The One Thing MSPs Can Never Own

Hello, MSPs! I have lived every version of the MSP journey, just like you. I know the grind, the late nights, and the constant hustle. Today, I want to talk about a resource that determines everything in your business and your life.

Before we get into the details, I want to share a line from Mark Cuban that shaped the way I look at business. He said that time is the one thing you can never own. You can own your tools. You can own your processes. You can even own your client relationships. But time? You only get to spend it.

Whether you are an MSP doing $1,000 a month or $10 million a year, we all get the exact same amount of time. We all get 168 hours every single week. No more and no less! The MSPs who grow treat those 168 hours like gold. The MSPs who stay stuck treat time like it is free or unlimited. It will not wait for you!

Are You Caught in These Time Traps?

Let’s have a real, honest conversation about where we waste this resource. You are not losing because you lack skill or because the economy is bad. Often, you are losing because your best hours are being spent on your lowest value work.

Do you find yourself in the technician time trap? This is when you, the owner, are still the top engineer and the escalation point. It feels productive because you are solving problems at 10:00 at night, but you are actually stuck! Your business will never get the leadership or strategy it needs if you are always fixing things. I lived this for decades, and I know how easy it is to fall into.

What about bad clients? Nothing steals more energy and sanity than a client who demands more time than they are worth. They don’t just steal your time; they steal the time you should be giving to your good clients. Sometimes you have to fire a client to save your business. It is not easy, but it is necessary!

Are you living in reaction mode? This is when your entire day is driven by emails, alerts, and whatever fire pops up next. It creates a false sense of urgency. It feels busy and needed, but it is the biggest thief of strategic time. If your day is controlled by alerts instead of intention, you will never have time for sales or marketing.

How to Reclaim Your 168 Hours

To scale to seven figures, we had to make a change. We started time blocking non-negotiables like sales and planning every single week. If it is not on the calendar, it will get absorbed by something else. Your calendar is your strategy! Your time allocation predicts your revenue.

Standardizing on the cloud was the biggest game changer for us. It did more than just increase recurring revenue; it gave us our time back. We used to spend 10 to 20 hours a week per technician just driving to client locations. With the cloud, technicians can solve problems from their desks. We took care of clients better because they didn’t have to wait for us to drive out to them.

A Challenge For You

Choose one time trap to eliminate and one high value activity to add. Commit to these two things for the next 12 weeks. It will change your year! Stop giving your best hours to the smallest problems.

We are here to help you because we have been exactly where you are. We believe in givers gain, which is why we offer our resources and campaigns for free. We hope that when you land your next big cloud deal, you will remember how we helped you get there.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Arlen Sorensen: “We all get the same 168 hours each week. The difference is how intentionally we use them.” 

Have a great week and weekend!