Meet Robert Ryle, Core Services Technician!

Robert Ryle quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Robert.

What do you do here at The 20?

I am the Ops Technician.

Describe The 20 in three words…

Fast-Paced, Collaborative, and Challenging.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

The planet Pluto, but we all have to grow up.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Often times, customer needs require us to pivot quickly to address multiple concerns that may not have an immediate root cause. These are the times when collaboration within the company is most valuable.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

When I joined The 20, I had next to no experience in the field. Expanding my knowledge to include new methods, languages, and processes have been key parts in my growth both with the company and personally.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success? 

Accountability.

What do you like most about The 20? 

Definitely the people.

What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies? 

Disc Golf, Basketball, Guitar

Where are you going on your next vacation?

Camping trip!

What’s your top life hack?

Interested in working with Robert at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.

VISION ’21: What a Speaker Lineup!

This year’s VISION conference is packed with top-notch content to help your MSP grow and scale faster than the competition. The speaker lineup alone is worth attending for! The sessions will cover a variety of topics — from cybersecurity to sales to KPIs — but the unifying theme is something that The 20 takes very seriously: looking ahead to see what MSPs need to be doing now to ensure their success in the future.

As a business owner, being successful means outsmarting the competition, and a big part of ‘outsmarting the competition’ is seeing further than the next MSP — knowing what’s ‘around the corner’ so you can best position your business for success.

So, come to VISION ’21 and improve YOUR vision with thought leadership from the best in the business. Here’s a preview of the speaker lineup. Which session is going to have the biggest impact on your MSP?

Maye Musk: Keynote!

Session Title: Living Dangerously — Carefully

Maye Musk, a role model, trend-maker and rule-changer with a fascinating family is set to deliver a keynote address on September 30th at VISION ’21. Maye is a respected dietitian who gives talks all over the world about health, nutrition, business, and aging. But things were not always so easy or glamorous.

She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children. She also dealt with weight issues as a plus-size model and overcame ageism in the modeling industry (in 2017, Maye became CoverGirl’s oldest spokesmodel).

Undeterred by these difficulties, Maye still managed to earn two master’s degrees and establish a lifelong career as a dietitian, despite having to start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. She made her way through it all with an indomitable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude to become a global success at what she calls the prime of her life. Her book, A Woman Makes a Plan, has been published by Penguin Random House in the USA and Canada. It is an international best-seller in over 70 countries, with more to come!

At VISION ’21, Maye will share her story, giving us a glimpse into the mind of one of the most resilient people on the face of the planet.

Tim Conkle – The 20

Session Titles:

• The Year of the Return
• Marketing Automation: The Long Game for Sustained Growth
• MSP Growth is Easy as A-B-C (Always Be Changing)
• The Future-Proof MSP

Tim Conkle holds over 30 years of entrepreneurial success in the Information Technology and Services sector. As a leading voice in the Managed IT Service Provider space, Tim is dedicated to developing simple, solid IT solutions for SMB clients and MSPs (Managed Service Providers) across the nation. His notoriously energetic nature, along with his deep-rooted passion for technology, has helped him forge solid customer relationships built on trust, dependability, and service. Tim currently serves as President & CEO of Roland Technology, President of the Board of Directors for Cytracom, and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

At VISION ’21, Tim will speak on a variety of topics pertinent to your MSP’s growth, but you can always expect two things from a Tim Conkle talk: to learn a lot and to be wildly entertained in the process!

Alex Kloeti – HubSpot

Session Title: Driving Digital Growth Through Outstanding Customer Journeys

Alex Kloeti is a rising business and technology leader focused on impact through growth, and currently a key player in HubSpot’s business development organization. Since graduating from McGill University in Economics and Computer Science, Alex has facilitated growth operations across both the consulting and software industries, at companies ranging from three employees to 3,000. Alex is a Stowe, Vermont native currently living in Boston, Massachusetts.

At VISION ’21, Alex will dazzle us with his forward-thinking ideas about growing a business in the digital age. He will examine the topic through the lens of the “customer journey,” a concept that is deeply relevant and useful to MSPs.

Dan Wensley – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Dan Wensley is the CEO of ScalePad, global leader in Automated Asset Lifecycle Management. He is entrusted with leading a team of great minds to help IT Service Providers sell more and service less by automating time-consuming processes for hardware, software and warranty services.

No stranger to the ITSP/MSP ecosystem, Dan brings with him more than 25 years of experience propelling organizations to success by applying a high level of tact, ingenuity, and his innate understanding of the unique needs of the industry to develop high performing teams that know how to deliver.

Dan regularly speaks and moderates at industry events across the globe. At VISION ’21, you can expect Dan to share future-focused insights and expert analysis to give your MSP a competitive edge.

Luis Giraldo – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Prior to recently joining ScalePad as Chief Experience Officer, Luis found success in a variety of endeavors. As a professional musician, he traveled the world playing the keyboard with pop star, Shakira. Although he says those days are “firmly in the past,” Luis continues to play jazz piano and has multiple jazz albums to his name! His career as an entrepreneur and innovator is just as illustrious. He founded the MSP firm Ook, where he remains CEO, a second MSP that was acquired by Fully Managed in 2011, and he developed a documentation SaaS app called Monkey Box. Luis also served as Senior Director of Marketing at N-able, where he revamped the content for their MSP marketing platform and facilitated a major rebranding.

After 15 years owning and operating his own IT company, Luis still finds it “amazing to see what technology can do for the businesses” he works with. Luis believes strongly that tech can “help businesses succeed, grow, transform, and innovate.”

At VISION ’21, Luis will be joining Dan Wensley for an illuminating conversation about Asset Lifecycle Management. Two consummate IT pros and expert strategists, their insights can help take your MSP to the next level.

Howard Getson – Capitalogix

Session Title: How Thoughts Become Things

Howard Getson runs an algorithmic hedge fund — and the data science company that powers it. Capitalogix created a revolutionary financial technology platform that uses Adaptive AI to maximize performance with real-time insights. While most high-frequency trading focuses on using technology to make thousands of transactions in a short period of time, Capitalogix’s technology performs millions of observations and only acts on the opportunities determined most likely to have an edge. His prior company, IntellAgent Control, which he founded in 1991, was an Inc. 500 company and won an IBM-Lotus Beacon Award for best business application. Howard is currently on the Advisory Council of the Hastings Center — a Bioethics and AI research institute. Mr. Getson earned a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Duke University in 1984, and in 1987, he received his M.B.A. in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School.

At VISION ’21, Howard will share business insights rooted in his unique philosophical perspective. There’s a good chance the wisdom he shares will not only enhance your IT business, but give you a whole new lease on life!

