A Rising Tide Lifts More Than Boats

You have heard it said that “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Often attributed to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in a speech from 1963, this aphorism, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” is regularly heard throughout the MSP Channel: many of our friends and colleagues use this phrase in some iteration during conversation, in mottos, and uh, for business names.  

The analogy, in some ways, is astute. Technology and our relationship with it are both constantly evolving, requiring a certain buoyancy and literal ability to “go with the flow” with every new development, vulnerability, and client request.  The founder of MSPGeek, Martyn Keigher, used this phrase to describe why he started the forum to answer questions about ConnectWise’s RMM platform, LabTech, and which evolved to discuss products, security, and other MSP-centric matters. It was a nice sentiment, made practical: together, we can navigate struggles that occur with every new development. Together, we can share knowledge and experience and let others who pass this way stand on our shoulders. Together, as a community, we can traverse the deep sea of change. We can learn and grow, together.

But I’ve also seen it used another way. Bear with me and hear the difference:  

“We are The Tide. We are the people and ideas who are going to solve all of your problems. We can solve your problems if you would just listen to us and agree and obey!”  

In an industry that started in garages and basements, one built on torrents and IRC and subverting systems, one that is constantly wrangling humans in all of their complexity and anxieties, why…WHY would anyone expect to be a sole authority on even one aspect of the Tide?  

Because here’s the thing: of all things we should want to mimic from nature, a rising tide isn’t the pinnacle of success you may think it is. Limited by time and natural laws, you must remember that ultimately, tides don’t rise forever.

Let’s talk about how the cycle of tides are reflected in our lives, as humans and businesses.

ELI5: What is a Tide?

As the Moon orbits Earth, its gravity pulls on our oceans, creating a bulge of water known as high tide. This high tide isn’t the only one occurring at that time — another high tide forms on the opposite side of the Earth due to the physical properties of water as it responds to the Moon’s pull.

From National Geographic. Illustration by Mary Crooks.  

High tide is a good thing for boats, giving ships more water to move through. At high tide, it is easier to navigate without hitting shallow areas that could damage your vessel, making it more practical for boating — and in many cases, more fun.

Low tide, on the other hand, is more likely to be harmful for ships than helpful. If a boat isn’t docked properly, the receding water can leave it stranded in the mud. If left unsecured, changing currents can carry the boat out to the unforgiving sea. At the same time, depending on the location, low tide is the best time for hunting for sea shells or accessing fishing holes that were inaccessible before. It depends on your needs and goals on what part of the tide you prefer.  

All of that said, what our analogies usually miss in their catchiness and simplicity is the intrinsically transient nature of the tide.  

Consistent as clockwork, the tides rise and they fall in a matter of hours. It may be more pleasant to swim in when the tide is low, but what if you’re not a strong swimmer and are unprepared for the incoming rising tide? The ships are lifted, but what happens to the boats when the tide flows out again and the ships’ captains are unprepared?  

Uh, so it sounds like the tide isn’t a great analogy for business, why are you even using the name Rising Tide?  

As someone who has always had a side gig and has helped start and run multiple small businesses, I firmly believe that Small to Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) are the future of our economy.  

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 99.9% of businesses, or 33.2 Million businesses in the States are small businesses, accounting for nearly half of their total GDP as a country, and nearly half of their employment. Worldwide, according to the World Bank, those numbers are similar, with 90% of businesses are small businesses, employing 50% of our workforce.  

The creativity, competition, and cooperation within community that small businesses exhibit beyond employment and GDP is worth celebrating. Small businesses working together create stronger products and services for both the public and private sectors: truly a demonstration of iron sharpening iron.  

Humanity will continue to diversify, solving problems and creating new things. And with it, technology will continue to be vital for growth, productivity, and efficiency.  

This diversity and evolution is what I consider the Tide. The complex social, cultural, economic situations that our communities will be inadvertently interacting with in their homes, schools, churches, government buildings, and offices.  

