EPISODE · Oct 21, 2025 · 32 MIN
Top 5 Processes to Make Projects Profitable
from Tales From the Trenches: Wisdom from the Frontlines of Managed Services · host Adam Hannemann
Join my newsletter: https://adamhannemann.com/newsletter In this episode of Tales from the Trenches, Natalie Hell and I dig into one of the most overlooked (and under-profitable) parts of running an MSP: Projects. From scoping to pricing to client communication, projects can make or break your margins, and too often, they end up being loss leaders instead of profit drivers. We’ve both been deep in the trenches running project teams, and we’ve got some stories — and lessons — that every MSP owner or project manager should hear. We walk through the five biggest things we’d focus on if we were running an MSP project team today. Many of these lessons we learned the hard way in our former MSPs. We talk about what goes wrong when your scope isn’t tight, what happens when communication slips, and how your Statement of Work (SOW) can either protect your profitability or completely sink it. If you’ve ever wondered why your MSP projects aren’t hitting the margins you expect — or why clients get cranky halfway through a rollout — this is a conversation you’ll want to listen to all the way through. Because sometimes the difference between a successful project and a financial mess isn’t the tech… it’s the process. Interested in the Pax8 Peer Groups? You can find out more info here: https://www.pax8.com/en-us/academy/groups/ Interested in the Pax8 Instructor Led Training? You can find out more info here: http://pax8.com/en-us/academy/training/ 🌐 Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ahannemann 🌐 Connect with Natalie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-hell/
What this episode covers
Join my newsletter: https://adamhannemann.com/newsletter In this episode of Tales from the Trenches, Natalie Hell and I dig into one of the most overlooked (and under-profitable) parts of running an MSP: Projects. From scoping to pricing to client communication, projects can make or break your margins, and too often, they end up being loss leaders instead of profit drivers. We’ve both been deep in the trenches running project teams, and we’ve got some stories — and lessons — that every MSP owner or project manager should hear. We walk through the five biggest things we’d focus on if we were running an MSP project team today. Many of these lessons we learned the hard way in our former MSPs. We talk about what goes wrong when your scope isn’t tight, what happens when communication slips, and how your Statement of Work (SOW) can either protect your profitability or completely sink it. If you’ve ever wondered why your MSP projects aren’t hitting the margins you expect — or why clients get cranky halfway through a rollout — this is a conversation you’ll want to listen to all the way through. Because sometimes the difference between a successful project and a financial mess isn’t the tech… it’s the process. Interested in the Pax8 Peer Groups? You can find out more info here: https://www.pax8.com/en-us/academy/groups/ Interested in the Pax8 Instructor Led Training? You can find out more info here: http://pax8.com/en-us/academy/training/ 🌐 Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ahannemann 🌐 Connect with Natalie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-hell/
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Top 5 Processes to Make Projects Profitable
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