The NOT an MSP Show

Andrew Moon: And just
like that, we're in 2023

Scott Riley: Wow.

Richard Tubb: Wow.

Andrew Moon: I I should have had
some confetti shootout right there

at the beginning of the show.

Exactly.

Richard Tubb: Where's your call?

Sand effects.

Andrew Moon: horned up,

Richard Tubb: There we go.

Andrew Moon: uh, how you
guys doing this morning?

It's this morning for me.

It's the end of the day for you guys.

So

Richard Tubb: is, yeah.

Happy New Year to you.

Andrew Moon: Likewise.

Yeah.

Anybody do anything exciting during
their, their holiday time off?

I think.

Pete Matheson: I, I managed
to get ill on Christmas day.

I, I survived Christmas day
up until like 6:00 PM and then

I got ill, so that's good.

That's the success.

Richard Tubb: Oh, I spent the week
before Christmas getting ready for

Christmas by escaping from the world.

Uh, my wife Claire and I went to a
cottage in North Humber, which is in the.

What do they call it?

The dark skies area, you know, where
there's no light pollution or anything.

So it was absolute bliss.

And then we came back just
before Christmas to the absolute

chaos that is Christmas.

So

Andrew Moon: and now we're full
tilt pedal, the metal in 2023.

So yeah, we were talking
about some craziness already.

The faas is having problems here
in the States, so if you had to

travel by airplane today, good luck.

I think Pete, you found was the royal
males having issues over there today, so

Richard Tubb: today,

Pete Matheson: found that one.

Andrew Moon: he's like, yeah, it's
not a one day occurrence, I guess.

So.

Pete Matheson: They must just get to
the stage where they're like, ah, f it,

it's, it is a, it's a computer problem.

It's, yeah.

Nothing to do with us

Andrew Moon: Yeah, they just
blame it all on the computer

guy and everybody says okay.

So yeah.

Good stuff.

Yeah.

Hard to believe.

It's Scott and I.

You were talking, we cannot
believe it's 2023 already.

Uh, we're, I just feel I'm with you.

I just feel like I'm getting
into the swing of 2023 this week.

Um, yeah, lots of exciting
stuff coming up for 2023.

So in that vein, I thought what we
would do is talk about goals and New

Year's resolutions, or whatever you
want to call it this time of year.

Um, but I see it being still
a pain point, uh, for so many

folks, uh, around goal setting.

Uh, so I thought what we would do is
just bounce some ideas about maybe

trying something a little bit different.

Um, something that might work a little
bit better, especially for most of

our audience, which are IT folks.

Uh, our brains tend to think
a little bit differently.

Um, so I, I, like, again, I just wanted
to talk about are there ways where we

might be able to do something differently?

And I know, Richard, you've got a lot to
talk about with goals and productivity and

things, and, uh, probably have some great
ideas to share with the audience today.

So why don't you go ahead and
kick us off if you wouldn't mind,

uh, to throw you out on the spot.

I like, I, I look up to you and your,
your productivity, uh, guru for me.

Uh, I've learned a lot from you, so.

Richard Tubb: Well, I've, I've learned
an awful life from, I, I'm getting

self, you know, say that some of
the best people in the industry have

spent time with me sort of sharing me.

Now I am the world's
biggest procrastinator.

I've talked about this on the show
before, so I've had to work really

hard at goal setting and, you know,
productivity and things of that

nature, uh, you know, throughout my
career to, to get to where I have.

So I'm honored that you look up to
me in that respect, Andrew, but I'm

telling everybody out there, Uh,
but I am having to work so hard to

actually get stuff done, , cuz it's
in my basic nature not to do stuff.

But when it comes to, to goals, one
of the things that, that I've learned

and done for the past few years, and
I think Scott has done this as, as

well, this time around every year, I
set myself what I call my three words.

And so I've got my three words for,
for 2023 that I've shared, um, with,

uh, with everyone publicly, basically.

Uh, but every year basically I set
out three words that are gonna be

not so much goals, but guidelines or
way that, you know, buffers that can

put me in the right direction for
the goals I actually want to achieve.

Hope that makes sense.

So if I share with you my three
words for 2023, and obviously I'm no

longer an M S P, uh, here, but this
is something I did when I was an Ms.

P and it served me really, really well.

So my.

if I actually, if I share my three
words for 2022, first of all, they

were subtract forgiveness and fun.

So I think a, uh, a couple of
those are fairly self-explanatory,

sort of forgiveness and fun.

Subtract was, I wanted to look at my
year and remove things, remove the

relationships, remove the, the day-to-day
tasks, remove the activities that I

were, was doing that no longer served me.

And so many of you know, I, you know,
I stepped down, uh, from the tech drive

because, uh, I was, uh, neglecting my
own business perhaps to a, a degree.

And I went to less business events,
uh, uh, less IT conferences, just

so I could free some of my time up.

So I look back, uh, at 2022 and those
three words serve me really, really well.

So my three words for 2023 that I put
out there are Share slow and students.

and the summaries of those who I shared.

I wanna share more of my story,
my knowledge, my routines,

my habits, and my contacts.

I wanna share them through blogs,
uh, podcasts and things of that

nature, uh, because it gives me
a, a, a great deal of pleasure.

As, and Andrew, you've just said, you
know, you look up to the productivity

other people have shared with me.

And now I hope I get the opportunity,
opportunity to share my routines and

things with other people as well.

And I hope that helps them.

Slow, I think is a, an
evolution of subtract there.

I want to politely decline more.

I wanna do less.

I wanna think and reflect more and
just enjoy a slower pace of life.

I'm really intrigued to hear in the chat.

Who else wants to slow down in 2023?

Because I think after the pandemic
and a hell over 2022, most people

I know wanna slow down to the.

And student, my third word,
I wanna be more curious.

Uh, I want to overcome this resistance
to being a beginner and looking a little

bit like an idiot when I start out
things, uh, uh, for the first time there.

So I'm doing lots of courses
and loads of new things, both

personally and professionally.

So, uh, hope that makes sense, guys.

My three words for 2023 there, and it's
a good, I've always found it's a good

guideline and it's something I learned
from, uh, New York Times bestselling

author, author Chris Brogan, who
first put that idea in front of me.

But maybe that'll
resonate with some people.

Andrew Moon: Man, that's a, that's a
name I haven't heard in a long time.

I met Chris, man, that was probably 2011.

He was at a keynote in Columbus where I
had my IT business, so I got to meet him.

So yeah, I haven't, I

Richard Tubb: great guy.

Andrew Moon: He is, he is fantastic.

So, yeah, I, it rock stars
agrees with you, has the

procrastination problem as well.

Uh, hi.

His three words are, make more money.

I'm gonna come back to that in a
minute cuz I think Yeah, we'll,

we'll talk about that in a, a minute.

So, but no, those are, those are great.

Having three key words.

I'm down to one.

I'll share that in a couple minutes.

Uh, rock, paper, scissors, Scott,
Pete, who wants to go next and kind

of share what your thoughts are on
goal setting, how you're tackling that

this year, uh, whether or not you're
going to keep it the same as last year.

I know it's like, which directions?

Scott Riley: He's got me, he's got me.

