https://k7leadership.com/blog/ Field notes on scaling, leadership, and running a growing services business. en-us https://k7leadership.com/blog/key-person-risk/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/key-person-risk/ Key person risk is how much of your business stops when one person does. In most small companies, that's the owner. Here's a seven-name test and how to fix it. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-valuation/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-valuation/ MSP valuation gets quoted in EBITDA, but buyers check net revenue retention and growth rate before they believe it. Here's the math and the bar to hit. Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-pricing-calculator/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-pricing-calculator/ A free MSP pricing calculator in Excel. Build your price per user from real tool costs and help desk hours, then check it clears your margin before you quote. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-evaluate-ai-tools-for-your-msp/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-evaluate-ai-tools-for-your-msp/ MSP AI vendor selection starts with a business case. Test what the tool replaces, count the full cost, and decide what it must prove before you sign up. Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/build-vs-buy-software/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/build-vs-buy-software/ Build vs buy software for MSPs: five questions to answer before you vibe code your own PSA or CRM, because once your team depends on it, you're the vendor. Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-scope-an-ai-project/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-scope-an-ai-project/ Learn how to scope an AI project for your MSP clients: paid discovery, a bounded first workflow, clear delivery ownership, acceptance tests, and support terms. Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-sell-ai-services-as-an-msp/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-sell-ai-services-as-an-msp/ How to sell AI services as an MSP: help employees use AI, package ongoing enablement, and price implementation separately so your team can deliver it again. Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-fire-a-client/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-fire-a-client/ Most advice on firing a client is a breakup script. Make the decision first: what the account costs you, what a replacement costs, and how you hired them. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-marketing/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-marketing/ MSP marketing starts as a budget line. The percent of revenue each growth target takes, in one table, plus the message and the owner's own weekly number. Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/business-coach-cost-san-diego/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/business-coach-cost-san-diego/ Real 2026 numbers for a business coach, Vistage, EO and YPO in San Diego, each with a source and a date, plus my own price and what each option buys you. Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/level-10-meeting-stopped-working/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/level-10-meeting-stopped-working/ An L10 meeting goes stale five ways: all-green scorecards, Rocks that roll every quarter, an IDS that never solves. How to tell, and how to reset your Level 10. Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/ai-for-msps/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/ai-for-msps/ AI for MSPs speeds up whatever your shop already is. Where it goes first, where it must never speak for you, and the tier-1 margin math most owners skip. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/the-excuses-we-tell-ourselves/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/the-excuses-we-tell-ourselves/ Personal accountability for a business owner starts with how you explain a bad quarter. Why we blame the market, and the one question that cuts through it. Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/you-are-the-glass-ceiling/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/you-are-the-glass-ceiling/ Your business keeps stalling in the same spot. The market and the team usually aren't the problem. You are, every time you change the plan before it can work. Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-business-operating-system/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-business-operating-system/ No business operating system covers everything. What EOS, Scaling Up, 4DX, Great Game, and E-Myth each do best, where each leaves a gap, and how to choose. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/what-does-a-small-business-coach-do/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/what-does-a-small-business-coach-do/ A business coach builds the operating system with you and stays on the hook for whether your team runs it. The real job, and how to tell if you're ready. Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/why-san-diego-owners-cave-on-price/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/why-san-diego-owners-cave-on-price/ San Diego owners cave on price more than they admit. Every discount is a quiet pay cut for your own team. Here's why you do it and how to hold the line. Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/virtual-cio-services/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/virtual-cio-services/ Virtual CIO services are IT strategy on retainer: a roadmap, a budget, and risk management. What a real engagement delivers, the red flags, and what to ask. Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-job-description/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-job-description/ What a vCIO makes, what a real job description covers, when an MSP is ready to hire the seat, and the sub-it-out ladder to run before it goes on payroll. Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-qbrs/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-qbrs/ Most MSP QBRs train clients to cancel. How a real vCIO splits the meetings, sets cadence by client, and runs the budget cycle so the roadmap sells itself. Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-kpis/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/vcio-kpis/ The five vCIO KPIs that prove the seat works: realized utilization, reviews delivered, risk reduction, audits, and budget. Plus why a vCIO never gets a quota. Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/virtual-cio-pricing/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/virtual-cio-pricing/ Virtual CIO cost and rates: a vCIO bills $200 to $600 an hour, and a client's monthly fee usually runs $800 to $1,000. Here's the pricing math behind it. Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-referral-engine/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-referral-engine/ MSP referrals are the cheapest pipeline you have. Build a referral engine: ask for warm intros right after you deliver, then verticalize so they compound. Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-hire-a-salesperson-for-your-msp/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-hire-a-salesperson-for-your-msp/ How to hire a salesperson for your MSP: sell it yourself first, then hire a BDR to fill the funnel before a closer. The signs you're ready to make the move. Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-sales-commission-structure/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-sales-commission-structure/ How to build an MSP sales compensation plan: a 60/40 base-to-commission split, commission paid on recurring revenue you keep, and a quota a rep can hit. Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-prospecting/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-prospecting/ How to get MSP clients without becoming the dialer nobody wants: sort the list, lead with a give, stack three touches a week, and keep the funnel full. Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-sales-process/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/msp-sales-process/ The managed services sales process is four phases: plan, prospect, present, follow through. Here's what each one does, and where MSP owners lose deals. Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-sell-managed-services/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/how-to-sell-managed-services/ How to sell managed services without guessing: run sales like your help desk, work the funnel backward from your growth goal, and size the real activity it takes. Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/what-is-a-vcio/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/what-is-a-vcio/ A vCIO is outsourced IT strategy: roadmap, budget, and risk for the client. How MSP owners build, price, and sell a vCIO service clients actually pay for. Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/managed-service-provider-business-plan/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/managed-service-provider-business-plan/ A managed service provider business plan is how the business makes money: model, margins, budget, traps. Then run your own numbers in the free calculator. Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://k7leadership.com/blog/managed-services-pricing/ https://k7leadership.com/blog/managed-services-pricing/ Managed services pricing comes down to margin and conviction, not the competitor's rate. How MSPs underprice, what discounting really costs, and how to fix it. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT