TubbTalk: The Podcast for Managed Service Providers Richard Tubb

In this interview, Richard speaks to Fiona Challis. She’s been in the IT industry for over 25 years, firstly in corporate and then running a sales training company. Now, she’s passionate about mindset, personal development and energetics.
Feeling like she needed a change, Fiona left the sector to grow, explore and try new things. She’s been helping women with their development, and had a journey of her own.
Fiona explains what energetics and mindset are and how they can impact the performance of leadership teams, as well as how to model the right energy and mindset to your staff. 
She’s honest in addressing people who might find these ideas ‘woo woo’ and how to maintain high energy and a positive mindset. Fiona also explains how an MSP’s culture and values impact its success.
Richard asked her to describe self-awareness and how to be kind to yourself if you don’t like what you see. Fiona shares examples of both poor and positive energy in MSP leaders, how to maintain positivity and how to address setbacks.
Richad asks Fiona to share examples of changes that have come about in MSPs after adjusting their mindset, what her work today looks like, and her advice to newer MSPs.
Mentioned in This Episode
TubbTalk interview with Fiona: How to do Awesome MSP Sales

In this episode, Richard Tubb talks to Dermot McCann. He’s the Executive Vice President and General Manager for Kaseya EMEA, having previously worked as General Manager for APAC in Australia.
He tells Richard about his background as an MSP, why he rejoined Kaseya and how his new role will help the company to grow and develop in Europe. He talks candidly about Kaseya’s challenges and commitment to its partners.
He explains the Partner First Pledge, Kaseya 365 and why they’re focused on cybersecurity, AI and automation in the coming months to grow their business and help MSP clients.
Richard asks Dermot how his experiences as an MSP help him now he’s working on the vendor side and what, if anything, surprised him when he made that shift. Dermot also talks about his own personal resilience.
Mentioned in This Episode
IT conference: DattoconIT solutions: DattoKaseya’s Partner First PledgeEndpoint management: Kaseya 365MSP accountability programme: Kaseya TruMethodsKaseya cyber insurance fast trackIT management software: ConnectWiseDocumentation platform: IT GlueMSP peer group: The Tech Tribe

In this episode, Richard Tubb speaks to Victoria Blinova, a senior strategic partner manager at Google. She specialises in YouTube deals and leveraging her marketing skills to drive business growth. She is passionate about personal branding as a tool to boost visibility and reach. 
Now as a start-up co-founder and advisor, Victoria is deeply engaged in the tech start-up scene all the way across Europe, the UK, and the Middle East, and has experience managing mult-imillion dollar budgets for retail and real estate executives, along with leading the digital marketing for Nestle's MENA B2B Business. 
Victoria explains a typical working day, and shares why she decided to use LinkedIn to build her personal brand. She gives advice on: content creation, promoting yourself online and why you don’t need to use video. 
Richard asks her how she overcomes self-doubt and the worry that nobody is consuming your content. Victoria shares lessons she’s learned from content creation and inspirational people in marketing. 
Victoria discusses her role as a community lead for women at Google, how she’d like things to change for women in tech, and how to do business in different countries with different cultures to your own.
Mentioned in This Episode
Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse: Mike AlltonDM Victoria for a free review of your LinkedIn profileTech start-up: imagiTubbTalk interview with Nancy Henriquez: One Woman in Tech's Remarkable Journey From MSP to Community ManagerVictoria's dad's YouTube channel: Your Russian DadVP of Marketing at Kurt Geiger: Pascale Montaner

In this bonus TubbTalk episode, Richard speaks to Daniel Shone, the Co-Founder of Apex Computing, an MSP based in Manchester.
He heads up the account management and sales and marketing teams. They have recently become Azure infrastructure certificated with the help of Pax8.
Daniel tells Richard why he attends conferences like Dattocon, how the right vendors grow your MSP and what makes a good vendor relationship, as well as who they’re currently working with.
Daniel also shares his thoughts on why you shouldn’t avoid your competitors, why he and his co-founder work with mentors, and what’s coming next for Apex in terms of partnerships and growth.
Mentioned in This Episode
Apex ComputingIT conference: DattoconPeer group: CompTIAPeer group: MG GroupCloud marketplace: Pax8PSA tool: HaloMDF FundingCybersecurity platform: Sonic WallIT and security platform: KaseyaPax8 Azure programme: KickstartCybersecurity stack: Apex Security SpherePeer group: SBS Network Group North WestIT and MSP Business Growth Expert: Ian LuckettHelping Ambitious MSPs to Scale to £1m: Stuart WarwickGrowth programme from Ian Luckett and Stuart Warwick: MSP MasteryCybersecurity platform: HuntressEnterprise cybersecurity solutions: Threat Locker(Zomentum)Quoting tool: SalesbuildrChannel Chief at Salesbuildr: James SteelCRO at Aabyss: Robert GibbonsDaniel Welling of Welling MSPDarren Strong at Scalable (workplace productivity software)CRM platform: HubSpot

In this interview, Richard Tubb speaks to Arlin Sorensen, VP of Ecosystem Evangelism at ConnectWise. He’s been involved in the industry for almost 40 years. In that time, he started HTG peer groups, now IT Nation Evolve.
He had a VAR MSP for 27 years, which he sold in 2012, and recently sold his ag-tech business which focuses on delivering precision technology to farmers. Arlin is passionate about supporting MSPs to grow and scale their business.
Arlin shares his journey in the MSP space, his current role at ConnectWise and how the company is different from others. He and Richard discuss challenges that MSPs face, how things have changed post-covid and how to adapt to remote working.
Richard asks Arlin how MSPs can get more comfortable with sales and how Bob Burg’s book ‘The Go Giver’ changed his own attitude to selling. They also dig into the impact of AI and automation on customer experience and running a business.
They discuss peer groups, MMAs, personal influences and the future of the MSP industry. Arlin also shares his biggest piece of advice that listeners should act on right now.
Mentioned in This Episode
TubbTalk interview with Arlin Sorensen: Why Discipline and Planning are Vital to Success in Business and in LifePSA platform: ConnectWise ManageMSP peer group: The IT NationBook: Bob Berg: The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business IdeaAI assistant: Microsoft CopilotAuthor and marketer: Mark SchaeferTubbTalk interview with Dan Scott: How to Grow Your Business in an MSP Community Like IT NationConnectWise CEO: Arnie BelliniBusiness expert: Karl PalachukLeadership conference: Global Leadership SummitArlin's daily email on Scripture

Nadir Merchant is the General Manager and CTO for Kaseya’s MSP and IT operations Product Suite.
He’s worked in DevOps, engineering and also held the role of chief technology officer for IT Glue, the documentation experts. Today, his work is focused on building out the engineering offer.
In this bonus TubbTalk episode, recorded live at Dattoncon 2024, Richard asked Nadir to explain IT Glue and their new collaboration tool, My Glue. They also discuss what it means for the company to be part of Kaseya Datto. 
Nadir shares his thoughts on how AI will affect documentation, how IT Glue helps to manage stale information and information overload, and what the company has got coming up in the next 18 months.
Mentioned in This Episode
MSP conference: DattoconMicrosoft collaboration tool: SharePointIT documentation: IT GlueIT and security platform: KaseyaPassword management: MyGlueITGlue blog: NetworkGlueCloud wifi: Cisco MerakiNetwork solutions: Datto NetworkingTech company: UbiquitiCybersecurity platform: FortinetIT security: SophosAI-powered networking: ArubaAI assistant: IT Glue Copilot