Zane Conkle – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

Zane Conkle is an accomplished SaaS leader with broad marketing and technical expertise for developing successful, service-oriented brands. He co-founded Cytracom in 2008 and is the visionary behind the original platform development. Zane led the company to develop one of the first channel-only VoIP models tailored exclusively for Managed Service Providers. He has combined his passion for technology with a laser focus on simplification to create a purpose-built company with the mission of “Connecting the Modern Workforce.”

At VISION ’21, you can expect Zane to open your MSP’s eyes to an exciting new opportunity for MSPs looking to boost their bottom line.

John Tippett – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

John Tippett has more than 25 years in the technology industry, ranging from operating managed IT services firms to leading channel development of companies aspiring to grow in the IT industry. John is an active figure in the industry, regularly participating in industry events and leading community organizations, and offers a unique blend of sales, marketing, operations, and technology experience. As COO of Cytracom, he leads the executive management team to drive transformation and growth across the organization. John was named the inaugural CompTIA Member of the Year in 2016, an honor recognizing his commitment and dedication to advancing the IT industry.

John will be joining Zane Conkle at VISION ’21 for an unforgettable session about the next “billion dollar opportunity” for MSPs.

Ryan Bowman – ThreatLocker

Session Title: How Zero Trust is Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity & What This Means for Your MSP

Ryan Bowman brings 20+ years of IT experience to ThreatLocker as a Solutions Engineer. He works closely with partners to understand the threat landscape and assists in successfully deploying ThreatLocker’s zero trust approach to protecting their customers against the latest threats.

MSPs are facing a wave of cyberattacks that seems to only be growing stronger and more sophisticated. MSPs that survive — let alone thrive — over the next several years are the ones that prioritize cybersecurity right now. Ryan’s session at VISION ’21 will give your MSP a deep look at one of the hottest ideas in security: zero trust. Don’t miss it.

Ted Roller – Zomentum

Session Title: How MSPs Can Increase Close Ratios Using 3 Key Strategies

Ted Roller has over 25 years of experience in the SMB channel, first as a solution provider with Oxford Systems Integration, recognized as a “Fast 50” company by the Dayton Business Journal, then as Channel Chief of Intronis, a cloud-based BDR company, and as VP of Channel Development with LogMeIn, Inc. (LOGM, Nasdaq). Roller has been recognized by MSPmentor, The Channel Company, SMB Nation, and others for his contributions to the channel, and his channel programs have won a multitude of awards.

Elite MSPs have elite sales — it’s really that simple. Come to VISION ’21 and learn about three key strategies you can use to drive your MSP’s close ratio through the roof.

Mark Elliott – The 20

Session Title: Building a Revenue Engine with Sales Cadence

Mark Elliott has been helping businesses develop strategies to analyze, manage, and overcome the ever-changing technology challenges they face for over 25 years. A central focus has been security and HIPAA compliance. His experience includes preventing, detecting, and responding to hackers and threats, thus ensuring that your organization is safe from invasions while simultaneously meeting regulatory compliance.

During his career, Mark has advised clients on effective – and cost-effective – approaches to developing infrastructure that fosters productivity and profitability. His work has provided him with a broad-based knowledge of business from the inside, with an expertise in areas that go beyond IT alone, ranging from strategic planning to cloud computing to workflow automation solutions.

Expect a dynamic and inspiring presentation from Mark at VISION ’21, where he will be diving into the topic of sales cadence: what it is, and how your MSP can harness it to rise to the top of the industry.

Ken Pecot – The 20

Session Title: Good to Great with the Right KPIs

Ken Pecot serves as the Chief Operating Officer for The 20 MSP Group.

Ken is a highly experienced senior executive with a proven track record of helping companies grow their business. Ken has an extensive background in global P&L management, professional and managed services, manufacturing and SCO, enterprise IT operations, sales, R&D leadership, product management, corporate strategy and international business. Ken has run business units with global P&Ls in excess of $2B. He has held previous executive roles with NetScout Systems, Danaher Corporation, Real Networks and Nortel Networks. Ken excels in building winning teams, lean business methodologies, and helping his customers win in the marketplace.

Ken’s talk at VISION ’21 will shed light on how to best use KPIs to grow your managed IT services business. His deep understanding of the topic has the potential to transform the way your IT business looks at metrics.

It’s Time to Get Inspired!

2020 was a hard year, with business owners having to negotiate a variety of pandemic-related challenges. A lot of MSPs are still trying to get back into the regular swing of things. We decided early on to make VISION ’21 all about helping MSPs rediscover their passion, regain any lost momentum, and most of all, get excited about the future again.

As our MSP members know, here at The 20 we’re committed to looking ahead to what’s next, because we know that flourishing as an MSP depends largely on the ability to anticipate and adapt to a rapidly evolving IT industry. And when we look over the speaker lineup for this year’s VISION conference, we can’t help but smile thinking about how many business owners the sessions will inspire and reenergize.

Last year was hard, but 2021 is “The Year of the Return.” Are you ready to kickstart your comeback?

Registration for VISION is OPEN.

VISION ’21 Keynote Speaker Spotlight: Maye Musk and the Art of Winning

Maye Musk — international bestselling author, model, and dietician — raised three children as a single mother, all of whom have gone on to forge successful careers doing what they love. And ‘successful’ is an understatement.

Tosca is an award-winning filmmaker who founded her own production company that brings beloved romance novels to the silver screen. Kimbal is a forward-thinking restaurateur who runs a nonprofit dedicated to establishing “learning gardens” in underserved schools throughout the U.S. And then there’s Elon, one of the richest people on the planet, a man whose various entrepreneurial endeavors are pushing the very boundaries of what we think is possible.

So how did she do it? Maye Musk gets that question a lot. People want to know what her “secret” is for molding uber-successful human beings. To be fair, it would be nice to know something like that.

But when asked about her kids, Musk will just smile, maybe laugh — a big, genuine laugh full of joy and humor — and she’ll downplay her role, wave off the question, or tell you something along the lines of: “I let them go their own way.”

But that’s just Maye Musk for you. She’s not one to brag or draw attention to herself. She’d rather get things done than philosophize about how to get things done. But make no mistake, Musk is no ordinary human being. She’s extraordinary, and that’s what allowed her to raise three successful children as a single mother, who, at times, had to work five jobs just to make ends meet.

So what is her secret? How did she find the strength and resolve to raise her children with barely enough money to get by, earn two master’s degrees, forge a modeling career that has spanned more than five decades, all while running her own dietician practice?

At VISION ’21 later this month, you’ll have an opportunity to hear Maye Musk talk about her amazing life, a life filled with hardship but defined by triumph. It’s going to be an incredible conversation that we truly expect to touch the hearts and minds of many business owners who need a lift after a tough 2020.

Before the big event, we want to share some thoughts on why Maye Musk is an exemplary role model for entrepreneurs in the IT field — and anyone else looking for advice on how to tackle life with more courage, resilience, and enthusiasm.

