Karl W. Palachuk Today
He has been a featured speaker at conferences and seminars for more than twenty years. Karl is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with a Bachelor’s Degree from Gonzaga University and a Master’s Degree from The University of Michigan. He is also a Microsoft Small Business Specialist and has been a Microsoft Hands-on Lab instructor.
Karl has served on partner advisory councils and product development groups at for several large (“Fortune 10”) corporations. He is also the founder of the Sacramento SMB IT Professionals organization and an active leader in the IT Professional groups worldwide. In 2018, he founded the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, a worldwide online membership community. And in 2021, he founded the National Society of IT Service Providers where he now serves on the Board of Directors.
In general, Karl’s business life is divided between his consulting practice and a career of training other consultants.
Books, Blogs, and More
Karl has produced massive amounts of content and training materials for small business owners, primarily IT consultants, VARs (value added resellers), and MSPs (managed service providers).
Karl Palachuk has authored several books including:
- The IT Consultant’s Year of Intention – A Workbook Dedicated to Your Success
2023. ISBN 978-1942115632 - The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery: How to Manage Your Business to Maximize Customer Service, Profit, and Employee Culture
2020. ISBN 978-1942115595 - The Small Biz Quickstart Workbook: The Ultimate Guide for First-Time Entrepreneurs
2020. - Business Plan in a Month: Build the Roadmap Your Business Deserves
2020. - Cloud Services in a Month: Build a Successful Cloud Service Business in 30 Days
2019. ISBN 978-1942115540 - The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing
2018. by Stephanie Chandler and Karl W. Palachuk. - Managed Services in a Month – The Complete Guide to IT Consulting. 3rd ed.
2018. ISBN 978-1-9421154-7-2. Available in Paperback, eBook, Kindle, and Audio formats. - Service Agreements for SMB Consultants: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services. Revised Ed.
2018. ISBN 978-1-9421154-9-6 Available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle formats. - The Managed Services Operations Manual: Standard Operating Procedures for Computer Consultants and Managed Service Providers. (4 volume set)
2014. Set ISBN 978-0-9905923-1-0.- The Managed Services Operations Manual – Vol 1: Front Office Mastery – SOPs for Office Management, Finances, Administration, and Running Your Company More Efficiently.
2014. ISBN 978-1-942115-03-8. This book is available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle. - The Managed Services Operations Manual – Vol 2: Employees and Internal Processes – SOPs for Hiring, Employee Evaluations, Team Management, and More.
2014. ISBN 978-1-942115-04-5. This book is available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle. - The Managed Services Operations Manual – Vol 3: Running the Service Department – SOPs for Managing Technicians, Daily Operations, Service Boards, and Scheduling.
2014. ISBN 978-1-942115-05-2. This book is available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle. - The Managed Services Operations Manual – Vol 4: Support and Service Delivery – SOPs for Client Relationships, Service Delivery, Scheduled Maintenance, and All about Backups.
2014. ISBN 978-1-942115-06-9. This book is available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle.
- The Managed Services Operations Manual – Vol 1: Front Office Mastery – SOPs for Office Management, Finances, Administration, and Running Your Company More Efficiently.
- Project Management in Small Business: How to Deliver Successful, Profitable Projects on Time. With Dana Goulston.
2014. ISBN 978-0-9763760-8-8. Available in Paperback, eBook, and Kindle formats. - Relax Focus Succeed – Revised Edition released Fall 2013.
ISBN 978-0-9763760-9-5. Available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle formats. - Managed Services in a Month – 2nd ed.
2013. ISBN 978-0-9-819978-5-8. Available in Paperback, eBook, Kindle, and Audio formats. - Servicios Gestionados en Un Mes – Cree una Exitosa Empresa IT en 30 Dias (Managed Services in a Month – 2nd ed. Spanish Edition).
2013. ISBN 978-0-9-763760-5-7. - The Network Migration Workbook: Zero Downtime Migration Strategies for Windows Networks. With Manuel Palachuk – now in 2nd ed.
2012. ISBN 978-0981997872. Available in paperback and eBook formats. - Publish Your First Book: A Quick Start Guide to Professional Publishing in the Digital Age.
2011. ISBN 978-0-9819978-4-1. Available in paperback, eBook, and Kindle formats. - The Super-Good Project Planner for Technical Consultants.
2007. - The SAN Primer for SMB. With Harry Brelsford and Ryan Klein.
2006. ISBN-13: 9780977094943. Publisher: SMB Nation Press. - The Network Documentation Workbook: A Guide for Small-Medium Business (SMB) Windows Administrators.
2005. ISBN 978-0-977094912. No longer in print. - and he is the Editor of Quote Me On This: The Wit and Wisdom of Coleman Cox
Karl started podcasting in 2005 and has maintained several podcasts since then. He currently posts podcasts at SMB Community Podcast – www.smbcommunitypodcast.com.
Karl podcasts with opinion-leaders Dave Sobel and Ryan Morris on The Killing IT Podcast at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
And Karl podcasts on the sales process at the Cheeky Sales Coach web site – www.CheekySalesCoach.com.
