Here’s a little statistic that might shock you about the IT services industry: 79% of the people running businesses in this industry never break the million-dollar mark. And that’s even after being in business for 10 years on average or more.
What’s even more surprising is 51 percent never even get to the half million-dollar mark. And that’s with all the resources, all the marketing, all the access to information and the growing demand for IT services.
The industry right now is exploding. If you look at the mergers and acquisitions that are happening, it’s because private equity has tons of money and they want to buy into this industry.
Not only did COVID increase the demand for remote work solutions in IT, but it also created a greater need for cybersecurity. Plus, you’ve got more and more states implementing compliance regulations on cybersecurity and data privacy.
So all of these things combined, every single IT firm out there that wants to grow should be able to grow because the demand is there, the need is there, the profits are there.
So why don’t they grow? Why do they get stuck after 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, never breaking the million-dollar mark?
The single biggest reason is because they think like a tech with helpers and not as entrepreneurs. It’s as simple as that.
To quote Michael Gerber: “They are a technician suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure.” So they think because they’re good at networking, because they’re good at fixing a computer or troubleshooting a computer, they think,“I’m going to start a business. That way I can get rid of the boss, and I can keep all the money and I’ll have all this freedom.”
And they think because they’re good technically at doing the work, that they’re going to be good at running a business. They are two entirely different skill sets. And so what they end up doing is hiring more techs.
Data came out from Cisco that said the average IT firm out there is eight people. Who are these eight people? Well, one typically is going to be the wife who’s the indentured servant doing all the marketing or doing the billing, the taxes, the payroll, whatever, you know, trying to help the husband. She’s either getting paid nothing or paid next to nothing, you know, like I said, indentured servant.
But then what they do is they start hiring a tech. So the first hire is a tech to help them with the technical work to do their job. Then they hire another tech, then they might hire another tech, then maybe they’ll hire an admin. But they rarely get to hiring sales and marketing people, operations and leaders within the organization.
So basically what they build is a glorified job with helpers. And when you build a business, which is really not a business, you’re building a job with helpers.
You can’t scale it that way because your operations brain is like, “Look, I just need to work. Leave me alone because if something’s going to get done, I’ve got to be the one to do it. I’ve got to run around babysitting everyone, begging everyone to do their work, trying to just work and doing it, doing it, doing it. If I just work harder, if I just work smarter, if I work weekends, if I work 12-hour days, if I plow through this, it’ll all be fine.”
So no growth. And they don’t get financial security. And then someday they’re going to wake up and go, you know, “I’d like to retire,” and they’re not going to be able to because the business isn’t worth anything and they’re shocked to find out nobody wants to buy their business. They just want to give them a little bit of money or some kind of really measly earn out. And that’s a shame because there’s so much opportunity out there.
So, if you’re an MSP and you want to learn how to grow profitably with sanity and you want to get to where you are earning seven figures plus in your MSP, there’s a new workshop that I have coming up.
We’re doing five of these across the country. It is seven steps to a seven-figure earning MSP, and right below, there’s a link. You can click on it, you can register, and I am literally going to be giving you a blueprint for how to grow your MSP to a perfect profit generating machine with systems and processes, with goals, with metrics, with a good team, good culture that isn’t driving you crazy and having you lie awake at night worrying about where’s the money coming from.
That’s what this blueprint is going to be. That’s on day one. On day two, we’re going to be giving you the digital marketing blueprint and simplifying all the digital marketing that’s out there to the five things that you need to do to grow your MSP. So click on the link below to register. Seating is limited, so make sure you grab your seat, and bring a significant other, business partner, or someone who is key to your organization.
