In A Year When Growth Wasn’t Expected, Our 2 Verticals Brought In An Additional $420,000 In New MRR For A $5,040,000 Revenue Increase!

Mike McWilliams,

Reliable IT

14 Years Of Hiring And Firing Shitty Marketers

Reliable IT is a multimillion-dollar conglomeration of multiple companies that operates out of Texas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Louisiana. Last year in a year when growth wasn’t expected, their 2 verticals brought in an additional $420,000 in new MRR for a $5,040,000 revenue increase!

Here’s how:

Before discovering Technology Marketing Toolkit, we were the definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Our insanity was hiring and firing marketers for 14 straight years.

First, I went through a number of in-house marketing managers. We were in a constant state of battling the WRONG system, WRONG hire and basically wasting resources on marketing folks with no understanding of the MSP business. So, we let all of our marketing managers go. I just figured I sucked at hiring.

Next, we thought, “Hey, let’s OUTSOURCE our marketing!” That sounded like a novel idea, right? So, I tried my hand at outsourcing to a general IT marketing agency, and next to an MSP-specific marketing agency. Both were immediately BURIED, couldn’t keep up and never delivered results. Admitting they were in way over their heads, they FIRED US!

We soon realized you can’t have someone else do your push-ups. Marketing is NOT a “spectator sport.” After far too many years of disappointment and not seeing our marketing strategies produce results, we realized two things: our marketing must remain in-house, and I must be the CAPTAIN of that marketing boat. Read full article and comment →

Through Increasing Marketing Implementation, Anne-Marie Lerch Added $33,900 In NEW MRR In 6 Months

Anne-Marie Lerch,

High Tech Hui, LLC

Turning Down A Chance At Paradise

Little did I know that my experiences a decade ago would help me to build the cyber security MSP I’ve always wanted to own. Back then, I had a dream job at Amazon-owned Zappos. If there was ever a company that took customer-focused service and culture to a level that’s rarely been achieved in corporate America, it’s Zappos. In fact, I chose my job over a chance at moving to the paradise of Hawaii!

Years later, I was finally ready to move to paradise. Because our previous technology company didn’t pan out, my husband wasn’t sold on us opening a new IT company. I had to convince him that I had the vision and knew precisely how to successfully grow our IT business this time. In fact, I had a secret weapon in the Toolkit. Yes, even before I legally formed my company, I started with Technology Marketing Toolkit. In 2014, HI Tech Hui was formed. (In Hawaii, “hui” is a group of people working together.) Follow my journey to find out how we increased our marketing implementation strategies and increased our MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue). Read full article and comment →

Attending Robin’s Workshop TWICE, We Added $10,500 In New MRR, $29,000 In Projects And Have A Pipeline Of $7,800 In MRR…In 2020!

Rob Gelsinger,

Secure Network Services, INC

Growing Up With 15 Siblings,
I Had To Work Hard To Get Noticed

Being the youngest of SIXTEEN kids (I’m the tiny one), I was raised to believe that you get a good education, work at a company for 30 years and then retire. Ever watched the movie Rudy? My dad was Rudy’s dad, believing in working hard but taking zero risks. Me, I guess I’m more like Rudy: Risk everything to make your dream a reality.

Who knew my dream of starting my own IT business would take root in a Bennigan’s restaurant. In 2003, my IBM teammates and I launched the idea of bringing the best practices of the enterprise world of IBM to small business markets. Secure Network Services, Inc., of Lakeland, Florida, was born on a napkin between bites. Read full article and comment →

How Does A Start-Up MSP With Zero Marketing Experience Respond To A Lockdown? With A 5,300% INCREASE In Monthly Recurring Revenue!

Terry Blacksten and Kerry Brown,

BITOS LLC

Who Opens A SECOND Business One Week After Launching An MSP? This Guy…

Just one week after finalizing the paperwork for my new MSP, I got a call from a friend about starting a BIOS company with him. “Sure, I can run TWO brand-new businesses simultaneously. Why not?!” (Insert eyeroll here)

I figured my MSP company would be my “quick hit” since the sales cycle for my software business was 12 to 18 months. I couldn’t have been more wrong. After just four calls, I got a massive deal writing BIOS for Chromebooks, which kept me and my 15 new employees busy for four years!

But when our huge contract ended and revenue dried up, I realized my partner had not done ANY marketing or sales. I guess he preferred to be a “silent” partner, contributing nothing in capital funds or work. His next move: stealing a year’s worth of company revenue and sticking me with payroll. With my software business dissolved, I turned my attention to my poor, neglected MSP. Read full article and comment →

Even After Losing My First MSP And Enduring Massive COVID-19 Shutdowns, I GREW My Brand-New MSP By $89,492 In MRR In Our First 90 Days!