I should have gone bunny up
and then whoever was left.

Andrew Moon: you go.

Actually, I'll just pick you here.

There we go.

So who, whoever I pick on camera, go

Scott Riley: Well, so I, I looked
at our, our chat for what we're

gonna talk about today as well.

And it's like, should
we just abandon goals?

Um, and should we, you know, just
forget about them and not bother?

And I'm like, no, heck no.

You need, you need to put things down.

And there's some statistics somewhere
that'll say, Hey, you know, if, um, you

know, the, the more people are successful
and 10 times more successful if they write

down their goals and, and, you know, than
people who don't write down their goals.

Regardless of that, I think like
that simple adage of what gets

measured, gets done is, is so true.

And I think we are really able to
just breeze from like, like we just

said, somehow it's 2023, somehow
we're halfway through winter.

Somehow we've, we've had a pandemic
and last two years, like if you're

not making plans, you'll just breeze
from one situation to the next.

And also, I th I think especially
in like the IT world, we can end

up with a lot of firefighting.

We'll just enjoy those quiet moments of
calm until the next crisis comes along

and you end up just crisis managing
rather than actually being tactical

about what you want for the year.

Um, and you know, we talk
about this all the time, right?

Just before Christmas we talked about
planning in your holidays for the year.

I'm done.

My, my holidays are planned in.

They're all blocked out in the
calendar for the whole year.

Eight weeks of holiday.

Oh my.

Yeah, they're, they're
there, they're already

Richard Tubb: Nice.

Scott Riley: um, So that like, because
we do this, the entire room behind me has

just gone, he's taken eight weeks off.

Yes, yes I have.

Um, but, but because we, we always
do that, that like owner, manager,

whatever it is, thing where we go,
oh yeah, I'll, I'll find my holidays

as I go through the year and I'll
find time and, but you don't.

So putting them in now, that's booked.

That's done.

They're all booked in.

Um, the same for those, um, you
know, financial goals that we talked

about again, just before Christmas,
of saying, well, you know, as

the owner, I'll pay myself some
dividends when there's some money.

And we talked about like profit first
and making sure that we're putting

that money aside all the time.

That whole thing of what
gets measured gets done.

I think you have to have plans.

And I'm a big fan, not that we do it like.

Regularly here in, in Cloud Nexus,
but I'm a big fan of traction.

So Gino Wickman's approach
of just setting those goals.

What is it that you want to
achieve in three to five years?

Okay, what is it you need to achieve
then in the shorter term, what is

it you need to achieve this year?

And then, okay, well this quarter,
in the next 90 days, what are the

things that you want to achieve?

Let's get those documented.

Let's communicate those
to the entire team.

And then now we're all kind of
playing towards in the same direction.

But again, you know, I find
that when I speak to M S P

owners, they're just so busy.

The idea of of, of stopping to plan
might happen, but then to communicate

that and to break it down and to
distribute it to the entire team so

everyone's on the same wavelength, that
doesn't happen as often as it should.

And so I think it's really, really
important for us to get those goals

down and get them, get them on the plan.

Um, I did have two little
glib comments though that I

thought are, are, are perfect.

For this because you always have to adapt.

And so either you can choose from
no plan survives first contact with

the enemy from, uh, Helmouth Von
Malka, the elder nice in, uh, 1890.

Um, or you can have, everyone has a plan
until they get punched in the mouth.

Mike Tyson.

Um, so you've, you've
got to be adapted, right?

But that's why it's great in traction.

You think about what you want to achieve
in three years, in one year and then in 90

days, and then depending on your success
in those 90 days, you can pivot, right?

And you can see how things are gonna go.

Cuz we all know it.

It changes all the time.

Everything shifts all the time.

Your vendors are getting acquired.

Microsoft have announced 10% price
hikes, all the, all the fun stuff.

Um, so you have to be adaptable.

But that is no excuse to not plan, right?

Get planning, set your goals.

What is it you wanna achieve?

Definitely book those holidays in,
um, and make a plan for the year.

Andrew Moon: Yeah.

Yeah.

Ian Groves is the traction
book, uh, for him.

Uh, for sure.

So, Yeah, I think it's,
I, I agree with you there.

Uh, to some ex to some extent, I,
I got a little change of mindset

on, on that, you know, based upon
just coaching those in the IT space.

Uh, Pete, but we'll let
you go first or, yeah.

Next we'll throw you

Pete Matheson: sure.

So, I, I, I've said this a few times,
like what do we do every year is we sit

down, we plan out our coming year so
much like Scott's done, we've already

planned out our holidays for the
next kind of coming 12 months or so.

We've got basically booking
one holiday in a quarter.

So at least we know we've got those
kind of things to look forward to.

Um, the thing I've had and, and I was even
sitting up last night, it kept me a weight

last night just going back and forth over
things of, I, I know that I work too much.

I'm, I'm a workaholic.

I enjoy working too much, but then
I also enjoy like the other things

like not working and like family
and all the other kind of things.

So I keep going back and forth between
like kind of what, what Richard goes

to there, like slowing down and just
not having to do as much constantly.

But there's, um, I, I think, um,
Scotty Miller from, uh, the IT

Rockstar, so they're like, here's
three words, were make more money.

And it's just that, that's always
like in the back of my mind, like,

make more money, why wouldn't you?

But then.

Why do you need to make
more money constantly?

Like I'm kind of, we, we
are fine where we are.

Um, and I think I said in a few
times last time, my, my goal

really is to sustain what I've got.

So I'm not looking to grow and
expand and like hire loads of

people or do anything like that.

And I know it's a bit different to an a s
P side of things, but, but not necessarily

because if you are comfortable where
you are, there's no reason to push and

grow and do all those kind of things.

It's always a good idea to, you know, take
on new clients because then if you happen

to have any fall off from any clients
that glow, then you've got some, you

know, some, some clients to replace that.

But you don't have to go full pelts
working every hour under the sun

just to grow for the sake of growing.

Just be happy with where you are.

And I keep, I keep to, I keep telling
myself that I am happy where I am and I

don't need to do all these extra things.

I'm like, there's a new product I'm
coming out, coming out with there.

Um, so there's a, a video marketing
course I did, I've done cohort.

One of the video marketing course,
which went really, really well.

It, you know, did, did
some good money for me.

So it's like, great, okay, money.

And now I'm kinda like, okay, I
need to do this four times a year.

So I was gonna do it in January
and I just haven't had time to

get the backend stuff set up.

And now I'm kind of, in my mind we're
like panicking and rushing going,

well, I need to do it in January.

I need to do it, and I don't,
like, I can, I can push it to

February, I can push it to March.

It doesn't really matter.

I just need to slow down and just pay
attention to myself and know, well,

hey, if I, if I don't have the time, I
don't wanna then give up my evenings for

the next week or two trying to do it.

when I'm losing out on my family
time and seeing the kids and wife.

And, you know, I, I actually
did take this morning off.

I went to, we had breakfast with
my wife in a, in a restaurant.

It was lovely.

And I could have not done
that and gone, I'm too busy.

I, I need to do this thing.

I'm gonna go and do the, do the
automations or whatever it was.

So I think very much it's about,
it is about slowing down this year.

