EP240 – Inside the MSP Growth Hub - May Intensive Round Up with Stuart Warwick, Clare Elliott, Julie Hutchison & Ian Luckett

IAN: In this episode of the IT Experts podcast, we go under the hood of the MSP Growth Hub. We reveal what happened at the May client Intensive in 2025.

INTRO: Welcome to the IT Experts podcast, the only podcast to help MSPs scale to 1 million, and if already there, get to five and go faster at the end of the day. Isn't it all about building a business that works for you rather than you for it? I hope you enjoy the show.

IAN: So good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome to the IT Experts podcast. Today we've got Stuart back in the house. Good afternoon, Stuart.

STUART: Hey Ian, and back again.

IAN: How we doing?

STUART: Very well, thank you. Very well.

IAN: Good. Today we are going to be talking about our amazing client event that we held in May of this year, the intensive, the two-day intensive. And the reason we do these podcasts is we want to be sharing with you. Not necessarily just about ourselves, but about the power of community, the power of structured, focused learning on the journey that you are going on with your MSP, wherever it might be going. And we're going to be over this next episode. We're going to be interviewing myself, Julie, our head leadership coach, Clare, our financial coach and obviously Stuart as well, to find out what happened, what went on, what did people learn, what were the insights, what did people take away? So Stewart, give us a bit of a headline. What was this two day event all about?

STUART: This one follows the sequence of our three 16 week reviews that we have annually topped by the intensive, which is what this was. And this one was amplify capacity, which is one of the core legs of the scale with confidence model, and they just get better and better. Ian

IAN: It was rather good.

STUART: We plan these things, we get excited about this stuff. We throw it all together, a couple of days before the event itself, and the feedback is just phenomenal. Yeah. And it's why we do it. Clients, just the insights, the sharing, the honesty, vulnerability the learning. Just as they walk out, they shake your hand and go, wow. Better than last time.

IAN: Just Wow. And this one was all about team performance, wasn't it? This was about, the framework that we were using here was all around the playbook, the leadership playbook. What was the overarching, the theme for the conversation?

STUART: Yeah. What we launched on this one was the team performance playbook.

Yeah. We've done lots and lots of team work leadership work and team dynamics work over the years and we've got so many frameworks that all linked together, but this time we decided to link it together and launch it as a playbook series. And clients are in store have a series of ongoing monthly sessions that are just going to pull all the different frameworks together in a linear journey such that they can actually implement their own personal leadership, their team leadership and their team development skills and their performance management structures and skills to make the team performance part of their business, the operations, account management, sales, if they've got it, just even more effective as possible. But with the entire goal to increase the maturity of the score of the MSP so that the business owner, could move towards owner not needed, where the business works for them rather than them for it. And it takes time and it takes deliberateness and it takes a growth mindset to be honest, because you are A - investing in people, B - investing your time in them and taking the time yourself to sit down with them and develop them so that they can run the business with you in the future.

IAN: And we've had some amazing results over the last in just nearly four years now, we've been doing this. It'd been, some amazing results with the framework and the training. But what we learned over the last year was framework and training's fine. Go into an event's fine. Coming back from an event's fine, implementing something's fine. But what will then happen is you'll then go and win a new client. You'll get all excited, you'll move to the left. You'll go and onboard the client and then you'll go, hang on a minute, why haven't we got any leads? It's because you've forgotten to do something. I was doing a podcast with Graham Stead earlier on, all about habits around your sales. So what was really interesting is over the last year we've realized that it's all very well and good. Going to an event, coming back, going through a bit of training, doing the thing, filling out the workbook and trying to embed it in the business. But unless you've got a cadence of accountability where you are going in month on month and you are building those steps bit by bit new client come in, you get all excited, you'll move to the left. You'll then go and onboard that client. Then you'll suddenly realize that the training you've forgotten about and you moved on to the next shiny ball. I think a few of you may be, remember, you may recall that sequence of events. So what we've done is we've built three work streams now. So on a monthly basis now we've got team performance playbooks just kicked off, transform your profits all around your finance, and then monthly, what's actually bi-weekly sessions now to help you implement sales and marketing, which is really exciting. And these sessions are really powerful, aren't they? Because it's a bit like the future leaders where it breaks it down, it breaks the overwhelm out of the whole, I've got to do the whole thing all at once, doesn't it, Stuart? It makes it a little bit more easier to eat.

