May 30, 2024 • 23 mins
FULL SHOW NOTES
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/556
Embark on a journey with us as we sit down with the prolific Oleksiy Khoroshylov, Toronto's esteemed MVP and Dynamics 365 AX consultant. This episode is brimming with insights from his remarkable career straddling the realms of Dynamics 365 Finance and SCM, and it's peppered with anecdotes from his vibrant participation in local user groups and industry conferences. Yet, Oleksiy's narrative isn't all about the digital dashboards and fiscal frameworks; it's also an intimate portrayal of balancing a demanding career with the thrills of soccer and squash, and maintaining an active lifestyle through intermittent fasting and a mindful approach to nutrition.
In a compelling twist, our conversation pivots to a CNC programmer turned IT consultant, who charted a new path amidst the economic turbulence of the late 2000s. The resilience of our guest from Ukraine is palpable as they recount the transition from machining aerospace components to maneuvering through the complexities of IT consultancy with Nexon Consulting. Revel in the tales of perpetual learning, a blog post that brings accounting concepts down to earth for software users, and the ethos of being an indispensable team player. Join us for an episode that not only maps out the trajectories of two IT mavens but also lays bare the relentless pursuit of knowledge and adaptability in the face of change.
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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mark Smith (00:06):
Welcome to the MVP show.
My intention is that you listento the stories of these MVP
guests and are inspired tobecome an MVP and bring value to
the world through your skills.
If you have not checked it outalready, I do a YouTube series
called how to Become an MVP.
The link is in the show notes.
With that, let's get on withthe show.
(00:31):
Today's guest is from Canada.
He works at Nextone Consultingas a Dynamics 365 AX consultant.
He was first awarded as MVP in2024.
He has extensive experiencewith Dynamics 365 Finance and
SCM, as well as the PowerPlatform.
He leads the Toronto Dynamics365 Finance and Supply Chain
(00:53):
Management user groups andspeaks at industry conferences.
You can find links to his bio,social media etc.
In the show notes for thisepisode.
Welcome to the show, alinsky.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:03):
Thank you.
Thank you, mark, nice to hearfrom you.
Mark Smith (01:06):
Good to have you on the show.
Toronto, that's a pretty niceplace to live.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:12):
I'd say so especially in the summer.
For sure, I mean you can stillcome here in the winter if
you're up for skiing and somecold weather, but I think best
time to see it would be in thesummer.
Mark Smith (01:23):
I love the city.
You can basically transverseunderground everywhere during
winter, right?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, the extensive path network, for
sure that connects multipleskyscrapers in downtown area.
Mark Smith (01:35):
Nice.
I've been there a couple oftimes, been up the.
What do they call it?
Is it the needle?
Do they call it a needle Sky?
What do you call it?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:43):
Oh, yeah, cn Tower.
I think.
Is it the needle?
Do they call it a needle sky?
What do you call it?
Oh yeah, cn tower.
I think it used to be.
My kids were just talking to meabout it and they said oh pop,
it used to be a talleststructure in the world for 30
plus years.
I don't know what beat it, Idon't know, but it is still
pretty tall and there is a nicerestaurant on the top.
If you, if you really made it,I think you can dine there every
weekend.
Mark Smith (02:02):
I've done, I've had, I've had a dinner up there.
I was an invited guest of anISV.
I was there for a Microsoftconference years ago, 2016,.
They used to run, I think,microsoft Partner Conference was
run there in 2016.
And the other time was in 2012.
And those are the two timesI've been to Toronto to the
Microsoft conferences.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (02:20):
Yeah, it's a great city.
I don't know.
I think every big city probablyhas something to offer, you
know, compared to other ones,you probably live in a bunch of
them, but I like it.
I mean, that's what I call homefor the last 20 plus years.
Mark Smith (02:34):
Wow, Long time.
So tell me a bit about food,family and fun.
What do they mean to you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (02:39):
Food.
Okay.
So let's start with family.
I have a wife.
I was born and raised inUkraine.
My wife is Ukrainian as well.
We have three sons together 12,10, and 7 years old.
Right, my wife is very happythat we turned out to have just
three boys, right?
I think she was really enjoyingthat Food family.
(03:04):
And the third one, fun, fun, fun.
Oh, fun For fun.
Okay, I mean I like sports,right Overall, mark, I think I
like sports.
I mean I play team sports, Iplay individual sports.
So I play soccer, which isfootball, right here, like once
a week, indoor, outdoor leagues,different types of fields, et
(03:24):
cetera.
I enjoy the competitiveness ofit and I enjoy that.
I'm running right, because Idon't enjoy running without a
purpose, just like jogging andthings like that.
But running while you play thegame, trying to get a ball and
score, it is a different storyto me.
And for the sports, like, Istarted playing squash a couple
of years ago, very demanding onyour body, but at the same time
(03:45):
it's kind of challenging as well, right, so I don't know how
popular the sport is.