Companies
Karl founded KPEnterprises, a small businesses consulting company, in 1995. In 2000 the company was incorporated as KPEnterprises Business Consulting, Inc. In 2013 KPEnterprises began using the DBA (“Doing Business As” / fictitious business name) of America’s Tech Support. The KPEnterprises corporation was dissolved at that time and America’s Tech Support was sold.
Great Little Book Publishing was created in 2002 as a brand under KPEnterprises. It became a separate company and was incorporated in 2003 as Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. Eventually, when the KPEnterprises corporation was dissolved, KPEnterprises became a brand under Great Little Book.
Small Biz Thoughts evolved as a brand after Karl launched his Small Biz Thoughts blog was launched in 2006. Small Biz Thoughts is now the primary training and educational outreach brand for Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc.
Relax Focus Succeed is the brand Karl uses when talking about work/life balance. Relax Focus Succeed is the title of one of Karl’s early books. It presents his personal philosophies about success, work, and performing at a high level in all areas of life.
“In The Before Time . . .”
Before becoming a consultant to small businesses, Karl’s experience included:
– Operations Manager at Legi-Tech, an online (dial-up) service that provided information from state legislatures and related entities on a subscription basis. In that capacity, Karl expanded the company’s operations from two states to four. He also designed and oversaw the programming of a completely new legislative tracking system based on Windows NT and SQL to replace the old systems on HP 3000 “mini” computers with Cobal. Karl managed a staff of five full-time and twenty-five part-time employees. He successfully connected the company to the Internet in 1993 so that users could telnet into the HP 3000 for services.
– Site Manager for PC Software Support at Hewlett Packard‘s Roseville, CA plant. Managed the team that provided internal technical support for HP Employees (about 5,000 employees with 7,000 desktop computers). Also oversaw the staff of the Unix Helpdesk and the plant’s tape backup operations. Managed the remote worker program, supporting all employees and contractors who required “Remote Access” to the company servers. Managed a staff of about thirty people. This was a contract position.
– Internet Operations Manager for R-Net EDI and Retail Technologies International (sister companies). Connected both companies to the Internet. Solved a key problem in moving x12 EDI (electronic data interchange) documents securely via HTTP in 1995/1996. Gradually moved all server operations from Novell systems to Windows NT. Served as a Director for R-Net EDI Corporation until the operation was sold to St. Paul Software.
Presented a paper to the Electronic Commerce World conference on small business EDI transport. Won a Microsoft Retail Application Developer Award for the R-Net EDI system.
– Prior to the world of technology, Karl taught Political Science at the college level for ten years. Schools included The University of Michigan, the UM School of Public Health Policy, Chapman University, National University, and Sacramento City College.
For a more complete biography and work history, please see the “Bio, Pix, etc.” page.
Education
Karl grew up in Yakima, WA and attended A.C. Davis High School. He then attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA where he earned a B.A. with a double major in English and Political Science in 1982. After working for a year in Palo Alto, CA, Karl moved to Ann Arbor, MI and attended graduate school at The University of Michigan. There he graduated with a M.A. in Political Science and achieved the degree of Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science in 1986. A Ph.D. Candidate is someone who has completed all the coursework, all the final exams, the oral exams, and started writing a doctoral thesis.
Since that time, Karl has continued his education with various courses in Windows Servers, firewall, and other computer-related subjects. He obtained his first Microsoft certification in 1995 and attained his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification in 1999. Karl holds several other certifications, including the now-retired Microsoft Small Business Specialist.
On a very personal level, Karl reads voraciously and generally completes two or three books per month. This informal education keeps him up to date on the world at large.
Mission, Vision, and Values
Our Mission is simple and powerful: We help IT professionals to be more successful on the business side of their business.
This mission is built on my personal Values and Principles:
- Honesty, Integrity
- Fairness
- Good Personal Relationships
- Healthy Life/Long Life
- Helping Others
My personal motivations are:
- Accomplish things
- Relax
- Heal
- Help my family and other people
- Grow personally and professionally
Code of Ethics
Small Biz Thoughts (Great Little Book, IT Service Provider University, SBT, SMB Community Podcast, etc.) is fundamentally a company designed around the concept of helping others to be successful. We literally exist to help as many people as possible to be successful. To that end, we have adopted the following Code of Ethics to drive our behavior and interactions inside and outside our company.
We are honest. In our work with clients, prospects, and strangers, we are committed to honesty at all levels. This drives several elements of our behavior.
We are competent. That means we know what we’re doing, or we don’t do it. It also means that we are constantly dedicated to learning new things. We are committed to never-ending education in a world that is always changing.
We only work with people we like. This includes employees, clients, vendors, distributor, advertisers, etc. We treat everyone with respect, both publicly and behind closed doors. In turn, we insist that the people we work with treat us and others with respect.
We are committed to work-life balance. Relax Focus Succeed. We certainly work hard, but we are committed to giving our employees time to relax, charge their batteries, and then come back to work with renewed creativity and productivity.
We are fair, professional, and compassionate. This is a bit like the “golden rule” of a service business. We treat everyone (employees, clients, vendors, etc.) as we would like to be treated. We remember every day that we are people working with people.
We are committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Of course we work hard not to discriminate. But beyond that, we are committed to making everyone feel welcome to show up as their whole selves. This approach welcomes a great variety of “different-ness” and creativity to work its way into our daily operations.
How can Karl help you?
Contact us today.