Most MSPs are stuck in the same loop. One month it’s ads. Next it’s cold calls. Then LinkedIn. Then something else.
The needle never moves because they never stay long enough for anything to work.
So, when you hear about an MSP generating 25+ warm inbound leads every month, globally, with no cold outreach, no big budget, and no marketing team – naturally, you pay attention.
That MSP belongs to Jonathan Edwards, better known as The Bearded 365 Guy. He didn’t grow by shouting “We do IT support!” louder than everyone else. He didn’t chase every new marketing trend. And he didn’t “wait for the right time” to start.
Instead, he picked one strategy, and he stuck to it.
As a result, prospects now call up his business already trusting him, already convinced he’s the expert, and want in before they even ask the price.
This isn’t a story about being confident on camera. It’s a story about choosing one strategy, committing to it long enough to compound, and letting consistency do the heavy lifting.
Contents:
FREE Download: YouTube - The Strategy Behind 25+ Monthly Leads
The Backstory: A Burnt-Out MSP Owner Searching for Answers
Jonathan didn’t start YouTube because business was booming. It was the opposite.
- “I was starting to get a little bit weary … still small, still on the tools, staff coming and going. I was considering ways to get out of the business.”
By this point, he’d been running his MSP for 15 years which on paper sounds like stability. However, in reality, the business still relied heavily on him. At the time, Jonathan was doing the projects, dealing with the escalations, trying to lead a team he didn’t feel equipped to lead, and at the same time, carrying the pressure of sales on his shoulders.
It’s the story almost every long-term MSP owner eventually recognises where the business is technically alive, but it’s running on your energy more than your systems.
Like many others, he tried all the standard marketing plays everyone recommends – LinkedIn, paid ads, networking events, email campaigns, outsourced marketing support. Each time, one created a tiny spike of activity, followed by the same slow decline right back to an unpredictable pipeline.
So, when YouTube came into the picture, it wasn’t some calculated master plan, it was more like, “Well nothing else is working … maybe this will?” It became a sort of escape hatch. A chance to focus on work he genuinely enjoyed, rather than continually driving a business effort that felt resistant to progress.
Of course, the romanticised version of this story would say that his very first video went viral and changed everything. But, reality looked nothing like that. It never does.
His first video took three full days to produce, was just three minutes long, and generated zero leads:
- No comments.
- No client conversions.
- Just silence.
And that right there is where most people quit. Not because they’re weak, but because it’s discouraging to invest significant time and energy into something and see no tangible outcome, especially when you’re already operating at your limit. That’s why this turning point so important.
If this feels familiar: spending hours on marketing that disappears into the void, you’re not alone. In fact, most MSPs have been there. The frustration isn’t because the business is broken, it’s because the strategy hasn’t been given enough time, consistency or refinement to compound.
Jonathan didn’t keep going because it was working.
He kept going because he believed it could work if he stayed with it long enough.
That single shift in mindset from “I need instant results” to “I need consistent output” is the real beginning of the story.
Why Video Works, When Everything Else Doesn’t
The penny finally dropped when Jonathan realised something fundamental about how people actually use YouTube.
No business owner is sitting there searching for a firewall comparison chart or a breakdown of server configurations. They don’t care about the internal debates MSPs love having. They care about solving real problems, in a language they can understand.
People go to YouTube to get quick clarity and fix something that isn’t working – they’re not interested in your sales pitch.
That shift of understanding changed everything for Jonathan.
- “People aren’t going on YouTube to search for the top five reasons to use an IT support company.”
So, instead of making tech-for-tech-sake videos, Jonathan shifted to showing viewers how to get more value out of the software they were already paying for, in particular, Microsoft 365, a platform most businesses own but barely scratch the surface of.
He wasn’t just talking about features anymore. He was helping businesses unlock better productivity, efficiency, and collaboration. And in doing so, he positioned himself as the expert who understood the business side of technology, not just the technical one.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes; at the end of the day, they are just people. When you have a problem, you want to be able to go onto YouTube and have your problem solved. Think about this in your marketing strategy.
As a result, everything you’re producing is, “am I solving a problem or just posting for the sake of it?” and asking yourself, “would I actually watch this?”.
Be honest, not subjective.
One Rule That Changed Everything
The course that kick started Jonathan’s YouTube journey didn’t promise hacks or viral shortcuts. It offered one instruction, simple but demanding:
- “One video every week for two years. If you do that, it’ll change your life.”
