October 24, 2024 • 36 mins
In this episode of Now That's IT: Stories of MSP Success, we dive deep into the remarkable growth story of Real IT Care, a thriving MSP based in Pennsylvania. Co-owners Zane Patalive and Kenny Steinbacher share how they transformed a nonprofit IT initiative into a flourishing business, navigating partner changes, adopting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and embracing new strategies for growth.
Listen as Zane and Kenny discuss the pivotal moment when one of their founding partners retired, accelerating their decision-making and unlocking a 40% growth surge. Discover how EOS helped them streamline operations, build a stronger culture, and create a clear path forward for Real IT Care.
This episode is packed with valuable insights for MSP owners, executives, or anyone aspiring to build a successful MSP. You’ll learn:
- The critical role that EOS can play in scaling your business.
- How to maintain strong client relationships while navigating leadership changes.
- Strategies to foster a winning culture that retains top talent and drives growth.
Whether you're facing similar challenges or looking for a roadmap to take your MSP to the next level, this episode will leave you inspired and equipped with actionable takeaways.
Let us help you unlock your business's full potential.
N-able Business Transformation is Expert led and Peer informed.These valuable executive programs are tailored to provide effective guidance and a faster path to a scalable and successful business.
Book a Call with Chris Massey now to learn what Business Transformation can do for you!
'Now that's it: Stories of MSP Success,' dives into the journeys of some of the trailblazers in our industry to find out how they used their passion for technology to help turn Managed Services into the thriving sector it is today.
Every episode is packed with the valuable insights, practical strategies, and inspiring anecdotes that lead our guests to the transformative moment when they knew….. Now, that's it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One, two, three, four .
Everybody knew within theorganization there were going to
be reductions, just nobody knewwho.
So when it became us, it becamereal and there was quite a lot
of stress around that I didn'tapply anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I probably made my decision in about a day.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Really.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That I'm just going to continue working with these
customers.
I really was the one going outat that point in front of the
clientele on a regular basis, soI felt like I had those
relationships and that peopleappreciated the work that I was
doing.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome to Now that's it Stories of MSP Success,
where we dive into the journeysof some of the trailblazers in
our industry to find out howthey used their passion for
technology to help turn managedservices into the thriving
sector it is today.
Our guests this week areco-owners of Real IT Care, a
service provider in Williamsport, pennsylvania, focused on
providing excellent customerservice, rapid response and
(00:52):
professional, courteous,experienced and knowledgeable
staff focused on maintaining thehealth and security of their
client's IT system.
Zane Padalev and KennySteinbecker welcome to the Now
that's it podcast.
Thank you, chris.
You're very welcome.
You guys are our firstmulti-guest pod, you're
adjusting well, this may be thefirst of many.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I hope so.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
All right, so let's talk about the beginnings.
Zane, so you're the first toenter the IT world manufacturing
assistance center.
What did you see in themanufacturing sector that made
you think we can do this better?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So I actually started out of college with a computer
science degree, working forBethlehem Steel for a number of
years and then got into thenonprofit industrial
modernization center.
At that point They've rebranded, but so it was a nonprofit that
was focused on delivering anyservices needed to the
manufacturing community withincentral Pennsylvania as part of
(01:50):
the economic developmentinitiative of the state and the
Fed.
So while we were there, prettyquickly it became evident and
this is back in 94, probably 95,so it goes back a little ways,
94, probably 95.
So it goes back a little waysthat there weren't many good IT
providers in our area servicingthese small, generally small
(02:11):
manufacturers.
So it was within the shell ofthat nonprofit organization that
we crafted a IT practice in afor-profit model, which created
some stress with us and with theleadership of the nonprofit.
But we were very successful anddid that for many years.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Was there a specific client or interaction that maybe
inspired you to do somethingnew?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You know, one of the stories I remember and this is
again.
You know the internet was athing and a reasonable size
manufacturer in our communitythat we still serve.
I remember placing their veryfirst PC within the organization
and the owner of the companypaused for a while not knowing
where to put it.
So there's a typewriter on thesecretary's desk and behind her
(02:58):
was the credenza.
So he was really having aproblem.
So he put it on the credenzaand I'm like all right, all
right, we'll see.
And we went back to visit acouple of weeks later and they
had switched.
So that's when I knew this.
May you know, this IT thing mayactually catch on.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That's fun.
I actually am not as young as Imay look.
I remember those days when itwas like typewriter or computer
that you plug the modem, thephone, into the modem and yeah,
those were good days right.
They were days, serviceproviders weren't really a thing
, but you saw an opportunityeven early on as to be a service
(03:33):
provider.
That's great.
So, kenny, you joined Zane andSteve as an intern while you
were still in college.
That's right.
What drew you to this team andwhat was it like to go from
intern to eventual co-founder?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
That's a funny story actually.
So Zane and Steve servicedbusiness that my dad worked at
and I was attending a differentcollege at the time, and so I
had wanted to get into the ITspace.
I felt like I wanted to go thatdirection and my dad said well,
why don't you just talk to thisguy that does our computer work
and my dad's gone, he's goingto change his mind, he's going
(04:08):
to stay at this other college.
So I called Zane no clue who hewas.
I think we talked for about anhour on the phone Before I got
the phone.
Zane basically ended it withyeah, no, I think you're making
the right decision to switch toIT.
And so I got off the phone andI let my dad know.
So I transferred college to atechnical institution and I
forget how much longer it was,maybe another year after that
(04:32):
either reached out to Zane orsomething happened there and I
came into chat with these twoguys and it was just like I'm
wanting to learn more.
So that's that's how that began.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
There's a little more on the backside of that story.
Kenny's father was concernedbecause I think he had a full
ride at the college or a lot ofscholarship money that would go
away if he was to changecolleges.
Kenny's a brainiac Also, chris,we should say we've mentioned
Steve's name a couple of times.
When we started Real IT Care,we started with three partners.
Steve was the third, just forcontext.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, that's great.
So, Kenny, did you ever imaginethat you'd eventually be a co
-owner and be running the shop?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It never occurred to me.
I mean, I didn't imagine thatI'd be there through an
internship.
You know, at the end of theinternship I figured I'd be done
and it just never, never ended.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Internship that never ended.
Yeah, so do you still callyourself the intern?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I don't call myself an intern anymore.
No, I dropped that title anumber of years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I didn't see it on your LinkedIn page but, I just
was wondering if it was.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
We had a couple of other interns, but Kenny just
became the high watermark.
How did he compare to KennyHorley, was the response.
So we were lucky to get a greatindividual.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I had a couple of those.
Early I hired interns in andknew immediately they were going
to eventually be something.
I think it was my first two.
I had a male and a female andthey were both running service
departments and you know,go-to-market departments and
things like that, and so it'sinteresting, when you find the
right one, you obviously wantthem to be successful and do
everything you can.
Yeah, certainly.
(06:03):
So it worked out.
Great that you stayed around.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Certainly worked out well, I call it providence, but
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Excellent.
So this is a question for bothof you.
What was the conversation likewhen the nonprofit lost funding
and you guys had to decide andgo out on your own?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, we probably have two different stories
because of our age difference.
Yeah, we probably have twodifferent stories because of our
age difference.
So with the nonprofit, as Chrissaid, losing funding, somebody
was going to be let go andeverybody knew within the
organization there were going tobe reductions, Just nobody knew
who.
So when it became us, it becamereal and there was quite a lot
(06:40):
of stress around that.
At that time we were actuallyemployees of the university as
opposed to the nonprofit, andthey had a significant discount
for Penn State tuition where myson had just enrolled as a
freshman.
So that made college likeaffordable and we got the word
(07:03):
of our dismissal, if you would,or layoff about two months
before his freshman semesterstarted.
So there is quite a bit ofangst in my household relative
to the changing situation thatwe knew was impending.
