Before Kevin Hart was selling out arenas…
He was getting paid $100 to open comedy shows at colleges.
No Netflix special.
No Instagram.
No TikTok.
Just a mic… and a half-interested crowd.
Most comedians would do their set, say thanks, and leave.
Kevin did something different.
He passed around a clipboard.
He’d tell the audience:
“If you want to know when I’m coming back, put your name and email down.”
That was it.
No funnel.
No ads.
No software stack.
Just a clipboard.
Here’s what happened.
Trip #1 to a city
He collects 100 emails.
Trip #2
He emails them.
More people show up.
Trip #3
He emails them again.
Now the room is full.
And suddenly…
He’s not the opener anymore.
He’s the headliner.
Kevin talks about this in his book.
Capturing contact info — not talent, not luck — was the turning point.
Because once he owned the relationship, he didn’t have to hope people remembered him.
He could just tell them:
“I’m back.”
And they came.
When I first heard that story, it felt really familiar.
Because MSP owners do the opposite every day.
We:
run campaigns
go to events or discovery calls
meet good prospects
have solid conversations
…and then we disappear.
No system to stay in touch.
No follow-up rhythm.
No way to reactivate people later.
It’s like performing a great set… then throwing the clipboard away.
So every month starts from zero again.
That’s exhausting.
And totally avoidable.
What Kevin understood (that most owners miss)
Growth doesn’t come from constantly finding new people.
It comes from staying connected to the people who already raised their hand.
You don’t need 10,000 leads.
You need a few small groups you consistently show up for.
Here’s the simple version I recommend to MSP owners
Commit to 3–5 buckets of people you want to stay in touch with.
For example:
past prospects
current clients
referral partners
LinkedIn connections
newsletter subscribers
Then set a rhythm.
Every 30–60 days, those people should hear from you with something useful:
an insight
a lesson learned
a short story
a helpful guide
an invite
something that makes their job easier
Nothing fancy.
Just consistent and valuable.
Over time, that consistency compounds.
People remember you.
They reply.
They refer you.
They book time.
And eventually…
You stop feeling like the opener chasing random gigs.
You become the headliner people already know.
That’s basically what MSP Saber is about.
Helping owners build their “clipboard” — their CRM, their list, their community — so they’re not starting from zero every month.
If you want help setting that up, I’ve got a free MSP Saber community where we work through this stuff together.
DM me “Saber” and I’ll send you the invite.