Our $5 Million Unsinkable IT Business
Hit A Massive Iceberg

My business partner and I started our first IT services business in 1999. Yet, rather than focus on LANs and servers like most MSPs, our business model focused more on connectivity services, including VoIP, cloud and cyber security. From day one, we locked onto the monthly recurring revenue model and grew our profitable business to $5 million. Things were good. Until…

Everything went sideways, and quickly. Life came crashing down for my business partner and best friend of over 25 years. It started with an ugly divorce, where he was separated from his seven kids. Things spiraled from there, and while I tried everything I could to rescue him, he threw it all away. I explained the situation to his ex-wife, a long-time family friend, and asked for controlling interest in our business. I told her that without 51% ownership, I would be forced to start a new company. Unfortunately, she didn’t accept my offer and went out of business.

Always one to shed positive light on every circumstance, I gained two important lessons from this experience:

Lesson #1: None of us are above it. We are all just a few bad decisions away from ruin. Like I told his ex-wife: if this could happen to him, it could happen to the Pope. 

Lesson #2: Expect the best, but prepare for the worst. Even the best partnerships can end ugly. Make sure any partnership or business agreement you have is airtight. I was fortunate I didn’t have a non-compete clause in our agreement, which allowed me to continue serving my clients.
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While Our Core Client Base In The UK Was Locked Down, We Still DOUBLED Our MRR And Added £302K In NEW Revenue!

Mark Cronin,

MSC IT Solutions

Without Marketing, There’s Zero Leads And Zero Hope For Growth

Living in the small coastal town of Hartlepool in North East England, I believe I bring a unique perspective of running an MSP from “across the pond.” My IT journey began when I left high school at the age of 16. Classroom education was never really for me, so I went into an apprenticeship and worked my way up from the bottom.

I ran three different businesses, including owning my own wedding DJ service with a staff of eight. As an IT contractor, I followed the work around the UK and even lived in a for 20 months! I made a lot of mistakes in business and lost a lot of money, mainly because I had a bad habit of jumping in feet first without first listening, learning and following a plan.

I wasn’t about to make those mistakes again when I started MSC IT Solutions in 2016. Unfortunately, I fell into the all-too-common mistake of doing ZERO MARKETING! Without spending a dime on marketing, every bit of work came from word of mouth and referrals. Because I ignored marketing, I picked up maybe one new client a year and a smattering of project work. Nothing predictable. No new leads. No wonder growth was stagnant.

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Relentlessly Focused On Planning, Execution And Numbers, Our Revenue Jumped $319,163 And Our Profits Were Up 355% Last Year!

Pedro Nunez,

IT Management Solutions

Knocked Down Again And Again –
But Never Knocked Out!

Standing onstage as a Better Your Best finalist at this year’s Fight Club–themed Boot Camp was most appropriate for me because I have been knocked down more times than I can count. When I came to the US from the Dominican Republic with my mother, we lacked a lot and faced many challenges.

Then, after losing my job through workforce discrimination, I started my own break-fix model IT services business in 2003. Disciplined from the Army, I always woke at 4:30 a.m. and worked 12-hour days seven days a week. After I’d reached $550,000 in revenue and thought I had all the money in the world, the 2008 recession wiped out 90% of my clients! With only a fraction of my revenue, I lost my business buildings and filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

As my business, income and confidence crumbled to the ground, so did my health. The relentless hours and stress caused my blood pressure to reach such an alarming rate, my doctor said, “Pedro, if you don’t slow down, you’re going to DIE!”

3 Reasons I Turned EVERYTHING Around

There’s no greater motivator than learning you’re going to be a father. Learning you’re going to be a father TIMES THREE (Yes, TRIPLETS!) lights a burning desire within you to make more, do more and BE MORE. Along with the birth of those three angels in February 2010, the new and improved Pedro 2.0 was born, and I opened the doors to IT Management Solutions!

I searched online for someone who could help me to create an MSP recurring revenue model and grow a profitable business. I found Robin Robins. After getting the Toolkit and finally EXECUTING, I hit $201,000 with $101,000 in recurring revenue in 2009. Thank you, Jesus! I could finally start giving my babies the life they deserve! Just three years later, I was doing $877,000 in revenue with $467,000 recurring each year. By 2016, this immigrant who came from nothing had built a $1.3 MILLION business!

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As A Better Your Best Finalist, We Grew Our Revenue By $1M, Our MRR By $111,662 And Our Profit By $338,571 – All In Just One Year!

Will Nobles,

Vector Choice

Entangled In The Dark Web Of Doubt For 6 Straight Years

The dark web is not a thing or a place. It lives among us, learning, adapting, embedding itself into the very fabric of our digital footprint, now synonymous with daily life. As CEOs, we’ve come to know the dark web of running a business. It preys upon your every insecurity, finding weaknesses in your defenses and your motivation to proceed, give extra effort and outsmart the competition.

And just when you feign success in lieu of giving in, hoping it will be enough to try for one more day, it swoops in – doubt, fear, hopelessness, desperation – and steals it in front of your very eyes.

Two years in, I thought my business was going strong, then BOOM! Three of my TOP CLIENTS representing 60% of my total revenue…GONE! After that gut punch, we operated with a skeleton staff. Under $1M, I was working IN the business, not ON the business. I was so broke I couldn’t even pay myself! The Dark Web of Doubt loomed large. Zero direction. Zero consistency. Zero marketing tools. Zero confidence… For. Six. Straight. Years! Read full article and comment →