In 2018, I did something most people would consider crazy: I stepped into running a managed services company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that had never actually made my family a dime.
For 10 years, my husband had been investing in this MSP. On paper, it should have been a great asset; in reality, it wasn’t profitable, which meant it wasn’t worth anything and couldn’t be sold. We saw that as an opportunity to finally build something valuable instead of watching it limp along.
The problem? I wasn’t an IT professional.
My background was in HR. I’d just graduated with an Executive MBA. I had experience leading people and a stubborn belief that businesses could be improved with the right systems and accountability. What I didn’t have was technical expertise, MSP experience or any idea how difficult the next few years would become.
In the 14 years the company operated, it never generated meaningful profits. Looking at the numbers, I thought, “How hard could it be to do better than that?”
I got my answer almost immediately.
My husband and I made a tough decision: The company’s president and vice president had to go. They’d been running the company for years and still hadn’t made any money. Within weeks of our taking over, they walked out. Not quietly either. Before leaving, they made it extremely clear what they thought of my chances.
“You’ll never learn how to run an MSP.”
Standing in the conference room watching them leave, I wasn’t entirely sure they were wrong.
Finding The Room Where The Answers Are
By the end of 2021, after painful changes, we closed the year at $3.8 million. But our EBITDA was negative 3%. I didn’t just need to “work harder” – I needed better frameworks and people who’d already solved the problems I was drowning in.
That’s why in 2022, my manager of operations and I joined a TruPeer group. This gave us the operational discipline, visibility and peer accountability we were missing. We also went through Tony Williams’ boot camp to get my arms around how a healthy MSP should run.
I finished 2022 with $3,458,347 in topline revenue, but our EBITDA was still practically nonexistent. I was barely scraping by, with no real sales and marketing processes in place. I’d hired and fired multiple salespeople with no idea how to manage them, measure them or set them up to succeed. Desperate, I joined Technology Marketing Toolkit in 2023.
One of the core reasons I was drawn to TMT was Robin Robins herself, a woman owner aggressively winning in a male-dominated industry. Representation matters. I needed to see that it was possible, not just hear it. By that summer, I was in TMT’s Producers Club.
I started learning. And more importantly, I started implementing.
Losing People Saved My Company
Seven months after I took over LoyalITy, Inc., I closed an acquisition of another MSP out of Green Bay, roughly the same size at $2.5 million. The ink was barely dry before we discovered why the seller was so eager to close. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the MSP we acquired knew its major clients were leaving yet failed to disclose it. One contract alone was worth $22,000 in MRR. Another hadn’t paid in months and was quietly going out of business.
I went into action, cut staff and regrouped – then discovered I had a management team with its own agenda.
What I didn’t know until later: Three employees were building a competing IT business on my dime while collecting paychecks from me. When they were finally gone, they tried to take clients with them, leaving me tangled in a lawsuit. Fortunately, none of our best clients followed them out the door.
Some Of Our Best Growth Came After Our Worst Moments
When those three employees left, I promoted Matt, one of our best core technicians, to the manager-of-operations role. Together we learned the business from the ground up. We got into our numbers, tightened processes, focused on ticket closes, packaging and pricing. We clawed our way from negative EBITDA to 3%, then 4%, for a 7% swing.
At the 2024 Producers Club meeting in New Orleans, Robin Robins awarded me the Flaming Grenade Award and Brass Balls. My team and I laughed and celebrated everything we’d been through and survived.
Two months later, on St. Patrick’s Day, Matt, my partner in rebuilding this company, suffered a fatal heart attack at age 48.
For a few hours, I genuinely didn’t know if I could keep going. But as I’ve reminded myself more than once, in leadership nobody feels sorry for you. You get a little grace. Then you suck it up and move forward because your team is watching. After every hardship, I became stronger. After this one, my team rallied, and we all became stronger together.
Building The Machine That Tripled Our Net Profits
The first year with TMT wasn’t glamorous. In 2023, we finished at 2% EBITDA and $3,411,071 in topline. We were learning, not yet earning.
