The IT Experts Podcast

The SDC Channel Summit this year was an online event that happened on the 10th and 11th of May this year, 2022. The event address both the challenges and opportunities of digital change management to help MSP owners learn how to create an innovative and sustainable future for their businesses.

To begin with, I briefly discussed why leadership is important for an MSP owner to grow and scale their business. I also weighed the difference between MSP Management and MSP Leadership, topics that business owners think might be the same, but isn't.

In summary, the 3 Leadership Secrets are:

1. Team Leadership
2. Strategic Leadership
3. Personal Leadership

I discussed and explained one by one, the relevant key points they come with, and why they are so crucial and important in being an MSP business owner.

Wrapping up my keynote presentation, I gave the attendees a 90-Day Leadership Development Plan, which is a guide that MSP business owners can strategically follow to be a more successful MSP business leader.

I hope you enjoy this quick show, this was a great presentation and event to participate in to contribute to the IT & MSP channel, and we at IT Experts just love sharing it with you.

The event was recorded and is available online for a limited time so if you missed it but still want to watch, simply visit the SDC Channel website and view on-demand – https://sdc-channel.com/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

Nigel Moore is the Founder of The Tech Tribe, a growing community of MSP business owners from around the globe, with the mission to equip them to better run and grow their business and to avoid the millions of mistakes he made throughout his journey.

Kicking off the episode, Nigel and I talk about how things are changing for the MSPs as he is seeing in the Tech Tribe community. Nigel briefly talks about Covid19 and Cybersecurity but from a business perspective, the change that he's seeing in the space over the five years of building the Tech Tribe community is that the model of the MSP is shifting far more drastically away from being just a helpdesk right across to security management, risk management, and technology adoption planning, among other things.

According to Nigel, the really big shift that he's seeing over the last 4-5 years is that the MSP industry is really starting to more mature. The competition has become harder and tougher, and new MSPs have a lot to keep up with, and having MSP business growth coaches like myself and a community like Tech Tribe helps MSPs speed up that maturity.

Nigel and I then discuss the great personality that MSPs have that is while being in an industry with a lot of competition, they care about each other because MSPs are just 'helpers' in nature. Nigel also highlights that this is why he built the Tech Tribe community because he loves how MSPs are devoted to the community.

We then talk about the important things that most MSP owners should focus on and let go of the techy stuff. Nigel then talks about his experience on the topic and what he learned from it. I ask Nigel about the most common thing among MSPs that he has observed, and he says it's the struggle of how to get more leads that lies within the Marketing and Sales side of things.

As we talk about Marketing, Nigel shares his experience and how he became good at it. We both agree that Marketing, including Sales, is a long game. But because we don't know how the game works, we are too scared to start. This is something that MSPs really struggle with, but Nigel and I both agree that it will be worth it, and things will get easier once you learn the basic MSP Marketing structure.

Lastly, I ask Nigel the differences between MSPs from each continent and across the world, being the founder of the community that has thousands of MSPs from around the globe. Nigel jokes that he might be hated for his answer, but he thinks that the difference is nowhere near what most people believe they are. Most differences are in people's heads.

Wrapping up the episode, I asked Nigel what the future looks like in the Tech Tribe community, and to know what they are, you have to listen to it yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this episode, as much as Nigel and I enjoyed recording this, and the whole IT Experts team enjoyed creating it.

Learn more about The Tech Tribe or join the community, click here – The Tech Tribe

Connect Nigel Moore on LinkedIn and see what he's up to by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelgmoore/

Check out the Behind the Geeks episode about Content Marketing by clicking here – https://youtu.be/1A85Qj_-_z8

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

This interesting, laughter-filled, and almost unfiltered episode is brought to you by myself and Stuart Warwick, who will now become a permanent co-host of the show, to share with you our journey, from how we met to how we have been working for the past year to make The MSP Growth Hub come alive.

We also share with you the reason and the purpose and the mission behind why we decided to build the MSP Growth Hub and what you will expect from us from now on.

Stuart also discusses The MSP Journey that he knows so well after working with hundreds of MSP owners which are:

1. Survive
2. Drive
3. Thrive
4. Arrive

Stuart talks about what these phases in the MSP journey are and how an MSP owner travels and grows from one phase to another.

