068: When Everything Falls Apart, You Still Have to Keep Moving Forward

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Managing an IT business demands resilience—something Paul learned firsthand through a series of staffing nightmares that nearly brought his growing MSP to its knees.

After finding his first promising technician, the pandemic upended everything. When business stabilized faster than expected, bringing that tech back proved complicated due to childcare issues and remote work distractions. Then came the real challenge: a parade of mismatched hires. One refused to adapt to company processes, another lacked both technical skills and people skills, and a third quit abruptly after realizing "how much he hated" IT work. Suddenly, Paul found himself alone again, handling all technical work while trying to run the business.

The turning point came when Paul revamped his hiring and training procedures with help from industry peers. "Hire slowly and fire quickly if they're not the right fit" became his mantra. He discovered valuable team members in the Philippines who demonstrated strong work ethic while helping manage costs. Eventually, he built a team of eight, even successfully acquiring another company that doubled his business size.

What makes Paul's story remarkable isn't just his business persistence but his unwavering positive attitude despite simultaneous personal challenges—building a house, supporting a partner through medical issues, and navigating life's complications. His philosophy? "Every day is really just a blessing... If my business goes out of business tomorrow, I'm still going to be fine." This perspective helps him see each setback as a learning opportunity rather than a disaster, maintaining his characteristic laugh even when facing his most tenured employee's resignation.

Want to approach your business challenges with similar resilience? Remember Paul's wisdom: "Everything that is a thing is something to learn on, something to get better with."

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Hi, I’m Marc Thomas, Founder and CEO of Current TEK Solutions and CYBER GUARDIANS. If you or someone you know could benefit from our cutting-edge IT and cybersecurity services, we’d love to help. Reach out to us today to learn how we can secure and elevate your business. https://www.currentTEKsolutions.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I went through three really, really bad technicians
before I found a good one, right.
So, like, I hired one that saidhe had the skills and I found
out that he was unemployed for areason.
Right, like, like he had hisown set ways and he didn't want
to listen and I was like you gotto go.
And when he was with me, wehired another help desk guy and

(00:23):
the guy just had no skills andno personality and he had to go.
And so then we hired anotherguy that we thought had the
skills and had the had the thing, and then he came in for like
three weeks and he goes.
I forgot how much I hate this.
Then I gotta quit oh geez.
So okay, thanks, where I had atechnician and I had a lot of

(00:45):
work to do, and then I had, like, a technician that was bad, and
then another one that was bad,and then another one, and we
still had all these work, allthis work to do, and it was just
me.
It was down to just me, youknow.
And this time it's 2021.
You know, by the time I getthrough all those people and and
my, my company's, like you,don't have a million dollars a

(01:05):
year, and it's just me besidesthe, the sales struggle with at
the small size um, what othermight it struggle?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
might you had or found that you wasn't expecting
um in the in the beginning years?
Obviously you're six, six yearsinto this, you know if you
let's say we're one throughthree.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Right Like one through three.
It was really, um, when Istarted hiring people, like the
first people that I hired, youknow, uh, my first technician,
uh, he was great.
I brought him on, he wasworking, working, he was going
through through some things, um,I was teaching him how to, how

(01:49):
to be a good technician and, uh,and moving him through, uh,
he's very personable.
Um, and this is 2000, late 2019is when I first brought on my
first deck, like maybe mid, no,mid 2019, like June, july, time
period, period of 2019.

(02:09):
So I brought him on, workedgreat for six, seven, eight
months.
It was great.
And then the pandemic hit, rightLike so.
So things happened and I wasunsure about what business was
going to have, what was going tohappen to my business.
I didn't know if a lot of mybusinesses were going to shut
down or not.
I was very heavily intodentists and I was very heavily

(02:34):
into construction companies andI didn't know if they were going
to be shut down or not.
And so I was like worried aboutlike just not having any income
coming in.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
So I put my one technician on furlough and like
go collect the money from thegovernment because they're
paying you to not work andyou'll be able to come back with
no problem.
And so we did that.
And then we found out that ourcompanies were still going to be
working.
You know, even the dentistswere only shut down for like two
weeks.
I mean, they weren't shut downthat long.
And so most of our companieswere were still fine and still

(03:16):
going to be paying us.
The only company that didn't,that had a struggle was the golf
course, the public golf course.
That was shut down, um, but uh.
But other than that, the restof them were good.
And so I was like I need youback.
And he's like I can't afford tocome back because now I gotta
put my kids in daycare becauseyou know they don't have.