I have a club near my house.
It takes me like 15 minutes todrive there.
I do play.
I play with my brother, I playwith my kids and it's a fun
sport.
It's very demanding but fun.
Mark Smith (04:04):
You can work up a good sweat right playing squash.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (04:07):
Oh damn, I mean those rallies.
I mean they're said thatsomewhere that the amount of
calories that the squash playerburns is in the top three, maybe
just next to those guys thatrow in these long boats.
High impact, yeah.
And for the food, I mean I, Ichanged my relationship with
food quite recently, maybe three, four years ago to me.
(04:30):
I mean, I still indulge intothings like you know, don't get
me wrong, I like food.
I like pistachios and figs.
I can eat them like non-stop, Ithink.
But I mean I just looked at itand said, well, maybe to play
squash a bit longer and playsoccer, I would need to keep my
weight under control.
So I started intermittentfasting and I'm looking at the
food as the source of energy.
(04:51):
Right, I still enjoy it.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Iwould definitely not say no to a
nice dinner, but I just try tonot overindulge, I guess.
Mark Smith (05:01):
So intermittent fasting.
Do you have a strict regimen?
Do you have a a strict regimen,as you know?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (05:08):
do you do a 16-8 or or what's your model?
Yeah, I'm like I.
I do not.
I eat only from 1 to 7 pm.
I don't even know what it isright, probably six hours.
I'm not into it much.
I just heard it on one podcast,one to seven, stuck in my head
and I just stuck with it.
Like to be honest, it alwaysfascinates me and I was talking
to my wife about that recentlyit's just how certain things
that you know about butdelivered in that one particular
(05:31):
way at one particular point intime, can make a life lasting
difference, right.
So we all know, for example,that you need to brush your
teeth twice a day, right?
Was I doing that?
Not really, not regularly,right?
But then one dentist ortechnician actually said
something and I started doing itand I'm still doing that, right
(05:51):
.
So just surprising to me whatthat delivery is, how you can
get that message across, becauseyou know about those common
knowledge stuff but not manypeople do follow them, right,
but some of them just kind of.
Mark Smith (06:03):
It's almost like you turn on the switch, but not
many people do follow them, butsome of them just kind of.
It's almost like you turn onthe switch.
It's interesting I noticed fromabout 2017, the whole
intermittent fasting movementreally took off globally.
I was in London at the time.
I had and I got an app calledheck.
(06:23):
I can't even remember what theapp was called.
It's designed to track yourfasting activities.
It was called Zero and it wasfree to start with.
I'm one of the listed.
I've got the badge for one ofthe OGs you know on the app.
But yeah, I've done some bigfasts in my life.
(06:44):
I've done two 21-day fastswater only.
That was intense.
That was intense.
That was intense and very highimpact.
In fact, I did the two 21-dayfast in a single year.
So, yeah, I became skin andbones.
People thought I had somethingwrong with me.
I was selling at the time for abank and, yeah, it was
(07:09):
definitely quite different.
But then I suppose, onintermittent fasting, the
longest streak I've done isabout 50 days in a row of doing
from 12 to 7.
Yeah, 12 to 7, I think is mytypical is the only time of the
day.
I'd eat from 12 to 7 and thenfast the rest of the time.
But, um, I find, uh, I've onlybroken that recently.
(07:31):
I went to MVP summit and Ihaven't what was that three
weeks ago or so, and I haven'tgot back into you know bang, you
know straight back into thehabit of doing it.
But I find I just, yeah, I findI even get a clearer mind by
doing it, so it's very effective.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (07:49):
Yeah, definitely, something with that
transformation in your body doestrigger certain things to
happen.
I don't know what the secret is, but you can definitely see
that, yeah, for me it was useful, beneficial overall.
I don't know.
Again, the weight loss was notthe main focus, but it just
turned out to be there and Ijust stuck with it.
Mark Smith (08:09):
Yeah, nice.
How did you get into IT?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (08:14):
I mean, I always was interested in
computers overall, I'd say right, even when I was living back in
Ukraine.
But how particularly I wasdoing CNC programming.
But how particularly I wasdoing CNC programming.
So I was working for anaerospace company and I was
(08:36):
programming these CNC mills,like making those large aluminum
parts for Boeing.
Right, I did not.
I left the company a while back, so don't blame me on anything
that is happening there now.
Right, and I enjoyed this work.
Right, I enjoyed this work.
It was interesting.
You saw you program something.
You go to the floor, you loadthat program to the machine and
you see that part emerge fromthe piece of aluminum.
But at the same time it's likewhat's next?
(08:57):
What is next for me there as aprogrammer?
Can I do anything above andbeyond that?
It wasn't really anything thatinterested me, like options that
are going to management, etcetera.
So I said, okay, let me justtry to go to a business school,
for example.
Right, so I decided and I wasliving in Ottawa back then,
capital of Canada, and I went touniversity there for one year
(09:22):
to get my postgrad in businessadministration.
