Everyday Run State: Pro Edition

Last Wednesday, the same morning my newsletter went out, I woke up to what felt like a minor irritation in my eye, only to later realize I’d scratched my cornea.

Naturally, this was also the morning of my very first ConnectWise Office Hours session. In less than an hour.

I was pacing around the house, half-blind, trying to flush my eye, thinking, “Of course this would happen today.”

But here’s the thing: I still ran the session. It went great (I think! Check out the YouTube Video here and let me know how bad the cornea scratch looks.)

Then, I went to urgent care later that day and got everything sorted.

This isn’t a “push through the pain” story, and it’s not a “you should’ve gone to urgent care immediately” story either.
It’s a story about setting a timeline for your own tolerance - and sticking to it.

I told my husband: “I’m going to host Office Hours. If it’s not better by 1 p.m., I’ll go to urgent care.”
That was my line in the sand, and at 1:05 I was en route to urgent care.

Control Limits and Escalation Points

In supply chain and process management, there’s a concept called a control limit. It’s the point where normal variation crosses into unacceptable deviation.

You don’t halt production because of one off reading, but you also don’t let problems ride indefinitely. You define in advance what’s acceptable and what triggers escalation.

That’s how high-performing operations avoid chaos:

• “If this machine has five defects in a row, stop the line.”

• “If inventory drops below ten units, trigger a reorder.”

Leaders don’t make those calls in the heat of the moment, they set them before emotions and urgency take over.

And that’s what my 1 p.m. urgent-care deadline was - a pre-set escalation threshold for myself.

Bringing It Into the Business

Most MSPs and Pro AV companies don’t fail because of big, dramatic breakdowns. They fail because small pain points drag on too long - unclear ownership, unspoken limits, and infinite tolerance for “it’s fine for now.”

Here are a few ways to set those control limits at work:

1. Ticket Escalation Rule
   If a ticket sits untouched for more than 24 hours, it automatically escalates - no debate, no blame, just flow.

2. Project Delay Threshold
   If a project milestone slips by more than one week, schedule a reset meeting to reassess dependencies.

3. Resource Overload Alert
   If a tech or coordinator carries more than X active items for more than a week, redistribute. Don’t wait for burnout.

4. Automation Patience Limit
   If an automation or AI workflow causes more rework than it saves after two cycles, pause and review.

5. Customer Friction Trigger
   If the same client complaint shows up three times, stop patching - fix the underlying process.

Why It Matters

As leaders, we often glorify endurance - the “push through it” mentality. But endurance without boundaries creates waste.

Setting thresholds (personal or professional) is how you build stability into your system.
It keeps frustration from turning into failure.

So the next time something goes sideways in your team, ask yourself:

• Have we defined how long we’ll tolerate this before taking action?

• Do we know when to escalate?

Because setting your own SLA isn’t about being reactive - it’s about knowing your limits before they get tested.