Why “Doing Less But Better” Is the Key to Growing Your MSP 

In his book Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown explores the idea that the fastest way to grow is by doing fewer things but at a higher level. Too often, business owners undermine their long-term vision by splitting their attention across too many things in the short-term. There will never be a shortage of great ideas to pursue - the art and science of growing an MSP sustainably hinges on deciding which few initiatives will drive the biggest impact. And put your energy on those things. And only those things. 

In principle, “doing less but better” sounds pretty easy, right? We’ve all participated in goal-setting and strategy sessions where we’ve identified 3-5 goals for an upcoming time period, only to look back months later and realize that we’ve made little progress on them. Not due to a lack of hard work or effort, but because we split our attention across too many things. In the MSP world, focusing on a limited number of priorities is especially challenging due to the nature of the business. Only by creating focus will you transform your MSP into the business you originally set out to build. This is especially true when it comes to MSP sales. Owners bounce between lead generation ideas, tweaking their sales funnel, chasing new MSP sales leads, and testing new tactics rather than committing to one structured approach.

Essentialism is both a mindset and an operating system. Before you can effectively filter your activities and energy to focus on what’s most important, you have to mentally commit to why you’re doing it. As an MSP owner, you probably derive a sense of accomplishment for how many things you can do in a given week. Let go of that attachment. 

Sustainable growth comes from translating focus into consistent action. Committing to a mindset of doing “less but better” will enable you to decide which things deserve your attention and empower you to say “no” to anything that doesn’t make the cut.

Sustainable growth comes from translating focus into consistent action. Committing to a mindset of doing “less but better” will enable you to decide which things deserve your attention and empower you to say “no” to anything that doesn’t make the cut.

If you’re bought into the idea of essentialism, but can use a hand implementing it, here are four ways you can start create more focus in your business by doing “less but better”: 

1. Get clear on the most important things that need to be done. Define what success looks like, and identify the actions that support that vision. The goal isn’t to do everything that’s possible to reach the finish line. Instead, identify the most impactful things that will get you there.
    
2. Get comfortable saying “no.” Once you’ve got your list, put your daily attention and energy towards those things - and say “no” to anything that didn’t make the cut. Saying “no” doesn’t mean you’ll never do it, just not right now.
    
3. Embrace good and done > perfection. Perfectionism prevents progress. Many MSP owners use their busyness to avoid doing the important but unfamiliar things that will move their business forward. Operating by a “less but better” mindset means getting things done to the best of your ability without needing everything to be flawless.
    
4. Give yourself time – and protect it. To really hone in on your focus areas, make sure you are scheduling time to work on the things that matter. 

Your MSP’s growth isn’t stalled because you aren’t working hard enough – your business isn’t growing because you’re working on too many things at once. For MSP owners, where every week brings new client demands, tools, ideas, and “shoulds,” and “shiny objects,” focus is what will give you a competitive advantage. Essentialism is the discipline of choosing the few initiatives that will actually move the business forward, and deliberately sidelining everything else for the foreseeable future. It means trading the dopamine hit of being busy for the harder work of defining what success really looks like and putting your time and energy behind the things that matter most.