I did that postgrad in businessadministration.
I did that, and then that wasright during that 2009, 2010,.
Which was this whatever therecession I forgot not recession
.
Mark Smith (09:35):
Yes, 2008 was the recession GFC.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (09:38):
Not many jobs were available.
So one company that wasinterested in my services and
they gave me a chance, basicallyright, and I'm still grateful
to this day was a small partner,uh, based out of ottawa, that
they had the in-houseconsultancy branch.
They used exapta on their ownand they gave me basically a
bunch of um work notebooks,right, bunch of textbooks about
(10:04):
the dynamics ax 2012.
It was then and I just startedlearning.
To me it was just my firstintroduction to the IT, combined
together with some businessknowledge, business lingo.
Not many things did make senseat the beginning.
That's when I just kind ofstarted working and then they
kind of asked me had aninterview a month later after
(10:27):
the holidays?
They just asked me, like, hadan interview a month later after
the holidays?
They just asked me how I wastalking, like, did I understand
anything at all?
Maybe 20% of the things thatI've read there?
They were like I think theywere quite happy overall and
that's what I start.
That's how my consultancy, mybusiness analyst career, has
started right.
I was working as a tradelogistics consultant for that
company and it'd be solutions,by the way and I was working as
(10:49):
a logistics consultant for thatcompany NMB Solutions, by the
way, and I was lucky enough, Iwas fortunate enough to start
working and communicating withpeople from different
departments, from stakeholders,from different departments
finance, production, etc.
And that's how you start beingintroduced to different modules
of the software and it's reallyup to you then what do you do
with that?
Can you just keep up and justkind of try to learn the
(11:11):
functionality there and here andbe useful on the project?
Or would you say it's just toomuch, too many new things, et
cetera?
But for me, I was alwayslooking at this job as it's a
constant learning.
I mean, you have to be preparedto learn nonstop if you want to
be successful in in this job so.
Mark Smith (11:30):
So, from 2010 through to now, what would you
consider be what would be yourkey career highlights?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (11:39):
Okay.
So I mean, I got the MBArecently, right, but that was,
you know, one story.
But I think I started, I wasokay.
So there are two things.
I did one thing.
I did one blog post that wasnot that popular but that I did
a lot of thinking, to be honest,about the used to be a
translation of some accountingprinciples.
(12:01):
I even forgot what they werelike, maybe three, four years
ago, mark, maybe you rememberthere used to be IFRS type of
structure or some sort of rulesintroduced to gap accounting in
the US.
So we have to be followingdifferent rules about revenue
recognition.
So I was reading through thatmaterial and said, like, how can
I translate existing dynamics,functionality into this to meet
(12:23):
those requirements?
And I wrote a fairly long andsophisticated blog post about
that.
So that, to be honest, that wasthe achievement in one regard,
because it took a while for meto be to understand what the
concepts are and try totranslate them creatively into
what was available in standardsolution.
After that, they introduced therevenue recognition modules and
things like that.
(12:43):
It's much easier to do it now,but when it was actually, the
switch actually happened, likethree, four, five years ago.
That was a different story.
And what is my biggestachievement?
I think that I mean just tryingto.
I think I stayed overall doingthe contracting for the most
(13:03):
parts.
I stayed quite busy, right, andI think that's the contracting
for the most parts.
I stayed quite busy right, andI think that's what I enjoy the
most.
Right, and some people say it'sjust fairly challenging to do
so.
But being part of differentprojects, different challenging
projects, and some of them arereally kind of in different
shapes, but that was probablythe most interesting part.
(13:24):
And always trying to make surethat you're there not just to
spend your time but actually tryto help anyone that is involved
.
Right, consultants, that youwork with client, of course,
making sure they feelcomfortable and they're not
overwhelmed with the things thatare coming their way.
And the negative, you know,maybe some sort of baggage that
was accumulated over theimplementation period, right, I
(13:48):
think that's what I think is.
I mean, I don't know if it's anachievement mark.
To be honest, I think that'severyone that is in that line of
business actually do that.
Mark Smith (13:58):
So are you contracting now?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (14:01):
Yeah, yeah, I have my independent company.
Next, on consulting right, andthat's what I've been, and I've
been working with a variety ofdifferent partners throughout
this last what are we saying?
13, 14 years since 2011.
I did a brief stint atMicrosoft Consulting Services,
but that was back in 2013.
(14:22):
And it just was not the righttime.
Uh, the the travel demands werewere quite high, and that was
the time where I had my secondson on the way and I just needed
to spend a bit more time thereat home, and that's why I was
able to.
Again, I did my part.
I finished whatever needed tobe finished, but then I had to
leave and resume my contractingcareer by actually doing a
(14:45):
project for Toronto Blue JaysMLB team here in Toronto.
Probably you visited the gamethere while you were in Toronto.
