Obliterating the Box with Nancy Henriquez (EP 827)

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast, the show for IT professionals and managed service providers, where we try to help you run your business better, smarter and faster. And today we are going to do that by having a conversation with a good friend of mine, the girl with 100 tattoos, Nancy Enriquez. Nancy, how you doing?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Hey, Uncle Marv, always good to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. For those that do not know Nancy, she is the CEO of Sibyl Consulting Group, and that is a firm that specializes in helping managed service providers and small businesses optimize their sales, marketing and client onboarding processes to drive sustainable growth. Did I nail that for you?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, yeah. All right.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, let me ask the one question that I don't know if I've heard you talk about it publicly, but I know that I asked you a while back and people probably will ask you, what's up with the name Sibyl ?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, I love that question. You scared me there for a little bit. I was like, what is he going to ask?

You just never know. Never know.

[Uncle Marv]
Just be ready.

[Nancy Henriquez]
But that was an easy one. That's an easy one. No.

So the name Sibyl comes from actually Greek mythology. So Sibyls during ancient Greek times were basically a source of knowledge and help for people. And so almost like a prophetess, let's say, someone that was able to see the future and help people, guide them through that.

And so that's where the name Sibyl  comes from.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Good adoption of the name there. That works.

And then I guess the second question, this might be a little scarier.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, okay. Let me brace myself.

[Uncle Marv]
Some people in our industry, because they don't keep up to date with stuff, and there's a lot of conferences, there's a lot of changing of the guards of people and personnel at the different vendors. You were last seen out in public as a member of Super Ops.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Yes. Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
Some people thought you disappeared. I knew better.

[Nancy Henriquez]
I went into my cave.

[Uncle Marv]
But you did spend a little time before emerging with Sibyl Consulting Group. So just tell me a little bit, the mindset of making that much of a change, because we're talking about you. You went from being an MSP, to selling your MSP, to working with another MSP, to going to a vendor and now starting your own group.

That's a lot to do in a few years' time.

[Nancy Henriquez]
It's my MO, I realized. So I disappeared for a little bit because I needed to reassess what was next for me. And so that time got me really going back in time.

And so I was thinking about what it was like when I first started at 22 with a break-fix shop. And then when I exited that business, started my MSP, and then sold it. And I realized that all along, what I have been doing is trying to find ways to help others grow their businesses.

And I worked at Super Ops as head of the community. And I realized during my time there that that is where my passion lies. And not only can I take all of the experience that I've had, from being in the channel since 22, or I mean high school actually, all the way through to working with a vendor on the vendor side, talking to so many MSPs across the time that I was there, and realizing there is so much more that I can do to help the community and to help others grow.

But I needed to go backwards and go into my cave to kind of piece together what that was. And in that question of what is next for me. And so that's where I've been over the last six months.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Now, the question I'm going to ask here is probably going to be the hardest or easiest if you’ve truly done your own homework and assessment there. But what makes what you're doing any different or any better than what all the other people are doing out there claiming to help MSPs?

[Nancy Henriquez]
I love this question. Okay, so I don't think that I'm doing anything better. Let me just say that.

I think I'm doing something different, which maybe some will see that as better. Some will see it as better, and it just won't be for them. And that's okay.

What I'm looking to do is to literally package my experience from the mistakes that I made along the way at each level, at each step, and be able to remove that for others that are going through a very similar situation, or that find themselves in the same place where I was several years ago. And so if I can help someone accelerate their growth through my learned lessons and my experience, then that's what I want to do. And so it's not going to be the same program as anyone else, because no one else has the experience that I've had.

And so that's my answer to that. It's not better. It's different.

And it's not meant for everybody. It's for those that can relate to my story, and that can see themselves in the same journey that I was going through.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Now, is that an intentional break from the normal consulting that you see out there?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, yeah. 100%. Like I was saying, when I was asking myself, what is next for me?

I started, obviously, part of that is kind of like auditing yourself and having a self-assessment as to where am I at currently? Where do I want to be? And part of that was, I want to be at a place where I feel fulfilled to do the work that I enjoy doing.

And so for me, that was really looking at the question of, if I didn't need money, what would I be doing? And that's what I'm doing now. And so it goes back to that.

And so for me, it was like, I had a breakthrough that led me to being able to sell a business, that led me to working with the MSP that acquired mine, that led to working on the other side with vendors, and being able to talk to so many different MSPs during my time there, and being able to recognize in our industry, like, hey, there's others that are struggling with the things that I struggled with back then, and that I have been able to figure out a way through.

And so that's where that comes from.