So for me there's a ton ofanxiety relative to what this
shift was going to be.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And remind me you were at IMC for about 17 years.
For me.
I had never actually officiallybecome a permanent full-time
employee.
I was temporary full-time fornine months.
I had graduated college aboutthree months before we were let
go.
So to me, I didn't have afamily, I didn't have a house
(07:43):
payment to make.
I wasn't really worried.
So it was a very differentsituation between Zane and
myself in that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Were you considering just going back to school?
I just finished school, so Ididn't want to go back to school
, I just figured.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
This is when everybody else is applying for
jobs.
Anyway, it's not going to be abig deal.
But what it came down to, whatare we going to do?
But what are our customersgoing?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
to do.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We had a clientele already and all of a sudden
their IT department's gone, sothat was a huge driving factor
in making that decision to moveforward with the business.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So you guys decided to go out on your own, start
your own business.
At that point, was there anydoubts, or do you feel like this
was the natural next step inmoving it forward?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, again, probably our perspectives were quite
different.
So for me it was either pursuethe self-employment gig, which I
was always attracted to,business, and read a whole bunch
of business books because I wasjust very interested in it, and
then, on the other side, isit's really nice to get a
paycheck.
You don't have to worry aboutsending an invoice.
(08:44):
So it was some soul searchingon my part.
The comfort, if you would, isthat we had good clients, client
base, we had product.
As far as starting a business,we were non-profit.
To turn that into a profitableventure that three families
could eat off of immediately,that was a little daunting.
(09:05):
But so when we came to termswith the pros and cons and I had
quite a few conversations withother individuals just to help
process through thatdecision-making yeah, we made
the decision and just said wegot to make it work.
So there really wasn't a plan Bin this scenario.
It was it's either working orit's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, there could have been a plan B for you,
right, Kenny?
I mean, you could have gone andfound employment somewhere else
.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
but you stuck around.
I didn't apply anywhere else.
I probably made my decision inabout a day that this is I'm
just going to continue workingwith these customers.
I had been with them I reallywas the one going out at that
point in front of the clienteleon a regular basis.
So I felt like I had thoserelationships and that people
appreciated the work that I wasdoing.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
What was it about those customers?
Because I've heard that acouple of times.
I mean, it seems like you madethe decision because of the
customers, right?
I mean, of course you need apaycheck and you need to make a
living, but the right decisionwas to help these customers?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
What was it about these customers?
So we started recently doingEOS this year and had to define
our core values.
So never really thought aboutit before until we put these
words on a piece of paper.
But our top core value isrelationship first, and we
explain that to our staff aslike take time to be human with
people.
Don't just walk in to fix theirIT problem, right?
We're not.
(10:24):
What was the guy off SNL, rickBurns McMove?
Right?
We're not that person.
We want to ask them how theirday is, and so we'd gotten to
know these people, and even theshort time that I was working
there it was only three yearsthat I worked at this location
and in that amount of time, justbuilding those relationships
was huge, so I didn't want tosee them have to.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, and just dovetailing on that, that
relationships really were.
It wasn't the business thatwe're working for per se, it was
those people that we'resupporting individually.
At that time, all of oursupport was on site.
There were no remote options, atleast not that we had available
.
As we're going back through thehistory of how we got to where
we are relationship first,customer committed, client
(11:08):
committed we spent quite a bitof time, probably as counselors,
more than just IT folks.
You know you're sitting therewaiting for a patch to install,
for instance, and talking aboutsomeone's day and someone's
challenges and to this day Idon't get to see a lot of
clients in my where we are rightnow.
But when I go visit some of ourolder clients I'm always
(11:30):
getting hugs from the people,which I enjoy just because of
the relationship side, andespecially after COVID.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
It's taboo right, it's good you guys are bringing
me back.
I remember those days there wasthe holidays come around and
they're sending you fruit cakesand the holiday cards and things
like that and it's like, wow,these people are paying us, but
they also care about, you know,our families and things like
that.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It's like you built this real connection with your
partners, yeah, and I think itbecomes part of our culture that
we're looking for clients thatreally value IT, that value our
clients morals or convictions,because we're really we're
building together.
So we're good at tech, mostMSPs are good at tech and
(12:15):
everybody says relationship, butit is relationship and people
like doing business with peoplethey like to be with and that's
really a goal of ours, acommitment of ours.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, you definitely this must've started a really
positive culture, a uniqueculture that you guys have
continued.
But the early days were tough,right.
I mean you guys were wearingmultiple hats and you know there
was tension, right.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How'd you manage the tension between sort of wanting
to grow the business and thenlimitations, with it being a
small team yeah Tension is akind word, I think, for having
three partners that in the earlydays before we had employees my
sustenance rested on Kenny andSteve's production as much as my
own production, so there waszero tolerance for slacking.
(13:03):
I think in a high tension time,now and again, relationships
can flare.
Tension time, now and againRelationships can flare.
So it was kind of a joke nowbut we got to a point that we
actually went for marriagecounseling for the three of us
to be able to communicate better, because it was getting
difficult to go day by day andit just helped rally us around a
(13:26):
common vision, common goal andhow to communicate a little bit
better together.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Zane, what was the most challenging part of sort of
transitioning from thatnon-profit mindset to a
for-profit?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
business.
For me it's the same challenge,I think, that most IT technical
people face, of monetizing myvalue, that I'm producing a
product that I can feel goodabout charging for.
That's why I think technicalpeople are pretty bad
salespeople, me being one ofthem.
We want to, especially when itcomes to relationship, do
(14:01):
everything for free.
I mean that would be the best,but obviously that doesn't work
in a trying to put food on thetable.
So for us, or for me, reallygetting a commitment that the
quality of our products areworth the value that we're
charging and then expressingthat value properly to the
client.
So from a mindset standpointand then really from a product
(14:23):
standpoint, where we reallyneeded to crank up revenue, it
was volume of more work, butalso charging more market rate,
I would say.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Very good.
Kenny Real IT Care has a corevalue of all for one, one for
all.
How did the three of younavigate disagreements or
different visions for thecompany?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, zane and I have been very closely aligned, I
think, in our visions for realIT care largely from the start,
so that was always pretty easybetween he and I.
Today we're bringing in somemore people into the leadership
team, so learning what theirgoals are, where they're trying
to take the company and some ofthat differing opinion from what
(15:06):
Zane and I feel is we'refinally reaching a point of
needing to deal with that.
So it's been interesting, tosay the least.
But knowing that everybody isfor real IT care and just trying
to set the best direction forus is reassuring.
Even today at a seminar we'reat, you know, talking about
conflict and the example wasgiven, a lot of people think of
(15:29):
conflict as looking at oneanother, when that conflict
really to point towards whereyou're trying to get, to talk
through it.
So it feels like that with theall for one, one for all
mentality.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah yeah, that's a great one.
So Zane talked a little bitabout the marriage counseling.
Was there ever a point when youconsidered, kenny, that we're
not going to make it through?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
this.
When you considered, kenny,that we're not going to make it
through this.
There were a number of pointsthat that came to my mind.
Marriage counseling was huge,and I don't remember how long we
did that.
It was a number of months,every week, and it got us to
talk through things you sayabout being on the same page,
setting the same goals, workingtowards a common goal Zane
mentioned that and we neverreally set those goals or wrote
(16:11):
those goals down on paper,though it was still kind of
perception that we were goingthe right direction.
So there were a number ofnights.
I'm sure that my wife wouldjust rather hear me stop talking
about what's going on at workbecause of the level of
frustration that came up attimes.
It was a unique situation withthree partners, three equal
partners, all wanting to dotheir own thing.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
A number of years ago , to kind of encapsulate my
level of frustration, I actuallygot to a point that I started
applying for jobs, didn't tellmy partners because it was just
I'm going to kill somebody andif I don't leave I don't want it
to be me, and that was sobering.