Mark Smith (14:51):
Absolutely I did.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (14:52):
You were looking down from the CN Tower
right at the end there.
Mark Smith (14:56):
Yeah, yeah, but definitely been in the stadium,
definitely watched a game there.
Tell me, you know I'll have alot of people that listen to the
podcast and they work forpartners.
They either work for partners,microsoft, or at an end customer
and and a lot of them ask aboutgoing contracting or going
(15:17):
freelance, right rather than butso they can pick their projects
, so they can pick their work,but their fear is taking that
plunge, you know, like thebackstop of a company, if you
like, or paying their salary.
What's your advice to them?
What's your recommendation tothem?
What's worked for you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (15:38):
Great question, right?
So I get that question a lotrecently, right, so I get that
question a lot recently, right,with the people that I work with
from client side, from thepartner side, people are
reaching out to me over LinkedInand just saying, hey, alexi,
can you just tell me more?
They have these burningquestions about switching and
(15:59):
going freelance.
And I mean, again, I share myshare, my knowledge, right?
I found that sharing myknowledge was always good to me,
right, so it always felt rightto me, right, that's how I
always looked at it, right?
I started my channel back 2016and I tried to share the videos
there and again, share thecontent in any, uh, shape and
(16:19):
form that I can always feltright to me, you know.
You know that that was thing,and, to be honest, when I share,
like, especially, some sort ofcontent, it does become I do
learn from it as well, right, soit benefits me, right it?
It benefits me because, as youtalk about the different
concepts, it kind of you justtrigger certain thoughts,
there's certain ideas that wouldnot pop up to you, and I've
(16:40):
heard it.
It's the best way.
One of the ways to learn isactually to teach, right, and I
find it very, very, very true,right.
And plus, you know, keeping upwith all the functionality, new
functionality does keep me readyfor the next or the current
project, right.
But let me come back to yourquestion, mark.
Right, so they are reaching outand I can't really push you
(17:04):
towards this way.
You have an interest, for sure,so I will make sure to answer
any questions, but in my opinion, that's a lot based on your
character.
So, how risk-averse are you?
Are you ready to have thatuncertainty, or are you a bit
more on the safer side and youwant to have a predictability,
stability of full-time,permanent employment, and you
(17:26):
know there are a lot ofconsideration there.
So, but for me, I was alwayskind of person that couldn't
really wait much, right, andthat came back to burn me, and I
know it's my kind of personaltrade that I always felt okay,
that's let's, let's do it right,like, like I did not really, um
, I mean, probably I could havebeen a bit more patient in the
(17:48):
past.
I would say right, but overallI am where I am just because of
how I looked at things and ifopportunity presented itself, I
always try to make it work right.
So I always try to find a wayto get something done.
But, coming back, I think it'sbased on your personality, right
.
So for some people, permanentemployment is definitely the way
(18:10):
to go right.
I don't think they are readyand they will be exposed and may
just be negative on them, right, and maybe they will just not
find it as kind of beneficial tothem, of course.
But I try to share pros andcons about different situations,
different scenarios, and letthem decide.
(18:32):
Some of them did make thatswitch.
They did not regret it.
Some of them decided to bepermanent, which is totally fine
.
Mark Smith (18:39):
Final question how did you become an MVP?
What was that process for you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (18:46):
So I had my channel since 2016.
And again, as I said, sharingthe knowledge.
That was the thing that I wasdoing.
Right, always kept, just alwaysmake sure that I keep myself up
to date.
That was beneficial to mepersonally as well.
Right, you always try to lookout for new features, try to
share the scenarios and someideas and some solutions that
(19:08):
you came up with.
And then Frederick Statry Idon't know if I will pronounce
his last name correctly.
Do you know who I'm talkingabout?
Okay, so he's.
I think he's working forMicrosoft right now in Norway.
He saw my videos and I think Idid a series on some specific
(19:31):
topic and he asked me if I wouldbe interested in being
nominated and I said yes, andthat was back in 2020, and then
there was some.
Again, the process was not assmooth.
I guess there was sometransition to a new website, so
I had to kind of work with thesupport team to submit my
application.
But, yeah, I think I just Imean my biggest contributions, I
(19:55):
think probably are the YouTubevideos.
I also, as you mentioned in theintroduction, I'm also a
chapter leader for Toronto usergroup, dynamics 365, finance and
Supply Chain.
I try to again understand whatthe group would find interesting
and share it with them, right?
So it does take some time toprepare for those sessions and
(20:18):
I'm trying a new format.
If I can just plug in one thinghere, I'm going to be running a
transportation Q&A session atthe end of April.
I just did a poll on my channeland transportation, I think, is
one of those topics that iskind of undercover.
I guess there is not a lot ofmaterial on this topic, let's
(20:38):
just say, and some consultantsare interested in functionality
that is available there and Iwas fortunate enough to be
exposed to it very early on, soI kind of learned it a while
back and I'm going to run a Q&Asession one hour.