[Uncle Marv]
I heard this term, or I read this term, I don't remember exactly, but it was called obliterating the box. Did you make up that phrase or did somebody make that up about you guys?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, I wish I could take credit for that. But I don't think so. But maybe, I don't know.

We say a lot of things.

[Uncle Marv]
We do. A lot of people say a lot of things. I mean, obviously, there's some unconventional teachings and learnings that you're going to share.

So I was wondering, do you have an example that you can share of something that you've already done with a client or an MSP that has been unconventional, but has kind of knocked it out of the box for them?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Yeah, so I can take so many examples over the years, not just clients that I'm working with today, but also just people that I've mentored and stuff over the years. And really, it starts with one thing. Everybody is looking for growth, right?

And I was looking for growth at the time that all of this started for me. And so when we start there for people, in the sense of your growth is going to be limited by your personal growth. So starting there, I've helped clients gain clarity through who their ideal client is that aligns with their lifestyle and who they are.

And then tying that into the services that they offer for them, how they help those people, which then leads to how do they optimize their business to service those people and help those people. And so that's part of what I went through in my company and realizing that the growth that I was going to have and the only way for me to be able to effectively help people through technology was to be able to take my limits away as far as I knew, to be able to get to those people and help them. And so that's where I started off.

And that's how we start off with our clients now. From there, it is really a discovery of who is your ideal client? How can you help them best with what you already know and have?

And that speaks to the fact that I have talked to so many MSPs, you've talked to so many MSPs over the years, and there's not a single one that operates in the same way. Like every MSP has a difference. And what I'm seeing in the industry is that there's a lot of troubles in M&A because we're not aligning those things right at the beginning.

When that happens. So there's a lot of things that I'm seeing in that we're not starting off at the right spot, which is you working on yourself and then being able to identify who can you help. From there, building a business that is sustainable off of the very ecosystem that you are living in, right?

And so that's how we help our clients. So far, we have, you know, funny enough, I realized that kind of similar to my journey, a lot of the clients that we're helping are going from the break-fix to the MSP model. And with that, being able to provide services that fit their lifestyle, fit where they want to be, and it fits their clients so that they have much better and deeper relationships and being able to help within their communities, which is what drives me.

That's the fulfilling part for me.

[Uncle Marv]
So I have to imagine that a lot of the companies, you know, they've probably identified an area that they think they need to focus on first. I mean, it could be marketing, sales, operations, that sort of thing. So how do you get them to not necessarily focus on that, but to kind of bring them to, you know, their own Seminole moment to figure out what's truly important and what truly is going to work for their clients?

[Nancy Henriquez]
As the first and foremost is, we got to start with where they are, with where our clients are. And so everyone comes to us with an immediate worry that they have. Most of the time it's a, we don't have enough leads.

We don't have enough sales. We don't, you know, we're not growing to where we want to grow. And a lot of the times my question is, why?

Why do you want to grow? Why do you want that?

[Uncle Marv]
That's what we're told to do.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Exactly. Exactly. That is what we're told to do.

But why? You know, and that's the main question that I ask. I had to ask myself that very same thing.

Why do I want to grow? Why do I want a certain size company? And I had to remove all of the, peel the layers of what everyone else wants for me, rather than what I wanted for myself.

And so that was, you know, thing number one is, why do you want to do that? Is it so that you can, you know, retire nicely and be able to support your family? Is it because you want to make an impact in the world?

Is it, you know, what, what is it? Why do you want to do that? Is it because you were told that you needed to make certain amount in order to be successful?

Like, you know, is it someone else's definition of success rather than your own? And that's in my mind, very important to know because it will drive, whether you build a business that is truly satisfying for you and truly able to help the people that you want, or you build a business that isn't for you and then it drives you crazy, which I've been there too.

[Uncle Marv]
It's a lot of things that drive us crazy. Oh yeah. So, all right.

So, so what's it been? Has it been, has it been six months, seven months? Yeah, it's about six months.

So not, not a full year yet. And I mean, how do you feel about the company now than when you were, you know, six months ago getting the start?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Well, like any company we evolve, that's you know, the greatest part about being able to build something is that you can evolve with the needs that arise and, you know, calling to that. Or answering that call, I guess I should say. And so that's, over the last six months, that's what we've done.

I know, again, I started with my, my, my self-assessment and realizing, well, what are my current limitations in order for me to be able to help others with my experience? I need to find a way to be able to get that across in a way that makes sense, not just for my own story, but how others can apply it. And so I have gone through training myself in order to learn how to coach people through this, not just in a cookie cutter setting, cause I don't believe in cookie cutters.

Like that is true to this day. They're fine. They're good for others.

They're good for some.

