Craig Marquis | VOIP/Fiber/Mobility Expert
@SMBTelecomGuy
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Made my first million playing poker. Earned my next million in Big Telecom. Now, as Founder/CEO of CM Integrated Solutions, I help businesses buy tech smarter.
Fort Worth, TX
Joined October 2023
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Pinned Tweet
I've found a big part of my job as a new business operator is simply explaining to people what I do.
I'm a telecom/technology consultant and broker.
I save you time, hassle and money when you're buying technology/communication solutions for your business.
I make sure you get
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@SMB_Attorney
I've worked in this industry for 15+ years.
If she started in August and she is being let go in January for 'performance' Cloudflare did not set her up for success.
Standard telecom sales onboarding timeline for an 'account executive' is below.
Month 1 - Introduction to the
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@SMB_Attorney
In a previous life, I watched as my boss was made to slowly lay off 10 of his 15 person team over 8 months and then afterwards was demoted into one of his former employee's positions.
I feel for both sides of the table.
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Was just cold called by someone looking to buy my property off market.
Value is in the ~700k range.
They offered 475k.
Does anyone ever continue a conversation at this point?
I don't think that offering 475k for a 700k property is an interaction that starts in good faith.
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@jeffpplatt
@lowstakesdre
@eastdakota
@Austen
100% this.
They are not selling transactional widgets.
She is also in the 'mid market' space which is a REALLY tough segment.
If you're hiring and firing employees with 3 months worth of sample size in enterprise sales you're literally lighting money on fire.
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@RobertMSterling
The writing was on the wall.
This was one of the main reasons I left my w2.
Zero interest in sitting in an office on zoom calls when my team was not in the same office.
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@mhp_guy
On strip - My favorites
Secret Pizza inside of Cosmo for pizza/late night food.
Mexican - Javier's inside of Aria is great.
Fancy Brunch - Tableau in the Wynn
Those are spots I hit every time I go.
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@realEstateTrent
100%
I also pay when I visit friends' establishments.
It's just the right thing to do!
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@theDSOguy
Let's break it down.
Purchase Price: $200k
Upfront Expenses: $10k (cleaning/repairs)
Daily Rental Price: $600
Occupancy Rate: Let's assume 120 days per year.
Annual Maintenance/Repairs: $15k
Insurance: $6k
Misc Expenses: $3k
Turo Commission: $18k
Revenue: $72k
Expenses:$42k
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@BrighamHughes
You can absolutely wear your hat in public, those look awesome.
Who cares what people think.
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@mhprvpmvp
Chili's HQ is right there off Hillcrest, that's way more exciting than anything NYC has to offer 😂
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@PrivatEquityGuy
Tell them to slap an SD-WAN appliance on that Starlink along with a global SIM card.
A little dynamic multi-path optimization goes a long way to improving the experience using latency/jitter/packet-loss sensitive applications like video conferencing.
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@SMB_Attorney
My wife is a wire fraud investigator for a major bank.
I'm a cybersecurity/telecom professional.
Always use two factor authentication for all accounts, preferably authenticator app based or physical key based. SMS is vulnerable to SIM swapping.
Always verify wire details via a
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Finally had a chance to catch up from traveling and fully digest the SMBash experience.
Here are my (extended) thoughts.
Venue: Salt Lake City is beautiful. The weather ended up awesome with clear skies and ~70 degree days. I definitely acted like a tourist taking pictures of
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So yesterday
@MatznerJon
posted about notion templates he has put together and bundled for sale.
This looked like the perfect opportunity to save myself some time as I plan on onboarding global talent in my biz this year.
I purchased it and filed it away to dig deeper into next
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@skylarromines
@drgurner
@adamislucky
I'd expect that if there is some deliverable that a potential employer wants me to provide during an interview they would tell me up front.
Whipping out that expectation or request spur of the moment isn't ideal.
I did a couple interview yesterday and asked the candidates to
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@d_la_reina
This is a real thing, my sister ran into this recently.
Her formatting LOOKED good to the eyeball but was not readable by any of these systems.
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My wife traded in her Rav4 today for a Ford Maverick and declared she is now a 'truck girl'.
Not sure exactly what that means but I'm glad she's happy 😂
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@mhp_guy
The execution here is excellent.
How big was that smile as you received the 'e-mail opened' notifications?
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@skylarromines
You give them the advice they ask for and otherwise just be a supportive friend and let them figure it out.
Can't help people who don't want to help themselves.
FWIW you're right in my opinion.
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Meet Twitter friends in real life.
Got to have lunch today with
@DTSpann
.
Don was the very first person on this platform who reached out to connect on a zoom call.
I think I had ~300 followers at the time of which 250 were probably bots.
We both used to spend way too much
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@MalcolmPools
Sorry you're dealing with this but this post was very informative for me.
