Blog Posts

The toughest thing for independents: saying no.

November 17, 2015

Before you freelance or become an independent consultant, you’d think the hardest thing would be getting other people to say yes. You’d think it’d be hard to find work, or find interesting projects to work on in your spare time. Oh, no. Not even close. You can always find work if you lower your prices far enough, and you can always find spare time projects if you value your time low enough. But if you say yes to everything, you lock up your calendar. Then, when interesting (or more high-paying) things come along later, you’re not available. Even during the day,…

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SQL Server DBAs: Today, Let’s Thank Steve Jones.

November 10, 2015

community, inspiration, vendors

Back in 2001, Steve Jones, aka @way0utwest on Twitter, cofounded SQLServerCentral.com. He shepherded it into an incredibly large resource, well-known in the industry for its active forum, strong email list, Question of the Day, and the really well-done Stairways series of tutorials. He’s been a pioneer in our industry, and he freely gives away knowledge. Along with his cofounders, he sold SQLServerCentral to Red Gate years ago, and he’s still managed to keep the site as a fun place to be that has its own personality. It’s not vendor spam – it’s a fountain of helpful information and community participation.…

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The Basics of Personal Branding

November 3, 2015

branding, marketing

Sales and marketing boils down to these four things: A product – in this case, your skills A brand – what you want people to think of when they think of your product Marketing – getting people to think what you want them to think Sales – getting them to fork over money for your product When most people enter the job market, they only have a product – but no brand or marketing. As a result, their sales effort is hard as hell. With every single sales attempt, you have to convince the hiring managers that your product is the…

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Career Directions Self-Assessment Quiz

October 27, 2015

career, learning

Another year goes by without me getting hired by a car magazine. A year from now, what do you want to get paid to do? Who do you know that gets paid to do that today? What materials have they built to help you? How long will it take you to absorb those materials? How will you measure your progress along the road? A year from now, what do you no longer want to be doing? If you could automate those tasks away, how long would it take? If you can’t automate those tasks, who can you get to take them…

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A Conference Attendee’s Guide to Thinking Critically

October 20, 2015

conference, pass, sqlpass

Conference season is about to start, and it’s time to think critically. (No, that doesn’t mean yelling “BOO!” from the back row.) Critical thinking (Wikipedia) means listening to what someone is saying, then analyzing the contents and coming to your own decision about the concepts involved. “The Wonder Widgetizer will make you 50% better looking.” When you’re listening to a conference session or keynote, ask yourself: Who does the speaker work for? On whose behalf is the speaker talking? Are they stating facts or opinions? If you wanted to prove their facts, how would you go about doing it? If you…

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2 Reasons Your Cofounder Shouldn’t Be Like You

October 13, 2015

business

Reason #1: you need an accurate, critical second opinion. If you start a company by yourself, you don’t have anybody that can give you an accurate second opinion. Oh sure, you can phone a friend every now and then, but they’re hearing your story about the business – which is often very different than the facts. You’ll tell them the facts that support your decision, omit the ones that don’t, and they’ll give you a second opinion that matches your decision. Not a big surprise – but sometimes, a very big failure. They also need to be critical – not just yes-men with…

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FluidStance Level Review: Fun Standing Desk Add-On

October 6, 2015

desk, home office, office, productivity, review, standing desk

After I published my NextDesk Terra Pro standing desk review, the folks at FluidStance offered me a free Level to review. It’s like a skateboard, but with a convex aluminum bottom. You balance on it while you work. FluidStance Level My first concern: I’m probably going to fall off, right? I normally leave my chair mat in place to protect the carpet from my chair, and when I stand at the desk, I plop down my cushy anti-fatigue standing mat. I didn’t want to use the Level atop my anti-fatigue mat or my bare carpet because the pressure would probably ruin them…

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Our first Augusts scared the hell out of me.

September 29, 2015

business, consulting

We started Brent Ozar Unlimited back in 2011, and we had plenty of surprises along the way. We’d worked for consulting companies before, but we’d never run one. Our first surprise came in August 2011: incoming business simply stopped. We were terrified. What had we done wrong? Were customers just not that into us? Did we need to revamp our strategies? There were moments where we really doubted ourselves and the business we were trying to build. Fortunately, work started coming back in September, so we didn’t have too much time to freak out. Then it happened again in 2012 –…

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You’re not an expert until you can explain what you’re doing in public.

September 22, 2015

communication, expertise, knowledge, presenting

No matter how good you think you are at something, you’re not really that good until: You can explain it in clear, concise terms Someone else reviews your work and agrees Someone reviews your work, disagrees, and you’re able to explain why you do what you do I’m not saying everyone will agree with an expert’s work, but an expert is able to hear the reviewer’s point of view, understand it, and explain why the two people are coming to different conclusions. Public communication isn’t necessarily the first step to becoming an expert, but it’s one of the required steps, and…

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Interview with PASS Board of Directors candidate Ryan Adams

September 15, 2015

community, sqlpass

The PASS Board of Directors election campaign season has started, and candidate Ryan Adams asked if I had any questions I’d like to ask him. Sure! Here goes: Brent: First, thanks for everything you’ve done over the years as a volunteer. I know you work your butt off, and I’m impressed with what you’ve accomplished. How many hours a week are you putting into the community, and what does that week look like? Ryan Adams Ryan: I would say I put in about 15 hours a week on average. That time varies wildly and it is all very sporadic. There might…

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Hi. I’m Brent.