In this episode, we also started a new tradition of giving you one tip each from myself, Ian Luckett, and Stuart Warwick, before we bid goodbye.

You can connect with me on my LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianluckett/

And you can connect with Stuart Warwick on his LinkedIn profile here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwarwick/

Join the Scale with Confidence FREE Facebook group simply by clicking here –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/738967166458742

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

If you are struggling to understand what that means, they're the 9 things that I hear where MSP business owners struggle with either their plan is not connected, or they do things but still don't get great results.

As a business coach, I understand that the way to grow and scale a business if you are an ambitious MSP business owner is to have a connected strategy that encompasses everything to build the maturity of your business.

So this is where the 9 key things come in and make themselves very critical in scaling your MSP business. These are:

1. Have a focused plan.
2. Share your vision, your mission, and your plans with your team.
3. Have a clear expectation exchange and active accountability.
4. Have the right people in the right roles.
5. Get that operational flow.
6. Set your team's targets.
7. Ensure you have a compelling positioning.
8. Make referrals become a lead flow.
9. Optimise your existing clients.

Of course, I explained each of these key things one by one according to what these are and why these matter to being an ambitious MSP business owner. These 9 key things are part of the Scale with Confidence Model that you are going to be hearing a lot from me from now on.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did the little scoring exercise and you're finding yourself with a lot of twos and ones, don't be a stranger and drop us a message.

You can connect with me on my LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianluckett/

And you can connect with Stuart Warwick on his LinkedIn profile here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwarwick/

Check out the Scale with Confidence Facebook group here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/738967166458742

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

Speaking of SOP, Ben Spector shares with us who he is, what he does, and who he helps. He also shares with us a bit of the back history of his previous life.

Before we dive into the main part of the show, I ask Ben what he would have done differently after knowing what he now knows today. Ben says that it will be delegating more effectively to the people you hired to do better than you. It was something he really struggled with especially in understanding that he didn't have to do everything.

Your ability to grow and build an amazing team is the only thing you need to master to grow and build an amazing business.

Ben and I then talked about trust, and I ask him about a golden nugget he can share that would help IT & MSP business owners that struggled in delegating effectively as he did. Ben states that it starts with a shift in mindset about trust.

Trust until you can't, rather than don't trust until you can.

Then I ask Ben when he started to get a passion for the symptoms and pain of having bad systems and processes that he became a "Process Doctor". Ben thinks they are looking at this too late in the journey in a way because a vast majority of MSPs contain only a few employees which put them on a scale where the processes don't necessarily exist yet.

We then talk about the way techie MSP business owners think and act when hiring salespeople, and how their mindset lacks in terms of understanding the process and more importantly, trust.

Ben then humbly shared the reason why he exited his MSP. I also highlight that vulnerability when it comes to one's experiences or mistakes is important in helping other MSP business owners learn.

Then I ask Ben, how do you know which processes are broken and which one should you go and fix first? Ben says it has something to do with process analysis. He then explains what it is and how engineers are naturally very vulnerable to this. Ben highlights that processes will never be perfect.

Don't allow yourself to be paralysed by process. Just get out there and do it.

We both then talked about involvement, employee engagement, employee satisfaction, and data as important elements in getting the processes right. Ben then explains more about systems and processes. Systems are where you're going to implement the process and the crucial role that capturing data plays in the overall process.

Ben then also highlights how his career experiences made him learn a lot of relevant things being both an employer and an employee, learnings that he can then apply should he decide to start another business.

Wrapping up the episode, we talked about Shiny Ball System Syndrome and Ben shares his tips on how MSP business owners can make a sensible decision quickly without turning the whole business on its head. Don't miss it.

I hope you enjoyed the humility and vulnerability of this episode that makes it one of our bests yet. The value that this episode offers does not disappoint.

You can connect with Ben Spector in his LinkedIn here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/benspector1/

Or you can visit his website by clicking here – https://benspector.uk/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

We share with you the three-step key structure and we will help you understand how this process links together to help you generate better leads, get a better bang for your buck, and build your own system that you can understand.