Um, and it's also about
taking more care of myself.

And I've seen quite a lot of
people, and this is the whole

like, typical January thing though.

Um, I'm gonna take more care of myself.

I'm gonna go to the gym, I'm gonna work
out, I'm gonna get, get really massly

and, you know, all those kind of things.

Everyone hopes, um, God, I
went to the gym last night.

There was literally one person on
every single machine in the gym.

There was no space whatsoever.

So that really put me off.

I'm really hoping people don't, you
know, stick to their, uh, January,

uh, resolutions for too much longer.

Um, so yeah, it is really to
take the time off, go spend

some time in the gym, exercise.

That's probably the main thing.

Um, you know, there's loads of
people and actually like the whole,

the whole mental health thing.

. Um, I, I will say that I, I was quite
shocked when I speak to a lots of my

friends most of the time, and they're,
they're, they're all kind of taking

various kind of medications and, you
know, obviously they're struggling

with mental health and, but they've
been doing it since like school day.

So, you know, they're thirties and
forties now, so they've been taking

20 years worth of these things to,
you know, keep them going essentially.

And many of them don't
do things like exercise.

They don't work out.

And I feel that, and, and this might be
a thing, so I, I, I'm fortunate enough

to have not suffered from those kind of
things that badly, but I always feel that

an exercise, you know, having an exercise
routine is a really good way of, you

know, kicking out the cobwebs and just
really getting a bit of a clear mind.

It helps me clear my head, um, when
I'm doing those kind of things.

And.

I need to do it again.

But even like playing ice hockey, just
doing something where you can't think

about the worries in your life, whether
that's like work or family or home or

whatever it is, if you're playing a sport.

And certainly for ice hockey, when
people are shouting at you and you are

trying not to fall over and trying not,
you know, trying not to hit someone.

I guess you gotta try and
hit someone in ice hockey.

That's how it works.

But just going through something like that
where you can't focus on the other stuff

and you're just focusing on the thing
that you are doing at that moment that I

found to be a really, really good kind of,
whether it's distraction, but it was also

like a really enjoying, uh, enjoying thing
to do and, and do those kind of sports.

So, uh, yeah, so planned
out a bit of the year.

I've got some goals.

I've got some holidays
and things booked in.

Um, I've got a few business
trips booked in as well.

We've got some kind of, uh, going
to VI Summit next year in Dallas.

And there's also, um, which I missed
out on this year, and I felt really guts

for missing its CES in, uh, in Vegas.

Not because it's in Vegas,
but because there's tons of

cool stuff in there as well.

But, so we're gonna pre-book
those kind of things.

I might be taking out some kind of
studio slash office space this year.

That's like the only other
thing I'm thinking of, um, in

terms of kind of business plans.

But then like, it changes constantly.

And, and I guess this is the
thing, you don't have to come

up with a plan and stick to it.

Like I said last night, I was
literally sat there going, well,

hang on, I'm paying for, uh, I've
got someone that's helping me out.

Like with the, the
content that's scheduling.

I'm, I've got a video editor, uh, I
do all these things and I could just

sack everybody and have the amount
of work I'm doing and still probably

earn the same amount of money.

And then I'm like, oh, that,
that looks really attractive.

But then like that's like a two
minute thought and then I'm like

back onto the next thing, like what's
the next thing I can come up with?

So it a constant Yeah, absolute
back and forth all time.

Andrew Moon: I would say
give it two more weeks.

That gym will be empty.

That's, that's typically how it is.

People give up on their New Year's
resolutions come February 1st.

I think I read that last week and that's
kind of what put me down this track

with goal setting was, and when he was
something astronaut, it was like 68

to 72% of people give up on their New
Year's resolutions by February 1st.

So I thought about, you know, I
thought about that and just in

terms of why is that the case?

And I think, I think those numbers
are actually higher in the MSP

space, to be honest with you.

Just because of what Scott said.

You get in that fire mode,
you get in that, okay, it's a

new year, it doesn't really.

those things don't, don't tend to
slow down for you, uh, very much.

But I think where we get caught up in
the goals is that, you know, we set them.

But I think for a large amount of
people, it's, they're very arbitrary.

They do it just because, okay,
I gotta look, okay, so I, I

gotta be like everybody else.

And I think it's especially prevalent
in peer groups where you set goals

based upon, okay, I gotta, I gotta
be at least equal to everybody else.

And for me, my, you know, going
back Richard, my, my word for the

year, I can only think in terms
of one these days, uh, the older

I get, my word this year is calm.

And I think it, it, it, it echoes
what you guys are talking about

here in doing less and really
evaluating the things I'm doing.

Am I being efficient and, you know,
do I really need to take on more?

Uh, and really scaling down the things
that, that give me energy, not take away.

Uh, so that, that's, that's
my mindset for, for this year.

Last year I didn't, I,
I didn't set any goals.

That was my first year of
not setting goals at all.

And I think, you know, Robert Gibbons,
if he's watching this, he, he kind

of, he, he was kind of curious about
that, but I was just like, you know,

this year I'm not gonna set any goals.

I'm not gonna say I didn't have
things I wanted to accomplish,

but I didn't set goals.

Uh, for me, I took a little
bit different track in building

systems versus setting goals.

And that changed things for me
in, in that, instead of getting

caught up on that end point, I
enjoyed the process of creating this

system to get where I wanted to go.

And I think that kind of goes
back to Scotty, uh, uh, for my

it rock stars to make more money.

That's a common, that's a common goal
that I hear, especially with coaching.

as you ask somebody what's your,
what are your goals for this year?

You know, obviously one of 'em is always
around money, but they're very arbitrary.

I wanna, you know, I wanna make a
million dollars, I want to get to a

million dollars in turnover, but they
don't really have a plan to get there.

And if they don't get there, then
it becomes, they beat themselves up.

You get that, you know, hit to your
mental health, your self worth.

But I thought, you know, if we attack
that from a perspective of building

systems, cuz that's what we're good at.

We, it guys are, we're great at building
systems, but I think, you know, I

love the book Traction for me, but
for a lot of nimble MSPs, it's a lot

if you're gonna implement traction as
a book, uh, the entire thing anyway.

But I think if you pick and choose
the things that are in that book,

and a lot of it is about creating
systems and if you create a system

for making money, Then guess what?

I don't need to set an arbitrary goal
of I wanna make a million dollars,

but if I build a system of marketing
and sales and enjoy that process

along the way, I don't need to
recreate that, that system next year.

I have a system and it p sounds like
you've got that dialed in for being able

to have a system of generating income.

Now it's, it's maintenance and you
know that, that constant, I gotta have

more, I gotta have more, uh, mentality.

I kind of gave that up a while ago, . It's
just now you get to a certain point in

your life where it, it enough is enough.

I'm, I'm cool with that.

Um, so for me

Pete Matheson: so easy though,

Andrew Moon: it is,

Pete Matheson: media, and like you
say, you're hanging out in your

peer groups and they're all, I've,
I've done a million this year.

I'm gonna of course
aim for more next year.

It's gonna be 1.2 next year.

And it's always more and more.

It's such a difficult thing
to not get swept up into.

Richard Tubb: never stops.

