Messages

31

Quotations / Stress Management Principle

« on: March 31, 2018, 12:22:55 PM »

Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students.  As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question.  Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”

Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.

She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter.  It all depends on how long I hold it.  If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light.  If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little.  If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor.  In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water.  Think about them for a while and nothing happens.  Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little.  Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”

The moral:  It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries.  No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down.  Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you.  If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.
 
Source: http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/05/21/4-short-stories-change-the-way-you-think/

32

Use Social Media in Education / what is the use of Social Media in Education?

« on: July 18, 2017, 11:19:41 AM »

Connectivity

It’s the sole reason social media exists, so we can connect with friends, family members, our favourite shows and brands. There’s no reason why your organisation can’t do the same. Strengthen the connection with your students and their parents which will result in building a better relationship.

Community

There’s no better way to build a community when you literally have thousands of people ready to hear what you have to say. Social Media is a transparent way of reaching out to potential students and professionals who may want to become a part of your organisation.

Engagement

You want to be generating conversation, sharing relevant news and stories which will be key to promoting your institution. Another pro to this is that it can help increase student retention, you’re speaking their language and making an attempt to engage with their form of communication.

Parental Involvement

Parents get a better view of the institution, live updates and a closer connection to the place they are sending their children. Social media offers a transparency in which you can streamline engagement and start participating in meaningful personal dialogue with current and future students/parents.

Source: https://www.lancashirebusinessview.co.uk/use-social-media-education-89960

33

Achieving Goals / 10 Simple Tips to Help You Achieve Even Your Most Ambitious Goals

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:45:57 PM »

1. Make a Commitment
Goals require commitment and dedication. There’s no other way around it. If you are struggling with committing to a specific goal, go back and start the process over. You may not have identified the goal just right, or you may be lacking the necessary motivation to see it though.

2. Keep Track of Your Progress
Just as it’s important to put all of your goals down on paper, it’s equally important to track your progress. You can do this with a goal tracking worksheet, a goal management tool or a method of your own. The key is to regularly check-in on your goal progress and take note of where you are and where you need to go before your next check-in.

3. Break It Down
It’s good to have big and very ambitious goals, but many times, you can make them more attainable and realistic by breaking them down. A set of five smaller goals that will get you to your ambitious goal can be a lot more manageable and a lot less overwhelming.

4. Get Help
You may need external support to accomplish your goals, or maybe you are struggling with the commitment factor and need someone to hold you accountable. While your goals may be personal to you, that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. If you need help, support or just a cheerleader, ask someone your trust.

5. Be Willing to Revisit and Revise
Your regular goal check-in process is the perfect time to consider if the path you’re taking to accomplish your goals is valid. You may find that you have more clarity after you’ve outlined your goal. It’s okay to make changes and modifications, as long as they support what you set out to do.

6. Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Thinking about the big picture is important, especially with long-term goals. While there will be times when you’ll be so focused on working to move forward that you may not consider the end result, it’s necessary to take time to think about where you’re going. Envisioning your success can help keep you motivated.

7. Be Consistent
Consistency and routine can play an important role in reaching your goals. Be consistent when you have progress check-ins, how you track your advancement, and how and when you focus on your goals. The more routine you can make the process, the easier it will be to keep going.

8. Let Your Goals Grow Up
Life changes and so will your goals. You may have a few long-term goals that span the next few years, but if you consider them set in stone, you may miss out on modifying your plan to fit current business, lifestyle and societal changes. In order to keep your goals relevant and realistic, let them change and grow as you do the same.

9. Focus on Positive Thinking
As cliché as it may be, positive thinking can empower you to reach success. If you consistently think negatively, you may be sabotaging your entire goal process. Positive thinking and self-affirming mantras really can get you through the most challenging parts of reaching your goals.

10. Celebrate Every Success
You can’t expect yourself to work steadily toward a goal without any type of reward along the way. Not only is that bad for your morale, but it can diminish the power of the entire process. Take time to celebrate every success for every goal, no matter how big or small. It will build your confidence and commitment and make it easier to keep pushing to reach those large-scale future goals.

Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/tips-to-help-you-achieve-goals/

34

Achieving Goals / 5 Easy Steps To Help Reach Your Goals

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:44:12 PM »

1- Believe in yourself
If you read my posts you will often see this point come up. I cannot put enough emphasis on the fact you need to believe in yourself and in your abilities to achieve anything in life. Believing in yourself is the key to almost everything you will start. If you start a business not only you need to be in love with what you do, but you also need to believe in the fact it can work. It’s the stepping stone to any foundation. Most of us already do this for common things like cooking, driving a car or taking a class in University.

2- Think about the process to reach your goal
Planning ahead is important, especially when you are trying to reach a specific goal. It’s very important to visualize each of the steps needed to reach your goals. Imagine yourself doing these steps, living each instant of them. This is a very easy way to plan ahead, it also helps you not forget anything along the way. By visualizing the steps you can see what you need to do to reach your goals. When the time arrives and you are living those steps, you will probably get a “déjà vue” and this comes from the fact you already imagined it. I usually do this before going to bed, which brings me to my third point.

3- Visualize your steps before going to bed
Yes, visualizing each steps before going to bed will not only help you reach you goals with less hurdles it will also make you dream about it. I often dream about my goals or my daily life, this gives me practice in what I am about to do. Did you know when you sleep your brain doesn’t know the difference between reality and fiction? This explains why your dreams can feel so true. It also explains why a nightmare can feel so real. Once we understand this concept you can see all the advantages of dreaming properly. I will write a post another post soon dedicated to this technique.

4- Strive, fight and stay positive
Your goals won’t happen overnight, they also won’t happen without work. You will have to overcome many obstacles before you reach your desired goal. There are always people who will work against you (if it’s not yourself doing so) or technical hurdles you will need to overcome. NEVER discourage yourself, always stay positive and focus on being a problem solver. Keep pushing and never discourage yourself even when you think everything is lost. No one has ever achieved anything without past failures or setbacks, try to stay positive.