The three steps to your MSP marketing process are:

1. Gathering Data
   • Identify your customer target and avatar.
   • Understand the pain points they have.
   • Link the pain points to real business outcomes.
   • Ask yourself these 3 questions: Why are they going to buy from you? Why are they going to buy at all? Why are they going to buy now?
   • Understand your value proposition.
2. Inbound and Outbound Outreach
3. Your Sales process and support

Then I dissected each and every point and how each and every step all links together. Now, this is a firehose of information as I said so I suggest you listen to this sharp episode to get everything that you need because there isn't a second of this episode that doesn't provide value.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianluckett/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

Like a standard operating procedure, Richard quickly shares who he is, what he does, and who he helps. He shares how his many mistakes as an MSP business owner are now helping MSP business owners now.

We're starting off the episode straight to the point as I ask Richard the two or three things that he thinks an MSP should master to stand out from the crowd and their competition. I also ask Richard about the landscape he sees in the MSP space this year.

Richard says that first, we should go back to the way the world has changed in the past two years and that means when Covid-19 Pandemic started, which he remembers as "The Great Working from Home Rush".

Now, the attitude towards tech has changed. People who have businesses are looking to MSP owners to help them do things better.

Now, MSPs should need to be striving for excellence rather than just delivering a good enough service.

Truly, the way to stand out from the competition is to be really good at what you do, and not only that but also for your clients to be really talking about you and how good you are. Excellent service brings more referrals.

You can be the best IT company in the world but if nobody knows about you, what is the point?

Richard also highlights that the IT & MSP businesses are the real heroes of this story because, without them, none of the small businesses would have been able to keep going following the pandemic.

Another thing for an MSP to do and possibly master is all around content marketing, which generally means getting out there and showing people how good you are and providing social proof

I also mentioned the many guys out there in the channel like Richard Tubb that will help with content marketing like the guys in The Tech Tribe.

To stand out means being excellent, and part of that excellence is by demonstrating expertise, authority, and knowledge via channels.

Richard then recommends us a book that has also inspired and helped him greatly which is They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. Although it has nothing to do with the IT industry, there are so many lessons to be learned from it.

Richard and I then talked about the ways to do content marketing like blogging. We both agree that even if you think that no one will read it, it's simply not true.

It will find the right person by making it available to the world. Even if you are writing with your own experience and don't have the A++ skill as a writer, you are going to be helpful to the right people that need them and provide them solutions.

If you are not out there on the socials, you will never be known as someone they can trust, no matter your expertise.

Wrapping up the episode, Richard gives us his tips on getting out there and speaking at public events. He highlights that the thing about speaking is just do it. You may not enjoy it but keep doing it and the rewards will build up. You might then reach a point where you actually enjoy it and start to believe in yourself as well.

It has been amazing to have Richard Tubb in the IT Experts Podcast, and I suggest you listen to this episode and the previous one, as many times as you need to get all the value you can get.

If you want to continue the conversation with Richard Tubb, you can reach out to him by simply clicking HERE

You can listen to Richard's podcast, Tubb Talk, the podcast for IT consultants, HERE

Grab a copy of Richard's book The IT Business Owner's Survival Guide by clicking HERE

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP Business of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

A lot of you already know who Richard Tubb is, I presume, but if you don't, Richard humbly introduces himself. He briefly shares his journey, from selling his MSP business about 11 years ago to now helping MSP business owners avoid the many mistakes he made himself when he was running his MSP business.

Kicking off this energy-filled episode, Richard and I started talking straight about the mindset of an MSP business owner. I asked Richard what things that MSP business owners need to get their head around being a business owner with a technical background. Referring to the book Getting Things Done by David Allen, Richard says that one of the turning points from his experience was not just being busy taking care of the tech but also dealing with Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc., because that's what being a business owner is all about.

It's not just enough to be a good technician to grow an IT business.

Richard also highlights one of the many things he learned from the book was, "If you try and get all the ideas in your head, you end up doing none of them." He says how important it is to optimize and maximise the tools we have around us rather than keeping everything in our heads.

The mind is not a good place to store ideas. Freeing your mind is key. It was after Richard has done the same, was also when a whole world of opportunities opened for him, and it reduces what he calls SPF or Single Point of Failures in the business.

Richard then reveals how he was able to sell his business. Although himself is his favourite topic in the world, the business wasn't built about him. The future is uncertain, and you don't want to make yourself the key component of the business.