STUART: Yeah, it does. And it creates micro accountability to a particular pillar of scaling your business. And it also because they are effectively like scrum sessions, it's about implementation. Not only is it thinking, but it's holding your hand to help you do the do. We can't do it for you, but we can help you do it for yourself. And in that vein, clients are bringing their sales and marketing administrator to it because they're the ones doing the do. They're bringing their finance manager or bookkeeper to the finance sessions. They're bringing their SDM to some of the they will be bringing them to the people performance. playbook sessions. And so that just aligns, it doesn't all rest with you of having to go away from an incredible coaching learning environment and think, oh, it's more stuff I've got to do. You are collaborating with your key players on some of the key building blocks of the business.

IAN: It was quite amazing some of the vulnerability that we heard. From not only our team, but also the clients there and one of them said I can't be, there is nowhere in the world I've seen an environment like this where people are so vulnerable and so open about, I just don't have the confidence to do that. If it wasn't for this group, I wouldn't be doing that. But it's around being around like-minded people. So you know, wherever you are mixing your network in whatever you're doing, remember that you become the average of the five people that you hang around with. And some of those conversations were just quite incredible. Weren't they quite humbling, weren't they?

STUART: Yeah, massively. And it's lovely to see that a couple of people open up that topic and suddenly the floodgates just boof. You've got everybody around the room sharing some of these, struggles basically. Because effectively you and I put this together to help MSP business owners get out of their own way to scale. because everyone gets to this point where they just get stuck, set point. It could be half a million, it could be a million, it could be 2.4 million. There's something that is in the way that they're set up, the way that they approach their business, the way they show up in the business, that seems that they've hit a ceiling. And for some, that's okay. They're happy there. But for a number that are more ambitious and want to scale and want to build the business that truly works for them, they're like, I need to do something different. It's normally a crisis that triggers it. A big client leaving, something, pushing the business back a couple of years. However, the businesses grow to the size of thinking the owner. That's why we put this together. And the intensive is designed to intensively incubate all of that knowledge and goodness in a safe place where, do you know what? You ask a great question about something that you are, you might feel silly asking a question about in another place. And boom, you've got people who understand exactly where you're coming from and will share. And as a result, the conversation goes deeper and deeper. And it's then about the takeaways.

IAN: Yeah, absolutely.

STUART: What do I do? How do I take away what I've just learned. And that's where the frameworks come in. You were talking about the ICE framework remarkable set of tools to help our clients get out of overwhelm and manage their time more effectively. And these are the magic about them was that you could see their eyes light up when they realized there was a tool to help them think about why it might seem silly, why they haven't got any time, or why they're not getting stuff done. And these tools just help them with their thinking, and then that helps them with how they choose to behave and act and show up. And you know what? It then shows up in the results. They start to get things done. They start to have different conversations with their staff or their senior team. And that then shows up in the numbers as well.

IAN: What was really funny with the ICE framework, which we did on day two, they've already had it, right? Yeah. You said that We showed it to them. They've already had it. They've already got it. We've already told them about it and then they keep coming to the pods saying that I'm busy, I'm overwhelmed. I haven't got time. So we are going to not run this down your throat, but we are going to walk through this and we thought we were going to do a session for 20 minutes just to quickly just re-walk through the framework again, and we ended up having a discussion and it was well over an hour where everybody had applied it, where it had worked, where they tweaked some of it, where they'd really got some success. I've just got off a call actually a minute ago with a group and one of them has actually gone through it with his whole team so that they all now know how to be more productive. And I think the biggest thing that I took away from that is they all respect each other's time more, which was like super, super powerful. Goosebump time. But that was a really exciting framework and a great use of everybody's time that kind of blew them all the way. And that was a bit, we didn't even prepare.

STUART: No. And actually the framework being able to take something back into the business and give you, I know we keep using the term, the framework to have a different conversation. Yeah. Instead of going back and waffling and people looking at you rightly. Yeah. If you can talk through something on a piece of paper or on a screen it brings it alive. It tells a story. And that's why we put all this stuff together.