In 2024, we put our heads down and built: scrubbed prospect lists, hired sales development reps (SDRs), created our Shock-And-Awe box and aligned on our sales and marketing processes. We ended 2024 at 4.76% EBITDA and $3,258,557 in topline. Still not where we needed to be, but the engine was finally running.
Then 2025 happened. After 18 solid months of building, everything compounded. We closed $30,406 in new MRR, $1,094,000 in contract value, finished at $3,716,245 in topline, 12.82% EBITDA and less than 4% customer churn. Those results were good enough to earn me a spot as a 2026 Better Your Best finalist. I didn’t take home the trophy, but I did more than triple our net profits in two years. Not bad for someone who was told she’d never learn how to run an MSP.
The Marketing That Moved The Needle
Here’s what drove those results – and none of it is complicated. It just requires consistency and the courage to show up as an authority before you feel like one.
Trade Shows. But vet them first. We held our first trade show using TMT’s recommended approach. Attendance from our target market was lighter than expected, a lesson I took to heart about vetting events before committing. But even that “subpar” event produced four first-time appointments, proving that the process works regardless.
Shock-And-Awe Box. When a prospect receives this, the conversation changes before we ever walk in the door. We built both a physical and virtual version, so no prospect falls through the cracks.
Client Testimonials. We systematized the collection and deployment of testimonials – social proof that does the selling before we pick up the phone.
Drip Tips And Blogs. Consistent outreach through Drip Tip campaigns and regular blog content – including AI-driven blog posts on our website – keep us top of mind in our market every single month.
Outside Sales And SDR Team. We hired an outside sales rep and SDRs, trained them, held them accountable and scrubbed our lists until we had a real, accurate prospect database to work from.
The LoyalITy Newsletter. Every issue reinforces that we are the local cybersecurity and IT authority, not just a vendor. Trust is built in inches, and the newsletter builds it consistently.
Speaking Engagements. In 2026, we have a speaking event for 250 financial professionals. Speaking is one of our highest-ROI marketing activities. Most MSPs refuse to do it because it feels uncomfortable. That discomfort is exactly why it works.
Our Book: From Exposed To Secure. The ultimate credibility factor is handing a prospect the book I authored. It instantly positions me as an authority and does what no brochure or sales pitch can do: commands respect and answers why they should listen to me.
Vertical Specialization. On TMT’s recommendation, we narrowed our focus to four specific industries. This was a mindset shift, moving from “We’ll take anyone” to “We choose who we work with.” Specialization lets us speak their language, understand their compliance requirements and charge accordingly.
Building To $10 Million – So I Have The Option To Sell, Not The Obligation
2026 is our expansion year. We’re forecasting $3,983,357 in topline and 18.43% EBITDA. We’re opening a virtual office in Milwaukee (a market four times Green Bay’s size), where we already have clients and are making a systematic push to grow. Our goal: $50,000 in new MRR this year.
Three-year target: $5,528,000 in topline at 18% EBITDA. Five-year: $7,298,000. Ten-year: above $10 million, and in a position to sell if I want to, not because I must. I’ll be 55 and want the option, not the obligation.
The mindset shift that made all this possible isn’t a tactic. It’s a decision: Stop being the person who needs guidance and become the person who provides it. I spent years learning how to be an operator in a field I knew nothing about. Now I sit on panels, I take the stage, I write books and I show up as the authority – because I’ve earned the right.
You Don’t Get Points For Figuring It Out Alone
The real value of an MSP peer group is knowing you don’t have to solve every challenge alone. As a member of both Technology Marketing Toolkit and TruMethods Peer, I went from break-even to highly profitable in just two years.
Here’s what I know now that I wish someone had told me in 2018: You are not supposed to figure this out by yourself. The MSP industry is too competitive, the marketing landscape too complex and the financial levers too nuanced to learn purely from trial and error. Finding the right community, people who have already solved the problems you’re fighting, is not a shortcut – it’s a strategy.
I took over a business that no one believed I could run. I survived a hostile exit, a failed acquisition integration, a pandemic, toxic employees, a lawsuit and the devastating loss of my most trusted team member.
And I’m still standing. We’re growing. And now I’m the one in the room telling someone else, “You can do this.”
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