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

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."

Chapters

• 0:00 Struggles with bad technicians
• 1:39 Pandemic challenges for the business
• 4:45 Finding good help after bad hires
• 8:06 Managing personal and business struggles
• 11:27 Handling unexpected resignation gracefully
• 12:04 Closing thoughts and company introduction

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I went through three really, really bad technicians before I found a good one, right. So, like, I hired one that said he had the skills and I found out that he was unemployed for a reason. Right, like, like he had his own set ways and he didn't want to listen and I was like you got to go. And when he was with me, we hired another help desk guy and the guy just had no skills and no personality and he had to go. And so then we hired another guy 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.

Speaker 1: 0:41

So okay, thanks, where I had a technician and I had a lot of 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, all this work to do, and it was just me. It was down to just me, you know. And this time it's 2021. You know, by the time I get through all those people and and my, my company's, like you, don't have a million dollars a year, and it's just me besides the, the sales struggle with at the small size um, what other might it struggle?

Speaker 2: 1:15

might you had or found that you wasn't expecting um in the in the beginning years? Obviously you're six, six years into this, you know if you let's say we're one through three.

Speaker 1: 1:28

Right Like one through three. It was really, um, when I started hiring people, like the first people that I hired, you know, uh, my first technician, uh, he was great. I brought him on, he was working, working, he was going through through some things, um, I was teaching him how to, how to be a good technician and, uh, and moving him through, uh, he's very personable. Um, and this is 2000, late 2019 is when I first brought on my first deck, like maybe mid, no, mid 2019, like June, july, time period, period of 2019. So I brought him on, worked great for six, seven, eight months. It was great.

Speaker 1: 2:17

And then the pandemic hit, right Like so. So things happened and I was unsure about what business was going to have, what was going to happen to my business. I didn't know if a lot of my businesses were going to shut down or not. I was very heavily into dentists and I was very heavily into construction companies and I didn't know if they were going to be shut down or not. And so I was like worried about like just not having any income coming in.

Speaker 2: 2:45

Sure.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So I put my one technician on furlough and like go collect the money from the government because they're paying you to not work and you'll be able to come back with no problem. And so we did that. And then we found out that our companies were still going to be working. You know, even the dentists were only shut down for like two weeks. I mean, they weren't shut down that long. And so most of our companies were were still fine and still going to be paying us.

Speaker 1: 3:18

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 rest of them were good. And so I was like I need you back. And he's like I can't afford to come back because now I gotta put my kids in daycare because you know they don't have.

Speaker 1: 3:37

I like all the stuff, all of his payments that he'd have to do because, like, the daycares were still shut down, he couldn't. He couldn't do that. So, like his wife had to, like the daycares were still shut down, he couldn't, he couldn't do that. So, like his wife had to like, like not work and all that stuff. So it ended up being a struggle just 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 to come back to work and he was working from home a lot, and he always worked from home. But like he was working from home a lot, I saw the production drop off because there was distractions, because there was more people at home and and all this stuff. And then, uh, then we just had some other things go on and I ended up having to let him go because of um, he was saying he started his day at 7. Am and then, like his computer wouldn't even turn on until eight, but he started his day at 7.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Am. And so, like, like I just I just ended up like I'll let you go, and so I did, and I hated it because he was a he's a friend of mine, still is um, and but like it was just a business decision, right. And then. And then the next thing that happened was the struggle to find another good technician. Right like, I went through three really, really bad technicians before I found a good one, right. So, like, I hired one that said he had the skills and I found out that he was unemployed for a reason. Right, like, like he had his own set ways and he didn't want to listen and I was like you got to go. And when he was with me, we hired another help desk guy and the guy just had no skills and no personality and he had to go. And so then we hired another guy that we thought had the skills and had the thing, and then he came in for like three weeks and he goes. I forgot how much I hate this. I got to quit.

Speaker 2: 5:25

Oh geez.

