Resource Groups in Azure are a mechanism of grouping a collection of services and assets in Azure together. Resource groups can assist in automatic provisioning, deprovisioning, monitoring, and access control as well as provide logical groupings for business processes, units or even environment.

A subscription is an object that represents a “folder” that you can put resources in. Subscriptions are tied to tenants. One tenant can have many subscriptions, but not vice versa. An Azure subscription has a trust relationship with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). A subscription trusts Azure AD to authenticate users, services, and devices. You can associate and manage the directory using a different Azure subscription. All your users have a single home directory for authentication. Billing and cost is tied to a subscription.

Adding a subscription (Not needed for labs)

1. Navigate to your subscriptions by using the search. The list will auto populate after typing a few characters.

• Click on Add. This will navigate you to the Microsoft Azure Billing Portal as subscriptions are tied to billing accounts and credit cards.

• You can select a type of subscription you will require. Review which works best for you. The dev/test provides slightly favorable pricing for training and education

• Once you complete your billing, registration and acceptance of terms and conditions you will now have access to this subscription in you Azure Portal.

Creating a Resource

1. Navigate to your subscriptions by using the search. The list will auto populate after typing a few characters.

• Click on “Add”

• On the following screen, give your resource group a new unique name and select the subscription you would like it tied to.
  • For this lab we will be using US East 2 for all of our regions to keep everything lined up to one geography. You can change and have resources in cross regions but it is best to keep all items lined up.
  • For all naming convetions we are going to follow the following standard to keep it easy to remember. “training_resourcetype_yourname.

• Hit review and Create and complete the workflow to create your new resource group. The top right of the screen will show the status of the deployment of your new resource. Once it is complete, your new group should be ready to use.

Be sure to check out my full online class on the topic. A hands on walk through of a Modern Data Architecture using Microsoft Azure. For beginners and experienced business intelligence experts alike, learn the basic of navigating the Azure Portal to building an end to end solution of a modern data warehouse using popular technologies such as SQL Database, Data Lake, Data Factory, Data Bricks, Azure Synapse Data Warehouse and Power BI. Link to the class can be found here or directly here.

Part 1 – Navigating the Azure Portal

Part 2 – Resource Groups and Subscriptions

Part 3 – Creating Data Lake Storage

Part 4 – Setting up an Azure SQL Server

Part 5 – Loading Data Lake with Azure Data Factory

Part 6 – Configuring and Setting up Data Bricks

Part 7 – Staging data into Data Lake

Part 8 = Provisioning a Synapse SQL Data Warehouse

Part 9 – Loading Data into Azure Data Synapse Data Warehouse

Modern Data Architecture – Part 2 – Resource Groups and Subscriptions

With all the interest I received for free copies of my book (Jack of All Trades Master of Some, An Introduction to Consulting) for anyone that was a student or unemployed, I’ve decided to make a new
ebook available perma-free for download. “An Introduction to Consulting – A Primer” is a shorter version including major key elements and is now free from my website under the “free stuff” section. I hope you all find it valuable!

For more insight into an Introduction to Consulting, check out my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some, An Introduction to Consulting.

Check out the rest of the series tied to the book on the blog as well!

Introduction to Consulting – Free eBook Download

When I first started consulting and reviewing my own billable rate, I could not even process how and why companies would pay that kind of money for someone like me. For that kind of money, companies could pay the salary of three or four versions of myself for the same period. It just did not add up.

There are a few major reasons most companies will hire consultants instead of hiring their own employees:

The work is project-based

The first major reason it makes sense for a company to hire a consultant is that the needed work must be completed in finite time with limited scope. Although the cost of the project can be high, a client will save thousands of dollars by not having to hire long-term, full-time resources. They can pay highly skilled, subject matter experts to come in and knock out the job. After completion, they can send the consultants on their way and transitioning the ongoing support to existing employees as a portion of their day job. The initial cost of the project is considered an investment with a long-term payback.

The work is temporary

Similar to project-style work, sometimes a company is simply short staffed. Maybe it is the year-end, maybe Mary is on maternity leave, and maybe they just need an extra hand hitting a deadline. In these cases, this work is usually called “Staff Aug,” short for Staff Augmentation. Staff augmentation is where the current staff is supplemented by consultants for a limited time. The cost in this scenario is temporary because the role is temporary.

