You’ve more than likely heard of Sam Bloedow. Like you, he’s a TruMethods member and a small business owner. More specifically, he’s the CEO and founder of Thriveon, an IT services company dedicated to producing better business results for Minnesota-based business owners by leveraging technology investments in a way to maximize revenues. He’s executive who’s been around the block a few times and knows the IT industry well.
Now, Thriveon’s been around for 15 years or so, and over the course of the company’s history, there’ve been some ups and downs—as is the case with any business—but what’s kept the company together after all these years—besides its hard-working employees—is its dedication to its values, one of which puts family front and center.
I decided to reach out to him to continue a little bit of the conversation my father had with him during the members panel session at Schnizzfest this year in Philadelphia, and he agreed. What follows is the brief Q&A I conducted with him via email.
You participated in the TruMethods member panel at Schnizzfest this year. One of the topics discussed among panelists was how MSPs can grow organically. What does growing organically mean to Thriveon?
Finding new clients who are looking for the right kind of business partnership and doing that at a sustainable rate that creates a great customer experience and meets our growth goals.
There was a point where I found myself still the head of sales service and finance, and really, I wasn’t able to juggle all three, so looking for net new clients only happened in my spare time, which wasn’t much. I put the right people in the right spots over at finance and service, and dedicated a full-time resource to inside sales, which allowed me to go on appointments.
You’ve been a TruMethods member for many years now. What has been the biggest takeaway so far?
We got to a point where we had tried implementing bits and pieces of the TruMethods system, then undoing it. We got to a point where as we were solving business issues, the answer kept being TruMethods. At that point, the lightbulb went off, and we went all in 100 percent. We decided to stop questioning the system and direct our questions to understanding and fully implementing the system.
What’s a business challenge you’re currently dealing with?
Scaling up as we grow. We work to get ahead of future challenges, but this requires us to create solutions to problems we hadn’t faced till now. We rely heavily on folks who have already grown past where we are for their perspective and guidance. On the same vein, I have two beliefs in how I approach business and life: What you don’t realize when you chose to start a business is that being successful means that you have to continually figure out what you need to change about yourself, and the only barriers in life are those you have created in your own mind.
One of Thriveon’s values revolves around the importance of family. How do you as a business owner maintain the work-life balance?
By building a company that can run without any one person. The core value isn’t for me; family-first means that everyone at Thriveon comes ready to work smart and hard to create the best experience for our clients and is super intentional about doing it in such a way that the customer experience doesn’t suffer if any one person is out.
