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Ever since the idea of becoming an entrepreneur came into my head, I’ve been fascinated with reading stories about and interviews with successful entrepreneurs.
I’m a big believer in modeling what works, so I would prowl every word looking for clues as to what made these entrepreneurs successful, picking up clues and trying to piece together the puzzle over time.
After reading countless interview and listening to countless speeches, I noticed that a favorite interview questions was:
“What book had the most impact on you as an entrepreneur?”
Usually, whatever the answer was, I would hustle out and buy the book, figuring it had to contain some gems. And they always did.
One book stood out over time as the most recommended book - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
A fiction book? No thanks.
A handful of months ago, my stubbornness finally wore down and I bought the book. It took me several months to finish it (it’s almost 1200 pages long and I am almost always reading a few books at a time), but I finally did this last month.
And let me tell you…it is the most important book I have ever read.
That statement deserves an explanation…I will try to give one.
As an entrepreneur and a person very interested in personal development, I think I’ve always struggled to find what I would describe as a “personal philosophy”; a set of rules by which I should live my life.
The beauty of entrepreneurship is that there are no rules. You make your own rules. But that can leave a person with a sense of ambiguity and isolation; sometimes it’s nice to just have someone lay out a path for you and tell you what you are doing is the right thing.
You won’t get that as an entrepreneur; you have to find your own way. If you are lucky, you find a role model early in life that takes the time to really teach you what they’ve learned. If not, you have to find it yourself. By reading books, experimenting, failing, making mistakes, seeking advice from others - it’s not a straight road.
I think Atlas Shrugged lays out the best “personal philosophy” I have ever found. It is captured over the 1200 pages of the book in a fascinating story about the fall of America as we know it due to a lack of personal accountability from our citizens, and then it is summed up briefly in the “About the author” section at the end of the book.
In Ayn Rand’s words:
“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
Why is it my favorite business book, as the title of this post suggests?
Because it so clearly lays out what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur - the absolute refusal to give anything less than your best every day; the personal accountability to deal with reality as it exists, not as you wish it existed; and the idea that you are 100% responsible for the quality of your life, as opposed to expecting handouts from the government, your parents, or your employer.
If everyone thought that way, the world would be a better place. If you were able to only hire employees that thought that way, your company would run itself.
I really encourage you to buy and read this book. It will be 250 pages or so into it before you start getting any momentum, so don’t give up too early.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with him, Perry Marshall is an internet marketing expert that writes some great material on internet marketing and marketing in general.
A recent email from him touched on something that I think is so important and powerful right now: honoring the role of the entrepreneur.
I am a huge believer in the ability of entrepreneurs to change the world for the better. I think that being an entrepreneur brings out the best in people, and that entrepreneurship is the most efficient and effective way to move ideas forward to fruition.
Considering how large of a role the government is starting to play in the lives of every American, it is critically important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that it was entrepreneurs that built this country, and it’s entrepreneurs that will continue to make it strong and healthy. Not bailouts from the government.
I think Perry’s message has some great points about the value of entrepreneurs to change lives for the better. If you are an entrepreneur, take a few minutes when you read this to give yourself a rare pat on the back. If you aren’t an entrepreneur but you know one, take a few minutes to recognize their accomplishments and the risks they are willing to take.
Perry’s message is posted below.
MRC
—————————————————————
Mike,
I just came home from a seminar by Paul Manwaring called “A Culture of Honor.” As he spoke about how carelessly people criticize each other on TV and in daily life - and how uplifting it is to receive words of affirmation - I was struck by how little appreciation most entrepreneurs get from… well, anybody.
The evening news is no celebration of business people, that’s for sure.
The government ain’t doing much to make your job easier.
So… why would you risk everything, endure multiple bankruptcies, work 17 hours a day for weeks and months at a time, to be the first to be taxed and the last to get paid in a game that offers no guarantee of success whatsoever?
It takes a very special kind of person.
