hey Channel insiders I'm your host Katie boso and welcome back for part two of my interview with the team from MSP unplugged if you haven't already head on over to Channel insider.com right now to catch up on part one today in part two we continue our discussion on advising other msps in the industry plus my guests Paco LeBron and Corey Kirkendall get to share a few MSP wins of their own when you're talking to the MSP audience on your podcast something that I find really comforting when I listen is that you're very big on knowing that people learn at their own pace you're very protective of that learning experience and I think that that's very special so talk to me about the audience feedback that you've gotten it's cool because you know I it's a it's comforting to hear when I'm out there and I see people and they like man we heard you and it and it's like they they love to have a safe place where someone is talking at their level and they feel comfortable and they they love the fact that you've been there before they see us out there they look at us as as influencers like man I can't believe you guys went through that but we keep it real right we we take off the mask we we uncover and we're like the emperor with no clothes right we're we're 100% out there putting it out there right wrong or indifferent we're not saying that what we did was 100% right or we were know hey we know all that you what we're just sharing our experiences to be vulnerable right and I think that's the key piece that we learn in this industry across the board is not a lot of places allow you to go and be vulnerable and allow you to put it out there because you're either judge or you're you're as PCO said you're a trunks Slammer or a oneman ban or a piece of delivery guy or hey you you've been doing this for for 20 years and you're just you're still under three million what's going on with that and sometime that's just where they want to be that's that's kind of they like what they're doing at the size they want to get done because as you grow there's a different set of resources and different things that that brings challenge to the table and what I hear a lot of is that hey man it's a safe place to hear people that we know and look up to in the industry having the same struggles that we are having and You're vulnerable and you put yourself out there that you're not above the fold and I think that's what I hear a lot of and it's it's comforting to know that we able to do that you know when we first started doing this right it was just a hey it was an outlet I love what Corey says recently when he's joined us is this is our therapy session this is our ability to explain talk about you know our stories that we had in the week and that's the thing the relatability and so a lot of the emails and and and calls and just people coming up to us has just been uh it'll be either a thank you really found value of x we needed this help and you provided that or it's a matter of look this is our scenario this is our situation you know what would you do in this scenario and happy to you know map it out and a lot of those have asked us to just hey you know can we consistently give you a call or or can we keep in touch and you know that's why we're here you know and really being able to provide our experiences and our ability to really provide that value hopefully that they can succeed in and that's the point why we do it right it's one of those where you know I I truly feel that education is at its own pace you know I'm not the brightest crayon in in the box but I know that I have the ability of I learn in my own way and that we can get there and so the reason why it's such a a big thing for me at least for the podcast and us doing this is that I often see in our own communities there are members that feel that you know they have a specific level of knowledge and that people should be at that level of knowledge and there should be no excuses and so you know sometimes you see badgering sometimes you see close line to bullying and so we have a zero I don't know what the proper way of saying it in our community but there's a insert swear word here um that we have zero tolerance for in our community and so if there's any badgering of sort or we don't want anybody feeling dumb we don't want anybody feeling stupid you ask a question it gets answered yes they could have gone to Google but they're asking for real life experiences and so that's the important piece of this and that's why I'm a big proponent of so I see a lot of that in the industry where people are afraid to ask questions because they're like well maybe I should have known this and I don't know this and that's what often leads to mistakes and that's what often leads to issues where if someone had asked it probably was going to be the same question someone else had they just didn't hear it in that way and so that's why we're big on being being able to protect as you mentioned I like the way you had said that on how someone is being educated and learning at their own pace we practice what we preach probably go pick up the call and like hey man I'm looking for something that can do this and it can do that and I'm be like yeah have you check this out and then we make the connection we don't just say hey throw the throw it out there and go figure it out we make the connection say yep here's what it is here's who we contact we'll make a connection and then this is the big thing we follow up to make sure that hey how did that work out for you what's going on with that because we trust that perspective and that's what's really been cool for us as well Paco you brought up techcon unplugged and it sounds to me based on what you said earlier techon unplugged came before