She Knows Her Values

Maye Musk never pushed her children down any particular path. She let them pick their own interests. But she did make sure of one thing: that they developed certain strong core values. In her recent memoir and advice book, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, Musk writes: “I brought my children up … to be independent, kind, honest, considerate, and polite, to work hard and do good things.” Musk says the same thing in interviews — that she focused on instilling her children with a moral compass, but let them use that compass to forge their own way ahead. Or, as Musk puts it, with her characteristic directness and lack of pretension, “Teach your children good manners. But let them decide what they want.”

Business owners need values — both for themselves and for the organizations they lead. Values aren’t just something you put on your company website. In fact, values are everything — the be-all-end-all of your business. They’re the reason your company exists in the first place. They’re what you care about most deeply.

Money isn’t a value, because we don’t want money for its own sake; its value is purely instrumental, in that we only desire money because we can trade it for other things (concrete goods like food and clothing, as well as more abstract good like ‘more time with our family’ and ‘freedom to travel’). So you don’t value money — not as much as what it can give you, at least — but what do you value?

If you don’t have a clear idea of what your values are, you’re going to have trouble finding the motivation and energy to work hard on your business — year after year after year. You run your business in order to make money, and you make money in order to … If you have trouble finishing this sentence, it means you’re not working toward a clear goal. You’re just … working. Treading water.

How effectively can you really expect to grow your business if you’re not working toward something bigger than yourself — something more meaningful than money that gets you out of bed each morning and lets you attack the day with purpose?

Be like Maye, and know your values, because at the end of the day, they’re all that matters.

She Knows How to Live with Uncertainty

What is it to be an entrepreneur?

To exist in a continuous state of uncertainty — and embrace it. This definition isn’t complete, but it captures what it arguably at the very core of business ownership. Well, successful business ownership. In other words, if you’re running your own organization, get used to uncertainty, because it comes with the territory. Since eliminating uncertainty isn’t on the table, your choice is simple: learn to tolerate — or even embrace — the feeling of uncertainty, or let it fill you with fear, doubt, and hesitation.

Maye Musk knows a thing or two about facing down uncertainty. She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, and has had to, over the course of her life, start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. There were points in her journey when she didn’t know how — or even whether — she would be able to make enough money to put a roof over her children’s heads and clothes on their backs. But she never let uncertainty paralyze her. When times were tough, she focused on what she needed to do to improve her situation and that of her three children. And then she did it.

This should resonate with a lot of business owners. Think about your IT business. Are there things you know need changing, which you haven’t changed because you’re paralyzed by uncertainty — intimidated by all the “what ifs” that come with any decision to try something new?

What would Musk tell you to do?

Take the first step, that’s what. Let’s say you’ve all but committed to doing a complete overhaul of your business’s documentation practices, but you just can’t seem to find the gumption to get started — to overcome your inertia and fear and dive into the unknown. What should you do?

Well, first of all, it’s good to have a plan. But as Musk points out in her book, “Your plan doesn’t need to be a five-year plan. If you’re always thinking too far ahead, it can become difficult to make that first step.” Starting is the most important part of making any kind of significant change. When doubt and anxiety press in on you from all sides, take a deep breath, and make the first move. Then, step back, and focus on your next move.

The advice is simple, yes, but then again, most good advice is. The difficulty doesn’t lie in understanding, but following it.

She Knows How to Push Through Pain

Maye Musk is one tough cookie. That is beyond dispute. As a single mother, she worked up to five jobs at a time to provide for her family and still had to follow a strict budget, for many years doing without luxuries of any kind. At one point, she and her three children shared a one-bedroom apartment; they slept in the bedroom, she took the living room couch.

If you’re a business owner, you should be taking notes. In today’s world, being tough is perhaps an underappreciated trait, but the truth remains: successful people have grit. In fact, there are multiple studies that suggest grit — which some psychologists define as a combination of passion and perseverance — is a better predictor of success than IQ, SAT scores, or where you went to school.

Why is grit so important to running a business? Because entrepreneurs have to fail. If you want to make it big, strike it rich, shake up the industry, etc. — you have to fail, fail, and fail some more. Winners don’t always win; winners fail and try again.

Interestingly, taking things too seriously can prevent you from embracing failure. If you’ve ever seen an interview with Maye Musk — or if you’ve been lucky enough to meet her in person — you’ll know that she loves to laugh and poke fun at herself. This lighthearted attitude has allowed her to be playful in life — to try new things because, well, why not?

So keep this somewhat counterintuitive advice in mind as you go forward with your business; if you want to be grittier as a business owner, learn to see your entrepreneurial endeavors as a game. When you trade in the ‘do-or-die’ nonsense for a playful willingness to try new things — and possibly fail — it’s a lot easier to roll with the punches and keep on trucking.

Find Your Inner Winner

So there you have it — three reasons why Maye Musk makes a kick-a** role model for IT business owners and anyone else who isn’t content to live a “small life.”

We hope this has given you some inspiration to keep pushing forward with your business. Remember, running a successful business is a mental game. If you can cultivate your own “winning mindset” and keep yourself grounded in your values, there’s no telling how much you can accomplish.

But what if you’re nowhere near having a “winning mindset”? What if you’re feeling unmotivated, tired, or even hopeless?

Well, when you’re faced with what seems like a herculean task, remember, the best thing you can do is take the first step. Pick something small — some minor improvement you can make to your attitude — and try it for just one day. And then, pick something else.

You got this.

Register for VISION ’21!

VISION ’21 is going to be out of this world this year. Register today and brace yourself for Maye Musk and a host of other inspiring speakers who can help you take your IT business to the next level.

RMM stands for Remote Monitoring and Management. This is basically a SaaS or on-premise software solution which allows agents to be managed, monitored, certain actions to be automated (scripts or procedures), and for agents to be remotely controlled. Most RMM tools support policies and organization methods which allow for agents to be grouped by client, location, function, etc. Depending on the OS supported or in use, the RMM may also support patching, software deployments, and many other features.

Most RMM tools work in conjunction with a PSA (Professional Services Automation) tool in order to support ticketing with monitors (alerts) and other operations. This allows technical professionals to monitor and alert customers to what is going on with their agents or sites. Some RMM’s will even integrate this with their remote control allowing a jump from one system into the other (e.g. from the PSA to the RMM) without manual steps.

Many RMM tools support extension via different integrations with other products. Some will allow integration with various security products such as antivirus solutions or other security suites, while others allow development of custom plugins. What is available depends on the specific RMM and what your business needs. Some RMM vendors partner with specific vendors in the channel while others mix and match multiple solutions depending on what clients need.

Major Features for RMM’s

Integration with other products tends to make or break an RMM as the principle core of an MSP or similar technical shop’s infrastructure. An RMM that doesn’t integrate with a PSA or contain a ticketing system will make basic work near impossible to track in a scalable fashion. If an RMM doesn’t allow extensibility in a sane way, you’re going to struggle to get most basic tasks done. Deploying an antivirus solution can require clicking a button or building your own custom solutions. We’ve dealt with both, and one takes minutes while another can take weeks to iron out.