IAN: Exactly. And that was super, super powerful.

STUART: Yeah. And so Ian, what was your big takeaway from the intensive this time?

IAN: I think, the thing for me was about the maturity of the room. The room just feels a lot more deliberate and it feels a lot more structured and purposeful, I think you know what I mean when I say that, because it was just like everybody's there. They've dedicated their time. Look, there's so many events going on out there, but this is a serious client led event, structured event. They're away from their friends and families and they're away, in the business and they are there being super deliberate. And when I was one of my recent holidays, I read a book by Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was brilliant. It was called Be Useful, everybody Go and Get It. And it made me think about delivering a session, which I did on changing Gears and how to really take your thinking to the next level. And I shared quite a very vulnerable story actually about myself, my family my vision, my big vision. And it is a big one. It is a big one, and it's incredible how quickly it's moving. Now I shared it because literally I had people offering me investment. I had people offering me to connect me with people who'd already done what I've done to help me, with my quest for my son a lot sooner. It was unbelievable. And the feedback was amazing. And it really helped everybody just step up their thinking, really just, shoot for the moon, aim for the stars, right? You land in the stars. That's a really good place to be. But it's just installing that vision and that personal vision in what people need to do to help drive that energy every day when you get a bad day and you get an okay day. But it was really inspiring and I love delivering it. I love sharing and, it was really cool. And the yeah, the, as I say, the feedback.

STUART: Was, it was very humbling. It was very humbling. Not only was it you were sharing a personal story an insight and also your enthusiasm for when you read a book and you just go Of course. Of course. Yes. And you'd done that whilst reading that book, but then translating again, the insights into the room. And what I love is that, three weeks on, we are getting people going. Yeah. That's stuff that Ian spoke about. That's stuff that Julie spoke about. I was talking to the team about this, I was talking to this, I was doing this with, it's landed with them and we keep it alive because we're talking to them every week as well.

IAN: Love it. Love it. Great. Thanks for that Stuart.

STUART: You are very welcome. Yeah. Can't wait. September. Here we come!

IAN: Next up is Julie. Hey Julie. How you doing? Wonderful leadership coach here today. How are you?

JULIE: Fabulous. Thank you. Very good.

IAN: Great stuff. You were on center stage this time, weren't you delivering the team performance playbook. Tell us a little bit about how the intensive was for you and you are really so involved in this now with some of the future leaders and also these trainings. What was your kind of aura of the room and the MSPs in the room with what was going on?

JULIE: Yeah, I think number one, it was amazing. I think that what we are seeing now, for me, from my perspective, is a growing of minds of all of your clients. The quality of the conversations that we are having as a group of people and also individually with various people i s extraordinary because some of the stuff that's coming up now I wouldn't have dreamt of many of these people. And I don't think they would've dreamt of having these conversations because they're just like, wow this is about being a leader. This is about being the grower of my business as opposed to just a technician in the business or a manager in a business or whatever. This is about how do I show up as a leader and those conversations require a very different mindset and a very different set of behaviors really. And so for me, the lovely thing was, is that since I've been working with all of those people, these conversations, when I'm bringing stuff up, the conversations are, they're not like, what on earth is she talking about? Yeah. They're like, yay, this is an opportunity for me to ask this really good question or this is an opportunity for me to be vulnerable and open with another 50 MSPs out there. And that's amazing.

IAN: It is. It was the vulnerability this time was, I said to Stuart earlier on in this show, the room is maturing so much. And the new clients that are coming in are getting blown away. And it was, I just, I literally just got off a call right now and I said to someone, I said, I did what sort of conversation did you have with this person giving them their one-to-one and they said I used to have a conversation that was about me just chatting and then this other person going, yeah, okay. But now since Julie's been helping me, I've now had a really, and it was lovely to hear, it was really cool to hear. Tell us about the team performance Playbook. What was that training that you delivered?

