Life is nothing more than a series of decisions and choices (most of them small) that add up to something in the end. I was recently reminded of this when Mike forwarded me a newsletter written by the folks over at Keys to the vault.com

I think they did a nice job kicking me in the ass and reminding me that each day we get out of bed we are either ready to disturb the world or just looking to get through the day. If the majority of your days are not days where you are ready to disturb the world in pursuit of whatever it is you want (your goals) then you are settling for mediocrity.

This time of year is great for reflection and planning but as they point out most of us are pretty good at setting goals – what decisions are we making daily to ensure they become a reality.

Enjoy their post.

Josh

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We are funny how we think about some things. New Year’s has taken on a special significance for most of us, as if a calendar or certain date has more meaning or somehow is better suited for some things than any other date.

Our tradition seems to be that late December is a time of reflection, nostalgia and resolutions. And so we postpone commitments about diets, money issues, relationship goals and career changes until January 1. Why do we habitually wait until the beginning of a new year to do our thinking, planning and resolving?

It seems to me that having what we want in life is not based on one giant decision or resolution that is made one time each year. Looking at our collective experiences, we know this strategy does not work… if it did, none of us would have ever made the same resolution more than once and we would all have a 100% track record on the achievement of our New Year’s resolutions.

What we want in our life, whether it is health, financial, relationship or spirit related is a result of a never ending stream of consistent decisions. The first decision is the easy one. It is the subsequent, reinforcing, congruent, small decisions made in the heat of battle that are the ones we struggle with and which ultimately sabotage our dreams.

Anyone can make the decision one time. Sadly, our goals are never achieved with one giant inter-galactically huge decision, but rather with the daily decisions that continuously reinforce the initial decision.

How often do you need to remake your decisions? As often as required to have what you want.

Achieving your goals is NOT a problem of goal setting. We are goal setting experts. It is an issue of continuous, consistent decision making.

Bottom line, you get what you tolerate and most people tolerate mediocrity and average.  They settle by refusing to remake the decision day after day.  The quality of your life is directly proportional to what you have made non-negotiable and the decision of non-negotiable is made daily.

At whatever point in your life you get clarity on what you want, whether that be New Year’s Eve or August 7, make the decision to keep making the decision for as long as it takes to achieve the goal…. And then make the decision again.

Achieving your goals and dreams is only the first step. Sustaining that success is the real end game.

The acquisition in its self is nothing that earth shattering, we have watched the big players like Dell buy up all types of MSP software companies over the last few years as they figure out their MSP strategies. We have all talked about consolidation in the market and now it seems to be happening.

That said it is a pretty big deal that the larger players are buying up platforms like PacketTrap, Hound Dog, and others. These are the pieces of the puzzle we have all pulled together over the years (PSA, RMM, etc) to provide our managed services. Are we getting closer to a day when there will be a few big players with all the tools to choose from, or one major platform on which we all operate our business?

I believe consolidation is going to pick up speed as the economy turns around and their are values to be had in the managed services market – even companies like Everon are looking to do acquisitions. As more and more 500 million dollar companies like Quest Software get rolling the the consolidation game things are going to start to move at light speed in my opinion. Each large player not wanting to miss the strategic acquisition that gives them the competitive edge in being the one platform that everyone needs and uses.

Keep an eye out for more activity like this as we head into 2010 and as always Joe and the folks over at MSP Mentor have some good conversation going on about the topic so don’t forget to check them out.

Josh

I know we spend a good deal of time talking about self development and learning but i can’t express how critical it is to long term success. The best businesses out there have leaders who are constantly learning and have been constantly learning and developing for many years, often before we even knew who they were.

Brian Tracy www.briantracy.com is one of the self help guys who’s materials I feel are right on the mark for the most part so i wanted to share the outline of the 7 Disciplines that i believe will make me and my team successful going into 2010. I do have to warn you, sorry Brian if you are out there, that his voice seems a bit high pitched on most his audio books but again the content is solid.

Good luck as we head through the end of year rush into 2010.

Josh

There are seven disciplines you must develop if you want to achieve all that is possible for you. You can learn these disciplines through practice and repetition until they become automatic.

Goal Setting
Every morning, take three to five minutes to write out your top goals in the present tense. Get a spiral notebook for this purpose. By writing out your ten goals at the beginning of each day, you will program them deep into your subconscious mind.

This daily goal writing will activate your mental powers. It will stimulate your mind and make you more alert. Throughout the day, you will see opportunities and possibilities to move more rapidly toward your goals.

Planning and Organizing
Take a few minutes, preferably the night before, to plan out every activity of the coming day. Always work from a list. Always think on paper. This is one of the most powerful and important disciplines of all for high performance.

Priority Setting
The essence of all time management, personal management, and life management is contained in your ability to set the proper priorities on the use of your time. This is essential for high performance.

Concentration on your Highest-Value Activities
Your ability to work single-mindedly on your most important task will contribute as much to your success as any other discipline you can develop.

Exercise and Proper Nutrition
Your health is more important than anything else. By disciplining yourself to exercise regularly and to eat carefully, you will promote the highest possible levels of health and fitness throughout your life.

Learning and Growth
Your mind is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

Time for Important People in your Life
Relationships are everything. Be sure that in climbing the ladder of success, you do not find it leaning against the wrong building. Build time for your relationships into every day, no matter how busy you get.

Action Exercise
These seven disciplines will ensure that you perform at the highest level and get the greatest satisfaction and results from everything you do. Study these seven disciplines and then make a plan for how you can incorporate each of them into your daily life.

Thanksgiving Day…time for all managed service providers to be thankful for what we have.  What do we have?

• An industry that is dynamic and constantly changing
• New challenges every day to stretch us and make us grow
• An industry that is growing more professional, profitable, and collaborative every day
• Clients that need what we provide
• Industry revenue that can be counted in the $100’s of billions
• New technologies that allow us to deliver better value to our clients and make more money for us
• Fun people to work with

I’m sure you can add to this list.

All the best to you, your family, and your business this Thanksgiving!

MRC

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

There has been a lot of talk about webservices and the ways that managed service providers can take advantage this income opportunity.

As you know Mike has launched a tool set through Kutenda that allows anyone to deliver web services all from a single dashboard.

The problem, or the question, that we keep hearing from different providers we talk with though is that there is a desire for more in depth guidance on exactly what to deliver for products, how to price the products, and how they can find help in delivering the products.

As you know Everon has been delivering webservices for quite some time and while we are always evolving we have a good number of the basics figured out. So to answer the question of how you can get help in delivering webservices to your clients allowing you to take advantage of this 6  billion dollar market opportunity – you can utilize Everon’s new webservices business coaching program.

The Everon webservices coaching program will do many things to help accelerate your webservices business:

• Marketing materials to help you generate leads and close deals
• Operating documentation to deliver services profitably
• Contracts and agreements done for you
• Pricing and product descriptions done for you
• New professionally designed marketing campaigns each month
• Live coaching calls
• Access to experts in the field
• The ability to outsource the delivery of a project that is outside of your comfort zone
• and much more

There are too many benefits to the program to list them all out in this post so jump on over to the site and listen to Mike talk about Everon’s new webservices business coaching program.

We look forward to working with you.

Josh