Richard Tubb's Blog, page 79
June 19, 2017
How You Can Work With a Virtual Administrator to Grow Your Business
One of the most frequent challenges I hear from small business owners — whether it be a one-man-band starting out, or a business with existing employees — is the challenge of the business owner being too busy. Commonly, the business owner is too busy tackling the day-to-day urgent work of running the business to concentrate on the important tasks they need to consistently do to grow their business. Marketing, Sales, Leadership.
As Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth Revisited would say, these business owners are too busy working in their business to work on their business.
Typically, these business owners appreciate this is what they are doing, but don’t know how to recruit additional resource to help them free up their time. After all, taking on employees (or should I say good employees) is an onerous task and can feel like a risk when a business is first growing.
So, is there an alternative to employing staff — perhaps where the tasks the business owner needs to delegate or outsource are too small in total to justify the cost of a full-time (or even a part-time) member of staff?
The alternative is to employ the services of Virtual Assistants.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant is typically a self-employed individual who works in your business remotely, along with various other clients. They are not an employee, although you can (and in my opinion, should) treat them as a trusted member of your team. More on that later in this article.
Virtual Assistants (VA’s from this point forwards) are typically paid for the hours they work, or on a project-by-project basis, and they can be based anywhere in the world. I’ve used VA’s who are based in India, Eastern Europe, the Philippines and many other foreign countries. The advantage to this sort of VA is that you are getting highly skilled workers, who can deliver great results at a rate that is often (significantly) lower than in the UK or USA.
With that said, the team of VA’s that I work with to help my business grow are all based within the UK. Having been an employer before, when I sold my business I had no desire to rush into taking employees on again. Employees need managing, and that takes time. Good Virtual Assistants are typically self-starters who don’t need as much managing as an employee. That’s a win for me.
Good Virtual Assistants are typically self-starters who don’t need as much managing as an employee.
What can a Virtual Assistant do for you?
The typical image of a VA tends to be the generalists who will help you with your administration, finance, accounting and any number of other tasks that you’re being bogged down with on a day-to-day basis.
Be aware though, that you can (and should) hire VA’s to do specialist work. That might be marketing, or even more specifically, email marketing, social media management, Public Relations or Direct Marketing. It might be Design work, or more specifically web design, graphic design or document design.
The key question here is to ask yourself what the highest value use of your time is. Is it doing the invoicing, the admin and the bookkeeping, or is it finding new clients and winning new business? It may be something else, but it’s probably some task that only you can do but are not currently doing because you’re too busy.
Why you’re probably not already working with a Virtual Assistant
You probably already know what would be the best use of your time, and you probably already know it isn’t doing many of the jobs you already do day-to-day. So the answer is clear — you need to outsource these tasks to a VA, right?
Well, logically that is the answer, but the challenge I find most business owners experience here is best summed up by one single belief. “Nobody else can do it as well as me”.
As business owners, we think that nobody else can do the work as well as us. I mean, we’re indispensable, right?
Wrong.
I definitely don’t think this way. I like to surround myself with people who are better than me at loads of things, and I can tell you it’s working out quite well!
As business owners, we think that nobody else can do the work as well as us!
Are you a Single Point of Failure?
I wrote in a recent post “Why I’m rebooting my blog and my business” that given the year I experienced (complete with two hospital stays, a move 250 miles North and a wedding) that without the VA’s I’ve surrounded myself with, my business wouldn’t have continued. It couldn’t have continued because I was often incapacitated and unable to run the business!
Could your business run without you, or are you an SPF — A Single Point of Failure? If you got knocked over by a car tomorrow (don’t dismiss this idea, it happened to me!) and were hospitalised, do you have the people around you who can help things tick over until you’re recovered?
I do. Meet Team Tubb.
How Virtual Assistants help me
I currently employ five Virtual Assistants to help me in my business. Each one can, without a shadow of a doubt, do the jobs they need to do not just as good as me, but better than me.
Judith knows MailChimp better than I ever will.
Ross knows video editing in a way that I’ll never master.
Col can grow a significantly better beard than me — oh, and he’s really good with design.
Anyway, you get the idea. I have a team of VA’s who are experts in their particular field and you should also look to hire for specific skills rather than general skills.