It takes a person who is driven from the inside by passion and vision and a bit of eccentricity. It requires you to be so dissatisfied with the status quo that you feel like you can endure anything so long as it’s not the present mediocrity.
You’re one of those people who just can’t stand following the car ahead of you on the expressway to some cubicle for the rest of your life.
Or maybe you have this idea for a product or a way of doing something and you’re convicted to your very soul that the world needs to see things *your* way for once.
In any case, I doubt it’s because you’re just some greedy, money-grubbing over-achiever who needs to take a chill pill. No, that popular depiction is deeply misleading.
I just want to say… Wherever you are in your journey, I’m proud of you, I HONOR you, and I cheer you on in your effort. Any honest business is a noble and honorable thing.
I’ll never forget my 2nd trip to Africa. I’m somewhere southwest of Nairobi Kenya, visiting George Karanga and his wife Jane, two very special people who run a foster program for AIDS orphans.
I’m meeting a woman whose husband is dying of AIDS, he’s down to 66 pounds… all kinds of kids who’ve lost both parents to HIV and now live with aunts, uncles or grandparents… people who are deathly sick for lack of $1.00 for a bus ticket to go to a medical clinic… a woman who’s 8 years a paraplegic, living under a tin roof in a dark mud hut, her sole entertainment her radio, her cat, and her kind neighbors who look after her.
Not a cheery scene.
But the epiphany occurs when I meet a fellow named Paul Mungai, who runs a cobbler shop. Paul, ironically, is crippled, but he knows how to make and fix shoes. And he knows how to run a business.
He started with just $50.00 of seed money and now has, by Kenyan standards, a sound business. He’s feeding his family, he’s paying his rent, his kids have uniforms to wear to school, and everyone in his care has enough to live on.
There’s a gleam in his eye. We exchange a few words and share our mutual understanding: There is one and only one path out of poverty. The one and only path out of poverty is entrepreneurship and business success.
It ain’t government. It’s not social programs. It’s not charity. It’s not even jobs or technology. It’s entrepreneurship.
The message was loud and clear: What you and I do may be daring, crazy, irrational and largely misunderstood. Condescending do-gooders may tell you you’re greedy or too successful. Your brother-in-law may think you’ve got your head stuffed in a cloud.
The government may think it has the right to confiscate your profits and give them to “education” or other well-intentioned social programs. You might cater to some strange market, doing something that most people consider frivolous.
But the fact remains: What you and I do is profoundly important. You and I pave the road that leads from poverty to success. We create the ingenuity and jobs and wealth that makes good medical care possible.
We create the world that has enough to eat, the world where even welfare kids in housing projects get three square meals a day.
So don’t ever apologize to anyone for doing what you do. If it wasn’t for you, me and the rest of us entrepreneurs, “they” would still be sleeping on dirt floors.
That conversation with Paul in Kenya sparkled with the mutual awareness of what I just described to you.
And as George took me to see other recipients of Micro-Enterprise seed funding - a lady selling sardines and tomatoes on a nailed-together stand on the side of the road, several women selling fruits and vegetables in the local markets, I thought of the entrepreneurs I meet in the US, Canada and Australia.
I thought of those rah-rah Amway rallies I was going to years ago, and the easily-exploited naivet? that’s so characteristic of the “Biz Op” market as it’s sometimes called.
And like it or not, it’s that raw enthusiasm and independent spirit that drives the prosperity of the West.
Where that drive, imagination and ingenuity are lacking, people starve - literally.
So yes, some business people are too greedy. Some entrepreneurs don’t care about their fellow man. Some people do make their money by dishonest means. But remember, the character quotient is no better on the poor side of the fence.
So if you’re prospering by means of an honest enterprise - or if you’re struggling to put one together - then you are a hero. The bards and minstrels may not sing songs about you, and your handsome face may never appear on The Apprentice, but what you do every day when you get out of bed is a worthwhile and indeed necessary thing.