Consultants don’t get benefits

The cost of a company’s full-time employee exceeds his or her salary. Companies pay for the employee’s desk, computer, parking pass, coffee, perks and—most importantly, the second most expensive item next to salary—benefits. With most reputable companies now offering retirement matches and health care benefits, the usual cost of an employee is over 20% beyond that person’s salary. This is where the cost of hiring a consultant can begin to make a lot more sense.

The work is hard

Many times, a company will bring in a consultant because they just cannot do the work themselves. The work may be too complicated, or the organization may not have enough time or resources to complete the work on time or at all. Finding an expert to assist in complicated tasks is usually very hard to find and even more expensive to hire for the long-term. This is where specialty firms and their resources can flourish. Deep expertise in a business domain, an industry, or a technology drives most of the work for consulting firms.

The work is mandatory

Mandatory or regulatory work is where Big Four firms make much of their money. Audit season, Tax season, Merger and Acquisition reviews can be the reason you see an empty conference room get invaded by forty new folks dressed in the basic business casual starter kit and travel laptop. It is not rare to see these consultants working 80 hours a week, ordering take-out, hunching over documents and filling out spreadsheets. This type of work is necessary either by law/regulations or is required because of due diligence work. This is frequently where consultants get started.

For more insight into an Introduction to Consulting, check out my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some, An Introduction to Consulting.

Check out the rest of the series tied to the book on the blog as well!

For more insight into an Introduction to Consulting, check out my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some, An Introduction to Consulting

1) The Seven Whys
The author explains an exercise early in the book about discovering your true “why”, or in other words your true purpose. Without that, it becomes harder to justify to yourself why you wake up and go do the things you do. And if you do not find joy in the things you do, then it quickly leads to overall dissatisfaction and restlessness in other parts of your life. The exercise is as follows. Get another person to ask you the question “Why do you want to be successful?” and then do your best to answer the question. Most people on the first question or two have the same reply, “So I can be rich”. Have your partner ask the question “Why?”. The follow-up answers usually follow the path of “So I don’t’ need to work?”. Continue down this path for a total of 7 “Why” question. As you go, the exercise gets deeper and tougher and by the last question, you should be at a point of a truly meaningful answer of why you do what you do. I was very skeptical of the exercise and since I was alone on the plane, I did it in my notebook on my own. I found it extremely eye-opening and suggested it immediately to friends. If you complete this, I suggest writing it down and putting it on a piece of paper where you will see your replies every now and then as a reminder.

Get Book Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity Here

2) Only Do the things you are good at, and don’t waste time on the rest
I’ve always loved this advice. It touches on spending time only doing the things you truly enjoy and are passionate about. Things that bring value to your life or get you closer to your goals. If you hate mowing the lawn or doing the dishes, pay someone to do it or invest in a dishwasher. The time saved from the activity can be spent towards something more meaningful as long as yo are not spending that time watching Netflix or surfing the internet. This advice goes for work as well which personally has been a harder lesson for me. Delegating work down to free yourself up for larger needle moving tasks is critical as you grow as a leader. If you are like me, your initial thought when you get a task you know you can complete is “I can just knock this out, and it will get done faster then having to train someone” but there is a vital concept missing from this equation. How much time is saved down the road when this person has been taught how to fish. Every time a similar task comes down the road, the initial time investment of training is rewarded by not having to worry about it, and you can work on items that challenge you and help you grow.

3) Take Creative Time Daily
The brain is a muscle. It must be worked out to stay sharp and can atrophy if left unattended. The creative side of your brain is no exception. Take time to work on creative projects when free time allows. This creative time will allow your brain to not only decompress and roam in thought but sharpen your ability to focus as well. These skills will translate directly to your life and your work as it is no secret, the most successful people are those who help solve complex problems with the most creative solutions.

4) Invest in yourself
Investing in yourself can be many different things too many different people. It is taking a class, or paying for education. It can be investing time to study to learn something new or it can be paying a membership fee to an organization you value. Treat yourself like a long term investment and keep paying into that investment. The growth achieved will pay its dividends over time, not just financially but emotionally and mentally as well.

Get Book Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity Here

50-thousand-foot view

The 50-thousand-foot view of an item or process is when you take a step back and only look at the high-level aspects of it. Many people will get lost in the minutia of an item or begin to jump down rabbit holes when trying to explain something, so it is good to bring the conversation back up to a higher level when that is all that is needed.

