Want to start an IT Services company?
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- čas přidán 8. 02. 2021
- Inspired by a reddit comment, let's tackle the question "what should you do if you're new to the space?"
I’ve done two videos that are super popular - “If I were to start an MSP”, and “Don’t Start an MSP”. The first is about the type of business I would start now, and the second about the challenges of the market as they exist now, that did not exist when I first started.
If I was starting something today.. how would I disrupt my competitors? How would I disrupt and displace those established providers? Rather than gatekeeping… how could I stand before the gates and tell the invading army how to take them down?
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I started an msp back in 2015. Been in IT for 15 years total. I started out very small. But I chose my clients that were a fit instead of just adding random environments that were not a fit for what I am offering as a service. You have to be a people person in order for organizations to have interest in you. I managed 6 very small businesses that had a small staff with basic needs. I found what worked and did not work with my customers. You learn client relations and you get to know the lingo of business process. You eventually find out that in this business, you need to know who your customer is and what they do in the market. You figure out how to maintain revolving doors
Of a business you're managing and eventually you adapt to it and learn. Years later, these 6 clients grew and they needed better IT support to
Support all the users and devices. They left, i learn, I repeat but prevent
Mistakes of last encounter. I eventually hired the right folks and growth started to show. Those 6 clients came back to me and we are now a thriving managed IT with over 40 clients.
Congratulations on your success.
Do you have to go through vendors for all the products your customers need? Such as computers, routers, wiring, etc...?
@@forrestbirnbaum434 That’s up to you. You can alawys acquire products via the retail channel, or consider going through distribution and providing markup. There’s options and value in both.
I need an IT expert. Seriously need it.
Thank you sir! That's great insight and motivation.
Dave I love your thought process. When describing the new tech biz I was totally in line with it, saying that’s me to every one. The traditional way of MSP needs to be changed to be relevant or get left behind.
Im glad I watched this, Ive been thinking about starting a MSP recently but had a weird feeling stuck in the back of my mind that wasn't what I really was looking for. Im 27 and have had a smart phone since I was in middle school. I feel that's given me a serious leg up when is comes to mobile device support.
I never really thought about retiring the old titles and creating new one to meet modern day business need on mobile. Maybe focusing on just mobile would be something that I could do to really differentiate myself in the market.
Thank you for provoking that thought!
Glad to help. Find your niche, for sure - how you want to differentiate, and what services you can do uniquely in the market.
Great video. I am coming from the Enterprise world. I also have been working on implementing power automate and governance for our organization. This product can solve so many problems in SMB. I been really thinking about leaving the corporate world to start my own thing and your videos have inspired me to try something different. I think it's time.
Glad it helps. I have a piece called "What I would do if I was starting an MSP today" which also might help. czcams.com/video/JBPpO_yupnQ/video.html
thank you for sharing your knowledge, helps folks a lot!
Glad it was helpful!
Your awesome sir, you are right its Cloud services or nothing!
Very good assessment and thought provoking discussion
Glad you found it valuable.
Also I am in grad school for computer science and I am doing door to door sales to learn sales.
What type of sales would be best to learn for running an IT company?
This is awesome.
You blew me away. I am in South Africa.
Glad you got value!
Thank you sir !!
Most welcome!
I've watched your two most popular videos and now this one, looking to start an MSP similar to the model you have been suggesting. Can you point me towards any of your other content about starting a new MSP? Or would you suggest another good external resource?
I'd recommend taking a look at the piece I did on eCommerce (czcams.com/video/sQJcAmfMdXw/video.html) as well. Everything of mine is here on the channel, or the podcast at businessof.tech/.
There are a number of good resources out there. My friend Karl Palachuk has a number of resources at www.smallbizthoughts.com
Agree or disagree! I agree!!
It’s about discussion and u read the comments great!
I came looking for info bc a friend of mine was talking about IT business!
I’m watching ur other vids now 😁
I would love future feedback so I’m just planting my seed meow for discussions 😸
I'm glad you found this valuable!
As a cloud-first MSP this largely echoes my own feelings; however, RMM is also commoditized so it's pretty dirt cheap to have and it does presently fill in certain gaps to create great customer experiences, so I wouldn't say forego it per se, especially as you start to scale up, but you don't need to go with a particularly complex or expensive one. Conversely, if you were doing all Chromebooks/Android/iOS or something like that then, by all means, forego it.
Fair points. Mostly, many just over think the RMM. It's not that important in the grand scheme... certainly not for the space it occupies.
doing tech sence 89, thinking full stack development, now rethinking. Enjoy your perspective although I was doing that with Intuit, funny how I didn't think to do the same.
There is going to be a real need for those tho do development for small companies. Worth spending time there too.
You look great.
Not sure if the support side of things is lagging in the US but every single MSP I know of has managed services for mobile and tablets, for the last 5+ years at least. If not intune somethjng like mosyle or jamf. You talk about the cloud but theres three perfectly viable solutions in on prem, hybrid and full cloud via AWS or Azure. That depends on the business, their current kit, warranty, their business goals etc. Its nowhere near as straightforward as you speak and theres lots to consider like SLAs, contracts, time management / support, theres also a huge investment personally on platforms to support businesses. What about disaster recover or business continuity options? Your video feels like it was made 15 years ago buddy! I've 30 years in technical myself, from education to small businesses to large corporations, from MSP to corporate IT, in management and project teams so I've been around the block!
First off, thanks for watching. This video is two years old, so market conditions do change over time. The basic premise of this video is if you were starting fresh today with no legacy and no customers, what would you do. Thus, I'd recommend someone start very simple -- so yes, the video is going to over simplify for cause, to focus on what the highest value first service would be.
You've surrounded yourself with good peer MSPs, which is a good sign for your business. The broader market, as measured by survey data, indicates that not all providers are handling mobile and tablets. Good on you for having higher performing peers.
I have an entire video called "Don't Start an MSP" which is a lot of what you highlight -- this is a hard business!
ITPros Management will get you right!💯 beat company for IT support !
I want to learn how to build an IT firm.
But what do IT firms sell?
You will want to think about the products and services that potential customers need. My colleague Karl Palachuk offers a lot of information that I’ll share here- smallbizthoughts.com/
Of course, I have a number of videos here on the channel about what this solution is. You might consider starting with my "What is a Managed Services Provider" video too to get the history and learn more.
@@MSPRadio thank you very much for the help. I greatly appreciate it
Server and Application support falls in same category?
In a typical SMB support scenario, you’re going to need to figure out both. Ideally, you’re doing zero server support, leveraging the cloud, so your emphasis is application support. As we go into 2024, it should be rare to non-existent to be deploying servers.
@MSPRadio thanks for your response. If I am planning to provide support for a critical Manufacturing application (I worked with application vendor in 5 years and known it inside out). Now want to reach out to clients directly and offer support. Would such business work. I need as much info as possible...pleaseeee
Focus on that as your offering, and partner for the other pieces.
Smart! No pun intended 😅
Well, I do try! Thanks!
There was zero useful information in this video 😂
What were you looking for that you didn’t find?
A kid talking don't even comment back ..
WRONG.
I'm always glad someone has a takeaway from my work, even if they completely disagree with it -- and decide I'm entirely wrong and do something else. May you go forth and have an incredibly successful business, and I want to hear all about it.