He went into it expecting a blueprint. Instead, he realised the blueprint was consistency itself. No matter how polished the video was, no matter how many people watched it, and no matter how busy the week became, the output had to stay the same.
By the time he got to the two-year mark, leads started arriving consistently and when he continued beyond that milestone, momentum accelerated. Today, he attracts 20,000+ new subscribers every month and as a result, benefits from a predictable global lead engine.
- No lucky break.
- No sudden viral moment.
- Just one rule followed long enough for results to compound.
You might be thinking, I don’t have time to do this. If so, don’t panic. In practice, our recommendation would be to block out a three-hour slot every week in your calendar and treat it as immovable.
What we see, over and over, is MSP’s setting out to create a marketing engine and then dropping it the moment something operational happens.
That’s why you need a mindset that says: this time is non-negotiable.
It’s Not About Tech, It’s About People
Most tech videos online are unwatchable for one simple reason: they’re made for engineers. They go straight into complexity, jargon, acronyms and internal language that makes perfect sense to the technical community … but it means absolutely nothing to the people who actually sign the contracts.
Jonathan flipped that completely.
Instead, he started building his content for ‘Richard’, a former client who didn’t care about acronyms, vendors or frameworks. All Richard wanted was to know why a tool mattered and how it would help the business work smarter. That became the standard.
- “If you’re watching a 20-minute video and it’s just one person talking about a topic, you’re going to switch off. People like to be entertained along the way.”
And the more he leaned into that approach, the clearer the truth became:
People don’t buy tech. People buy clarity.
They’re not investing in software or security because they enjoy the technical conversation. They’re investing because they want:
- smoother processes
- better collaboration
- fewer headaches
- more productivity
- time back in their day
When the message speaks to outcomes, not infrastructure, people listen.
Your prospects should always be the hero. The story isn’t about how good you are; it’s about the results you help them achieve.
Consistency Wins, Even When You Don’t Feel Ready
Once Jonathan understood who the videos were for, the next challenge wasn’t strategy, it was discipline.
Most MSPs already know what would work. Few stick with it long enough.
Jonathan didn’t wait for confidence or the perfect setup. Even though he disliked seeing himself on camera, he pressed record anyway.
- “The first time you publish your own video, you start your journey … you shouldn’t think about cameras or mics or thumbnails. You just press record.”
He didn’t chase perfection, he chased momentum. Rather than obsessing over the perfect backdrop or perfect thumbnail, he focused on one measurable – press publish every week.
And of course, overtime:
- audio improved
- background improved
- characters evolved
- scripts became tighter
- delivery became sharper
But none of that would have happened without the first step, starting before he felt ready. That’s the real lesson behind his growth.
You don’t need a £5k camera or a full-time video editor to start. At Scalable, we began with an iPhone and a free editing tool. It took two hours to film and one hour to edit, something anyone could fit into a working week.
The investment that matters isn’t money, it’s value. Get the content right first, and the production quality can evolve later.
The “Hockey Stick” Stage Nobody Wants to Hear About
Consistency doesn’t deliver instant gratification, and that’s the part of the story most people hope isn’t true.
For the first 18 months, Jonathan’s analytics barely moved:
- low subscribers
- low engagement
- no meaningful leads
At the time, it wasn’t exciting. It wasn’t glamorous. And it definitely didn’t look like success from the outside.
This is the stage where most MSPs give up – because the results aren’t visible yet. It’s also the point where doubts creep in and the temptation to jump to the next shiny tactic becomes overwhelming.
But the strategy wasn’t failing. It just hadn’t compounded yet.
- “After 18 months, the leads started popping in, then it took off like a hockey stick.”
Growth wasn’t linear. It was exponential.
One video created visibility, which created subscribers, which increased recommendations, which drove inbound leads. That’s the stage many MSPs rarely reach.
When you try something for three months and then switch to the next thing, you reset the clock every time. You never give any one strategy the runway it needs to take effect.
For that reason, most MSPs never experience the hockey stick moment is because they stop long before the payoff kicks in. If, for example, you post three videos and only one performs well, do more like that and build a rhythm around what your audience responds to.
The same logic applies to Google Ads. Too often, many companies get one or two conversions and decide it isn’t working, instead of doubling the budget on the ad that is converting to see whether the conversions scale. When something works, replicate it. After all, your audience is already showing you what they want.
The key is … give it time.