5- Get backup, use your contacts and talk to people
Don’t be shy to talk to people about your new goals and how you plan to achieve them. Other people’s insight can be very important and can help skip a few steps. A teacher once told me that on a construction yard do they build new trucks and tools for each new construction? The answer is NO. The same concept applies to our life and experiences, you can use other peoples experiences to learn quicker and get by some of the steps. (In this example they are your tools) This can be true on tangibles goals like setting up a business, going back to school or building by yourself a shed in the backyard. Getting help is not only smart and quicker it will also show your friends and family that you want to learn and achieve your goals.

I want to point out one important thing about goal setting. I believe anything is possible and that everyone can reach their goals. Keep in mind some goals might not be possible to achieve. We need to be realistic in life, I understand this only applies to 1% of population, but common sense is important (after all, this is a blog for logical people 😉 ). Also if you set your goals too high you will be disappointed if you can’t reach them appropriately, so don’t be too greedy and make sure whatever your goal is, that deep down inside, that is what you really want.

Source: https://ineedmotivation.com/5-easy-steps-to-help-reach-your-goals/

35

Achieving Goals / 5 Tips to Achieve Your Goals

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:43:16 PM »

1. Build a daily practice to support your work
Create a daily (or weekly) practice where you consistently show up, take small actions and make positive choices to help you start to move towards your goals. Your actions will start to build on each other and you will start to see changes. Otherwise, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed by your big dreams and goals.

2. Know that it’s about the long haul
While it would be amazing to send a pitch to a magazine and have an editor immediately want to assign the story to you, that hardly ever happens. A vast majority of story ideas are generated in-house and then assigned to trusted freelancers that editors have worked with in the past. Greeeeeat. How do you become that trusted freelancer?
Instead, think of pitching like an audition. I recently received an assignment from another dream publication of mine after corresponding with the editor for two and a half months. I sent her a pitch which she didn’t assign but it was well-written and showed her I knew the publication and its target audience, which impressed her. She then invited me to send her more pitches and shared the specific sections of the magazine that she needed story ideas for.
Bottom line: take time to cultivate the relationship!

3. Do the work
I mean, simple right? Just don’t get in the way of your own success, right?
But this might also mean taking the extra step like doing research and pre-interviews for your pitches, even before you get an assignment (to show the editor that there’s a story there). It means writing and editing and editing and editing and editing your work because that first draft is almost always terrible.
I worked on countless drafts of the essay that I sold to The Washington Post in order to get it just right. My Scary Mommy essay languished in my drafts folder for months. When you’re starting out, there aren’t many shortcuts. But you get better at what you do when you do the work.

4. Ask for help
I’m a pretty independent person and I don’t always like asking for help. For once, I decided to invest in myself by taking classes — an essay writing class and workshop on improving your pitches. I also joined a two-week writing group which helped get my creative juices flowing and forced me to make time to write.
Sometimes we can use classes and professional development as an excuse and a means to put off working towards our goals.But these classes were exactly what I needed in order to break through my plateau.
For example, the workshop on pitches pushed me to send out 8 well-developed and researched pitches or letters of intent within a month to 8 different publications — more than I’ve ever sent out. It forced me to dedicate time to marketing (which I hate) and showed me that I can come up with story ideas and write good pitches quickly.
Maybe it’s taking a class. Maybe it’s joining a mastermind group. Maybe it’s joining a writing group. It can be anything that challenges you and keeps you accountable.
By the way, those 8 pitches led to three assignment with new clients.

5. Follow-up
You might hate it but you should do it — follow-up. Oftentimes, people don’t read your first email or it ends up in spam. Instead of sitting by and wringing your hands hoping that a response will appear in your inbox, follow-up. But do it tactfully. There’s a fine line between circling back on something and being a stalker. It can also help you build the relationship.

Source: http://www.lovelifesurf.com/5-tips-to-achieve-your-goals/

36

Positive Thinking / 10 SIMPLE HABITS TO GROW A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:40:38 PM »

1. Keep a gratitude journal.

Sometimes one single event can ruin an entire day and an unpleasant interaction or experience at night can overshadow the enjoyable parts of our day. With this awareness that our mind tends to cling to the negative, we can intentionally focus on the good parts of our day to offset this imbalance. Try writing down 5 things that you feel grateful for every day and see how your attitude changes. Science has found that gratitude can significantly increase your happiness, and protect you from stress, negativity, anxiety and depression. Check out this list of 13 ways gratitude will significantly improve your life.

2. Reframe your challenges.

There are no dead ends, only re-directions. Although we might try, there are very few things in life that we have complete control over. We should not let uncontrollable occurrences from the outside turn our inner to mush. What we can control is the effort that we put in and when we give our full effort, there is no reason for regret. Have fun with challenges, embrace them as adventures instead of  attempting to resist an experience for growth. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.” – Robert Kiyosaki

3. Get good at being rejected.

Rejection is a skill. Chalk every broken heart and failed job interview as practice because no one gets to slide through life without being rejected. Don’t let it harden you and don’t expect the worse. If you wait for bad things to happen, chances are it will or you’ll narrow in on the bad in the midst of the may good things you’ve missed along the way. When there are cracks in your heart, they let the sun in.

4. Use positive words to describe your life.

The words that we use have a lot more power than we think. How you talk about your life is how your life will be. Your mind hears what you say. If you describe your life as boring, busy,  mundane, chaotic, that is how you will percieve it and you will feel the effects in your body and mind. If you use the words simple, involved, familiar or lively, you will see your life in a whole different light and find more enjoyment in the way you chose to shape your life.

A study from US data suggests that having a positive attitude is not only has a direct effect on your happiness, it is also correlated with your earning wage.

5. Replace have with get.

Do you ever notice how many times we say that we have to do something?  I have to go to work. I have to go grocery shopping. I have to pay my rent. Now change this one little word to get and see what happens. I get to go to work. I get to go grocery shopping. Even, I get to pay my rent. Your attitude quickly changes from needing to fulfill obligations to being grateful for the things that we become accustomed to having:  a job to support you and your family, food on the table, and a roof over your head. Try to make this change when you are thinking to yourself and you may feel and appear happier and less stressed.

