Podnutz Pro Podcast Review – Stepping up to Small Business Support

Technicians in the computer repair and IT service business know that one of the best ways to build an ongoing and stable business is to support small businesses. Small business support is more stable, especially if you have maintenance contracts growing, whether it be new start-ups, or small business clients that grow their businesses, there doesn’t seem to be any lull in the small business support market – and it’s more money. Business contracts normally pay more money, though this does come with more responsibility for support.

This all sounds great and all computer support businesses should immediately look for small business support contracts, right? Well…hold on a minute. Small business support is an entirely different ballgame than residential support (where most of us technicians are more familiar with unless you come from a corporate IT background). If you have only supported residential and perhaps home office clients, if you do not have any corporate IT experience, and you have never worked for a company that supported small/mid-size businesses, then you need to know that it’s a different world, from dealing with contracts to availability.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a resource where technicians looking to make the move from residential clients to small business clients could hear directly from technicians who support small business clients daily? They could share stories from the small business support trenches, tell us all about contracts (and not actually getting paid until days/weeks/even months after delivery of the service!), break down the differences between desktops and servers, tell us more about routers and networking, explain the security concerns of small businesses and how to handle them, tell us what to expect and what we need to know about supporting small business?

Enter Podnutz Pro, the free podcast that is specifically geared towards the support technician making the leap from supporting residential clients to supporting small business clients. This podcast started in November 2010 and, as of this review, have 35 shows recorded. The show is currently hosted by Matt Rainey from AH-Computers and Lalo Nunez from BetterPCTech.com. Lalo mainly serves as the host and interrogator while Matt answers questions, tells stories, and talks about the main topic of the show. They both have quite a bit of experience in many different facets of IT support and have held various IT positions.

Pros:

• Extremely professional and interesting to listen to
• Relevant and useful, high-quality information
• Real-life stories
• Great job of comparing and contrasting residential work and small business support

Cons:

• Seem to be promoting specific brands/products at times
• Popping-sounds/minor audio quality issues
• Length-Normally about an hour long, not bad but can be difficult to find time to listen

Content

The content of the show is great. Matt and Lalo do a great job of not assuming anything. If Matt talks about something that technicians unfamiliar with small business support may not understand or haven’t heard before, Lalo will usually ask a question that allows Matt to clear it up and explain in detail. There were a few times when I had a question in my head and Lalo seemed to ask it at the right time.

What’s also unique is that even though they will explain topics so the unfamiliar tech will understand, the podcast can still appeal to those who are already working in small business support. This is because of the real life stories that Matt talks about, whether customer/personal issues or technical problems dealt with, along with the technical answers. That in itself is tough to do, because it’s difficult to juggle content for those entering small business support along with content for those already supporting small businesses. This podcast seems to strike a nice balance that appeals to both.

It’s actually difficult to find the bad spots of the podcast, but there are a few. The hosts either need to get pop filters or better pop filters for their microphones because it seems like there are quite a few “pops” in the broadcast from the “p” words. Also Matt (and nothing against Matt!) occasionally makes a “tongue clicking” sort of noise before speaking which annoys me. Maybe I’m a little more sensitive to those things, but if you listen it is noticeable and can perhaps be edited.

On a less picky type of annoyance, the crew likes to mention the same brand products quite a bit. It could be understandable since Matt states that his company is a reseller of particular routers and that’s what he knows best, but it does come across at times as promotion. Even if that’s all they use, they should probably get some perspective on other brands from people that use them, either through a guest or from an email/forum, etc, that can be used on the show.

Lastly, the podcast is normally about an hour long. I’m not a podcast marketing expert, so that may be the ideal time, but in my opinion from listening to the podcast I prefer them 45 minutes or less. It can be tough for busy professionals to fit in an hour or longer podcast within their already busy schedules, especially when the content is the type where you want to hear everything they are saying.

This is one of those podcasts (to its credit) where I like to give it a lot of attention due to it’s technical nature and quality advice. The problem is, in an attention economy, attention is hard to keep. This podcast is very interesting for it’s core audience, so the hour goes quickly, but anything with power packed information less than an hour is ideal in my opinion.

Program List

Podnutz Pro #35 – More Client Stories
Podnutz Pro #34 – Client Stories
Podnutz Pro #33 – Service Agreements – Part II
Podnutz Pro #32 – Service Agreements
Podnutz Pro #31 – Recent Jobs
Podnutz Pro #30 – Career Day
Podnutz Pro #29 – NTFS Permissons
Podnutz Pro #28 – Exchange Databases and Offline Defrag
Podnutz Pro #27 – Customer Jobs
Podnutz Pro #26 – SPF Records
Podnutz Pro #25 – SSL Certificates
Podnutz Pro #24 – Wireless Networks
Podnutz Pro #23 – Remote Access
Podnutz Pro #22 – We Love Users
Podnutz Pro #21 – Customer Service
Podnutz Pro #20 – Remote Administration
Podnutz Pro #19 – Outlook And Exchange Files
Podnutz Pro #18 – Service Agreements
Podnutz Pro #17 – Administering User Accounts
Podnutz Pro #16 – User Management
Podnutz Pro #15 – Installing Small Business Server
Podnutz Pro #14 – Internet Troubleshooting
Podnutz Pro #13 – Business Backups
Podnutz Pro 11 – Communication
Podnutz Pro 10 – SmartPhones
Podnutz Pro 8 – A Day In The Life Of
Podnutz Pro 7 – Vendors And Software
Podnutz Pro 6 – Power Issues
Podnutz Pro 5 – Billing Clients
Podnutz Pro 4 – Admin Passwords
Podnutz Pro 3 – What You Need To Know About DNS
Podnutz Pro 2 – The Anatomy Of A Server
Podnutz Pro 1 – Routers In Your Business

Verdict

I highly recommend Podnutz Pro for technicians who want to get into supporting small to mid-size businesses. Besides Technibble and other tech based forums where you can find good content about small business support, there is really no other resource that gives you the relevant, quality, and useful information about small business IT support that Podnutz Pro does, in a structured and interesting format. If you are thinking about diving into small business support, looking to expand your business, or already support small businesses and want to hear what others are experiencing, or offer advice, then you must give this podcast a listen.

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