When I actually shared thatwith Stephen Kenney, I think it
(16:53):
was a significant awakening forthe three of us together and I
would say through that, doubledown a bit on commitment towards
one another.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
You guys aren't alone .
I mean there's there'sobviously a lot of MSPs out
there, multiple owners.
I actually come from one thathad six owners.
There were four that actuallyworked and there were two silent
investors, silent owners and soI remember very vividly not
being one of the owners watchingthe turmoil, so I can only
imagine what you guys were goingthrough, being those that were
dealing with it, but then canyou imagine, obviously, how your
(17:24):
employees are dealing with itas well.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, and I think a lot of our comments
right now are probablyreflecting on some of the
critical yeah, no, no, but I dowant to just espouse that having
a partner that you align withis tremendously powerful.
Right and Kenny and I connectreally well.
We make decisions very quicklyjust because we discern
(17:46):
simultaneously really, andmaintaining relationship is so
important that if we haveconflict, we're going to talk
through it, and so there's acommitment there.
But having a partner that is100% committed to my success, me
to his success, allows us, Ithink, to pick up really
(18:06):
traction where we wouldn'totherwise.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
That's good.
Thanks for sharing that.
Let's change topics here a bit.
You've told us in the past thatusing unemployment assistance
really helped you get started.
You talk a little bit about thevalue of that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, I would love for this to be a PSA for.
Pennsylvania where we live thatat the time when we were
jettisoned from our previousemployer, pennsylvania had a
program in place that wouldallow us to collect unemployment
for six months six monthswithout having to file every.
Well, we did file, but itwasn't a we didn't have to apply
(18:42):
for other jobs, yeah, yeah, soit kind of protected us from
that.
Plus, they had mandatorybusiness classes that we had to
drive to Harrisburg to getweekly that were excellent.
They were provided by smallbusinesses and then at the end
of the program they actually hadsome seed money available that
I think we used to develop ourfirst website and the program
(19:05):
was fantastic.
But without that program I'mnot sure if we would have been
able to get so.
Unemployment allowed us to keepfood on the table while we're,
you know, scrounging togethersome finances as a company and
yeah, yeah, that it probablywouldn't have worked for us and
we, yeah, I could say we havebeen debt free from day one as a
(19:26):
company.
We did get one business loanonce actually to buy, enable and
Central, I think, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
It was actually just to build credit.
Our third business partner saidwe need to build credit as a
company, so we're just going todo a business loan.
I think the SEA program thatSEA program that we had
unemployment assistance withallowed us to buy, Enable and
Central licenses.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, right, right.
So as far as like starting abusiness, we have clients, we
have a product and, you know,have some financial assistance.
There couldn't have been abetter scenario to start a
business than what wefortunately came into.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
That's great.
I'm glad that worked out foryou for sure.
So as you grew and this will befor Kenny as you grew you moved
from a reactive break-fix workto more proactive managed
services.
What was the biggest challengein making that shift
professionally?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Getting the tools set up the way we wanted them to
work.
So, when we were at theprevious employment.
I mean we had no tools there wasno PSA, there was no RMM
solution for us.
We had certainly looked into anRMM before solution for us.
We had certainly looked into anRMM before.
But you know so.
You know, two months into RealIT Care's existence is when we
pulled the trigger on the PSA,pulled the trigger on Ncentral,
(20:39):
so it was.
It was getting this stuffestablished and as we worked
through all of the potentialconfigurations because there's
no, there's no runbook back inthat time for us that we were
aware of.
Anyway, we worked through it,spent long hours getting things
configured the way we thoughtwere appropriate and once we got
to that point, it made iteasier to handle those customer
(21:02):
calls when they came in.
You know, less onsites werenecessary and we weren't walking
around every single PC anymorefor running patches.
So there was some huge benefitsthat we saw in that.
But yeah, configuration changesor configurations of those two
products were just Sure Zane,you mentioned the move into
cybersecurity was somewhataccidental.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Can you share how that transition happened and
what taught you about beingprepared to sort of pivot in the
business?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, so fortunately, when we were let go from the
previous employer, we held inthose begrudged feelings and
maintained a relationship withthem instead of burning that
bridge.
So after a few years theyreally engaged us pretty heavily
as their IT consultants, tohelp both themselves and also
(21:48):
the manufacturing community.
So back in 2016, it came up atthat time of the DFARS for what
now is CMMC.
But you know, back then wasjust the federal acquisition
regulation for the Department ofDefense companies that need to
put in cybersecurity protectionsto maintain their contracts.
So that was becoming effectivein December 20.
(22:09):
And nobody knew anything aboutit.
So the pursuit alongside theother company really was
figuring out what this thing is,how does it translate, and it
was an eye-opener for me, for us, and it led the path to us
today providing these servicesfor a number of companies
(22:31):
throughout the country,supporting their technical side
and then helping to translatethe policy procedure side.
So, yeah, it was a bitaccidental.
They invited me for lack ofanother resource on their staff.
They invited me to participateon the national NIST panel as
the country was working throughall the MEP centers throughout
(22:53):
the country figuring out whatthis NIST 800-171 thing is and
how we implement it, how we getthe word out, for since 2017,
everybody's been waiting for thephone to ring off the hook,
with people needing help, whichhasn't happened yet, and now,
with the CMMC finally being veryclose to being a thing that may
happen.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Zane, you've seen even stronger growth recently.
What do you attribute that to?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah this year has been significant.
We started the year off in thefirst quarter about a 40%
increase quarter over quarter,which right now we've slowed
down a little bit over thesummer, but we're still, you
know, close to 30% for the year.
One of the big things I thinkwas just moving into EOS which
(23:40):
certainly Kenny was instrumentalwith moving us in that
direction.
And then, secondly, our thirdpartner, steve, had retired at
the end of last year, leavingjust Kenny and me.
When you have two people makingdecisions versus three people
making decisions, it's, I think,exponentially faster, not just
a little bit faster.
(24:01):
So we had a slew of changesstarting January that have
really translated into a betterculture, stronger culture, more
efficiency and, you know, moreprofit.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So you just you just mentioned culture and you built
this culture that is focused oninternal and client
relationships.
How do you cultivate thatculture this is for both of you
and what role do you thinkrelationships play in the
success today?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
We always said from the start of this business this
is we want to build somethingthat we would want to work at
right, if I were to come as anemployee today, would I want to
stick around here, would I enjoymy job?
So we really focused on thatright Just pretty relaxed
environment, great benefits,just getting the right people on
the team.
So we really focused on thatfrom day one.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, and I think you're right.
As we moved to EOS, definingour core values was one of the
first homework assignments andit took us a little time to put
pencil to paper, but it was whowe were that we just reflected
on, like how do we get to wherewe are today?
Then that translated into youknow, I guess, solidified or
codified who we are, and thenit's really powerful to
(25:21):
communicate that to the teamclearly.
So instead of, you know,picking it up in pieces, seeing
it and then reaffirming that,for me, relationship is 100% of
who we are as a company,individually working.
If we get along, if we enjoyone another, we enjoy coming to
work as a staff, we're going toaccomplish more than we would as
(25:41):
individuals.
You know the synergy our clientsare benefiting.
We're providing better productfaster.
It's just a win everywhere.
And you know, trust is thefoundation of all of that trust
of one another, trust of ourclients to us and that kind of
the fabric of where we want tobe.
And we're committed to doingright by the person, right by
(26:05):
the company first, and I'm sureit's common with a lot of MSPs.
But we have to protect thatrelationship.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That's great and, Chris, if I can carry on there a
little bit, so just as anexample of how we keep that
culture alive, you know we hadan employee come back from
vacation the other day and he'sout for a week, week and a half,
whatever it was and I walked inearly in the morning and he's
the only one there and you know,rather than be like, hey, you
know, how much did you actuallymiss in that last week, how far
(26:33):
behind are an hour 45 minutes toyou know, tell me about your
trip.