It never stops either as well.

I remember hearing Tim Ferris,
uh, talk about, um, he was trying

to put together a retreat of, uh,
himself and billionaire friends.

You know, can you imagine the
idea of all these billionaires

getting together on an island?

And he actually, I think
he booked an island in The

Bahamas, somewhere like that.

Hey, we'll all get together.

We'll have a few days rest and
relaxation, and we'll have a couple

of days planning and go forward.

And, you know, some of his billionaire
friends got back to him and said, I'd

love to, but I can't make the time.

Think about that for a minute.

If you are a billionaire, And
you can't make the time to go

and do something nourishing.

How much is, is enough?

Andrew Moon: Yep.

Richard Tubb: Scott, you know,
your three words make more money.

You know, uh, I, I, I understand where
you're coming from, but I don't think that

money is an intrinsic motive in of itself.

And you can just keep adding
and adding and adding.

And there's an example of billionaires
who can't make the time to go

and do something they'd love to
do because they need more money.

What's all that about?

You know,

Andrew Moon: Yeah.

Yeah.

I, you know, and it is, it was hard for
me because that's like, when I started

to get towards December, I looked at
all of the pet people that I coached

in, in last year and in the end of 2021.

And that was always the common one.

The revenue goal was the one
that drove everybody, because

there's that perception, and
it's just that weird perception.

If I get to 500,000 in revenue
or a million dollars in revenue,

something magicals gonna happen.

And, but when you sit down and help 'em
see that, I would rather have a hundred

th and, and again, the sad thing is,
is they're not even paying themselves.

Well, you know, these, these guys,
you're hitting a million dollars in

revenue, but if you're only getting
$60,000 check, to me, that's idiotic.

I'm like, I can, I can do a lot of
different things for 60 grand a.

And not work 80 hours a week.

Uh, so for me, it's just, I try to
help people see that the, you know,

if you build a system for generating
revenue, it doesn't, it doesn't matter

at that point how much revenue it is.

If you are giving, you are
getting what you need out of it,

a business that works for you.

Um, and I think that, you know,
that's where attacking it from a

systems perspective, I think that
made perfect sense in the people

that I've helped implement that and
think about systems and, and have

the joy in creating the systems.

They enjoy the process and guess what?

They ended up getting more revenue out of
it because you've built that, that system.

Um, and I think, you know, touching on
that, uh, Steven McCormick said from a

mental health perspective, I think setting
aspirations are better than setting

rigid goals because you can beat yourself
up if you fail to meet your goals.

If you make project progress
towards your aspirations,

it's something to be proud of.

And I think that's, that's a,
that's a big thing for it folks.

We beat ourselves up a lot
when we don't hit goals.

And, uh, you know, but especially,
you know, Pete, you've seen that on

the YouTube side where people want
subscribers, they want brand deals.

Like there's so many things
that you can't control.

And I think revenue is one of
those things in the MSP space.

There's so many variables that
if you don't have the systems in

place, they're you, you're like,
you're never gonna hit that goal.

That will always be something you beat
yourself up at the end of the year,

in the beginning of the next year.

And it just, that, that
cycle, Dom dominoes.

Um, so what do you guys think
about, you know, building, building

systems versus setting goals?

Do you guys have, you know, maybe
a different perspective on that?

Uh, or just something
else to share around it?

Richard Tubb: A, a quick point and then
I'll hand across to you, Pete, cuz he

just reminded me, Andrew, and, and Pete
talking about systems versus goals.

So I saw, um, James Claire, who wrote the
book Atomic Habits, and he presented an

IT nation, uh, in Orlando, uh, last year.

Brilliant as always.

I've seen his presentation
a number of times.

Fantastic book for anybody, uh, who
like me is a big procrastinator and

needs some help building those systems.

But James, I believe, I'm gonna butcher
paraphrase his, uh, quote here, but he

basically said the, uh, habits are only
as good as the systems that underpin them.

In other words, what tends
to happen is you fall down.

When motivation is low or whatever,
to whatever your system is.

So to Pete's point of view here, there's
gonna be days where you don't feel like

getting up and going out to the gym.

But if you set your equipment up the
night before, sorry, your your outfit,

your your gym equipments and stuff like
that, and you can just put your shoes

on and go out the door, you do stuff.

So we can't work by willpower alone.

So for the MSP community, what
that means is your systems have

to be that bottom line that just
says, come hello, high water.

Things are gonna get done.

And don't rely on willpower cuz it
will run out as, as Andrew just said.

Pete's gonna go back to the gym
in a couple of weeks and lo and

behold, all of those machines are
gonna be available for him to use

Andrew Moon: Yeah, that
you actually touched on.

That's where I started.

It got me down this track of building
systems versus setting goals and just,

you know, I did a podcast Sunday about it.

Uh, but yeah, it was that comment
there that I, I was watching a video

James Clear a couple weeks ago, and
that really got me thinking it's just,

that's a better way of attacking it.

And last year I felt like I did, I,
for the first time, probably in my

career that I did, that I was able to
take literally half of the month, half

of the half of the year last year.

I didn't create content.

I didn't work like I, you know, renovated
my house, you know, did this stuff here.

But the systems I had put in place
allowed me, I made as much revenue

last year, taking half the year.

as I did in 2021.

So it's those light bulb moments.

I'm like, okay.

I'm like you, Pete, how do,
how do I keep that going?

Uh, where you can do less and make more?

And uh, and there's no growth hack to it.

It's just the things, the systems
I had put in place to generate

revenue were there so that it
allowed me to take the time off.

Uh, and it was, it was good cuz
you know, there were bits of last

year that I needed it, helping my
son through a mental health crisis.

If I hadn't had those systems in
place, I wouldn't have been able

to take the time to help him.

And you know, I think that it's,
if we think from that perspective,

it'll be better for us mentally.

It'll be better for our, our
wallets if, if we do those things.

So I'm gonna post that.

Yeah.

I'm the Atomic Habits,
uh, James Clear's book.

I'm gonna put that in the comments,
but any other things that you

guys think of that might help?

Uh, you know, especially, like I
said, the MSP community, which is

a large portion of our audience.

Be able to kind of

Pete Matheson: say that.

Andrew Moon: that this year.

Pete Matheson: Yeah, I, I think like
certainly in terms of like having the

revenue goals and something I should
have paid more attention to when I

was running mine is focusing less
on the revenue and trying to improve

efficiencies, and then actually increasing
the profit rather than the revenue.

So actually looking at what you've
currently got and what can you do with,

you know, your existing systems, your
processes, your staff, your customers

to just, I'm not saying like you wanna
go and claw back a load of profit that,

that, you know, might be there somewhere,
but there are ways and things you can do.

Things like, I'm sure there are still
some MSPs out there that haven't put

their prices up and I, you know, you,
thousand million percent should have

by now at least put your price up on
something like your support pricing.

Certainly, obviously Office
365 now, or Microsoft 365

going up every, every quarter.

Now, did you say, Scott,
the, where the price

Scott Riley: Every six
months, every six months.

Pete Matheson: Six months.

So it's gonna be, and and clients still
aren't gonna be that used to that.

They're just gonna go,
oh, it's the IT company.