What kind of scripting or automation procedures does an RMM support? Automation and scripting can make or break an MSP or IT department. We run many hours of automation processes per agent per month, which means a tech doesn’t have to. As you expand out what works and what doesn’t, you can expand this to handle more and more fringe cases. When we actually see a disk alert, it means a person needs to intervene rather than some temp files have built up naturally or some other trivial case. The same goes for certain events and similar issues.

How well does monitoring work and does it report what you need? Too much noise and you waste more time than you save, but too little alerting and you miss out on all sorts of red flags. You need to know what’s going on as soon as it happens, and the right monitoring makes that possible.

What kind of connectivity are you getting to a machine? Solutions like LiveConnect can allow versatile access to a machine and its resources, but some solutions use basic VNC with nothing else. How are you working with files, registry keys, event logs, and similar to manage your job without having to disrupt a user every time you need access?

Major Vendors

At The 20, we use Kaseya’s VSA in conjunction with BMS. This suite is natively integrated with IT Glue for documentation. Kaseya VSA is one of the major players in the RMM space which allows for a scalable environment that allows your business to grow. The solution is focused on ease of use and flexibility at the expense of certain more technical control (without knowing how to access it).

ConnectWise Control and Automate are another major player for an RMM solution which ties into ConnectWise Manage as the PSA. These solutions used to be called Labtech, ScreenConnect and ConnectWise. There are other solutions like Continuum, SolarWinds, NinjaRMM, Atera, N-Able, etc. which all try to do the same basic thing different ways with different strengths and different weaknesses. Most of these tools have an associated PSA and will have different integrations which can limit or expand an MSP’s offering. Some will even be compatible with tools from other RMM or PSA vendors.

Choosing an RMM

It’s hard to choose an RMM since (outside of the standard known vendors) there aren’t really objectively “good” and “bad” options. Each RMM will have strengths and weaknesses in how it works with the systems you use, how it integrates with other vendors and tools, and how it handles the scaling you need. For smaller MSP’s, this means that most RMM tools are going to differentiate themselves based on pricing and preferred pricing for specific stacks (e.g. RMM, PSA, security suite, etc. all in one package).

For instance, if you sign with Kaseya, you’ll get access to IT Glue and Unitrends in a capacity you can’t get from other vendors. ConnectWise and similar have deals with different vendors that may fill the same gap better or worse than others (for individual metrics). These price points will usually scale with a business, but are rarely as good as can be negotiated by a larger MSP or MSP groups on a vendor-by-vendor basis (outside of preferred vendors and special contracts).

Medium-sized MSP’s will probably want to differentiate based on ease of scaling (both up and down) as well as the difference in technical capacity. Some RMM’s are simple to manage, but just don’t work for more than a few hundred agents. This isn’t a big deal if you’re just getting started but will ruin your business if you grow too big (especially if you’re growing fast). You also need something which is going to support deploying software and automating tasks without a lot of manual intervention.

Growing with Your RMM

As your MSP grows, the RMM vendor’s preferred stack becomes less important for many and the bigger issue becomes scale, tenancy, and control. This is the same basic thing a medium-sized MSP has to contend with, but the metrics become even more important. Something being less efficient for an individual action but more efficient for general maintainability is a bigger factor than for a medium-sized MSP. Ideally, as you trade up RMM’s to the biggest offerings, you’re focusing on trading a fixed cost per agent for a large variable cost of work being automated or removed to make the process scalable.

Scaling is more than just throwing more agents into the stack. You need a process and best practices which help ensure that your business can handle the growth you’re seeing. Some RMM tools can support 20,000 agents, but there needs to be a standard to make it tenable or you might see the system choke by 10,000.

As you expand your operations, how does an RMM allow you to handle scaling? Are there easy options to add new instances or do you need to deal with conflicting setups? How does it handle the same automation that worked for 1,000 agents at 5,000, 10,000, and even 20,000 or more agents? These aren’t necessarily questions you need to ask when you’re smaller, but as you begin to hit each plateau, what are you doing to prevent yourself from being locked out of scalable growth?

Contact us to find out what The 20 can do for your MSP as it grows.

Post-Pandemic Principles for MSP Growth

The pandemic was hard on all of us, and it rocked the business world to its very foundations. But it’s like Einstein said, “In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.” This is definitely true in regard to the situation that managed IT service businesses are currently facing. Managed service providers (MSPs) are on the cusp of a potentially very fruitful next five years.

Covid-19 dealt us all a bad hand, but MSPs who play their cards right can stand to benefit from certain conditions that prevail in the post-pandemic world. The key phrase here is play their cards right. Although the MSP market is expected to grow a lot in the next five years, not all MSPs are going to be lifted by the rising tide. As in most industries, a select portion of MSPs are going to feast on profits, while everyone else fights for scraps.

To sum up the situation: what you’re facing right now as an MSP is an opportunity, not a gift. Current conditions are conducive to MSP growth, but getting to where you want to be with your business is still going to depend, more than anything else, on what YOU do.

The purpose of this blog post is to equip you with some general principles to guide you forward as you navigate the next several years of your MSP’s journey. Principles are important in life; they give us structure and focus. They allow us to cut through the noise and chaos and build toward a greater goal.

But before we get to “post-pandemic principles for MSP growth,” let’s review why right now is a great time to commit to your MSP’s growth.

The Time is Ripe to Grow Your MSP

The Rise of Working from Home (WFH)

We saw a sweeping transition to remote work as a consequence of Covid-19 — a change which appears to be here to stay. The rise of WFH complicates individual companies’ IT infrastructures and provides new points of ingress for threat actors.

What this all means for MSPs can be spelled out in two words: greater demand. Specifically, there is now a greater than ever demand for the type of proactive cybersecurity that MSPs tend to offer. This brings us to the second post-pandemic reality that has the potential to catalyze MSP growth …

Cybersecurity

Even before the rise of WFH, cybercrime was already a growing problem. The digital age is a dangerous one, and as more and more cyberattacks make the news, businesses are waking up and smelling the coffee: modern businesses cannot survive — let alone thrive — without a robust security posture. A survey of SMBs carried out by ConnectWise found that 79% of respondents were worried about undergoing a cyberattack in the next six months. And this very justifiable fear will translate to spending — or, investment rather: a study published by MarketsandMarkets™ forecasts that the global cybersecurity market will balloon to $248.26 billion by 2023 (it was at $152.71 billion in 2018).

MSPs stand to capitalize on these trends as their cybersecurity offerings tend to be more proactive and comprehensive than those offered by traditional break/fix outfits.