Speaker 1: 5:30

So I had a technician and I had a lot of 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, all this work to do, and it was just me. It was down to just me, you know. And this time it's 2021, you know, by the time I get through all those people and and my, my company's, like you, don't have a million dollars a year. And it's just me, you know, and I'm like I need help and and that's what I had a struggle with and finally found some good help. Um, now my training regimen is way better than it was. Uh, I have to thank some of the people in our peer group for helping, helping get that straightened out and getting that going.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Yeah, and then from there, that was the biggest struggle for me, for my company. Like we always have the, you know, did I choose the right vendor? Do we have billing issues? Yes, we have that. That's the business right. But the struggle was finding that first technician. Now I have a team of eight soon to be seven again but the struggle was finding that first technician. Now I have a team of eight uh, soon to be seven again, but eight, um, and then soon to soon to be 10, cause I'm going to hire two more to replace them. So it's fine.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Um, I don't have to worry about going back to being just me, right, like, I just have to go out, find the right people, train them. If they work out, they work out. If they don't, we get rid of them quickly. You know it's hire slowly and fire quickly if they're not the 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 just seem like they just want to collect a paycheck but not actually work. So, uh, so that's been, that's been a struggle. Um, finding people in the philippines has been great, because they want to work, they want to help, they're getting society. It's great. So, uh, as you know.

Speaker 2: 7:27

So, as I know that was really yes. Yeah, I have some phenomenal team members in the Philippines. I can't say enough good things about yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Yeah, so, and, and that keeping the costs down, and, and, but yet still providing and and giving them a higher than average wage for their location, is great, you know, but keeping our costs down because we're not paying all the other things on it. So right.

Speaker 2: 7:57

So, um, paul, I'm gonna steer this a little bit in a direction. I know, you the struggles of of staff right, of being an employer and dealing with people and and you know people have problems and you know, we know some don't work out and some work better than others. And you not only went through the struggle of people and building your business and growing. You went through and you acquired another company. You made an acquisition which basically doubled the size of your company, based off of my knowledge of you.

Speaker 2: 8:28

But during all this time, you also had some personal struggles that you've been dealing with when it comes to your significant other in your life right, this is an ongoing thing. You built a house during all this. The same time, you know, you know surgeries, medical things, you know, but yet you always have a smile on your face and you've always got that amazing laugh. You know how do you do it. You know, just share that with me and share it with our listeners. Like, how do you manage to keep it light, like you do, because you go through some serious stuff.

Speaker 1: 9:07

Yeah, yeah. For me, every day is really just a blessing, really, right, like we're here on this earth and we get to experience things that are going on. The material things don't matter much. The things that are stressful are like, say, um, shelly's medical things that she has going on and and, uh, stuff like that. That's the stuff that that makes me worried, right, because that's that's actually life, right, that's not material thing. Like a house, I can build another house, a job, I can get another job. If my business goes out of business tomorrow, I'm still on 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 my attitude and and I just have fun with it, right, uh, yeah, yeah, we struggle, I.

Speaker 1: 10:10

So today, my, my, my longest tenured technician turned into resignation today, like two weeks from now, like my guy that's been with me with the company um, the company that I bought. He's been with them for 11 years, longer than my company's been in business. He's been working for this company in some form or fashion. He's got some you know, some personal health issues in his family. His mother-in-law is having some things and he's got some things going on and he was only able to put in 25 hours a week. Now it was going to get less and he just decided it wasn't fair to either one of us to do that way and he wanted to focus on other things. So he's moving on and he's probably not even getting another job. He's probably just going to be home and doing some education stuff.

Speaker 1: 11:02

It's tough, you know. You know it's tough. I got to, I got to replace that guy. Well, here we go. It's fine. It's just another thing. You know, it's another hurdle. It's another thing to learn on everything that everything that is a thing is is something to learn, on something get better with Right. So it's fine, it'll be fine, we'll move on. Not only will I learn, but all the people around me will learn, because now he's got to pass all his knowledge on in the next few weeks of everything he knows about everybody. So all those people are going to be better for it.

Speaker 1: 11:37

It's a learning thing. Now are they going to get all the knowledge? No, guess, when they're going to get the knowledge? Well, when that thing pops up again. We got to figure it out. They'll learn it, it'll be fine. The knowledge, well, when that thing 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 and the personal aspect of it is more important than the business aspect of it, right? So that's how I always look at it. 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 like you want to focus on growing your company, not worrying about IT problems or security threats. That's where we come in. Our team uses AI to protect your business from cyber risks and keep everything running smoothly. If you're ready for peace of mind and a stronger future, no-transcript.