We (MSPs, technologists, consultants) are not the Tide. We're arguably more important. I believe MSPs are the future of SMBs and in that, we don’t own the Tide or the rights to It. We merely are custodians of the energy, ideas, and potential hidden within each wave.

What are we if we’re not the Tide?  

Imagine with me that you are standing on a beach on a perfect summer day.  

Maybe your feet are buried deep in the warm sand; there is a pleasant breeze carrying light scent of coconut and pineapple from people applying sunblock a few feet away. A clear blue sky and glorious yellow sun embrace everyone under their domain. Tiny crabs skitter back to the ocean in confusion, chasing every wave that brought them in. In the distance, you can see a pier where people set lawn chairs and coolers as they fish for the local fare. You hear kids playing, building and destroying sand castles behind you. Seagulls swoop and shout at people in line at the french fry stand, others are eating ice cream they knocked out of a small child’s hands. A local fisherman is exchanging pleasantries with a customer in the parking lot as he sells shrimp he caught this morning. The beach is abuzz with life.  

It’s almost like the tide may be what brings these people together, but it is not the most important thing on the beach. There is an entire ecosystem that was created around the tide and with the tide, that follows the tide, and that depends on the tide, at both its lowest and highest points.  

In the same way, entire ecosystems exist and are further enabled by the tide of technology, and as the Tide of technology shifts, It demands a higher bar of technical ability and tools to connect with the increasingly fast paced world around us.  

Of the businesses that have sprung up around the beach where this Tide resides—doctors' offices, accounting firms, car dealerships, grocery stores, print shops, restaurants, manufacturers, retail—some will be able to manage changing and upgrading on their own. Many others will rely on competent and experienced MSPs who can see the depths of the waters and navigate with wisdom and care.  

You’re not just a bait shop selling worms, hooks, and overpriced rods. You are seasoned navigators with maps, anecdotes, and hard-won advice on the best places to fish. In the same way, a competent MSP can step in, and beyond “managing services” or being a “value-added reseller,” they bring a wealth of experience to enhance those small businesses: advising, creating, maintaining, and protecting technical tools and skills as each SMB grows.  

The importance of the role of MSPs guiding SMBs through shifts in technology becomes clear when we examine the projected growth in IT managed services revenue: according to data from Jay McBain at Canalys, in 2025, the industry is expected to grow by 13%, reaching $595 billion globally (Canalys, 2025).  

The great thing about the ocean is the variety of occupations that exist at every season and Tide. You are an experienced ship captain; you know how to read the sky and the stars to predict the weather. You are a seasoned fisherman, who knows all of the best spots for the prized sea bass. Your purpose is not to be the Tide, but to help those around us to understand, harness, and profit from the Tide.  

Putting our resources into building our ecosystem

While SMBs need help from MSPs, here’s the catch: MSPs are also SMBs facing the same struggles of scalability, knowledge gaps, and industry-wide shifts that any small business does. MSPs, as SMBs themselves (according to McBain, the average MSP employs 8 people), need help from similar coaches, advisors, consultants, and implementors to navigate the constant influx of change and growth.  

It’s something my business partner, Mendy Green, and I talk about often. The services we provide—automations, onboardings, and business process consulting—are complicated enough that you will spend significant resources whether staffing your own team or hiring an external consultant. We have a backlog and are hiring consultants who meet our high standards as quickly as we can (if you’re looking and think you’d be a good fit, give us a shout).  

But how can we help more people with the finite amount of time we have, how can we better leverage our experience and skill for those who truly need our help but who cannot access us (or other consultants) due to time and cost?  

We could keep doing what we’re doing, throwing more people at the traditional consultant model of one-to-one, limited by scheduling and budget.