Why? Well, I’d say the Golden Rule of hiring VA’s is this. Don’t try to find one super-VA to do everything for you.
Firstly, VA’s, just like everyone else, have their strengths and weaknesses. Play to those strengths. Hire somebody with the skills for the task at hand. This isn’t an employee you’re taking on who has hours you need to fill the day with. A VA could work an hour a month for you, or many hours a month — it’s all down to what you need doing.
Secondly, trying to hire one single “Super VA” who can do everything is not only impossible but even if it were possible, you’d end up relying on them too much. What if that “Super VA” was hit by a car and was unable to work, or decided to quit the VA business? You’d be back to square one. It’s that Single Point of Failure all over again.
How much do Virtual Assistants cost?
The next objection I hear is that VA’s will cost too much to work with.
Again, that hasn’t been my experience.
If cost is truly an issue for you, then you can work with VA’s in India, the Philippines or other parts of the world where the skill-set is high and the cost is very low by our country’s standards.
But as I’ve shared, I chose to work with a team of British VA’s and they cost my business, in total, less than the cost of a single employee would every month. A single employee who wouldn’t have half of the skills that my team collectively has, either.
Obviously, the cost of a VA depends on their skill set and a number of hours you want to work with them but think hundreds of pounds each month rather than thousands.
One final important observation on the cost of VA’s. If, at this point, you still think you can’t afford to hire a VA, then please sit down and work out how much money you’re leaving on the table by doing those jobs you know you shouldn’t be doing. How many new clients could you have won if you weren’t doing the invoicing? What is that worth to you, in real terms? I’d be surprised if it’s not much, much more than the cost of hiring a VA.
Read these Books on Virtual Assistants
If you’ve got this far and think that working with Virtual Assistants is a good idea, then I’d recommend you go and read “Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business” by Chris Ducker.
If you’ve got this far and you still don’t see how working with a VA might be for you, then I’d recommend you go and read “The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich” by Tim Ferriss. This seminal book will change your perspective on work forever.
How I work with my Virtual Assistants
I’m conscious about elaborating on how I work with Virtual Assistants within my business because your business is different to mine, and what works for me, may not work for you. My business is business consultancy, yours may be IT, or software development, floristry or fishing tackle.
With that said, I’d encourage you to check out team collaboration tools such as Slack and Trello, and connect your VA’s with each other. It’s my experience that by doing so, you will eliminate yourself from being the bottleneck and allow your team to get on with the work your business needs doing.
If you are interested in learning more about how I work with my VA team, then leave a comment below or contact me. I’ll happily consider writing an article about it if there is enough interest.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve put forward the case for working with Virtual Assistants well.
Working with one or more VA’s can help free up your time and energy to concentrate on working on your business rather than just working in it.
Working with multiple VA’s reduces the risk of you being a Single Point of Failure (SPF) within your business.
Working with a team of VA’s is often still cheaper than taking on an employee, and yet you get a wider variety of skills and experience.
And above all, working with VA’s allows you to choose to spend your time working on the things that are the highest value use of your time. At the moment, that’s probably not the case.
If you’d like to know more, contact me — I regularly help my IT Solution Provider and Managed Service Provider (MSP) clients to implement Virtual Assistants within their business.
Or if you’d prefer, reach out to the members of Team Tubb directly. They’re a friendly bunch and I know they’d love to hear from you!
June 16, 2017
My thoughts and takeaways from CMA Live 2017
In my last blog post, I wrote about Why CMA Live is The Best Event I’ve Ever Attended (go on, have a read of that article — I’ll be waiting here when you get back!) based on the amazing community involved, the atmosphere, the venue and the overall vibe that organiser Chris Marr has created for his Content Marketing Academy event.
I also mentioned that this year’s CMA event was the first I’d attended as a delegate, as I’ve been a speaker at the previous two CMA Live events. I’ve loved being a speaker at the event, but it’s fair to say that without the preparation (and, let’s be honest, general worrying) that goes with being a speaker, at this year’s event I was able to fully concentrate on what was happening on-stage.
With that in mind, I thought I’d share my own key takeaways from this CMA Live 2017.
