“I Can Fix Any Problem With More Sales” i3 Business Solutions began in the Grand Rapids area in 2004 from a series of mergers of IBM business partner firms. A few years later, the Great Recession hit Michigan like a nuclear bomb. Instantly, the unemployment rate climbed to 18% in our area while the manufacturing and distribution industries – our …

Marketing? What’s That? Taking a page from the success stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, Shayne Yonce and Steve Lee started the Technology Specialist in Wichita, Kansas, out of a garage in 2007. I joined the team in 2016 as the Director of Operations and have handled pretty much everything except tech work. For well over a decade, our …

Same Plan, Same Results For 10+ Years I started my IT business about 15 years ago while in college, simply as a way to help pay for tuition. Like any business owner, I had dreams of becoming a good-sized company, getting great clients and living the good life. But, for years, I struggled with all aspects of running my business. …

“Oh $h!t, What Were We Thinking?” Running our business for 10 years, we survived without any marketing. Being strictly word-of-mouth, we were more than happy to take any new client that came along. One day it finally hit us that our business plan of “winging it” only produced sporadic and slow growth. So, we did what so many other MSPs …

Our Ship Was Sinking We struggled for years with no monthly recurring revenue because we were primarily selling hardware and software. Sure, we WANTED and NEEDED recurring revenue, but we had no clue HOW to get there. Plus, we had no technical people in our company to start doing service work. We were willing to start from scratch, but how? …

They Said I Would Probably Be A Bus Driver – I Had Other Plans Growing up, I knew I didn’t quite fit in. Living on a small farm in the economically depressed area of rural northern Michigan meant extra-special fun. Some mornings I got to sling sh!t. Other mornings it was splitting wood, milking cows or other thankless chores. While …

Robin Did What 2 Previous Coaches Could Not Hungry to grow, we hired two different computer consulting coaches. Neither of them ever introduced us to a way to actually grow our business. Then we met Robin Robins. She demonstrated how to use her sales and marketing system to generate leads, sales and new revenue. Plus, we spoke with other IT …

When It Rains, It POURS! The day I arrived in Nashville for Robin Robins’ Boot Camp, I found out we were losing our largest client. A couple of months later, we lost another sizable client. Then another. To put this massive loss of revenue in perspective, a year earlier, these three clients represented nearly $500,000 in revenue and over $30,000 …

Constant Worry And No Salary After 21 Years After 21 years in business, our sales were down to a paltry $368K. Our profit was a mere $15,000…and that’s with me drawing a salary of ZERO dollars! I spent every day worrying whether I would be able to pay the bills and make payroll. Yes, after 21 years in business! Just …

It All Starts With Our Drip Marketing Mailing a postcard to prospects every few months (when you finally have the time) isn’t enough. Sending an e-mail or two to your client base won’t cut it. In order to achieve REAL results, you need a marketing plan that is continuously executed. For us, that means a dedicated drip marketing effort each …