What'd you do?
You know, give me, give me,give me the rundown.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So yeah, so, kenny, you guys have both talked a
little bit about how you'veimplemented the entrepreneurial
operating system to help managegrowth, how's that transformed
how you run the company andwhat's the most challenging part
about getting one everyone onboard with that new structure.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
This has been a long time coming for us trying to put
some actual operating systemonto real IT care.
We really ran from the gut fora long time.
So, EOS has been huge for us.
We've been self-implementingand it's been a slow rollout.
So the rest of our teamunderneath of the leadership
team just found out about EOS afew months ago and we're just
(27:16):
slowly trickling out some of thedetails of what's going to be
involved in that.
So you know, we're stilldeveloping scorecards for the
teams, but we've gone throughpeople analyzers with them.
So it's been instrumental inmoving us forward, giving us
some clear direction in movingus forward, giving us some clear
direction.
I think after we presented itto the staff there were some
comments like wow, I know whereReal IT Care is going now.
(27:38):
It wasn't just come to work,punch the clock.
There was an actual purposebehind what we were doing.
At least the techs couldfinally see that.
Anyway, zane and I may haveknown that from the start.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But I think one of the challenges probably is doing
what you say you're doing soyou know EOS is accountability,
transparency.
We hate accountability andtransparency.
So, as a leadership team, todemonstrate this to the staff
has been, it's been good, but itit it's constant work Right,
(28:09):
and it's been good, but it'sconstant work right.
So we need to remain focused onthat.
But for EOS, for me, one of theother large huge benefits has
just been to define our vision.
So values, yeah, we have thatand that's really great.
But as a company, where are wegoing?
How are we going to get there?
Just to know where that is hasbeen freeing for when we think
(28:32):
about adding staff or addingproducts, and it's keeping the
staff focused on the same goal,and that's what I'm excited
about and see how that goes, youknow, the next year or two.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I'm excited to see how you guys progress through
that.
We've shared that.
You know I've seen a lot ofMSPs really adopt that in the
last couple of years.
Obviously, this I think this isone of the Enable events is
where you were introduced to itright, and I see a bunch of the
folks here this week that justcan't stop raving about the
success.
We've talked about Ori andJimmy and some of those guys and
(29:05):
they're fanatical about whatthey're getting from it.
So I'm excited to see theresults from the work you guys
are putting in Us too yeah.
You've had really low employeeturnover, which is very rare in
this industry, I can tell you.
So how'd you create anenvironment where people want to
stay?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
And kind of coming back to Kenny's comment about we
wanted to create anorganization that we would be
content working in and that'sfrom expectations job role.
You know all of that.
So I think that probably isevidenced a bit in having low
turnover.
We lost sight a bit duringCOVID on salaries and so we had
(29:48):
two people leave on money, whichwas a real eye-opener to us.
So since that time we'vedramatically increased salaries
just to want to make sure thatwe are providing the best that
we can for our employees.
So you know it's an environmentthat we purposefully want to be
enjoyable to work at.
You know, I wish it was asbeautiful as the Enable offices
one day maybe would be a goalfor that, and we treat people
(30:11):
well.
Offices one day maybe would bea goal for that and we treat
people well.
So in our industry again,oftentimes it's a sweatshop
mentality for the level one,level two techs of just squeeze
every dime out of them, everyounce of blood, and we don't
want that.
So from the utilizationperspective we have thresholds
that we understand.
You know we need a certainamount just to pay the bills but
we're not squeezing the bloodout of everybody.
(30:32):
So it's a bit of a balanceright.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Speaking of balance, that's a good intro into our
last section here.
So both of you you guys talkedabout this sort of work-life
balance and the importance ofthat, and so how do you maintain
that balance as an owner, andespecially as a company grows
and your time demands increase?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I'm in a bit of a unique situation actually with
that one.
Just recently, I mean this year, my wife came on staff part
time doing inside sales and amonth ago she has started full
time.
So we have a tendency to takethose conversations home with us
.
I bet you do, and it's it's achallenge to take those
conversations home with us.
I bet you do, and it's achallenge, to say the least.
So I mean, there have been someevenings where it's like, dear,
(31:15):
I just don't want to talk aboutreal IT care anymore.
As much as you love it, I'mdone with it for tonight.
But there's certainly a slew ofother things that keep us busy
to young kids, so soccer anddance, and you're forced into
the work-life balance a littlebit with that.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know, family first certainly is a motto for
all of our staff, us included.
If you lose at home, you losein life.
So you absolutely have to makesure family stays strong.
As an entrepreneur owner, thereis no off the clock, it's just
you're always available in onemanner or another to the client.
So we have a number of clientsthat have our cell phones.
(31:52):
We stopped giving those outsome years ago but some of our
longer term clients.
It's just the nature of the bee.
So you know my wife has come tothe understanding of what IT
time is.
If I say it, you know it'sgoing to be 10 minutes.
That really is an hour.
You know it's going to be alittle while, it's probably two
hours, and so it came to peace.
But when the kids were youngthat was difficult to maintain.
(32:13):
But now that you know they'reoff on their own, we just play a
lot of golf.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Good, good for you both.
So, as you both look ahead,what excites you the most about
the future of Real IT Care?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I mean it's cliche to say it's the land of
opportunity.
I mean we're still making somany changes at Real IT Care.
We're still making so manychanges at Real IT Care.
We're coming up on 15 years inbusiness and it's amazing to see
how much still needs tweaked orhow many product lines we need
to start considering from acompliance standpoint.
On the security side is justone area.
(32:45):
Getting into phone systems thisyear was another area that we
jumped into.
So it's just amazing to seewhere we could take this company
.
And I keep coming back to EOS.
You know, really setting thatto the VTO from that, where do
we want to be in a year?
What are we going to be inthree years?
What do we want to be in 10years?
And having some clear goals inmind of what we're working
towards just really excites me.
(33:07):
We have a purpose for how we'remaking those decisions.
Is this decision going to getme there?
Is it going to get set me up toget me where I want to be in
the future after that as well?
So it's.
I can't speak enough about EOS.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's great, yeah, yeah, and I agree with you,
kenny, and I think of the changeof discipline that you and I
have with responsibilities.
So, as we're growing, we're ata size now that we have
stability that if Kenny and Ileave, you know, the company
keeps running well and I justlook forward to continuing in
(33:40):
that so we can really focus juston the management and growth of
the company, get away from alot of the tedious day-to-day
activities.
But, yeah, land of opportunity.
It's been fun this year and I'mexcited about the next few.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I'm excited to hear about the growth, excited to
hear about the future, excitedto hear about EOS.
This is really, really excitingfor both of you.
So the last question is onethat we like to ask all of our
guests, and it's for both of youwhen did you guys know?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
now, that's it.
I'll start with that one.
So we already talked about thisa little bit earlier on here.
So it was about a day after Iwas relieved of duty from the
previous location and, you know,talking with my wife, it's like
I'm moving forward.
I'm going to do this, whetheror not Zane and Steve want to
come along or not.
I'd love them to help, and I'mglad they did, because three
(34:29):
heads didn't need to learn asmuch individually.
Right, I didn't have to learnall the things.
I could lean on the other two.
So so that was my, that was myit moment.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, and, as we talked about, mine's probably a
little bit more complicated, but, as we talked about how we
started, the genesis of thecompany, the stress, anxiety
relative to where we were as afamily, as me, as an individual,
as I'm talking to people alongthe way, they keep coming up
with, well, aren't you glad yougot fired or laid off?
And to me I'm thinking I'm notsure if I can say yes to that,
(35:02):
and it honestly wasn't untilthis year where I could honestly
say I'm really glad for howlife got me to where we are
right now.
