More |
Managing/Marketing Resources |
Documentation Resources |
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If you
haven't stumbled onto Cafe Press, you simply must give it a try. Visit
http://www.cafepress.com.
You can design
t-shirts, mugs, and a lot more. And best of all: you're not out of pocket for
these items! When people order an item, it is printed "on demand."
Your customer gets
the merchandise and you get a couple of bucks.
You can have several
"stores." Just upload the graphics and you're on your way!

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Hot Seminar !
Audio
CD:
Network Documentation for Profit (and Fun)
Karl Palachuk's
seminar Network Documentation for Profit (and Fun) was sold out in
September 2005.
More than sold out: The room held 100, we had 115 registered, and
people were hanging out in the doorway!
If you
missed it, you'll want to order this CD right now!
This CD is not just
the "book on tape." This program outlines a culture of documentation that
can make your business more profitable.
We discuss 14 Sure-Fire Ways to
make money via documentation.
To order now,
go to the
order page
at SMB Nation.
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Hot book!
We've been very surprised and pleased with the popularity of The Network
Documentation Workbook.
This is not a big book, but it's packed with useful
information that can transform your business in very short order.
The The Network
Documentation Workbook is based on a series of forms that we use in our
business to keep track of all the vital information at a client's site.
There
are configuration pages for the network, DHCP, IP address allocation, shared
resources, machine specifications -- everything you need to manage a network
successfully.
For more information,
visit GreatLittleBook.com. This
book is sold through SMB Nation and can be purchased at their
order
page.
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Tools We Use:
Servers Alive |
Tools We Use:
Kaseya |
Tools We Use:
ConnectWise |
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AWESOME
Server Monitoring Tool!
We've used
Servers Alive for so long, we don't remember when we started.
Servers
Alive will check HTML, ping, SMTP, SQL database, Oracle database, SNMP,
DNS Protocol, NT Service, FTP, IMAP, POP3, Telnet, and MORE.
Oh.
Did I
mention that it's FREE if you monitor ten or fewer servers? After that,
it's just $199 !!!
Even though
we use Kaseya, we still use Servers Alive from a different server. Among
other things, it keeps us informed if the Kaseya server goes offline
(tee hee).
Go to:
www.woodstone.nu/salive
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Kaseya is one of our
current tools for delivering Managed Services. This includes
Go to:
www.kaseya.com
and tell them Karl
sent you.
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Few tools
actually pay for themselves. ConnectWise pays for itself. Period.
CW is a technology consulting-specific CRM system.
In addition to keeping track of all service requests, we use it to manage
employee time, project organization, and a lot more.
We run our business on ConnectWise.
Really.
The most visible and useful piece, of course, is the
service request management. Clients can enter their own SRs, check on the status
of a job, and even search through old job notes.
Go to:
www.connectwise.com
and tell them Karl sent you. |
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Tools We Use:
Mailing List Management |
Tools We Use:
Credit Card Processing |
Tools We Use:
Own Web Now |
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Easy Mail Plus
We do a fair number of direct mail compaigns.
Nobody needs yet
another database, but Easy Mail Plus is a wonderful, very reasonably priced
tool for managing our "Big" lists as well as our little, monthly newsletter
list.
In addition to
simply storing addresses, it does all the sorting and prints labels or
envelopes.
You can download
a full-featured trial copy at:
www.easymailplus.com

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Authorize.net
Credit card processing is a little complicated, but not bad
once you put out a little effort.
You'll need a merchant account (at a bank). But actually
"running" credit cards is done through a service such as Authorize.net.
We pay 2.45% on transactions for Visa and Mastercard. We can
run all transactions through a web interface or upload a batch file.
We link our shopping cart right to the Authorize.net gateway.
And, of course we can do automated recurring billing. Check
out www.authorize.net.
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Web, Email, Hosted SBS
We use OWN for hosted services. Why?
Well, to be quite honest, we just want to make money. While
we have a small network operations center -- with conditioned power, air
conditioning, and even a backup generator -- but it's tiny compared to the
facilities at OWN.
In addition, OWN offers excellent prices. So we can resell at
a competitive rate.
Best Practice: Only make these services available via credit
card, charged on the first of the month.
For more
information, visit www.exchangedefender.com. |
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Tools We Use:
Zenith
Infotech |
Tools We Use:
VOIP |
Tools We Use:
Caricature King |
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Our favorite Managed Service tool! For one
low monthly fee, we get great . . .
Go to:
http://www.zenithinfotech.com
and tell them Karl
sent you.
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We really like
Packet 8. Each line is $50/month for unlimited long distance within U.S. We
like this system so much, we use and resell it.
Your phone
can go anywhere with you. So you can take it home, or on vacation. When
someone dials your extension, or transfers a call to you, it just works.
Virtual PBX
is flexible and power. Easy to use.
Go to
www.packet8.net or call us!
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From time to
time we've found it useful to create out own graphics.
 One reasonably
priced option is to have a caricature created for us.
Check out
Caricature King. Prices are in the range of $25 to $50 per graphic.
At the $50 range
you get a draft to review.
Go to
www.caricatureking.com and tell
them Karl sent you.
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Sales Resources
Coming Soon: Radio
FAQTM
Radio FAQTM
is a great new way of making sales. The theory is very straight forward: we
soften up the client with information about the benefits of a product and you
make an easy sale. Actually, it's not a "sale" at all. The client is so fired up
about the product, they make a "buy." They come to you and say give it to me
now.
Stay tuned. For more
information, see
www.greatlittlebook.com/RadioFAQ.htm. You may also wish to
fill out the form to
be notified when this is available.

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