[Uncle Marv]
They're great for Christmas cookies.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Exactly. Exactly. Some prefer weird shaped chocolate chip cookies.

That's me. I like those.

[Uncle Marv]
Anyway, that's another story.

[Nancy Henriquez]
That's a whole other story. But you know, that's when I started to realize I needed to put myself through this similar training. I needed to continue to grow myself so that I can come back and continue to apply that to what I am offering.

That is a little bit of where I've been for the last six months. I have been taking some classes and I have hired coaches to help me work through creating a workshop where I can teach others the process that I went through, taking out my mistakes and also learning how to better coach the people that are working directly with me so that I can help them get to where they want to go. And so that's where I have been just investing all of my time in so that I can bring it back just as others have done for me.

And so I want to continue that.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So I have in my head, it's been sitting here for the last few minutes, I've been trying not to ask it, but I'm going to ask it and it's going to feel like laser tattoo removal, I think.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, you already know that hurts. Okay. So let's see.

[Uncle Marv]
So the official record that I have is that you started your MSP in 2016. Is that correct?

[Nancy Henriquez]
So I started the actual MSP in 2016, yes.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. So there are going to be some people and I would pretend to be those people right now that are going to say, if you started your MSP in 2016, you've already sold it, you've already worked with another MSP, you've already been a part of the vendor of the channel, now you're doing this company. In the official MSP capacity, that's less than 10 years.

That doesn't seem like a lot of time. You don't have the gray hair that a lot of us have. So what makes you think that you've got all the knowledge that should be shared that people should listen to?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh, you know, the thing about pain is that a lot of the times you gain clarity through it. So thank you for asking that question.

[Uncle Marv]
You're not really thanking me.

[Nancy Henriquez]
No, I am, I am. So, and the reason why is because, yeah, I started my MSP in 2016, but that was after starting my break-fix shop when I was 22 in 2008. And so eight years later, a community later, I was able to then go into finding out what an MSP was actually at a conference, at my first industry conference in 2015, right before starting the MSP.

And I studied the top MSPs that were on the top 501 list. And so when I was starting to build my MSP, the knowledge that I was bringing to that wasn't just the fact that I had just come off of a MBA program, off of like a three-month MBA program from Goldman Sachs and Babson College, but then studying the top 501 MSPs, seeing what they were doing right, taking out what I didn't like, putting in what I thought would be me, so reverse engineering their processes and building my own MSP.

The following year, so 2017, we were named MSP of the year and we were placed 501 on the list. And I was extremely happy and proud that we made it onto the list just one year after. And so I built the MSP off of that knowledge and just like so many others in our shoes, I went through all the programs, like Gary Pica's program, I went through so many different programs, but I've always been the type of person that I don't, I'm a little rebellious.

So just a little bit, just a little bit. And so I always like to take what I like, what works for me and leave what I don't. And through that process is how I built my MSP, which led to exiting within six years.

And then running the MSP that acquired mine, leading us through the MNA process. And so there's a lot that I have learned in a short amount of time. And that's, it's the story of my life.

I've done a lot in a short amount of time, or very young, because I also have a 19 year old and a 16 year old that I was raising throughout all this time.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay, so you're out there now throwing out your personal age and information. I was trying not to do that stuff.

[Nancy Henriquez]
I'm an open book, you know that.

[Uncle Marv]
But, you know, we have listeners that, I try to, you know, give them the PG-13 stuff. Softball questions. All right.

So what would you like to share now? I mean, well, let me ask this. Is this your first official, like public podcast media announcement about civil consulting?

[Nancy Henriquez]
It is, it is at this point, yes.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So consider this your ribbon ceremony. What should people know?

I mean, what's the big thing to, you know, say hurrah about?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Yeah, hey, I mean, if you are starting off your MSP, or you are at a point with your MSP that you are struggling, you don't know what's next, or you feel like it's running you and you're not running it, hit me up, let's talk. You know, I may not be the right person for you, but, you know, what I want is to help and or be a resource. So, and a lot of that, and if you're scared of homework, okay, don't come to me because some of my clients will tell you it's called fun work, but it's not really fun.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, well, congrats on the business. Now I'm going to ask you some questions that, they're not hot topics, but they're, I'm trying to work on this whole segment of throwing in some questions because you're a rebel, self-admitted.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Now that's going to bite me in the you know where.

[Uncle Marv]
Um, can you describe a time where you have deliberately gone against a best practice, but it paid off?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Deliberately gone against a best practice. What do you consider best practice?

[Uncle Marv]
You interpret the question how you want to answer it, but we know that's the term that gets thrown out a lot, that you should have a business based on best practices. You should have best in class items in your stack.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Okay. Um, a time that I've been, uh, best practice.