Don’t ever forget it. What you do matters. A lot. It’s worth celebrating and it’s HONORABLE.
As I’ve said in previous posts on this site, I’ve been confused as to why an MSP would want to partner with Dell to provide managed services. Dell has clearly never been a supporter of the channel, but is now making some strategic shifts that may make it a channel-friendly vendor. I stress may, because obviously many people are unclear as to if this is true, or if Dell is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Given this, I’ve never understood why I should jump into bed with them.
That’s what I’m trying to figure out by watching this presentation. Here is what I learned:
Deal registration - you don’t have to worry about competing with Dell
Get to use Dell/Silverback technologies and processes, including the “Business Builder” services in which Dell helps you get your managed services practice off the ground if you are not yet a developed MSP
Sales and marketing materials and training
Sales and marketing campaign assistance/lead generation
Dell has a “warchest” of capital that people believe is going to give them and their partners a competitive edge in the marketplace
I think the presentation left me with as many questions as it answered, which doesn’t surprise me too much as you can only go into so much detail in a webinar. If I have the time, I suppose that I will have to contact Dell directly to find out the real details of their offering.
I for one will definitely plan on sitting on the sidelines and watching how everything shakes out, but it seems that Dell’s partners featured in this presentation are happy with their relationship (of course). As Peter Klanian from Dell pointed out in the presentation, Dell’s behavior and track record over time will determine how much the channel trusts them.
I think I will really start giving Dell some real credit is when I’m at a managed services conference and someone runs up to me and says “I’m working with Dell and I’m making so much money - it’s the best!”. Will it happen? We’ll see!
As all of the big dogs have done Cisco has recently made their push into the small business managed services market. Cisco defines this market as companies under 100 people. Sure does sound like our sandbox doesn’t it.
If you look at their new small business web site I believe they do a nice job talking to the business owner about solutions rather than support and products. “Secure my business” sure makes more sense to a small business owner than “Security products”. This is what I mean by the right positioning. Anyone that continues to sell product and support going forward will not succeed in my mind.
Now it is going to take some time to see what kind of traction they are able to get in the small business areas but I can tell you that the 100 million dollar investment they are committed to making sure will give them a leg up over you and I when it comes to getting their word out. I personally believe they will make good inroads with the 100 - 200 user organizations because there is generally at least one IT guy on staff and the Cisco name means something to him. The sub 100 user companies are generally looking for a high level of service and the ability to call the CEO of your organization if something goes wrong, if this remains true it will be a much tougher nut for Cisco to crack.
I suppose in the grand scheme of things this just gives us one more giant to watch as they try to make their entry into the small business market. Perhaps as all of these big dogs show up we will see more strategic acquisitions and all of our organizations will get much higher valuations!
Mark Cuban is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. I heard him speak at Stanford several years ago and I thought he was one of the most practical, down-to-earth speakers I had ever heard — and a billionaire to boot! I read his blog religiously, and thought this post was worth passing along:
Thats what so many want. Right ? I’m certainly not going to lie and say it is not a whole lot better having lots of money. I had a whole lot of fun and loved my life when I was eating mustard and ketchup sandwiches and sleeping on the floor of a 3 bedroom apartment that housed me and 5 buddies.
I have a whole lot more fun now. It doesn’t suck to be rich.
The question everyone wants answered, is how to get there. There are ways to get there. But there is not a template that works every time for everyone. It works sometimes. Getting there requires being ready when opportunity presents itself.
IMHO, change and uncertainty create opportunity. Times like we are facing now, with complete financial uncertainty are perfect times to start on the road to getting ahead financially.
First, here is WHAT NOT TO DO:
There are no shortcuts. NONE. With all of this craziness in the stock and financial markets, there will be scams popping up left and right. The less money you have, the more likely someone will come at you with some scheme . The schemes will guarantee returns, use multi level marketing, or be something crazy that is now “backed by the US Government”. Please ignore them. Always remember this. If a deal is a great deal, they aren’t going to share it with you.
