MSP SUCCESS INCOME SURVEY
MSP INCOME SURVEY
NEW RESEARCH REVEALS HOW YOUR INCOME STACKS UP AGAINST YOUR MSP PEERS
As I ’ ve often said , “ Top line is for vanity ; bottom line is for sanity .” But how much do MSPs really make ? To answer this question , we conducted an income survey of the readers of MSP Success Magazine to find out what people were taking home . Roughly 480 people took the survey detailing their annual revenue , predominant business model , and personal income .
To start , I isolated the data on those who were an MSP and the owner of the business , removing the small minority of respondents who were VPs and other executives of MSPs or running non-MSP companies . The data collected is outlined below by group .
$ 5 MILLION-PLUS REVENUE
Of those who were identified as owners of managed services companies generating $ 5 million in revenue or more ( 3 % of the total respondents ), ALL were earning at least $ 200,000 a year , with the average earning between $ 300,000 –$ 400,000 annually . A solid 25 % of this group reported earning over $ 500,000 a year in personal income , and 17 % reported making over $ 1 million . Based on IRS income tax data , individuals who make more than $ 380,354 per year are in the top 1 % of income earners in the U . S ., making this an elite group .
What ’ s encouraging about this is that owning an IT services business gives you a much higher chance of being a high-income earner than the average person walking around .
$ 1 –$ 5 MILLION REVENUE
Nearly half of the respondents to our survey ( 46 %) were in the $ 1 –$ 5 million range in top-line revenue . Candidly , this is not a good representation of the industry as a whole , given 80 % of the MSPs and IT services firms out there are generating less than $ 1 million in revenue . I suspect this is skewed higher due to the fact that we tend to work with companies that are in this range of revenue or higher .
In this group , 44 % were taking home between $ 100,000 and $ 200,000 a year , making that the average earning for this group . A small 7 % minority of this group were taking home $ 400,000 or more per year , and the bottom 17 % were making less than $ 100,000 .
UNDER $ 1 MILLION IN REVENUE
Those making less than $ 1 million in revenue were the largest group that responded to this survey ( 51 %). Twenty-six percent of respondents said they were generating less than $ 500,000 a year in revenue . These were also the lowest income earners , with 53 % of that group earning under $ 70,000 a year , 24 % earning $ 70,000 –$ 100,000 a year , and 23 % earning $ 100,000 – $ 200,000 a year in personal income .
The group generating $ 500,000 to $ 1 million in revenue fared better , with only 10 % earning less than $ 70,000 a year , and the majority ( 50 %) earning between $ 100,000 and $ 200,000 per year . A small percentage ( 5 %) reported earning over $ 200,000 a year .
THE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TOP 1 % AND EVERYONE ELSE
Naturally , the question most asked is , “ What do the top 1 % of this industry do differently than the rest ?” What secrets do they know that no one else knows ? What unique advantages do they have over everyone else ?
It ’ s natural to think they have some special advantage , but the hard truth is they are selling essentially the same services to the same marketplace , utilizing the same vendors and hiring from the same pool of talent . Last time I checked , they still only get 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week . They also have to deal with the same barricades and challenges to growth that everyone else does : market conditions , competition , finding and retaining good employees , cash flow , marketing , etc . So , what is it ?
This is the question I ’ ve dedicated the last 15 years to uncovering : Specifically , how do the top 1 % and 4 % of our industry achieve their success ? To that end ( and not directly related to this survey ), I ’ ve conducted over 100 candid , personal interviews with CEOs of IT services firms who are in the top 1 % of income earners .
Some were brief conversations at an event or over a cup of coffee , and some were rather intense two-hour-