I once worked with an agency as one of my clients, to deliver some writing projects for them.

Later on, I had more work pressure at my job, so I amicably let go of them.

Fortunately, they agreed. And also requested me to hand over my work to the next person who will take that on.

The new person was talented. They did some good work. I silently believed they will be able to fill in my shoes.

Alas, they wanted to charge for every small thing that they were asked for.

But this is not how you move ahead in life, my friend.
You have to learn to give more than you are asked for (without killing yourself).
You have to be okay to help if it is called for, once a blue moon.
You have to stop measuring your work for money sometimes, because it will yield you return for more times you could think of.

Of course, you should charge money if the additional services become a recurrence and not something that should be in the same bill.

However, to measure every action of yours by money is doing anything but increasing your worth. Wise people don’t fall for this trap.

I used to have a domain by my name which is now hosting some Chinese websites. Damn. I should not have let it go last year.

But in hindsight, this looks like a loss only because I think a domain of my name is important. It isn’t that important.

Will you go to a name domain of Ratan Tata or Steve Jobs? The idea is to create something that is your brand beyond your website.

Btw, I will now use this blog as my website and email domain.

It’s okay, truly, it’s not not that big – it’s not big anyway.

PS: I just googled stevejobs.com and it actually has a lot of great archive on Steve Jobs. Off to reading it 🙂

A friend of mine was asked by her boss to move on.

She is an epic writer, and wonderful at what she does now (which is a broader role), and was doing considerably good work.

However, her boss told her that because the new work she does now isn’t her mojo, she might struggle going forward.

And him being the right mentor to her, was the right suggestion.

So this friend decides to move on.

She has ghostwritten two bestselling books. Written her own two books. Managed profiles of millions of followers. Broken some invisible glass ceilings.

And then, she is faced with mediocrity.
From well-meaning friends.
Sending her gigs of 30K pm.
Putting her with clients that they were quitting.
Sending “writing competitions” that were for beginners.

And it got her thinking, why they were sending her such mediocre opportunities.

Which is when she realised – they didn’t know better.

They were sending opportunities that they knew they would pick.
And it’s okay.

She did not listen to any of them.
Was not rude to them either.
She simply kept doing her own thing.
And landed with clients that paid her 3X the current job, doing work she LOVED.

It is only up to us to realise our own worth.
We don’t need to shout it out to people.
They just don’t know better.
Perhaps we would have done the same if we were in their place.
Love them, cause they care.
Thank yourself, cause they don’t know your savings.
And most importantly, thank yourself, for going to places that value you for who you are.

This is my message to my friend 🙂

If you do really really good work and really care, it is impossible to replace you.

No matter what you do or where you are.

You could be a street cleaner.
Or a CEO.
Or a tennis player.
Or a corporate employee.

It is almost impossible to bring someone exactly like you.

Think of Sachin Tendulkar. Or Roger Federer. Or Shah Rukh Khan.

They all are the hallmarks of their industries. There may be and there are better cricketers, tennis players and actors than all of them. However, that does not deny the fact that the best was and still is the best.

Be that best one, for whatever you choose.

It may not be the easiest journey, my friend. But I promise it is going to be worth it. Because you showed up to be yourself in a world where everyone wants to be like “that one who does not do any work and still gets through.”

“Can we get on a call?”

“What are you planning to do with your life next?”

“Do you know what they did to me?”

Focus is an asset. Not to be wasted on the trivialities that don’t matter.

PS: Saying the above once a blue moon is a call for help. And perhaps allowed. Saying the above more often than not is a sign of lost focus.

Don’t do that to yourself. Ever.

If you need someone to remind you to do YOUR work

If you need someone to follow up with you

If you need someone to tell you that you must do what you should have already done

If you need someone to tell you to be accountable, over and over and over again

If you need someone to beg at your feet to do the right thing at work, every single time

You might succeed in life. However, how will you ever succeed in front of the person in the mirror?

We have been working with an agency for almost 2.5 years.

They have done pretty decent work in the past, with few cracks here and there.
And those cracks have been persistent.
However, the errors persisted, after multiple feedback.

So we hired an inhouse person, to work on the same project.
And we kept giving both of them equal work.

Over time, we have hired another inhouse person, to distribute the work of the agency.

The agency people are very hard working, however, they are not willing to change or learn from their mistakes.
Which eventually cost them a ticket price of Rs. 1L+ per month.

It turns out, there is no other alternative to learning and growing.

Even if you think there is.

There isn’t.

And I truly hope this excites you more than it scares you.

I am going through a tough phase of life lately.

Something that will eventually weed out – like all tough phases do.

However, what I have learnt is that if you have a dysfunctional family, it is best to not tell them your problems.

Deal with it on your own.
Live your life your way.
Solve your problems.

But that’s it.

Live your life.

The dysfunctional family will try to make you make tough decisions.
They will think you are right and everyone else is wrong.
They will want you to be with them, because since you are having problems in your life, no one loves you as much as they do.
They will always think it is your problem, and no one else’s.
They will have zero concept of boundaries.

Love them all you can.
But have your own boundaries.
And what you tolerate.

1. When you pitch to people, speak on emails.
2. When you have decided, get on a final call.

Most of us do continuous back and forth on phone calls because we want to sound important.

The reality is, we are lonely and not clear. Which is why we resort to calls instead of emails/texts to communicate in the initial back-and-forth phase.

Be clear on what you want. And you have won already.

PS: I am not anti-calls. Calls are important. What’s more important is knowing what is important when, and choosing to do that.

The no. 1 thing will take you forward.

Period.