I’ve always worked hard, getting into tech at 16 years old when I had to support myself financially. By the age of 20, I was managing a tech company with three locations. When I was 22, I started Advanced Computer Specialists while working a second IT job at night. I knew there were things wrong with my business, but we were financially successful. Working with Kaseya, I track responsive hours, benchmarking at 0.1275 per endpoint per month. Achieving high responsiveness and employing highly skilled employees, we’ve been able to manage more clients with fewer staff. While this has allowed us to be competitive and enjoy higher margins, I had no work-life balance. Working seven days a week, 10 or more hours a day, I was tired of working all the time. My wife was tired of me working all the time. I also began having health problems. Plus, it’s been difficult to retain employees because I expected them to work like me. At 43 years old, I realized I still have a lot of years to go, and this wasn’t sustainable. I’d been receiving those crisp $1 bills in Robin Robins’ marketing campaigns for over a decade, so at DattoCon 2024, I decided it was time. I joined TMT, signing up for the January 2025 Rapid Implementation Workshop (RIW).
4 Mindset Shifts Help Me Scale My Business And Give Me Work-Life Balance
I was growing my business the wrong way. I thought I needed MORE clients instead of HIGH-VALUE clients or clients who valued US! I had no idea how to price or scale and relied on my ability to do lots and lots of hard work. Acknowledging that I don’t know everything and admitting I needed help were the first steps to success. Once I started listening to Robin Robins, I transformed my business:
- From Chaos To Clarity. We’re doing more revenue with less work by focusing on becoming a REAL entrepreneur who is in control of my business. Before, we were scrambling constantly. We were great at it, but it was a grind. We’ve now let go of terrible clients who didn’t want to take our recommendations or pay us what we’re worth and replaced them with better clients who are happy to pay us and follow our advice.
- From Grossly Undercharging To Confidently Presenting Price. I’ve cleaned out the head trash that stopped me from charging what I’m worth. While I was profitable before, I was extremely underpriced for ALL my clients. I had HUGE doubts when presenting price. I believed that clients wouldn’t pay me more. After building a package with Will Nobles’ help and using his pricing calculator to determine the right price, I’m now upselling, renewing and presenting to new clients with confidence. I’ve increased my prices, in some cases more than doubling my rates and even raising them as much as 135%. Recently I met with a client and quoted her double the MRR I would have previously. She signed immediately, no questions asked. Another client increased from $9,000 MRR to $15,000 MRR. Having a process to follow and experiencing these results made me comfortable and confident in asking for higher fees.
- From Zero Standardization To Consistent Pricing And Packaging. We are getting much greater margins and higher MRR while remaining extremely competitive in pricing. We raised our average endpoint price from $40 to $70, with a goal to reach $100 to $125 per endpoint. Before, we had no standard way of charging clients because I had no idea what to charge. We customized each price based on block hours. Now we’ve created consistently priced packages and have converted clients from one-year plans to three-year plans. Every client has taken the three-year plan so far. We didn’t even have a signed contract before. Will Nobles gave us the framework to create those contracts, which we customized with our packages and pricing.
- From Passive To Proactive. I have a pipeline with $270,000 in project work, $12K in MRR and multiple leads due to being proactive. Before I didn’t have a pipeline because I waited for businesses to come to me. I no longer feel bad about telling clients and prospects what they need to do. I now realize that it’s an injustice for me to NOT give them the proper advice and that if I’m not telling them, then I’m not doing my job.
Little Things That Added Up To A Massive 30% Increase In 4 Months
In 2024, our revenue was $2.25 million. After RIW, we jumped from $40K in MRR to $65K MRR in just four months. Based on my projections with contract renewals, I’m estimating that will increase to $77K in MRR within the next two months. We’ve also added $750,000 in project work. Revenue is up 30% over this time last year, and we have $270,000 in pending sales.
The game-changing strategies that made the difference include:
Break-fix To Managed Services – I converted seven break-fix clients to managed services, adding $7K MRR. Clients responded positively to our well-crafted campaign letter, booking meetings during RIW after we e-mailed 68 letters. For nonresponders, I followed up with calls to set business reviews. Surprisingly, a break-fix client I thought would never buy responded while I was still at RIW. I used stories to highlight security concerns, and though I was afraid to sell, I learned that good clients listen. Following TMT’s process, I signed her to a three-year deal – just seven users at $900 MRR, but it replaced a 67-user client who also paid only $900 MRR.
Expand Existing Client Services Through QBRs – We grew MRR by using Will Nobles’ strategy of meeting with clients months before their contract renewals. With 66 managed services clients, our focus was on expanding existing accounts. Previously, I didn’t have a QBR process, but I’d completed 50 QBRs; nearly all clients found them valuable and chose to add services or schedule projects. TMT provided a framework for analysis, presenting results and offering new services, which enabled a mid-year price increase. I plan to raise rates again at renewal, aiming to reach industry standards. One client, previously break-fix and unhappy with their MSP, added $1,700 MRR – triple what I would have quoted before TMT’s pricing training and calculator.
Google Reviews And Referrals – We collected 12 new Google Reviews, leading to new leads and three new clients. One client found us through a Google search and chose us because we had the most reviews among local MSPs. Following the TMT checklist, we started requesting reviews and referrals during SBRs (strategic business review), resulting in another referral that became a client.
Robinized Website – The prominently placed consult button on our newly redesigned website by TMT has led to new project work, prospective new clients in the pipeline and warm leads. The new client who found us through our Google Reviews also credited our website as a reason why they contacted us. Had I not Robinized the website, this new client would not have called me.
Raving-Fans Testimonials – We collected 25 testimonials within two weeks, using TMT’s testimonial request e-mail template from the How To Get Rave Reviews campaign. Using these testimonials as stories is proving effective at demonstrating our value during meetings with clients and leads.
Social Media – We switched from outsourced, generic posts to personalized content managed by my wife, Kelly, who uses Prospect Hopper for weekly posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. She also shares testimonials on our socials to build authority and trust. This change saves us $400 monthly and boosted engagement, resulting in a 15% increase in followers. We now message new followers individually to get permission to add them to our drip marketing.
Aspirin Campaign – We sent 50 Aspirin campaign letters, resulting in two leads.
Community – Gaining a support system of like-minded peers willing to share new ways to run my MSP has been one of the greatest gifts and advantages. Previously, I relied on unsustainable hard work for success. TMT provided both the tools and the community to elevate my business.
Leveraging Sponsorships – We’re now more strategic with donations, leveraging sponsorships by requesting contact lists and introductions to other sponsors. This has led to direct referrals and recommendations. For example, I asked a sponsor for a list of other sponsors and ways to share our info for a golf tournament we agreed to sponsor; he offered to send a recommendation e-mail to all sponsors and business owners in the tournament.
Cybersecurity Crisis Report – We provide a customized Cybersecurity Crisis Report and give it to clients before business review meetings. This warms them up and supports our upsell efforts by communicating risks and our value in overcoming them.
Popcorn Drop – Following the 5-Around campaign, we place customized labels on bags of popcorn and drop them off at businesses near clients we visit. This has led to increased recall and engagement.
We’re improving our sales metrics tracking, which will get easier once we hire marketing help. I felt so overwhelmed before; however, I’ve come to realize that progress takes time, and by focusing on steady action, not perfection, I’ll grow. Looking back, I wish I’d started 10 years sooner, but now I know that the key is to listen, learn and stay open to new ideas. I’ll keep what makes my business special, continuing to move forward and evolve.
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