Richard and I then talked about how to help MSP business owners who have the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Although it might come off as uncomfortable, Richard says that it all just surrounds the idea of one's ego. Removing yourself, as a business owner from some of the processes and the conversation, will not make you lose the business. Do not believe if your mind tells you that it's the other way around.

When Richard started the right task delegation to his team, he was able to work on his business rather than in his business, something that we also teach here at IT Experts.

For an MSP business owner who is too busy to do anything, Richard's advice is to slow down, document the things to be done on a specific task, and make it a process. That's how you start. Bottom line is, we can't let our ego get in the way of thinking what we can and cannot hand to other people.

We then tackled the almighty DISCIPLINE, and how to have it. Both Richard and I agree that Discipline is just all about ROUTINE. Richard highlights how discipline gets a bad reputation because of how it has been used against us when we were growing up; disciplined in school or at home when you do something naughty, etc.

Richard then continues to explain how to get disciplined by developing a routine and he refers to his book, The IT Business Owner's Survival Guide, which he wrote to help MSP business owners avoid the mistakes he made.

Although discipline gets a negative connotation, it is essentially doing the right things every day that are going to move you forward.

Wrapping up the episode, Richard reminds us that although MSPs are typically techie people, that alone is not enough to grow a business to build a life that you want. You've got to be a business owner to grow a business that runs without you.

Richard also recommends reading the following books that have helped him greatly and he believes that would help all MSP owners too. The books are Getting Things Done by David Allen and The E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and catch Richard Tubb on the next one where we talk and help you learn how to stand out from your competition in 2022.

Connect and listen to Richard Tubb on his website by clicking here – https://www.tubblog.co.uk/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

As usual, Nate introduces and lets us know a little more about himself, who he is, what he does, and how he helps MSPs with Marketing.

Kicking off the episode, we then go straight-talking about one of the strategies from the whole marketing toolbox. I ask Nate how he came about with this whole concept of meeting prospects and customers where they're at. Nate says this is something that he's learned seven years ago from his sales coach and his mentor.

It's something that he has seen being done by a lot of their MSP clients. When a prospect comes to you for a one-off need, meeting them where they're at is all about seeing the bigger picture. It's about bridging the gap between that one-off need to an ongoing strategy to scale and grow.

Nate and I then tackled how it connects to the sales process that follows where you continue to nurture, build relationships, and offer value. Nate then explains how it does connect, what to do on these next steps, and why they are important. He highlights that one of the best core values for an MSP business to have is 'Help first'.

It's not about selling, it's about positioning.

We then talk about conversation around value alignment. Nate says that for an MSP to know whether their prospect is a break-fix client or not, it's critical to dig into two things – the island of sad (pain points) and the island of happy (goals).

Having a proper and structured qualification mechanism is the key.

Nate and I then discuss the winning formula, client retention + relationships + results, and how this becomes a great thing for both parties. Get a head start on the first two factors before ever start working on a client. Nate thinks that a great way to win a customer and show results is to reduce the time of value as soon as possible. He then explains why.

Wrapping up the episode, we then talk about relationships. Nate and I agree that building better relationships is what helps build a better business. And it all starts with one simple question rather than giving them a strict call to action. Just ask, "How can we help?"

I hope you enjoyed this episode. It is a fresh perspective about a simple thing that you can do in your IT & MSP business that will help you meet your prospects and customers where they're at, but there's more to it than that.

You can connect with Nate Freedman in his LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/natefreedman/

Check out Nate's website here – https://www.techpromarketing.com/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

One of the biggest reasons that people don't attend MSP events is that they can't see the value they will get from it. This is why we have come up with this short sharp blast to help you understand the value that you will get in attending an MSP event.

Attending an MSP event is all about being purposeful, and I share with you my experience as well.

This episode is short, but I hope this is enough for you to not only consider going to an MSP event this year, but I also expect to see you at these events!

If you don't know where to find these events and how to join them, connect with me on LinkedIn to be up to date. Simply click here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianluckett/

At IT Experts, we have years of experience helping IT & MSP businesses of all sizes to leverage their talents and take back control so they can scale confidently.

To connect with us and find out how we can possibly help, simply book an intro call straight into my diary here:- http://bit.ly/ite-introcall

Alternatively, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Until next time, you look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!