JULIE: So one of the things that we recognize is that we've done many different trainings and the model that obviously I'm delivering with you, with your clients is around what we call the team performance engine, which is around how do I create the environment for people to achieve, for me to be a leader and for them to achieve as a team, and the good thing is we do lots of trainings and over all this time, there's been bits here and bits there and what we've recognized is similar to the Future Leaders Program is that actually we want to create a method of implementation for this that is very organized and enables people to follow along a bit more. Because some of the concepts that we're talking about as a take, it means that you've got to be mature and you've got to talk to people differently, or you've got to design things differently or whatever it might be. Actually you need some help implementing that. So the Team Performance Playbook is a series of trainings that we're going to run alongside coachings implementation sessions that enable people to actually go, ah, see what you mean? Now let me implement it for my business and have that support as we go along. So we are going to get people to come along that journey in a very organized and strategic way, let's say. But it means that they'll implement. And so I'm going to be delivering that in the near future. We're just playing it now. And that the intensive, we've just been talking about it and explaining that, the reason why we're asking everybody to come along with this on that journey is because as we said the size of your business can only be at the level of your thinking as a leader because you can't do everything. So you need a team of people around you to leverage that so that the time, it becomes as big as the team is. And the amount of work can be as big as the team. And if they're not performing, then it's a total waste of money. And so this is massive for your scale is to be the leader that you need to be and to motivate and enable that team. As much as you need to achieve the results that you want to. And so the Team Performance Playbook is all about how do you actually do that and how do we implement the team performance engine side of things so that you can really be the leader that you need to be and step back and watch your business deliver amazing services, but not because you are working your backside off, but because everybody else is doing the job they need to do and they're enjoying it and they're growing and they're learning. And you can see the fruits of all of that as the leader of your business.

IAN: And this is like an implementation, isn't it? because it's very easy to go to a training course or watch a webinar or talk to someone about, yeah. Oh, I need to go and do that. But isn't that lovely because I had a conversation yesterday with a guy called Graham Stead around sales habits and behavior. It's those daily habits that matter that bring that cadence in place. And if you are not just constantly checking in on it, what happens is it's something we talk about quite a lot of the time. You get something new and you get motivated, don't you? And you go, woo-hoo, let's do it. Let's crack on with it. But then the bit that fails is the momentum because you don't keep that cadence together. So we've delivered some of this before and now you are going to, you're going to do this and hold their feet to the fire.

JULIE: Exactly. That we talk about the shadow of a leader and what we are saying is that we don't want it to be a flittering, fleeting shadow as it goes past. We want it to be there all the time. And to think about the impact that you have. All the time and understand how to create a positive impact. So yeah, absolutely.

IAN: That was really good. And just give us a bit of an update with the, in January some of our clients said, could you help me train my SDMs and my, senior account managers and things like this? So we said, yeah, okay. And I obviously went, yeah, okay, we'll go and build anything because that's what I like to do. But we had to talk to Stuart about it and make sure it was the right thing. Absolutely was and I think we're working, was it 16-17 of MSPs senior leaders right now. And you've got their arm around their shoulder or your hand on your throat.

JULIE: I thought you were going to say, I thought you were going to say you've got their, put their arm up there around the back, if like pushing.

IAN: No, I was just thinking you, you got your arm around them or you've got it on their throat, depending on yeah depending on how they're behaving in the program. Tell us what's going on there. because you're meeting up with these guys and girls and it's incredible, isn't it?

JULIE: Yeah. I can't remember the exact number. It was 16 or 17, something like that. We are in the same way as the team performance playbook, where we are breaking down, what it takes for them to be a leader. Understanding people, understanding communication different behavioral styles. What does it mean? What does it even look like practically to be a leader? How do I get people , to come with me and so each month we have a training session for that. And we have a coaching session where they bring what they've implemented and what they've learned and asked their questions. And that means that we've got a group of people that are starting now to work more with each other, and speak up and become more confident and to understand what does it really mean for me? The business. And as you just said there the person who said, I would've done it like this previously, but now I'm doing what Judy says...

IAN: Always listen to the ex-police officer.

JULIE: Yeah, exactly. I've forced him to do that. But that's what's happening now is because they're starting to understand why is this important and then how do I implement that for me? And they're starting to see practically, oh, this is how I need to show up differently, this is what I can do. And that's helped them get a confidence to be the leader that they need to be. So that's been brilliant so far.