That only solves half of the problem. We’re grateful for the work, but it’s important to us to keep our services accessible to the people who need it most.  So we’re trying a few things to help fortify our ecosystem rather than just ourselves. Here are some ideas that our team and other peers in our circles are trying:

• Open-source Problem-Solving
  Our consultants regularly spend time on public forums and online spaces through Discord, Slack, and Reddit, answering questions and lending free advice to teams trying to solve problems in their businesses. We believe that the more we share, the stronger our industry becomes—not through closed-door discussions, but through open and accessible knowledge-sharing. You can find us on places like:
  • ‍MSPGeek ‍
  • the HaloPSA Community (Discord) ‍
  • Rewst (Discord) ‍
  • Hudu (Discord) ‍
  • /r/msp (Reddit) ‍
  • /r/halopsa (Reddit)

• Free Tutorials and Blogposts
  Whenever we solve an interesting problem, we record how to solve that problem and toss it up on YouTube. This way, other people with similar problems can benefit from the solutions we created. You can find our tutorials at https://www.youtube.com/@risingtidegroup/videos, but you should also check out our friends at Renada they have some truly elegant tutorials available for HaloPSA: https://www.youtube.com/@RenadaSolutions/videos. The Pivotal Crew team also has some great tutorials for the ConnectWise ecosystem in written form on their blog at https://pivotalcrew.com/blog/.  

• Group Consulting  
  To better accommodate general questions about complicated tools that can’t be answered in free forums or videos, we’ve built out Group Consulting. Formed to echo peer groups, these hour-long sessions allow for community input to see the types of questions other people are asking in their figurative boats and positions on the open seas. During each session, participants can ask questions and get them answered, live. Learn how to do the things you’ve been putting off and get a good understanding of what you need to better chart your course. This model lowers costs, fosters peer learning, and exposes businesses to real-world challenges that others in the industry are facing. We currently offer these for Rewst (every other Wednesday at 1pm ET) and HaloPSA (Thursdays at 10am ET).  

• Giving back to online and in-person Communities
  We believe that being human means giving back to our physical communities as much as possible. At Rising Tide, we encourage our consultants to specifically set aside a weekly block of hours for volunteering and community building. So often, money is the least valuable thing you can give, when you can give of your time, heart, and skill. Here are a few ways you can contribute to the world as the Tide rises: ‍
  • Attend and Volunteer at Conferences. Support technical volunteer-run Conferences like MSPGeekCon, CodeMash, and TEKnowledge Worldwide.‍
  • Volunteer at home. Your physical community needs your good brain and strong hands. Your community may have tech or non-tech nonprofits that could use your advisement or ideas. Don’t limit yourself. Some organizations need board members and event volunteers all the same. ‍
  • Participate in Open-Source Projects. Here’s a great list of projects that you can contribute to: Get Started Contributing to Open Source Projects | CodeTriage. Or perhaps you want to find a tool you directly love and use on this list here: awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted: A list of Free Software network services and web applications which can be hosted on your own servers ‍
  • Mentor others. Perhaps this is in your company, at your church, or through a local Boys and Girls club. ‍
  • Vote. Be civically-minded about your community and technical developments to help keep technology open and available for all!

Join us.  

We’re not here to be the Tide. We don’t claim to own this industry or control the ever-changing currents that shape it. Instead, we—as MSPs, Consultants, and Advisors—are here to share the tools, wisdom, and experiences we’ve gained to help others chart their own course.

We don’t have all of the answers, but we are embracing a big experiment of open-source problem-solving, sharing knowledge freely through tutorials and blog posts, and creating community-based solutions like group consulting. Together, we can support each other as we navigate uncharted waters, fortify our fellow ships, and ensure that no one is left stranded as the tides shift again.

We believe that by pouring ourselves into community by sharing, collaborating, and creating slightly abnormal approaches to “the norm,” we’re not just surviving the Tide; we’re harnessing its energy to move forward.

We hope you’ll join us in this effort, whether by joining an online community, incorporating similar practices at your business, or participating in ours. Ride the tides with us, and let’s see how far we can travel, together.