Finding Freedom: From Within

Written By Cassidy Stier

Happy New Year to Our MSP Community!

“Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

Hello Autotask Warriors, Advanced Global Gladiators, and MSP Community as a whole.

As we wrap up 2024 and look forward to 2025, the entire Advanced Global team extends our warmest wishes to all our MSP friends. We hope you had a Merry Christmas filled with joy and wonder, and we wish you a prosperous and Happy New Year!

Ghosts

As I look out my windows in the early morning as the sky turns from black to gray and the world starts to wake up, it’s hard not to contemplate the mysteries of the universe.

I hope I don’t ruin an illusion for you when I say that I don’t get up at 4 am each Friday and put keyboard to screen ready to click “publish” at the stroke of 8 am. Our plan calls for these to be delivered 10 days in advance. But with a welcome boost in business, our focus on finishing the year strong, and our laser focus on having Goals and Rocks for 2025, writing in advance has been slipping.

And thus, here I sit on an overcast Christmas Eve morning, reflecting on 2024 and thinking of the MSP world that I and the Advanced Global Team cherish so much. It’s been a year of highs and lows, with some businesses thriving and others facing significant challenges.

Christmas Eve should be a magical time, but for many there is more bad than good. Many weren’t able to finish a column, send it off to be proofed, and head off to Church or to visit with friends and family. You were working into the wee hours before heading off to a restless night of sleep. And at the dawn on Christmas morning found yourself at the kitchen table with a laptop in one hand, a list of tickets in the other. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, right?

A Clean Slate for the New Year

Enough talking about the Ghosts of Christmas Past. I really am hopeful that you are in the middle of taking some time off to relax and recharge. It’s crucial to avoid working yourself to exhaustion trying to catch up on client service requests.

The New Year is a perfect time to revamp your business. You can start with a clean slate and every day of progress is a step further from where you were. For those of you with growing businesses, it’s a great time to kick it up a notch.

Not growing? Our Small Business Improvement Program and Service Delivery Foundation Improvement programs can help you eliminate Chaos, create happy Techs, and turn your Clients into raving fans.

For the math nerds: “Advanced Global + your MSP = growth in 2025.”

Promises

In a moment I am going to cover how to for your business and help you get your 2025 MSP Success Plan going. However, I did promise to complete this series, and I try to never break a promise.

Fundamentals – The Client Portal

Football has training camps where they cover the basics and so do we. That’s what we have been doing the last several weeks. The basics are so you can have some breathing room and be able to move to the next level. “Next Level MSP.”  I like it – sounds like a game show.

As the famous football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Excellence is achieved by the mastery of fundamentals.”

This series started at the beginning, covering the service delivery process.

  • Week 1: Overview of the Triage process – taking a new, raw ticket, distilling it to the facts, classifying it, and sending it on its way.

  • Weeks 2-6: Essential elements your Autotask needs to properly enter a ticket.

  • Week 7: A plea to stop overburdening your Service Coordinators and an explanation of their vital role in a thriving MSP.

  • Week 10: Incoming E-mail Processing

  • Last Week: Step by step on creating the basic client reply workflow rule and notification template

All this setup work is incredibly valuable. Why? Because it makes phone calls and texts dramatically quicker and easier to enter accurately. It also works for the Autotask Client Access Portal.

According to Autotask, “The Client Portal is a secure, branded web portal through which your clients can access some of their data in your Autotask instance. It allows you and your customers to collaborate on tickets, projects, and user management.”

The Portal is cool because users can submit and monitor ticket status, approve change requests, and run reports and see invoices (potentially). You must have the Premium or Ultimate version of Autotask.

Autotask documentation on the Client Portal is here. You definitely should read it all before you implement to ensure you have your I’s dotted and T’s crossed.

Autotask has a New Client Portal they have been working on. You can decide what works best for you but enable early access and try the new one.  You might just like it.

The Portal is mostly plug and play, but before deploying you should add your logo to the login page and the portal itself, customize look and feel, and take a look at the workflow. How to do that is here.

Okay, so you’ve customized and branded your portal and are good to go.

To activate a user in Client Portal:

Edit the contact and choose Client Portal

Create a user name, select the security level, check Activate, and client save.

You’re done. The user will receive an email with instructions on how to access the portal.

Planning for Success with Darren Hardy’s Method

As promised, we’re going to talk a bit about solid preparation for 2025. As I mentioned earlier, the AG team has been busy planning our 2025 and even 2026.

One effective way to plan for success is by using Darren Hardy’s planning method. This involves setting 32 goals for the year and breaking them down into quarterly “Rocks.” Here’s a brief overview:

  1. Annual Goals: Start by identifying 32 significant goals you want to achieve over the year.

  2. Quarterly Rocks: Break down these annual goals into smaller, more manageable “Rocks” for each quarter. This helps you focus on a few key objectives every three months, making the larger goals more attainable.

  3. Monthly Pebbles: We have further broken this down into “pebbles” that can be done in one month. These are quick wins that directly impact the rocks and give us the regular boost of a completed task. (We even have “sand” which are tasks that can be done in a week that impact the pebbles)

  4. Weekly Planning: Each week, review your quarterly Rocks and plan specific actions that will move you closer to achieving them. This involves setting weekly priorities and tasks that align with your quarterly and annual goals.

  5. Daily Actions: Break down your weekly plan into daily actions. This ensures that every day you are making progress towards your larger goals. Everything goes on the calendar. Plan your daily activities to match your natural energy levels. For example, schedule high-focus tasks during your peak alertness times (usually mid-morning) and more routine tasks during lower energy periods.(note – if it doesn’t fit in the calendar, it’s likely not worth your time right now – you have to learn to say ‘no’ more often.)

  6. Review and Adjust: Regularly review your progress, adjust your plans as needed, and celebrate your achievements. This keeps you motivated and on track throughout the year. We’ve also fans of the Sunday Planning System and Insane Productivity.

Bottom-line, whether your business is making piles of money or buried in tickets, you need to plan your year. A well-structured plan and disciplined routine can lead to significant success.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

Summary

Freedom comes from within.

You may not believe me, but it is possible to run or manage an MSP without needing daily therapy or working 100 hours a week. In fact, you (yes, even an Owner) can even go on that 10-day cruise without a laptop. (Really!)

The foundation of a successful MSP is the fundamentals. So, this Series went back to the basics to make sure we’re all on the same page. I hope you found this useful.

Darren Hardy has said that without goals, life is like drifting along a current and crashing into rocks. Your homework for next year is to get your Goals and Rocks on paper (or Excel) and decide that 2025 will be YOUR year.

Find Freedom, find joy, find your passion.

Let’s make 2025 a year of growth, success, and balance. We’re here to support you every step of the way.

Happy New Year!

-----

Need Service Coordinator Training? Just want another pair of eyes on your Autotask PSA Software or Datto RMM to see if YOU are fully using it? We can complete an evaluation that will tell you exactly what you need to fix or improve. Talk to us: info@agmspcoaching.com

Stephen & Co

At Advanced Global MSP Consulting, we are committed to helping you grow your MSP business by improving your service delivery experience and eliminating Chaos. We understand the unique challenges you face in the MSP industry, including the mental health struggles that can come with the territory.

Resources:

Cassidy Stier
Next

Merry Christmas to Our MSP Community!