MSP Voice

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-42/

Guest: Michael Baker

Company: Atiba

I met Michael at the Robin Robins Sales and Marketing Bootcamp last month in Nashville and he agreed to be my guest on this week’s podcast. Michael is the National Director of Business Development for Atiba which basically means he has a number of responsibilities, including sales and social media. We discuss how Michael approaches social media for Atiba and also about the importance of actual relationships in this world of social media and online services. Michael gives some great advice at the end about the importance of those relationships.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-41/ 

Guest: Scott Bell 

Company: St. Benedict Technology Consortium

Scott was working in a school and faced a challenge when the school received 400 laptops...how could he get them all set up? He came up with the idea to pool resources from other schools and the idea behind SBTC was born. Unlike many MSPs, Scott runs SBTC as a non-profit. That means that he only supports other non-profits (mostly schools) and also gives him a bit of freedom because he’s not our chasing new customers for profit. Scott has grown his team to over 40 employees in the past 10 years and services 2 of the counties that make up the greater Chicago area (Lake and Cook Counties). Scott talks about why he decided to go this route and also about how it’s rewarding for him and his employees to have an impact on their community.

 Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Guest: Tim Taylor

Company: Taylorworks

Tim Taylor started in the IT services business 20 years ago working out of the trunk of his car. After a successful IT career he decided that he wanted to go it alone and since that time he’s built an MSP that employs 14 people. Along the way he realized that there weren’t any good books for starting an IT business, so he wrote one. “How to Run a Successful IT Company Without Losing Your Shirt” is available on Amazon so check it out if you like what you hear from Tim. In this episode, Tim shares a number of great stories about how he built his business and the importance of treating your customers right. We also discuss how the MSP business is very much a family business and that small businesses want to work with other small businesses. Tim also consults for other MSPs looking to grow their business through his Tim Taylor Consulting Group. 

 Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-39/

Guest: Anton Kioroglo

Company: Security First IT

Last week at the Sales and Marketing Bootcamp put on by Robin Robins I met J. David Sims in person. You may remember him from the HIPAA for MSPs webinar he did for us back in January. David introduced me to his MSP business partner, Anton Kioroglo, who agreed to be on this week’s episode. Anton and David formed Security First IT by actually combining their own 2 MSP businesses, essentially a merger. Security First IT is an MSSP mostly focusing on security (Anton) and compliance (David). Anton gives us some good advice on security and how to get started in the MSP/MSSP business. 

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-38/

Guest: Ross Whitmore

Company: Northern Technology Services

Ross Whitmore is running his MSP up in a resort town in Michigan. While the area is small, he’s still managed to carve out a nice niche for himself in providing MSP services for local businesses including hospitality and retail. Ross has love technology his entire life and decided a few years ago to give it a try on his own. Ross has a great spirit and a real focus on his customers which he feels is lacking in some of the bigger MSP shops. Through some partnerships with other providers, he’s been able to grow his business and keep his customers happy.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-37/

Guest: John Gambill

Company: GO Concepts Inc.

John is located in Southwest Ohio and started GO Concepts in 1997 and has gone through a few transitions in that time. Starting with a public/private partnership with Time Warner they helped build out and provide internet services for businesses and homes. After working with an agency on their image and being told “you’re succeeding in anonymity” they decided to change focus. Today GO Concepts focuses almost entirely on serving the County Boards for Developmentally Disabled (DD) agencies and companies that provide services to those boards. They focus on Ohio and with 88 counties, Ohio has plenty of opportunity in this space. They even have a dedicated site for what they do: https://www.itfordd.com/. John is passionate about what they do and it really comes across in this fun interview.

 Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Guest: Reese Ormand

Based just outside of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Techvera was actually started by Reese’s dad as a break/fix consumer repair shop. Getting involved in the business in his teens, Reese went off to college and came back to take over the business and transition to MSP instead of break/fix. They now offer a standard stack to their customers. Reese offers some great tips and insights into their transition from break/fix to MSP.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/ 

Show-notes: https://mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-35/ 

Guest: Scott Sanders

Company: Affordable Technology Solutions, LLC

Community: IT Business Owners Group

Scott runs an MSP and break-fix company in Columbia, SC. He started out as residential break/fix and that lead to gaining some commercial clients and MSP. While he’s loyal to those who have been loyal to him he’s not accepting any new residential customers. You may also know Scott from the group he managed, IT Business Owners Group or ITBOG. ITBOG started out on LinkedIn and has now mostly moved to the popular Facebook group by the same name. 

 Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/ 

Show-notes: https://mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-34/ 

Guest: Rick Porter

Company: Cinch I.T.

Rick has been an entrepreneur all his life, starting a DJ business when he was just 16. He found motivation in the US military and then worked for a technology company for a few years before founding Cinch I.T. in 2004. Cinch started off as break/fix but transitioned to MSP soon after. Cinch has been growing ever since and has won numerous awards. Rick is now taking that success and looking to grow by offering franchise opportunities across the country. 

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/ 

Show-notes: https://mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-33/ 

Guest: Bob Coppedge

Company: Simplex-IT

My interview with Bob Coppedge of Simplex-IT went a little longer than normal, mostly because we were having a great conversation and Bob is a great guy to interview. While Bob is focusing on the business and not “in the business” he has built a successful MSP that has been around for about 11 years. Simplex skipped the break-fix phase and jumped directly into MSP work from the start. Now with over 13 employees, Simplex is still growing. Bob has written a book, “A CEO’s Survival Guide to Information Technology”, and is working on another one due out later this year that is written specifically for MSPs. Bob’s second book with detail how Simplex has had a lot of success in co-managed IT, basically helping to augment an existing IT staff with MSP services. If you want to connect with Bob, hit him up on LinkedIn or drop him an email at [email protected].