Longtime community member and MVP Susan Bradley joins us to share information on the technology community AskWoody. AskWoody is a combination of a website with an active community of people who answer questions, as well as a weekly newsletter. As a part of that newsletter, AskWoody has a combination or smorgasbord of things, ranging from windows, to Apple, to Microsoft 365, to free downloads that are still available that is vetted (they make sure that that any free software is vetted out because there’s lotrs of strange stuff out there). And then last but not least, they have what they call the patch, listings master patch listings, and it’s Susan’s kind of thumbs up thumbs down of when is it right to patch. Watch and learn more about this fantastic community.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford
Hey nation nation, Harry here. And this is a real treat back with Susan Bradley MVP, best known well, I believe best known for the Small Business Server days. We resemble that how’re you doing?
Susan Bradley
I’m doing good. Now I know like can’t call myself small business, Susan. Small Business Server. Yes.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, I know it was, it was a heck of a run. Here’s the old 2003 edition, that was still my favorite release. I changed the world. So any event so you? You’re an active CPA in central California, is that correct? Correct. And you’ve always then been involved in the technology community, again, as an MVP. And now you’ve ended up with AskWoody, the popular newsletter. So let’s talk about that. What is ask Woody’s
Susan Bradley
it’s a combination of both a website with a active community of people who who answer questions, as well as a weekly newsletter that comes out once a week. And we have a free portion. So if you want to test the waters a little bit and see what it’s like, there’s a free portion. And then we also have what’s called a paid newsletter. And what we do is we ask that you donate whatever you feel. So we don’t have a set price. So it’s whatever you feel that the value of the newsletter is. And as part of that newsletter, we have a combination of as is everything in tech these days, we have a smorgasbord of things, ranging from windows, to Apple, to Microsoft 365, to free, you know, free downloads that are still available that are vetted these days, we make sure that that any free software is vetted out because there’s lots of strange stuff out there. And then last but not least, we have what we call the patch, listings map master patch listings, and it’s my kind of thumbs up thumbs down of when is it right to patch. And right now? Right now, it’s not too good to patch. So So I usually tell people to hold off a bit, and I give them dates, and then we send out special notifications when when it’s good to patch and when it’s not patch. So yeah,
Harry Brelsford
interest again, that’s certainly one of the pillars in your professional careers patching, and you’re certainly known for that. Do you have you know, it’s so popular these days and our respective communities? Do you have any the MSP conversations and the how to make money and that kind of thing?
Susan Bradley
Um, we’re, we’re more on the tech side, not as much how to make money. So we’re more of the technician side, I’d say, and then the money side, so not as many conversations about that. But still more the nuts and bolts of how can I manage this? How can I provide good services to my clients? How can I not drive myself crazy in the process with all of these strange technology that we have these days?
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, yeah. And I’ve received that newsletter for some time, I go back to my friendship with Brian Livingston in the Windows secrets era. And then he had a newsletter. And then he somehow got involved with Woody himself. And did that for a while until he didn’t. And I know you were in the mix back and some of that era as well. I remember the Brian in particular was quoting a very large circulation base. And in your Are you up in the hundreds of 1000s? It was a large number,
Susan Bradley
we actually I actually have pulled it down a bit because we had, we had a large database, but it was recently I kind of decided to go for quality versus quantity. And because especially these days, with so many things going on, people tend to not, you know, click on emails and things like that. And so I wanted to go back to who who were is really engaged and who’s really wants this content. Recently, I went back to a Okay, who really wants this? I’m going to send it only to those people who really want it.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And then finally, can readers and writers from SMB Nation contribute to your journal or do you wait for people to contribute?
Susan Bradley
Email me at SP at Ask what he.com And we’ll see what happens.
Harry Brelsford
Okay, okay, great. And then finally, the URL, the URL, I’m assuming this ask what he does. All right. Well, hey, if you don’t mind because this is exciting that you’re doing this. Can we check in with you quarterly to see what are the topics of the day and maybe help drive some circulation and excitement for Yes, sure.
Susan Bradley
Right. Right. The big news for January is don’t patch yes,
Harry Brelsford
there We go yeah heard it alright Susan good to bump into ya
Susan Bradley
good to talk to you again all right