6. Don’t let yourself get dragged into other people’s complaints.

Your day was going pretty well and then you get to work and your co-worker can’t stop complaining about the cold weather. You didn’t really think about it before he/she brought it up and now you find yourself agreeing and joining in on the complaint-fest of how sick you are of this cold weather. In a month you’ll be pulled into complaints about how it’s too hot. Don’t fall into the trap. A study done at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology shows that complaining leads to lower moods and negative emotions, decreased life satisfaction and optimism, and emotional and motivational deficits.  You might find that your co-worker will complain less without the validation of someone else having the same complaint.

7. Breathe.

Our breath is directly connected to our emotions. Have you noticed we hold our breath sometimes when we are concentrating on something? Can you feel your breath change when you are angry or anxious? Our breath changes depending on how we feel. The great news is that the connection goes the other way too. We can also change how we feel using our breath! Check out this infographic on the scientific benefits of breathing.

8. Notice the righteous in times of tragedy.

It’s hard to have hope and stay positive when hate and violence is all over the media. What we don’t see as much is that in every instance of natural disasters, war, traumatic experience, you will find people rising up, reaching out to each other and showing raw compassion and love. Hold onto the stories of modern day heroes and selflessness in the times of fear and devastation.

9. Have solutions when pointing out problems.

Being positive doesn’t mean that you have to be oblivious to problems. Positive people have constructive criticisms to improve conditions. If you are going to point out problems in people or situations, place just as much effort into suggesting solutions. Instead of pointing out all of the things that are wrong, offer ways to make it better.

10. Make someone else smile.

Who do you think about most of the time? If we answered honestly, most of us would say themselves. It’s good to hold ourselves accountable, take responsibility for our life roles, hygiene, food, etc. but set a goal for each day to make someone else smile. Think about someone else’s happiness and it will help us to realize our immense impact that our attitude and expression has on the people around us.

Source: http://www.fulfillmentdaily.com/10-habits-to-grow-a-positive-attitude/

37

Positive Thinking / How To Think Positive Everyday: 4 Simple Steps to a Happier Life

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:38:43 PM »

1. Negativity doesn’t work – Literally – Our subconcious brain can’t handle it
The other thing about negativity is that our brains can’t process negative words according to the latest studies. So when we hear phrase like “don’t smoke” or “don’t touch that,” our subconscious skips over these negative words and simply hears “smoke” or “touch that.” Our conscious mind can obviously process these words, but it’s the subconscious that makes a lot of our decisions without us realizing.
For young children, this can often be an issue because they haven’t learned to use their conscious minds to process those negative words and take control of the subconscious to make sure they follow instructions correctly. It’s no surprise why children decide that way if you look at the split between conscious and subconscious mind according to psychology:
Conscious mind versus subconscious mind
What this means for us is that we struggle to change our habits or thought patterns when we tell ourselves negative phrases, since only our conscious minds can take those in. We can make this much easier and let the subconscious do its job by using positively-framed phrases like “refrain from smoking” or “walk away from that.”
2. You’ll improve your outlook of the future
Positive thinking can actually improve our overall happiness. I’ve written about this before in terms of noting down things we’re grateful for on a regular basis and how that can improve our happiness.
A study at the University of North Carolina also showed that positive emotions are more likely to encourage people to plan ahead and think of actions they would like to take or activities they’d like to participate in the future. Negative emotions, on the other hand, led to participants being less inclined to think positively about their future.
3. You’ll be more healthy
Yep, positivity has shown to directly affect your physical health. Another study from the University of North Carolina used the ancient practice of loving-kindness meditation to test how cultivating positive feelings like love, compassion and goodwill towards others could affect the emotional and physical health of the participants.
Compared to the control group who did not participate in the meditation, the meditators showed increases in positive emotions like amusement, awe and gratitude during the research period. They also reported feeling more socially connected and closer to the people around them.
Physically, these participants showed improvements in vagal tone which is linked to cardiovascular health and a general indicator of physical well-being.
Cultivating the positivity habit – 4 things to start with
Now that we know how beneficial positivity can be to our health and happiness, let’s look at some ways of building a habit of being positive.
1. Prepare your environment
Leo Babauta always has great advice on building habits, and this is one of my favorites. The environment we try to build new habits in (or break old ones, even) has a huge effect on how successful we are. Environment in this case includes the people we spend time with and the messages we hear or tell ourselves, as well as our physical environment.
The trick here is to ensure your environment is as conducive to you continuing your new habit as possible. Here are some of Leo’s suggestions for how to achieve this:
Hang out with people who are doing the habit you want to do.If there are people around you who don’t do the habit you want to do, talk to them about what you’re trying to do, and ask for their help. Ask them to support you, and not rag on you all the time for changing.Join a supportive community online who are doing the things you want to do.Read blogs and books that inspire you to do the habit.Have reminders all around you.Create a public challenge for yourself, to create accountability.Have a habit partner you report to each day, and make a vow never to miss.
In terms of being positive, you could find a friend or family member to do this with to keep you accountable, or set a daily reminder so you don’t forget. Filling your work space with positive sayings or images could help, and reading books that encourage positive thinking will reinforce this.
2. Start smaller than you think – The “floss only 1 tooth” – approach
Another of my favorite pieces of advice from Leo’s blog Zen Habits is to make your habit so small that you can’t say no. If you do this to start with, you can focus more on building a habit, rather than on results or how big your habit is.
Here’s Leo’s explanation of why this works:
Another common habit that too few people actually do is flossing daily. So my advice is just floss one tooth the first night.

Of course, that seems so ridiculous most people laugh. But I’m totally serious: if you start out exceedingly small, you won’t say no. You’ll feel crazy if you don’t do it. And so you’ll actually do it!