So my this is it momentprobably was the launch of EOS
and really taking control ofsomething that probably was
controlling me for a number ofyears.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
That's great.
I am so honored to get to knowboth of you.
Over the last couple of yearswe have stayed in touch.
You've come to a number of theprograms that I've put on.
I really I thank you both forbeing part of the pod this week
and I wish you both, and all theReal IT employees, the best of
luck in the future.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Thank you, chris.
It's been a pleasure meetingyou.
Knowing you Enable's beenphenomenal and I don't say that
just you know PSA, but theyreally have been a fantastic
vendor to work with.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, second to all of that, it's been a fun ride
with Enable and I look forwardto coming to more events that
you're going to throw for us inthe future, Chris.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Can't wait to have you, beau.
Thank you, thank you.
One, two, three, four .
Everybody knew within theorganization there were going to
be reductions, just nobody knewwho.
So when it became us, it becamereal and there was quite a lot
of stress around that I didn'tapply anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I probably made my decision in about a day.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Really.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That I'm just going to continue working with these
customers.
I really was the one going outat that point in front of the
clientele on a regular basis, soI felt like I had those
relationships and that peopleappreciated the work that I was
doing.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome to Now that's it Stories of MSP Success,
where we dive into the journeysof some of the trailblazers in
our industry to find out howthey used their passion for
technology to help turn managedservices into the thriving
sector it is today.
Our guests this week areco-owners of Real IT Care, a
service provider in Williamsport, pennsylvania, focused on
providing excellent customerservice, rapid response and
(00:52):
professional, courteous,experienced and knowledgeable
staff focused on maintaining thehealth and security of their
client's IT system.
Zane Padalev and KennySteinbecker welcome to the Now
that's it podcast.
Thank you, chris.
You're very welcome.
You guys are our firstmulti-guest pod, you're
adjusting well, this may be thefirst of many.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I hope so.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
All right, so let's talk about the beginnings.
Zane, so you're the first toenter the IT world manufacturing
assistance center.
What did you see in themanufacturing sector that made
you think we can do this better?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So I actually started out of college with a computer
science degree, working forBethlehem Steel for a number of
years and then got into thenonprofit industrial
modernization center.
At that point They've rebranded, but so it was a nonprofit that
was focused on delivering anyservices needed to the
manufacturing community withincentral Pennsylvania as part of
(01:50):
the economic developmentinitiative of the state and the
Fed.
So while we were there, prettyquickly it became evident and
this is back in 94, probably 95,so it goes back a little ways,
94, probably 95.
So it goes back a little waysthat there weren't many good IT
providers in our area servicingthese small, generally small
(02:11):
manufacturers.
So it was within the shell ofthat nonprofit organization that
we crafted a IT practice in afor-profit model, which created
some stress with us and with theleadership of the nonprofit.
But we were very successful anddid that for many years.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Was there a specific client or interaction that maybe
inspired you to do somethingnew?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You know, one of the stories I remember and this is
again.
You know the internet was athing and a reasonable size
manufacturer in our communitythat we still serve.
I remember placing their veryfirst PC within the organization
and the owner of the companypaused for a while not knowing
where to put it.
So there's a typewriter on thesecretary's desk and behind her
(02:58):
was the credenza.
So he was really having aproblem.
So he put it on the credenzaand I'm like all right, all
right, we'll see.
And we went back to visit acouple of weeks later and they
had switched.
So that's when I knew this.
May you know, this IT thing mayactually catch on.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That's fun.
I actually am not as young as Imay look.
I remember those days when itwas like typewriter or computer
that you plug the modem, thephone, into the modem and yeah,
those were good days right.
They were days, serviceproviders weren't really a thing
, but you saw an opportunityeven early on as to be a service
(03:33):
provider.
That's great.
So, kenny, you joined Zane andSteve as an intern while you
were still in college.
That's right.
What drew you to this team andwhat was it like to go from
intern to eventual co-founder?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
That's a funny story actually.
So Zane and Steve servicedbusiness that my dad worked at
and I was attending a differentcollege at the time, and so I
had wanted to get into the ITspace.
I felt like I wanted to go thatdirection and my dad said well,
why don't you just talk to thisguy that does our computer work
and my dad's gone, he's goingto change his mind, he's going
(04:08):
to stay at this other college.
So I called Zane no clue who hewas.
I think we talked for about anhour on the phone Before I got
the phone.
Zane basically ended it withyeah, no, I think you're making
the right decision to switch toIT.
And so I got off the phone andI let my dad know.
So I transferred college to atechnical institution and I
forget how much longer it was,maybe another year after that
(04:32):
either reached out to Zane orsomething happened there and I
came into chat with these twoguys and it was just like I'm
wanting to learn more.
So that's that's how that began.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
There's a little more on the backside of that story.
Kenny's father was concernedbecause I think he had a full
ride at the college or a lot ofscholarship money that would go
away if he was to changecolleges.
Kenny's a brainiac Also, chris,we should say we've mentioned
Steve's name a couple of times.
When we started Real IT Care,we started with three partners.
Steve was the third, just forcontext.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, that's great.
So, Kenny, did you ever imaginethat you'd eventually be a co
-owner and be running the shop?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It never occurred to me.
I mean, I didn't imagine thatI'd be there through an
internship.
You know, at the end of theinternship I figured I'd be done
and it just never, never ended.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Internship that never ended.
Yeah, so do you still callyourself the intern?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I don't call myself an intern anymore.
No, I dropped that title anumber of years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I didn't see it on your LinkedIn page but, I just
was wondering if it was.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
We had a couple of other interns, but Kenny just
became the high watermark.
How did he compare to KennyHorley, was the response.
So we were lucky to get a greatindividual.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I had a couple of those.
Early I hired interns in andknew immediately they were going
to eventually be something.
I think it was my first two.
I had a male and a female andthey were both running service
departments and you know,go-to-market departments and
things like that, and so it'sinteresting, when you find the
right one, you obviously wantthem to be successful and do
everything you can.
Yeah, certainly.
(06:03):
So it worked out.
Great that you stayed around.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Certainly worked out well, I call it providence, but
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Excellent.
So this is a question for bothof you.
What was the conversation likewhen the nonprofit lost funding
and you guys had to decide andgo out on your own?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, we probably have two different stories
because of our age difference.
Yeah, we probably have twodifferent stories because of our
age difference.
So with the nonprofit, as Chrissaid, losing funding, somebody
was going to be let go andeverybody knew within the
organization there were going tobe reductions, Just nobody knew
who.
So when it became us, it becamereal and there was quite a lot
(06:40):
of stress around that.
At that time we were actuallyemployees of the university as
opposed to the nonprofit, andthey had a significant discount
for Penn State tuition where myson had just enrolled as a
freshman.
So that made college likeaffordable and we got the word
(07:03):
of our dismissal, if you would,or layoff about two months
before his freshman semesterstarted.
So there is quite a bit ofangst in my household relative
to the changing situation thatwe knew was impending.
So for me there's a ton ofanxiety relative to what this
shift was going to be.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And remind me you were at IMC for about 17 years.
For me.
I had never actually officiallybecome a permanent full-time
employee.
I was temporary full-time fornine months.
I had graduated college aboutthree months before we were let
go.
So to me, I didn't have afamily, I didn't have a house
(07:43):
payment to make.
I wasn't really worried.
So it was a very differentsituation between Zane and
myself in that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Were you considering just going back to school?
I just finished school, so Ididn't want to go back to school
, I just figured.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
This is when everybody else is applying for
jobs.
Anyway, it's not going to be abig deal.
But what it came down to, whatare we going to do?
But what are our customersgoing?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
to do.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We had a clientele already and all of a sudden
their IT department's gone, sothat was a huge driving factor
in making that decision to moveforward with the business.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So you guys decided to go out on your own, start
your own business.
