The Power of a Niche: How Far Out Solutions Dominated the Property Management Industry

From its roots in residential services, Far Out Solutions has evolved to one of the largest MSPs working with property management firms, offering them a one-stop shop for the entire technology lifecycle under one umbrella, including IT, cybersecurity, cloud, compliance, VoIP, low-voltage infrastructure, access control, and internet management. This strategy has driven growth organically to $12 million in annual revenue with an average YoY growth rate of 20% over the last three years. The Winter Park, Fla.-based MSP has 150 employees across the U.S. and international teams, plus a large network of subcontractors.

In addition, the company was recently recognized with the Kaseya Partner Excellence Award at the second annual MSP Titans of the Industry Award Gala in December.

MSP Success recently sat down with Zaid AlChalabi, co-founder and COO of Far Out Solutions. Prior to coming to the United States in 2010, AlChalabi was a director of IT for over 500 employees in Iraq in a telecommunications company. In this Q&A, he shares how the company has grown successfully by focusing on customer expansion, stack standardization, and operational maturity. He also recounts how a messy server closet led to a successful niche.

MSP Success: You’ve said that 70% of your customer base is property management companies. Why did you decide to focus on that vertical?

Zaid AlChalabi: When we started the business, most of our customers were residential. One of the residential customers was working for a property manager and they took us to their property. I will never forget that night. It changed everything. Their office was a mess. The network rack was like a rat’s nest. I stayed there overnight. They came in around 7:00 a.m. the [next] morning, and I had moved everything out and cleaned the network and saved them $700 a month worth of internet circuits they didn’t even know they were paying for. From there, word of mouth [spread].

MSP Success: Has there been a vendor, tool, or peer group that has been instrumental in getting you to where you are today?

AlChalabi: Yes. Kaseya’s ecosystem; Autotask, Datto RMM, and MyITprocess have been foundational. Ninety percent of our stack is Kaseya because of all the integration and automation. Equally important have been [Kaseya’s] peer MSP groups (TMT and TruPeer) that allow for honest, operator-level conversations, not just surface-level benchmarking.

MSP Success: What are your top 3 growth indicators you use to measure your company, and why?

AlChalabi: 1.) Revenue per customer shows whether we’re truly solving problems, not just adding logos. Our slogan is, “Use technology to make you money, save you money, and enhance your operation.” 2.) Service stack penetration, which measures how many customers adopt our full ecosystem (security, network, VoIP, backup, etc.), which directly correlates to retention and profitability. And 3.) Operational margin by service line growth—without healthy margins it isn’t growth; it’s risk. In everything there is a cost. We grow the company, we add the employees, we add [tools], and that cost will eat from your margin and your profit. So that’s why using automation [and] using more integrated technologies like Kaseya will help a lot.

MSP Success: What is one key secret to your success over the past year or so?

AlChalabi: Relentless standardization paired with transparency. We standardized our technology stack, pricing, and processes while being very honest with customers about risks, gaps, and tradeoffs. That trust accelerated decision-making.

MSP Success: What were your biggest challenges this past year related to growth?

AlChalabi: Scaling leadership and accountability fast enough. Revenue can grow quickly, but building managers, directors, and systems that scale—people, quality, and culture—takes intentional effort.

MSP Success: Is there a book you’ve read that has strongly influenced your leadership style or business operations that you can recommend to other MSPs?

AlChalabi: Traction by Gino Wickman. It reinforced the importance of clarity, accountability, and execution, especially for service-based organizations that can easily become reactive.

“Growth is a result of focus—not noise.”

What is the top lesson you’ve had to learn that has been instrumental to your company’s growth?

AlChalabi: You can’t scale by doing more yourself. Growth only becomes sustainable when you design systems that work without you in the room. I learned that the hard way, actually. I think that’s a problem for most MSPs. We are not businessmen; we are techs. We have a passion about the tech and as a tech, you usually want to be hands-on and resolve the problem. I was lucky by hiring good people. So the minute that you know how to let [the hands-on tech work] go, you will grow for sure.

MSP Success: What advice would you give to other MSPs looking to grow their businesses?

AlChalabi: Stop chasing every opportunity. Pick a niche, standardize aggressively, invest in leadership early, and measure what actually matters. Growth is a result of focus—not noise.

RELATED: For more growth advice, read how one successful MSP applied lessons he learned in the military to steer his business: From Tank Commander to Tech Commander: How Ray Coffin Is Driving All-Access Infotech’s Growth