It's a different format, justthat I want to take like three
hours or four hours of people'stime on a specific topic.
(20:59):
I said let's just try it out.
So it's going to be one hourQ&A session.
You can submit questionsbeforehand or you can ask them
during the session.
It will be, I think, april, orI forgot April 26th.
I think it's Friday, april 26th.
Mark Smith (21:20):
Hey, thanks for listening.
I'm your host businessapplication MVP Mark Smith,
otherwise known as the NZ365 guy.
If you like the show and wantto be a supporter, check out
buymeacoffeecom forward slashNZ365 guy.
Thanks again and see you nexttime.
Thank you.
Welcome to the MVP show.
My intention is that you listento the stories of these MVP
guests and are inspired tobecome an MVP and bring value to
the world through your skills.
If you have not checked it outalready, I do a YouTube series
called how to Become an MVP.
The link is in the show notes.
With that, let's get on withthe show.
(00:31):
Today's guest is from Canada.
He works at Nextone Consultingas a Dynamics 365 AX consultant.
He was first awarded as MVP in2024.
He has extensive experiencewith Dynamics 365 Finance and
SCM, as well as the PowerPlatform.
He leads the Toronto Dynamics365 Finance and Supply Chain
(00:53):
Management user groups andspeaks at industry conferences.
You can find links to his bio,social media etc.
In the show notes for thisepisode.
Welcome to the show, alinsky.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:03):
Thank you.
Thank you, mark, nice to hearfrom you.
Mark Smith (01:06):
Good to have you on the show.
Toronto, that's a pretty niceplace to live.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:12):
I'd say so especially in the summer.
For sure, I mean you can stillcome here in the winter if
you're up for skiing and somecold weather, but I think best
time to see it would be in thesummer.
Mark Smith (01:23):
I love the city.
You can basically transverseunderground everywhere during
winter, right?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, the extensive path network, for
sure that connects multipleskyscrapers in downtown area.
Mark Smith (01:35):
Nice.
I've been there a couple oftimes, been up the.
What do they call it?
Is it the needle?
Do they call it a needle Sky?
What do you call it?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (01:43):
Oh, yeah, cn Tower.
I think.
Is it the needle?
Do they call it a needle sky?
What do you call it?
Oh yeah, cn tower.
I think it used to be.
My kids were just talking to meabout it and they said oh pop,
it used to be a talleststructure in the world for 30
plus years.
I don't know what beat it, Idon't know, but it is still
pretty tall and there is a nicerestaurant on the top.
If you, if you really made it,I think you can dine there every
weekend.
Mark Smith (02:02):
I've done, I've had, I've had a dinner up there.
I was an invited guest of anISV.
I was there for a Microsoftconference years ago, 2016,.
They used to run, I think,microsoft Partner Conference was
run there in 2016.
And the other time was in 2012.
And those are the two timesI've been to Toronto to the
Microsoft conferences.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (02:20):
Yeah, it's a great city.
I don't know.
I think every big city probablyhas something to offer, you
know, compared to other ones,you probably live in a bunch of
them, but I like it.
I mean, that's what I call homefor the last 20 plus years.
Mark Smith (02:34):
Wow, Long time.
So tell me a bit about food,family and fun.
What do they mean to you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (02:39):
Food.
Okay.
So let's start with family.
I have a wife.
I was born and raised inUkraine.
My wife is Ukrainian as well.
We have three sons together 12,10, and 7 years old.
Right, my wife is very happythat we turned out to have just
three boys, right?
I think she was really enjoyingthat Food family.
(03:04):
And the third one, fun, fun, fun.
Oh, fun For fun.
Okay, I mean I like sports,right Overall, mark, I think I
like sports.
I mean I play team sports, Iplay individual sports.
So I play soccer, which isfootball, right here, like once
a week, indoor, outdoor leagues,different types of fields, et
(03:24):
cetera.
I enjoy the competitiveness ofit and I enjoy that.
I'm running right, because Idon't enjoy running without a
purpose, just like jogging andthings like that.
But running while you play thegame, trying to get a ball and
score, it is a different storyto me.
And for the sports, like, Istarted playing squash a couple
of years ago, very demanding onyour body, but at the same time
(03:45):
it's kind of challenging as well, right, so I don't know how
popular the sport is.
I have a club near my house.
It takes me like 15 minutes todrive there.
I do play.
I play with my brother, I playwith my kids and it's a fun
sport.
It's very demanding but fun.
Mark Smith (04:04):
You can work up a good sweat right playing squash.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (04:07):
Oh damn, I mean those rallies.
I mean they're said thatsomewhere that the amount of
calories that the squash playerburns is in the top three, maybe
just next to those guys thatrow in these long boats.
High impact, yeah.
And for the food, I mean I, Ichanged my relationship with
food quite recently, maybe three, four years ago to me.
(04:30):
I mean, I still indulge intothings like you know, don't get
me wrong, I like food.
