I posted this last summer but the content continues to be extremely relevant and it’s important for me to reiterate again. Now take your foot off the damned brake and keep reading…
A very important reality of running a successful MSP came to mind recently after watching a list of dumb TikTok challenges: Styling Your Hair with Gorilla Glue, The Skull-breaker Challenge (yep, exactly what it sounds like), and The Benadryl challenge (where you take enough of the medicine to start hallucinating and post a video of your dumb ass high as a kite)… It’s at moments like this I am reminded by Einstein’s quote, “There are only two things that are infinite – the universe and the stupidity of mankind, and I’m not so sure about the universe.”
On the topic of CHALLENGES in your MSP…
I get challenged EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. First, by people who feel they can put their monkeys on my back, try to intimidate me, guilt me, obligate me, interrupt me and waste my time with their stupidity, drama and rumors.
I also am constantly challenged by circumstances in business on a day-to-day basis. In 2020, Covid shutdowns were brutal. Right now, the challenges of inflation, shortages and supply-chain issues, and a tough labor market are taxing, to say the least. We are still dealing with a number of event-related problems from the hotel industry. Six to 12 months from now, something else will happen. As the saying goes, it’s always something.
Of course, I know from experience I’ll whip ‘em more often than not, not stopped but stalled and momentarily frustrated by the ones that I don’t, coming back to fight another day. In a few years, most will be forgotten, overshadowed by that moment’s challenge of the day.
Secretly, there are times when I wish for a challenge-free business, where plans, people and projects just work like they’re supposed to on smooth, paved highway on a clear and sunny day – but I might as well wish for the ability to sprout wings and fly. At least that is something I have a chance at achieving. Wishing for easier circumstances WITH the same income, growth and progress is only a guarantee of bitter disappointment and growing resentment over everything. A fool’s wish. No one achieves any accomplishment of significance with ease.
When faced with a challenge in your MSP business, do you back off, roll over and accept it, or do you fight like a rabid junkyard dog to obliterate it?
It is, after all, our willingness to stand up to and overcome challenges, problems and limitations that govern our outcomes in life. How hard do you continue to fight for a goal? How many times do you try again? Overcome the pile of obstacles in the way? To pick up the pieces and go again…and again…and again? How fast do you dust yourself off and go again? A minute? An hour? Day? Week? Sometime years later?
Pushing through the daily grind of challenges is HARD on a person. You question your own sanity at times, second-guessing if you’re a total fool for keeping at it or just an impatient genius at work on the right path that needs just one more shot… The onslaught of challenges can deeply fatigue you. Something I struggle with often. Am I working too hard? Shouldn’t this be easier? Shouldn’t I be further along by now?
Here’s what I know: The success-driven person will constantly be at battle for the entirety of their life. This includes YOU too while running your MSP.
We just can’t roll over and “let it be.” There’s always another level, always a bigger game, always something that needs fixing and improving. A wall that needs to be taken down, leapt over, crawled around, dug through or simply smashed. On some level, it’s pure insanity. But overall, it’s what makes life worth living and gives pride, satisfaction and meaning to our lives. Take away the challenges of life and you take away life itself.
We are hosting a 2-day in-person event this fall where my focus is removing the sales challenges for your MSP. You’ll discover how to sell more high-dollar IT and managed service contracts WITHOUT fee resistance, discounting or manipulative, hard-close sales tactics.
So many MSPs put ALL their effort into service delivery and becoming technically savvy, but spend very little time on thinking about how they approach the single most important STARTING point of every client relationship: the SALES process. During this event you’ll get an easy, straightforward approach to the IT services sales process, as well as a step-by-step blueprint on how to build your sales team.