The CMA Live 17 Speaker Lineup
Firstly, the speaker lineup this year was nothing short of incredible — with some world class experts taking to the stage to share their knowledge and wisdom.
The agenda was broken down into two types of speakers. The keynote speakers (an hour or so) and lightning speakers (15 mins). The lightning speakers consisted of members of the CMA community sharing their personal stories.
In every case of the lightning speakers, I was full of both pride and awe at business people who weren’t regular public speakers, taking to the stage and sharing so openly and honestly in front of a big audience. Kudos to the Lightning speakers, one and all.
I’m not going to cover my thoughts on every speaker in the event, as others (such as Cathy at Socially Contended, and Ross Coverdale of RAD Creatives) have done a much better job of that already. I thought it was worth sharing my top takeaways though.
Chris Ducker on Influence
I’ve long been a fan of Brit Chris Ducker’s writing and am a member of his excellent Youpreneuer community. Chris is a wildly successful entrepreneur who I’ve learned a lot from, both through his blogs, Podcasts and his books.
Chris’ presentation focused on building influence. Specifically, he stated that simply being liked was no longer enough — you had to make yourself somebodies favourite.
Chris also shared the statistic that by 2020, 90% of content online will be video. If you’re not embracing video in your content marketing, be prepared to be left behind.
My biggest take away from Chris’ presentation was one simple phrase. “Being seen to sell builds influence”.
“Being seen to sell builds influence” @ChrisDucker
This had a profound effect on my thinking, as I’ve always considered myself a keen Go-Giver, sharing content of value. If you don’t ask for the sale though, you’re harming your influence.
I’ve now set myself a goal to being seen to sell at least once per week.
Ross Coverdale / Col Gray on Branding
Full disclosure here, both Ross and Col are good friends of mine and a part of Team Tubb. I’m going to love whatever they say or do, because, well, I love those guys anyway!
With that said, both Ross and Col have helped me realise that your brand should represent who you are and what you do.
In this amusing and educating lightning presentation, Col and Ross shared the process they went through to help Chris Marr find the right brand and logo to represent himself and the CMA.
As a long-time CMA community member myself, I found myself shocked at how I viewed the old (and at the time, what I thought was perfectly functional) CMA logo compared to the new logo. I’d go as far as to say this was a revelation to me on how branding can help or hinder your business growth.
The Old CMA Logo
The New CMA Logo
Ross and Col shared a thought on branding that also resonated. Ask the question “If you were to describe your business to a friend using just one sentence, what would you say?”
“If you were to describe your business to a friend using just one sentence, what would you say?”
Have a think about that question in relation to your own business. I certainly have been. Expect more on the Tubblog rebrand soon…
Yva Yorston on Success
Another lightning speaker who really caught my imagination was Yva Yorston. Yva shared her own journey and what people think the path to success looks like, versus what the path to success actually looks like!
Yva shared how she has received support, both business and emotional, from the communities she’s involved in — such as CMA and Youpreneuer.
My big takeaway? I thought I was good at asking my peers for support. Upon reflection, I don’t do it nearly enough. The next time I’m feeling low, uninspired or demotivated, I’ll ask for help. Being a business owner is a tough enough gig without trying to do it alone.
Mark Schaefer on building an audience
Day two kicked off with Mark Schaefer, world renowned author, speaker and business consultant. Mark was talking about how to build an audience.
Mark shared that you need to find the following four elements for your business:-
Place — A sustainable interest that you want to be known for.
Space — An uncontested or underserved niche with enough people in it to matter.
Content
Audience
Mark talked specifically about “the 30-month mindset”. The idea of focusing on one type of content, such as blogging, podcasting or video, and delivering that content consistently — day in, day out.
“Everyone starts at the bottom” shared Mark, before bringing on stage two inspiring stories of CMA community members who have done incredible things. Technical Writer, John Espirian, and Financial Advisor, Pete Matthew of Meaningful Money.
John’s business is thriving through his consistent use of quality content, and Pete Matthew has grown his Podcast to 100,000 listeners a month which has led to his announcement of being rewarded with a book offer from a publisher.