I like pistachios and figs.
I can eat them like non-stop, Ithink.
But I mean I just looked at itand said, well, maybe to play
squash a bit longer and playsoccer, I would need to keep my
weight under control.
So I started intermittentfasting and I'm looking at the
food as the source of energy.
(04:51):
Right, I still enjoy it.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Iwould definitely not say no to a
nice dinner, but I just try tonot overindulge, I guess.
Mark Smith (05:01):
So intermittent fasting.
Do you have a strict regimen?
Do you have a a strict regimen,as you know?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (05:08):
do you do a 16-8 or or what's your model?
Yeah, I'm like I.
I do not.
I eat only from 1 to 7 pm.
I don't even know what it isright, probably six hours.
I'm not into it much.
I just heard it on one podcast,one to seven, stuck in my head
and I just stuck with it.
Like to be honest, it alwaysfascinates me and I was talking
to my wife about that recentlyit's just how certain things
that you know about butdelivered in that one particular
(05:31):
way at one particular point intime, can make a life lasting
difference, right.
So we all know, for example,that you need to brush your
teeth twice a day, right?
Was I doing that?
Not really, not regularly,right?
But then one dentist ortechnician actually said
something and I started doing itand I'm still doing that, right
(05:51):
.
So just surprising to me whatthat delivery is, how you can
get that message across, becauseyou know about those common
knowledge stuff but not manypeople do follow them, right,
but some of them just kind of.
Mark Smith (06:03):
It's almost like you turn on the switch, but not
many people do follow them, butsome of them just kind of.
It's almost like you turn onthe switch.
It's interesting I noticed fromabout 2017, the whole
intermittent fasting movementreally took off globally.
I was in London at the time.
I had and I got an app calledheck.
(06:23):
I can't even remember what theapp was called.
It's designed to track yourfasting activities.
It was called Zero and it wasfree to start with.
I'm one of the listed.
I've got the badge for one ofthe OGs you know on the app.
But yeah, I've done some bigfasts in my life.
(06:44):
I've done two 21-day fastswater only.
That was intense.
That was intense.
That was intense and very highimpact.
In fact, I did the two 21-dayfast in a single year.
So, yeah, I became skin andbones.
People thought I had somethingwrong with me.
I was selling at the time for abank and, yeah, it was
(07:09):
definitely quite different.
But then I suppose, onintermittent fasting, the
longest streak I've done isabout 50 days in a row of doing
from 12 to 7.
Yeah, 12 to 7, I think is mytypical is the only time of the
day.
I'd eat from 12 to 7 and thenfast the rest of the time.
But, um, I find, uh, I've onlybroken that recently.
(07:31):
I went to MVP summit and Ihaven't what was that three
weeks ago or so, and I haven'tgot back into you know bang, you
know straight back into thehabit of doing it.
But I find I just, yeah, I findI even get a clearer mind by
doing it, so it's very effective.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (07:49):
Yeah, definitely, something with that
transformation in your body doestrigger certain things to
happen.
I don't know what the secret is, but you can definitely see
that, yeah, for me it was useful, beneficial overall.
I don't know.
Again, the weight loss was notthe main focus, but it just
turned out to be there and Ijust stuck with it.
Mark Smith (08:09):
Yeah, nice.
How did you get into IT?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (08:14):
I mean, I always was interested in
computers overall, I'd say right, even when I was living back in
Ukraine.
But how particularly I wasdoing CNC programming.
But how particularly I wasdoing CNC programming.
So I was working for anaerospace company and I was
(08:36):
programming these CNC mills,like making those large aluminum
parts for Boeing.
Right, I did not.
I left the company a while back, so don't blame me on anything
that is happening there now.
Right, and I enjoyed this work.
Right, I enjoyed this work.
It was interesting.
You saw you program something.
You go to the floor, you loadthat program to the machine and
you see that part emerge fromthe piece of aluminum.
But at the same time it's likewhat's next?
(08:57):
What is next for me there as aprogrammer?
Can I do anything above andbeyond that?
It wasn't really anything thatinterested me, like options that
are going to management, etcetera.
So I said, okay, let me justtry to go to a business school,
for example.
Right, so I decided and I wasliving in Ottawa back then,
capital of Canada, and I went touniversity there for one year
(09:22):
to get my postgrad in businessadministration.
I did that postgrad in businessadministration.
I did that, and then that wasright during that 2009, 2010,.
Which was this whatever therecession I forgot not recession
.
Mark Smith (09:35):
Yes, 2008 was the recession GFC.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (09:38):
Not many jobs were available.
So one company that wasinterested in my services and
they gave me a chance, basicallyright, and I'm still grateful
to this day was a small partner,uh, based out of ottawa, that
they had the in-houseconsultancy branch.
They used exapta on their ownand they gave me basically a
bunch of um work notebooks,right, bunch of textbooks about
(10:04):
the dynamics ax 2012.
It was then and I just startedlearning.