(03:37):
I like all the stuff, all of hispayments that he'd have to do
because, like, the daycares werestill shut down, he couldn't.
He couldn't do that.
So, like his wife had to, likethe daycares were still shut
down, he couldn't, he couldn'tdo that.
So, like his wife had to like,like not work and all that stuff
.
So it ended up being a strugglejust to get him to come back to
work.
You know, I was like all right,so now, what do I do?
Eventually I did get him tocome back to work and he was

(04:00):
working from home a lot, and healways worked from home.
But like he was working fromhome a lot, I saw the production
drop off because there wasdistractions, because there was
more people at home and and allthis stuff.
And then, uh, then we just hadsome other things go on and I
ended up having to let him gobecause of um, he was saying he

(04:21):
started his day at 7.
Am and then, like his computerwouldn't even turn on until
eight, but he started his day at7.
Am.
And so, like, like I just Ijust ended up like I'll let you
go, and so I did, and I hated itbecause he was a he's a friend
of mine, still is um, and butlike it was just a business
decision, right.
And then.

(04:41):
And then the next thing thathappened was the struggle to
find another good technician.
Right like, I went throughthree really, really bad
technicians before I found agood one, right.
So, like, I hired one that saidhe had the skills and I found
out that he was unemployed for areason.
Right, like, like he had hisown set ways and he didn't want

(05:04):
to listen and I was like you gotto go.
And when he was with me, wehired another help desk guy and
the guy just had no skills andno personality and he had to go.
And so then we hired anotherguy that we thought had the
skills and had the thing, andthen he came in for like three
weeks and he goes.
I forgot how much I hate this.

(05:24):
I got to quit.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Oh geez.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
So I had a technician and I had a lot of work to do,
and then I had, like, atechnician that was bad, and
then another one that was bad,and then another one, and we
still had all these work, allthis work to do, and it was just
me.
It was down to just me, youknow.
And this time it's 2021, youknow, by the time I get through
all those people and and my, mycompany's, like you, don't have

(05:51):
a million dollars a year.
And it's just me, you know, andI'm like I need help and and
that's what I had a strugglewith and finally found some good
help.
Um, now my training regimen isway better than it was.
Uh, I have to thank some of thepeople in our peer group for
helping, helping get thatstraightened out and getting
that going.

(06:12):
Yeah, and then from there, thatwas the biggest struggle for me,
for my company.
Like we always have the, youknow, did I choose the right
vendor?
Do we have billing issues?
Yes, we have that.
That's the business right.
But the struggle was findingthat first technician.
Now I have a team of eight soonto be seven again but the

(06:37):
struggle was finding that firsttechnician.
Now I have a team of eight uh,soon to be seven again, but
eight, um, and then soon to soonto be 10, cause I'm going to
hire two more to replace them.
So it's fine.
Um, I don't have to worry aboutgoing back to being just me,
right, like, I just have to goout, find the right people,
train them.
If they work out, they work out.
If they don't, we get rid ofthem quickly.
You know it's hire slowly andfire quickly if they're not the

(07:00):
right fit, right.
So that's been the struggle,just finding people.
And now, after the pandemic,finding people that actually
want to work.
You know, some of them justseem like they just want to
collect a paycheck but notactually work.
So, uh, so that's been, that'sbeen a struggle.