IAN: I'm loving watching them grow. And that is the ripple effect of the MSP Growth Hub in full force, which is amazing. And if you want to grab a little bit more about some of those future leaders and making sure that you're getting the right people in the business to help you lift up, go and check out episode 233 where Julie and I talk about not letting the diamonds go in your business. It was a great episode. Thanks very much for that, Julie. So next up is Clare, and time to talk about money. Welcome Clare. How are we doing today?

CLARE: Hi Ian. I'm good, thank you. How are you?

IAN: Excellent. I'm all good. Great stuff. So just quick explanation, Clare, who are you? What you do, and who'd you help?

CLARE: Yeah, so I'm the finance coach within the Growth Hub, so I do everything finance. So join the intensives, come to the alignments, and just here for anyone who needs a bit of finance advice in between time.

IAN: And you make it fun as well. It's not a dull and boring subject that people have to do, we turn it into a framework that people love to do again. The main theme, as we've mentioned before in the show, is all around team performance, building the team performance. So Clare, last time in January you delivered the Transform Your Profits framework, which was amazing, and we're going to talk about that in a moment. But how did the room feel for you? A couple of years ago we didn't really have that many conversations, too much about the commercials and the numbers side of things, but what did it feel like for you? How was it for you for the finance side of point of view?

CLARE: Yeah, we do have a lot of finance chat. My whole day is full of questions and problem solving and intrigue. And I think there's a lot of maturity around it as well in terms of the realism of the situation and you just have to address it. If you're in business, it's a big part of your business, isn't it? Whether you know your finances or not, whether you like it or you don't, you have to yeah, put your grain up pants on and crack on with it and address it, and it's quite confrontational, isn't it? But yeah, no, there's a lot of really interesting conversation. A lot of conversation still around some of the fundamentals, but that's great. Some of the early stuff that we were talking about is still coming through and everyone's getting up to speed with that, so that's really good. Yeah, and a lot of vulnerability around as well. Everyone's free to ask whatever they want, whatever the question is, and we'll all come together and address it and help and support and answer their questions. So yeah, it's really positive. I think...

IAN: It's quite a funny environment, isn't it? It's not a funny environment, but it's, you know what we do at the Growth Hub, it isn't. Someone called it the other week a cult? Is it a cult? I said, we've been called many things but not cults. But there was one of the guys there who said that if it wasn't for being in this room, I wouldn't have had the confidence to put my prices up, which delivered another like 20,000 pound on the bottom line of his business overnight. And it was quite, we hear this every week, don't we? It's about, the whole account management thing and slotted into that. We've got the price increases and everything like that, but why is it that people get stuck sometimes with charging the same price even though their costs are going up? because that is just crazy, isn't it? Your costs are going up, but you are not putting your fees up. If you're in that camp, by the way, you should be feeling uncomfortable right now, shouldn't they, Clare?

CLARE: Yeah, they absolutely should. I think it's just, it's quite a scary thought, isn't it? Because you feel like if you push your prices up, that you might lose your customers, that they might not see the value. And actually as we prove time and time again, it's the complete opposite to that. They really do see the value and it doesn't really work but when you are on your own in business, it's very difficult to know what everyone else is doing, but within the Hub it is, it's such a unique experience. It's such a unique environment. Yeah. I wouldn't call it a cult either, but it's,

IAN: I'm not joking, and that person has now become a client, so isn't that amazing?

CLARE: There you go. Yeah. But it's, yeah, it's such a unique environment because everyone is so open. Like everyone is in the same industry, in the same business. Obviously they're from all over the country, so they're not directly competing per se, but, it's such a unique environment. So to be together and be able to ask those vulnerable questions of other business owners, it just gives them the confidence to make those hard decisions. Yeah. We hear it all the time about, oh yeah, I haven't put my prices up for ages, and the Hub's given me that confidence to do that. And do you know what? I haven't lost a single client. It's worked out really well, much value, and I can provide a much better service back as well. So it's just a win-win in every single way.

IAN: Brilliant stuff. Thanks for that. And, in January we launched everyone talks about the cash flow, their forecasting, their, their increase, their costs and all of this kind of stuff. And we said, or yourself, and Stuart said, enough is enough. We're going to put this into a framework to follow. You start at one, you finish at nine, and you work your way through it. And we're now doing it. We're now in a work stream on a monthly cadence of bringing your finance people into the Growth Hub to help them understand the Transform Your Profits framework as we did. How's that evolved since January? What's been going on? Because I think there's, I think, I know that there's monthly sessions now, isn't there coming on? How's that been received by the MSPs?