I dont broadcast my great deals. I keep them all to myself. The 2nd thing to remember is that if the person selling the deal was so smart, they would be rich beyond rich rather than trolling the streets looking to turn you into a sucker. There are no shortcuts.
So what should you do to get rich ?
Save your money. Save as much money as you possibly can. Every penny you can. Instead of coffee, drink water. Instead of going to McDonalds, eat Mac and Cheese. Cut up your credit cards. If you use a credit card, you dont want to be rich. The first step to getting rich, requires discipline. If you really want to be rich, you need to find the discipline, can you ?
If you can, you will quickly find that the greatest rate of return you will earn is on your own personal spending. Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich. Yeah you have to give things up and that doesn’t work for everyone, particularly if you have a family. That is reality. But whatever you can save, save it. As much as you possibly can. Then put it in 6 month CDs in the bank.
The first step to getting rich is having cash available. You arent saving for retirement. You are saving for the moment you need cash. Buy and hold is a suckers game for you. This market is a perfect example. Right at the very moment when cash creates unbelievable opportunity, those who followed the buy and hold strategy have no cash. they cant or wont sell into markets this low, that kills the entire point of buy and hold. Those who have put their money in CDs sleep well at night and definitely have more money today than they did yesterday. And because they are smart, disciplined shoppers, their personal rate of inflation is within their means. Cash is king for those wanting to get rich
The 2nd rule for getting rich is getting smart. Investing your time in yourself and becoming knowledgeable about the business of something you really love to do
It doesn’t matter what it is. Whatever your hobbies, interests, passions are. Find the one you love the best and GET A JOB in the business that supports it.
It could be as a clerk, a salesperson, whatever you can find. You have to start learning the business somewhere. Instead of paying to go to school somewhere, you are getting paid to learn. It may not be the perfect job, but there is no perfect path to getting rich.
Before or after work and on weekends, every single day, read everything there is to read about the business. Go to trade shows, read the trade magazines, spend a lot of time talking to the people you do business with about their business and the people they buy from.
This is not a short term project. We aren’t talking days. We aren’t talking months. We are talking years. Lots of years and maybe decades. I didn’t say this was a get rich quick scheme. This is a get rich path
Now you wait for times of uncertainty and change in your business. The time will come. It may come quickly, it may take years and years. But it will come. The nature of our country’s business infrastructure is that it is destined to be boom and bust. Booms are when the smart people sell. Busts are when rich people started on their path to wealth.
You will know when that time is here for you because you will know your business inside and out. You will be ready because you will have been saving up for this moment in time
With all the change and uncertainty in the financial markets, there are people right now making more money than they ever dreamed of. They are the ones who have been living the real estate market and the financing behind it and understanding what actually what was going on. They re the one who understood the complexities of the credit markets. When everyone was following the crowd, they kept on saving their money and avoiding the temptation of groupthink.
Boom and busts happen to every industry. The question is whether you have the discipline to be ready when it happens for you ?
If you do, you will find out what it feels like to get lucky.
Josh and I have been working on a project that I’m happy to say is ready to roll.
MSP Coach is an educational site for the IT service provider community, particularly those serving small and medium sized businesses and those that are interested in developing a managed services business.
We’ve really enjoyed blogging - we learn a lot from taking the time to write about what’s in our heads, and we’ve established some great relationships with many of our readers.
But we’ve realized in the process that we have a lot to share that is difficult to capture in a blog, and that there is a real hunger for good information on our marketplace about how to grow a successful managed services business. I say good information, because there is no shortage of information these days, but most of it is from vendors trying to sell you a product. A lot of that information is still good, but it’s definitely biased, and it doesn’t always come from a voice with experience in this industry.
We have experience as time and materials service providers, and we have experience building a managed services practice from scratch to several million in revenue over the course of a few years. We have a lot of valuable lessons to share - and we enjoy sharing them with the MSP community.
