Have you ever heard the motivational speaker Jim Rohn’s quote, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”?

I’ve also heard this adapted as: “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”

As you make your new year’s resolutions for positive change and growth in 2023, I’d like you to include finding and spending more time with successful people outside of your normal circle of friends and colleagues – and even outside of our industry. I guarantee you’ll be better for it.

I began to appreciate the power of spending time with people smarter than me and outside of my circle in the early days of running my MSP practice. In fact, my earliest exposure to this was with a few of my successful MSP clients.

For instance, I was introduced to the concept of segmenting clients into “A”, “B” and “C” categories, and replacing “C” customers over time with new “A”‘s and “B”‘s from one of my clients during a QBR. During this strategic meeting, I asked him what his 3-year goal was, and he told me he wanted to be the highest-priced (and valued) accounting firm in the area. This was such an unexpected and bold response that it immediately got my attention, so I asked how he planned to do it.

That’s when he shared his “A,” “B,” and “C” client strategy with me and how he used this process to exit lower-profit clients to make room for new ones at higher fees and profits every year. To fully appreciate the impact this had on me, consider that at the time, my MSP practice was struggling with underperforming, noisy, and unprofitable “C” customers that were taxing our resources. And this one discussion with a client much smarter than me in business gifted me with a strategy that we could implement to improve our performance, profit, and company morale; and allow us to focus our time on the right clients. We implemented this strategy and never looked back, and I’ve been sharing it with the MSP community ever since.

As a result of this experience, I intentionally started spending more time with this particular client (and other successful business owners) for MY OWN benefit.

Up to that point, the colleagues and acquaintances I had developed were focused squarely on technology. I realized that if I were to really grow a successful business, MSP or otherwise, I needed to expand my circle of influencers and thought leaders beyond my current relationships. So I got to work to seek out and build relationships with business experts in operations, finance, leadership, marketing, and sales, as well as with “connectors” – those that could make valuable introductions to others.

Now, this didn’t happen quickly, as it took focus and hard work to do while I was “minding the store.” It took time to find the mentors that I “clicked” with and were gracious in making time in their busy schedules to chat with me. Their insights, guidance, and recommendations for resources, books, training, opportunities, and introductions to others were invaluable. And as I worked with more of them over time, I was pleased to find that I could reciprocate with my own feedback and insights and re-share recommendations, and make introductions between them too, which was especially rewarding.

I would not have achieved the growth and success of my MSP practice without these relationships and friendships, and I continue to seek out those that are smarter than me to this day. In fact, the value that I’ve received from these experiences was a strong influence in shaping my desire to “pay it forward” and mentor, coach and consult other business owners and entrepreneurs today. It’s the most rewarding work I do.

I’ve already made my list of new “luminaries” I’d like to build relationships with in 2023, have you?