Low Hanging Fruit 

Low hanging fruit describes tasks or project items that are very simple and quick to accomplish. These tasks can be started and completed from beginning to end. A good consulting strategy will stack a series of low hanging fruit at the beginning of phases of work so that the client can see the immediate benefits of the work.

Let’s cycle back around to that

This phrase will occur in two instances. The first is when the conversation has spiraled out of control or taken a tangent and what is being discussed is not immediately valuable to the original conversation. Noting down this tangent and coming back to it at a later time is sometimes the best course of action to ensure you don’t go too far off track. The second scenario this will occur in is when the audience member is lost in the conversation or does not have an immediate answer. This is a good way to get a break in the conversation on a topic you may not be familiar with and give yourself some time to get familiar with the topic so you do not discredit yourself.

Boiling the ocean

The metaphor of boiling the ocean represents trying to do too much at once. Taking on more than you can chew adds risk and creates a larger amount of work that may be too much to handle with results that take too long to surface. 

Peeling the onion

Peeling the onion describes the process of breaking down a business process one layer at a time, starting from the top.

Sticker Shock

Sticker shock is when you present the client with the statement of work you have been working on for a few weeks and they freak out due to the high price tag. This can be caused by either not initially realizing what average consulting rates are these days or being shocked by the amount of work or the duration of work. Before presenting a statement of work, it is best to review and discuss with your internal team. There may be room for negotiation if you are trying to get a foothold at the client for an eventual land and expand strategy. 

SOW (Statement of Work)

The SOW is the detailed document that defines the project purpose, requirements, effort, hours and cost that the client would incur if the project is initiated. A signed SOW by both sides (the firm and the client) is when a project is considered “Inked” and official.

RFP (Request for proposal)

This is a document that requests clients to submit their bid or statement of work for a set of initial requirements. 

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

A non-disclosure agreement is a legal contract between at least two parties that list confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties. An NDA is usually created and signed between the client and consulting organization early in the sales process so that both parties may discuss the problem area the client is having as well as the solutions the consulting firm can offer.

Master Services Agreement (MSA)

A Master Services Agreement is a contract reached between parties, in which the parties agree to most of the terms that will govern future transactions or future agreements.

For more information about consulting basics, check out my book or follow me on social media!

Once we enter the current workforce, recruiters search for “rockstars” or “masters of their craft”. They search for candidates with “passion” who can “build creative solutions for their business challenges”. Being hardworking and logical will always be an essential skill for all companies, but most are always hunting for the unicorns. The ones that can adapt, imagine, enhance and solve complex problems that require more than just brute force. So if being creative is such an important and valuable business skill, then why is it stripped from our lives slowly over time? Why is its value not encouraged more by employers?

So much training and time are dedicated to the basics and repeatable tasks in an effort to gain efficiencies. But the gains we get are minimal and incremental at best. There is a better return on investment in automation and exponential improvement and those ideas come from the creative types. Business leaders love to quote Henry Ford, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. Henry Ford was an inventor, a creator, a rockstar.

Rockstars are artists. Passion comes with craft building. Being creative does not mean we are good at painting or drawing, it can mean a million different things to all different people. In the workforce, it can be creating beautiful powerpoint presentations, writing elegant code, creating intuitive dashboards or even simply finding new ways to be organized and efficient in what you do. We all have the ability to be creative, but how good we are in our craft is dependent on how we flex our creative muscles. Those muscles can be worked on outside of the office in many different ways. Cooking a fancy meal, journaling, building crafts, working on puzzles are just a few ways we can expose ourselves to working on our right side of the brain.

If we want to excel in the workforce, we need to begin to take steps to take our crayons back. After self-experimentation over the last few months of trying to draw and paint after hours, I have experienced the following benefits outside while deep in creating.

1) Increased focus and flow in other parts of my life
2) Epiphanies on work and personal issues
3) Stress Relief and a new type of active meditation
4) Increased Confidence and Pride of Ownership
5) Realizations around being ok with mistakes, errors, and failures while having the ability to learn, correct and succeed in later iterations
6) Growing slowly as an artist and a professional

Don’t just take my word for it. Grab a pen or pencil, a sheet of paper, some spices or even a needle and some yarn. Whatever interest you, began experimenting with your creative side and flexing your creative muscles routinely and see if it does not help you in all other parts of your life.

