MSP Success - Volume 1 Issue 11

MSP SUCCEESSS MAGAZINE

WADING THROUGH CRAP

Mike Rowe Digs Into The Dirty Truth About Authenticity And Influence In The World

MSP OR MSSP? What's The Difference And Should You Make The Transition?

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Why You Can't Find Great Sales People And What To Do About It Now

Don't Burn Your Profits

How Hundreds Of Thousands In Sales And Profits Leak Out Of Your MSP On A Daily Basis

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January 2021

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January 2021 CONTENTS

4 Old School Wisdom: The Yiddish Adage That STILL Holds True 6 Grow Faster: Should Your MSP Become An MSSP? 8 Who Are YOU: How Your MSP Can Stand Out In The ‘Sea Of Sameness’ 10 MSP Success Business Feature: Contigo Technology 14 Part 4: The Biggest Ways MSPs Burn Profits 22 Fill Your ToolBox: 5 Tech Tools All MSPs Need

23 Critical Mistake: One BIG Reason You’re Not Able To Find And Recruit TOP Sales Professionals

24 Laugh A Little 25

Your One-Page Strategic Plan: Implementing A Vital Tool For Planning Success 27 Successful Quips: Take A Note From These Entrepreneurs' Playbooks

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Wading Through Crap: Mike Rowe Digs Into The Dirty Truth About Authenticity

And Influence In The World

The paper used in the production of MSP Success Magazine includes post-con-

sumer waste and is produced using sound environmental practices, waste reduction, and energy-efficient opera - tions. Our paper has FSC certification and passes the SFI Chain-of-Custody Standard. Read more at WFPaperCo.com/sustainability.html.

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LETTER FROM THE EDI TOR

Man Plans, God Laughs An Old Yiddish Adage

In the classic novel "A Tale Of Two Cities," Charles Dickens opens with the often-quoted phrase: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” What many don’t know is that he continued on to say: “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”

What truer words could be said for the times we’re living in right now?

Immediately after the coronavirus spread worldwide, Red Roof hotels started offering cheap day rates as low as $29 for hotel rooms turned office suites — complete with fast internet — to remote workers desperate for a quiet place to get work done. Many gyms started livestreaming home workout classes and offering plans, giving them a product that many will continue to offer even after being allowed to open up again. A restaurant owner (whose name escapes me) was featured on TV to talk about how he transformed his seafood restaurant to a curbside pickup for fresh seafood, which kept his company-owned fishing boats operating when he could no longer serve meals in his restaurant. He said the service is very lucrative and he plans to continue to offer it after restrictions have been lifted. As you may be aware, our annual event with 1,200 people was shut down three weeks prior to going live last spring. In a mad rush, we turned it into a virtual event, completely revamping the sessions, speakers, delivery, and content. It was no small feat. We’ve since launched Big Red Virtual (BigRedVirtual.com), our new virtual event platform and service that we’re now selling to various companies trying to do the same. I anticipate it being a $6 million division by the end of 2021, and it wasn’t even on our radar early in 2020. Here's my point: The best-laid plans are often rendered useless, and fast, decisive, and adaptive actions need to be taken. How quickly you can adapt and change course is in direct correlation with your ability to not only survive but also make a LOT of money. You’ve heard the phrase “survival of the fittest,” which originated in Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way to describe the process of natural selection and survival. However, the concept of “fittest” is inaccurate. It’s actually the most adaptive who survive, not necessarily the fastest or strongest. Being big and strong didn’t save the dinosaurs, but cockroaches have survived millions of years because of their incredible ability to adjust and persist through the various changes on our planet. There ARE plenty of opportunities right now for IT companies, but these opportunities may require expansion into new services, new products, and new initiatives. Most MSPs get into a one-track way of doing things and stay there, NOT inventing or disrupting themselves but simply trying to do more of the same. The entrepreneurial MSP has a broader vision and is willing to see and quickly act on new opportunities as they present themselves, or better yet, get out of the cave and LOOK for them. Over this past year, what have YOU been focused on? Survival? Growth? Or perhaps expansion of your current model through innovation and new

Founder and CEO, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc.

opportunities? It’s been nearly a year since all hell broke loose. Maybe treading water for a month was necessary to figure out what the heck was going on and to reassess, but now, if you’re NOT innovating, NOT expanding, and NOT growing, you may end up extinct. Money is moving. The question is this: Are you doing everything possible to put yourself in the flow of it, and if not, why? n

INNOVATE

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ON THE HOR I ZON

Should You Transition Your MSP To An MSSP? Here's What You Need To Know Before Making The Decision

The explosive, global demand by businesses of all sizes for a focused set of managed services that can identify, investigate, and respond to security threats presents a huge opportunity for forward-thinking MSPs. Here, we look at the differences between a traditional MSP and a managed security service provider (MSSP), the advantages of becoming an MSSP, and how to start the transition. Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) vs. Managed Service Provider (MSP) The managed security services market has grown to include a wide range of security and risk management services but is still often misunderstood by buyers and vendors alike. To clear up any confusion, let’s start with the basic definitions. An MSP provides a technology stack and manages a customer’s IT and infrastructure issues while providing a remote help desk for IT support. Some MSPs, of course, offer cybersecurity and compliance offerings but are not considered an MSSP because they lack a security operations center, among other offerings. An MSSP is essentially an MSP, except an MSSP also specializes in security for their customers in addition to the standard managed IT services, like endpoint management and help desk support. The term is fairly new, and the majority of MSPs have not yet developed the security solutions they need to address this growing market. Gartner defines MSSPs as: • The delivery of security operation capabilities via shared services from remote security operations centers (SOCs) , not through on-site personnel or remote services delivered on a one-to-one basis to a single customer • The remote 24/7 monitoring of security events and security-related >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28

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