What Changes Inside the Business Once Lead Flow Becomes Predictable
Once inbound leads became consistent, the biggest change wasn’t volume; it was structure.
With Jonathan split between marketing, delivery and leadership, the bottleneck had shifted. Content creation was where he delivered the highest value, not day to day operations.
So, he brought in a Managing Director to run the MSP while he focused on being the brand.
That decision created clarity immediately:
- Jonathan became the public face and demand engine
- The MD owned operations and performance
- Sales became predictable instead of reactive
- Growth no longer depended on Jonathan’s availability
And these weren’t cold leads. They arrived already trusting the business and ready to buy.
Momentum came from treating marketing as a strategic function, not a side task.
If you are reading this thinking you lack the capacity to do the same, that mindset is precisely what limits scalability inside many MSPs. Consistency precedes growth.
Stop Selling IT Support, Start Selling Value
More leads don’t automatically mean better clients. For that, the offer has to evolve.
Jonathan realised prospects weren’t reaching out because they wanted a new helpdesk. They were reaching out because the videos helped them run their businesses better.
- “People find IT support boring. We don’t sell IT support anymore.”
They stopped leading with IT support and started leading with business-impact services:
- Microsoft 365 implementation
- Microsoft 365 security
- Microsoft 365 optimisation
IT support still exists, but it’s now the byproduct of delivering a smarter, more productive workplace.
Decision-makers don’t buy technical capability. They buy outcomes: productivity, efficiency, security, and performance.
So, if an MSP leads with “we’re fast,” “we’re proactive,” or “we really care,” they sound identical to every other competitor. No differentiation. No leverage.
Today, real commercial advantage sits in business optimisation, modern workplace adoption and AI powered efficiency. MSPs who position themselves here win higher value clients and higher margin work.
We spoke about this topic in more detail in a previous blog: Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working and What To Do Instead
Why MSP Owners Must Stay Close to Marketing
The positioning shift worked because Jonathan stayed visible. Marketing wasn’t a task. It was a function. And he’s clear about what that requires from MSP owners.
Hiring an agency won’t fix everything. Posting only when things get quiet won’t fix everything. Marketing has to be owner driven, because nobody can communicate the business’s vision, culture or point of view better than the person who built it.
- “No one loves my MSP as much as I do. Marketing should never be an event, it has to be a process.”
Jonathan believes every MSP owner should block out half a day a week for marketing as a minimum. Not because they love it, but because predictable sales flow solves almost every other business problem.
And importantly, the channel doesn’t matter. If you hate video, don’t use video. Choose a medium you’re willing to stick with:
- Direct mail
- Webinars
- Paid ads
The, pick one and commit to it; because the only guaranteed failure is inconsistency.
Key Lessons MSPs Can Apply Immediately
Jonathan’s journey isn’t really about YouTube, it’s about focus and discipline.
Generic marketing no longer cuts through. Competitors sound the same. Buyers are overloaded. Reactive promotion doesn’t build demand. Growth goes to MSPs willing to choose a strategy and stay with it long enough for trust and visibility to compound.
MSPs that win tend to:
- commit to one core strategy
- stay with it long enough for momentum to build
- create content their audience actually wants
- lead with business outcomes, not IT support
- keep marketing as a non-negotiable responsibility of the owner
His blueprint isn’t complicated. It’s just uncommon.
One video every week. For years.
Even when publishing felt uncomfortable.
Even when it wasn’t perfect.
Even when the numbers were quiet.
There were no hacks. No shortcuts. No luck.
Discipline + clarity + patience = exponential growth.
FREE Download: YouTube - The Strategy Behind 25+ Monthly Leads
-
Commit to One Strategy
Stop switching tactics every quarter. Stick with one channel long enough for trust and lead flow to actually build. -
Lead With Business Outcomes
Stop selling IT support. Position everything around productivity, efficiency and real business impact -
Protect Weekly Marketing Time
Block out time and treat it as immovable. When the owner shows up consistently, inbound becomes predictable instead of accidental.
scaleUP Podcast: Listen to the Full Episode
If this blog resonated, the full podcast episode dives even deeper.
Jonathan breaks down the exact decisions, mistakes, and learnings behind his journey. It’s a practical, honest look at what actually works for MSPs building predictable inbound demand without burnout.
Along the way, you’ll hear how the channel was built, how the leads transformed the business, and the steps every MSP should take next.
So, if growth is a priority for you in the new year, don’t skip it.
Watch the full episode here:
