Working at catching up

So I admit that in the two years I spent at Microsquish I kind of let my pace slack off for taking tests.
There was always so much work to do and keeping up on my certs was not a high priority in the office. As long as you had some, that was generally seen as good enough.
Not saying that is a bad or a good thing, its just a thing.
So for the last few weeks, I have had to play catch up to make sure that I am capable of teaching certain MOC courses. Not that the certification makes me capable, I am capable through my thorough and extensive knowledge of the subjects I teach. But it does make me eligible to teach them under the program rules which is important because I don't want to be decertified for teaching something outside the rules. And seeing I spent the better part of the last two years working on and supporting those rules I know them intimately.
So I have been teaching at a place that has a testing center that is actually open when I am available, usually they are only open suring "normal" business hours and I have to take exams on weeks off, this means a lack of revenue and cash flow while spending money on exams.
Not that I am actually spending money yet, I have many friends and a couple have given me birthday presents of exam vouchers so that I can get caught up.
Last week I actually did the two exams for my MCITP Enterprise Administrator, tough exams but very fair in my opinion, you needed to know the material well and be able to work through problems.
This week was the two upgrade exams for the MCPD Enterprise Applicaiton Devveloper 3.5. These were actually really easy for me as I use this technology all the time and am actually teaching(non-moc) on it and that helps with reviewing it.
I have a few more upgrade exams to take on SQL 08 and hope to finish them off before the week ends and I have to head out to my next assignment.
Testing for me is a state of mind, I have to put myself into the brain pattern of focusing on dissecting questions and answers, get inside the head of the person who wrote the question and see what their viewpoint was. Often times some of the questions on a developer exam have no realation to what you would do in the real world because the real world is rarely all software and tools from one manufacturer but exams always are.
I know that there will be more stuff next year as the Win7 truck gets up to full speed, VS 2010 and SP2010 and Office 2010 will be out in force.

As George once said after tripping while runing after Astro "Jane get me off of this crazy thing"

This week in the life of the average trainer

I have spent the first part of the week working at getting work.
that means dealing with contracts, hunting down finalizations, setting up travel arrangements.
all the stuff that enables me to actually work.
This put me in mind of the fact that a secretary would be invaluable to me.
not the current version of it, where it is some kind of administrative assistant but rather a real secretary.
Someone who can deal with chasing down contracts, setting up travel, getting my cleaning ( still need to do that) answering phone calls, paying my bills. everything that I have to do when I am not either building courseware or teaching in front of a class.
In this day and age that sort of person is rare and unusual but still extremely valuable.
If there was someone who could filter all the extraneous junk out and let me focus on making money, wow what a concept.
But such is my life this week, I am my own secretary. I need to ask me for a raise.

Back in the Saddle again

So this past week I have been in a classroom teaching again. This is the first time in a couple of years.
I had forgotten a few things about the stress of teaching. I

1. It is important to remain hydrated. The voice is crucial to the success of the class and if you dry yours out you will not be speaking very long. It is important in the hydration to space it correctly as you will need to manage breaks appropriately.

2. Listening skills are a wonderful thing to maintain contact with the students. Taking what they tell you allows you to tailor the class and give the students what they need.

3. Packing a good lunch will make the day go easier. Balance in food is important and this will give you the energy to make it through the day.

4. Pacing yourself is important; part of the joy of teaching is to give energy and excitement to your students. If you go to hard too soon you won’t make the week. If you don’t give enough, the students can get tired and worn. Balance is important.

5. Fun is important, if it is not fun people get bored, when they get bored their learning drops badly.

6. No matter what happens you are in charge of the class and what goes right and what goes wrong. Make it work.


So that’s my memory for this week, lots of fun, and I still love the light bulbs going on when the student learns something new.

Building a business as a Independant Trainer.

Lots of time in the last couple of weeks has been spent working at working.

This means that I am starting to rebuild a business to have an ongoing revenue stream that will support me. This does not mean I spent all day every day working at it, I did need to start getting the lawn back under control and thats a major battle in its own right.

But on the business side I started thinking about what makes for a successful Independent Trainer business and it is just like what it makes for a successful business.

Skills, Contacts, Reputation.

Those three things make for a successful business.

For a trainer the Skills portion is without doubt the one we focus on the most, we get certifications, we take classes, we study technology in its earliest stages, the earlier we can get at it the better we like it. But skills are not just technology, you could be the best technologist in the world and a terrible teacher if you don’t have the presentation skills and empathy necessary to interact and understand students. The best teachers are a combination of knowledge, empathy and performer.

Contacts are absolutely necessary and need to be nurtured and grown. It is not enough to just meet someone at a show, give them your card and think that they will automatically follow up with you and bring you business. You have to make sure that you contact them, keep in contact with them regardless of what you are doing and make sure that you keep in the front half of their brain so that when they do have an opportunity that falls into your line of expertise that you are the first one they think of. Many trainers that I know of have a great network of other trainers who they know and interact with but forget that it is the CPLS people who hire and get them work. Need to make sure all that plants in the contacts garden are well fed and taken care of.

Reputation is a more difficult thing to build, it can only be done with constant attention and vigilance. You need to be great at telling your own story without being a braggart. You have to pay attention constantly to anything that will impact your reputation to make sure that you know what is said and have your view be the one that stays with your garden of contacts. It is a slow and hard process that builds a reputation and it can be easily destroyed by careless work on your part. Keep your word in all that you do and make sure that you are always scrupulously honest in all your dealings. Be the better party in whatever you work on. Recognize that others will be competing with you, both as partners and as opponents, react to all with honesty and honor and it will be reflected in your reputation.

All of this is the part of the business that leads to success. It does not guarantee it but rather is the path that leads to it.
Skills, Contacts and Reputation, regardless of whether you are a trainer a doctor or a widget salesman are your basis for success.

Being good at what you do is just not enough to succeed.

Training and the evolution

So I am looking at what exists in the training market today and trying to identify gaps.
I have noticed several that fit into my particular specialties.
I am a Developer and a SQL guy.
I also tend to think that I am good at presentations.
I am going to create a small curricula of the courses that I have created and can deliver.
This way when I start contacting training centers I have things to offer them.

This is what I am working on now.

Welcome to the New Home

Apparently my previous blog was destroyed by MS when I parted ways.
So here I am, again
Ready to let everyone know my thoughts on training, the industry, the presentations of others and share all this with anyone who wants to read it.
Currently I am working on putting together a couple of curriculum items for a new series of training that I think will hit a major gap in what is out there today.
More on this soon as I get it copyright protected.