 Think it's live. I'm not positive. I haven't done it. That glare is terrible. I just realized it's glaring from the See if we move it over here a little hold on. We're gonna wave off the screen Hey, yeah All right, I am live awesome. So whoops and we'll kill a little of the blame Maybe that helps This is a vlog Thursday live from the it nation event Well, I'm in the hotel room not actually at you know loud it'd be if I did it at the event that'd be tragic Anyways Whatever I guess don't need to look good It's not about what's on the screen. So First thing I'm gonna throw out there is well one. I'm at it nation connect 2019 So it's not gonna be a really long vlog I don't know how good the quality is gonna be due to the fact that I'm running on hotel Wi-Fi My 4g is worse than the Wi-Fi. So I was gonna do it on my 4g but that actually seemed to cut out I don't know. They don't have great things here Awesome. Thank you very much William. Love it Learning Linux. Thanks to your help. I love here and I love more people getting in the open source I'm gonna drop some micro tick news on you real quick Another little flaw in me gratek that someone found Did am I with a husky? Yes, I am with us. He us a micro tick news about some security problems with their Windbox system, etc. Etc. No shock there, right? It's something minor And it really comes down to in this case of quit exposing your management interfaces to the internet The internet doesn't need your management interfaces. So, you know TL didn't read that's the short answer of that, but Um one I encourage everyone to learn Linux. I'm just gonna bring up one more time Thank you again William for throwing some money at me. It's greatly appreciated But I have got to meet a lot of people who watch my channel here and that has been a Really neat experience. It's been a lot of fun. I've been a lot of I'm going to donate money to the trees Yes, I've been what I've been trying to keep up with that when I get back I want to do something about the trees. I retweeted some things I love all the stuff that the youtubers are doing involved in that. So that's really Trilan Musk I think Elon Musk is donating to it as well. So there's I think he did some you he donated I think YouTube did some matching. I haven't I've been busy with it stuff So I haven't been up with some of the social things that are going on Maybe I'll do some reading and catch up tonight. But yeah, Trilan Musk. I definitely think that's funny. That's that's great But at least it was a great time meeting a lot of you. I had a What do you call it? Um, did you do a Really good meeting with a couple different people one of them was this company. I have not used their product I will tell you though the people that I talked to here were really interesting So there might be a review coming up and they don't make um battery backups. That's just what their swag was I was grabbing swag. That's you know fun part of it being there They do some active directory auditing and it's one of the things we have some clients that need some Specific types of things done because of the scale and scope of their active directory. It's not a simple project anymore It's become a big project. Um, so we're gonna be talking with them But I did do and I will be publishing an interview with uh, dug with clobbery labs msp 360 So shout out to them and uh, they're the reason I'm here and I say that a video they flew me down here they don't buy Me to make videos for those wondering it's a product we use and they want to say thank you for the videos I did and uh, they flew me down here, which means I got a um Exhibitor pass. So it says uh Exhibit so I thought that was kind of cool Uh, thanks. So uh, their self-service account manager is nice. I'm assuming you mean the uh net ricks system. So yeah Uh, you see that is is that part of smb nation And harry bros. I don't think it's part of smb nation. It's the connect wise event This is put on by connect wise. It's a it connection connect 19 and you know, the big hub I'm not a connect wise user. I don't use your ps a system The big hubbub was the fact that uh continuum is now part of the connect wise family. So You know, some news and changes going on in our industry I also did an interview with the folks over at huntress labs and it's been a lot of fun I hung out with them to like one in the morning that whole team there. They were just a great time So that that definitely, uh, will be more to talk about there Hello from grand rapids. We're stone Yes trip is going well. Thank you, eric Uh, that it's uh, definitely been interesting I have tasks for all of my staff when I get back, you know, things we're gonna do and exciting You know, I'm full of ideas now because I talked to a bunch of it people here And I didn't go to too many of the tracks to do as much learning um But I have had a ton of amazing conversations with Both vendors and other msp's that I've met here. So that's been really cool A big bonus learning experience dealing with all those things. So it, uh, it's been overall very beneficial and a lot of walking It is so much walking. So that's been kind of fun. Uh, but I have a handful of people's cards Propel your ms. I don't know what all these people do I got to sort out all the people I met and you know reach out to the ones that were I have some products. I'm interested in things like that I will I had in uh, this is another company that I talked to that was cool. They're called Zen communications. They seem to be pretty neat. They were just neat people They were actually fans of