That’s the point. Actually doing the habit is much more important than how much you do.
Right now I’m just taking note of one great moment I noticed, at the end of each day. Sometimes it only takes a few words to share this, sometimes it’s two sentences. I’ve incorporated it into my daily practice of sharing what I got done with the Buffer team, so it’s easy to remember and easy to do.
Starting small has helped me to incorporate the practice into every day so it’s becoming a habit, without worrying about what a big task it is.
3. Take note of 1 positive moment every day
Noticing the positive things that happen in your everyday life has been proven to be a successful method of increasing your positive thinking. This doesn’t just happen when you’re doing the exercise: the effects can actually last much longer.
A study of 90 undergraduate students had one half of them write about positive experiences for three consecutive days. The second half wrote about control topics that didn’t affect their emotions. After three months, the study found that the students who had written about positive experiences still had better mood levels and fewer illnesses. If your best ideas and reflections of positive moments always happen in the shower like they do for me, not to worry, you can take notes there too with something like Acqua notes:
Shower paper notepad and pen
One activity that’s often said to improve positivity is to write down (or share with someone) three things you’re grateful for at the end of each day.
4. Try to Meditate – 2 minutes is enough
Meditating is beneficial for the body and mind. It not only improves mindfulness and positive thinking while you’re doing it, but it has been shown to decrease illness and improve mindfulness and feelings of purpose in life up to three months after being practiced daily for a short period.
Starting small works for meditating, as well. Leo Babauta recommends just 2 minutes to start with, which is easy to do and helpful in developing a strong habit. After establishing the habit for several weeks, you can slowly increase the length of your meditation sessions to an amount that gives you the most benefit.

Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/how-be-more-positive-to-build-a-habit-of-positivity-for-better-emotional-and-physical-health

38

Positive Thinking / 7 Practical Tips to Achieve a Positive Mindset

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:36:37 PM »

1. Start the day with positive affirmation.
How you start the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. Have you ever woken up late, panicked, and then felt like nothing good happened the rest of the day? This is likely because you started out the day with a negative emotion and a pessimistic view that carried into every other event you experienced. Instead of letting this dominate you, start your day with positive affirmations. Talk to yourself in the mirror, even if you feel silly, with statements like, “Today will be a good day” or “I’m going to be awesome today.” You’ll be amazed how much your day improves.

2. Focus on the good things, however small.
Almost invariably, you’re going to encounter obstacles throughout the day—there’s no such thing as a perfect day. When you encounter such a challenge, focus on the benefits, no matter how slight or unimportant they seem. For example, if you get stuck in traffic, think about how you now have time to listen to the rest of your favorite podcast. If the store is out of the food you want to prepare, think about the thrill of trying something new.

3. Find humor in bad situations.
Allow yourself to experience humor in even the darkest or most trying situations. Remind yourself that this situation will probably make for a good story later and try to crack a joke about it. Say you’re laid off; imagine the most absurd way you could spend your last day, or the most ridiculous job you could pursue next—like kangaroo handler or bubblegum sculptor.

4. Turn failures into lessons.
You aren’t perfect. You’re going to make mistakes and experience failure in multiple contexts, at multiple jobs and with multiple people. Instead of focusing on how you failed, think about what you’re going to do next time—turn your failure into a lesson. Conceptualize this in concrete rules. For example, you could come up with three new rules for managing projects as a result.

5. Transform negative self-talk into positive self-talk.
Negative self-talk can creep up easily and is often hard to notice. You might think I’m so bad at this or I shouldn’t have tried that. But these thoughts turn into internalized feelings and might cement your conceptions of yourself. When you catch yourself doing this, stop and replace those negative messages with positive ones. For example, I’m so bad at this becomes Once I get more practice, I’ll be way better at this. I shouldn’t have tried becomes That didn’t work out as planned—maybe next time.

6. Focus on the present.
I’m talking about the present—not today, not this hour, only this exact moment. You might be getting chewed out by your boss, but what in this exact moment is happening that’s so bad? Forget the comment he made five minutes ago. Forget what he might say five minutes from now. Focus on this one, individual moment. In most situations, you’ll find it’s not as bad as you imagine it to be. Most sources of negativity stem from a memory of a recent event or the exaggerated imagination of a potential future event. Stay in the present moment.

7. Find positive friends, mentors and co-workers.
When you surround yourself with positive people, you’ll hear positive outlooks, positive stories and positive affirmations. Their positive words will sink in and affect your own line of thinking, which then affects your words and similarly contributes to the group. Finding positive people to fill up your life can be difficult, but you need to eliminate the negativity in your life before it consumes you. Do what you can to improve the positivity of others, and let their positivity affect you the same way.

Source: http://www.success.com/article/7-practical-tips-to-achieve-a-positive-mindset

39

Positive Thinking / 10 Tips to Overcome Negative Thoughts: Positive Thinking Made Easy

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:35:25 PM »

1. Meditate or do yoga.

One of the first things I did was head to a yoga class. It took my focus away from my thoughts and brought my attention to my breath. Yoga is also very relaxing, which helped ease my mind. Yoga helped me stay present to my experience so instead of jumping to what could happen, it brought me back to the now—the only moment, the most important moment.

2. Smile.

I didn’t do much of this during the weekend, so I literally had to bring myself in front of a mirror and force myself to smile. It really does help change your mood and relieve stress. I also felt lighter because it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown.

3. Surround yourself with positive people.

I called a friend who I knew could give me constructive yet loving feedback. When you’re stuck in a negative spiral, talk to people who can put things into perspective and won’t feed your negative thinking.

4. Change the tone of your thoughts from negative to positive.

For example, instead of thinking, “We are going to have a hard time adjusting to our living situation,” think, “We will face some challenges in our living situation, but we will come up with solutions that we will both be happy with.”

5. Don’t play the victim. You create your life—take responsibility.

The way I was thinking and acting, you would think I was stuck. Even if our living situation becomes unbearable, there is always a way out. I will always have the choice to make change happen, if need be.

6. Help someone.

Take the focus away from you and do something nice for another person. I decided to make a tray of food and donate it to the Salvation Army. It took my mind off of things and I felt better for helping someone else.

7. Remember that no one is perfect and let yourself move forward.

It’s easy to dwell on your mistakes. I felt terrible that I acted this way and that I wasted our weekend. The only thing I can do now is learn from my mistakes and move forward. I definitely don’t want to have a weekend like that again.

8. Sing.

I don’t remember lyrics very well and it’s probably the reason that I don’t enjoy singing, but every time I do sing I always feel better. When we sing, we show our feelings and this provides an amazing stress relief.