[Uncle Marv]
See folks, we don't prep for everything here.

[Nancy Henriquez]
No, you threw a good one at me.

[Uncle Marv]
We didn't prep for anything.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Yeah, exactly. Um, so I, I have to answer this question with, with so many other questions. And I think that this is what makes me who I am.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, let's talk it through. I mean, I'll help you.

[Nancy Henriquez]
So I love that. I'll help you through that. See, you're already coaching me.

This is why a community is necessary.

[Uncle Marv]
Uncle Marv's school of podcasting is, uh, helping, uh, helping MSPs.

[Nancy Henriquez]
There you go. There you go. Um, so first of all, defining what best practices means to you is the very first thing that I would say.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay.

[Nancy Henriquez]
And the reason why is because best practices are, they could be an interpretation. There's, they're not laws, right? They're interpretations of what is best at the moment.

And so for me, it comes down to, are these best practices truly what matters now or like, does it still work or, or not? So, uh, keeping that in mind, uh, when I look at best practices, they have to make sense. They have to make sense to what it is that we're trying to do.

And so for me, I guess the one best practice that I don't always listen to is the, the adage where you have to be the salesperson or you have to, like, you have to, or you need to, or you should, if that is involved with the, you, you have to run your business in this way or, or however that may be like, throw that out the window. Um, those are the best practices that I tend to ignore or not ignore but maybe reframe.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. All right. I thought you were going to go.

What is it? Uh, what movie was that? Uh, uh, pirates of the Caribbean where they were talking about, you know, the rules of the sea and the stuff.

And the guy's like, I'm all like guidelines.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Exactly. He nailed it.

[Uncle Marv]
There we go. All right. So, um, so I hit you with a, you know, a left field question there.

What's next.

[Nancy Henriquez]
What's next? Oof. I want to see others transform their businesses just as I did so that they can experience the same fulfillment that I do whenever I help others with their businesses.

And it's something that to me like applies in so many levels because that's what we do as MSPs is help others with their businesses. And I want to just do that in return. Um, I've said it for years that I want to have the greatest impact wherever I can.

I just didn't know how or where. And I feel like over the last six months, I have figured that out at least the start of it. Um, I, cause I'm not going to say it's a hundred percent and nothing is nothing ever is, but just like I reached to the MSPs that I coach that it is a continual process.

Um, you know, working on your MSP and refining those processes is a continual process. It doesn't end. Um, it's the same thing for us as we learn our own development.

And it's the same thing for me when it comes to how I help others. And so, um, that's why I feel like the more that I learned and I can offer others, the more that they learn and can grow their businesses. Cause at the end of the day, I always felt like, and maybe this is like personal experience, but MSPs are like the heart of businesses.

And so, um, if I help one MSP that's helping multiple businesses, then by proxy, I am having some sort of an impact on small businesses, which is where my heart is.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. You go Sibyl. Oh, I just realized what I did there.

Yeah. That's a little thing that I do instead of calling you Nancy, I call you Sibyl.

[Nancy Henriquez]
That's all right.

[Uncle Marv]
Folks do that. Don't do that. Call her by her real name, Nancy Enriquez.

Um, all right, Nancy. Well, thank you very much for coming on. And, uh, thank you for, you know, dodging and weaving.

As I asked those questions, those are great questions.

[Nancy Henriquez]
We need the hard questions asked.

[Uncle Marv]
We do. And, uh, I, I try to do that as part of the show. That's what people want to know.

You know, if it were all easy, we'd all be millionaires, right?

[Nancy Henriquez]
Right.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. I'd be sending off my own space rocket to the moon. Actually, I wouldn't do that.

That's a waste of my money. I can do much more happier things with it. So all right, folks, Nancy Henriquez CEO of Sibyl consulting group.

And as you can tell, Nancy is known for her practical experience driven advice for MSPs and small business. So check her out. Her links to everything will be in the show notes and, uh, we'll probably see you out on the road at some point in time, I think.

Right.

[Nancy Henriquez]
Oh yeah. Yep. Um, I'll be at PAX eight beyond, um, just as just attending.

Um, you know, I want to make sure that I'm continuing to keep my ear on the ground, um, and talking to MSPs, you know, as I've always done. And so that's, um, I need to get out of my cave.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So, uh, Nancy, thank you very much folks. Again, Sibyl consulting group, not your typical consulting firm, and they've got a mission to support small businesses and MSPs in overcoming challenges such as stagnation, inefficient processes, competition, ensuring clients not only survive, but thrive.

We'll leave everybody with that. That's going to do it folks. We'll see you soon on another episode.

And, uh, until next time.