They come back with another
price increase again.

So in terms of like just trying
to communicate that with your

client, with your clients so they
understand what's going on, but

just the fact that that does impact.

yourselves and your, your customers and
the other suppliers you're buying from.

And you know, obviously inflation's
still like way out of control.

So just having the price increases in
place and then yeah, hey, if you do lose

a few clients, then you're still gonna be
probably making the same money, but off of

less clients and doing less work for them.

So it's doing things like that,
having that kind of approach to

try and, uh, again, taking that
approach of kind of working less

and earn more things you can do.

Like automating.

Yeah, putting those systems and processes
in place, documenting everything.

You've got those kind of things.

That means you can then step away from
the business or maybe some of your staff

can step away from the business and then
the things carry on going, you know, the

things still happen every single day.

So just trying to pay more attention
to, to what you can do with what

you've currently got, rather than
trying to constantly reach for more.

I know the big, you know, the biggest.

Thing we all hear.

You know, certainly from probably Frank
Andrew's point of view is, yes, it's the

more money I want, more clients, I want
more, I want more, more, more, more.

But actually stop looking at the, I
want more, start looking at the what can

I do with what I've got to be better.

And I think that's a really
important thing cuz you can do a

hell of a lot with what you've got.

We, you know, we're all techies.

We can figure out more efficient
ways to do certain things or, you

know, cut down the amount of hours
you spend on your billing process.

Anything you can do to save your time
and money that will be reinvested

back in, you know, elsewhere.

Whether that's taking time out to spend
it with your family or investing it

in the business to then maybe doing
something else with, with your business

and creating new products and services.

Andrew Moon: Yeah.

Amen to that.

Yeah, and it's, it's funny because I,
I had one, one client that I coached

last year's doing a half million dollars
in revenue, wants to get to a million.

And when you, when you kind of paint
that picture for him, what's that,

what does that look like for staff?

, what does that look like for your time?

Okay.

Mind you, he was only paying himself
50 grand on $500,000 in revenue.

So I'm like, uh, you know, when you
help him to see, okay, by the time

you hit a million, you now have, you
know, eight to six to eight people

that you're now responsible for.

You now have six to eight lives
that are gonna come into effect

and play a part in business.

That's just what happens, uh,
people's personal lives that

you're gonna have to manage.

Uh, and then profit margin.

If you're, if you make the, if you're
making less profit at a million

dollars than you are at half a
million dollars like I just painted

apic, how, how does that make sense?

Just from a business perspective?

Yeah.

You hit that million
dollars in revenue, great.

You can post that in all the social
media forums for it folks out there

that I did that, but like, to me
it just didn't make any sense.

I'm like, I looked at it, you
know, the numbers, and I'm like,

there are ways where you can
make a hundred thousand dollars

yourself out of $500,000 in revenue.

Richard Tubb: right?

Andrew Moon: And when you help 'em to see
that, then it, that to me, gets me up.

That gets me motivated more.

How do I create the systems that allow
me to get a hundred thousand dollars

in revenue, which I should be getting
at that point for that much work, and

how do I create the systems to do that?

Um, but I think too, you know, Richard,
you touched on that too, is, is when,

when you get to that point, whatever,
there's goals, whatever you call that

inside your business, is once you've
got those things dialed in, like for

you, it's your three words for the year.

Uh, how do, how do you, how would you,
uh, kind of disseminate that to your staff

and be able to share them, to get them
on board to help you drive towards that?

Because I think, you know, again, throwing
a million dollars in revenue out there

to your staff, I mean, let's be honest,
that doesn't get people motivated.

That's like, nobody's gonna do
anything for that, just cuz you

wanna make a million dollars.

Richard Tubb: Yeah.

I, and I, I think, you know, Pete already
mentioned this about communication.

So Scott talked about communicating
with clients to let them know about

the, uh, Microsoft, um, license changes.

Pete talked about communicating price
increases with your clients and things.

So all about communication,
especially with your own team.

Now I remember back when
I used to run my Ms.

P business and I used to go to
great events like IT Nation and

Comp Tier and other things like
that, and I'm a great note taker.

Uh, I would sit there and I'd be
inspired by people delivering keynote

presentations, and I'd have loads
of brilliant ideas for the mssp.

And I'd come back to the office and
I'd say, right, everyone gather around.

I've got some ideas.

And people are go, oh, fuck.

They would just slump down because they'd
be like, here he comes with a load of

hair-brained ideas that he's gonna want
to us to implement for what reason?

So what I started doing when I was an
MSP and coming back, we would choose, I

would choose one of those ideas and I'd
say, Hey, I came across this idea here.

I think it makes a lot of
sense for these reasons.

And I think the benefit
to us will be this.

What do you guys think?

And we would discuss the ideas, we'd
almost do a download of the information

and, and then discuss it and then
move forward with things there.

And so to this day, in fact, just,
uh, uh, before we came on air, I was

speaking to my team about an idea, uh,
that I've had, uh, for the business.

And I've said, what do you think about it?

How can we implement this?

How can we make this look in, in,
you know, work in the right way?

And so I think communication's
super, super important.

If you go back to my three words for
the, uh, you know, you'll, uh, remember

that I said one of my words was share.

. And so when I write that blog post,
my three words were 20, 20, uh, three.

And what they mean to me, that's
my way of sharing with my team.

So it's all well and good for me to
go, oh yeah, I've got these three words

for the business, but my team need
to know what does that mean for me?

What does Richard's vision
mean for the business?

Mean for what we are gonna
do on a day-to-day basis.

Uh, and so for me, communication number
one on that list, you've gotta be able

to communicate your vision to other
people, to the stakeholders within

business, even to your partners, to your
clients and and things of that nature.

You know, people of that nature.

Super important communication.

Andrew Moon: Yeah,

Pete Matheson: Uh, two things
I wanna just mention there.

Um, in terms of communicating with like
your staff, there is something, and, and

going back to speaking about traction
by Gina Wickman, one thing that's, um,

we implemented and I've implemented
with a few of my clients as well, is

the, like the management level meetings.

So even if you're a tiny M S P or an
M ml M mssp and you've only got a very

small team, or if you know, certainly
if you're growing as you start kind

of getting people who are responsible
in various areas of the business.

Say you've got a bookkeeper or an
accounts person, maybe you've got someone

who's the service desk team leader.

Maybe you've got an account manager,
even though they're not necessarily,

um, Managers in their roles.

You knowers, you don't really
instantly hire five managers.

You have kind of the, the, the,
the techies first, and then

you can put management on top.

But as you start kind of putting together,
um, this, this management team, make

sure you have someone from each of those
departments or teams in that meeting.

So you wanna have someone that kind
of has a responsibility for the

bookkeeping on the accounts and the
service desk and the, you know, new

sales technically, whether that might
be an account manager or a salesperson.

Because when you go to those meetings
with those crazy hair-brained ideas,

then at that level you can kind of
have those discussions and say, yeah,

these, these other thoughts I've had.

What do you think?

Mainly because, because I, I had
the exact same thing as Richard.

I walk in, here's what we're
doing today, and everyone kind

of goes, oh God, not again.

