Starting as a Managed Service Provider Today? What Would I do? (with Chris Wiser)

If I were starting an MSP right now, these are the things that I would do. First thing, I would operate much more as a general contractor. That mindset versus a service provider. Now what does that mean? I want you to think about this. Think about construction services. Think about those industries. Think about the term general contractor. The general contractor is not the person that goes out and builds or pours concrete or does electrical or does plumbing. They're managing the relationships. Now I want you to think about that in the MSP's place. Moving forward. Think about where you sit. Where does the MSP play? Yes, it's being a technical advisor, but more importantly on this, it's about putting the right pieces in place for the client and managing those relationships. What should some of those things be? So first of all, I would outsource your help desk top to bottom. Yes, we have some internal engineers. Yes, we have some internal high level talent. But we're outsourcing all of that low level talent and the client communication to a third party that we manage. Second, I would focus on cybersecurity and I would outsource that entire piece. So hire a fully managed security operations Center. Most MSPs think they, they can just take this on themselves and run with that. But in reality, this is a massive heavy lift. It also has a ton of responsibility that goes along with it. So your goal shouldn't be being the one in the trenches doing all that work. Think about how much work that is. More importantly, how much work that is to do it right. Hire the right piece to be your fully managed security operations center. There are tons of vendors in the MSP space doing this. Pick one and align with them. So first point, hire that outsourced help desk. Second point, hire that fully managed SoC. Third, focus on sales and marketing. Really focus on cash flow. Really growing this beast with cash flow. Cash flow is the oxygen your business needs to survive. So those couple points, if I was to start an MSP right now, these are the things that I would focus on to get me the maximum growth, to get me the maximum effort. Because think about this, and I want you to remember this. I understand we're in business to service and to manage and to help clients. But ultimately we are in business to make money and be profitable and give ourselves the right business to grow and succeed and maybe even exit one day. Really critical points that I want you to think about next. I want to talk about the common mistakes that I see happen all over the place in the MSP industry. And the big question is how Can I avoid these mistakes? Now, some of the big things that I will say with this is, is most MSPs focus way too much on the technical side. And I'm not saying you shouldn't be tech. Just because we're focusing on these other things does not mean that we're neglecting the technical side. But you need to focus on cash flow and you need to focus on revenue. And we need to make sure that we actually are delivering what the client should have. This is probably the biggest mistake most MSPs make is they're allowing the client to dictate the path of support. Think about how the client has worked with the MSP historically. It's always been, you know, just think about your, like your largest client that you have, your longest standing client. You're letting their mindset when they're doing their sales is all about, here's how we've always worked with it, here's how. Well, you know what, times have changed. They don't understand security risk. They don't understand they are going to get hacked. They think you can prevent everything. Good question on this, good test on this. Pick up the phone and ask your largest client. Hey, I was on the Dark web last night. I saw that you guys are losing half your money over the next 24 hours in your bank account. What's your plan, Mr. Client? They're going to be like, I thought you had my back. I thought you were my IT guy. They don't relate money and tech until it's too late. So it is your job as an MSP to put this in front of them. I know you're not a managed security service provider. I get that you're not an mssp, but those lines are blurred, guys. It is your responsibility now to at least put this in front of them and make the client make a choice. That's what's key. So instead of letting the client dictate the path of support because they only want computer help, they only want help desk or they only want an on site guy. You say, okay, I did a cybersecurity risk assessment. Here's what you should have. We don't want that. Okay, that's fine. But here's what's going to happen. When you have a breach and you have to show them that a breach is real, we have to show them that a breach is going to happen and that you cannot stop it. And if they say, well, I got that guy down the street, that's half price, fine, show them what's going to happen and if they choose to leave, you can't be afraid of being the guy that didn't tell him that. It's really critical pieces that you have to make sure you put into place. But now I know you might be thinking, I have no idea how I'm going to transition my mindset from being the single tech to being that general contractor that Chris talked about. Well, watch our video replay on how to grow your business. On the MSP strategy side, focusing on the general contractor mindset, click below. Thanks for watching. Make sure to like, comment and subscribe to our channel below.