“Everyone starts at the bottom” @MarkWSchaefer
If the CMA Live event had ended right here, I would have gone home brimming with inspiration and enthusiasm. As it was, it was only 1030 in the morning. We had more amazing speakers to listen to!
Andrew & Pete — Content Crickets
Have I mentioned the reason I’ve moved to the North-East is to be closer to Andrew & Pete? It’s true! My getting married was a happy co-incidence. 
June 15, 2017
Why CMA Live Is The Best Event I’ve Ever Attended
Do you attend business events? Conferences, networking and peer group events are certainly a regular part of my diary. I get great value from attending such events, both from a personal and professional development perspective. I find they energise and inspire me.
However, there is no denying that attending such events is an investment of both time and money. The time you spend at an event is the time you’re not spending in the office, serving clients or winning new business. The money you spend on travelling to an event (and often staying over at a hotel) is money you need to view as an investment, rather than a cost.
In short, you need to make sure that any event you attend has a great return on investment (ROI).
One such event I’ve recently attended (for the third time!) both meets and exceeds that investment ROI. That event is the Content Marketing Academy Live — or CMA Live.
What is the Content Marketing Academy?
The Content Marketing Academy (the CMA) is a community of business owners and professionals with one goal in mind — to become better content marketers.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term content marketing, then you’ll surely be familiar with content marketing. It’s a type of marketing that most progressive businesses now use. It involves creating valuable online material (such as blogs, videos and social media) that aims to educate and stimulate interest rather than explicitly sell. Rather than think of traditional marketing, where you’re encouraged to buy, buy, buy — think of your favourite blog or YouTube channel, where you come away from reading or watching the content feeling educated and/or inspired.
The CMA was founded by Scottish-based entrepreneur Chris Marr and has grown today into a thriving online community that I recommend to my clients and friends. Chris is a friend, a phenomenal motivator and an amazing community leader. But don’t take my word for it — listen to my Podcast interview with Chris Marr from TubbTalk episode 11 to hear what I mean.
What is CMA Live?
CMA Live is the annual event that brings members of the Content Marketing Academy together in Edinburgh, Scotland. The event is open to both members and non-members of the Academy and is attended by folks from all over Europe and further afield.
I was first introduced to CMA Live when I spoke at the event in 2015. I consider myself an event veteran, having attended conferences and symposiums all over the world. Despite this, I was blown away by the quality of the CMA Live event. The community is so warm, so open and honest, so eager to learn — it’s infectious. You can’t help but be inspired! Afterwards, I made a point of telling all my clients and friends that they should consider attending the following years’ event.
I was invited back to speak at the CMA Live in 2016 and my experience was similarly inspiring. Immediately after the event, I made it my mission to not only tell people they should consider attending CMA Live in 2017 but that they’d be crazy not to attend. The event was that good!
This year I attended CMA Live, not as a speaker, but as an attendee. This gave me the perspective of being able to relax and take in the event without having to prepare to go on stage. I was joined at the event by a dozen or so of my clients and business friends.The experience was nothing short of amazing. In fact, it was the best event I’ve ever attended.
Why is CMA Live so special?
I often say that the real value of attending events is not necessarily in the speakers or the workshops, but the time you spend with other attendees. The conversations in the breaks, at the coffee shops, over lunch and in the bar afterwards. These are the moments when you make friends, pick up golden nuggets and build relationships that can accelerate your personal and professional growth.
CMA Live has a community that is like non-other I’ve experienced. Everyone, from the wildly successful business owner to the new starter, is there to not only learn but to share what they’ve learned. It’s hard to put into words, but if you’ve ever spent time with somebody who you thought “I want to suck that guy/gals brain dry of all their knowledge!” then be prepared to meet a room full of these folks at CMA Live.
This isn’t a room full of marketing people either. This is a community of business owners, ranging from photographers to T-Shirt Designers, Accountants to Solicitors, Graphic Designers to Physical Therapists. Basically, anybody who is really good at what they do and wants the world to see that.
Coming from the IT industry, there’s a growing group of technology businesses in attendance too.
