Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations

#882 MSP GeekCon 2026: Monica Ozaruk -🧠 Systems, Habits & Smarter Growth

• Joey Pinz • Episode 882

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At MSP GeekCon, Joey Pinz sits down with Monica Ozaruk for a fascinating conversation about systems thinking, operational excellence, creativity, habits, and what really keeps MSP owners awake at night. Monica shares how her background in acting unexpectedly shaped her communication style and how her obsession with process optimization led her into the MSP world through ConnectWise consulting.

From quote-to-cash workflows to habit stacking, Monica explains why successful MSPs need more than tools — they need clarity, consistency, and systems that actually work. She breaks down how many MSPs unintentionally create operational chaos and why “run state” — a calm, scalable business environment — should be the real goal.

The conversation also dives into personal growth, mindset shifts, creativity returning later in life, wellness routines, and how habits create long-term success both personally and professionally.

If you're an MSP owner, entrepreneur, operations leader, or someone trying to create more focus and structure in life, this episode delivers practical insights with real-world honesty.

🔥 Top 3 Highlights

  • ⚙️ Monica’s “assembly line” approach to MSP operations 
  • 🧠 Why habits and systems reduce stress and improve performance 
  • 📈 How MSPs can move from reactive chaos to scalable growth 

 

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Join us for enlightening discussions that spark growth and exploration. 

Hosted by Joey Pinz, this Discipline Conversations Podcast offers insights and inspiration.

 

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Discipline. How does it play a role in your life? How does it drive your decisions? Do you have too much or too little? Every profession, hobby, or passion requires a level of discipline. I have used it in weight loss (+130 lbs.), family death, and found a +25 year business. Am I an expert? Absolutely not! Please join me, as I speak to interesting people and find out how discipline affects their career, life, goals, and decisions. Join me as I talk to interesting people in: #Health, #Fitness & #Wellness: #Business, #Technology & #Science: #Art & #Culture: Website: joeypinz.com All social media @TheJoeyPinz Do you wish to Sponsor? Get the prospectus here: www.joeypinz.com/sponsor

 

 

 

 

 

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SPEAKER_02

MSP Geekan 2026. What a really great, unique event. I get to go to a lot of events and they're run by a vendor. There's vendor hall there. This is completely run by MSPs. Mendy and the team, Kate, the team that's there are volunteers, and it's the attendees were all MSPs, not just owners, but technicians as well. It's just a great twist on what an event can be. One of the greatest things is that they had a game night. So many of the attendees are introverts. So they, you know, they didn't want to go to the bar. They didn't want to do any of that. So they had these two big rooms set up. One side, one room, on one side of the hall was this DD, Dungeons and Dragons High Game, that many played. It was all set up. It was all there was people in charge of it. There was they had to create this car, and it was these tables set up as teams, and you chose a character. It was absolutely wonderful. And then across the hall, in another room, were actually the board games like uh Settlers of Time. Uh a bunch of games I'd never heard of. And some tables just played one game for the whole evening, some rotated through many of them, and it was absolutely wonderful. I got to participate in some of them. Everybody's very welcome and kind. Just a great twist. I think every event should adopt this. For those extroverts that want to go to the party and go to the bar, do that. But have this for those who don't. It's just a wonderful. And the content was great. It was again all geared by MSEs, for MSEs, managed service providers, of course. Um, what a what a just a great event there in Orlando. Uh I'm so glad that I was invited and I hope to get invited more. So I had five great conversations with podcasts. Heather Noggle was the first from Commodore 64 to cybersecurity leadership. Great conversation with Heather. I hadn't met her before. Uh great, wonderful catching up and getting to understand her passions, what she does. Steven Siegel. My goodness, I've known Steven for 10-15 years with Kruhu uh finally, you know, were able to talk this way, uh, you know, in this one-on-one kind of long-form uh conversation from ice cream shops to MSP growth machines, how he, you know, he was in the retail, right? He was uh he was at uh ice cream shops, he's from actually from New York, from right across Long Island Sound, where where I was uh born and raised, but where he was first introduced to MSPs and then and then continued to work with them now and how what his platform does and how he's had change. Great, really open conversation with Steven. Ashley Pyle. My first time uh meeting Ashley, I saw her up on stage give a keynote, it was wonderful. Oh, she had four disciplines, and I said I need to have her on the podcast. And she came on and she was absolutely wonderful and very open and very direct and um a very unique style. I really, really appreciate my conversation with Ashley Pyle. John Harden was next, and John was another podcaster, and we were kind of texting and uh before the event. I'm glad we were able to meet. He did see twice actually at the event. Great conversation with John, building the future without losing humanity. Uh, lastly was with Monica Ozari. So uh I got to know Monica more at this event. Uh she was one of the volunteers. She's uh there in Toronto and has a consulting business, and everything is a system with Monica. Everything is a system, and she helps MSP that. So great conversations there at MSP GeekCon. Really appreciate it. Thank you for watching. For listening. Hi, I'm Joey Pins. And here's my 45-second introduction. After starting my business in the 90s, I started developing poor habits of eating in my diet because I was working way too much. Before you know it, I found myself 340 pounds. The doctor told me if I don't lose the weight, I'm not gonna see my daughter graduate. Took the next seven months, lost 130 pounds. People think there's some secret. Ask me, how'd you lose that weight? Like there's some secret. There is no secret. How'd I lose the weight? Just one word. Discipline. I've had other successes in life, and I attribute them all to discipline. Now I'm not the king of discipline, but I believe that it can help all of us. Friends, colleagues convinced me to start a podcast. The podcast mission, how do we better ourselves and society? I talked to interesting people in health, fitness, sport, wellness, business, technology, science, art and culture. And I eventually asked them how discipline plays a role in their life. Podcast vision, growth through learning from others.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Very cool. And mountain bike, how long have you been doing that? We started in COVID, and I still don't like it. What? Okay, so I do it. And there's a period all the time where I'm almost crying every time. But you're so present, right? Like you're so in it. So yeah, we started and then have just been mountain biking ever since.