MSP Coach is free (for now anyway!), so we hope you sign up and take a look around. We are just getting it started and this is a “nights and weekends” gig for us, so please be patient - more content will be added as we are able to do so.
If you have suggestions or feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Joe at MSPMentor wrote a great post on starting a business with a partner. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m an entrepreneurship nut, not an IT nut. I LOVE getting my hands on anything to do with business, and I studied entrepreneurship for my MBA at Babson College, which is consistently considered the top school on entrepreneurship. I don’t say this to boast, just to give some background and to let you know that this is my favorite subject.
I’m also a huge believer in continuing education, so I’m always putting a new book or website in front of my employees’ faces and hoping they’ll get just as excited about learning as I am.
So…that being said, I couldn’t pass up on this opportunity to point out my favorite resources on entrepreneurship. I’ve already mentioned most elsewhere on this site, but they are worth repeating! I get contaced by a lot of managed service providers that are just getting started; I hope this list will be helpful for you in particular.
The Kauffman Foundation - perhaps the best think tank on entrepreneurship.
Babson College - I can’t leave that one out! Rated #1 entrepreneurship program 13 years running. They have some great executive development programs you can attend if you don’t want to take the time off for a full degree.
I’m sure I left out some good ones - what do you have on your list?
I just read the recent announcement from N-Able stating that they are giving free access to their entry-level product to Microsoft partners as a way to further speed the adoption of managed services in the marketplace.
It begs the question: can anyone become a competitive managed service provider? Are their any barriers to entry in this business?
My answer: Yes and No.
Yes, practically anyone can become and MSP within a week if they so desire. The tools are all available, and they are all getting cheap or free. So technically, anyone can become a managed service provider quickly and at almost no expense.
But No, not everyone can be competitive in this space just because they have access to all of the same tools as everyone else. Why is that? I’ve said it many times before; it takes building a service culture that has fully accepted managed services as its business model to build a viable MSP business.
The tools are important, don’t get me wrong. But they are really just your ticket to get into the amusement park, then all of the fun happens! It takes much more than software to build a business - at least in this space.
So what does this mean for the marketplace? I think what N-Able is doing is good news. It will help get all of the businesses out there familiar with the concepts of managed services. However, the market will be over-crowded with a lot of small players that aren’t delivering that great of service. That means noise and confusion for prospects.
But eventually most of the small players will go away - the bad ones going out of business, and the good ones joining the ranks of a larger company or growing into one themselves. That will be good for everyone.
Found this update in my inbox this morning from Michael Menegay from Dell – I was not sure who he was until I read his signature but I guess he feels I am his partner by the looks of it.
Dell is pushing Everdream direct to customers and offering us MSP certification. At first glance this looks like cause for alarm until you realize it is Dell and they will never get the personal touch our service requires right with small businesses.
In the last month dell has visited two of my clients unsupervised and both ended up with sever business interruption and are in the process of trying to get money out of dell. Why do I tell you this? Because I feel it will be the same with Dell’s direct managed services. Not to say they are not a smart organization, they are just too big to give Joe’s local consulting business the personal attention they need.
In my opinion (take it or leave it) I feel Dell’s, and all the other giants, push into the market will do nothing but educate clients sending them looking for you and me – the quality high touch sub fifty million dollar organizations providing managed services with a personal touch.
Check out the letter and I will see you at the webinar the week of the 21st.
JC
Dear Partner,
At the Dell/SilverBack Managed Services Partner Conference held in January, we committed to open and continuous dialogue with our partner community on Dell’s managed services strategy, program enhancements and go-to-market initiatives.
MSP Certification Update
Today, we are pleased to announce some updates. The Dell MSP certification program has been enhanced to include Dell’s end-user device management services (enabled by the recently acquired Everdream technology). This technology is exciting as it permits our partners to offer new and expanded product sets consisting of software distribution, patch management, remote asset discovery, asset management, data encryption, online backup, software licensing and remote administration to your vast base of desktop and notebook systems.