To me it was just my firstintroduction to the IT, combined
together with some businessknowledge, business lingo.
Not many things did make senseat the beginning.
That's when I just kind ofstarted working and then they
kind of asked me had aninterview a month later after
(10:27):
the holidays?
They just asked me, like, hadan interview a month later after
the holidays?
They just asked me how I wastalking, like, did I understand
anything at all?
Maybe 20% of the things thatI've read there?
They were like I think theywere quite happy overall and
that's what I start.
That's how my consultancy, mybusiness analyst career, has
started right.
I was working as a tradelogistics consultant for that
company and it'd be solutions,by the way and I was working as
(10:49):
a logistics consultant for thatcompany NMB Solutions, by the
way, and I was lucky enough, Iwas fortunate enough to start
working and communicating withpeople from different
departments, from stakeholders,from different departments
finance, production, etc.
And that's how you start beingintroduced to different modules
of the software and it's reallyup to you then what do you do
with that?
Can you just keep up and justkind of try to learn the
(11:11):
functionality there and here andbe useful on the project?
Or would you say it's just toomuch, too many new things, et
cetera?
But for me, I was alwayslooking at this job as it's a
constant learning.
I mean, you have to be preparedto learn nonstop if you want to
be successful in in this job so.
Mark Smith (11:30):
So, from 2010 through to now, what would you
consider be what would be yourkey career highlights?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (11:39):
Okay.
So I mean, I got the MBArecently, right, but that was,
you know, one story.
But I think I started, I wasokay.
So there are two things.
I did one thing.
I did one blog post that wasnot that popular but that I did
a lot of thinking, to be honest,about the used to be a
translation of some accountingprinciples.
(12:01):
I even forgot what they werelike, maybe three, four years
ago, mark, maybe you rememberthere used to be IFRS type of
structure or some sort of rulesintroduced to gap accounting in
the US.
So we have to be followingdifferent rules about revenue
recognition.
So I was reading through thatmaterial and said, like, how can
I translate existing dynamics,functionality into this to meet
(12:23):
those requirements?
And I wrote a fairly long andsophisticated blog post about
that.
So that, to be honest, that wasthe achievement in one regard,
because it took a while for meto be to understand what the
concepts are and try totranslate them creatively into
what was available in standardsolution.
After that, they introduced therevenue recognition modules and
things like that.
(12:43):
It's much easier to do it now,but when it was actually, the
switch actually happened, likethree, four, five years ago.
That was a different story.
And what is my biggestachievement?
I think that I mean just tryingto.
I think I stayed overall doingthe contracting for the most
(13:03):
parts.
I stayed quite busy, right, andI think that's the contracting
for the most parts.
I stayed quite busy right, andI think that's what I enjoy the
most.
Right, and some people say it'sjust fairly challenging to do
so.
But being part of differentprojects, different challenging
projects, and some of them arereally kind of in different
shapes, but that was probablythe most interesting part.
(13:24):
And always trying to make surethat you're there not just to
spend your time but actually tryto help anyone that is involved
.
Right, consultants, that youwork with client, of course,
making sure they feelcomfortable and they're not
overwhelmed with the things thatare coming their way.
And the negative, you know,maybe some sort of baggage that
was accumulated over theimplementation period, right, I
(13:48):
think that's what I think is.
I mean, I don't know if it's anachievement mark.
To be honest, I think that'severyone that is in that line of
business actually do that.
Mark Smith (13:58):
So are you contracting now?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (14:01):
Yeah, yeah, I have my independent company.
Next, on consulting right, andthat's what I've been, and I've
been working with a variety ofdifferent partners throughout
this last what are we saying?
13, 14 years since 2011.
I did a brief stint atMicrosoft Consulting Services,
but that was back in 2013.
(14:22):
And it just was not the righttime.
Uh, the the travel demands werewere quite high, and that was
the time where I had my secondson on the way and I just needed
to spend a bit more time thereat home, and that's why I was
able to.
Again, I did my part.
I finished whatever needed tobe finished, but then I had to
leave and resume my contractingcareer by actually doing a
(14:45):
project for Toronto Blue JaysMLB team here in Toronto.
Probably you visited the gamethere while you were in Toronto.
Mark Smith (14:51):
Absolutely I did.
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (14:52):
You were looking down from the CN Tower
right at the end there.
Mark Smith (14:56):
Yeah, yeah, but definitely been in the stadium,
definitely watched a game there.
Tell me, you know I'll have alot of people that listen to the
podcast and they work forpartners.
They either work for partners,microsoft, or at an end customer
and and a lot of them ask aboutgoing contracting or going
(15:17):
freelance, right rather than butso they can pick their projects
, so they can pick their work,but their fear is taking that
plunge, you know, like thebackstop of a company, if you
like, or paying their salary.
What's your advice to them?
What's your recommendation tothem?
What's worked for you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (15:38):
Great question, right?