SPEAKER_02

In this fast-paced MSP landscape, how do you stay ahead? Introducing Msp Influencer.com, your ultimate hub for MSP news, insights, and community connection powered by Forza Dash. More than 75,000 MSP subscribed to our MSP Influencer Pulse weekly newsletter. Staying informed and ahead of industry trends. Tune in to emerging podcasts from Joey Pins and leading MSP voices, offering essential tips, powerful insights, and success stories. Explore our multi-authored blogs crafted specifically for MSP leaders, delivering fresh perspectives and actionable strategies. Celebrate excellence with the industry leading Forge Dash MSP Influencer Awards, recognizing innovation, leadership, and impact in the MSP community. Join thousands of MSP professionals who trust MSP Influencer.com to grow their business and expand their networks. Msp Influencer.com, where today's MSP leaders connect, collaborate, and conquer, all powered by the Forgot Dash platform, helping MSP vendors work effectively with MSPs and helping MSPs grow. So you don't like the idea of getting there, starting, but once you're in, you're in. Have you ever been heard of doing it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, oh yeah. I've gone over the handlebars. And? Yeah. That's not fun. I don't know. It was fine, I guess. It it you it it was a rate of passage. I was honestly relieved to have it over with. Because then I thought, well, I've done it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Now you're in the Toronto area? Toronto, yep. Good skiing in the area? Not really. We ski in Calgary, BC a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You have to travel for that.

SPEAKER_00

You gotta travel.

SPEAKER_02

And you've guys had a unreasonably rough winter.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Not a lot of snow.

SPEAKER_02

And a lot of darkness, and yeah, I have friends in New York, and it's uh not not the best. Not the best at all. Yeah. Not the best with her. So tell me about yourself before the age of 18. What as a as you know, just a few years ago. Right?

SPEAKER_00

What what were thank you?

SPEAKER_02

What drove what drove you? What were some of your wins? Like what what were your passions?

