Meet Brian & Mary of Mid-Atlantic Data & Communications!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
Mid-Atlantic Data & Communications is currently located in Roanoke VA. We were started in 2004. We started this company originally just to make an extra $1200 a month in cash.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We’ve been a member of The 20 since April of 2020.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
We partnered with The 20 to drive down the cost of our tool sets, partner with other resources that had knowledge that we didn’t and save money.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
Understanding scale and letting go.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
Our favorite part of being a member of The 20 is the 24 hour help desk as part of our sales strategy.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Letting go.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Our biggest business challenge is documentation.
What are your areas of focus for 2021?
Operations and Sales/Marketing
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Decide what you want to become and never lose focus on your goals!
What book are you currently reading?
Favorite blogs/podcasts
UpperRoom, Chris Voss, Darren Hardy, Less Brown
Interested in becoming a member like Mid-Atlantic Data & Communications? Click here for more information!
Meet Clare Davis, Account Manager
Clare Davis quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Clare.
What do you do here at The 20?
I work with our awesome MSP partners as an account manager!
Describe The 20 in three words…
Supportive, visionary, agile.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Striking a balance between individual desires vs. collective needs.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Every year of my life has been better than the last.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Resilience
What do you like most about The 20?
The people and the vision.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Spend time with family and friends, travel, music, and be outdoors!
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Probably another wedding. ????
What’s your top life hack?
Understanding that comparison is the thief of joy.
Interested in working with Clare at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet James McCarty of McCarty’s IT!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
McCarty’s IT was established in 1959 and is located in Parsons, Kansas. We serve customers in Southeast Kansas, Northeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Missouri.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We joined The 20 in April of 2018.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
When starting out so much time was spent looking for vendors and as we know, there are tons of them. Most aren’t suited for startups. Sure they’ll sign you up, but you’re paying for a larger set of tools than you’ll be needing for a few years possibly. Then there’s the learning curve of figuring them all out. The 20’s model solved that. I paid for what I needed, I got a support team and a group of fellow members to help guide us through.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
When we started out it was just US. No support, no fallback plan, no one to back me up. Now, I have a team that’s got my back and can help through almost anything that comes up. It’s been huge for me and those I serve.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
I’ve seen disasters hit other dealers. From natural disasters to computer related disasters, the response has always been the same. As a group, we rally around those that need the most. It’s a great team!
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Persistence. You’ll have bad days. You’ll have bad weeks. You’ve only lost once you quit! Just. Keep. Going.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Finding the balance between charging forward as fast and as out of control as possible, while still providing the great level of service your customers expect and deserve.
What are your areas of focus for 2021?
Sales / Marketing / Growth
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
An MSP looking to scale their business?
Plug into a network of peers who are likeminded, that understand your platform, and are going the same direction you want to go. Together we get there faster.
What book are you currently reading?
Business Made Simple by Donald Miller
Favorite blogs/podcasts
Interested in becoming a member like McCarty’s IT ? Click here for more information!
Meet Brandon Stewart, Member Success Manager
Today we turn the spotlight on Brandon Stewart. Brandon quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Brandon.
What do you do here at The 20?
As a Member Success Manager, I am responsible for on-boarding our new partners into The 20 and setting them up for success. This includes ensuring that they are properly set up and trained in our systems and methodologies.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Inspirational. Growth. Excellence.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Growing up, I always enjoyed tinkering with things which made me think I wanted to be an engineer. Then I got my first PC, and I knew that I wanted to work with computers.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
The most challenging part of my job is gaining the trust of new partners that are navigating a major change in their business operations.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is the continual self-growth I have achieved through hard work and determination.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
The most important quality for success is determination. No matter what challenge you face, the only thing that can lead to failure is YOU quitting.
What do you like most about The 20?
What I like most about The 20 is the sense of camaraderie between the employees, even through enduring a remote workforce, we are all on the same team.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Pre-COVID, you would probably find me at a comedy club or traveling across the state and country. Now, I enjoy cooking delicious meals for my wife and relaxing with our animals.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Colorado. My wife and I were supposed to go for our first anniversary but COVID hit, now we are going in late August for a friend’s wedding.