9. List five things that you are grateful for right now.

Being grateful helps appreciate what you already have. Here’s my list: my cats, health, a six-week trip to Asia, a new yoga class that I’ll be teaching, and for my mom’s biopsy coming out clean.

10. Read positive quotes.

I like to place Post-It notes with positive quotes on my computer, fridge door, and mirror as reminders to stay positive. Also, I’d like to share with you a quote by an unknown author that was shared in a meditation class that I attended:

Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Source: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-tips-to-overcome-negative-thoughts-positive-thinking-made-easy/

40

Positive Thinking / Advantages of Positive Thinking

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:34:08 PM »

Source: https://goo.gl/ayuW3n

41

Inspiring Quotes / Top 100 Inspirational Quotes

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:31:05 PM »

1. Life is about making an impact, not making an income. --Kevin Kruse

2. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill

3. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. –Albert Einstein

4. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.  –Robert Frost

5. I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale

6. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. –Wayne Gretzky

7. I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. –Michael Jordan

8. The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. –Amelia Earhart

9. Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. –Babe Ruth

10. Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

11. Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being. –Kevin Kruse

12. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. –John Lennon

13. We become what we think about. –Earl Nightingale

14.Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover. –Mark Twain

15.Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. –Charles Swindoll

16. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. –Alice Walker

17. The mind is everything. What you think you become.  –Buddha

18. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. –Chinese Proverb

19. An unexamined life is not worth living. –Socrates

20. Eighty percent of success is showing up. –Woody Allen

21. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. –Steve Jobs

22. Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. –Vince Lombardi

23. I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. –Stephen Covey

24. Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. –Pablo Picasso

25. You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. –Christopher Columbus

26. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. –Maya Angelou

27. Either you run the day, or the day runs you. –Jim Rohn

28. Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. –Henry Ford

29. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. –Mark Twain

30. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

31. The best revenge is massive success. –Frank Sinatra

32. People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing.  That’s why we recommend it daily. –Zig Ziglar

33. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. –Anais Nin

 If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. –Vincent Van Gogh

35. There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. –Aristotle

36. Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. –Jesus

37. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

38. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined. –Henry David Thoreau

39. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. –Erma Bombeck

40. Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.  –Booker T. Washington

41. Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. – Ancient Indian Proverb

42. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. –Theodore Roosevelt

43. Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. –George Addair

44. We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. –Plato

45. Teach thy tongue to say, "I do not know," and thous shalt progress. –Maimonides

46. Start where you are. Use what you have.  Do what you can. –Arthur Ashe

47. When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down ‘happy’.  They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. –John Lennon

48. Fall seven times and stand up eight. –Japanese Proverb

49. When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. –Helen Keller

50. Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see. –Confucius

51. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. –Anne Frank

52. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. –Lao Tzu

53. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. –Maya Angelou

54. Happiness is not something readymade.  It comes from your own actions. –Dalai Lama

55. If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

56. First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. –Aristotle

57. If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. –Latin Proverb

58. You can’t fall if you don’t climb.  But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground. –Unknown

59. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. –Marie Curie

60. Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown

61. Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. –Joshua J. Marine

62. If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. –Booker T. Washington

63. I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. –Leonardo da Vinci

64. Limitations live only in our minds.  But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. –Jamie Paolinetti

65. You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame. –Erica Jong

66. What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. –Bob Dylan

67. I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. –Benjamin Franklin

68. In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. –Bill Cosby

69. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein

70. The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it. –Chinese Proverb

71. There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. –Roger Staubach

72. It is never too late to be what you might have been. –George Eliot

73. You become what you believe. –Oprah Winfrey

74. I would rather die of passion than of boredom. –Vincent van Gogh

75. A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. –Unknown

76. It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.  –Ann Landers

77. If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. –Abigail Van Buren

78. Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. –Farrah Gray

79. The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself--the invisible battles inside all of us--that's where it's at. –Jesse Owens

80. Education costs money.  But then so does ignorance. –Sir Claus Moser

81. I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear. –Rosa Parks

82. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. –Confucius

83. If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough. –Oprah Winfrey

84. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. –Dalai Lama

85. You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have. –Maya Angelou

86. Dream big and dare to fail. –Norman Vaughan

87. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. –Martin Luther King Jr.

88. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. –Teddy Roosevelt

89. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. –Tony Robbins

90. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. –Gloria Steinem

91. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live. –Mae Jemison

92. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try. –Beverly Sills

93. Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. –Eleanor Roosevelt

94. Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. –Grandma Moses

95. The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. –Ayn Rand

96. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. –Henry Ford

97. It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. –Abraham Lincoln

98. Change your thoughts and you change your world. –Norman Vincent Peale

99. Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. –Benjamin Franklin

100. Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, “I’m possible!” –Audrey Hepburn

101. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. –Steve Jobs

102. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. –Zig Ziglar

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/28/inspirational-quotes/3/#45b048601f53

42

Inspiring Quotes / Motivational And Inspirational Quotes About Success

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:27:19 PM »

1) “The Way Get Started Is To Quit Talking And Begin Doing.” -Walt Disney

This straight-to-business quote comes from the man who created the happiest place on earth – and a multibillion dollar empire.


2) “The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees The Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” -Winston Churchill

When it comes to success quotes by famous people, Winston Churchill’s inspirational words of wisdom always make the list.


3) “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” -Will Rogers

Will Rogers was an American actor, cowboy, columnist and social commentator who believed in keeping forward momentum.


4) “You Learn More From Failure Than From Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.”- Unknown

When you replace ‘lose’ with ‘learn’ in your vocabulary, the thought of failure becomes less daunting and lets you focus on growth.


5) “It’s Not Whether You Get Knocked Down, It’s Whether You Get Up.” – Inspirational Quote By Vince Lombardi

Vince Lomardi was an American football hero who’s uplifting words frequently make it onto Top 10 Inspirational Quotes lists.


6) “If You Are Working On Something That You Really Care About, You Don’t Have To Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.”- Steve Jobs

Steve Job’s truly captured some of the wisdom of life in this statement. Do that which you are passionate about and your work will feel effortless.