Notable IT folk at #CMALive17 today. @phylipm @gadd0 @SuperfastCEO @SP_CCSIT @JasonLeeParsons @Ocius_Jonathan @TheSteveMcg. Geeks assemble! pic.twitter.com/9SKR4GVX2L
— Richard Tubb (@tubblog) June 8, 2017
What about the speakers?
The event also has speakers like few others you’ll experience. These are well recognised, world-class experts who don’t just fly in, deliver their presentation and then leave — they spend time as a part of the community before, during and after the event.
Seriously! If you were to engage any of the speakers at CMA Live in one-to-one consultancy or coaching, you can expect to pay handsomely for the privilege. But for the cost of a CMA Live ticket, you can engage them directly in conversation, ask questions and learn from them for a whole two days. What’s more, these experts are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet!
It’s worth noting that the venue for CMA Live is incredible too. The Hub in Edinburgh is a former Church converted into an event venue which has high ceilings, is well lit and has great facilities.
If you’ve ever been to a conference in a dingy, hot and sticky hotel facility next to a motorway — the Hub is the antithesis of this.
Making arrangements to attend CMA Live
I’ve been asked by a few people how they should plan for their first CMA Live.
The event is a two-day affair, taking place on a Thursday and a Friday.
There are social events (both officially organised, and casually organised) on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening.
Personally, my wife and I treat the event as a busman’s holiday. We get into Edinburgh on a Wednesday morning and stay in an Airbnb apartment near the centre of Edinburgh until the Sunday. Total cost? £250-£300 plus travel. That type of schedule gives plenty of time to enjoy the City, the Conference and ahem, recovering from the amazing parties…
Should you attend CMA Live?
If you’re a business owner who wants to understand how to reach potential clients without being a stereotypical, grinning, slimy salesperson — you’ll benefit from attending CMA Live.
If you’re a marketer who wants to understand how to create content and leverage social media to cultivate an audience who actively seek out your expertise — you’d find value in attending CMA Live.
If you’re an individual who is trying to build a business or a brand and want to know how to face your fears head on and achieve your full potential — you should attend CMA Live.
If all the above sounds like hyperbole, then don’t take my word for it, check out the #CMALive17 hashtag on Twitter. I guarantee you’ll get value and nuggets of advice just from reading the Tweets — so imagine how good it is to be there at CMA Live 2017 in person!
In 10 years people will be wishing they could go back to 2017.
The best time to start is NOW. #CMALive17
— Ross Coverdale (@radcoverdale) June 9, 2017
That’s a rap for #CMALive17 What an awesome few days. Anyone who sees the value in content marketing should definitely come to #CMALive18 pic.twitter.com/N8wgQGwkLH
— Emma Fox (@FreshFinancials) June 9, 2017
CMA Live is a must-attend event
In my next blog post, I’ll be covering some of what I personally learned from CMA Live 17. In the meantime, check out John Espirian’s CMA 2017 Write-Up and Anne Johnston’s CMA Live 2017 review.
Suffice to say though, I’m booked in for CMA Live 2018 and I’d encourage you to do the same. The early-bird registration for CMA Live 2018 is now on-line.
Unlike previous years, I’m not just recommending this event to clients and friends. After speaking and attending CMA Live for the past three years, I’m telling you, without any shadow of a doubt, that if you’re in business and want that business to grow then you, or somebody on your team, should be at CMA Live.
Don’t misunderstand my intention here. I’m not financially incentivised for people to attend CMA Live. I’m not on some sweet affiliate scheme. I don’t get a kick-back. I just believe in what Chris Marr is building and I know that the event will make a profound difference to your business, should you choose to attend.
CMA Live is just that good.
May 25, 2017
Website Grader – How Strong Is Your Website?
Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a web-site, tool or app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is Website Grader – How Strong is Your Website?
What is it?
Website Grader is a free tool provided by HubSpot. It enables you to run an audit of your website and highlight any areas for improvement.
How can it help me?Website Grader runs checks on your website in five areas.
Performance
Mobile
SEO
Security
Overall
It shows you where your website needs improvement to increase traffic, improve conversion rates, generate more leads, optimise your site for mobile, and make your website easier for people to find.
Website Grader is a free tool from @HubSpot that will highlight areas for improvement in your website
How much does it cost?
