Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-23/

Guest: Michael Drobnis

Company: OptfinITy

This week’s guest is Michael Drobnis from OptfinITy. Michael has been in business for 17 years. He started with basic break/fix doing a lot of the technical work but then moved to managed services where Michael took a more active role in managing the business. OptfinITy now has 14 employees and they focus a lot on associations. They also encourage their employees to be a member of a chamber of commerce.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-22/

Guest: Robert Merva

Company: Avrem Technologies

Starting at a young age, Robert started getting technical certifications. Before he graduated high school he was already doing a lot of IT work for the school district. This turned into a job with the school district after graduation but it wasn’t long before Robert decided he could make a business (and a living) out of helping people with their IT needs. Robert believes it’s very important to have your processes defined early and with long-term goals in mind. Robert really does love what he does for a living and can’t imagine doing anything else...it’s always great when you find your passion.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-21/

Guest: Joe Pannone

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joepannone/

Twitter: @JoePannone

Company: Forza Technology Solutions

Joe started Forza soon after college and over the past 20+ years he’s grown it into a successful MSP business. As Joe and his partners developed their business they also found work on the application development side of things. As they were growing, they used this expertise to develop dashboards for both Connectwise Manage and Kaseya. They now offer these dashboards for free to any MSP. Joe also discusses how they’ve succeeded and some great tips and trick for attracting new customers.

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.mspvoice.com/msp-voice-episode-20/

Guest: Florian Militaru

Company: PRO

This week I talk to Florian Militaru who owns PRO in the Chicago area. Florian came to the US from Romania and started his business in 2003. PRO focuses on residential, break-fix and even some managed services. To run his business, Florian started working with an open source CRM solution, suitecrm.com/, and has developed modules that connect to multiple systems and is now his PSA. While not for everyone, developing your own solutions based on open source can save you a lot of money!

Podcast main page: www.mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-19/

Guest: Bart Barcewicz

Company: B Suite Cyber Security

October is the national cybersecurity month so this week’s guest is Bart Barcewicz from B Suite Cyber Security. Bart and Doug Hazelman discuss security practices in general as well as some things you need to do to make sure you and your customers are secure. Bart also shares some great advice for starting out: “if you want something you’ve never had, you’re going to have to do something you’ve never done”

Podcast main page: mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-18/

Guest: Alvaro Prieto

Company: Auxis

Alvaro and his business partner Raul started Auxis about 20 years ago. Alvaro brought technical skills and Raul was on the business and finance side. Today Auxis employs more than 400 people in the US and Latin America. Alvaro and I have a great discussion about Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and how Auxis has used RPA to accelerate their business. The Auxis blog has some great information on RPA and they also have a report, “Where are with RPA Today” that is available for download.

Guest: Jay Wong

Company: Xyber Solutions

This week’s guest is Jay Wong from Xyber Solutions in Perth Australia. Jay started is “PC shop” with a dream and a credit card and now runs a successful business with projects and customers in multiple countries. Jay shares his passion for technology and how he has grown his business.

Podcast main page: mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-16/

Guest: Brad Proctor

Company: University PC Care

Twitter: @BradProctor

The interview this week is with Brad Proctor from University PC Care in Greenville, NC. Brad talks about his career and also what they had to do to prepare for Hurricane Florence as it headed towards North Carolina. Brad is a big fan of Apple and was instrumental in having University PC Care become an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Brad has some great advice for all MSPs out there!

Podcast main page: http://mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-15/

This week’s guest is Steve Taylor from MSPWebinars.While Steve still runs an MSP business, he’s been focusing a lot of his time running MSPWebinars, a great resource for MSPs. Steve doesn’t take “vendor” money for sponsorships, he has a subscription model for MSPs. With the subscription you get access to a lot of great resources and also vendor deals (vendors are required to offer a special deal to appear on MSPWebinars). Steve is offering a special discount for MSP Voice listeners, get $45 off your first year. Just sign up here: www.mspwebinars.com/mspvoice

Podcast main http://mspvoice.com/

Show-notes: www.cloudberrylab.com/blog/msp-voice-episode-14/

Guest: Ben Petersen

Company: Resolve IT

URL: resolveitcomputers.com/

Ben Peterson from Resolve IT decided 8 years ago to move back to his hometown and startup his own MSP Business. During this episode we cover topics such as

building trust with breakfix customers to move them to monthly recurring revenue (MRR)

updating his brand identity

the power of search engine optimization for advertising (SEO)

“pretty good” vs “Exceptional” in getting referrals

And getting started by creating some rules (and sometimes breaking them)