Episode 56 – The Platform Pricing Tool

Today we will talk with an IT professional who created a tool to help techs calculate the pricing of work orders on web-based service platforms and find out how you can get it free.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:17
Billboard 1:11

News and Comment segment 4:12
ACRBO announced the launch of a new magazine for computer business owners.

Google announced changes to its Privacy Policy.

Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro.

Apple posted a record revenue for its fiscal first quarter of 2012.

Symantec is telling users to remove its software from their computers.

Commercial Break 1:23
The Force Field Web Portal TheForceField.Net

Intro to Topic 1:52
Today we’re going to talk with Donald Bertrand of Donald Bertrand Technical Consulting. We will find out how he stays profitable accepting work from web-based service platforms, learn about his Platform Pricing Tool and find out how we can use it to manage the pricing of platform work in our own business – free.

Interview with Donald Bertrand 18:42

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net or post them in The Force Field Forums. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net!

©2012 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

 

Episode 56 – The Platform Pricing Tool

Today we will talk with an IT professional who created a tool to help techs calculate the pricing of work orders on web-based service platforms and find out how you can get it free.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:17
Billboard 1:11

News and Comment segment 4:12
ACRBO announced the launch of a new magazine for computer business owners.

Google announced changes to its Privacy Policy.

Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro.

Apple posted a record revenue for its fiscal first quarter of 2012.

Symantec is telling users to remove its software from their computers.

Commercial Break 1:23
The Force Field Web Portal TheForceField.Net

Intro to Topic 1:52
Today we’re going to talk with Donald Bertrand of Donald Bertrand Technical Consulting. We will find out how he stays profitable accepting work from web-based service platforms, learn about his Platform Pricing Tool and find out how we can use it to manage the pricing of platform work in our own business – free.

Interview with Donald Bertrand 18:42

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net or post them in The Force Field Forums. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net!

©2012 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

MailStore Home – Easy Email Archiving, Backup and Migration

Authors: Bryce Whitty

MailStore Home is a small, portable and freeware utility designed to make archiving, backing up and migrating emails easy. MailStore supports many different types of mailboxes such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Exchange Server, Office 365, .EML files and more. It also supports a variety of internet based mailboxes such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo mail.

Once the email has been backed up, MailStore allows you to search in all of the email accounts from a central location within seconds. It allows you to restore the emails back to an email client with one click and migrate emails from one type of mailbox (ie. Gmail) to another type of mailbox (ie. Outlook).

If your personal life or business relies on cloud based email like Gmail, it is important to have an offsite backup since you never know when Google will suspend the account, have an extended outage or have your account hijacked by a hacker.


The best kind of backups are automated backups but unfortunately this software doesnt “officially” support automated backups with MailStore Home. However, this is a work around.
Once you have created a saved profile for an email address in the Archive Email area, highlight the profile and choose “Create a Desktop Shortcut”.
On the newly made desktop shortcut, right click, goto Properties and get the location string in the Target box. Once you have this string you can go to Task Scheduler and set up a scheduled task that will run this string.

Screenshots

 

Downloads

Download from Official Site – 5.91mb

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. MailStore Home – Easy Email Archiving, Backup and Migration

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Work My Price: the name says it all

One of the most oft discussed topics in The Force Field Forums begins with an inquiry about a new or previously unknown national contractor or web-based service platform. The topic poster found it either through contact via another service platform, another tech, an unsolicited e-mail, or from a phone call out of the blue from the company purportedly recruiting techs for specific work. You can easily pick out these types of discussions in forums as they usually begin with the topic title <Company Name> – Anyone ever heard of them?

So it was no surprise to find a topic recently on a new service platform called Work My Price. I first ran across it in December and I immediately put it aside as it seemed to be a work in progress and still “under construction”.

I ran across it again today on LinkedIn and took another look at the site to check its progress. Apparently there is still nothing going on. But this time I was just a little annoyed.