Website Grader is provided by Hubspot for free.
How can I get it?
Visit Website Grader and put in the website you’d like to check and your email address.
You can also find Hubspot on Twitter, or visit the Hubspot Facebook page.
Thanks to Mark Williams of Pensar IT for sharing the Website Grader link with me!
May 24, 2017
Tate Talks with Tubb – Watch the Recording on Demand
On Friday 19th May I joined my good friend Chris Tate of Datto for a live video webinar streamed directly from Datto’s EMEA HQ in Reading.
We offered you the chance to throw your questions at me and talk about anything IT or Managed Service Provider (MSP)-related and you certainly didn’t disappoint!
The Questions You Asked
Here’s the list of questions I answered:
Q. What’s the one thing that helps MSPs to grow their business faster?
Q. In the book you talk about focusing on core competencies rather than trying to be a generalist. Can you give an example of where you’ve said no to work?
Q. You regularly post horror stories of business owners who have 5,000+ unread emails in their inbox. I’ve got 15,000+ unread emails in my inbox. How do I get to Inbox Zero?
Q. I’m rubbish at Marketing. Help!
Q. Am I alone in hating business networking? Do I have to get up at 6 am and talk to people over breakfast?
Am I alone in hating business networking?
Q. We almost lost a client this week because they felt neglected, but we don’t have the time to do regular Quarterly Reviews. Any tips?
Q. How can I stop clients calling me of an evening?
How can I stop clients calling me of an evening?
Q. What’s the biggest mistake that you typically see business owners making?
Q. How the hell do we use Social Media effectively?
Watch the Recording
If you didn’t get a chance to join us for the live event or you’d like to watch again, Datto has now made available the recording of our live webinar. Visit Tate Talks with Richard Tubb where you can register to view the webinar on demand.
Thank you to Chris and Datto for inviting me to appear on your “Tate Talks”!
May 18, 2017
Monzo – The Bank of the Future
Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a web-site, tool or app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is Monzo – The Bank of the Future.
What is it?
Monzo is a new type of UK-based bank, run without branches and built to function via your Smartphone.
How can it help me?
One of Monzo’s first products is a Pre-Paid Mastercard Credit Card (current account and other services coming soon) which helps you track your spending via an Android and iOS app.
The app allows you to instantly see balance updates, spending — in real-time, sends intelligent notifications and is easy to use.
I’ve been using a Monzo Mastercard for a few months now for spending and the real-time features are superb. Whenever you use the Monzo card, the app updates instantly to let you know what you’ve spent, and where.
If you’ve ever had your card declined for no understandable reason, then you’ll like the Monzo app real-time update which shows you exactly why your card has been declined too.
The Monzo Mastercard is also superb for foreign transactions, with zero charges for spending abroad and instant translation of your spends from local currency into Sterling.
The @Monzo Mastercard has zero charges for spending abroad and works via your Smartphone
Finally, Monzo’s most valuable feature may well be its ability to help you budget. You can attach receipt scans to your purchases, and Monzo automatically categorises your spend and gives running totals of what you’ve spent on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I thought I had a good handle on how much I spent on eating out, for instance, but Monzo opened my eyes to what I was actually spending!
How much does it cost?
The Monzo Pre-Paid Mastercard is free to order and requires a £100 top-up to activate.
How can I get it?
Download the Monzo App for free and join the waiting list for the Monzo Beta test.
You can also visit the Monzo web-site to find out more about their banking plans, find Monzo on Twitter, and visit the Monzo Facebook page.
May 11, 2017
MyDocSafe – Secure Onboarding for your Clients and Employees
Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a web-site, tool or app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is MyDocSafe – Secure Onboarding for your Clients and Employees
What is it?
MyDocSafe is a solution that allows you to use e-signatures, workflow automation and secure document management.
How can it help me?
You can use MyDocSafe to onboard your clients more efficiently and effectively. Create and send proposal letters, and electronically sign contracts — as well as set up Direct Debits or payment terms.
MyDocSafe can also speed up your hiring process by onboarding new members of staff and by automating workplace compliance.
Use @MyDocSafe to onboard your clients more efficiently and effectively.
How much does it cost?