MSP unplugged that was the the chicken yeah so that's what that was the chicken before the edge so me and again uh Jeff H my former business partner we belonged to another podcast Network and we just felt like there was a different way of doing this and so we created the event and when we created the event we didn't know what was going to happen we were like hey we just have a different style compared to some similar sized events events that were being thrown at the time and we just had such a hit and everyone was like man this is great this is really what we're looking for and you know did I know it was going to expand to what it is today have not not at all but it just speaks to all the relationships and and the great Partnerships and great people because you know Katie you know how the the channel runs like there's people that are transitioning and moving into different roles new businesses and new companies come into play and some of those people who you did know from previous companies are there and they want to provide impact so it just it's this evergrowing thing that I love that we have in the channel and so yeah tonum plug came as as a uh it was a one- day event at one point and it was really to try and drive again those three key areas how do you get better at your operational efficiency how do you help with your security stack and and all the cool tools that are out there and how do you get financially literate and how do you help prevent all these downfalls and prepare for all the cumings that are coming up for your business so it went from there to a two day event a two and a half day event then back to two days so really it was just how do we generate this content for msps by msps with great Partnerships from our vendors and providing a true Community event where someone walks in and you just don't know who's who you can't tell who's a vendor and who's a MSP unless you go to the vendor hall right and so that's what came first that's what's had a great following all these years and then our hope once uh this reimagined version of techcon which we'll announce January will be uh hopefully driving that uh change even more so you could make that announcement on my podcast Pak it would be okay how about this I'll give you a little teaser I'll say that you know for those that love techon unplugged and all that it has done just know that we're working on a way to bring a little bit of techcon unplugged to you and we'll we'll leave it at that yeah and maybe maybe it might be a little ear maybe a little earlier than expected so see about that I love it you heard it here first folks thank you so much Baco no problem that also makes me want to ask about you're talking about tchon unplugged you're talking about how you're really driving the conversation within the MSP Community to help people to see it as community and not competition and that really makes me think about where the MSP and the solution providers in general of the channel are sitting in the power struggle right now there was a time when I first came on pre- pandemic if we all can remember that there was such a time that the vendor really what they said kind of went I can't help but notice that the industry has gone in in a direction where I feel the MSP or the mssp or the VAR or the reseller or integrator has a lot more power now that they get to make more decisions or they get to say no I don't want that I want this what can you do for me you tell me why you deserve my value to the vendors would you agree with that and where do you see where did you see that shift kind of take place I think the shift is still happening in some cases and it comes back to the maturity of the MSP and where they're going not every MSP is a part of the community right there's a lot of them out there that are not a part of the community so therefore that that power is still yet to to be achieve because they're not here so what I when I see an MSP or someone the first thing I want to do is pull them into a community or something to understand that they don't have to go out there and swim alone right we're out there with them to go out there and hunt and help them to get better I think as they as the education comes and they start looking and really getting down to things like the podcast coming to shows talking to other msps hanging out with us we're really showing them that they have a lot of the power a lot of the negotiation skills not to just take and go and I think that comes from an education I think a few years ago we had some great marketing organizations that had a lot of influence that says hey if you want to be in security buy these three tools and now you're boom you're in and they go out there they got themselves in some trouble and they got a little gun shy and it was where it came from so now they're saying hey we need to rethink that situation before I sign up for something or before I do something there's some questions and things I need to ask to figure out one does it match my business Marner are they a great partner are they here but the only way that you really get that education is being a part of the community being around other like-minded people other msps to see who's who in the zoo because I mean if you go to different shows there is a thousands of Partners and vendors and everybody out there and they if you sit there and listen to all that you're like who does what they all sound the same they all look the same they all do the same so I think it's it's that education piece but I do think I see that power shift going but what we're also seeing is we're seeing the vendors for the first time are starting to be a lot more transparent because on the vendor side they used to be a lot of cyber shaming a lot of