SPEAKER_00

I always wanted to be an actress. Really? Yes, I went to high school for acting. I went to high school, not with Drake, but Drake was on a TV show, a Canadian TV show called Degrassi. And my whole high school, a lot of the people were on Degrassi. So I chose Drake adjacent. Uh and I yeah, so I went to high school for acting. And I thought I think it gave me a lot in terms of public speaking, and it also gave me a very realistic job preview because all my acting teachers said, you know, this is not a career. You are not gonna make a career out of this. You need to take your maths and your sciences. And I felt like before the age of 18, I really had to make a choice. I either had to decide to be creative and lean into it, or I had to be totally type A, go to university, do all the right things. Wow. So I think, yeah, that was hard. I think I I suppressed my creativity for a really long time because of that. Yeah. Family of actors? No, not at all. Dad's an engineer. Mom runs her own business, consulting. Yeah, not. So what drove you to acting? I I don't know that anything drove me. No, I have a younger sibling, but I was always, if there was a camera, I was in front of it. Trailing. Always. And I would do stupid plays. I would make my sister put on plays with me and make my aunts and uncles watch my dance recitals. And I was a real main character energy kid.

SPEAKER_02

You like the attention?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, probably. I don't really want to admit that, but yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_02

Fascinating. But this helped you with public speaking. You just spoke that we're here at the Yeah, at MSP Geek.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So we're at MSP Geek Con, of course. The third or fourth year.

SPEAKER_00

This is my second year.

SPEAKER_02

Your second year, my first year, but as far as Geekon itself?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

How many years has it been?

SPEAKER_00

Four years.

SPEAKER_02

Four years, yeah. What are some of your goals this week?

SPEAKER_00

I went into it with an open mind. So I volunteered on the logistics committee. My goal was for everything to go well. And it has.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I've been here. It's my first time, very smooth. Yeah, a lot of work, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

You know, okay, no. My goal was to not micromanage everything and to trust that the the people, the amazing team, everyone that we hired to help put this on knew how to do their jobs and that everything was gonna get done. And even if I didn't know how that was going to happen, I had to trust that it would work. Wow. Yeah, and it did. They've been amazing.

SPEAKER_02

And why volunteer for something like this? You've got enough, you've got your consulting firm.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, you've got enough where I can't enjoy something unless I understand how it works.

SPEAKER_02

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00

So as an attendee, it's fine. But if I don't know how it's working, if I'm not part of the behind the scenes, then I don't feel like I'm really experiencing it.

SPEAKER_02

And how far does that go? Can you watch a movie?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But if there's logistics involved, then I need to start getting involved.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But as an actor, you're just doing one role.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, one role. And I never cared about any of the stage or set or mic or any of the setup. I never even thought about it. But I think as I've gotten older, I I care about process, I care about inputs, outputs, how things work. And I'm not great at community, so I don't participate in in the Discord channel. I don't participate in anything. And I thought that this would be my contribution because I can help with the logistics side. So it was twofold. I felt that it would be more valuable to help on a logistic side and that I would enjoy it more myself.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Do you find yourself making systems a lot? I think I only think in systems.

SPEAKER_02

That's right, that's everything.

SPEAKER_00

I think everything to me, I said in my talk, is a uh assembly line. Everything I ever see goes into an assembly line or it's an Excel spreadsheet. Those are the two ways I see the whole world. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And your introduction to the MSP world?

SPEAKER_00

I come from a systems background, and no surprise to anyone. And six years ago, I went on Upwork and said, hey, I'm good at systems, and my first client used ConnectWise and hired me. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That was an MSP. They were an MSP. And then they referred me to another MSP. And then they referred me to another MSP. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Wow. And so how do you help MSPs now?

SPEAKER_00

With their process and understanding how their process interfaces with their technology. So we love MSPs, love adding new tools. We love adding different bells and whistles. But if your underlying assumptions aren't there, if you don't really know why you're doing something or what your quote to cash process is, which is all I ever talk about, the band-aid has to be quote to cash. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I'm unfamiliar with that term.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So how are you selling something? And if you sell it, how what's the handoff from sales to your operations team? What's your handoff from your service desk to your, you know, what tier one, tier two? How do things move through your organization? Do you know the McDonald's tennis court analogy? No. Where they took a bunch of McDonald's staff to a tennis court and they laid out the inside of McDonald's store and they said, okay, do your job. Just you pretend you're working in the kitchen. And they looked to see how many times people bumped into each other or had to cross each other. That's how I see the inside of every MSP. How many times did you bump into each other? How many times did you cross each other? And in my head, it's this red ball that's moving through the organization. And when does the ball go backwards? Or when does the ball get dropped or stop?