Digitalization

Finally, there’s the digital revolution itself, which continues to carry out society forward at breakneck speed. The IT landscape is constantly evolving and gaining complexity, and businesses are beginning to embrace — though perhaps not as quickly as they should — the idea that your IT provider shouldn’t just fix your computers, but turn your entire IT environment into an asset that improves your business’s operational efficiency and boosts profitability. And this idea is of course at the very heart of the MSP business model.

If you’re reading this as an MSP owner, the above three post-pandemic realities should be heartening, as they make one thing abundantly clear: Your MSP can really take off in the next several years. But don’t just expect it to happen. Make it happen. Put in the work. Plan intelligently. Make necessary changes to your business even when it scares you — especially when it scares you.

And keep the following principles in mind as you move forward with your business, as they can help you get the most out of your efforts.

Principles to Grow By

Principle #1: Go Deep!

This principle is vague and abstract, but therein lies its value: you can apply it to various aspects of your business. Here, we’ll look at two ways in which “go deep” serves as a useful guide.

The first has to do with your MSP’s offerings. Now, although it’s simplistic to say that it’s better to perfect a service you already offer than it is to add a new one, MSPs are often too eager to expand their repertoire, rather than ‘deepen’ it. Deepening your MSP’s offerings can simply mean getting better at them, or it can mean choosing one or two to focus on as specialties and points of emphasis in your marketing strategy. MSPs who specialize appeal to niche markets who are willing to spend a little more for tailored IT support. So don’t lose sight of the importance of mastery in your efforts to make your MSP a jack of all trades.

The second application of the “go deep” principle concerns client relationships (also the focus of the next principle). Many MSPs believe that adopting a “growth mindset” means something like: Seek out as many clients as possible. This can be detrimental for a variety of reasons (bad clients do more harm than good!), but one distinct cost of growth-by-expansion is that it can take your focus away from clients you already have.

The key to MSP profitability is, let’s not forget, recurring revenue, which you get when your clients stay put — when you build long-term relationships with the people you serve. Expansion is good, but not if it stretches you so thin that you can’t provide white-glove service and support to the businesses who are trusting you to do so. So instead of always looking for new clients, devote plenty of time and resources to deepening the relationships you have with your existing clients. It WILL pay off.

Principle #2: Put Relationships First

Our second principle for MSP growth in the post-pandemic world is really an extension of the first. However, given how utterly crucial relationships are to MSP health — and how they’re often underappreciated or just plain neglected — we think a separate discussion on the importance of relationships is in order. The discussion doesn’t have to be lengthy though, because the principle says it all: PUT RELATIONSHIPS FIRST. If you’re into mantras, work this one into the rotation. Say it to yourself in the mirror every morning before work. Buy a bumper sticker. Get a tattoo!

All jokes aside, find a way not to lose focus of the fact that your MSP is only as successful as the relationships it builds.

The relationships your MSP builds with clients are, of course, of the utmost importance. Happy clients stay put, and the best way to make your clients happy is to actually connect with them on a human level. They’ve hired you to be their IT provider, not their friend, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make an effort to get to know them. Asking for referrals isn’t a bad practice, but if you’re truly taking care of clients, they’ll often refer you without needing to be asked. When that happens, you know you’re doing things the right way — with a human touch.

Take care of your clients, but don’t forget to foster relationships within your MSP too. Check in with your employees, promote a positive and supportive company culture, solicit feedback — and don’t go about doing this in an ‘artificial’ way, like a robot that feeds on metrics. Putting relationships first doesn’t mean pretending to for the sake of profit. It means actually caring, actually listening, actually connecting. If you can be real with your clients and your employees, and form genuine human connections with them, you can help your MSP stand out as a true IT partner in a sea of IT providers.

Principle #3: Figure Out How to Talk to Prospects and Clients about Cybersecurity

You might be thinking, “Aren’t principles supposed to give us answers, not tell us to figure things out on our own?” But here’s the thing: there is no agreed upon answer in this case — no consensus among MSPs as to how best present the issue of cybersecurity to prospects and clients.

Channel Future’s recent survey of MSPs yielded a variety of answers to the question: How are you addressing customers’ cybersecurity concerns? Some MSPs reported that they take an optimistic tack, reassuring customers that they’re being protected by “best-in-class products and suppliers.” Other MSPs said they choose to be frank about the severity of situation, telling customers outright that nobody who uses the internet is “safe.”

It’s not as though there is one perfect way to broach the issue of cybersecurity, and how you frame it for your clients will depend on your style of communication, among other factors. That said, finding out what works for you can give you a competitive edge.

Fear tactics can be too aggressive, but generic optimism and confidence might sound hollow and inauthentic to your prospects and clients. Try to find that sweet spot, where you’re honest about the very real dangers of cybercrime, but at the same time, confident and reassuring in how you characterize your MSP’s approach to cybersecurity. If you can pull of this feat of nuance, it will help you convert more leads and boost that bottom line.

Principle #4: Marketing, Marketing, Marketing!

If you choose to follow only one of the principles presented in this blog post, let it be this one. Here’s the deal. You might not like marketing. You might even think it’s silly — that it shouldn’t matter what font you use on your website, whether you post regularly on social media, etc. Or maybe you’re just not comfortable ‘putting yourself out there’ the way marketing often requires. And that’s fine. You don’t have to like marketing. But you do have to do it — if you’re serious about growing a successful MSP in this ultra-competitive industry. You have to do it consistently, seriously, and well. Why?

Because it WORKS. Look at what successful MSPs are doing. Put aside your pride and really look. They’re marketing up a storm. And they’re not going about it willy-nilly, either. They’re systematic, and in many cases, they’re hiring experts, because let’s be honest, most people who found MSPs know a lot more about tech than they do marketing.

Now, it can be scary to invest in marketing. When you begin marketing in a serious way, the results aren’t always immediate. It’s anxiety-inducing not to see a healthy ROI right away. But that’s just the way it works. You market your butt off, nothing happens. You keep going, making tweaks and adjustments. Nothing happens. A few more months. More tweaks. More adjustments. You see a few results. Nothing big. Then you start to notice a trickle. A lead here and a lead there. After a year — maybe more — the trickle grows stronger. You refine your methods even more. Now the trickle is a stream. Your sales pipeline gets fuller and fuller. You’re amazed to find yourself actually turning down work because your team is at capacity.

This is the pattern we see time and again, so if you’re planning on bringing your MSP’s marketing up to speed, you MUST (a) commit to being patient, and (b) commit to actively working on your marketing on an ongoing basis — or to hiring professionals who will do so.

Grow Your MSP with The 20

We’ve seen that MSPs face a potentially lucrative five years if they get their houses in order. The MSP market is growing, but it’s also becoming increasingly crowded and competitive. There’s no shortage of demand for the type of IT services and solutions that MSPs offer, but how do you distinguish your MSP in the eyes of your potential customers? How do you separate yourself from the herd?

