Xenia

For the longest time, I felt I was stuck. Like my life hadn’t moved on. It was a beautiful life full of certainty, love and timelines. You expect your life to go a certain way, and then the opposite happens.  You think you understand this, this transition while u still hold on to the conventional philosophy of what life should have in store for you. But it doesn’t and in fact, the opposite happens. You get stuck in this infinite loop and you don’t understand why, till one video or msg or book jars your attention and you break. You spend the night crying because God knows you needed a good cry and then you blog about it at 2:30 in the night because that’s all you know to do when you need to let it out.  I was stuck in such a loop till it hit me I was holding on, subconsciously to my life and keeping myself in status quo for the fear of moving ahead in a different direction than what I had envisioned for myself. I would say I didn’t need a man or I needed independe...

Their Story Isn’t Yours I started this company about four and a half years ago alongside three of my friends in my office since they needed a space to work out of as well. Things were great! We shared the bills and we had company. We also landed up passing business to one and learning of one another. It was nice and comforting. Then life happened and everyone started to move their separate ways for greener pastures. We parted knowing it was the end of an era but necessary for the next stage for our respective companies.  See at that time everyone was in Startup mode. Everyone wanted to branch out and start something where they are their own boss. Sounds ideal, right? Well no one told them about the inside scoop on how difficult and trying it is. A large chunk of those startups including a few of friends of mine didn’t see it past year three. And that collided with my 5-year slump wherein I started to question myself. Self-doubt made home in my brain. It was a dark hole an...

Mind Control! - Do we all wish we could make others do our bidding Don’t we all wish; at some point in our lives; that we can control people around us. “If only I can get him/her to do that!” or “Why did he/she act like that?” This feeling of hopelessness in the inability to control what others do or say; in our personal lives or professional; drives us crazy.  Personally, our journeys are very different. But professionally we as bosses all face the same problem. The wishful thinking that our employees could or rather should think like us. One thing we tend to forget is, “They aren’t us!” If they were we would be out of a job! I face a few problems when it comes to man management: 1.      Loyalty: The good old days where an employee started and ended his career with your organization is gone. Jumping ship is inevitable. Something we as bosses need to start hedging for.  2.      Charisma: How many times have y...

Recently I found myself in a situation where someone very dear to me started a vendetta. This involved the usual rumors, false stories etc. I lost a lot of people I was fond of in the process. As the days passed I uncovered a plethora lies which was really hard to swallow. It tarnished my reputation as a woman and a person. Needless to say, they were all false. It really bothered me that people who knew me interacted with me were buying into all these fairy tales. A few solutions crept into my mind and a lawsuit; believe it or not; was one of them. However, better judgment stopped me. I sat back and analyzed the situation. The real solution was a bitter pill to swallow but was necessary nevertheless. "Do Nothing" ironically it's the hardest thing you can do. Because most of the people that start spreading rumors are looking for a reaction of some sort. But if you don't give it to them they will die its natural death. Yes, you will lose a few people along th...

There comes a moment in everyone's life where everything happens all at once and a sense of overwhelming anxiety takes over which almost paralysis you. It's hard enough having a start up and now you have an illness  or a family dispute demanding your attention. At that moment you want to stop and yell at the top of your lungs "I AM ONLY ONE PERSON!!" But you know that won't help so you start bottling things up and before you know it you have become passive aggressive. You snap at your subordinates. You start projecting on to your support system. And they listen with an open ear and take the crap being dished out to them. Now here two things happen: Things start to get better around you and you bounce back to your original self. Where everyone is happy and no ones the wiser.  Or things start to get worse and you go down this downward spiral where the people around you don't know who you are anymore and they snap and leave you be. Now your logical arg...

Everyone has a support system. They may not have a traditional one but one that works for them nevertheless. But like all well-functioning machines, it tends to do its own thing from time to time and you need to figure out a way to make it work again. Sometimes all it needs is a good “Servicing.” Unfortunately for an entrepreneur, we survive on the positive energy of our support system. We rely on them for comforting words, a shoulder to cry on or just being the punching bag we require at that time. The road to success is a long winding one; we all know that. And the current government rules, regulations, and economic crisis are making it so much harder. The frustration gets the better of us quite often and we take it out of the people we know aren’t going to desert us. But this is not the only aspect, which drives a wedge between you and your loved ones. “Expectation” is one that hurts the most. Initially, when you start out all bright shiny eyed and you fail you h...