“You can’t steer a parked car.”
In the latest episode of our podcast, My First Million, Karla Zehnder, CEO of Hodgson Consulting and Solutions, an MSP based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, dug into how to get started and keep on trucking past the obstacles that get in her way. Here’s the key advice and strategies that helped her overcome indecision and took her to her first million.
Overcoming Obstacles With A Systematic Approach
In the MSP space, two struggles are nearly inevitable: wrong-fit clients and lead shortages. Hodgson Consulting is no exception—one of their very first setbacks was “biting off more than [we] could chew,” says Zehnder. “We were taking on clients that weren’t necessarily a right fit.”
However, their biggest setback was exclusively using referrals to get new clients. “When we did lose a client to acquisition or whatever, we didn’t have an easy way to replace that client,” Zehnder explains. “And getting clients just on referrals is sporadic. Eventually you’ll reach a point where you don’t get a lot of referrals, because the fact is, people only know so many people.” Eventually, your clients will run out of acquaintances to recommend you to. The referral well is not bottomless.
Developing a systematic, repeatable method to fill their marketing funnel was a gamechanger for Zehnder. “I’m not going to say that the leads come easily, but they do come more predictably,” she says. “If you do the right activities, push forward, and are running a process to get more clients in your strategic marketing campaigns, you’ll end up with a predictable result.”
Metrics, Metrics, Metrics
Tracking her metrics forced Zehnder to sit down and take a look at where her MSP actually was. “We had to figure out first what our baseline was, and where we wanted to go,” she says.
“Then we started to look deeper into how much we were spending on specific areas of the business. We thought we were spending a lot on marketing, but we were actually spending less than what we should have been. It allowed us to get a better gauge on which areas we should be spending more in, and which we should be spending less,” Zehnder explains. This information has better equipped Zehnder to make decisions such as when to hire new employees and when to begin new marketing campaigns.
“It’s been crucial for us to map that out,” Zehnder says. “Seeing it in black and white is very eye-opening and enlightening.”
Always Keep Learning
Continuous learning has been crucial to Zehnder’s—and her MSP’s—success. A large part of that has been learning from others. “We’ve been surrounded by experts in all different areas,” Zehnder says, in reference to her time as part of the TMT community. “This team has a way of knowing what we need.”
Hodgson Consulting has received education in several areas, including marketing, sales, mentorship, and different business mindsets. “There are tons of different experts that we get to learn from and ask questions of right there,” she says.
Beyond seeking out experts, Zehnder has also learned quite a bit from other MSPs. “We have our peer groups. We can sit down at the same table with others from our industry and understand how they’re doing business, compared to how we’re doing business,” Zehnder says.
The varied educational topics she has access to, as well as the community with other MSPs, has been immensely helpful for Zehnder. “I couldn’t have gone to one school to get this kind of education. There’s just no way.”
Kill Your Indecision
It’s time to kill your indecision, before your indecision kills you. Zehnder relays a key piece of advice on the topic from her father: “You can’t steer a parked car.”
As for what that means, Zehnder explains, “As long as you get up and go in a direction, even if you realize that’s the wrong direction, you can always course correct. You can turn around. But you can’t steer a parked car.”
Early in her business, Zehnder struggled with questioning her decisions and worrying about making the wrong choice. Instead of committing to an idea and possibly making a mistake, she would waffle about the right course of action—and make no progress. Today, she uses her father’s advice as a guiding principle in all the decisions they make.
“Instead of sitting there in the land of indecision, the fact that you’re even making a decision puts you into the top 5% of people on the planet—those who are actually making a move. My advice to the new [MSPs] coming out is to just make a decision and go,” Zehnder says.
For more advice and strategies that led Hodgson Consulting and Solutions to their first million, including financial planning advice and how to master work-life balance, check out the full podcast episode here. If you missed the last installment of My First Million, learn how innovation and core values got Huey and Tito Huynh to their first million.