At that point, was there anydoubts, or do you feel like this
was the natural next step inmoving it forward?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, again, probably our perspectives were quite
different.
So for me it was either pursuethe self-employment gig, which I
was always attracted to,business, and read a whole bunch
of business books because I wasjust very interested in it, and
then, on the other side, isit's really nice to get a
paycheck.
You don't have to worry aboutsending an invoice.
(08:44):
So it was some soul searchingon my part.
The comfort, if you would, isthat we had good clients, client
base, we had product.
As far as starting a business,we were non-profit.
To turn that into a profitableventure that three families
could eat off of immediately,that was a little daunting.
(09:05):
But so when we came to termswith the pros and cons and I had
quite a few conversations withother individuals just to help
process through thatdecision-making yeah, we made
the decision and just said wegot to make it work.
So there really wasn't a plan Bin this scenario.
It was it's either working orit's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, there could have been a plan B for you,
right, Kenny?
I mean, you could have gone andfound employment somewhere else
.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
but you stuck around.
I didn't apply anywhere else.
I probably made my decision inabout a day that this is I'm
just going to continue workingwith these customers.
I had been with them I reallywas the one going out at that
point in front of the clienteleon a regular basis.
So I felt like I had thoserelationships and that people
appreciated the work that I wasdoing.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
What was it about those customers?
Because I've heard that acouple of times.
I mean, it seems like you madethe decision because of the
customers, right?
I mean, of course you need apaycheck and you need to make a
living, but the right decisionwas to help these customers?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
What was it about these customers?
So we started recently doingEOS this year and had to define
our core values.
So never really thought aboutit before until we put these
words on a piece of paper.
But our top core value isrelationship first, and we
explain that to our staff aslike take time to be human with
people.
Don't just walk in to fix theirIT problem, right?
We're not.
(10:24):
What was the guy off SNL, rickBurns McMove?
Right?
We're not that person.
We want to ask them how theirday is, and so we'd gotten to
know these people, and even theshort time that I was working
there it was only three yearsthat I worked at this location
and in that amount of time, justbuilding those relationships
was huge, so I didn't want tosee them have to.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, and just dovetailing on that, that
relationships really were.
It wasn't the business thatwe're working for per se, it was
those people that we'resupporting individually.
At that time, all of oursupport was on site.
There were no remote options, atleast not that we had available
.
As we're going back through thehistory of how we got to where
we are relationship first,customer committed, client
(11:08):
committed we spent quite a bitof time, probably as counselors,
more than just IT folks.
You know you're sitting therewaiting for a patch to install,
for instance, and talking aboutsomeone's day and someone's
challenges and to this day Idon't get to see a lot of
clients in my where we are rightnow.
But when I go visit some of ourolder clients I'm always
(11:30):
getting hugs from the people,which I enjoy just because of
the relationship side, andespecially after COVID.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
It's taboo right, it's good you guys are bringing
me back.
I remember those days there wasthe holidays come around and
they're sending you fruit cakesand the holiday cards and things
like that and it's like, wow,these people are paying us, but
they also care about, you know,our families and things like
that.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It's like you built this real connection with your
partners, yeah, and I think itbecomes part of our culture that
we're looking for clients thatreally value IT, that value our
clients morals or convictions,because we're really we're
building together.
So we're good at tech, mostMSPs are good at tech and
(12:15):
everybody says relationship, butit is relationship and people
like doing business with peoplethey like to be with and that's
really a goal of ours, acommitment of ours.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, you definitely this must've started a really
positive culture, a uniqueculture that you guys have
continued.
But the early days were tough,right.
I mean you guys were wearingmultiple hats and you know there
was tension, right.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How'd you manage the tension between sort of wanting
to grow the business and thenlimitations, with it being a
small team yeah Tension is akind word, I think, for having
three partners that in the earlydays before we had employees my
sustenance rested on Kenny andSteve's production as much as my
own production, so there waszero tolerance for slacking.
(13:03):
I think in a high tension time,now and again, relationships
can flare.
Tension time, now and againRelationships can flare.
So it was kind of a joke nowbut we got to a point that we
actually went for marriagecounseling for the three of us
to be able to communicate better, because it was getting
difficult to go day by day andit just helped rally us around a
(13:26):
common vision, common goal andhow to communicate a little bit
better together.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Zane, what was the most challenging part of sort of
transitioning from thatnon-profit mindset to a
for-profit?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
business.
For me it's the same challenge,I think, that most IT technical
people face, of monetizing myvalue, that I'm producing a
product that I can feel goodabout charging for.
That's why I think technicalpeople are pretty bad
salespeople, me being one ofthem.
We want to, especially when itcomes to relationship, do
(14:01):
everything for free.
I mean that would be the best,but obviously that doesn't work
in a trying to put food on thetable.
So for us, or for me, reallygetting a commitment that the
quality of our products areworth the value that we're
charging and then expressingthat value properly to the
client.
So from a mindset standpointand then really from a product
(14:23):
standpoint, where we reallyneeded to crank up revenue, it
was volume of more work, butalso charging more market rate,
I would say.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Very good.
Kenny Real IT Care has a corevalue of all for one, one for
all.
How did the three of younavigate disagreements or
different visions for thecompany?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, zane and I have been very closely aligned, I
think, in our visions for realIT care largely from the start,
so that was always pretty easybetween he and I.
Today we're bringing in somemore people into the leadership
team, so learning what theirgoals are, where they're trying
to take the company and some ofthat differing opinion from what
(15:06):
Zane and I feel is we'refinally reaching a point of
needing to deal with that.
So it's been interesting, tosay the least.
But knowing that everybody isfor real IT care and just trying
to set the best direction forus is reassuring.
Even today at a seminar we'reat, you know, talking about
conflict and the example wasgiven, a lot of people think of
(15:29):
conflict as looking at oneanother, when that conflict
really to point towards whereyou're trying to get, to talk
through it.
So it feels like that with theall for one, one for all
mentality.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah yeah, that's a great one.
So Zane talked a little bitabout the marriage counseling.
Was there ever a point when youconsidered, kenny, that we're
not going to make it through?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
this.
When you considered, kenny,that we're not going to make it
through this.
There were a number of pointsthat that came to my mind.
Marriage counseling was huge,and I don't remember how long we
did that.
It was a number of months,every week, and it got us to
talk through things you sayabout being on the same page,
setting the same goals, workingtowards a common goal Zane
mentioned that and we neverreally set those goals or wrote
(16:11):
those goals down on paper,though it was still kind of
perception that we were goingthe right direction.
So there were a number ofnights.
I'm sure that my wife wouldjust rather hear me stop talking
about what's going on at workbecause of the level of
frustration that came up attimes.
It was a unique situation withthree partners, three equal
partners, all wanting to dotheir own thing.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
A number of years ago , to kind of encapsulate my
level of frustration, I actuallygot to a point that I started
applying for jobs, didn't tellmy partners because it was just
I'm going to kill somebody andif I don't leave I don't want it
to be me, and that was sobering.
When I actually shared thatwith Stephen Kenney, I think it
(16:53):
was a significant awakening forthe three of us together and I
would say through that, doubledown a bit on commitment towards
one another.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
You guys aren't alone .
I mean there's there'sobviously a lot of MSPs out
there, multiple owners.
I actually come from one thathad six owners.
There were four that actuallyworked and there were two silent
investors, silent owners and soI remember very vividly not
being one of the owners watchingthe turmoil, so I can only
imagine what you guys were goingthrough, being those that were
dealing with it, but then canyou imagine, obviously, how your
(17:24):
employees are dealing with itas well.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, and I think a lot of our comments
right now are probablyreflecting on some of the
critical yeah, no, no, but I dowant to just espouse that having
a partner that you align withis tremendously powerful.