It wasn’t the lack of progress made on the site since my last visit, although that was rather interesting, given the promotion on its LinkedIn page. It was the fact that it was still there at all.

Work My Price consists of one landing page and – ignoring the link to Facebook at the top – one link to a service provider sign up form. Nothing else. Nothing about the company itself, no contact information, nothing that you would expect to find on any other legitimate service platform to give you any idea who was actually running the operation, if there really was an operation.

But there was a lot of hype on that page, aka previews of things to come, such as a directory and the ability to create a profile in it, the ability to upload work credentials and photos of prior projects for the perusal of potential customers, the ability to recieve notifications for work, the ability to book jobs to fill open slots in your work schedule and the ability to build a reputation on their system. According to the page, the site was still under construction, but they were actively recruiting service providers and, as expected, registration was free.

Heard it all before? Of course. It’s what most of the other platforms already offer. But that wasn’t what got under my skin. It was the line that described Work My Price – this line (the tired line we’ve all heard before): An online marketplace where service providers and consumers connect to get the job done.
And this one: …provides an alternative for service providers to earn business without the expensive costs of advertising.

Okay, that was more than just a little annoying. It may be an online marketplace (isn’t everything, now?) but “an alternative to expensive advertising”? OnForce doesn’t even use that one anymore. That’s so turn of the century it’s almost absurd.

Seriously, who even uses that as an excuse to join a service platform in this day and age? The Internet and everything associated with it, cheap web hosting, ten minute web design applications, free directories, and, most notably, social networking, have made traditional mainstream advertising and door-to-door soliciting a thing of the past. Over two thirds of the population have access to the world wide web and that’s where you will usually find them shopping for products and services first these days. It’s cheap and easy to put up a virtual sign, and few people read ads in a newspaper anymore, so why bother advertising where people aren’t looking? It’s 2012, get with the times.

It gets better. I visited the LinkedIn page, and what I found was amusing, confusing and disturbing. The owner of the account is listed as the company and not the person who owns it, so who ever owns the company apparently does not want to make himself or herself known. Not a good sign.

The page also features a video animation. One of the characters in the video claims to be getting a lot of business through Work My Price, which is at the very least disingenuous, since in reality the site technically isn’t even operational.

But what really got me were the recommendations. There were two of them, both testimonials, no less. What? Testimonials? From a web site that isn’t even operational? Yep. One from a Jamie H. and another from a Daniel B., and both stated they “hired WorkMyPrice.com as a Business Consultant in 2011, and hired WorkMyPrice.com more than once”. No kidding. Perhaps these are the owners of the company?

It turns out that Jamie H. is Jamie Hyman, identified as the owner of Work My Price. Daniel B. is Daniel Bellamy, who apparently works for a bank. Both reside in the same area of North Carolina and both attended the same state university at around the same time, which leads one to think they both actually know each other and are directly involved with Work My Price.

The overhyped site. The tired old lines. The lack of contact information. The non-disclosure of ownership. They are all obvious red flags. But there is one thing about Work My Price that bothers me more: The name itself.

As an onsite field technician, when you hear the term “work my price”, what image does that project in your mind? What comes to mine is another platform that empowers the buyer to low-ball work below reasonable rates and restrict the service provider from enforcing his own. This is really bad for both buyer and provider because it lowers the chances the buyer will get a truly qualified tech because most won’t work for peanuts and it raises the risk to the buyer because, chances are, the more inexperienced or unqualified “techs” will.

Now, to be fair, Work My Price seems to be aimed at the general “handyman” market; the plumbers, carpenters, brick layers, etc. and not IT professionals, although they do have a category on their registration form for “Computers and Electronics”. But this certainly isn’t a novel idea for that market, either. Service Magic is the first one that comes to my mind, and having been through the Service Magic experience first hand, I don’t think the market needs another one of these, in my humble opinion.

Less experienced IT techs may work for “your price” or next to nothing, but most licensed and reputable professionals such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters and other contract laborers won’t. That leaves the local unlicensed, unbonded “Uncle Joe” handyman to pick up the slack. I’ve been stung by enough of these guys myself to know not to go there again.

