In this episode, I speak to Nigel Moore, the illustrious founder of The Tech Tribe. It’s a community for forward-thinking MSPs looking to network, collaborate, and learn from their peers. Its members have access to marketing, training, expert panel discussions, and more.
An Interview With Nigel Moore
Why People Join The Tech Tribe
Nigel explains that there are some online forums for those in the IT business that aren’t as supportive, such as Reddit. “The advice given out isn’t always accurate, it’s anonymous, and there’s often bullying. Our community is pay-to-play, and you can’t be anonymous.”
“When people pay-to-play and show up as themselves, they tend to show up better. We provide clear community guidelines, so people can show up in the best way possible for themselves and others. All of that weeds out the people who are only there to make themselves look good.”
Why The Tech Tribe Attracts Industry Experts
The Tech Tribe community is full of experienced people who have built and sold successful MSPs. Often, they are now on the vendor side of the industry. “They love giving back and sharing their experiences.
“But they’re also building their own authority, introducing people to their products in a helpful way and taking feedback on board. There are a lot of members who just like to hang out, add value, or point people the right way.”
Nigel’s Advice on How to Run a Successful MSP Without Working Long Hours
“Running a business is challenging, and you’ll find there are lots of things you should work on to grow the business. But it all comes down to where you are right now and the biggest challenge you’ve got.
I learned a great concept from Dan Sullivan, which is that what’s going on in your business is always constrained by one thing. So that could be your marketing, speed of delivery, or of execution.
“You need to find and fix it so the pipe can open up and get things flowing again. You also need to focus on the highest priority and leave the rest. And be determined to get up every day and work, no matter how hard it feels.”
How to Grow a Strong Team Culture
Nigel highlights things such as transparency and trust as being important to a strong team culture.
“ I work incredibly hard to make my team feel supported. And I make sure to spend time with them too, even though we’re remote and in different time zones.
I make sure they’ve got everything they need to be happy and successful in their role and access to help if they need it. I don’t want anyone to not enjoy their job. Of course, sometimes we make mistakes or clients aren’t happy, but we support each other. I don’t get mad at them.”
How to Tackle Difficult Conversations
As business owners, difficult conversations are unavoidable. But Nigel says that talking professionally when we disagree can lead to us doing good things. Although he actively avoided conflict when he first started out in business, he eventually realised that it could be good.
If you give people the space, trust, and respect to discuss things, Nigel says, then one person might come around to the other’s way of thinking. Or perhaps meet in the middle. And if you have staff experiencing conflict, you have to support them to work through it too.
“Growth happens when someone brings up a tough topic but those around them know they’re safe to respond appropriately without feeling attacked. Polite discourse and conflict resolution is something you get better at over time, and that makes you a better leader.”
How They Deal With Disagreements in The Tech Tribe Community
Because the Tech Tribe community is made up of both MSPs and vendors, sometimes an MSP owner has shared a bad experience with a vendor who’s also a member of the group.
Once or twice, vendors threaten legal action if the comments aren’t removed. But my response every time is,
“that’s a legitimate customer with a legitimate problem.
You can choose to respond appropriately and we’ll support you with that. And it shows the industry how you deal with complaints. Or you can be rude or ignore them, neither of which will look good.
But on the other hand, we don’t support vendor-bashing just for the sake of it. We hide the post with a note to say that the comment didn’t add value to the conversation.”
How Nigel Overcame Addiction to Grow a Successful Business
Nigel is very open with talking about addictions he had in the early years of running a business, the struggles these led to, and how he was able to eventually overcome them to grow his business.
There were a couple of causes for these. Firstly, as a young, man, he and his friends would drive around and do ‘stupid stuff’. His very close friend, who had a lot of problems, ended up taking his own life.
“By the late 2000s, I’d been working for a guy for several years which was like an abusive relationship. I had crazy beliefs about myself, and although I left the role and set up my own business, I really struggled.
It led me on a downward spiral where I was drunk every day and abusing substances at the weekend. I was trying to escape my reality and I ended up in hospital after overdosing twice. I had suicidal thoughts.
What led to my recovery was meeting my wife and realising that I was being stupid. I didn’t want to die, but I hated my life. I finally went to the doctor and he gave me antidepressants. But they made me feel awful.
In the end, I gradually reduced the amount of drinking I did each day. I stopped taking drugs after I’d been hospitalised, and I slowly stopped smoking too. I don’t recognise the Nigel I used to be.
Part of the reason I started The Tech Tribe was because I knew that other people were struggling too. And I wanted them to have a safe space where they could find support and know that they weren’t alone.”
Nigel’s Mentors and Inspirations
Nigel says he’s had different mentors at different phases of his life, starting off with the person who hired him for his first tech job to the person who became his first client when he set up his MSP.
“When I pivoted to selling my MSP, I took inspiration from amazing coaches like Taki Moore and James Schramko. But as well as those whose programmes I took, I also had unofficial mentors.
“Those are the people who have no idea who I am, but whose work I absorbed and learned from. That’s people like Dan Sullivan, Marcus Lemonis, Karl Palachuk, and of course, Richard Tubb.
“I’m inspired reading books from people outside of the industry or when I hear a weird idea that excites me. I try to learn from community leaders, too, so that I can make The Tech Tribe even better.”
How to Connect With Nigel Moore
- The Tech Tribe
- Follow Nigel on Twitter
- Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn
- Follow Nigel on Facebook
How to Connect With Me
- Subscribe to TubbTalk RSS feed
- Subscribe, rate, and review TubbTalk on iTunes
- Subscribe and rate TubbTalk on Spotify
- Follow TubbTalk on iHeartRadio
- Follow @tubblog on Twitter
Mentioned in This Episode
- Nigel’s previous appearance on TubbTalk
- Author and business expert Karl Palachuk
- MSP Community: CompTIA
- MSP Community: ConnectWise Evolve
- MSP Community: TruPeer
- MSP Community: ASCII
- Marketing and sales tool: Growably
- MSP Community (Australia): SMBiT
- MSP marketing expert: Paul Green
- MSP coach: Andrew Moon
- MSP sales expert: Jennifer Bleam
- IT coach: Pete Matheson
- MSP Sales Whisperer: Paul Lloyd
- Jamie Warner at Invarosoft
- List of MSP peer groups
- Online coach: James Schramko
- Book: James Schramko: Work Less, Make More: The Counter-Intuitive Approach to Building a Profitable Business, and a Life You Actually Love
- CIA Ops by Robert Crane
- The Strategic Coach: Dan Sullivan
- Collaboration tool: ClickUp
- Health research: Zoe
- Online therapy: BetterHelp
- Awareness Day (Australia): Are You OK Day
- Disabled Surfers Association
- A great example of doing video marketing, via John Fisher
- Taki Moore: Million Dollar Coach
- Business expert: Marcus Lemonis
- Book: Ray Dalio: Principles: Life and Work
- Asset management firm: Bridgewater Associates
- Book: Michael Gerber: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
- Book: Geno Wickman: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
- Birmingham homeless charity: Networkfour
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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