I'm planning to sell my house soonish and I my pool need redone.
I was considering doing it before selling it however if gunite pool warranties are not transferable it makes zero sense to go that route.
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A client called me today needing a small problem solved with their RingCentral service.
I pulled over and had the issue resolved within 5 minutes.
I'm serious when I say that I'm not looking for a transactional relationship with my clients.
Their success is my success.
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@sweatystartup
It's interesting that you don't have a resource that can provide expert advice on this type of topic on demand.
You have so many businesses...how do you handle IT?
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I had a really cool weekend.
I'll do a longer write up on
@SMB_ash
when I have a chance to reflect but I had an absolute blast.
Thank you
@KHendersonCo
@Sam_Rosati
@ChandlerReedSMB
@TwoTeesSMB
for putting on a fantastic event.
The programming was great, the food was top tier,
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Say yes to things. Especially if they take you out of your comfort zone.
Throughout my life one consistent thread that has led to some of the coolest opportunities I've had is that I chronically say yes.
In my early 20s, I became a sponsored professional poker player and ended
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Enjoying patio weather with a mule and pup after a ridiculously productive week
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@gas_biz
Extremely common these days. Here's an article I wrote about how to protect yourself against this type of attack.
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@rohindhar
I've never seen the term 'anecdata' before.
Love it.
You have to shop car insurance regularly otherwise you will get hosed, at least that has been my personal experience.
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My wife is a badass.
She convinced me that we should get season tickets to the Texas Rangers this year.
She then managed to get the most accessible, convenient seats possible so her father with a cane could join us regularly.
What a great decision!
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I'm 39 years old today.
It's sort of weird because I don't FEEL 39.
I honestly feel more like I did in my 20s.
See, I spent my 20s as a self employed professional poker player.
I had complete agency, traveled the world and played cards both online and in casinos.
I spent my
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@MIProfitHunter
@golfingbarefoot
Perfection is impossible and mistakes are the price of excellence.
It is important how you handle mistakes.
Be immediately transparent and take ownership.
Then, once resolved, create a process change that addresses the root cause of that mistake.
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Tonight at
@KHendersonCo
's event at the rustic
@chrissundberg
told me I should set up an SMBTelecomGuy Twitter account.
My dude do I have some great news for you 😂.
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@sweatystartup
This was a factor in starting my business.
Much easier take a risk when you know you still have benefits and reliable income .
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@ChrisRamsey60
You don't use the 3 Question Mark rule in your marketing?
That's how you truly convey urgency.
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@SMB_Attorney
I really don't appreciate you denigrating my shrimp treadmill project.
It's important they build their mussels.
😉
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This entrepreneur thing is hard.
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@FinPhilosopher
Big part of my decision to leave my w2 and build my own firm was seeing this type of thing happen over and over again.
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Shirts came in today!
Now I just need to figure out where to get some nice hats made.
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@mhp_guy
I worked on a project with QT's network engineer several years ago.
You wouldn't believe how robust their network architecture is.
Let me put it this way...their CC transactions are going through.
Period.
Frankly I was extremely impressed by the fact that he was able to get
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@ShannonJean
For me its house hunters international.
"I'm a lizard farmer and my wife knits sweaters for seals, our budget is 1.2m"
So funny.
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Being an entrepreneur is humbling.
I'm realizing there's a whole lot of stuff that I'm not good at.
Things that I didn't have to do in my w2 that are now my responsibility.
The upside here is that I'm learning a lot but I feel like I'm building the airplane while flying it.
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@SullyBusiness
Who wants to haul around a 2L bottle of soda?
I remember it being really cool when folks handed out soda cans back in the day but a 2L bottle sounds like a pain in the butt.
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@rosaticorp
My sister got hit by one of these. At the time she was a teacher and they called her school, asking for her which added another layer of legitimacy.
Crazy stuff.
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I just saved a client $1k per month on their cell service.
It took me about ~10 minutes.
Their carrier came out with a new plan.
The old plan was $105-$200 per month, the new plan is $100.
The customer had no idea until I brought it to their attention.
Mobility expenses
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Just ran a telecom workshop for
@SaganPassport
members on VOIP service.
Thanks for the invite
@MatznerJon
and
@BinsiDevadasan
!
Love the repository of support you're putting together as a value add for your members!
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@vrexec
Important memory.
I still remember the 'Super Duper Double Looper' that my late pap pap got me when I like 8. So cool.
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@gas_biz
Greyhound was recently purchased by the European company Flixbus.
They're in the middle of optimizing the entire operation part of which is relocating bus stops.
Likely that stop moves or closes in the near future.
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@JamesMilner11
@SMB_Attorney
Thanks James!
I've spent much of my career training and coaching college hires and new employees selling these exact products.
