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Most MSPs don’t stall at $2M because the market “gets harder.” They stall because the company quietly stops being a craft and starts becoming an institution—and that transition punishes owners who are still trying to win through force of will. The uncomfortable truth is that your first growth phase can be powered by competence and charisma. The next phase requires design. That’s why the moment you’re hovering in the $1M–$3M band (the “new million”), the conversation has to shift from tactics to intent: what is the business actually for, and what must be true for it to scale without consuming you? That’s the same strategic lens behind BMK’s view of the $1M–$3M MSP growth band, why peer teams matter more than owners expect, how disciplined assessment creates leverage through a Business Performance Assessment, and why Vision exists as an operating system—not another tool—to translate strategy into execution through Vision.
In our consulting work with MSP leadership teams operating in this band, the real constraint is rarely “one more tactic.” It’s that the owner is still acting as the primary engine of the business: the primary seller, the primary problem-solver, the primary source of certainty. That works—until it doesn’t. To break through, the owner has to stop improvising the company day-by-day and start architecting it: defining the objective, sequencing the milestones, building roles that are not “mini-me,” and measuring outcomes that prove the business is compounding. That’s when money stops being a vanity topic and becomes what it actually is at this stage: fuel for stability, retention, and strategic freedom.
Revenue plateaus become dangerous when an owner misdiagnoses them as “external” problems. In the $2M neighborhood, the constraint is usually internal: the business is still dependent on the owner’s personal throughput. That dependency is often invisible because it feels productive—until it starts producing fragility. The shift that unlocks the next stage is a full commitment to the CEO role: not as a title, but as a daily operating posture.
Owners often treat sales as a mysterious personality trait: “some people have it, some don’t.” That’s convenient—and corrosive. In reality, sales at this stage is a designed capability: clear positioning, consistent prospecting, disciplined qualification, repeatable meetings, measured conversion, and a feedback loop that improves the machine. If you won your early growth through relationships and referrals, you didn’t avoid sales—you did it implicitly. Now you have to operationalize it.
One of the most consistent patterns we see in strategy sessions is how difficult it is for owners to answer a simple question: what do you want? Many can list what they don’t want—bad clients, late nights, constant emergencies, volatility. But clarity doesn’t come from avoidance. It comes from choosing an objective and letting that objective reshape every decision. Once the “why” is real, the tactical brain becomes useful again—because now it’s building toward something, not merely reacting.
Industry echo chambers are subtle because they feel like education. But if you only study MSP tactics, you’ll start optimizing for busyness instead of outcomes. One of the fastest ways to get unstuck is to spend time with leaders who can’t talk MSP tactics with you—because that forces you to talk strategy. You start learning how other industries solve hiring, accountability, throughput, planning, and execution. And you stop romanticizing your uniqueness long enough to import better thinking.
Gary Boyle is an entrepreneur and partner at Bering McKinley, a management consulting firm that helps Managed Service Providers (MSPs) improve their People, Process, and Performance. Gary focuses on helping MSP owners move from reactive delivery to disciplined execution by building clear operating rhythms, measurable goals, and practical systems that translate strategy into results. His work centers on aligning leadership teams around priorities, strengthening accountability, and implementing repeatable operating standards that support scalable growth.
Connect with Gary Boyle on LinkedIn →
Ryan Alter is the CEO of SilverStream Audio Visual in Missoula, Montana. With a background that spans computer technology and environmental science, Ryan brings an operator’s mindset to building practical systems that scale—where execution discipline, role clarity, and measurable outcomes matter more than heroic effort. He’s known for translating complex operational challenges into simple, repeatable practices leadership teams can run without constant owner intervention.
Josh Peterson is the CEO of Bering McKinley and host of the BMK Vision Podcast. Through the Don’t Be That Guy series, Josh and his guests explore the hard-earned lessons that drive MSP growth, leadership, and profitability.
Connect with Josh Peterson on LinkedIn →
Because the business is transitioning from “owner-powered” to “system-powered.” At $2M, the owner’s time becomes the constraint. If sales, delegation, and management are still dependent on the owner’s personal energy, growth stalls—or becomes chaotic enough that the owner stops pushing.
You need a sales system. That might start with owner-led selling, structured referral generation, or account management done intentionally. But the unlock is turning growth into a repeatable machine: positioning, pipeline, meetings, follow-up, and metrics—supported by roles that can run without you.
It means you spend your best hours designing the company: policies, procedures, role clarity, metrics, accountability rhythms, and the sequencing of strategic initiatives. You stop being the highest-paid technician and become the person who builds the environment where technicians can win without you rescuing them.
Because most accidental entrepreneurs built the business to avoid pain (being broke, being stuck, losing security), not to pursue a clearly defined destination. Defining what you want forces trade-offs—and trade-offs force you to admit what you’ll stop doing, what you’ll delegate, and what you’ll no longer tolerate.
The best peer groups change the conversation. Non-industry groups, in particular, reduce tactical noise and force strategic clarity: goals, leadership constraints, planning discipline, and execution. They also expose you to different business models so you can import better thinking instead of copying competitors who may be equally stuck.
If you’re sitting at (or approaching) the $2M plateau, the fastest path forward is rarely “another tactic.” It’s clarity on the objective, the discipline to turn that objective into initiatives and milestones, and the leadership posture to stop being the bottleneck. If you want to bring your story, your constraints, or your growth questions into a real executive conversation—or if you want to see how Vision translates strategy into execution—use the links below.
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