#9 – From the Trenches - Failing Forward Works (Alex Farling)

From accidental founder to two exits, Alex Farain shares the messy, honest path of building Delaware Micro, selling during COVID, then co-founding Life Cycle Insights and Empath. If you’re an MSP owner sitting at ~$1.5M and wondering how to grow without burning out, this episode gives you battle-tested moves and myth-busting clarity. ✅ Enjoyed this episode?  Like, subscribe, and share your biggest takeaway below.  https://beringmckinley.com/bering-mckinley-podcast-blog Alex Farling (Empath; formerly Delaware Micro & Life Cycle Insights) unpacks 16+ years of MSP lessons: hiring missteps, 2008 survival, pricing mistakes, and the ops gaps that nearly sank the business—plus the sales-first mindset that ultimately fueled life-changing outcomes. You’ll hear a contrarian “Google-first MSP” play, practical ways to de-commoditize, and how to stop treating QBRs like obituaries and turn them into strategy. 👉 How to avoid the classic per-device pricing trap and rebuild value (revenue per tech, showing ROI, forward-looking roadmaps) 👉 A “Google-first, Chromebook-heavy” MSP thesis to boost scale per engineer and differentiate from Microsoft-centric competitors 👉 Turning QBRs from backward-looking reports into business conversations and budgeted refresh plans your clients will actually read 👉 Why most “lead problems” are really practice problems (build daily outreach, coaching, repeatable motions) 👉 Partner vs. hire: finding an ops complement, dropping the “I must be CEO” ego, and using frameworks (e.g., EOS) to align a team Visit https://beringmckinley.com  for more MSP resources. 🔗 Resources & Links • Guest/Company: [Add guest/company link here] • Bering McKinley MSP Consulting: https://beringmckinley.com ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 – Accidental founder: from call center to buying a break/fix shop 03:35 – Surviving 2008 and the “we might miss payroll” moment 08:59 – From break/fix to MSP and the $47/seat mistake 17:09 – Budgeting & refresh planning that clients actually embrace 21:25 – “If I started today: Google-first MSP, Chromebooks, Mac-optional” 24:32 – Stand out or be a commodity: building real differentiation 26:17 – The myth of “I just need more leads” and practicing sales 33:18 – Burnout, boundaries, and hiring leverage (EA, low-value offload) 40:01 – You don’t have to be CEO—find the right operator/partner 45:16 – Rapid-fire: tools, QBRs, compliance, NOC, RMM, KPIs 54:48 – Final encouragement: fail forward, learn fast, keep going 🔍 Primary Keywords start an msp, sell an msp, msp differentiation, qbr strategy, google workspace msp, chromebook management, msp revenue per technician, msp sales coaching 🔍 Secondary Keywords connectwise vs autotask, it glue documentation, outsourcing noc, pricing per device pitfalls, msp burnout, eos traction for msps, lifecycle insights, empath #️⃣ Hashtags #beringmckinley #bmkvisionpodcast #msp #managedservices #qbr #msppricing #mspsales #googleworkspace #chromebooks #connectwise #autotask #documentation #itglue #noc #rmm #kpis #operations #leadership #entrepreneurship #fromthetrenches