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, that's what I help with. And do you have your house?

SPEAKER_00

That's a complicated question. I am crazy. Like my house is a warehouse in terms of everything's inventory. I live very minimalist because to me everything's warehouse space, including the space in a closet, and turn everything is optimized. Fascinating. So I need to have as little stuff as possible. So I'm maximizing my warehouse space. I think it makes my husband happy. Of course it does. But I told you I only own like six pairs of pants. So and he does he have a same. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's much more efficient.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and we can travel light. We can do a lot of things, and it frees up a lot of space when you don't have a ton of clutter, too.

SPEAKER_02

Is there a question you wished more people asked you?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that question. No. Um I think I am not really interested in being asked questions. I think right now I'm finding people so interesting. And you know, we chatted offline about this. Everyone's so interesting. Everyone has something that makes them tick. So I love finding out um things about people, and I'm trying to give less advice. It's one of my New Year's resolutions. Uh I I used to listen to people and think, oh, I've got a really good advice, or I had a similar situation, or whatever it is, but I am trying to listen more now.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, those people who give me unsolicited advice slowly weeding them out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sure you get it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and is it relevant to me right now? Do you know enough about me to be giving me advice? What's the context?

SPEAKER_02

I was a facilitator for a peer group for a while, and we were taught. You know, I had a situation very similar to that, and this is what I did, and here's the lessons I learned. That's what you do. You know, if I were you, I would do this. I mean, just stop right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Or why are we all having the same situation? So that's my question. Okay, so you had a situation, and we're in this peer group. Did we not solve it well enough the first time to make sure no one else had to be in that same situation? What system did we put in place to not have this come up again?

SPEAKER_02

Are there some things, processes that don't require a system?

SPEAKER_00

What do you define as a system? Date night. I probably have a process for that. Uh justice. I think justice would be the most of uh so now we're talking about two things. Now we're talking about alignment because you have all those different people, which has been an amazing subject that we've seen in some of the talks. But I think everything does need uh clear expectations. I think uh date night needs a clear expectation, and you can be really excited about date night, and your partner could have had a really bad day, and you know, if you're both communicating that expectation, and maybe you can move it to a different night or you can change it to a different date night, you should have a couple options of what that looks like. And when you go shopping, I use uh Austrian app. I'm not kidding. I'm not I don't know. So I use this app called Bring, I think it's from Switzerland, and you put all the things that you need, it organizes into categories. My husband and I can both see it, and as you go through the store, you take it off, and then I have mid-max stock on all the things I need in my house. Wow, and I know when I've hit my minimum paper towel that I need to buy more. So flour, yeah, everything. Everything, milk. Yeah, I keep it all together. I first in, last at like yeah, it's all optimized.

SPEAKER_02

Did you plan what you're gonna wear every day at this event?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think I could let go more now that I'm hearing it.

SPEAKER_02

No, I think it's great. I I just kind of put some clothes to go. We're pretty much we're all black, so everything matches, you know. And yeah, I I have systems for everything too, but um a little bit differently, I guess. I wonder. But I have systems for everything that I do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Certainly it's something even just this conversation, you know, with the way the episode is set up. There's uh I used to be a pilot, so we believed in checklists. So checklists are another f system.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But do you keep checklists? Do you have a checklist app on your phone? Are you still yeah for many things? What's the weirdest thing you have a checklist for?

SPEAKER_02

Weird. I don't know what you mean by weird. Uh unusual checklist item. Well, you know, my I I spent uh a couple days with my daughter. She was in town. Yep. I said, okay, well, I want to check out these kind of couple places. I know she's a foodie, but I didn't create a checklist.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But you are. But you know what?

SPEAKER_02

I might have written down some things though.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe there isn't, maybe there isn't. To me, a good plan means that I can be more flexible and that if something changes, so yes, I planned what I was gonna wear, not down to the day, but I had a pretty general, and it's always that. So anytime I pack my carry-on only, it's always the same. And I think that that allows me to have a little bit more flexibility and be more present when it comes to that moment in terms of getting it all out of my head, getting it on a piece of paper, knowing I have it done, and then I can relax.

