Heather McDonnell-Alford niched Counting Creators into the MSP space within just five months of starting the business. Her first client contact introduced her to the world of MSPs, and she immediately saw that they needed someone who genuinely understood their model — not a generalist who would simply sort costs and income into broad buckets.
When McDonnell-Alford launched Counting Creators, MSPs were not the original plan. The business had been conceived to serve a different audience altogether — content creators, including YouTubers. The pivot came fast, and it came from the field, not from a strategy deck.
Through an early client relationship, she was introduced to the managed service provider world. What she found was a community with a highly specific business model that generic accountancy simply could not serve well. A traditional approach — bucketing revenue and costs into broad categories — misses the recurring-revenue structures, vendor relationships, and margin dynamics that define how MSPs actually operate.
She recognised the gap immediately and moved. Within five months, Counting Creators had a clear niche: outsourced finance for MSPs, covering everything from mailbox management through to compliance work.
The speed of that niche decision compounded quickly. By committing fully to the MSP community — and investing heavily in visibility, including approximately 15 hours per week on LinkedIn in the early stages — McDonnell-Alford built a presence that opened doors to the industry's biggest stages.
Her speaking season opened at the MSP Show 2025 and closed with two stages at Pax8 Amsterdam in the same year. IT Nation London, widely recognised as the largest UK conference in the MSP and IT industry, also became part of that trajectory. The niche was not just a positioning choice — it was the foundation of an entire professional identity built in plain sight.
"When you speak about something personally online, share the scar, not the wound. If you're still in the trauma, it's the other side."
Heather McDonnell-Alford — Owner, Counting Creators.
Heather McDonnell-Alford built Counting Creators into a specialist MSP finance company, covering all outsourced finance functions from mailbox management to compliance. She niched into the MSP space within five months of launch, having originally set out to serve content creators. She has since spoken at the MSP Show 2025, Pax8 Amsterdam, and IT Nation London — opportunities she attributes largely to consistent, personal visibility on LinkedIn.
Counting Creators is an MSP finance company that handles all outsourced finance functions, covering everything from mailbox management through to compliance work — purpose-built for the specific needs of managed service providers.
This answer comes from Episode 10 of The Athena Rebels Podcast, recorded at Pax8 studios.
Listen to the episode on Listenly