(07:20):
Um, finding people in thephilippines has been great,
because they want to work, theywant to help, they're getting
society.
It's great.
So, uh, as you know.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
So, as I know that was really yes.
Yeah, I have some phenomenalteam members in the Philippines.
I can't say enough good thingsabout yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, so, and, and that keeping the costs down, and
, and, but yet still providingand and giving them a higher
than average wage for theirlocation, is great, you know,
but keeping our costs downbecause we're not paying all the
other things on it.
So right.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
So, um, paul, I'm gonna steer this a little bit in
a direction.
I know, you the struggles of ofstaff right, of being an
employer and dealing with peopleand and you know people have
problems and you know, we knowsome don't work out and some
work better than others.
And you not only went throughthe struggle of people and

(08:18):
building your business andgrowing.
You went through and youacquired another company.
You made an acquisition whichbasically doubled the size of
your company, based off of myknowledge of you.
But during all this time, youalso had some personal struggles
that you've been dealing withwhen it comes to your
significant other in your liferight, this is an ongoing thing.

(08:41):
You built a house during allthis.
The same time, you know, youknow surgeries, medical things,
you know, but yet you alwayshave a smile on your face and
you've always got that amazinglaugh.
You know how do you do it.
You know, just share that withme and share it with our
listeners.
Like, how do you manage to keepit light, like you do, because

(09:05):
you go through some seriousstuff.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, yeah.
For me, every day is reallyjust a blessing, really, right,
like we're here on this earthand we get to experience things
that are going on.
The material things don'tmatter much.
The things that are stressfulare like, say, um, shelly's

(09:30):
medical things that she hasgoing on and and, uh, stuff like
that.
That's the stuff that thatmakes me worried, right, because
that's that's actually life,right, that's not material thing
.
Like a house, I can buildanother house, a job, I can get
another job.
If my business goes out ofbusiness tomorrow, I'm still on

(09:51):
the earth and I'm still.
I'm still going to be fine,right, as long as you have the
will to go do something, you can, you can get it done, right,
and so that's always been myattitude and and I just have fun
with it, right, uh, yeah, yeah,we struggle, I.
So today, my, my, my longesttenured technician turned into

(10:16):
resignation today, like twoweeks from now, like my guy
that's been with me with thecompany um, the company that I
bought.
He's been with them for 11years, longer than my company's
been in business.
He's been working for thiscompany in some form or fashion.
He's got some you know, somepersonal health issues in his

(10:38):
family.
His mother-in-law is havingsome things and he's got some
things going on and he was onlyable to put in 25 hours a week.
Now it was going to get lessand he just decided it wasn't
fair to either one of us to dothat way and he wanted to focus
on other things.
So he's moving on and he'sprobably not even getting
another job.
He's probably just going to behome and doing some education

(11:00):
stuff.
It's tough, you know.
You know it's tough.
I got to, I got to replace thatguy.
Well, here we go.
It's fine.
It's just another thing.
You know, it's another hurdle.
It's another thing to learn oneverything that everything that
is a thing is is something tolearn, on something get better
with Right.
So it's fine, it'll be fine,we'll move on.

(11:24):
Not only will I learn, but allthe people around me will learn,
because now he's got to passall his knowledge on in the next
few weeks of everything heknows about everybody.
So all those people are goingto be better for it.
It's a learning thing.
Now are they going to get allthe knowledge?
No, guess, when they're goingto get the knowledge?
Well, when that thing pops upagain.
We got to figure it out.

(11:44):
They'll learn it, it'll be fine.
The knowledge, well, when thatthing pops up again, we got to
figure it out, they'll learn it,it'll be fine, we'll get by,
it's fine.
I mean, it's just life.
People have things going on andthe personal aspect of it is
more important than the businessaspect of it, right?
So that's how I always look atit.
As long as my health is good,I'm going to have a smile on my
face, hi.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I'm Mark Thomas, founder and CEO of Current Tech
Solutions and CyberGuardians.
We know business owners likeyou want to focus on growing
your company, not worrying aboutIT problems or security threats
.
That's where we come in.
Our team uses AI to protectyour business from cyber risks
and keep everything runningsmoothly.
If you're ready for peace ofmind and a stronger future,

(12:51):
no-transcript.