What’s your top life hack?
You just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N.
Interested in working with Brandon at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet J.B. Frierson, Senior Account Manager
Today we turn the spotlight on J.B. Frierson. J.B. quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about J.B.
What do you do here at The 20?
I am an account manager.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Scalable. Innovative. Brilliant.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an engineer.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
It’s a tremendous opportunity and challenge to partner with our clients to help them grow their business and achieve their goals.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Learning sales allowing me to grow my clients here at The 20.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Hard work and dedication.
What do you like most about The 20?
The culture.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Spend time with family. I like to workout, read, and write.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Cabo San lucas
What’s your top life hack?
Plan my weeks on Sunday
Interested in working with J.B. at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet Mike Bramm of BomberJacket Networks!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
BomberJacket Networks is located in Minnesota, Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St Paul), Established: 2001, Previously a Value Added Reseller- System Integrator
How long have you been a member of The 20?
5 months
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
24x7x365 Support Desk/NOC
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
Breaking old Break/Fix habits
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
Tim’s Sales Pitch
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Marketing, Hard Work, Persistence
What are your biggest business challenges?
Having enough time
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
Marketing
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Join The 20 Way
What book are you currently reading?
You Can’t Be Everywhere – Marie Wiese
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Building a Story Brand with Donald Miller
Interested in becoming a member like BomberJacket Networks? Click here for more information!
Meet Trent Milliron of Kloud9 IT!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
Kloud9’s headquarters are in Cleveland,Ohio and we have offices in Cleveland, Akron, and Columbus Ohio. We started in 2006 as a break-fix company and began all inclusive services in 2010, as a way to assist businesses in budgeting but also as a way to have better control over tier infrastructure to prevent problems from occurring instead of getting calls because something is broken.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
Around 6 years
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
Buying power with vendors, also done for you integration with the vendor tools as well. Meaning you are buying into a set of tools where everything is working together as it should. Going further on this, also buying into sales and operations processes as well that work. And a community.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
We have been able to streamline our service offerings and present them in way that increases revenue.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
The camaraderie with likeminded individuals who want success.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Always work on increasing revenue. If you are not growing, you are shrinking.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Developing Processes and Employees.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
Expanding our service offerings in order to increase opportunities for our sales team. Also adding a defined cyber security service
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Delegate, Use Metrics, and Spend Money on Marketing.
What book are you currently reading?
Scaling Up. Get A Grip.
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Dennis Prager, Candice Owens, Dave Rubin
Interested in becoming a member like Kloud9 IT? Click here for more information!
Meet Lance Keltner of UNI Computers!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
UNI Computers was established in 1993 as a computer repair store in Lawrence KS. I took over ownership in 2006 after working there for 7 years. At that point, business managed services was a very small part of the business, but I knew it would be the future and where I needed to focus growth. I continued to put time and effort into growing the business services side of the company and today it accounts for more than half of our total revenue.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We joined The 20 in 2018 and are a bit past 2 years of being a member.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
The selling point for me was two fold and equal in importance: #1 was the pre-curated stack of tools and security with the foundation already set and process in place to use, sell, and manage it. #2 was the community. I know enough to know what I don’t know, and having a large community of people just like me with all different experiences and skillsets is ultra-valuable. Whenever I need an answer or solution to something, chances are someone has it and already knows it works.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
The biggest change for us is having a solid process that I didn’t have to invent from the ground up over the course of years that’s already proven to work. I sell with supreme confidence backed not only by me, but also vetted by scores of other businesses around the country doing it the same way as I do, every day.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
What I like most is definitely the community. I’ve formed life-long friendships here, which is not something I always do easily. Everyone is here to help out. No one is afraid of someone else stealing their stuff. That’s rare in the world where everyone generally keeps their cards close to the vest. I also like that if I need to get top leadership of The 20 on the phone for a call, it’s easy to do, and they are ready and willing to help with anything. Our suggestions are taken seriously and more often than not brought into practice and used. We are part of the process that makes The 20 better today than it was yesterday.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
The biggest quality for success is the willingness to change and adapt when it’s shown that you can do something better than you were doing it previously.
