Human-Centric IT for Secure Business Growth | Rita De Vries from Real IT Solutions

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Hey everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of Pathmonk Presents. Today we’re joined by Rita. She’s the Sales and Marketing Director of Real IT Solutions. Rita, welcome to the show.

Rita De Vries: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here today.

Rick: Likewise, we’re happy to have you. Let’s jump right into it. Rita, we were just talking about a couple things that are going on with Real IT Solutions offline before starting. What’s the big idea behind your company? If you were explaining it to a friend over coffee, how would you describe what you do?

Rita De Vries: Real IT Solutions is a managed service provider in Michigan. We are essentially your outsourced IT team. We also offer co-managed services—so if you already have an internal IT team but they are completely swamped, we provide extra support. We handle support tickets, projects like networking, and Windows 11 upgrades because Windows 10 is coming to the end of life this October.

We cover a wide range of industries like healthcare, veterinary services, education, and manufacturing. So if you need IT, we’re the people to go to.

Rick: All right, I like that. Obviously everyone needs IT. Are there certain types of businesses or industries you personally like to work with, or maybe specific problems you help solve most often? Or is it more like a mixed bag, as you just said—you help with upgrades, putting out fires, and things like that?

Rita De Vries: Definitely a mixed bag. Different industries have different problems. In healthcare, compliance is a big one, especially HIPAA. We make sure their IT environment is HIPAA compliant.

In manufacturing, if they work with the Department of Defense or government contracts, they need compliance certifications too. We help with that as well, ensuring their environment is secure—because if it’s not, they can’t hold those contracts, and those are usually big ones.

So compliance and security are common problems across industries, though the details differ depending on the regulations.

Rick: Okay. How do these people discover you? Do they Google “HIPAA compliance” or “certifications,” or do they find you through word of mouth? I’m curious about your main acquisition channels.

Rita De Vries: Typically people Google things like “IT services” or “managed service provider near me” in Michigan, and that’s how they find us. Word of mouth is another big one—we get a lot of referrals from our clients, which we love.

Recently, we’ve been reworking our website, which should launch soon, and we’ve really ramped up our LinkedIn. Last January we had about 100 followers—now we’re at 1,200, all organic. That’s been great to see, and we’ll continue pushing that initiative.

Rick: I want to follow up on the website. Since it’s being reworked, how much of a role does your website play in pulling in new clients? And how do you expect the new version to perform compared to the current one?

Rita De Vries: Right now, we use the site for lead capture—we track what pages are being viewed, etc. But it’s cluttered and overwhelming with information.

My hope for the new site is that it will be cleaner, more concise, easier to navigate, and simplified so people can contact us directly without wading through too much information.

Rick: Got it. Let’s switch gears and talk about you as a leader. What’s your day-to-day like at Real IT Solutions?

Rita De Vries: I wear a lot of hats—including a fireman’s hat, because I’m putting out fires a lot of the day.

I handle marketing: social media, trade shows, lead capturing, SDR management. On the sales side, I manage a team of account managers and still do a lot of account management myself, though I’m passing off some of that workload. That means spending time with clients daily, answering questions, and sending quotes.

Rick: Do you feel that dual role hinders your performance as a marketing director, or does it help since you’re closer to clients?

Rita De Vries: Delegation is important—there are only so many hours in the day. Some days I feel crunched for time. But as we grow and get more leads, I hope to offload more so I can focus on strategy.

That said, being face-to-face with customers does give me unique insight into their pain points, which helps me tailor messaging and marketing to their needs.

Rick: Makes sense. Now, let’s talk about growth. With all the content out there, how do you stay focused and keep learning?

Rita De Vries: Continuous learning is one of our core values.

For technicians, we offer ongoing certification training. For sales, we use specific sales training platforms. We also use LinkedIn Learning—our local library in Grand Rapids offers free access with a library card.

We also have a book club focused on personal growth and self-help books, which we discuss weekly. And recently, we added pickleball as a weekly physical activity, which has been fun.

Rick: I like the pickleball part—it’s booming. Since you mentioned books, let’s jump into our rapid fire segment. Ready?

Rita De Vries: I’m ready.

Rick: Do you prefer watching, reading, or listening?

Rita De Vries: Reading. That’s my favorite, though I can learn in all ways.

Rick: What’s the latest book you read, and what stuck with you?

Rita De Vries: Our book club is reading Not Nice. It teaches you to be less apologetic and more assertive. In the Midwest, people often apologize unnecessarily—it’s cultural. The book encourages assertiveness, which is helpful in sales and marketing to set clear expectations.

It even gives daily prompts. Today’s was to interrupt someone—which is very uncomfortable for me!

Rick: You could’ve interrupted me just now—check!

Rita De Vries: Exactly, that did it.

Rick: I’ll check that book out. Now, if you had a magic wand to fix one frustrating thing in your marketing life with tech, what would it be?

Rita De Vries: Lead generation. Everyone already has “their IT guy.” The challenge is standing out, showing how we’re different, and enticing people to talk to us.

Rick: Good answer. What’s one repetitive task you’d love to put on autopilot forever?

Rita De Vries: Sending out our SNAP “shock and awe” boxes for leads. They’re fun and full of info about us, but the process of sending them and managing follow-up isn’t automated yet. It’s time-consuming.

Rick: Got it. Last question: if you could go back and give your past self a pep talk at the start of your journey, what advice would you give?

Rita De Vries: Be more confident. I struggle with imposter syndrome and often fear I’ll be fired even when I’m doing well. I’d tell myself: you’re doing a good job, keep doing your best, and drop those fears—they’re making your day harder.

Also: use your PTO. Don’t push yourself when your body is telling you to rest.

Rick: That’s solid advice. And even if something bad happens, you’re still here and fine.

Rita De Vries: Exactly.

Rick: Rita, thank you so much for being on the show. As we wrap up, if someone forgets everything from this interview, what’s the one thing they should remember about Real IT Solutions?

Rita De Vries: That we’re the humans behind your IT. We’ve got Midwest charm, and we’re always here to help. If you want IT that’s secure and compliant, come to us.

Rick: Perfect. Where can people find you?

Rita De Vries: RealITSolutions.com—new site launching soon. Also LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram.

Rick: Amazing. Thank you again, Rita. This was a great conversation. Hopefully we’ll see you again soon.

Rita De Vries: Thank you so much for having me.

Rick: Bye everyone.

Rita De Vries: Bye.