shaming a lot of things a lot what we call that was there and we're seeing that happen as well so we're seeing that shift on both sides of where they're a little bit more open and they're really starting to understand the true needs of where it is because back in the day when I first started the MSP and the channel was kind of those guys over there but then they figured out over the last few years post pandemic is like hold up there's gold in them their heels and now they're back and they're saying Hey Now That Power shift is is Shifting and say hey we need to go and figure out how to be better with the msps and those who have gotten it that really understand that channel I think I've been some of the most successful partners and enabling msps to be the most successful Miss P's as well yeah I mean a lot of that you know I think there's a couple reasons I think one I think there is a much better Viewpoint of vendors to msps I think a lot of that as you mentioned Katie was of uh was it during that shelter in place covid on before the pandemic and a lot of it was either several things a a lot of vendors there was a lot of consolidation happening at the time leading for vendors to come into the space to provide a different opportunity different flavor things of that nature but a lot of msps also exited with a lot of the MSP Acquisitions and started their own SAS companies or partnered with SAS companies or worked for SAS companies and a lot of these vendors now got a true inbred MSP perspective inside of what their offerings are and I think I've seen a lot of that happen with a lot of the vendors that we see now where not only are they more involved in the channel but they also have that MSP perspective where now they are speaking our language versus trying to speak our language because they've heard how things are and they had an advisory Council but now they have people actually working in there breathing trying to figure out hey that's not working you know we have customer experience officers now that were msps driving some of these changes um inside of that system and then I think ultimately really where it comes down to is that technology has become so Advanced that you don't need the bigger msps now to you know help with the bottom line you need a tool or a system that's going to provide much depth and that's what's now allowing a lot of those to have a voice have the msps bringing to the table hey you know we're not happy with this we'd like X things of that nature which has gotten the attention of Enterprise vendors to now start acquiring some of the vendors that are either in our space or open up divisions speaking to us specifically to our side of the fence because you know it from my understanding everything from Enterprise just trickles down so now they have found as Cory's mention hey there might be some uh opportunities on this side let's really invest in it and for those that have stayed have made the most out of that opportunity as well by listening and understanding that yeah we do have the ability to understand that yeah your this vendor May check that box but it may not necessarily put checks in your mailbox and so it should be able to be able to have and I can't take credit for that that's from my friend Juan Fernandez but basically that allows you to understand that every vendor may look the same and they all do the same thing but who's your vendor that is going to work for your partnership drive forward forward and I think that's what they're trying to fight for for that attention I want to talk about the way that the two of you run your businesses how is this something first of all that you can balance with everything that you do for tekon unplugged and MSP unplugged what are the hamsters in the background that are just keeping these wheels going because I don't understand how the two of you the three of you sleep at night just when when when do you do it it's so much going on how is it something that you're able to balance yeah alcohol C alcohol no um so and it's a labor of love trying to uh uh split those two and understanding that they're both equally businesses right and so trying to figure out how do we do these things operational wise how do we focus on that and then bringing it to the Forefront of all right how do we provide this as an ability for value and getting Corey's input and then helping us uh me and Rick Drive what we want to do with this business and then coming into the podcast with the great content and ability to really speak to the audience it's just a naturally flowing thing because we just love what we do what we figured out a long time ago is you put in the processes and you trust the people that you hire and Trust to where it come from because there's a hard trust in in in an MSP organization is hey one of my text is going to grab all my stuff and go do some things or here's where it comes from I think you have to build it and trust and start to learn how to work on the business and not in the business and I think that's the piece where we've all gotten to is that place where we've able to jump up and say here's what it is but when we get to the podcast or techon unplug man it's it's not a job it's it's fun that's the stuff that we enjoy and we love to do we love to share what we got going on out there and and learn I always like to ask the msps and solution providers in general that come on the show about a success story with their business where they really got to help a customer and they love to hang their hat on it it's their Banner moment it's the pen it for them I'd love to ask each of you if there is a story that you might be able to share with me about a success story within your own MS P that you can share being of Puerto