So this site looks cheesy or downright bogus. There are a lot of them out there. I’ve been ranting on this one. What’s the big deal?

What bothers me most of all is the registration form. It’s asking for your vitals. I’ve warned you about this before and I’m about to do it again. If the site has no legitimate company identifiers, no contact information and no apparent activity, do not fill out the registration form. Granted, this one doesn’t ask you for your social security number, but you have no idea what they will do with what they have.

They also have a field to input the names and e-mail addresses of other service providers you would like to refer. That opens up another potential can of worms I won’t get into at this time.

There are a number of these types of web-based service platforms out there already. Do we really need another one? I don’t think so. And I don’t think Work My Price is even a valid one anyway, at least not yet. But the red flags are everywhere on this one, so unless and until those flags go away, I would not recommend registering for Work My Price. It’s just not worth the risk, at any price.

The Force Field Portal to participate in Anti-SOPA Strike

For 24 hours beginning January 18, 2012, a number of sites across the web will participate in the largest Internet blackout in history. This blackout will be conducted in protest to two bills introduced in Congress, one in the House, the other in the Senate, that could destroy the freedom and openness of the Internet, and perhaps the security and integrity of the Internet itself, on the pretense of stopping online piracy.

While we fully support the protection of copyright ownership and do not condone piracy at The Force Field, The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s close cousin, The Protect IP ACT (PIPA) do little to stop piracy or protect intellectual property. In essence, these bills are more about control of the Internet than the protection of anyone’s rights or property on it. But don’t take my word for it. Read them for yourself. Here are SOPA (H.R.3261.IH) and PIPA (S.968). Chances are, once you do, you will know more about what are in these bills than your Congressperson does, because chances are, he or she hasn’t read them.

That in itself is a ridiculous and scary thought. Who would take such a foolish risk and make important decisions that affect individuals, families and businesses across America and vote on something without even reading it or learning what it is? How irresponsible! Yet our Congresspeople do it regularly. They did it with other bills, such as the health care law, and they are doing it with both SOPA and PIPA.

Politicians are not technicians. Most of these lawmakers have absolutely no clue as to how the Internet actually works. Yet they are about to make decisions based solely on their own limited perceptions of it as “explained” to them by the lobbyists who want these bills passed. In fact, IT experts who do know how the Internet works and who do know what these bills, if passed, will do to it were not consulted or conferred on for their opinions and advice, leading many to believe that your congressional representatives are not interested in the facts. They don’t know, and they don’t want to know, what these bills are really about. They simply want to please the lobbyists who have and continue to seduce them with millions to vote their way.

It’s not about doing the right thing. It’s all about the money.

These bills, if passed, will do more than just give entities such as the MPAA and RIAA a way to “control piracy”. It will give them carte blanche to go after anyone they want, whether there is justification to do so or not, and it will give the government the keys to the Internet itself.

It will change the face of Internet as we know it. When it does, chances are, if you use, rely on and or otherwise enjoy the freedom of the Internet, you won’t like it.

Congress has already proven it has no backbone, no will and no desire to protect the freedoms and rights of the American people by passing other unpopular laws Americans did not want, in spite of overwhelming opposition. We can’t let them do it again. It’s up to the people to stand up for ourselves. For this reason, sites across the web will be going black for 24 hours January 18. The Force Field will be one of them.

If you want to keep this from potentially becoming a permanent blackout in the future, call or write your Congressman. Or Congresswoman. Now.

ACRBO launches a magazine for the computer business owner

ACRBO magazineWhen I started my computer business there weren’t many resources available to educate and help me along the way. Come to think of it, the only real resource I had at the time was a local system builder for whom I initially served as an outside sales rep – and later realized was not a good mentor.

This is why I get all excited whenever I find a new one. I also get a little envious, because I never had it this easy when I started out.