the channel. So I feel free to give them a shout out here They definitely have a kind of cool thing that they're doing. I talked to them some I probably talked to them Maybe some more. What else did I do here? Got a duo stickers dual security sticker. So a little bit of swag Um, but overall it's been it's always interesting to see what other people are doing and and this the what IT nation connect does Is try to get people to come together and talk about stuff Which is funny because you know them putting on like more details of how msp's work from the inside. I'm like, hmm Wonder why that's a good idea. I have an entire youtube channel where I like to talk more about tech and dive into things. So yeah It's just like one of those Really Interesting things when people want to open up about the business. There's enough business to go around for everybody So me telling you how I run my business has not hurt my business in any way By the way, it's helped it and more people are kind of buying into that So I kind of I'm slowly watching the culture shift It just comes right from like the higher level people at this event Like the connectwise event like the people put the event on talking about having more sessions where you share more Details how to run the business and things like that is the first time I've been to the event So maybe they've been doing it for a little while but it's kind of cool to see more of that openness in that type of environment And uh, someone else pointed out something interesting because apparently and I have not gone to any of the peer groups I don't belong to any of them But uh, the peer groups group people together by revenue And someone pointed out something I thought that was really on point with that that if you're grouping new people together by revenue So you put them all together. What does it what they were seeing by their poverty ranking? I think that was a better way that they phrased it less politically correct, but okay But that being said when you group them together like that you kind of need Someone from the high revenue group to talk to the lower revenue groups to help them with strategy to do it So it may not make sense to put a bunch of people who are stuck at the same level together And I'm like well that makes too much sense to me. So but apparently that's the way you Make that happen. So yeah, that's going to be really interesting um Putting I don't know. I haven't decided if I want to join or participate in peer groups or not some super I I'm sometimes overly opinionated and there's a few vendors here that That start with this whole Uh, it'll make you money first. Yeah, but what do you do? I need to know what you do before you make me money um, and so I'm not I'm not as uh Hip on some of those companies like they're overly salesy with less about product And that's one of the reasons I like uh, people like huntress for example, they're really not salesy They're more about their product and hey, we have a good product And not that insane to sell stuff that you have sales people but that concept works better for me. So Um, yeah, uh, james here says connectwise has been trying to get you as a customer for years I It's funny someone I talked to wasn't a connectwise customer. They were a Um, continuum rmm customer. So now they are a connectwise customer whether they like it or not Their acquisition, you know, technically we're a connectwise customer We only use their connectwise control system, but once again because we're using it that it's your Uh, the the whole thing is like they acquired it and same thing with solar winds solar winds We didn't seek out solar winds. We were already using tools and solar winds through acquisition bought the tooling that we were using Therefore we became solar winds customers. So it's kind of neat Uh, you know how all that works. Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Michael's one saying that. Yeah, I read that wrong It's harder to read them as they scroll across the phone. It's not as simple. I should probably look at it down here on my laptop I have my laptop sitting right there so All here tour the hotel room camera over there All the clothes I lay out on the bed my bed where I sleep I keep it organized I'm actually reasonably organized and stuff who wants to see out the window. I'll do that real quick She'll show you up there I'm not going to do this vlog for too much longer because the event is happening over there And that's where I got to go is over Yeah, I thought it was over there. I was lost when I went to microsoft It was over there the event is over there where it says hi it Inside of uh That building over there. So that's where all the event and everything's happening and going on My yes, my clothes everything I have here is gray. You're not wrong. I have other. Well, no, this is great, too I have stuff of color on it. I swear somewhere is something I'm not stylish by the way for anyone Anyone who was wondering if I'm an IT geek in style? No Uh I did that position seven years ago an msp the connector wise was not happy that canceled my service since Uh, they call it at least six times a year. Yeah Oh, man So, oh, you've never you've never heard of this event. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty cool Glustra fs. I have never used Glustra fs. I know if you look it up on reddit I've seen people tell me they really don't like it I I don't know. I haven't used it. So I can't really say that The dogs I wanted to get to that. I was calling. Uh, they thought it was funny I came up to the booth and I'll tell you what I What I'm gonna use your product or not if you put a bunch of dogs in your booth I'm gonna hang out at your booth for a while. I just petted dogs and even listened to whatever the sales guy said Um, but I was like dogs as a service. This is genius. Like, you know, and uh, it's a local animal rescue for huskies They were really cool. Uh, I like I said that was a Uh, that was part of vis me being there was going and visiting the dogs. They were if you put like I said, I I didn't I think there's some security company with a dog in the logo But you know, why not bring a bunch of dogs there? So Yeah Uh, how are things going with the digital signage solutions? We're not really pushing it out to clients It's just something I played with. Uh, we had somebody that wanted it for a couple people I don't think I want to build a business model around it right now I just want to talk about the product. So I'm not doing any sign solutions for our clients right now It's some thoughts I had it's not enough to, uh Pursue it as a business I should say so yeah um Uh, no this showed up in the push notification. So the youtube actually sounded unnoticed. That's interesting That's random who would expected that to happen Um, but I don't have a whole lot of other stuff. I mean, I do have a ton of things I probably could just be a lot about but I'm not going to go too much. Yeah, the dog made me click. They uh, Yeah, I wish I you know, if I could have done it at the event. I would have just sat with dogs Matter of fact, that's a good idea. I should go my cousin is gone to the snow dogs. So, uh, joey seal if you're Uh, probably typing go into the thoughts go gone to the snow dogs in youtube and you'll find my cousin's channel And now that might be a fun vlog Thursday Love this like do a vlog Thursday hanging out with her dogs that That'd be kind of cool. Um, her dogs are great. I don't have any pets myself and part of the reason I don't for those of you that don't know I I'm actually a pet lover. That's why I don't have pets And what does that mean? I'm not home enough, uh To give them the attention. I think that they need for example I'm in Florida right now. So if I you know, it's hard to travel that much with dogs or even You know be at work all the time. We've talked about maybe getting a dog for the shop. I I don't know It's it's like it seems like a good idea and then you're like, oh, yeah, that still requires more maintenance. So Is wonderful as pets are. Uh, yeah, it's it's you gotta kind of have, uh You kind of gotta have a time for them. That's one of the things I you know, my cousin does it says that too She's she's obviously a big pet advocate. Um, but it you have to make sure you're willing to put the time in there So no, we're not getting a dog. I see my wife joining the live stream here Um Yeah, have three dogs have to pay someone to stay watch the dogs exactly So it really disrupts a few things when it comes to that. Um But I I did have some a lot of good business conversations that I I can't reiterate because I have to really put them down in a thought So some maybe changes that I'll be making here and there But overall, like I said, most of it was reinforcements of things I think are good ideas great great conversations get a poster of a dog. I can do that um The conversations I had though and it's just business strategy tossing things back and forth Stuff I've said on the channel before and matter of fact, some of the people that came back and met me That followed me for my channel. That's what we talked about was they're like, well, do you really do this? I'm like, oh, yeah, we do this. We do, you know, this is how we do clients. Yeah If you do it, no contracting and work on semi-contract later Pitch them on break fix ease yourself into relationship with clients It's me re-eagering things. I've talked about on a channel But that saying that page face to face with people I thought was really cool And having that and I did Kind of think yeah robot dog. I can go for robot dogs I did think that might be a good idea and something I want to do next level So I got my forums which is going well I love all the people and all of you that participate in the forums and but I think an online peer group because I Having starting with a bunch of people are like minded and trying to figure out how to curate that more than just forums Maybe some webinars at some point and talking with people. I think that's cool. And I mean Dato I oddly I don't think I've seen data at all Storage craft and unit trends and a few other people are here, but I want to say there's no data Is is there at all that that I've seen if they're here and there's a lot of vendors here And I could have missed them, but I don't recall seeing data But I think data is not here because I could have me if I'm wrong does data connect Does data integrate with connect wise pretty much any vendor here because the it nation connect is all about Any vendor that works in conjunction with connect wise So the two vendors that I talked to the most of course is msp 360 And huntress both of them have integration With connect wise their their tooling ties into the connect wise PSA system. So It's that's a lot of the vendors here and I I think because dato has their own standalone systems I don't know if it integrates. I'm not a dato user. So I just don't know So I I don't have any good or bad to say about dato Go spend some time and write a type in dato and you'll find lovers and haters of dato Some people senior praises some people dislike them. I