SPEAKER_02

What if discipline wasn't about punishment, but about unlocking your best self? I spent two and a half years writing discipline for greatness, because discipline changed my life. And I know it can change yours too. This isn't a theory. Inside, you'll find real practical steps you can use immediately to focus better, build stronger habits, reduce stress, accomplish your goals, and bring more balance to your life. Whether you're trying to get healthier, improve your career, or simply feel more control. This book gives you the framework. Start today. Grab your copy of Discipline for Greatness at joeypins.com slash book. Thank you. I would plan vacations out. Yeah. And I would say, okay, we're just gonna do these couple things, and then woody, well, I don't want that. It's not planned by the minute. No. There's just some things we're going to hit so we can have beach time, and that's the idea. Yeah, make people go overboard with it.

SPEAKER_00

I used to.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And what what made you cut back? My husband. He's happy I don't have a cluttered house, but he had a disagreement with me about my vacation. Really? Adoption. Yeah, we went to Spain when we were first dating, and I had it planned by the hour, and he goes, We're in Spain. You go find a cafe, you have a couple drinks, you have a second fish. You need to relax.

SPEAKER_02

So if we go back ten years ago, Mark. Just 10 years ago, what's something you firmly believed then that you no longer believe now?

SPEAKER_00

I think I had more of a fixed mindset. I believed I wasn't creative. So because I had sort of smothered and and issued my creativity and decided to go full logistics, supply chain, all this optimization. I believe that the creative side of my brain had atrophied and I didn't need it. Interesting. And that it wasn't gonna serve me in my career. What changed? Uh recently that's changed because I started writing a newsletter. And just because my marketer told me I had to. And I did too. I did a professional newsletter and I was so anxious about writing it, and I could not get over the mental hurdle that I thought, well, I'll write a personal version, send it to my friends and family, get feedback, and then I'll put it through ChatGPT and make the professional version. And writing that personal newsletter has gotten me back in touch with my creative side, writing, sharing, being a bit more vul more vulnerable. And that has been something that's been so rewarding for me. And now it's something that I look forward to doing and that I want to do. And sometimes I have so many ideas, and I I didn't it used to be a struggle, but you stick with it. It's been a year and a half now. And but sometimes I'll walk around and I'll just be talking into my phone about all my newsletter ideas. So yeah, I think now I am a creative person again. It's coming coming back around.

SPEAKER_02

Playing musical instruments? No. Did you ever? No. But you wanted to be an actor. An actress, yeah. I see a lot of science in you, but I do see art as well. So when you make a decision, how often do you do you ask your gut?

SPEAKER_00

Always.

SPEAKER_02

But do you collect data first?

SPEAKER_00

Tons. Yeah. And then I'm learning to collect less or be a little bit more selective. And when I say selective, I don't mean from people who will agree with me. But I have a couple trusted sources, a couple people that I kind of always go to, collect my data, and then that's my analytic day. Then I sleep on it, and then whatever I wake up feeling, my gut will tell me. So I always sleep on big decisions now. Uh because my brain needs time to process all that data, to contextualize it, to put it against my actual experiences. And then I meditate or do yoga or do something, go to sleep, wake up, and then I'll usually have the answer.

SPEAKER_02

It is important to walk away. I I mentioned the peer groups before. Like being away from your business, it's easier to work on it when you're uh not in it. Yeah. But just walk away.

SPEAKER_00

But then even after the peer group, you probably probably also need to then internalize all that information too. And I don't know that we're taking enough offline time to to bring it all in. And we're getting information at such a high speed and things are coming at us so quickly and there's so much. And then are we taking a step back? Cause I'm sure it's having you you're you're banging your head against a computer and then you go for a walk and you go, oh, it's this. I don't know that we're scheduling I worry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah we're learning we really have to take time out to really think about that. And I in the last seven, eight months I've had a couple of close friends pass. And that's when you know you're kind of forced into it. Yeah. Right. What am I doing? You know in the 90s I was building the MSP and I was working way too hard. I think you know the story and you know I get in front of the doctor and she tells me I'm at 340 pounds and I was terrified, angered man you know, uh upset and you know she says if you don't lose this weight you're not gonna see your daughter graduate. My daughter was just born and somehow responsible for bringing in this beautiful girl into the world and here I am abusing myself. You know so I can abuse myself all I it's much bigger than me. Six seven months went by I lost 120 pounds kept it off you know you gotta look at these things not as a finishing line right these are lifelong changes. People say what's your secret what you do and I Monica I always say just discipline right routine.

