Welcome to my 939th blog entry on MSPmentor. Strangely, I must concede — this is the first time I’ve suffered from real writer’s block. I spent so much time and energy focused on the managed services accreditation “debate,” that I’m sort of drained. Still, a lot of people ask me “how do you come up with your blog ideas for MSPmentor?” Here are five answers, which may help aspiring bloggers find their own rhythm and voice.
1. Respond to All Emails: I try my best to reply to all emails I receive. I’m up to about 500 a day — but remember, they involve MSPmentor, The VAR Guy and WorksWithU — and the parent, Nine Lives Media Inc. And many of the incoming emails are automated news alerts. But personal emails create an ongoing dialog with MSPs, vendors, analysts — the folks who are eager to share their stories, tips and best practices with me.
2. The One a Day Vitamin: Like a healthy daily routine, I do try to associate one good repeatable blog topic with each day of the week. For instance, on Tuesdays I typically tell readers about our next upcoming event or upcoming travel. And on Fridays I typically update and blog about our SaaS 20 Stock Index. Alas, it’s Thursday so I couldn’t use that old reliable item today. I’ve got additional content secrets for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. But I’m not willing to give away all of my secrets.
3. Link Often, With An Opinion: We link out like crazy to third-party stories — but ONLY if we can add value with our own opinion/perspective in our own blog post. I find most of those third-party stories by watching 102 RSS feeds and several hundred Twitter feeds.
4. Get Out of the Office: We blog live from conferences. If you don’t have WiFi at a conference, I’m not coming because I can’t stand to be at an event where I can’t press the “publish” button at a moment’s notice. There’s never a shortage of things to write about when I’m at an event. Never.
5. Take A Walk: When I leave my keyboard for a 30-minute walk, I typically return with three or four good ideas. So, it’s time for me to take a walk. This time, it will be a little longer than usual.
Thanks for reading MSPmentor.
MSPmentor is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to our Enewsletter, RSS, Webcast and Twitter feeds.
Read More About This Topic
Share This Post
Posted In: MSPmentor
Tags: Joe Panettieri | Managed Service Provider | Managed Services | MSP
Interact: Add a Comment | Trackback Link | Permalink
Subscribe: RSS Feed
Get Started: Visit our new 
I’d comment, but I don’t know what to say.
Seriously, congrats Joe on 939 opinionated, smart, funny and leading-edge blog posts on MSPmentor.
Here’s to 940. Cheers and thanks.
Joe,
As a fellow author, I have a great respect for the amount of useful blogs you’ve written. I’ve dealt with writer’s block before and it’s no fun. Taking a break for a day or two and doing something you enjoy will sometimes break the dam. For me, playing guitar or a video game releases my mind for a bit and allows me to come back refreshed. Problem is, sometimes I don’t want to “come back” and would rather keep goofing off.
James Foxall
Senior Vice President
Tigerpaw Software
James: Thanks for the note. Breaks are nice. But I hate being unplugged for extended periods. The silence freaks me out.
Here comes a flurry of new blogs across all of our sites.
-jp
Joe,
Just found your website and wow! We are transitioning from old line dealer to a MSP. We are evaluating software’s right now and we are leaning toward pagevision. Maybe I need to do a search but a conversation on track records for software’s and databases could be worth writing about. We also use E-automate for our billing and dispatch.
Hey Ryan, Thanks for the note. And just to clarify. It’s not my site, it’s Nine Lives Media Inc’s site. I’m co-founder and the lunatic who replies to every reader comment.
I’d like to hear more about your transition. Reach me here:
joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com
Best,
-jp
Joe, how was your walk? Can we expect you back with more blogs Monday? Can we meet at HTG?
Major MSP: Walk was great. Sleep was even better. If you’d like to contact me directly about meeting at HTG, I’m at joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com. Thanks for reading. Oh, and yes: Plenty of blogs Monday.