7) “People Who Are Crazy Enough To Think They Can Change The World, Are The Ones Who Do.”- Rob Siltanen

I believe this is one of the best quotes to live by because it reminds me to think without limits and never doubt my wildest thoughts.


“Failure Will Never Overtake Me If My Determination To Succeed Is Strong Enough.”- Og Mandino

There’s a special place in my heart for these inspirational words. They remind me of my unwavering determination to become a motivational speaker.


9) “Entrepreneurs Are Great At Dealing With Uncertainty And Also Very Good At Minimizing Risk. That’s The Classic Entrepreneur.”- Mohnish Pabrai

This line always puts a smile on my face because it alludes to the excitement of not knowing what to expect but seeing a possible life-changing outcome.


10) “We May Encounter Many Defeats But We Must Not Be Defeated.”- Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was one of the top civil rights activists and embraced a spirit of positive thinking and sheer determination.



Source and details: https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/26-motivational-quotes-for-success/

43

Inspiration Stories / Face To Face With Samira Zuberi Himika

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:19:45 PM »

Dear readers, you are in for a wonderful time. Please do a favor to yourself and find a quiet place to sit tight for few minutes or get into your blanket (it’s too cold), grab a cup of coffee or tea or anything you prefer and get ready to peek into the mind of Samira Zuberi Himika, architect, founder & Managing Director of ‘team engine’. We can’t think of a much better start for- 2013.

Our conversation covers a lot of issues including passion, starting-up, creativity, working style, innovation, entrepreneurship, excel, whiteboard!, charts, fund raising, campaign- but whatever parts ignite you, we are sure you’ll be inspired and challenged by her thoughtfulness, candor, wit and wisdom. Samira told her story of growing up, how ’team engine’ got its birth, and how she works as an entrepreneur and creative worker. But that’s not all; she also gave her honest opinion about the portrait of an ideal start-up founder—we hope you’ll consider and then pursue something from this interview and will also tell your friends to taste this!

Future StartUp: This is really wonderful to have you. We are really interested to know about yourself and your passion. Please tell us.

Samira Zuberi Himika: From childhood I have been in a family where development of this country is very much encouraged. My father, initially, was one of the first Class officers at Bangladesh Bank (BB) in the year 1976 and was later on deputation looking after Grameen Bank project. And following his passion then he joined with Professor Yunus at Grameen Bank leaving secured job. And you can say, I was born and raised in Grameen Bank family. I think that sets my tune.

I like people centric work. Fortunately, as a musician and cultural worker, I had the privilege to work with the people who are enormously talented, brilliant and extraordinary. As a result, apart from social development and economic development I have grown an interest in creative work. And the blend of these two, creative works that inspire economic development is my passion. I like the work that has a way to communicate with people, has innovation, has some kind of attachment with people or has impact on the lives of people. Basically, innovative works that support people, enable people, and empower people turn me on.

My family originally came from Chokoria, Cox’s Bazar. My father was from Chokoria and my mother from Rangamati. I was born in Chittagong but I started my school in Dhaka. I was not very much attentive in study but surprisingly my results in SSC and HSC were very good. In fact surprising. My parents and teachers were really very happy with my results because they did not expect that. Later on, I attended Dhaka University at Finance Department in the year of 2000. But I did not continue because of many reasons. Say for example, I love communications, media, music,but I was studying finance. As a result, weariness continued to grow. And I thought I chose a wrong subject and you know Finance is a kind of boring. Then I got to know that Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) offers interesting subject, so I shifted to IUB and loved studying communications, anthropology, national culture & heritage as subjects. After finishing my Graduation I joined UNDP. I did masters on Development Studies from IUB as well in 2007 while also working full time at UNDP.

I like the work that has a way to communicate with people, has innovation, has some kind of attachment with people or has impact on the lives of people. Basically, innovative works that support people, enable people, and empower people turns me on.
Q 2: You were in very prestigious organizations and life as a Service Holder and life as an Entrepreneur is completely different. So, what’s the reason, what’s your underlying motivation behind starting-up?

While I started my career as an employee (a long ‘e’ & laugh), I knew that at some point I would not be able to continue under some kinds of set rules and everything. By nature I knew that. I would be willing to go to a very different direction where creative work is bigger than the money and prestige factors. But I did continue five to six years with different development organizations. Later on, when I was the Deputy Head of BBC World Service Trust, Bangladesh, I was looking after media communication, advertisement, and some parts of project development. At that point of my career I realized in Bangladesh I don’t have that much to achieve or deliver as service holder. Moreover, I could have work in London, or other international places/organizations.

Then I thought, what do I want? Do I really want to go away and work? At that point I realized that I don’t want to leave Bangladesh and I want to start my own. Then I decided that the best thing is to start now with whatever I have and with my dreams and with whatever I have learned in a different environment. So, as a test case I did some pilot projects that time to check whether I’m able to do what I want to do or not. And surprisingly those projects worked really well and people appreciated, accepted those works as a very different and brilliant works.

I would particularly mention a project I did for Grameen Phone with a creative group/agency. You now GPHouse, new Headquarter of GP at Basundhara. They have built a gigantic building and what I could convince them was that you should spend some money for not only as the beautification of the building but also a different aesthetics all together which stands out. And in a way that would be counted as a contribution to cultural community, to artists’ community as well. So, we did GPHouse Art Hub, it is the first ever curated art hub for any MNC where works of most of the amazing young artists, photographers to print makers to painters, were showcased. Grameen Phone was kind enough and visionary enough to understand and own the value of the project and they had invested a lot of money in the project. Lots of money in that sense that no other brand has come forward to do such kind of project before. If you go there you will find art collection of many very recognized and contemporary artists along with many up and coming artists which is really a great show. The project took 18 hours of my day for long 9 months!

After that project we, I and my team, were amazed. And my satisfaction with the team was that we could do amazing work that was never done before, that’s different and impactful along side. With the inspiration and encouragement of that success along with some other projects then I started ‘team engine’ along with some of my friends.

Then I decided that the best thing is to start now with whatever I have and with my dreams and with whatever I have learned in a different environment. So, as a test case I did some pilot projects that time to check whether I’m able to do what I want to do or not. And surprisingly those projects worked really well and people appreciated, accepted those works as a very different and brilliant works.
Q 3: Please briefly tell us about ‘team engine’, what’s the main idea?