SPEAKER_00

Yes focus right motivation how does discipline play a role in your life well there's a quote it's everyone is the same only their habits are different. Oh and I am huge on habits so I also have an app on my phone for habits.

SPEAKER_02

Is it habatica?

SPEAKER_00

No it literally is just called habits and it's the most basic habit they can't see it but it's the most basic habit tracker you can have it just has five habits and then did I do it yes or no every day. Give me an example some so my habits are I'm not gonna give you an example I'm gonna give you to speak to the truth slow morning yoga 12 minute workout 10,000 steps and shakti mat.

SPEAKER_02

What's the last one?

SPEAKER_00

Shackti mat. Is that French? No it's a bed of spikes like a bed of nails. Yes and you lie on it for 20 minutes. Whoa and it's acupressure so you get off and your back is completely red. Wow and I lie on it every day for 20 minutes. You really slow morning so in other words stop rushing around slow down a bit don't look at my phone for the first hour. Yeah yeah yeah I need to do that yeah maybe you do yeah but for me those I didn't pick all five of those and say I'm gonna do all of these I started with one thing. Right and then you do it over a month is this sustainable sure okay January was my big yoga month did I do it every day yes can I bring it into my everyday life sure but I only ever have five and sometimes I'll have a great idea and think oh I'm gonna bring this habit in but then I have to get one of the other habits out because we're human. Right. We come to these conferences and we think oh my gosh we're gonna do all the things just one small thing. And I'm sure that's how you're keeping the weight off and you're staying healthy. It's it's habit stacking is just one little thing that you're doing consistently.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah was discipline talked about as a child when you were becoming an actor or was it exemplified by your parents how was it handled in the household?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah I don't know about discipline. I think my parents are both extremely hard workers and they always wanted us to try everything. So they enrolled us in any after school anything that we showed an interest in we would try. If we didn't like it after a week they would encourage us to stick with it for the term so usually it's a couple three months or whatever. They would want us to stick with it and say okay is this something you want to do I think they didn't have to talk about it because I think they modeled it.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And I think that that's also a a disconnect so I don't ever remember them saying you have to get good grades or you have to go to university. I remember my parents saying if you don't want to go to university if you want to go to a trade school if you want to do this we'll pay for you do your research just put a case together tell us what you want to do. But because they modeled the behavior I think it made it a lot easier to internalize it.

SPEAKER_02

That helps yeah were were they immigrants?

SPEAKER_00

No I'm third gen. So yeah it would be my Oma and Opa on my one side and grandma and grandpa yeah very nice is there something in the last month or so you changed your mind on it's happening more and more frequently uh John Harden's talk I know John was on this right before he was talking about well what's one hard question you haven't asked yourself and uh I tell my MSPs try to move from a reactive state to a proactive state and as I was sitting there I realized everything I do in my own business is reactive I let clients come to me I don't do QBRs I just let them ask me when they need something I'm not asking them about are they buying another MSP? Do they want to know what a how I can help I'm not doing any of those things. So that was humbling eat your own dog food I'm like what's great about the MSP community it's so earnest. Yes it's so earnest and I had the opportunity to help run the testimonials here yesterday and I that's an I was blown away by what people were saying. They're so good you think that I told them what to say. And they're these people who maybe have never been in front of a camera before and they just hop on we get them mic'ed up and they were so passionate and curious and they're so excited to be here and you see that the reason the first MSP started is because someone thought hey I'm really good at this and I I see a gap I think I can help so MSPs to me are are a customer first in a world where we're not actually customer first in so many other industries now want to show your love for discipline inspiration and the Joey Pins podcast?