Today these resources are becoming available everywhere, and now there’s a new one. Computer repair business owners now have their own magazine.

Here is the official announcement:

The Association of Computer Repair Business Owners is proud to announce a new magazine release to the industry.

It has been some time in the making but has finally come to fruition.

The magazine will be published monthly and contain content targeted to those in the Computer Repair Industry.

We wanted to create a publication that would highlight ways to better your business. We have included content on business in general, advertising, marketing and more. Each month will be unique content that hopefully you can take from it and implement into your current business model.

Keeping with the mindset we are in the technology industry we have created it as a “flip-magazine” for your reading. It also will be available in PDF format.

Flip-Magazine Issue:
http://issuu.com/acrbo/docs/acrbojanmag?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

PDF Version:
acrbo.com/magazine/AcrboJanMag.pdf

Dan Hand, who publishes the new periodical, was kind enough to give me a sneak peek before the launch, and, I must say, I was impressed. Such a project takes a huge commitment and a lot of time and effort, which is why, although I thought about doing one myself in the past, I never followed through.

This is something you can read from your PC or on a tablet, such as an iPad. It’s fairly organized and easy to read. For a first effort, it’s also fairly polished. Overall, I like the concept and I give the folks at ACRBO kudos for even making the effort. Will ACRBO Magazine take off? I don’t know, but it’s here, it’s made specifically for folks who didn’t have one before and it’s free, and you can’t beat that.

Why following CES is important for your business

Each year The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) hosts the largest consumer tech trade show in the world: The Consumer Electronics Show, more commonly referred to as CES. The show is held early January in Las Vegas, Nevada. This exclusive event features presentations and exhibits of the latest tech wizardry as product or prototype from thousands of exhibitors and draws an estimated 140,000 attendees.

While the new products and technologies introduced at the show each year are aimed at consumers, CES is not open to the public. It is primarily aimed at tech vendors and companies. However, the press is welcome. This allows anyone who is interested to get a sneek peek at what is coming around the corner. For the technophile, it can be very exciting. But for the entrepreneur, it can be very important for your business.

Before I go further, let’s step back a moment and think about your business.

One of the key ingredients to the success of any business is a clear vision of its purpose and objectives and how you will reach them. What does it offer your customers? What want or need does it fulfill? Who is your target market? How do you plan to deliver and fulfill this want or need for the customer with quality and value and keep your business profitable so that it grows?

These are all important things to consider, but it is the last question that is at the heart of this discussion.

There is no doubt that technology plays an increasingly vital role in the operation of almost any business today. Twenty years ago, starting a business was a costly endeavor that required a heavy financial investment in every aspect of it, primarily because so much of the operation had to be outsourced in one way or another. Needed business cards? You had to go to the local print shop. Needed to advertise? Newspaper, radio and TV ads cost a lot of money and generally had to be created by the media outlet in which you placed them. Needed a base of operations? You either had to open an actual storefront or work out of your home, which for some types of businesses and venues was not very practical and attractive to potential clients.

Today, thanks to technology, the average small businessperson can do all of it alone, in house and at a fraction of the cost. You can print your own business cards with a quality that rivals the local print shop, you can produce your own electronic ads that can reach anyone around the world via the Internet, you can market to a specific target audience through social media and you can open a virtual storefront and work in your pajamas if you want – with no stigma attached. In short, technology makes it easier, simpler and more affordable to start and run a business.

Which brings us back to The Consumer Electronics Show. Why is following CES important to your business? Simply because some of the new products and technologies introduced at CES this year may soon become the next tools you will use to run it.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Those who are visionaries today become the leaders of tomorrow. If you want your business to be the market leader in whatever market your business is in, you need to be able to see around the corners and know what is coming next, before anyone else in your market does. You need to stay on top of new technologies, new potential tools of the trade, and new trends. More importantly, you need to familiarize yourself with these new tools so that you can deploy them in the operation of your business immediately when they become available, so you are not spending billable time “getting up to speed” on them while deploying them to service your customers.

