With 2025 in full swing, take a deep breath, assess and appreciate the gifts you have. It’s also an opportunity to appreciate others (even if they are different from you).
Case in point is my life-long friendship starting in Alaska with award winning and accomplished writer Charles Wohlforth. Who woulda thunk it that we’d both grow up and dance with wolves in Alaska and words. But we took two different pathways. Charles has made a career of non-fiction writing books for major publishers on a range of topics from outer space destinations that mankind could some day colonize to a book on whales and super computers. Words flow easily for this chap and his services are in-demand such as collaboration and coaching. You should track him via his site and sign-up for his newsletter at
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. Or writing a keynote speech for a VIP (heck I’ve done that too). This analogy underscores the point I’m trying to make. The publishers I have worked with over the years, including some intensive resource kit projects, were all about speed as we had to complete those technical tomes six weeks before a product shipped so that these thick door stops could be on the shelf at Barnes and Noble for the underlying software release date. Compound my typing speed with using an ace team allowed us to meet deadlines. My job was to do a written data dump and get it to the editors who would clean up my mess (the typos and strip out my Texas sayings). This workflow worked for me as end-to-end I can hang my hat on 25-books in my career. For a real good time don’t call Jenny at 867-3509 (kids won’t get the song from the early 1980s) but rather type my name in Amazon.
Future authors Charles "Coolie" Wohlsforth and Harry Brelsford living the good life in Alaska in the mid-1970s. Kinda like looking at early mid-70s pics of Paul Allen and Bill Gates starting Microsoft!
Oh - did these “computer manuals” ship with errors and mistakes. Of course. A typical gotcha was that the software development team would change “something” after we had gone to press. There were always many changes along the way and we’d have to pull back the document and do a “weekend scrub” to update the book. Many features in SBS had code names awaiting the final branding decisions so hi ho hi ho it was off to work we go to scrub ‘da doc. It’s how the game works. I got used to it. Others didn’t. And even then, we’d ship with low-level typos and mistakes. Oh well.
Wohlforth and I are not alone in the game so a couple ata boy shout outs to writers I respect.
- Karl Palachuk. This prolific writer and thought leader in our small and medium business (SMB) tech space focuses on heaps of IT business issues and beyond. His recent effort framing up the DEI topic in our space is an example of celebrating gifts differing amongst us. I also appreciate that he is super active in the writing community participating in writing groups and conferences that, egads, include fiction writers. Subscribe to his newsletter HERE.
- Joe Panettieri. Yes the infamous Joe from VAR Guy and Talking Cloud followed by ChannelE2E before he transitioned into being an angel investor and a thought leader in the Sustainable Technology space that fits very well with my new hustle in the oil field services segment plugging orphan and abandoned wells spewing methane and other horrible shit. See Joe’s site Sustainable Tech Partner.
- Rich Freeman. Recognized at the recent IT Nation conference (November 2024) as the “writer of the year” while he was on a plane returning to Seattle, Rich is a truly unbiassed rock star who stays in his lane covering the IT Channel and delivering “rich” content (pardon the pun - couldn’t resist). Get his newsletter and track his efforts HERE.
Content creators from another mother also deserve a well-deserved shout out.
- Dave Sobel as a killer and well-respected podcast at the Business of Tech . He’ll poke the bear to glean insights into provocative and sometimes upsetting topics.
- Steve Taylor has the gift of gab over at Rocket MSP. He is a rockin interviewer who puts his subject at ease making for some easy listening (I mean that in a kind way).
- Jay McBain. This dog hunts and is a damn good writer typically based on his research, allowing us little folks to understand what the hell he is saying! Track this guy HERE.
- Howard Cohen. Another bear poker is my main man Howard. You don’t really have to ask him “what do you really think?” as he’ll outright tell you. I award him provocateur of the year! Visit What Do You Want?
- Jim Roddy. Known for this book “The Walk-On Method,” Jim covers retail technology and it all starts with his LinkedIn profile.
Content Gaps in our community? I’ll offer up one: we don’t have a managed services provider (MSP) TikTok influencer with a significant following. Maybe you can be that person.
Did I miss you? Lemme know and I’ll add you to this list of Content Hacks and Heros that I intend to keep current. Hey, content is king and recognizing worthy people drives traffic as they go one to brag with “dig me” with “Look Ma - I done good” brag posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. Bragging is the breakfast of champions.
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Wonder who to track or imitate as part of your professional journey and building your brand with content in honor of the time tested “publish or perish” paradigm, bookmark the hot shots on McBain’s list HERE of content creators in our MSP space. I’d recommend you copy ‘em (errr…emulate) as sourdough starter on your pathways to driving your brand.