The 20 is an exclusive business development group of MSPs aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-on-approach. Growing a successful MSP requires a lot more than technological prowess, and The 20 offers a robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform, along with proven processes for sales and marketing, to help MSPs not only separate themselves from the herd, but leave it in the dust. Instead of assembling all the moving parts your MSP needs in a piecemeal fashion, join The 20 and get them all in one convenient package. Learn more about what The 20 does and how we can help your MSP achieve monumental revenue generation and unprecedented profitability and growth.

Meet John of Just Right Computers!

Tell us a little about your MSP…

Just Right Computers is located in San Diego, CA and was established in June of 1995. Just Right offers a complete, Managed IT Department (MID) for Small and Medium Businesses like Manufacturing companies, healthcare providers, hospitality industry, non-profits, law offices and property management companies. We are FANATICAL about customer service and have become the guardian of our clients’ networks, protecting them from viruses, hackers, cyber-criminals, disgruntled employees, natural disasters and downtime. We cover IT. You grow your business.

How long have you been a member of The 20?

 We’ve been a member of The 20 for 3 years. 

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

I was tired of not knowing how to price my services, wanted to scale, and wanted The 20’s business model.

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

 I now know confidently that I can sell to and service larger companies. I now sell 3 year contracts for MID service (was month to month before) and confidently present with certainty on my pricing. I couldn’t do that before because I didn’t believe I could. I now have a company with processes and documentation to scale as needed and have built the value of my business because of that and clients on 3 year contracts.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

The community of like minded individuals. The 20’s business model. I’m all in!

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

 Integrity first, then confidence and persistence.

What are your biggest business challenges?

Pipeline – that’s why I am in Growth Automation. I need more leads and more opportunities.

What are your areas of focus for 2022?

Growth – I need to add more clients and more MRR.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

If you want to scale quickly, join The 20!

What book are you currently reading?

“The Pumpkin Plan” (again) and “Get Different – Marketing that can’t be ignored” both by Mike Michalowicz

Favorite blogs/podcasts

Interested in becoming a member like Just Right Computers? Click here for more information!

What is an MSP?

This article will help introduce you to what an MSP (Managed Service Provider) is, why they matter, and (if you run one) how to introduce what you do to your prospect so they can understand the value of your offering.

MSP stands for Managed Service Provider which is an outsourced IT solution for businesses or individuals. This isn’t necessarily traditional “outsourcing” (with the associated negative connotation) and there’s a good bit of nuance to exactly how the business relationship works between an MSP and their client. Different MSPs have different ways of doing things, and that may or may not be compatible with your business or needs. If you run an MSP or work for one, you already know this, but how do you explain it to clients in a way that shows what you do and what the added value is? For businesses, how do you know what to look for when choosing an IT professional to augment your technical abilities.

Let’s go over what MSPs do, what makes them operate at the costs they do, why this matters to your business or your prospects, and how to choose an MSP.

What an MSP Does

While the term can define other types of businesses, it has largely grown to specify outsourced IT services. MSPs help clients scale their businesses by offloading the difficult tasks of building, maintaining, scaling, and supporting various IT services. They augment existing technical staff or even wholesale replace them depending on the nature of the business they’re supporting and its requirements.

Each MSP does things differently and what one does (or doesn’t do) can determine their feasibility as a primary technical provider for a given business. These arrangements can even include things such as equipment support (e.g. replacing equipment as part of their agreement), helping a business find the right SaaS or on-premise solution for their needs, etc. Some will have staff stationed at a client’s office. This has the effect of making the monthly cost higher, but without unexpected costs. Your monthly TCO (total cost of ownership) goes up on average, but is smoothed out to something consistent and easy to plan around (and can even go down overall with the right setup).

MSPs manage assets remotely using an RMM tool (Remote Monitoring and Management). This allows forms of automation and control which are difficult for smaller businesses to get access to on their own. Setup correctly, it can also function as a canary and provide proactive protection. Monitored alerts are the difference between an important file system going down and catching a drive before it goes bad.

Most MSPs will offer whatever is necessary for a business’ technical success (if they are able to). The business model works by the power of scale and by doing “one thing” (IT) and doing it well. Your success is their success whether you’re a business looking to use an MSP or an MSP looking at clients. The client worries about their business, the MSP worries about their IT.

How MSPs Work

It’s expensive to staff and maintain an IT department and exact costs are hard to predict. By outsourcing IT, a business can save money on staffing costs, get access to a greater depth of IT knowledge (for similar or even less than hiring a single employee), have a scalable IT department without the full cost (e.g. 24/7 staffing), and have more predictability for their billing (e.g. normalized cost for support). MSPs leverage the fact they support multiple clients to pool resources. Think of it as paid access to a technical co-op or similar rather than traditional outsourcing.

Most MSPs will leverage a PSA tool (Professional Service Automation) to track clients and their agreements. Different MSP agreements will also have different SLAs (Service Level Agreement) for the response time to a given issue (this doesn’t mean time to resolution in most agreements, just the time to begin work). This allows the MSP to better balance resources based on whether you have a minor issue or a major issue. A site down is usually going to have a tighter SLA than a trivial printer warning. Think of it as an IT ER protocol.

Capable MSPs tend to have more experience with IT than many businesses and more access to more efficient technical solutions (e.g. more competitive prices due to scale). If you’re a business, you typically work within your specific needs, but most MSPs have experience with many different scenarios and use cases. As your business grows, this specific experience can come in handy. Small businesses growing into larger businesses often struggle with the technical challenges of scaling their infrastructure and choosing solutions. Having someone who has seen the specific pitfalls of a given solution or knows the right answer can save you time, effort, and expenses, both short-term and long-term.

Why This Matters for Businesses

The right MSP can allow you room to grow without expending considerably more for IT costs. You don’t have to worry about the cost of staffing a 24/7 support desk, you just need to worry about the number of agents or scope of support. As you grow, you’ll need more employees, but a single employee has a certain, limited amount of work they can do and you can’t just reasonably schedule around what your business needs at their expense. But, an MSP allows exactly this with better resource allocation.

An MSP reduces the costs of hiring and training. They can also reduce the costs of migrating to new solutions (with the right contract). Most modern MSPs work off of a fixed cost per agent, user, or similar rather than traditional break-fix agreements. This means that if you have an hour of work or a hundred hours of work (that falls under contract), the rate is the same. A good MSP prefers this arrangement because it means once they get their client setup, they will have virtually no work for a fixed cost until something needs to change or something unexpectedly breaks (no matter how proactive, computers still break).

Even if you still want your own IT staff, an MSP can help offload work that is painful to manage. If you have 24/7 needs, an MSP can be used to offload the help desk functions so that your staff can focus on what is necessary for your business. If work has variable loads, an MSP agreement can allow temporary staffing or augmentation of your environment with a contract to protect both of your interests. No two MSPs are going to offer the exact same agreements so you need to shop around for what works for your specific needs.