For the last four years, The Force Field web portal has covered CES as a free resource for owners of IT businesses (and every small business). This year, we are pulling out all the stops. The home page of The Force Field will feature 24/7 video coverage of CES 2012 in HD. This coverage will include a LIVE video stream from the show floor with on the spot views, reviews and interviews courtesy of The Tech Podcast Network. The Force Field Tech Business Podcast is a proud member of TPN.

To complement the video stream, the front page at http://www.theforcefield.net will also include a live, interactive social media stream and a live interactive chat 24/7, where virtual attendees around the world can discuss and debate CES 2012 in real time. We will also offer a concurrent audio stream so you can listen while away from the screen, on the go or at work.

To make our full coverage complete, The Force Field Forums will open the CES 2012 Forums to the public for the latest comments, debates and discussions during CES 2012.

Pre-show coverage begins 3 PM EST Sunday, January 8, 2012. For a complete schedule of times and program events, check The Force Field TPN CES 2012 Program Schedule.

Boost Your Revenue with Cloud Storage Backup

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by William Conner
I started selling cloud services 7 years ago; I was a reseller of Carbonite a few months after they opened their doors and haven’t looked back. It’s easy to be afraid of cloud services, watching how they encroach on what used to be our exclusive domain, but really it’s the natural evolution of technology and we need to figure out how to leverage it to our advantage. The great thing about cloud services is they’re like any other IT product, diverse and ever changing. That still leave the IT Pro in the position of trusted expert to recommend products based on client needs.


When talking about backup, let’s keep in mind the 3-2-1 Rule of Backups. Keep three copies, the primary data and two backups, store the backups on two different media, cloud, magnetic, optical, etc., and keep one copy offsite. Cloud services allow for offsite backup beautifully. The 321 strategy gives us many options for disaster recovery in the event of fire, theft or seizure. A typical deployment for us is to back up to a low cost NAS like the D-Link DNS-320 and have a mirror of that backup in the cloud via BackBlaze or SymForm which works quite well.

I’m not going to shill for a bunch of different products, I still recommend Carbonite, and get my cut when I do, but I also use SymForm, Backblaze, Keepvault, Vembu, Acronis and others. Each caters to specific needs, so all we need to do is identify their strengths, figure out what the customer needs, and make the sale.

Let’s look at what might be important to a given user based on their usage profile:

Typical Demands Home – Light Data SOHO – Medium Data Small Business – Larger Data
Configuration Zero Configuration Little configuration needed Handled by IT contractor
Storage Space 100 GB or less 100-1000GB 500GB+
Backup Speed Quick, but not a huge concern Within a few hours As quickly as possible
Recovery Speed Can tolerate a multi-day redownload Needs unthrottled ASAP recovery options Unthrottled recovery and overnight delivery of storage media.
Remote access Handy access via smartphone or tablet Smartphone/Tablet or Web interface access to data. Generally only needs web access to datasets.
Encryption Strong Encryption – Provider managed keyset Strong encryption, controllable keyset Strong encryption, controllable keyset
Partner Support Can rely on vendor techsupport Expects VAR/IT Pro to provide support. Expects VAR/IT Pro to provide support.
Vendor data centre location Generally not an issue. May have concerns or regulatory compliance issues regarding foreign storage. May have concerns or regulatory compliance issues regarding foreign storage. May see foreign storage as an advantage.

 

When evaluating services, it’s important to pay attention to what they offer based on the chart above. Offerings are always changing, and much like anti-virus vendors, what may be great this year may be really bad the next. Carbonite was a really great provider, but they throttle daily backup amounts, Backblaze doesn’t. Symform recently started selling direct to consumer and included 200gb of free backup, changing their initial partner strategy and KeepVault has lagged in its pricing, moving from very competitive to very expensive.