I've never used them So I I don't know if some of those people just don't know how to use it. Don't read the manual or what? um, I will be releasing a video because huntress is rolling out some uh Remediation tools that I'm gonna probably do a video on that because I kind of stumped them in the video with a question Is I don't I didn't know the answer and I figured hey, why don't I ask it live or while you're recording? I should say and it's about how do you test some of the live formation stuff because The edr product the way huntress works is different than antivirus. I'm like, well, do you guys catch the e-car file? I don't think we're not looking for that So it's kind of interesting to see how do we test this without deploying a live virus Do we use b&i? yes, no um, yes, no the reason I say that is because We don't use b&i directly the chamber of commerce were in Offers a service that's like b&i. So they have their networking groups, but if the chamber of commerce did not Yes, I would be using b&i and yes in past years. I had used b&i service So that's business. I I think the acronym is business network international But it's a business networking group not for it specifically But so businesses businesses can get together and share Um it Share leads with each other for different businesses. So living a mortgage company and insurance company and maybe a tech company And any of those people that have a lead because they know someone who needs one of the other person services They share leads if you're not familiar with b&i. Well, but those groups Find the right one find the one that's a 50 but those groups can be very valuable to adding clients to your business Oh, yeah swag for sure Um, I I don't know. There's not been as many t-shirts. I mean I got a few shirts But not that many uh, so not a ton of swag The coolest swag thing I got was this uh charger Like that. I mean other than shirts the coolest swag. So there's that Uh, but it's kind of neat. This this is a dude It's got lights on it So will you be hitting the pub crawl exhibit hall in 20 minutes? Yes, I will I will be there for sure That's why I'm I gotta start wrapping this up because that's where I gotta head over to your necks And start hanging out and talking with people. I just stopped here because I just did all the recording There's a bonus to have any exhibitor pass. I get I get to privilege my way in places So I wanted him with the exhibitor pass So I was actually able to do interviews and boosts when there weren't people there So I could actually conduct interviews without them being too loud anyways So I got those couple interviews done and I about all my camera I get my my hotels across the street from the event So I had to drag all the gear put it back over here and put it away So then I can walk back over to the event. So hey, awesome. Paul. I'll see you there. So Uh, bring home flowers. I don't think flowers do well on planes Throwing it out there. I don't know. I don't have an answer. I see my wife has decided to join the live stream So but that's about it for vlog Thursday. Uh, Don't have much else. I mean like I could dabble on for her but I'm not going to excuses excuses. So So I'm gonna head over back over to the event and go hang out and geek out with a bunch of people So, uh, better not be a mac. No, I don't use mac book. Uh Yeah, we give away pens. So we don't need as many ink pens. So the we have just oodles of ink pens that we give away So that's the thing I'm but I am going to be hanging out again with the folks that uh, well, hit me up I'm I I kind of just hang out and wander around So if you're watching this in post about the it nation event like feel free to come find me I'm gonna be here today. I leave tomorrow in the evening. So I'll be here be around Uh, message me on twitter is probably the easiest way if you've sent a dm I make sure I don't have any ignored dms because I'll apologize to those people now As I said that last time no no ignored dms No one no one messaged me. I but I got to meet a lot of people A lot of people that follow my channel matter of fact, um Some of the vendors also were coming up to you go I was in the exhibit with some of the vendors were in there as well doing the same thing where they were coming and Uh, saying hi to me. So that was really cool too. So just found out some of the vendors at some of these companies Like they knew who I were who I wait who I am were am am so and uh from there But that's it. I'm going to wander off from here Uh, have I ever met network chuck? I've never met him. I know who he is I thought we're reaching out to him. He does a lot of the sysco stuff I seen he posted about some unified things, but network chuck seems like a cool guy I've watched a couple of his videos on sysco. He did a really I think the first video I watched on network chuck was uh his Vlan hopping video and I thought it's good. He's uh, he's technical. So he I appreciate people who do You know more in-depth tech videos That's what I do. So those are people I like reaching out to I still need to do A video with craft computing. Uh, we message each other. We just never scheduled any time to do a video together But um, that is on my to-do list of getting that done as well. All right, and thanks for joining me I think there's about 80 of you I do those was unplanned when I do it for my phone the scheduling doesn't work the same way But uh, I'm gonna head over back to the event and if you're there say hi if not you're watching this afterwards I'm back home. This is october 31st, 2019. Thanks