We say,‘team engine’ is a communication and a campaign hub for social good. It’s not a non-profit firm but the passion, the inner sense and the contribution part is derived from the non-profit world. It means you have to contribute to the society but it does not mean you are less paid or you cannot make profit. I would say team engine is a social enterprise.

In nutshell what we are trying to do is to support the policy makers, Govt., private sectors, and individuals who are working without knowing each other by connecting them and launching good campaign. Information is not enough, we do need influence to make things happen that’s why we value campaign. We also are introducing multiple platforms and activities first of their kinds.
In Bangladesh we have made progress in various sectors but yet communication is the our weakest point. You do wonderful work in your sector, I do in mine, and someone is doing something better in other sector, so we thought if we could connect this all parts it’d be wonderful. You know, whole is greater than part.

In nutshell what we are trying to do is to support the policy makers, Govt., private sectors, and individuals who are working without knowing each other by connecting them and launching good campaign. Information is not enough, we do need influence to make things happen that’s why we value campaign. We also are introducing multiple platforms and activities first of their kinds.

'team engine'-a campaign and communication for social good
‘team engine’-a campaign and communication hub for social good
Q 4: Please tell us every bits and pieces of starting up story of ‘team engine’. How and when did you get started? Where the idea came from? How did you manage initial fund, what were the sources of fund, and anything significant that happened within 1 year of your starting up.

Well, I’m really grateful that we are always full of ideas, not only me but also all of my colleagues are the same, if you ask them for ideas they will put hundreds of ideas instantly. And I do believe there are lots of people out there in this country who have this quality of generating ideas within the blink of eyes. So, what we did at the beginning was that we chalked a long list of ideas of what is possible, should be done in Bangladesh and what we want to do. Hundreds of ideas were there. And then we screened them out based on two qualities: impact and capability to bring money. Then we found that in the first row there were 15 -20 ideas, out of hundreds, which would be wonderful to work with wonderful impact and capable to bring money as well. And we had another list with less monetary possibility but more impact. So, we had these two lists of ideas: A and B. And after much discussion finally we chose two of the A category projects and one B category project. This was to balance inner passion and impact. That’s how we got started in nutshell.

Then if you talk about how did we get skilled people, I have to mention one name SM Shahrear. He has experience of working with SAP, Microsoft, and some other very recognized companies and he has a huge network of talented and skilled young people, sometimes it’s like he knows almost everyone out there. Through his network and mine we were able to collect 20 people for our initial team who were kind enough to sit with us to discuss things in details. That time we were also seeking for some people as founding members who would continue with ‘team engine’ without any expectation, in any case. However, there were no voluntary positions. My theory is, if I’m not going to pay people for their work then how am I going to say that I’m a for profit company.

But we had limitations and what we said was like this: let’s start if I take 10 taka you will also take 10 taka. So, we had the democracy! You know there were many many months we, directors, did not take single penny, thank God for that we could do it, but we always tried to pay our members and that’s one way how we minimized our operational costs at the beginning.

During that time my main role was to raise money which means to get investors. The initial seed fund came from the directors, and we were kind of certain that for initial one year we’d not able to get money from anybody. I invested whatever I earned before and same goes for our other three directors. But we knew that after a year things must be different. Other people should invest after knowing the potentiality and profitability of team engine and thank God, we also got some other investors in second year. However,I have to admit that convincing people to invest on your idea is a very draining job. Besides, we never went to bank. Because, you know the interest rates is just beyond reach and that’s really not favorable for start-ups.

So, what we did at the beginning was that we chalked a long list of ideas of what is possible, should be done in Bangladesh and what we want to do. Hundreds of ideas were there. And then we screened them out based on two qualities: impact and capability to bring money. Then we found that in the first row there were 15 -20 ideas, out of hundreds, which would be wonderful to work with wonderful impact and capable to bring money as well. And we had another list with less monetary possibility but more impact. So, we had these two lists of ideas: A and B. And after much discussion finally we chose two of the A category projects and one B category project. This was to balance inner passion and impact. That’s how we got started in nutshell.
Honestly, at team engine we suffered a lot. But we don’t want to let this continue. We are now trying to do something with this ‘Bank loan thing’ from team engine. We want to help entrepreneurs with guidance and network and six months from now I hope we can come up with some sort of financial support for entrepreneurs if it’s even in a small scale. It may be a venture capital type something or any other format but the main thing is that, it’ll reduce interest rate at a margin. And will be cost effective. If we don’t sacrifice now the number of entrepreneurs will be very small.

The journey was never smooth as usual; it always involves high risk and challenge. From last year we are working on projects in ‘partnership model’ as well. It means, the initiative is shared. Say for example, a govt. organization or a company shares a similar interest and passion for same thing we are passionate about and if we think that they would not kill the project then we tend to share partnership with them. Through the way they own the project along with us. And in exchange they sponsor or support the project any way. Still now we have not gone through raising development fund. We have not gone to bank. It’s all about individual who are interested in our work and who have faith on us and on our work.

The last thing is: if the project is innovative enough, feasible enough and the project provide the right return, I think there are people who are ready to support entrepreneurs.

Q 5: What’s the business model of ‘team engine’? Would you please tell us something about profit, break-even and money making?

Well, our initial one year was like break-even. That time we did many projects for other companies as service provider.But for last one year we are only implementing our own projects, and people could join us as partner, as supporter or sponsor. We are also introducing products to mass people.

The business model is a lot like this: one is subscription model- individual or entrepreneurs can get service with a minimum subscription fee but they have to remember Team Engine within their network. And the another model is sponsorship-it means we also take sponsorship for projects from interested companies or organizations. And there is partnership model too about which I talked earlier, so these three are the basic.

Q 6: How many people work here at ‘team engine’ now? And how do they work?

We have now 56 team members. We don’t say employee here, we all are team members. 35 of them are full timers and rest work as part timers. Part time people have their own allocated time frame and they work accordingly. Most of the part-timers are students and they come here after class and work till 8 pm or so and most of them have their own assigned works. They have their coordinators who manage and coordinate with them. And we don’t encourage volunteerism and we don’t have volunteers.

