The One Idea That Jump Started This MSP's Practice

By The Business Solutions Network

One of the things I love about what I do is getting to talk to business owners and getting to hear first hand about what it takes to make it in the channel today -- including the struggles and pitfalls that seem to always precede any big payoffs. One such story that I think you'll enjoy in our May issue, which will be available at BSMinfo.com by the end of this week, is titled: "A Marriage Of Network Security And Higher Education." It's a story about an MSP that's has been in practice since 1996 and is operated by a husband and wife team, Nate and Kelly Freeman.

After more than a decade in business, these guys finally had their "aha" moment a couple of years ago while attending an Ingram VTN (VentureTech Network) event. At the event another partner was discussing the concept of partnering with colleges and universities to hire college students pursuing IT-related degrees as interns that could be trained as level-1 technicians.

I know what some of you must be thinking: "This sounds a lot like those who advise you to outsource your help desk support to India. Sure, you get cheap labor, but at the risk of poor customer service and damaged customer relations." In this article, the Freemans address this obstacle, which took them a few trial and errors to overcome. They have been able to overcome this challenge, however, and now they have a program in place that is a major contributing factor to the MSP's projected 85% growth this year. Be sure to check out their story later this week and then ask yourself: What's the one idea that's missing from your practice that could take you from struggling VAR to conquering channel IT solutions provider?