Right and Kenny and I connectreally well.
We make decisions very quicklyjust because we discern
(17:46):
simultaneously really, andmaintaining relationship is so
important that if we haveconflict, we're going to talk
through it, and so there's acommitment there.
But having a partner that is100% committed to my success, me
to his success, allows us, Ithink, to pick up really
(18:06):
traction where we wouldn'totherwise.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
That's good.
Thanks for sharing that.
Let's change topics here a bit.
You've told us in the past thatusing unemployment assistance
really helped you get started.
You talk a little bit about thevalue of that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, I would love for this to be a PSA for.
Pennsylvania where we live thatat the time when we were
jettisoned from our previousemployer, pennsylvania had a
program in place that wouldallow us to collect unemployment
for six months six monthswithout having to file every.
Well, we did file, but itwasn't a we didn't have to apply
(18:42):
for other jobs, yeah, yeah, soit kind of protected us from
that.
Plus, they had mandatorybusiness classes that we had to
drive to Harrisburg to getweekly that were excellent.
They were provided by smallbusinesses and then at the end
of the program they actually hadsome seed money available that
I think we used to develop ourfirst website and the program
(19:05):
was fantastic.
But without that program I'mnot sure if we would have been
able to get so.
Unemployment allowed us to keepfood on the table while we're,
you know, scrounging togethersome finances as a company and
yeah, yeah, that it probablywouldn't have worked for us and
we, yeah, I could say we havebeen debt free from day one as a
(19:26):
company.
We did get one business loanonce actually to buy, enable and
Central, I think, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
It was actually just to build credit.
Our third business partner saidwe need to build credit as a
company, so we're just going todo a business loan.
I think the SEA program thatSEA program that we had
unemployment assistance withallowed us to buy, Enable and
Central licenses.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, right, right.
So as far as like starting abusiness, we have clients, we
have a product and, you know,have some financial assistance.
There couldn't have been abetter scenario to start a
business than what wefortunately came into.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
That's great.
I'm glad that worked out foryou for sure.
So as you grew and this will befor Kenny as you grew you moved
from a reactive break-fix workto more proactive managed
services.
What was the biggest challengein making that shift
professionally?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Getting the tools set up the way we wanted them to
work.
So, when we were at theprevious employment.
I mean we had no tools there wasno PSA, there was no RMM
solution for us.
We had certainly looked into anRMM before solution for us.
We had certainly looked into anRMM before.
But you know so.
You know, two months into RealIT Care's existence is when we
pulled the trigger on the PSA,pulled the trigger on Ncentral,
(20:39):
so it was.
It was getting this stuffestablished and as we worked
through all of the potentialconfigurations because there's
no, there's no runbook back inthat time for us that we were
aware of.
Anyway, we worked through it,spent long hours getting things
configured the way we thoughtwere appropriate and once we got
to that point, it made iteasier to handle those customer
(21:02):
calls when they came in.
You know, less onsites werenecessary and we weren't walking
around every single PC anymorefor running patches.
So there was some huge benefitsthat we saw in that.
But yeah, configuration changesor configurations of those two
products were just Sure Zane,you mentioned the move into
cybersecurity was somewhataccidental.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Can you share how that transition happened and
what taught you about beingprepared to sort of pivot in the
business?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, so fortunately, when we were let go from the
previous employer, we held inthose begrudged feelings and
maintained a relationship withthem instead of burning that
bridge.
So after a few years theyreally engaged us pretty heavily
as their IT consultants, tohelp both themselves and also
(21:48):
the manufacturing community.
So back in 2016, it came up atthat time of the DFARS for what
now is CMMC.
But you know, back then wasjust the federal acquisition
regulation for the Department ofDefense companies that need to
put in cybersecurity protectionsto maintain their contracts.
So that was becoming effectivein December 20.
(22:09):
And nobody knew anything aboutit.
So the pursuit alongside theother company really was
figuring out what this thing is,how does it translate, and it
was an eye-opener for me, for us, and it led the path to us
today providing these servicesfor a number of companies
(22:31):
throughout the country,supporting their technical side
and then helping to translatethe policy procedure side.
So, yeah, it was a bitaccidental.
They invited me for lack ofanother resource on their staff.
They invited me to participateon the national NIST panel as
the country was working throughall the MEP centers throughout
(22:53):
the country figuring out whatthis NIST 800-171 thing is and
how we implement it, how we getthe word out, for since 2017,
everybody's been waiting for thephone to ring off the hook,
with people needing help, whichhasn't happened yet, and now,
with the CMMC finally being veryclose to being a thing that may
happen.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Zane, you've seen even stronger growth recently.
What do you attribute that to?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah this year has been significant.
We started the year off in thefirst quarter about a 40%
increase quarter over quarter,which right now we've slowed
down a little bit over thesummer, but we're still, you
know, close to 30% for the year.
One of the big things I thinkwas just moving into EOS which
(23:40):
certainly Kenny was instrumentalwith moving us in that
direction.
And then, secondly, our thirdpartner, steve, had retired at
the end of last year, leavingjust Kenny and me.
When you have two people makingdecisions versus three people
making decisions, it's, I think,exponentially faster, not just
a little bit faster.
(24:01):
So we had a slew of changesstarting January that have
really translated into a betterculture, stronger culture, more
efficiency and, you know, moreprofit.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So you just you just mentioned culture and you built
this culture that is focused oninternal and client
relationships.
How do you cultivate thatculture this is for both of you
and what role do you thinkrelationships play in the
success today?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
We always said from the start of this business this
is we want to build somethingthat we would want to work at
right, if I were to come as anemployee today, would I want to
stick around here, would I enjoymy job?
So we really focused on thatright Just pretty relaxed
environment, great benefits,just getting the right people on
the team.
So we really focused on thatfrom day one.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, and I think you're right.
As we moved to EOS, definingour core values was one of the
first homework assignments andit took us a little time to put
pencil to paper, but it was whowe were that we just reflected
on, like how do we get to wherewe are today?
Then that translated into youknow, I guess, solidified or
codified who we are, and thenit's really powerful to
(25:21):
communicate that to the teamclearly.
So instead of, you know,picking it up in pieces, seeing
it and then reaffirming that,for me, relationship is 100% of
who we are as a company,individually working.
If we get along, if we enjoyone another, we enjoy coming to
work as a staff, we're going toaccomplish more than we would as
(25:41):
individuals.
You know the synergy our clientsare benefiting.
We're providing better productfaster.
It's just a win everywhere.
And you know, trust is thefoundation of all of that trust
of one another, trust of ourclients to us and that kind of
the fabric of where we want tobe.
And we're committed to doingright by the person, right by
(26:05):
the company first, and I'm sureit's common with a lot of MSPs.
But we have to protect thatrelationship.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That's great and, Chris, if I can carry on there a
little bit, so just as anexample of how we keep that
culture alive, you know we hadan employee come back from
vacation the other day and he'sout for a week, week and a half,
whatever it was and I walked inearly in the morning and he's
the only one there and you know,rather than be like, hey, you
know, how much did you actuallymiss in that last week, how far
(26:33):
behind are an hour 45 minutes toyou know, tell me about your
trip.
What'd you do?
You know, give me, give me,give me the rundown.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So yeah, so, kenny, you guys have both talked a
little bit about how you'veimplemented the entrepreneurial
operating system to help managegrowth, how's that transformed
how you run the company andwhat's the most challenging part
about getting one everyone onboard with that new structure.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
This has been a long time coming for us trying to put
some actual operating systemonto real IT care.
We really ran from the gut fora long time.
So, EOS has been huge for us.
We've been self-implementingand it's been a slow rollout.
So the rest of our teamunderneath of the leadership
team just found out about EOS afew months ago and we're just
(27:16):
slowly trickling out some of thedetails of what's going to be
involved in that.
