053: Toxic Hellstew

Recorded live June 3, 2014

Tim Cook quoting Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet: "With vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed and Pileup likely to go unpatched on tens, if not hundreds of millions of Android devices, the platform is fast becoming a toxic hellstew that should send chills down the spines of IT admins."

Yosemite and iOS 8 initial impressions

How the OS X Beta Program will affect us as Apple consultants; expect overzealous clients to call for help troubleshooting issues with pre-release software

Family Sharing looks great for home users, but still no way to migrate purchases or merge Apple IDs

Sam reports that AirDrop works between Yosemite and iOS 7

Joe reports that Apple Store is no longer accepting machines at the Genius Bar using "Quick Drop"

Jerry reports that Genius Bar has been lenient when accepting machines from consultants on behalf of clients; no signed letter needed

Difficulty offering help as a Consultant in the Apple Store; would be nice if Apple would more readily refer clients to us as they tend to be thrilled when they eventually do find us

Joe had fun configuring an Automator workflow for a client referred (eventually) by the Apple Store

The Craig Federighi Show from Jonathan Mann

046: Secret Out-of-Band Show

Recorded on April 9, 2014

This week we are pleased to be sponsored by Drobo.  Check out DroboStore.com and use coupon code CCP50 for $50 off the Drobo 5D or Drobo 5N.

Topics:

- Heartbleed; more resources: Heartbleed Hit List, Bruce Schneier, Ars Technica, CloudFlare, NetCraft

- Windows XP End of Life; Laplink PCmover ($60) can help migrate from Windows XP; to keep XP machines running or not?

- referring clients to the Apple Store and asking them to drop your name; providing written recommendations for clients to take into the store; introducing a client to a representative in the store

- iNet, great network scanning utility recommended by Joe

038: Weather Permitting

Recorded live February 18, 2014

Topics:

- Jerry receives a call from the brother of Samantha West

- Joe recommends the SanDisk Extreme 64 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive for diagnostic drives because it's extremely fast and reliable; SanDisk finally announced a fast 128 GB version: SanDisk Extreme PRO® USB 3.0 Flash Drive; some non-spammy reviews from Tom's Hardware and The Wirecutter

- use FileWave Lightning to automate creating our diagnostic partitions?

- Sam recommends the Skooba Design Cable Stable DLX, originally recommended by Ryan Powell in the chat

- Sam explores TeenSafe for iOS security and parental controls; see also OpenDNS, Intego Family Protector, and Spector

035: Interview with Mike Kingsley, Kingsley MacConsulting

Interview recorded January 21, 2014; Intro recorded on January 28, 2014

Intro:

- testing Mavericks Server; being Client 0

- using Profile Manager to easily configure CalDAV, CardDAV, VPN services; Sam's trick to save a profile without a user name

- the trial and error of troubleshooting a server leads to uncertainty

- using authrestart to bypass FileVault 2 on next restart; installing software updates that require a restart now does this automatically

- force quitting fsck to allow mounting a drive that was failing to mount, even read-only, after letting fsck complete

- using the "security" command to read the contents of the user's keychain

Interview:

- Mike started his consulting practice in 2004, a great year for Apple

- first computer was an Apple IIe in 1984

- Apple Store has been great source of referrals; helps to think of Apple as a partner, and promote their services like AppleCare and JointVenture

- JointVenture can be a great supplement to help from Apple consultants

- first job was working at Disneyland; customer service was ingrained in the culture and top quality; out of five day training for new hires, three days are purely customer service; helps with consulting: owning issues, taking responsibility; e.g., customer drops ice cream cone, and employee walks customer over to the ice cream stand to facilitate the resolution; how to deal with people who are upset, hearing both sides; if you can't help, who can? 

030: Interview with Ryan Powell of iLifestyle Consulting, plus Bonus Rants

Recorded live on December 10, 2013

Topics:

- special guest Ryan Powell of iLifestyle Consulting discusses some cloud-hosted apps he uses to help run his consulting practice

- looking at the per seat recurring/subscription pricing models of cloud software as a predictable cost of doing business

- Work(etc)

- Wufoo for forms

- LiveChat for website live chat

- RingCentral for phone system

- Highrise for CRM

- Basecamp for Project Management

- Echosign for agreement signatures

- Timely for scheduling and automatic appointment reminders

- Xero for accounting

- Zendesk for support

- Mailchimp for email marketing

- HootSuite for social media

- Google Apps for email hosting

- Robot Cloud for client monitoring and policy management

Plus:

- Joe's rant about Yahoo Small Business

- Joe's rant about Apple Store

003: The ACN Office - marketing, finding clients, working with AppleCare, the Apple Store

Episode three of Command-Control-power features a wide-ranging conversation with Joe, Sam, and Jerry discussing the topic of The ACN Office.

Topics: 

• marketing to existing clients, incentivizing referrals vs. mass marketing to public; relative quality of leads
• Constant Contact, MailChimp, My Emma, Campaign Monitor
• sticking with what you know vs. "the devil you don't know"; clients also trust a known entity
• finding clients, never having needed to seek out clients before now
• PR; marketing
• press releases in local publications; working with non-profits to get one's name out
• OnForce vs. ACN
• Intro to Business at the Apple Store presentation includes an ACN slide; tip from Apple Store Business Manager
• retail turnover in the Apple Store, especially in the Business Team
• tip from local Apple Store about increasing ACN referrals
• working harder to get new business?
• "Sales"
• Managed Services vs. Break/Fix
  
• revenue streams; recurring fees
• Wellness Visits, i.e. preventive maintenance
• running a managed offsite backup service using CrashPlan
• offering email and web hosting services
• RackSpace offices in San Antonio, a former mall
• recurring revenue streams, no matter how small; residuals
  
• benefit of referrals from Apple Store; clients feel Apple endorses us
• a day in the life of an ACN
• next week: Live from Advanced Camp!

Mentions

Craig Cohen (@ccohen), Arek Dreyer (@arekdreyer), Ben Greisler (@magikben).