What are your biggest business challenges?
My biggest challenges personally are marketing and sales, which The 20 has helped with immensely but also the community and the people I have met have helped equally as much. The collaboration I’ve been able to do with other members has been priceless.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
My biggest areas of focus are getting in front of prospects and keeping the pipeline full. COVID brought about a lot of instant change, but we were fortunate enough that our base of clientele was very stable and so we haven’t suffered like some MSPs have. Reaching new customers and bringing them the security and support they need has definitely been more challenging, and is the key area I’m working on as it dictates our overall growth.
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Join The 20! Seriously. Tim says the three most important things you can do are 1. Lead Gen, 2. Sales, 3. Scale. That’s what The 20 is built on and what its focus is. If joining isn’t possible, then those three things are still what you have to do, anyway you can. They will decide how successful your MSP can be. Period. I’ve doubled my MRR since joining The 20. This is the way.
What book are you currently reading?
I am currently in a few different books, which are all great: The 4hr Work Week – Tim Ferris, Traffic Secrets – Russell Brunson, Building a StoryBrand – Donald Miller.
Favorite blogs / podcasts
I haven’t been much of a podcast guy as I usually like reading more, so for blogs/sites it would be:
1. The 20’s Teams community!
2. Chris Wiser’s marketing program communities
3. Cyware’s security daily email
4. Recorded Future’s daily email
Interested in becoming a member like UNI Computers? Click here for more information!
Meet Chris Kimbell of WOLFGUARD IT!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
In 2010, my family moved from Texas to my wife’s hometown of Bozeman, Montana. I was unable to find a career in my field, so I decided to create my own career and started the company from the basement of my in-laws home. WOLFGUARD IT has since grown considerably and now has clients over Montana, Wyoming, Texas and even Ireland and China. We push toward continued growth and this year we even made the MSP 501 list for 2020!
How long have you been a member of The 20?
3 years
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
We were having difficulty with scaling and needed a unique sales model that works. Some groups had their “golden goose” but didn’t help you get there. I needed a group that would help you get from point a to the end goal.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
We dove in with the The 20 model. This changed every aspect of our business. It was a lot of work, but has paid off big time. We now have scalability, a better business model and a great sales model that easily makes sense.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
Number one would be the knowledge that The 20 provides as well as the resources and other members.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Hard work and the right business model.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Marketing and brand awareness.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
Marketing, marketing and marketing. We have been in business for 10-years now and we haven’t worked on our band awareness until now. More people need to know our brand and what we do.
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
It is extremely difficult to scale your business while staying profitable. But that is only part of the fight. Work with a group that can handle your marketing and sales models too. All of these items make a big difference in your overall success.
What book are you currently reading?
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber.
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Neowin fills by nerdy tech update needs.
Interested in becoming a member like WOLFGUARD IT? Click here for more information!
Meet Vishal Rambaran, Tier 1 Support Desk Technician
Today we turn the spotlight on Vishal Rambaran. Vishal quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Vishal!
What do you do here at The 20?
Level 1 Support Desk
Describe The 20 in three words…
Close-Knit, Supportive, Friendly
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I do not think I had anything in mind but I do remember saying astronaut a lot turned out to be scared of heights.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Nothing is ever the same it is a constant changing environment.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
To be honest coming here at this time as it breaking out of my day to day and experiencing something new.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Be coachable take criticism and run with it.
What do you like most about The 20?
The community everyone is willing to assist to what ever level they can.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
I enjoy building computers and am currently working on my first water cooled rig, other than that currently just playing games. As well as learning the violin and I’m not good at all.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Next vacation no plans on the book but will most likely back home in Pennsylvania, if not Singapore.
What’s your top life hack?
Mistakes happen, so learn from them.
Interested in working with Vishal at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