So you know, we're stilldeveloping scorecards for the
teams, but we've gone throughpeople analyzers with them.
So it's been instrumental inmoving us forward, giving us
some clear direction in movingus forward, giving us some clear
direction.
I think after we presented itto the staff there were some
comments like wow, I know whereReal IT Care is going now.
(27:38):
It wasn't just come to work,punch the clock.
There was an actual purposebehind what we were doing.
At least the techs couldfinally see that.
Anyway, zane and I may haveknown that from the start.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But I think one of the challenges probably is doing
what you say you're doing soyou know EOS is accountability,
transparency.
We hate accountability andtransparency.
So, as a leadership team, todemonstrate this to the staff
has been, it's been good, but itit it's constant work Right,
(28:09):
and it's been good, but it'sconstant work right.
So we need to remain focused onthat.
But for EOS, for me, one of theother large huge benefits has
just been to define our vision.
So values, yeah, we have thatand that's really great.
But as a company, where are wegoing?
How are we going to get there?
Just to know where that is hasbeen freeing for when we think
(28:32):
about adding staff or addingproducts, and it's keeping the
staff focused on the same goal,and that's what I'm excited
about and see how that goes, youknow, the next year or two.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I'm excited to see how you guys progress through
that.
We've shared that.
You know I've seen a lot ofMSPs really adopt that in the
last couple of years.
Obviously, this I think this isone of the Enable events is
where you were introduced to itright, and I see a bunch of the
folks here this week that justcan't stop raving about the
success.
We've talked about Ori andJimmy and some of those guys and
(29:05):
they're fanatical about whatthey're getting from it.
So I'm excited to see theresults from the work you guys
are putting in Us too yeah.
You've had really low employeeturnover, which is very rare in
this industry, I can tell you.
So how'd you create anenvironment where people want to
stay?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
And kind of coming back to Kenny's comment about we
wanted to create anorganization that we would be
content working in and that'sfrom expectations job role.
You know all of that.
So I think that probably isevidenced a bit in having low
turnover.
We lost sight a bit duringCOVID on salaries and so we had
(29:48):
two people leave on money, whichwas a real eye-opener to us.
So since that time we'vedramatically increased salaries
just to want to make sure thatwe are providing the best that
we can for our employees.
So you know it's an environmentthat we purposefully want to be
enjoyable to work at.
You know, I wish it was asbeautiful as the Enable offices
one day maybe would be a goalfor that, and we treat people
(30:11):
well.
Offices one day maybe would bea goal for that and we treat
people well.
So in our industry again,oftentimes it's a sweatshop
mentality for the level one,level two techs of just squeeze
every dime out of them, everyounce of blood, and we don't
want that.
So from the utilizationperspective we have thresholds
that we understand.
You know we need a certainamount just to pay the bills but
we're not squeezing the bloodout of everybody.
(30:32):
So it's a bit of a balanceright.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Speaking of balance, that's a good intro into our
last section here.
So both of you you guys talkedabout this sort of work-life
balance and the importance ofthat, and so how do you maintain
that balance as an owner, andespecially as a company grows
and your time demands increase?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I'm in a bit of a unique situation actually with
that one.
Just recently, I mean this year, my wife came on staff part
time doing inside sales and amonth ago she has started full
time.
So we have a tendency to takethose conversations home with us
.
I bet you do, and it's it's achallenge to take those
conversations home with us.
I bet you do, and it's achallenge, to say the least.
So I mean, there have been someevenings where it's like, dear,
(31:15):
I just don't want to talk aboutreal IT care anymore.
As much as you love it, I'mdone with it for tonight.
But there's certainly a slew ofother things that keep us busy
to young kids, so soccer anddance, and you're forced into
the work-life balance a littlebit with that.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know, family first certainly is a motto for
all of our staff, us included.
If you lose at home, you losein life.
So you absolutely have to makesure family stays strong.
As an entrepreneur owner, thereis no off the clock, it's just
you're always available in onemanner or another to the client.
So we have a number of clientsthat have our cell phones.
(31:52):
We stopped giving those outsome years ago but some of our
longer term clients.
It's just the nature of the bee.
So you know my wife has come tothe understanding of what IT
time is.
If I say it, you know it'sgoing to be 10 minutes.
That really is an hour.
You know it's going to be alittle while, it's probably two
hours, and so it came to peace.
But when the kids were youngthat was difficult to maintain.
(32:13):
But now that you know they'reoff on their own, we just play a
lot of golf.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Good, good for you both.
So, as you both look ahead,what excites you the most about
the future of Real IT Care?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I mean it's cliche to say it's the land of
opportunity.
I mean we're still making somany changes at Real IT Care.
We're still making so manychanges at Real IT Care.
We're coming up on 15 years inbusiness and it's amazing to see
how much still needs tweaked orhow many product lines we need
to start considering from acompliance standpoint.
On the security side is justone area.
(32:45):
Getting into phone systems thisyear was another area that we
jumped into.
So it's just amazing to seewhere we could take this company
.
And I keep coming back to EOS.
You know, really setting thatto the VTO from that, where do
we want to be in a year?
What are we going to be inthree years?
What do we want to be in 10years?
And having some clear goals inmind of what we're working
towards just really excites me.
(33:07):
We have a purpose for how we'remaking those decisions.
Is this decision going to getme there?
Is it going to get set me up toget me where I want to be in
the future after that as well?
So it's.
I can't speak enough about EOS.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's great, yeah, yeah, and I agree with you,
kenny, and I think of the changeof discipline that you and I
have with responsibilities.
So, as we're growing, we're ata size now that we have
stability that if Kenny and Ileave, you know, the company
keeps running well and I justlook forward to continuing in
(33:40):
that so we can really focus juston the management and growth of
the company, get away from alot of the tedious day-to-day
activities.
But, yeah, land of opportunity.
It's been fun this year and I'mexcited about the next few.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I'm excited to hear about the growth, excited to
hear about the future, excitedto hear about EOS.
This is really, really excitingfor both of you.
So the last question is onethat we like to ask all of our
guests, and it's for both of youwhen did you guys know?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
now, that's it.
I'll start with that one.
So we already talked about thisa little bit earlier on here.
So it was about a day after Iwas relieved of duty from the
previous location and, you know,talking with my wife, it's like
I'm moving forward.
I'm going to do this, whetheror not Zane and Steve want to
come along or not.
I'd love them to help, and I'mglad they did, because three
(34:29):
heads didn't need to learn asmuch individually.
Right, I didn't have to learnall the things.
I could lean on the other two.
So so that was my, that was myit moment.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, and, as we talked about, mine's probably a
little bit more complicated, but, as we talked about how we
started, the genesis of thecompany, the stress, anxiety
relative to where we were as afamily, as me, as an individual,
as I'm talking to people alongthe way, they keep coming up
with, well, aren't you glad yougot fired or laid off?
And to me I'm thinking I'm notsure if I can say yes to that,
(35:02):
and it honestly wasn't untilthis year where I could honestly
say I'm really glad for howlife got me to where we are
right now.
So my this is it momentprobably was the launch of EOS
and really taking control ofsomething that probably was
controlling me for a number ofyears.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
That's great.
I am so honored to get to knowboth of you.
Over the last couple of yearswe have stayed in touch.
You've come to a number of theprograms that I've put on.
I really I thank you both forbeing part of the pod this week
and I wish you both, and all theReal IT employees, the best of
luck in the future.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Thank you, chris.
It's been a pleasure meetingyou.
Knowing you Enable's beenphenomenal and I don't say that
just you know PSA, but theyreally have been a fantastic
vendor to work with.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, second to all of that, it's been a fun ride
with Enable and I look forwardto coming to more events that
you're going to throw for us inthe future, Chris.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Can't wait to have you, beau.
Thank you, thank you.
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