SPEAKER_02

Now's your chance introducing the brand new Joey Pins merch store where style needs discipline. Choose from premium apparel cozy hoodies stylish hats durable bags and your new favorite coffee mug all featuring the iconic Joey Pins. Perfect for podcast fans, discipline enthusiasts or as unique gifts for friends and family. Every purchase supports the Joey Pins Discipline Conversations podcast helping us continue to inspire greatness and promote positive change. Visit JoeyPins.com slash store today and wear your discipline proudly Joey Pins merch. Wear it share it and live it yeah I saw the testimony testimonial session there may or may have not been an elephant at one point I'm still undecided about that. You know I a former MSP and uh I what keeps MSPs up at night I found to be pretty similar over the last six seven years. One cybersecurity they're worried about their clients getting attacked if they get attacked they've got to allocate resources their fixed rates so they're gonna lose money they're probably gonna get fired they may even get sued two is human capital how they're gonna keep their people happy how they're gonna get new engineers very tough uh trait to have and and three is just growth private equity has poured in hundreds of millions of dollars their friends are selling their MSPs how am I gonna grow yeah do you find that to be the case?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely I would probably focus the most on growth I'm an independent consultant I don't love working with other people so really system yeah but people aren't systems right and humans are messy and habits one thing that I respect the crap out of my owners is that they they can hire and they are managing teams and I that is so hard and it's so much more complex and you can't standardize it. Everyone's a little bit different I live in the standardization and optimization world so the growth side to me is those peer groups it is those metrics it's learning the best practices and understanding your MSP probably isn't a unicorn it probably does operate very similarly to a lot of other people and if you do want to get a good value if you do want to go PE or get purchased or whatever it is there's going to be metrics that you're gonna be judged against there's gonna be financial data that you have to meet if you want to get out of your business what you feel you've put in which again that's probably not going to happen but it is good to know what that looks like and I think growth is something that MSPs find hard because they're juggling so many things. They're wearing so many hats cybersecurity is another thing I can't even speak to because I'm scared. In one of my clients' instances I clicked a malicious link and I thought well this is how I get fired. Great and they were really nice about it but yeah I I just felt like I should know better but how do you continue to know the best and that's where I cybersecurity is incredible to me the people who are really on the front line of that. It sure is what motivates you what motivates me at work is the moment where someone who's super frustrated with their job gets a little tip from me or I train them to do something or I show them a process and they go, that saved me an hour. That say oh I finally see how to do that. It's that moment from remembering that person I used to be where I wish I had help or I wish I had resources and I'm banging my head against the computer feeling so alone and then someone shows me how to do something in a system how to do my job and I'm so grateful. So yeah I love seeing that that's what motivates me.

SPEAKER_02

You didn't say it but I heard impact.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah so how do you measure success given that motivation of impact I think to me success is with my reactive approach to clients is if they continue to bring me in for projects so that's definitely success. And I do tie everything to a financial so it are we seeing a financial impact are we seeing better retention of your employees because you have better processes are people calmer I talk about this thing called run state which is nothing should be on fire. Things should be boring you should be able to come into your MSP and it should be quiet. And I did this with one of my MSPs we fixed a bunch of things we had everyone understand what KPIs they were being judged on. We really did a lot of education and then all of a sudden it was kind of quiet for a month and the owner was freaking out he goes it's too quiet Monica something's gonna break something's gonna happen I said it can actually be like this you can get to Run State coming from my production background you want that assembly line moving you don't need to be stopping it every five seconds and doing something differently and finding a custom solution you should get to the point where everything's pretty standardized and the same thing happens day in and day out because then you can start to look at proactive things. Then you can start to look at additional tools or service offerings so yeah to me getting people to run state professionally and personally what have is what are you doing to free up space in your life so you can do your hobbies and you can go after other things.

SPEAKER_02

And have a system that gets you there. Always yeah I thank you so much for your time it was great getting to know you better at this event anybody watching or listening how can they get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_00

LinkedIn follow me on LinkedIn and read my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn as well.

SPEAKER_02

Very cool I don't know if I'm subscribing and it's O Z A R U K. You got it. Monica Azoracle make sure we put it up thank you so much for your time great pleasure. Thank you for listening andor viewing Joey Pins Discipline Conversations. Please share this episode with one or two of your friends who you think may benefit from the episode our website www.joeypins.com there you find lots of resources and you can join our mailing list please follow us on all our social media Instagram Twitter and Facebook podcast information the video version of our podcast is on YouTube please subscribe audio is on all major podcasting platforms please follow them and if you like it please consider giving the five star rating we'd really appreciate and thank you again for listening or watching and showing Penny's discipline conversation