I used to run an MSP. These days, I still serve the MSP space, but my newest business is a little different: It’s a nightclub. A small, energetic venue in Squamish, BC, called Trickster’s Hideout. I solve plenty of business problems there.
You may think a nightclub wouldn’t teach you anything about the future of managed services, but it did for me. It reminded me that too many providers are still asking, “How can I manage your IT?” when they should be asking, “What’s making your business harder than it needs to be?”
The Real Problem Wasn’t IT
Here’s how it started. My Trickster’s Hideout team kept asking the same question: “How are ticket sales for [event]?”
It sounds simple, but for me, it meant:
- Logging into Eventbrite to check advanced ticket sales
- Checking our website for direct sales
- Pulling Square data for walk-ins
- Doing the math manually, every time
Multiply that by several events a week, and dozens of follow-up questions (“Okay, what about Friday night?”), and you get the picture. It wasn’t an IT problem. It was a business bottleneck.
At first, I tried to outsource a solution to a group of students. Six weeks later, the project was still dead in the water.
So, I decided to solve this business problem myself with a little help from AI.
AI Didn’t Just Write Code. It Understood the Problem.
I opened Google Sheets and asked ChatGPT how to connect it to Eventbrite, Square, and my WordPress site, which runs The Events Calendar plugin. Step by step, it helped me:
- Understand the platforms’ APIs
- Write PHP code to expose my website’s data
- Use (Google) Apps Script to pull and organize everything in a single Google Sheet
- Design tabs for upcoming and past events, with totals at a glance
Allen Edwards’ ticket sales spreadsheet for his nightclub business.
Now, my whole management team can see sales and estimates in real time without needing me to dig. I even added bar sales and profit estimates based on inputs like liquor cost percentage and staffing.
MSPs: This Is Your Moment
The point of this story isn’t, “Look how cool my spreadsheet is.” It’s that I didn’t need someone to manage my IT. I needed someone to solve a business problem.
And I’m not alone. Small businesses today are awash in tools, platforms, and friction. If you’re still selling patching and antivirus as your main value, you’re going to get replaced by someone who asks better questions, such as:
Allen Edwards
- What slows you down every week?
- Where are you losing money or momentum?
- What tasks keep getting repeated?
That’s where your opportunity lies. Not in the infrastructure, but in the business context. Solving those problems might involve automation, integration, AI, or just really understanding what your clients are trying to accomplish.
What MSPs Need to Evolve
To stay relevant, today’s MSPs need to:
- Learn to talk like a business owner, not just a technician.
- Get comfortable with lightweight dev tools like AppScript, Zapier, or AI-assisted coding.
- Focus less on uptime and more on impact.
- Build services that meet actual business needs, not just check technical boxes.
If you can do that, you’ll stop being the IT guy and start being a critical partner.
Final Thoughts
It took a nightclub to remind me that tech is just a tool. What clients really want is progress.
Whether they run a law firm, a retail shop, or a manufacturing firm, SMBs need partners who can understand what’s really holding them back — and help clear the path.
So, the next time you’re tempted to show off your tech stack, maybe start with this question instead: “What part of your business do you dread right now?”
That’s where the magic happens.
Allen D. Edwards is a 30-year veteran of the IT services industry. He is president of Cdaeris Agency and founder of MSP Hire, a recruiting firm dedicated to helping MSPs build world-class teams.
Images: iStock, Trickster’s Hideout