To support these new capabilities for our partners, Dell has added an MSP certification track for Dell’s end-user device management services. Our partners can now access the technology, training and best practices of all managed services practice areas, including those offered for IT infrastructure remote monitoring and management technology driven by Dell’s enterprise monitoring services (enabled by the recently acquired SilverBack technology), and those offered for Dell’s end-user device management services.
Dell’s end-user device management services technology represents an exciting addition to our MSP certification program. Current Everdream partners who register before May 15, 2008 will be “grandfathered” into the Dell MSP desktop remote management certification program. Also, we are thrilled with the results of our first Dell MSP Partner Certification program based on Dell’s enterprise monitoring services, as new partner certifications have increased over four hundred (400%) percent in just four (4) months. We look forward to similar results with the expansion of the program utilizing the Dell’s end-user device management services platform technology.
Managed Services Update
As we discussed at the January MSP partner conference, Dell will be starting a limited pilot in Dallas, TX selling small businesses basic remote monitoring and remediation services using Dell’s enterprise monitoring services. Dell will look to expand this pilot over the course of 2008 in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions as feedback dictates.
As promised, we will update you on the progress of this pilot as results and feedback are generated. We’ll continue to communicate and work with partners to further develop the channel offering that will compliment Dell’s small-business managed service offering. There will also be opportunities for partners to participate in the pilot, and we will provide details in the coming months.
And in closing, during the week of April 21, 2008 we will host a managed services partner webinar that will further outline the results and growth of our MSP certification program, and share our plans for continued enhancements to the MSP platform and overall channel program. This webinar will provide our partners the opportunity to be educated on the enhancements to Dell’s platform technology and programs that will enable you to develop specific initiatives suited to meeting your business goals.
We envision this webinar being the first in a series of conversations with our partners as we continue to develop Dell’s Managed Services channel strategy and offerings for our partners.
We will be in touch with you shortly with details about our upcoming webinars.
As always, we look forward to your feedback.
Sincerely,
Greg Davis
Vice President and General Manager
Americas Channel Group
Michael Menegay
Global Director, Dell Managed Services
How do you know you are hiring the right people? I was speaking with the CEO of a managed service provider not long ago and he told me that they had just hired “a great guy”, “this guy knows everything about servers” he said. I responded “that’s great how does he fit in culturally?” He seemed surprised by my unwillingness to talk about the technology strengths of this individual as I focused on his cultural fit. His response was along the lines of “I don’t know I don’t really participate in our hiring.”
In my mind this is one of the biggest mistakes managed service providers can make. Creating a service culture and successfully delivering value to your clients depends directly on the people you hire – now I know this is an obvious statement but you would be surprised how many smart people will yes you on this and then go out and hire the “smart tech guy” that just doesn’t mesh with what their organization is about.
Everon’s people process
1st we spend a good deal of time defining what our culture is and what core values are important to the organization. We are very clear that we are first and foremost a customer service organization, we just happen to be really good with this technology stuff.
We have created a culture to empower our people by giving them simple decision making guidelines for every situation:
Is the decision the right thing for the customers business?
Is it the right thing for Everon?
Will you be willing to stand by your decision if asked?
If you can answer yes to all three of these questions we will always be behind your decisions.
2nd we educate our leaders to always hire for cultural fit first
We look for hires with great people / service skills as we truly believe we can teach the technology stuff. Have you ever tried to do it the other way around, total disaster!
3rd we value critical thinking skills above knowing everything
Don’t get me wrong we have some people that think they know everything but in reality no one can be smarter than the team and no one knows everything. If you can work from a base of knowledge to find your way through a problem (technical or people problem) that you have never been exposed to before then you will be successful in this business.
It is important to create a repeatable hiring process that allows you to get at the heart of the things important to your culture. Design questions, scenarios, puzzles, and situations that give you the answers to hire the right people. Spend as much time and energy as it takes to educate your leaders and get them bought into the system and reap the benefits of cultural alignment.