How to Choose an MSP

Choosing an MSP is like choosing any other vendor: some are better than others. That being said, what makes any competently run and managed business “better” is going to depend on exactly what you need. You need to know what you do, why you do it, what you’re looking to do, and how you plan to accomplish it to get the right MSP for your needs.

What is the SLA of a prospective MSP and is it acceptable for your business? What does their contract allow them to do and where does it clash with your needs? What are they good at and does it work with your needs? Why are you outsourcing your IT and infrastructure in the first place? If you don’t understand what you’re getting into, you have a good chance of seeing a loss from the relationship. IT can be murky, but a good MSP will explain what they do, why it matters to you, and have the contracts to back it up for both of you. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if your IT is lacking, it takes time to make everything work.

MSPs should also shop their prospects so they avoid getting in over their head (unless they have the ability to deliver). If your business specializes in traditional onsite work, why would you take a cloud-only customer unless you’re actively working to expand? The wrong client is more detrimental than skipping a bad prospect thanks to the legal headaches and contractual obligations.

Ultimately, the relationship between an MSP and their client is bidirectional. You need them as much as they need you (whichever side of the discussion you’re on). Make sure you understand what you’re getting into before you find out things aren’t going to work and you’re both stuck.

What You Need to Know About Microsoft’s O365 and M365 Price Increases

After a decade of unchanged prices (aside from newly introduced services), Microsoft is raising prices for enterprise Office 365 licenses. These changes will take effect on March 1 of 2022. There are no (immediate) plans to raise the cost of either educational or commercial suites.

Here’s what the price changes look like:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: increasing from $5 to $6 per license (20% increase)
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: increasing from $20 to $22 per license (10% increase)
• Office 365 E1: increasing from $8 to $10 per license (25% increase)
• Office 365 E3: increasing from $20 to $23 per license (15% increase)
• Office 365 E5: increasing from $35 to $38 per license (~8.6% increase)
• Microsoft 365 E3: increasing from $32 to $36 per license (12.5% increase)

While the individual prices aren’t a huge increase, the percentage increase ranges from around 8.6% (O365 E5) to 25% (O365 E1). This change overwhelmingly impacts the lower tier licenses and will be a major increase for smaller clients.

The one silver lining is that Microsoft has announced that: [W]e are announcing that we will add unlimited dial-in capabilities for Microsoft Teams meetings across our enterprise, business, frontline, and government suites over the next few months. The standard audio conferencing license is $4 a month, so this does work out to a bit of a discount for certain use cases.

With Office 365 E5 getting a hike, it’s safe to assume that other products will be getting a hike down the line. It might not happen anytime soon, but it seems to be in line with how Microsoft tends to raise prices. Keep in mind, this is all speculation and not rooted in any specific announcement or other information aside from trends with Microsoft. Don’t sound the alarm quite yet, but it is something to keep an eye on down the line.

See Microsoft’s release for other details.

IT Documentation: Do it for Your Process!

Robust Documentation Practices Feed a Process-Focused Approach to MSP Growth

We’ve talked about how documentation — good documentation — can help your techs do their jobs more efficiently and with less stress. We’ve talked about the power of documentation to eliminate those small inefficiencies which, over time, can erode your business’s bottom line. Now it’s time to cut down to the very core of the matter.

In this blog post, we’re going to look at the relationship between IT documentation and process. As the following should make clear, robust documentation practices help businesses run more efficiently and profitably by improving process.

What is Process?

In business, your process is … everything. OK, that might be overstating things just a little, but if we define a “process” as “the way something gets done,” then it’s not a stretch to say that businesses — when you strip away all of the superficial elements — are just people engaged in various processes.

Now, depending on how organized and efficient your business is, these processes can range from largely improvisational to highly systematic, and from vague to crystal clear. But whatever the case, your IT company’s “process” is the totality of all the individual processes by which you and your employees carry out your duties. Simply put, your process is how your business gets things done.

So, let’s take an in-depth look at the relationship between IT documentation and process. The more you know about this topic, the more effectively you can harness documentation to help you achieve YOUR business goals.

Process Makes Perfect

Deciding to get serious about documentation is one of the single most powerful business decisions you can make. This is because a commitment to documentation is a commitment to process, and a commitment to process is, perhaps more than anything else, what distinguishes successful and profitable IT businesses from the plethora of companies fighting for survival.

Being committed to your process isn’t the same thing as being committed to your business. This is important to keep in mind. Being committed to your business means that you really want to see it succeed, and work hard — really hard — to bring about that success. Most business owners are committed to their respective businesses. Being committed to your process means that you want to see your business succeed, but also, that you’re willing to spend time and energy on figuring out HOW BEST TO DO THAT. A true commitment to process is relatively rare in the business world.

Here’s an analogy. If you want to make the NBA, it’s a good idea to practice basketball — and practice A LOT. But an even better idea is practicing a lot AND taking time to step back, identify weak points in your game, and tailor a training program to bring your weak points up to speed.

Documentation forces you to step back in this manner and think about how your business ‘practices’ — i.e., how it gets things done. When you write down the processes by which your business runs, you’re FAR more likely to apply critical thinking to make these processes better, more efficient, etc. In short, documentation provides a direct impetus for working on how you work.

Practice may make perfect, but only when it’s bolstered by an awareness of process. Are you using documentation not only as a way of recording core business processes, but as a tool for refining these processes for maximal productivity and efficiency?

Go with the Flow

We just discussed how documentation facilitates process refinement and optimization — by writing down your IT company’s core business processes, you’re forced to take a good, hard look at those processes, and consider whether and in what ways they could be improved.

When it comes to process refinement, one thing you should be looking to do is maximize flow. A process that flows is one that unfolds smoothly and efficiently. And when your processes flow, so too do your workers.

“Flow state” (so dubbed by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) is a recognized and widely studied psychological phenomenon. It refers to a mental state people sometimes enter when they’re doing something they enjoy, are good at, and find challenging but not too challenging (i.e., not overwhelming). You can think of being in the flow state as being “in the zone” — you’re immersed in a goal-directed activity, everything’s clicking, and you experience a pleasurable feeling of total focus and clarity.

Documenting your core business processes breaks tasks down into a series of discrete steps. The benefit of generating a specific sequence of steps cannot be overstated vis-à-vis the pursuit of flow. This is because a key feature of the flow state is, as Csikszentmihalyi remarked in a 2004 TED Talk, knowing “exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other.” When you’re in the flow state, “every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one.”

If your business has clear, stepwise processes for your techs to follow — which it will, if your documentation is up to snuff — your techs will be able to enter the flow state more easily and more often; under most circumstances, they’ll know what to do and when to do it. This is good for business; studies have linked the flow state to productivity, motivation, and company loyalty.

Step it Up

We just talked about how documentation creates clear-cut, stepwise processes that make it easier for your technicians to get in the zone. Let’s discuss the importance of steps some more.

Breaking down a task into a series of discrete steps is a powerful tool for augmenting productivity. In our previous blog post on documentation, we saw how the accumulation of small inefficiencies at your business can really hurt your bottom line. One such ‘small inefficiency’ is the simple act of pausing and asking yourself, ‘OK, what am I supposed to do next?’ People without morning routines know how much time this single thought can gobble up. And people with morning routines know the pleasure of being able to move seamlessly from one thing to the next.

But you want your techs engaged. You don’t want them to go through the motions, mindlessly following steps that have been laid out for them. You want them thinking for themselves … right?

First, if your documentation gets so good that your techs are having too easy a time, barely needing to think, feel free to send us a detailed description of your documentation protocols — because that sounds like a good problem to have!

Second, that’s not going to happen. Providing IT support is always going to be unpredictable, challenging, and at times, stressful.

Your techs are like chefs, in that they receive tickets (orders) from paying customers who expect swift and competent service (a good meal). Without ‘recipes’ (clear-cut, written-down processes to follow), your techs have to spend time and cognitive resources figuring out what to do and when to do it. But when your techs have ‘recipes,’ they don’t have to think about what to do when, and thus, can focus entirely on performing their jobs well. When you know what you’re supposed to do at each stage in a process, you can devote your attention to quality — to carrying out each sub-task to the best of your abilities.

What does this mean for your IT business? Three words: better service delivery.

Work on Your Masterpiece

Your business is your baby. Your masterpiece. Your pride and joy. You built it from the ground up, and every aspect — from your company name to your office décor — should bear the mark of your personality.

If this doesn’t resonate, you might want to start thinking of your business in the above terms — as something you appreciate for its own sake, and not merely as a means to an end. If your business is nothing more than a steppingstone to retirement, to wealth … to whatever, you’re in trouble. Why?

Because growing a successful IT company from scratch takes genuine passion. If you don’t care about your business in the same obsessive, detail-oriented way that artists care about their art, you’re simply not going to put in the work required to succeed.

Working on process is boring and painful if you don’t really love what you do. But when you have genuine passion — when you have a true vision — working on process can be deeply gratifying. There’s a unique pleasure that comes from making small tweaks to something you’ve worked hard to bring into existence.

Picture the car enthusiast in his garage, tinkering away on his custom hot rod. Picture the writer, hunched over a draft of her novel, removing a comma … putting it back. That needs to be you.

Documentation is, at its core, all about details. Making sure your core business processes are streamlined at every step of the way. This isn’t something you do once, either. It’s continuous. Perfecting your IT business’s processes is itself a process — ongoing and ever-evolving. Documentation without a documentation management strategy — a systematic policy for reviewing and updating documents — is just dead weight. A waste of time.

Do you embrace documentation as a powerful tool for process improvement at your IT business? Remember, if you don’t, your employees won’t either.

Level Up Your Documentation with IT Glue

Documentation shouldn’t be something you do because you’re ‘supposed to.’ It should be something you do in order to help your business operate more efficiently and profitably. And, like any business investment, spending time and money on documentation will only yield a healthy ROI if you go about things carefully, intelligently, and systematically. Now, it’s possible to develop effective documentation protocols without the help of specialized software — but why makes things harder on yourself?

IT Glue is a best-in-class, SOC-2 compliant documentation software that helps MSPs of all sizes implement and maintain a cost-effective documentation strategy. If you own a growing IT business and want to take your documentation to the next level, nothing will get you there faster than IT Glue. There’s a reason over 200,000 people use IT Glue — it works!

Full Forbes article here 

Every company could sum up their brand story by saying, “We saw a market opportunity to perform our service better than the competition.” Much of the time, it would be a true story. Customers, though, demand a little embellishment with a brand story when comparing options.

A brand story has become a window into what a company represents. It’s an abstract retelling of how they operated and explains where they’re looking to go. We want tales of heroism, not tales of a technician wanting to make more money by starting an IT company.

You don’t need to lie; you just need to retell the story hitting the points that matter to how you want to represent yourself. A résumé isn’t going to include if you wet the bed until you were seven or if your grades dipped during a rough semester in college. Likewise, your brand story serves as the cover letter to the résumé of why a client should work with you.

What does your company do and what do you stand for? How do you define what you do, why you do it and how you do it? Your story should gloss over the mundane and focus on the (true) differentiating aspects of your business.

Defining What You Do

A brand story should explain what a company does. What do you do at your core, and how do you convey that to the widest audience? Keep it simple. Any company could write a 200-page book about their story, but that doesn’t mean anyone wants to read it.

You want to have a small company vision statement or mission statement. This is the ideal of what you do, and the idea needs to be transmuted into an ideal for your audience. For example, my company’s mission statement is this: “At The 20, we look to grow your MSP like we learned to grow ours.” It’s a simple idea, but it packs a punch. In 15 words, we’ve shared with our audience the specifics of what we do and our reasons for doing them.

Why You Do It

When someone relates to your brand story, it’s usually because they’ve seen the value in it. Either you’ve succeeded especially well at what you do, or you do something that no one else does. They want to know why you started on that journey.

Not every story is going to be a romantic one about following one’s passion. All of us have done things we don’t want to do in order to make it to the next opportunity. That doesn’t mean you didn’t find a purpose on the way.

Your brand story should answer these questions: What does your brand do and why did it grow the way it did? If one of these is more romantic than the other, feel free to take some artistic license with the material. When customers shop, do they want the one that does it because “it makes a lot of money,” or the one that does it because they love it? It doesn’t matter that both companies, if honest, are in it for money. When a company representative asks why you want to work for them in an interview, saying “for a paycheck” will probably get you shown the door, but other answers will take you to the next step. As with an interview, you need to make sure your brand story fits your abilities.

How You Did It

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” is overused as a quote because it’s so accurate. You can have the best intentions, but the implementation makes the difference for whether it works or not. When telling your brand story, reflect your ideals, not necessarily the mistakes you made to learn them. The best house built on a bad foundation is a bad house. Your story needs to show how you’ve moved past failure and capitalized on success. Even if you did everything wrong before, how did it make you end up on the right path moving forward?

Explain this part of the story with language your customer can understand. Anyone can say they can perform a task, but it is essential to not baffle potential customers with technical jargon or gibberish. For customers, understanding the method or process you use is as important as the reason you do it in the first place.

Building A Narrative

Build your brand story by sharing what you do, explaining why you do it and describing how you do it. You don’t need to write it out in this order, but this is the order to plan how you will tell your story. If someone is searching for a service, they want to find one that does what they need above anything else.

The last factor ties everything together: How does the team do what they do while adhering to the reason why they do it? Things may change, and the narrative should change with it. Failures either break you, or serve as a catalyst to success. What potential customers want to know is: Now that you’ve learned the hard lessons, where is your brand going?