CLARE: Yeah, so we've had our first session, which was just the introduction session, so that went down really well, I think, I hope, had some really positive feedback. So that was really good. It's going to be a bit of a mixed bag, so we do have a lot of business owners, which is great. So we are doing that top level, that high level stuff that they need to know, but actually we've encouraged them all to bring their finance person as well. So anyone who's in the and is not on course then get on. So it'll be a bit of a mixed bag. We'll definitely do some deep dive in. So we'll do some high level stuff like we said, for the business owners, but we'll do some deep dives as well, some more technical stuff and things that your finance people could work on within your business to help bring the numbers alive, give you the confidence in what you're seeing and the confidence in your decision making as well. So yeah, that'd be good. So we've got 10 sessions.

IAN: Brilliant. How many ‘aha’ moments were there on the introduction? Was there many people sitting there going. I heard this, but now I know it. I know I've got to do this. And this is like business foundations 1 0 1, isn't it? Understanding your numbers.

CLARE: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We had a lot of good feedback. Like I said, it was just the introduction session, so it was really just talking about what we will go into detail about, but there was so many comments about, yeah, this is what I need, this is what I need to do. I know what I want. I just need to do it, and yeah, I need the guidance to just crack on like that step by step approach. So each session we'll pick on a different topic, a different area of finance, and then it gives everyone a whole month to work on that before we do the next session. And then by the end of the 10 sessions, yeah, hopefully they'll be in a completely different place. And I think that would be really interesting. So I said yesterday, write down how you're feeling now about these questions. What are your answers to these questions now? How do you feel? What situation are you in now? When at the end of the 10 sessions, we'll come back to it and we'll see what the change is and I think that'll be the real proof, of the impact...

IAN: What we can also do is we'd check it through their maturity score as well, because there's certain elements, questions of our 28 scoring maturity score that can, that are relating to finance. So it'd be interesting to track those to see how that moves forwards. Thank you very much Clare for that short, sharp blast. If you want a little bit more of Clare we recently did a podcast episode 235, budgeting like a boss. It was brilliant, and I'll tell you what, I used to have a little bit of a finance flare, but Clare made this really exciting and very interesting and easy to digest. So go and check out that podcast as well. Thank you again, Clare, for your time today. We'll catch up with you soon.

CLARE: Yeah. Thank you, Ian. Thanks everyone.

IAN: So I hope you enjoyed this episode, this one where we've got all the different coaches from the MSP Growth Hub telling you about one of our amazing events that we've got going on here, that's what the episode's called, right inside the Growth Hub, what's it all about? So if something's resonated with you there and you want to have a chat, then just reach out to myself or Stewart on LinkedIn or email or the website, go there, you can book a call, we can have a conversation. And see what we can do to help. But the other thing I just want to mention is, if you are out in the community, you are part of another community, you are part of another group, make sure that you are really deliberate in what the benefit for you is out of spending that time, spending that money, spending, you know, traveling around whatever it is that you are doing and making sure that you are getting that really good ROI, making sure that, you know, you're not just turning up and it's a chatting conversation. If you're deliberate about spending time growing your MSP, which is what you're doing. And then make sure that you are using that time wisely. So that's it from me today and the rest of the team. We love what we do. We love putting this podcast together, we love the feedback that we get from it as well. So you go and enjoy your day. Have an amazing one. I'll catch up with you on the next episode. See you soon. All the best now.

OUTRO: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Just before you go, and if you're curious about how this episode links with the ability to scale your MSP to a million or, or if you are already there, accelerate to five, then we want to invite you to come and take the MSP Mastery quiz, and in just three minutes, you're going to get 360 degrees scan of your business where you can identify the one or two tactics that can. Engage in, align your people and help generate more leads in your MSP. It's really simple. Just click on the link in the show notes and if you have enjoyed this episode, we'd love to get some feedback from you by means of a rating review on Spotify or iTunes, or your podcast platform of choice. We really appreciate every single one of them. Now, you can go and enjoy the rest of your day and we look forward to catching up and connecting with you soon. All the best day.