Rican descent we always when we find other uh Puerto Ricans we always say oh we're family right and so there was this one business owner they reached out to us they said hey look we're in a in a bad spot things of that nature and I said oh well you know we got into conversation and it turned out that they were not hacked not once not twice not three times but four times within that year and so with with different providers and so it it was very mindboggling that that could happen to someone of that nature and then again really just hearing the stress and diving into it and then going into culture then understanding oh well I really have to help this person right whether we sign on as a client or not that's just the nature of of how we are and so being able to go from lack of confidence of the MSP space from this client to being able to just really identifying all of the things that were left undone right and it just goes back to processes and checklist and things that we should all be doing and being able to really fortify and give the confidence back to them where now 3 years later there has been no no type of data leakage there has been no type of systems being attacked approached any type of incidents and so them having just that conversation probably about a couple months ago to say you know we just were at our wits end and we just did it hail Mary to hope that you would be the last one before we just said we're just done and we're just probably just not going even to do this anymore to now having a thri business because we were able to give them that confidence that they can operate without having to worry about stuff that frankly they shouldn't have to worry about I love that oh my gosh Corey follow that tell me more yeah Paco man you could left that bar down a little bit man just a little bit right but I get it I get it I see how you do it brother but you know so so we spend a lot of time in the in the nonprofit space we love to give back right and that's the piece where we want to make sure we understand what that looks like and so a lot of our customers in the nonprofits SP write grants and do things and so about a year and a half ago we decided to dive deep into the world of AI and really help and figure out how to change for people's business so we just finished our assessment what a what a nonprofit We had then they were trying to go down the AI role trying to figure out how to get it done and one of their challenges is what the grants that they were winning were very inconsistent and they didn't understand why and they didn't know where they could go find other grants to go and apply for so we came in did an assessment with them went through the process walked through everything and at the end of that we walked out to and determined showed them by leveraging a custom llm with them show them why their grants were missing the point the ones who won versus the ones who didn't and helped them tighten those up we're also able to provide them with a list of grants that they were completely missing because they didn't know that they were qualified to do that and then the other piece of that is is that when we brought them on like we do at all nonprofits if we do business we just are not just your customer you're just not our customer and we're your vender we actually participate and donate to their events and their processes and we continue to go on that pth and so what we're able to do now is transform their entire business and their entire model by helping them be able to apply for Grants quicker to be able to grow and to have a bigger impact in the community and that just makes it great for us to be able to have that impact and and go down that path and that's what's been awesome for us gentlemen I literally have a billion more questions but I know that we are at the end of our time today and I appreciate the extra few minutes that you gave me I want to make sure that if the audience wants to learn more about you connect with you utilize your services where can they go to get in contact with you to listen to MSP unplugged and to learn more about your respective businesses Cory you want to kick us off yeah you can hit Corey Kirk andall at 5K Technical Services www.
5k.com but also you'll see us in the three Amigas on mspm plug and I let Paco hit him up and tell him where we hit him up with him and Rick for me for your easiest way to find me is out on LinkedIn uh Pac LeBron uh follow all of our Shenanigans from there and then as far as for MSP unplugged you can find us us on our video podcast on youtube.com/ MSP unplugged and you can also find us on all your favorite podcatchers where on Amazon music Spotify or apple podcast and name a few look up MSP unplug podcast and we'll catch us every week uh we normally try to release them on Tuesdays to provide you our versions of what we went through that week and put a little bit of value hopefully to those that are trying to figure out this thing known as manage services and being an MSP thank you both so much I'll see your audience on MSP unplug soon so excited about that but for the two you for now good luck have a wonderful holiday season and thank you so much for being here I hope to have you back soon thank you thanks again to Corey and Paco for joining me today and thank you for watching or listening you can check out all episodes of Channel Insider partner POV on Channel insider.com or head on over to youtube.com/ Channel inssider newws and Trends you can also listen to us as a podcast on your favorite podcast listening platform don't forget to like subscribe and follow wherever possible so you never miss an episode once again I'm Katie boso and I'll see you next time
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