But at least if you kind of inform
and like have the discussion with that

management team, even though they're
not management, so to speak, because

you are sharing the information and
knowledge around at least a certain

level of people, then it, it kind of,
Moves the discussions away from you

when everyone else kind of looks at you
and go, ah, he's being an idiot again.

What's he done this?

This is a waste of time.

And actually moves those
discussions to that management team.

So now the management team are aware
of what's happening and now they can

kind of voice their, you know, concerns
to the management team, and at least

they're in a position where they can
actually answer, rather than probably

having this more gossipy thing going on
with everyone just kind of agreeing and

you disappear into your office and you
start working on those crazy new ideas.

So that was kind of one of them, of
having that management team in place.

Even if you don't have one, even
if you're too small, just start

kind of putting that and putting
that team together as you grow.

And the second point I had was, um, going
back to the, the goal side of things.

Um, everyone's quite focused, I feel
on the, the, the business goals of

like the growth and the profit and the,
you know, all those kind of things.

But I always think that, and, and I
was trying to print it out, but um,

I can't reach the printer right now,
but the, we literally print off our

annual plan and it's split into two.

It's got the business goals
at the top and it's got the

personal goals down the bottom.

So things like holidays are, of
course, they're in the personal goals,

but, but honestly, anything else?

Think about your, your own
kind of wellbeing of what

do you want to do this year?

Do you wanna do more sports?

Do you want to get into a new hobby?

Do you want to go and, I dunno,
watch more gigs or more theater

or just those kind of things.

And, um, I, I had to add it back
into my to-do kind of reminders

checklist today because I kept
forgetting because I took it out after

a while after getting used to it.

But just.

And talk about systemizing and processing
thing, um, doing process of things.

But just like having a reminder every week
or every day or every other week to speak

to a friend, arrange to meet up with them,
go and do something with them, and having

those kind of preset things in there.

I, I've even got like silly, silly
things like arranging a date night, which

sounds stupid, like having to arrange
a date night, but just making sure

we're having a date night with my wife.

So every, again, once a month
or once every other week, we're

actually making sure we're spending
time together, you know, without

the kids and those kind of things.

So just having those personal goals
in place, whether you need to put

a process or a reminder in place,
whatever to make sure you're doing it,

but just make sure you're, take care
of taking care of that stuff as well.

Not just focusing on the,
well, I need to hire somebody.

I need to, you know, get
a new car for somebody.

Like the, which I feel are more, I guess,
financially driven within the business.

Think about, you know, you're doing
this for yourself, you know, really

like yourself and your family.

So bring that back down to what could
you do this year to make you happier?

Um, things for me, for example, I
wanna, I wanna get back into my music.

I wanna go and play, play my drums
again, haven't played those for years.

I do wanna get back into ice hockey,
but I'm also getting quite lazy to

get out, put all the gear on, go and
skate around for like two hours and

then it's like midnight by that time.

But I really do wanna
get back into it again.

Um, definitely having some more time
out, spending more time with the

family, going out with more friends.

I think Richard, you ha, I think it
was you actually that set that and

kind of thought on to me, but you go
out for a walk every day and you kind

of phone a phone, a random contacting
your phone or you, you phone somebody

just for a bit of, a bit of a.

Richard Tubb: It's interesting, uh,
cuz I remember phoning you, Pete,

didn't I, for a bit of a natter
while I was out for a walk, uh,

the one day, uh, to talk about it.

But yeah, it, it's, it's
a really simple thing.

There's actually applications,
uh, for this, uh, and again,

this is a system, isn't it?

What Pete's talking about here.

It's a system to remind you, uh,
to do these things, you know?

And um, so the system that I
had back in the day was okay.

I know that going out for
a walk is good for me.

I know that talking to
other people is good for.

So I'll go out for a walk every
day and give somebody a call.

, really simple, but I used a, a tool
called coach.me, and it set a reminder

in there and it said, Hey, Richard, go
out for a walk and give somebody a call.

And then actually you finesse
that a little bit more.

Cause I'm like, who shall I call?

Who shall I call?

I've got a list of like 10, 20 people who
I really get energized from speaking to.

Uh, and when they're not
available, I phone Pete.

Um, but, uh, , no, all joking

Pete Matheson: been in a very long time.

Richard Tubb: but that, that's the point.

It just, you know, it, it, it get
gets the habit ingrained in you.

And now I don't need that reminder.

Because it's become a habit
that I go and do that.

I know nourishes me in just the same
way when we were, uh, little children,

you know, your parents had to nag you
to clean your teeth every day and you

didn't really see the, uh, the, the
point of it, but you did it for so

long and now you just clean your teeth.

You have a shower every day,
like routine, don't you?

So that's what it comes down to.

Again, Ja, what James Clear says,
you know, don't rely on willpower,

just go down to your fall, down
to wherever your systems are.

That'll get you through

Andrew Moon: Exactly.

Pete Matheson: I had the same thing
with, um, the bordering the plants.

I thought I'd have that, you
know, I, I, I basically deleted

it from my rhyme reminders and
I was like, I've got this now.

This thing up here has been dying for
the last two months and I've not noticed.

And I keep looking at it going, oh,
it's starting to look a bit dead.

And then I still completely ignore it.

So I just added the reminder
back into my diaries today.

So like every.

Richard Tubb: CES a couple of years ago.

I know you, you and I both missed out
going to Las Vegas this year for it.

I want to go next year.

But they have a load of plant technology.

You can get like raspberry pies
and stuff that will feed your

plants and water them and stuff.

Super cool.

But we'll save that for another podcast,

Andrew Moon: Yeah, maybe.

Well you know what?

We should plan that cuz I've been
wanting to do CES as well for a while.

Maybe we'll do a not an MSP show
broadcast from CES next year.

Who

Richard Tubb: Oh,

Andrew Moon: That would be

Pete Matheson: percent
going to CES next year.

I've, I've decided, I'm

Richard Tubb: stop running it

Pete Matheson: the announcements
come out this year.

Andrew Moon: That would be

Scott Riley: get the.

Andrew Moon: Yeah.

Aaron Str, Zinsky shared his three words,
uh, service integrity and connection.

So, awesome.

Three words there.

Yeah, I think it has.

Richard Tubb: Aaron pointed out his goal
for 2023 is making better connections.

So Aaron, I've just connected
with you on LinkedIn, so I hope

that's, uh, start, start there.

Andrew Moon: Sweet.

We'll just keep building the network.

Scott, do you have anything that you
wanted to share on the, on that lines of

sharing with your team or just anything,
any lessons that you've learned about

goal setting and, and getting your
team, uh, bought into that process?

Scott Riley: Yeah, I think it also comes
down to like the, the, the, the, the

fun side of what Pete was saying, which
is when you come back with all these

crazy ideas, actually then communicating
them back to the team, um, you don't

always have all the right answers.

And I think that's such an obvious thing
as the, as the, the owner, the operator,

the player, manager, whatever your,
your role is, is that you think you

have all the answers and you, and it's,
it's on you to come up with all of the

strategy and the tactics for the year
of how you're gonna grow the business.