So I get that question a lotrecently, right, so I get that
question a lot recently, right,with the people that I work with
from client side, from thepartner side, people are
reaching out to me over LinkedInand just saying, hey, alexi,
can you just tell me more?
They have these burningquestions about switching and
(15:59):
going freelance.
And I mean, again, I share myshare, my knowledge, right?
I found that sharing myknowledge was always good to me,
right, so it always felt rightto me, right, that's how I
always looked at it, right?
I started my channel back 2016and I tried to share the videos
there and again, share thecontent in any, uh, shape and
(16:19):
form that I can always feltright to me, you know.
You know that that was thing,and, to be honest, when I share,
like, especially, some sort ofcontent, it does become I do
learn from it as well, right, soit benefits me, right it?
It benefits me because, as youtalk about the different
concepts, it kind of you justtrigger certain thoughts,
there's certain ideas that wouldnot pop up to you, and I've
(16:40):
heard it.
It's the best way.
One of the ways to learn isactually to teach, right, and I
find it very, very, very true,right.
And plus, you know, keeping upwith all the functionality, new
functionality does keep me readyfor the next or the current
project, right.
But let me come back to yourquestion, mark.
Right, so they are reaching outand I can't really push you
(17:04):
towards this way.
You have an interest, for sure,so I will make sure to answer
any questions, but in my opinion, that's a lot based on your
character.
So, how risk-averse are you?
Are you ready to have thatuncertainty, or are you a bit
more on the safer side and youwant to have a predictability,
stability of full-time,permanent employment, and you
(17:26):
know there are a lot ofconsideration there.
So, but for me, I was alwayskind of person that couldn't
really wait much, right, andthat came back to burn me, and I
know it's my kind of personaltrade that I always felt okay,
that's let's, let's do it right,like, like I did not really, um
, I mean, probably I could havebeen a bit more patient in the
(17:48):
past.
I would say right, but overallI am where I am just because of
how I looked at things and ifopportunity presented itself, I
always try to make it work right.
So I always try to find a wayto get something done.
But, coming back, I think it'sbased on your personality, right
.
So for some people, permanentemployment is definitely the way
(18:10):
to go right.
I don't think they are readyand they will be exposed and may
just be negative on them, right, and maybe they will just not
find it as kind of beneficial tothem, of course.
But I try to share pros andcons about different situations,
different scenarios, and letthem decide.
(18:32):
Some of them did make thatswitch.
They did not regret it.
Some of them decided to bepermanent, which is totally fine
.
Mark Smith (18:39):
Final question how did you become an MVP?
What was that process for you?
Oleksiy Khoroshylov (18:46):
So I had my channel since 2016.
And again, as I said, sharingthe knowledge.
That was the thing that I wasdoing.
Right, always kept, just alwaysmake sure that I keep myself up
to date.
That was beneficial to mepersonally as well.
Right, you always try to lookout for new features, try to
share the scenarios and someideas and some solutions that
(19:08):
you came up with.
And then Frederick Statry Idon't know if I will pronounce
his last name correctly.
Do you know who I'm talkingabout?
Okay, so he's.
I think he's working forMicrosoft right now in Norway.
He saw my videos and I think Idid a series on some specific
(19:31):
topic and he asked me if I wouldbe interested in being
nominated and I said yes, andthat was back in 2020, and then
there was some.
Again, the process was not assmooth.
I guess there was sometransition to a new website, so
I had to kind of work with thesupport team to submit my
application.
But, yeah, I think I just Imean my biggest contributions, I
(19:55):
think probably are the YouTubevideos.
I also, as you mentioned in theintroduction, I'm also a
chapter leader for Toronto usergroup, dynamics 365, finance and
Supply Chain.
I try to again understand whatthe group would find interesting
and share it with them, right?
So it does take some time toprepare for those sessions and
(20:18):
I'm trying a new format.
If I can just plug in one thinghere, I'm going to be running a
transportation Q&A session atthe end of April.
I just did a poll on my channeland transportation, I think, is
one of those topics that iskind of undercover.
I guess there is not a lot ofmaterial on this topic, let's
(20:38):
just say, and some consultantsare interested in functionality
that is available there and Iwas fortunate enough to be
exposed to it very early on, soI kind of learned it a while
back and I'm going to run a Q&Asession one hour.
It's a different format, justthat I want to take like three
hours or four hours of people'stime on a specific topic.
(20:59):
I said let's just try it out.
So it's going to be one hourQ&A session.
You can submit questionsbeforehand or you can ask them
during the session.
It will be, I think, april, orI forgot April 26th.
I think it's Friday, april 26th.
Mark Smith (21:20):
Hey, thanks for listening.
I'm your host businessapplication MVP Mark Smith,
otherwise known as the NZ365 guy.
If you like the show and wantto be a supporter, check out
buymeacoffeecom forward slashNZ365 guy.
Thanks again and see you nexttime.
Thank you.
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