Harry Brelsford

Dripping Springs

CEO at SMBNation

CEO of SMB Nation

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Articles

Even MSPs Get The Blues!

Feb 27, 2025 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

A concerning drop in channel partner sentiment over the past few months. We were tracking a surge in partner optimism in 2024, with 64% in growth mode starting the year to 72% by the end of the year. Over 37% of the channel was growing by double-digits. Fast forward to 2025, and partners in growth mode has shrunk to 49%.
Book Review: Buy Back Your Time (Dan Martell)

Feb 6, 2025 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

The core messages that I took away that I want to highlight are: Why are you doing things that don’t make money? The Replacement Ladder. Part of the self-reflection was a look in the mirror (another audience gift was a folding mirror from The 20 group based in Dallas for doing exactly that.} So time to shift gears and please listen to the podcast about this book I recently recorded with Chris Wiser HERE. Here are more dets.
Gifts Differing: Typing v Writing

Jan 31, 2025 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

AuthorCollaborator. Many readers think of me as a writer in the tech sector with my claim to fame being the Windows Small Business Server era. That isn’t untrue for your double entendre of the day lol. But while Wohlforth is more thoughtful in his efforts, my gift was the need for speed. I liken my “typing” to that of a West Wing staffer in the White House with rapid written responses to world events where the content needs to get out here and now.
Talkin to Canadians: Auvik at IT Nation Connection 2024

Dec 1, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

At IT Connect 2024 in Orlando, AUVIK, a network and SaaS management company founded in 2011, discussed their focus on "frictionless IT." AUVIK's president oversees customer acquisition, onboarding, and success, while Joe Barnes, based in Scottsdale, focuses on growing indirect partnerships and expanding resale business. AUVIK plans to launch endpoint network monitoring and enhance SaaS management automation in 2025.
Cut The Cords

Nov 12, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

Following in the footsteps of some smaller US cable operators, GCI, Alaska's biggest cable operator, is preparing to end its pay-TV service. GCI confirmed that it has informed its video customers that it will shut down its TV offerings by mid-2025 and allocate more of its resources toward broadband and mobile.
What MSP Recession?

Nov 4, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

but no doubt about it - they are cyclical as well. Figure 1: SanDisk and other storage companies tend to go into recessions early. Fashionably Late Speaking from personal experience, I was giving a keynote at the infamous SMB Nation 2008 fall conference on Friday mornin when the global equity markets crashed based in-part on the Lehman Brothers collapse a few weeks earlier in September caused a tizzy and a tussle. Best I could do in my speech was say “don’t turn on your TV today folks” LOL.
MSP Events Part 2 - Karl v. Harry

Oct 21, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

Actually, Karl Palachuk and I have more in common than not. We both recently published blogs on MSP events. My blog that was part of a recent newsletter to you focused on highly successful MSPs attending no events per year to focus on growing their MSP business. You can revisit my blog HERE. Karl respectively took a different approach to this conversation. His contribution spoke to the “rest of us” and what’s practical for the true SMB MSP in our space.
MSPs - Urban versus Rural Business Models

Oct 21, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

this last five years can be attributed to changing work habits. Part of the rural, Zoom town movement was due to the pandemic where work from Colorado ski resorts was possible. I’ll you and I need is a solid WiFi connection! For the record I prefer rural living. It’s all I know hainv grown up in Alaska, then having 20 years with the family on Bainbridge Island across from Seattle and now living 30-miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.
Geek Humor - Dogs v. Cats

Oct 7, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

Details Geek Speak I recently conducted a limited investigation of dogs v. cats. The focus was food.
ConnectWise Updates - Acquisition and Departure

Sep 30, 2024 | smbnation.com | Harry Brelsford

I initially thought of them as a one-time use, one trick pony to migrate on-prem Exchange email to the cloud. That was its start but increasing it grew to be a mini-platform with Security Manager and other features and functions. I’ve been a friend of the family since day one and it’ll be interesting to see how they integrate with the larger ConnectWise platform. This is a Seattle-based company and I suspect it will stay right there with remote work and such.