But actually when you have those
communications, and that's true now

when we're in this small msp but also
when I was in some of the larger ones,

is that actually speaking with the, the
team on the ground who do the job day

to day, they've got much better insights
as to what the pains are, what the

challenges are, you know, where things
are really going wrong than, than you

do sometimes at that 10,000 feet level.

Um, And I think it comes down to quite
a few things that we've talked about.

You know, taking some time out to
give yourself some clarity to get

away from the day-to-day noise.

But in order to do that, you need
to, as I always like to say, keep

on trying to make yourself useless.

Okay.

Which comes back to everything
you guys have been saying.

Put the systems in place.

Challenge yourself on a, on a, you
know, a weekly basis at least to say,

is this something I should be doing?

This task that I'm doing right
now, is there someone else who

could do it better faster than me?

Can I outsource it?

Can I automate it?

Is this something that can just be taken
off my plate completely so that when I'm

not here, when I do take my holidays, or
it's the weekend, or I want to go to CES

in Vegas, that it, it, it just gets done.

Right?

It's a system.

It's, it's taken care of.

With that in place, you then
get the breathing room to

then take a step back and.

For me, it's, it's all
about not judging yourself.

You guys talked about this already and
I feel like I'm just restacking what you

said, but it's about not judging what
you see on LinkedIn and social media

of what everyone else is doing and how
everyone else is having an amazing year

and everyone's winning, you know, new
customers and making so much money.

They're not.

It's just, you know, you're,
you're getting, uh, a snapshot

of what's happening that day.

Uh, and people have really great
days and you have really great

days, and you put it on social
media, but you don't see everything

that's happening in the background.

And I think we've talked about this
before, where if, if your life and

your business is a movie reel, you
cannot judge what's happening in that

movie by one single frame of a picture
that's put on social media that day.

And that's what we're getting.

We're just getting this one second
snapshot out of all these frames that

happened in that one second as well.

So don't, please don't base your goals
or your activities or your plans on

what you think everyone else is doing.

What's gonna be good for you?

How are you gonna make space for yourself
so that you can then be valuable?

I think Mary said this earlier,
you can't help anyone else if

you don't take care of yourself.

So get that space in, get
those systems in place.

Build yourself some margins.

I'm all about margins.

Margins are really important for me
cuz I can start to feel overwhelmed

if I don't have my margins.

Yeah, I need those buffers in certain.

And that, that really helps then to be
able to just get some time, get some

clarity, stop firefighting and figure out
what is it we're doing, what do we want?

And when you talk to the team, like,
this is what I want for the business.

And they go, well, you know, I
was thinking some other things.

Oh cool.

Okay.

How do we incorporate
that into this vision?

Or how do we, you know, change the plan?

Actually, we were in total
different directions.

What, what, let's, let's, you
know, let's talk this through.

Rather than you just kind of
swooping in and going, well,

this is what we're gonna do.

It has to be a communicative
process, otherwise, You're

not all on the same page.

And I, and I, I know that's
different in larger MSPs.

Don't get be wrong.

I've been in those PE backed, um, funded
MSPs and yeah, the goal was simple.

Tell everyone that we care about
customers and we care about service

and we care about products and in the
background slash as many costs as you

can and make as much money as you can
cuz we're gonna sell in three years.

Um, but that's very different to when
you're in your growth phase of your M

S P and you genuinely, you know what, I
guess I'd ask, what's, what is your goal?

Do you, do you want to sell?

are you thinking about selling
your s p at some stage?

And so that needs to form part of,
of everything that you're doing

along that path to get there.

Your, your people, your processes, your
products, your margins, how you are

categorizing things every month, like
the costs and, and the sale prices and

the margins on a per service basis so
that you can understand that deeply.

And we can start to say, Hey, we need
to fire products, fire customers.

We need to stop selling things.

We need to sunset things because
this is on a path towards, I'm

selling the business in five years,
and if I'm doing that, I need to

systemize, I need to step back.

I need to make sure there's
a management team in place

that can run this without me.

But if you are not thinking that
and you're thinking, well, I'm, I'm

happy, you know, Pete, you made this
point before saying I'm, I'm really

happy I, I could do this forever.

Then stopping and going, do
I want to do this forever?

Hmm.

, and then suddenly you
were selling a business.

Right?

But if, if you're not thinking of
selling, what, what is your plan?

What is your long term?

Are you happy with the level of work
and effort that you're putting in?

Could you be doing less, you know,
and still making the same money?

Like Andrew, you did last year.

You managed to take half a
year to renovate your house.

That's amazing.

And still pull in the same revenues.

What, what is, what is
your goal for this year?

What is it you want to get out of it?

And I think that's gonna help
drive your decisions, you know,

your conversations with your team
and really thinking about that.

Because if we don't, like I said, we're
just gonna breeze and it'll be June and

we're halfway through the year, we're
pulling together Q2 s numbers and going,

oh, hey, we've, uh, we've bumbled our way
into Q2 and we've made some more money.

Um, not as much as we would've liked.

Okay, cool.

Where was your plan to make more?

Where was your plan to cut costs?

Where was your plan to systemize?

Or maybe you're in June going.

I still can't take a dividend payment.

I still can't give myself that pay rise.

I still can't book in a holiday.

I still can't take a weekend away.

Well, you haven't put the the
legwork in in this first six months

to go, how do I make that happen?

If that's what you needed out of this
year, how are you gonna make that happen?

So I think.

You guys have nailed it for me today in,
in giving up so many great suggestions.

And I think I'm just restacking what
you said, but, um, I think there's

such, such a great opportunity
right at the beginning of the year.

It's always that trigger point, I
think for people to stop and think.

Um, I dunno why, I dunno why it's January.

I think it's, you know, it's
always end of new year, start of

New year, new Year's resolution.

Everyone goes, huh, what should
we do with the business this year?

This is something that could happen any
month, any month or any weekend where

you go, man, I did not get a weekend
off this weekend, Monday morning.

Cool.

What is my plan so that
I can have weekends off?

It can happen anytime, but now's as good
a time as any, let's get some plans in.

What is it you want?

I'd love to see in the
chat what people want.

I know we've only got a few minutes left,
but what do you want for you this year?

What do you want for your team this year?

And then how are you
gonna make that happen?

That's, that's the thing you wanna
be asking yourself right now.

Richard Tubb: Scott, there's something
you you said there that I think is

super important as we come to the
end of our our time, and that's

about checking in to make sure you're
heading in the right direction.

Because we also like 20, 20
twos just sort of disappeared.

We are now almost.

Halfway through January of 2023.

So some people are gonna be like,
holy cow, what's going on here?

Before you know it, it'll be June, before
you know it'll be September, and so on.

So when you put together these
plans, when you put together these

goals, regularly, checking in on
them is super, super important.

And so going back to peak suggestion
about setting systems in place,

set yourself a system now.

That says once a month, once
a week, whatever it might be,

that you check your goals.

Are we heading in the
right direction for this?

And the analogy that I was taught many,
many years ago about this is that,

you know, you can set a direction, but
even airline pilots, you know, they are

constantly, constantly, constantly making
micro adjustments to where they're going.

Because otherwise, if they only
checked once an hour or once

every two hours or whatever,
they're gonna be miles off course.

Cuz that's just the nature
of the way that we head out.

