Becoming a solo managed service provider
Having a nice office to work in helps.
One of the reasons I embarked on my Managed Service Provider journey was the fact that I wanted to get off the tools and hire some people. I have spent nearly 30 years crawling under desks and reformatting Windows boxes. Yep, I think that I have done my dues.
The biggest challenge I am finding in taking my business to the next level is the loneliness. I am not talking about the loneliness of sitting in my office listening to tunes whilst I tap away on my keyboard. It is not having anyone to bounce ideas off and ask opinions.
Coming from an enterprise background years ago, software implementation projects were done with a team. You had people input ideas, bad and good but there was discussion. It made the process easier, sometimes frustrating, but easier.
The sheer scale of implementing something like this alone can feel a bit overwhelming at times. Especially when you are by yourself.
I am slowly getting there, did my first invoicing run at the beginning of the month and it went OK, but got stuck on a few things. It would have been nice to have someone here to bounce ideas off. But alas it is just me.
That said, the guys from Datto and my product implementation manager have been a great help in driving me forward so a big shout out to Sugi 🙂
I also use Autotask for my website design and digital marketing arms of the business. I have two staff members using the application to input their times so I can get more accurate invoicing. From a business perspective, I shudder to think of the money I have lost over the years. The number of billable hours missed would be scary.
The Hope
So that next stage of hiring a technician will hopefully come this year. The pressure is on me to ensure that I have the processes in Autotask and Datto RMM bedded down.
It is hard doing everything alone. Working on the business and in the business at the same time. You need to support your clients properly. So that means long hard hours either in the morning or at night. But Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The journey isn’t easy, but for those contemplating it, give it a crack. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The next thing I must do is wrap my head around the MarketNow application provided by Datto. Again, I can see the benefits with this to help grow my business and get my brand out there