1. More Deep work and Less Shallow Work. Setting up blocks of time for when to work and when not to work.
   Set a very strict schedule for yourself for when you will be working and when you will be checking emails. While you are working be deliberate on the item you are working on. During this block of time, that one task is all you do. No stopping to check an email, or social media and no jumping to another task. The goal is to hit a state of flow and do good deep work.
   Set up 15-minute blocks of time for shallow work. Checking and responding to emails, or other housekeeping items. If you need a mental break, do it during this time as well. The key take away is that when you are working, you are working. For the brain to switch gears, there is valuable time lost as you shift back into a state of flow.
2. Kill the alerts
   Every ping from your phone, or pop up on your computer screen will scream and beg for your valuable attention. Go into each setting and shut every notification off. You will learn most responses can wait until you are ready for your designated block of time to respond. I’ve only half tacked these issues by shutting off my notifications and still find myself responding to instant message requests but over time I hope to avoid the temptation and set better expectations with my teams in the future.
3. Do not be a human router
   Checking and responding to emails less then 3 sentences for the most part just turns you into an old school phone operator, just moving information around from one party to another. Not much of value is created during this effort which you may think is a valuable exercise of coordination. Think through batching efforts and emails in your designated email time slots.
4. Set up a daily work schedule
   Either the night before or first thing in the morning, plan your day and your goals. Break this down by the hour if possible but at a minimum, shoot for a pre-lunch and post-lunch block to get started. An extraordinary amount of time is lost sitting thinking about what you are supposed to be working on next and then sprinkling in a few random Google or Reddit searches.
5. Productive meditation (walking)
   Get up from your desk from time to time and go for a walk over 5 minutes. If you can walk or bike ride to work, this also works well. Use this time to think about and meditate on the big problem for the day. Similar to those brilliant shower thoughts you get, your brain will be better able to crack problems you are stuck on when you free it and let it run wild in a stress-free environment. A nice added benefit will be getting your 10K steps in which equates to about ~350 calories burned on average!
6. Learn to focus
   The author discusses a technique to memorize a full deck of cards but the overall goal is not to learn a neat party trick but rather sharpen your brain to focus. This can be achieved through other methods as well. I’ve begun a meditation practice, as well as created homemade memory flash cards which I will try to play every few days. As a personal experiment in improving my focus, I recently bought a 10th-grade Algebra book and try to work through a few problems every few days. No verdict on if this has helped but I have gotten better at 10th-grade Algebra again.
7. Shut down routine
   When you are done with work…you are done with work. When the day ends, try to make a routine for your self that trains your brain that it is time to take a break. Make notes of what items you will work on tomorrow, close Excel document and save them. Shut the computer down, do not put it to sleep! This has been a hard one for me as I usually have items to work on in the evening due to the nature of consulting, but I do make sure from when I leave the office and I head to the gym and have dinner, work is on complete pause and not dominating my thoughts.
8. Quit Social Media
   This is going to be hard for a lot of people. It took me a long time to wean myself off of social media but now due to the requirement of marketing my book and blog, I had to reengage the platforms. I have set aside three blocks of time in the evenings a week that I have marked as “Marketing” which I allow myself to really engage in social media. Although I have cheated a lot on this self-discipline tactic, the goal has been set and I hope to improve in 2019, hopefully, you can do the same!

If you have not already ready Deep Work I highly recommend it. I also talk a little bit about a healthy work life balance in my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some – An Introduction to Consulting.

See the link below to purchase!

Lessons Learned

1)      The art work was done completely digitally. It was quite easy, but I can tell with a better  accurate drawing tablet, the level of art can increase dramatically.

2)      On my next book, I will experiment with hand drawing and water coloring the art work.

3)      Uploading to KDP for Kindle was extremely easy. It was a bit harder for paperback as files needed to be an exact size and resolution. It took quite a bit of trial and error to get this just right. The author prints just came in and I am very happy with the results.

4)      All final art work must be in PDF. Converting my JPEG and TIFF files needed to be done in GIMP Editor, which was free and easy

The Book

The first book is titles “The Solar System” and it is hopefully the first in a series that focus on science and STEM topics in a fun and educational way, using colorful photos and clever rhyming poems. The book takes the reader from the Sun to Pluto, and shares facts about each. The book is meant for children four to ten years of age but can be read to younger kids or even shared with adults.

Where to Buy

The book is now live on Amazon via this Link. I hope you all enjoy it. It is running on a free promotion right now which I plan to cycle every few months.