So doing those checks, you
can set systems in place.

And, and again, for me, you know,
linking back into my three words for

the, uh, share being one of them,
one of the benefits to sharing your

goals, sharing your plans, sharing your
aspirations with other people, is the

accountability that can come with it.

So, you know, I've put my three words out
there, these guys on the call here know

what my three words for the year are.

And as friends, they're gonna hold
me accountable and say, You know,

you talk about taking this other
project on Richard, my team are gonna

be saying, do we need to do that?

Because you wanna slow
down this year as well.

So accountability, uh, checking in.

Really super important, I think.

Oh, you're muted there, Andrew.

Scott Riley: I've lost Andrew.

Yeah,

Andrew Moon: There we go.

See, I muted myself cuz I've
been coughing all morning.

So any, any other parting shots as uh,
we come up on the top of the hour, guys?

Pete Matheson: I was gonna add one
more, and it's completely not loosely

related to what we're talking about, but
just something that came, that came out

when, uh, one of you guys was talking,
but everyone has a, um, uh, a moment

I think where they've realized they've
not been billing something properly.

So talking about like increasing
profits and making more money

and those kind of things.

So this, this is your reminder if you are
listening or watching this, to just go and

spend some time and just go look through
your costs that you are spending money on.

Make sure you're billing them onto
your customers at the proper rate.

Like I, I, my moment was, um, we were
billing a lease line that was like a

two or 300 pound a month circuit for,
for 20 or 30 pounds a month because

we hadn't actually updated their DSL
connection on their invoice to the

lease line connection, um, for like 18
months, like to two 18 months to two

years or so of their three year contract.

Um, so, and I've, I know one of my
clients has had that very recently where

they were down about a thousand pounds,
um, for, for not billing things on.

So there, there might be money
literally sat there on the table.

You've just not, you know, figured
out where it is in your systems.

Uh, it happened for us
normally when we changed our.

Telecom's billing, cuz that was like,
that's obviously the nightmare cause

you've got lines going all over the place.

You've got circuits and like reference
numbers with no client names.

It's just trying to figure
out where all those are going.

So yeah, just a, just a quick reminder
to um, just, uh ha have a look

through your billing and make sure
you've not missed anything there.

Scott Riley: Oh, I wanna, I
wanna tag on because just in

the very same vein, uh, sorry.

I know we're at time.

Um, I remember Robert, Robert
Gibbons, uh, Cara, uh, told me how

he's performed in terms of growth
over the last 12 months without

focusing on acquiring new customers.

And it's that thing that we've
talked about before on this show.

Here's my list of customers.

Down the left hand side, here are
my list of products along the top

in a spreadsheet or, you know,
any other system that you like.

And here's which customers
take which products.

And then we go and we cross sell
because we've already won those

customers, they already like us.

They know us, they trust us.

They would be prepared to have
a conversation about a different

product or service that they
don't currently take from us.

And then we're gonna go through and
we're gonna go and upsell to those guys

or cross-sell, but it's so much easier.

We know this, it's so much easier
to sell more to the same customers.

Yeah, and, and you know you've got
great products, you've got great

services, it will increase your revenue.

You're not having to go and find a new
technology or find the next big thing or

figure out how chat G p T is gonna change
your customer service automation bots.

This year you're just gonna go
and sell more of the same stuff

to your existing customers.

How easy is that?

That's something you should
definitely be doing this year.

Richard Tubb: Hey Scott.

Andrew Moon: Uh, go ahead,

Richard Tubb: We, we've, sorry
Andrew, we've discussed it on

the show before, haven't we?

Andrew Scott.

And, um, and we've talked about
how MSPs hate that word sell cuz of

the connotations that come with it.

Scott, I know like, like me, you're a huge
fan of, uh, the great Bob Berg, uh, author

of, uh, the Go-Giver with John David Mann.

I heard Bob Berg talking about, you know,
this, uh, uh, upselling the word that we

use and he's rephrased it as subserving.

And I love that.

So I think that could be a great
way to reframe that going forward.

Uh, how can we upserve our clients?

Because it's all about
the service, isn't it?

So I just thought I'd throw that out there
as a, as a, a Berg bonus tip at the end.

Andrew Moon: No, that's a great idea
cuz I've, I've actually been in touch

with, with Robert to, I want to interview
him this year on how he did that.

Cuz the last hold I had, he
was a 65% CRE increase in their

revenue last year without selling
anything new that was just upsell.

UPSer.

I like that.

UPSer his current customers.

So, all right.

Yeah.

If you're watching this after the
fact, uh, please leave comments

what your favorite words, uh, for
this year are, uh, because we do

keep it, keep track of the comments
even after the shows are, are done.

If you're listening to this on the
podcast, do the same thing cuz we wanna

make sure that we support you on whatever
your goals, systems or words of the year

are, uh, whatever you want to term that.

Um, let's say, let's thank the
people that were tuning in live.

Uh, Jason Kemsley, Aaron
Dki, Steven McCormick.

Mary Elli, uh, Ian Groves.

Uh, Scotty Malar from it.

Rock Stars.

My buddy Corey Munson from
PC Matt and Tom Miller.

See Tom, Tom.

I wanted to get that
to the top of the show.

He said his goals are fulfilled every
other Friday, so I didn't get to have to

paying him to see what that is all about.

And one more, one more
jumping into here, Anthony.

Julian said his three words
are share, examine, and heal.

Richard Tubb: Oh, I love it.

Andrew Moon: Heel's a good one.

I think it that's, a lot of people
are looking for that, uh, this year.

Um, it's weird.

Last year it was like, I feel like
we just took a sucker punch last year

and we're kind of coming into this
year a little wobbly, uh, at least

from what I've seen talking to folks.

So, uh, Mary says, yep,
always refreshing content.

Um, Anthony Julians said,

Richard Tubb: Is that a compliment
for us, or is that her three

words that, yeah, Thank you,

Andrew Moon: go.

Richard Tubb: the feedback,

Andrew Moon: Thank you Mary for tuning in.

Thank you guys for,
uh, the time this week.

I think, like I said, I think it
was a good kickoff, uh, for the

new year as we start a new season
together of the not an MSP show.

Uh, I think, uh, Richard had an idea for
next week's show, which I like having

difficult conversations with clients.

Uh, so yeah, tune in next week
as we give you some advice, cuz

I think most of us, every one of
us here have had that difficult,

uh, conversation or conversations,
uh, with some clients as well.

Uh, but yeah, Mary Seth, that's
definitely a compliment, Richard.

So

Richard Tubb: Thank you, Mary.

Appreciate it.

Andrew Moon: that's gonna
wrap the show for this week.

Thank you again for, uh, tuning in Live.

Those of you are listening on
the podcast are on the replay.

Thank you.

We appreciate all the
support, uh, that you give us.

If there's a topic that you want
us to cover in a future episode,

please put that in the comments.

You know, how to reach
all of us on our socials.

Uh, we're pretty.

Pretty apparent on, on social media.

So love to hear from you.

Love to hear what your thoughts are
on this, this week's show as well.

So that will cover it for this week.

I will see you gentlemen next
week and everybody do what is

necessary and ha be safe out there.