Ok, so now you’ve determined your clients need, your vendor’s strengths and you need to figure out how to make some money with this information. Most providers offer partner programs that allow you to either take a cut of the sale through referral commission, or offer wholesale prices if you’ll handle billing and support. I like to do the latter, as my clients generally don’t care who the vendor is, just that product works and that they don’t have to deal with many invoices or helpdesks for their technology products.

I typically bill above retail, because of this added support, thereby extending my profit margins and taking responsibility for the product myself. With cloud backup, this is pretty easy to do because the servers are very much set-it-and-forget-it products that require little effort to maintain.

There are really only three ways to sell cloud backup; by using passive links on your websites and promotional products, as direct recommendations to clients on-site, and as part of your MSP (Managed Service Provider) packages. For the most part, the revenue from the first two is minor, maybe $10-15 a year per seat depending on the client and package, but as part of a MSP package, they’ve been invaluable to me in two ways.

The first is by including off-site backup in my packages by default I’ve created have a competitive advantage as I’m not aware of any local competitors who do this. The costs of the service are built into the package, but to the client it looks like a freebie, one that they may never thought of or heard about before. Some might be have been confused by the amount of vendors in the field, or by pricing schemes and previously been scared off, but when I bring it up they greatly appreciate it.

They’re hearing about the cloud in the media but they don’t understand it. This gives us credibility in the sales process thanks to Microsoft’s advertising, and we get to direct the content of the conversation. Cloud backup has allowed me to close more MSP contracts since I started bundling them by default because my clients see that I’m looking out for their interests and starting disaster planning from the get go.

Second, because of the success in boosting MSP contract sales, I’ve created residential MSP contracts for pre-qualified clients. These residential contracts sell easily with cloud backup as I’m able to talk to the prospect about total security and protection. I’ve cemented myself as their only vendor because their AV, cloud backup, remote access and support services are now channelled through my one single invoice. Not only does this allow me to completely own the client, but I can take that client portfolio with me to a vendor and negotiate better pricing.

No matter how you decide to integrate cloud backup into your offerings, whereby as a single sale add-on or as an integral part of your service packages, I highly recommend you do. You’d be putting yourself and your clients at a severe disadvantage if you don’t. I’ve seen a 15% boost in sales, greater stickiness and stronger relationships. I’m offering more comprehensive services and eliminating the feeling of being nickel in dimed clients often resent when dealing with multiple vendors in regards to their IT infrastructure.

And a final thought, the pitch for cloud backup is simple: “With cloud backup your data is encrypted and stored offsite within minutes, protecting you from accidental deletion, theft, seizure or god forbid a fire, local backup isn’t enough. You can always buy a new computer, but you can’t buy back your data, ready to sign?”

Note: substitute data with pictures if it’s a residential client.

Guest Post By William Conner: William Conner is the owner of MyComputerHero, an IT consultancy in Calgary, Alberta since 2005. He has been in the SMB IT industry for 15 years, holds various vendor and industry certifications and is finishing a BSc. in Computer Information Systems at Mount Royal University.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. Boost Your Revenue with Cloud Storage & Backup

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The Force Field to carry live TPN coverage of CES 2012

Each year since 2008, The Force Field has carried video coverage of The Consumer Electronics Show. This year we are going all out. The front page of The Force Field web portal will feature 24/7 video coverage of CES 2012, including a LIVE stream during the event. As in years past we will stream both recorded features and a live stream courtesy of The Tech Podcast Network (TPN). The Force Field Podcast is a member of TPN.

In addition to the live video stream, the front page of TheForceField.Net will also feature a 24/7 live social media stream and a live chat, where viewers around the world can discuss CES 2012 in real time. For those who want to attend CES but can’t watch, we will also feature an audio stream so you can listen in while on the go or at work.

To complete the coverage, The Force Field Forums will also have the CES 2012 Forums open and available to the public, for the latest comments, debates and discussions during CES 2012.

Pre-show coverage begins 3 PM EST (12 PM PST) Sunday, January 8, 2012. Check the The Force Field TPN CES 2012 Program Schedule for a list of program times and events.