MyDocSafe has three pricing plans. A starter package (Pay-as-you-go: 0.5p per electronic signature), A Professional package (£15 per month) and a Team package (£45 per month).
How can I get it?
For the next few days alone, AppSumo has an incredible offer — $35 for lifetime access to the MyDocSafe Professional package. I’ve signed up to use MyDocSafe as my new electronic signature platform.
You can visit the MyDocSafe web-site, find MyDocSafe on Twitter and visit the MyDocSafe Facebook page.
Thanks to Col Gray of Pixels Ink for sharing this week’s Friday Favourite with us!
May 7, 2017
Ask Me Anything! A live Q’n’A Webinar with Datto
A heads-up that I’ll be joining my good friend Chris Tate of Datto for a live video webinar on Friday 19th May at 2 pm GMT where we’re offering you the chance to throw your questions at me and talk about anything IT or Managed Service Provider (MSP)-related.
Many of you will be familiar with Chris Tate. He’s a very well-liked and highly respected IT Managed Service Provider veteran who is now bringing his experience to bear in helping Datto’s MSP customers to grow their business.
Datto has invited me to join them at their EMEA HQ in Reading where we’ll be streaming our video webinar live from their new video suite and talking all things MSP.
The questions will cover everything from pricing, to profit, from finding clients to sacking clients. Nothing is off the table. Ask me anything!
I’m looking forward to the event, and the live video environment means it should be a lot of fun!
Can’t join us live? Register for the recording
Even if you can’t join us for the live event, tweet us your questions now and make sure to register for the webinar and Datto will make sure you get a link to watch the recording of the webinar afterwards.
So, what are you waiting for?
Register for Tate Talks with Richard Tubb now!
Join my live webinar with Datto and receive a copy of my new book
A heads-up that I’ll be joining my good friend Chris Tate of Datto for a live video webinar on Friday 19th May at 2 pm GMT.
Many of you will be familiar with Chris Tate. He’s a very well-liked and highly respected IT Managed Service Provider veteran who is now bringing his experience to bear in helping Datto’s MSP customers to grow their business.
Datto has invited me to join them at their EMEA HQ in Reading where we’ll be streaming our video webinar live from their new video suite and talking all things MSP.
The questions will cover everything from pricing, to profit, from finding clients to sacking clients. Nothing is off the table.
I’m looking forward to the event, and the live video environment means it should be a lot of fun!
Can’t join us live? Register for the recording
Even if you can’t join us for the live event, make sure to register for the webinar and Datto will make sure you get a link to watch the recording of the webinar afterwards.
First 50 registrants get a copy of my new book!
I
f that wasn’t enough, Datto has kindly offered to buy a copy of my latest book, “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and post them to the first 50 registrants for the webinar.
So, what are you waiting for?
Register for Tate Talks with Richard Tubb now!
April 21, 2017
Tapdo – Control Apps and Devices with your Fingertips
Every Friday I try to share one of my favourite finds of the week – a web-site, tool or app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is Tapdo – Control Apps and Devices with your Fingertips.
What is it?
Tapdo is a physical button that you can use to control all your favourite apps and devices by tapping it. The button can be worn on the wrist or located elsewhere.
The Tapdo button itself is a fingerprint sensor that allows you to assign dozens of different functions to the one button.
I met the Tapdo team at CeBIT in Hannover recently and was blown away by the potential of this product!
How can it help me?
The Tapdo button is connected to your Smartphone via Bluetooth. In the Tapdo app, you can choose compatible apps and assign single actions to each part of your finger.
For instance, you could mute and unmute your phone, or control your music player.You could start time tracking via Google Drive, or catch a song with Shazam.
Mute and unmute your phone, control your music player. @Tapdo_io controls apps from a button.
You could start time tracking via Google Drive, or catch a song with Shazam.
There are lots of apps supported by Tapdo already, with more in the pipeline.
How much does it cost?
A Tapdo button and wristband retails for €129.
How can I get it?
Tapdo is currently running a Kickstarter campaign where you can pre-order a Tapdo button and wristband for €100.
You can visit the Tapdo website, find Tapdo on Facebook, Tapdo on Twitter and Tapdo on LinkedIn.
