#17 – From the Trenches - Calculated MSP Growth & Risk (Ron Oppermann)

A candid founder story from the factory floor to a fast-growing MSP. Host Josh Peterson digs in with guest Ron Opperman on hiring that first tech, switching from reactive IT to proactive managed services, and building a sales engine that actually closes. ✅ Enjoyed this episode?  Like, subscribe, and share your biggest takeaway below.  https://beringmckinley.com/bering-mckinley-podcast-blog Ron Opperman, Partner at E3 IT Services (Turnersville, NJ), shares how an industrial-engineering start became a 14-person MSP powered by process, practice, and people. He recounts the leap from CAD and plant optimization to break/fix, then to managed services—plus the inflection points that changed everything: the first hire, Profit First discipline, and a mindset shift from “IT vendor” to business solutions partner. 👉 Origin story with lessons: carry over process rigor from engineering—flow, capacity, and standard work—into MSP operations and client onboarding. 👉 Hiring that scales: why bringing on Ryan at 19 unlocked true proactivity, created role clarity, and forced leadership maturity. 👉 Cash & confidence: use Profit First to never miss payroll, offer strategic prepay options, and reinvest in sales/marketing during lean seasons. 👉 Sell like a BSP: evolve the message, increase at-bats, and blend modern outbound with warm peer networks to improve close rates. 👉 Build for resilience: move from home lab to NOC, buy when others retreat (COVID offices), and let systems—not the owner—run tickets and sales. Natural keywords included: MSP growth strategy, hiring first technician, managed services pricing, prepaid agreements, sales methodology for MSPs. “Visit https://beringmckinley.com  for more MSP resources.” 🔗 Resources & Links • Ron Oppermann - E3 IT Services: https://e3itservices.com • Bering McKinley MSP Consulting: https://beringmckinley.com ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 – From factory floors to IT: Ron’s origin 00:36 – Industrial engineering lessons that transfer to MSPs 01:46 – MoonPie plant story: planning, flow, and scale 03:26 – Company collapse → entrepreneurship at Techad 04:26 – The $65 fix that sparked the IT pivot 05:26 – Early MSP stack: Level Platforms & proactive monitoring 09:25 – Self-training, mentors, and learning in public 13:25 – The first hire (Ryan) and shared staffing model 17:58 – Payroll stress, Profit First, and owner discipline 20:44 – Home lab → office during COVID: buying when others left 23:17 – Growth via peer groups and consistent outbound 25:38 – New sales methodology: from “MSP” to business solutions 32:27 – Prepaid deals to fuel scale and stabilize cash 34:52 – Impact beyond profit: careers, families, community 37:51 – Systems that run without the owner 43:30 – One takeaway for MSPs: plan, risk, execute 45:18 – Where to find Ron 🔍 Primary Keywords msp growth strategy, managed services sales, hiring first technician, profit first for msps, prepaid msp agreements, msp outbound marketing, business solutions provider, msp scalability 🔍 Secondary Keywords msp founder story, service desk operations, ticket workflow, msp close rate, peer groups for msps, noc setup, connectwise ecosystem, msp cash flow #️⃣ Hashtags #beringmckinley, #bmkvisionpodcast, #msp, #managedservices, #mspsales, #mspprofitability, #serviceoperations, #ticketing, #dispatch, #profitfirst, #prepaid, #connectwise, #salesleadership, #entrepreneurship, #businessgrowth, #founderstory, #noc, #itservices