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Warning - Long Telecom Nerd Post🤓
Starlink is really cool.
I've been selling connectivity solutions to businesses for over a decade and one constant frustration is -
What do you do when all available options stink?
Enter Starlink.
Using satellites, Starlink can provide
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Lately I've been working on growing my business in the franchise space as a service provider.
Last week I sponsored and attended my first franchise conference, Franchise YoungCon.
It was an awesome experience!
I got to spend some time hanging out with a variety of franchisors,
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I was having a hard week and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
The pizza place I ordered from tonight accidentally gave me a tiramisu with my order.
Just like that, things are looking up!
Jessica, whoever you are, I'm sorry that I have your dessert but I promise it will be greatly
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I cringe every time I see a variation of "hope to earn your follow".
I can't really quantify why.
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Met today with the Chief Minister of Sierra Leone.
Turns out telecommunications is an important topic for emerging markets.
Two world leaders in two days is kind of neat.
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Just met with a head of state.
👀
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If you're an entrepreneur or business owner you need a community.
I feel really fortunate to have found SMBX.
I didn't use social media between 2011 and 2023. I just didn't see the value it added.
In 2023 I started using Twitter again and came across the SMB and CRE
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Example of how we make life easier for our clients.
We have a client that currently runs their business on a Verizon cell phone.
They are moving to a new VOIP system and want to keep the same phone number.
That phone number has a $700 iPhone payment plan on it with Verizon.
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Recently did a business breakdown of a pickleball tournament I played in.
With all of the indoor courts opening up around the country I think it's time to take a look at their business model.
Is this a sustainable business?
DFW Indoor Pickleball
I played in my first real pickleball tournament this weekend.
Did terrible but had a blast.
Had some down time between games so I figured I'd break down the business model
@mhp_guy
style.
$60/player 264 players = $15840 in gross revenue.
They rented 9 courts for $20/hour and
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@grogandetweiler
@SMB_Attorney
Sales cycles for these solutions are usually 90 days.
If they were expecting her to start it in August and then hit targets in Q4 they're not being realistic.
Telecom sales is like
35% Q1
30% Q2
25% Q3
10% Q4
You need a strong funnel to eat in the winter.
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SLC has a pretty nice airport but no TSA pre check?
👎
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Sunday brunch after voting in our local elections!
I'm a bloody Mary enjoyer before noon.
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@FinPhilosopher
It can sure feel that way.
Seeing your friends and colleagues get the axe sucks and when companies do multiple rounds over a long period of time it kills morale.
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My life has been improved immeasurably by participating in the CRE and SMB communities on this app.
I have like ~700 followers.
I was a lurker here, who barely participated for over a decade.
Engage and add value and I guarantee you will have a similar experience.
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If you're an acquisition entrepreneur or looking to sell your business in the future, you should consider working with a telecom consultant.
Why?
We can perform a full telecom expense analysis.
We take a complete inventory of your business's existing services and provide a
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@BTLetsMove
@meetmikehiggins
Uhhhh like 2% of Americans earn 500k per year as a w2.
I guess 'not abnormal' is subjective but let's not pretend this is typical for a w2 with 10 years of experience.
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Quote of the day from
@SMB_ash
via
@evelin_district
"that's entrepreneurship, you gotta just figure it the fuck out"
So true!
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Heading to Salt Lake City for the first time for
@SMB_ash
today.
Looking forward to meeting folks in person that I've connected with on this platform!
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One of the beautiful things about owning your own business is that you have full agency to do the right thing for your clients.
In my business sometimes doing the right thing means $0 in revenue for me.
That is ok!
I recently saved one of my clients $8000/month and here's how:
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About to board a flight to Chicago for the franchise YoungConference.
Anyone I know besides
@AaronHarperCEO
going to be there?
Looking forward to seeing
@profithuntercfo
and
@DTSpann
while I'm in town.
Excited to visit Chicago for the first time!
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Another person in my X network was hit by a business e-mail compromise. A hacker gained access to their inbox and e-mailed someone issuing them a five figure payment and changed where the payment was going.
Here is what you do if this happens to you.
1) Have the payment
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I planned on being in San Antonio until tomorrow but DFW had bad storms and my wife wasn't feeling great.
Drove back after only like 5 hours in town 😂.
I've gotta say that Tesla autopilot/FSD v12 reduces my fatigue by ~90%.
Spent 9 hours in the car today and it really didn't
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You gotta say yes to things people.
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When ordering business cards, you probably want to triple check your work. Pay special attention to things like e-mail, and phone number.
This tip was inspired by looking down at 500 new business cards where my phone number has the wrong area code.
😅
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I would rather read the transcript from a podcast than listen to a podcast.
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I was fortunate to grow up with a mom like this.
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