This week marks my 7th anniversary of Stedman Solutions, LLC being my full time job and my primary source of income. It also happens to be the 7th anniversary of the last time I got fired.
What’s happened over 7 years?
- Grew the team from 0 to 1, and eventually to 5 and still growing.
- Repaired many corrupt SQL Server databases.
- Moved Database Health Monitor from a beta/trial project into a full featured application.
- Worked on over 1000 SQL Servers ranging from SQL Server 2000 to SQL 2019 and SQL Azure.
SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2019 – What’s the difference?
- Created our Daily Monitoring Service. We monitor your SQL Server on an ongoing basis and report on issues or changes.
- Created an online training program with classes on various SQL Server topics, including a Free course on ransomware awareness and how it relates to your SQL Server.
- Created a tool for monitoring and alerting on blocking. We recently made this available to our regular monthly customers, and through our online course platform.
- Been on many podcasts and have presented at many conferences. The latest podcast was with DotNet Dave – Rockin’ the Code World.
- Converted my Common Table Expressions book into a Free offering available online as an e-book.
- Updated the JOIN Types poster and evolved the JOIN types presentation into an online course.
- Various charitable company donations to charity, including Toys for Tots.
- Created Schema Drift a program that is currently in a beta mode and is available for free trial to compare the schema between 2 databases or between a database and a source control directory.
- Have helped many customers, both with short term quick fixes and ongoing support.
- Created over 1000 blog posts at SteveStedman.com
I have also made a few mistakes, along the way and I have survived them.
- Attempted to merge my company with another company, and later found out it was not to be an equal partnership. Aborted that project and walked away.
- Made mistakes in the beginning on taking advice from a family member who is a book keeper rather than talking with someone more knowledgeable.
- Learned to not officially announce your new company on April 1st. Too many people think it’s an April Fools Joke.
- I learned you don’t let clients get too far behind on payments and that payment terms of 90 days were not acceptable. Now payments are typically due up front for first time customers, and within 14 days for regular customers. One client I worked with was about 10 weeks behind. They filed for bankruptcy to reorganize and were able to legally walk away from all those payments. The interesting thing was that that customer looked solid and I never would have guessed they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
When I started the business, things were tough for the first month or so, and then there was one other time (see my client bankruptcy notes above) where things were really tough, but other than that I have been very fortunate and have typically had more than enough work for myself and the team.
Seven years down, let’s see what happens next.
- More corruption repairs.
- More happy customers.
- More online classes.
- More features for Database Health Monitor.
I would like to say THANK YOU to all of our customers that have helped me grow this business over the last 7 years with this coupon “ANNIVERSARY” for any of our online courses. Must be used before April 30th 2022 (excludes Database Health Monitor Course)
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