I learnt to be a mother - at work.

Quite literally, my job description was such; although the designation said something like 'Secretary', 'Division Secretary', 'Project Secretary' with a changing prefix. Basically someone who kept the desks running of the people sitting on big black chairs, to match the pace of the tiny clocks usually found on rightmost corner of our screens. My journey started off in 1995, and behind those large desks were the larger than life people - Mr. Harry Jeswani, Dr. Juma K Belhoul / Mr. Issam Bahia at Gulf and World Group, Mr. Waleed Salem Al Hossani at Hossani Group of Companies, Mr. David Tripney at Holford Associates, Mr. Abdul Hamid Ahmed at GulfNews and then in India it was Mr. Ajit Patel and Mrs. Manju Yagnik

They called me mother-hen; my colleagues. the ones who identified the annoying traits of discipline, but at the end of the day found their best interest at heart. A big shout-out to the ones who tolerated too and a bigger shout-out to those who opposed, only with the resistance were we able to grow as a team and support each other. 

TEAM, where together each achieves more - a typical jargon used in corporate but somehow used for the revenue generating sales teams. Mothers/Mother-hens are rarely on the receiving end. Comparatively, we don't have rewards cause we don't have targets or deadlines. The biggest challenge in admin / operations is to keep things moving.

We don't 'achieve'. We 'move'. We 'facilitate'. We 'shadow strategies'. We keep a track of the 'milestones' and when any one of the team member lags, we gently 'place them back on track', silently. The nudge is always silent. The push is always quiet. And when the team achieves 'We achieve - a different level of satisfaction'

We may not be the heroes - We are hero makers. 

And what happens when we dare to change the position and decide to buy a big black 'virtual' chair for ourselves. What happens when we take charge of what we want to achieve for ourselves? Even if it appears bleak in beginning to the family members - "is it even possible?" "why would you want to become an entrepreneur?" "you are sitting there comfortably - earning the bread, hell no one is even complaining" "why do you want to take a chance" 

One answer "Because I want more" 

"I thrive on appreciation too."

"If adrenaline rush in my veins, can contribute towards you crossing the finishing/deadline - each time, I can win own my race, too."

"I want to monetise my strategic thinking, if it can run various projects and campaigns across industries and businesses then it can run mine too."

Talking about strategies, when I established OfficeCraft, my USP claimed - no overhead costs, no maternity leaves, no training - just plug into a virtual assistant service and see your SME business operate.  

The recent most remark that came innocently from my younger son when the #lockdown was announced - "mom now that everyone is on #workfromhome mode - it will affect your 'virtual' business - won't it?" I said "yes" with a reassuring smile, "but now I will have to lead them how to D-I-Y". "After all, beta (an endearing term Indian mothers address their children, roughly translating to son/daughter) - Necessity is the mother of invention" 

So with new business tools, owing to situations arising from #Covid19. I ask my current and prospective clients to first and foremost #OptForOptimisation. It's time to strike the chord!

Hope this little video inspires you to. 

and remember I am happy to ease your journey through this adversity, let's use it to our advantage. 

Tell me, how can I assist you? 

and... emm.. yes.. #Happy (belated) Mother Day

#OptforOpitmisation #OptforPersonalBranding #OptforOfficeCraft #OfficeCraftVirtualAssistantservices #OfficeCraftRoom #MakeItABrilliantDay