We don’t encourage working from home. We really want to work on some crazy ideas in working style like Google free time experiment, but Bangladesh is not ready for that kind of experience or environment yet. We have plan to work on some crazy ideas because I do believe that innovation is impossible in a rigid format/system.
In case of full timers, we do regular office. We don’t encourage working from home. We really want to work on some crazy ideas in working style like Google free time experiment, but Bangladesh is not ready for that kind of experience or environment yet. We have specific time frame, when people have to be in work. But we also try to be flexible in case of timing. We have plan to work on some crazy ideas because I do believe that innovation is impossible in a rigid format/system.

Q 7: Would you please tell us few of the problems you have faced to date and the way you out performed them?

I was & I’m always well networked because I had the privilege to work in some international platforms. If you don’t have enough good network and you start something, it means you are going to suffer a lot at the beginning. So, as a start-up, to me, you should have good network, you should know where to go, and where to talk. You should know where to pitch your products and where to go to get information. As I said, I’m always well networked as a result I did not face that kind of problem. But I know people who faces this sort of problem.

Second thing is about motivation. It’s extremely challenging to stay motivated and to motivate team members. Meaning: it might happen, well, it happened to me, I could not pay people for three months for different reasons. And those three months were really hard. However, I took that three months as a challenge and used as an experiment to see who stays and who actually goes away or leave ‘team engine’. And it was a wonderful experience in a sense that it helped me to see things differently.

It rewinds many of my expectations with people. At that time many people I thought would never leave ‘team engine’ left and many people I never imagined would stay with me stayed. So, I think this challenge helped me and ‘team engine’ to find right people. But for many people/start-ups this kind of incident can hamper their progress greatly. But our system or management system was like that we could stand it.

The third thing is of course finance and it’s still a major crisis for us as well. Because making people to believe in things that never happened before is very hard. However, Alhamdulillah, things are now quite well, and I think next 6 months will be a good time for us. Right now, we are in second phase and we’ll be in growth stage very soon which will require to inject lots of money.

Second thing is about motivation. It’s extremely challenging to stay motivated and to motivate team members. Meaning: it might happen, well, it happened to me, I could not pay people for three months for different reasons. And those three months were really hard. However, I took that three months as a challenge and used as an experiment to see who stays and who actually goes away or leave ‘team engine’. And it was a wonderful experience in a sense that it helped me to see things differently.
And then there is the problem with the culture and society and system. Well, although I personally did not encounter this problem but many of my colleagues and friends faced it. Culturally we like people to work with a big brand. Parents don’t want their kids to spoil their life by starting up something but have a secure life with some multinational jobs. They don’t believe that anybody can start a business and make it happen. And this is a great challenge for start-ups in Bangladesh. It’s very difficult to make your people believe that entrepreneurship is not only cool, it is possible. I think I’m lucky in that sense that I did not face this problem!

Q 8: Have you ever faced any problem because you are a woman and an entrepreneur? And what do you think how can we get rid of those problems?

I have to give you a comparison, when I was working in other organizations nobody asked me that why I was there. I was there with my own capacity and quality. But right now when I’m an entrepreneur and there are people, a lot, who salute me for leaving that career and for starting up. But there are also people who think that I am doing well because I am a woman and I am privileged!

There are people who think that women are incapable of leading and managing work as entrepreneur but I did and I think I am quite good at it. Moreover, I’ve seen lot more women doing this same thing with no less efficiency and smartness than men.
As a service holder my responsibility and as an entrepreneur my responsibility vary greatly. When I’m a job holder my responsibility is only for me but as an entrepreneur I have to take responsibility of another 55 people who are giving up their everything for me. And I’m capable of taking responsibility of them and they are my family.

There are people who think that women are incapable of leading and managing work as entrepreneur but I did and I think I am quite good at it. Moreover, I’ve seen lot more women doing this same thing with no less efficiency and smartness than men.

Q 9: What it takes to make a campaign happen?

Well, from my experience at ‘team engine’ and my earlier jobs I can say few things about campaign and about making a campaign happen. First thing is: when I say campaign that means it is continuing process of establish good things, important matters and crucial information. It is like you are in a mission. It does not mean only advertisement campaign, it not only increases sales or it’s not only to aware people, but it intends to have impact in the mind of target audience that’ll lead to relevant action. Whatever we do we have a general expectation. And in doing anything there is a process. So,in making a campaign happen there can be many models of course. At ‘team engine’ our approach is inclusive. At a time our campaigns are social, development and promotional campaigns. It’s blend of three things. So, logically to blend these three things together you have to have experience of these three things as well, otherwise you would not be able to strategies a campaign. So, having experience is critical.

BBC Janala is one of the best things I was involved with in my career so far. You know, in our country around 9 crore people are using mobile phone, that means 60% of total population is using mobile phone. Besides its communicative utility, this device has a huge potential to be used as an educational tool. But when we were working on BBC Janala project many people said it was cliche and asked why people would spend BDT 1 per minute to learn English. And why people would believe you that mobile phone could be a good educational solution in case of learning English! But when we launched it two hundred thousand people subscribed within first 6 months and were using the service and after few more months it was a million. So, it was huge, and interestingly it was the introduction stage, and we were surprised.

So, second thing is that you have to make sure that you are offering a good service within a affordable cost, and you’ve to make your service available and obviously your communication must be good enough to earn a place in the mind of your target people. Because we only receive something, or buy something when we understand that it will improve my life. It’ll improve something that I could not do.
So, second thing is that you have to make sure that you are offering a good service within a affordable cost, and you’ve to make your service available and obviously your communication must be good enough to earn a place in the mind of your target people. Because we only receive something, or buy something when we understand that it will improve my life. It’ll improve something that I could not do. Now BBC Janala is hugely successful and it’s replicated in many other countries including few countries in Africa.

In January we are going to launch a healthy living campaign with a vision to empower people to live a healthy life, and to communicate very basic issues of health and well-being. This campaign will deal with what to eat, how to exercise, and many other basic health related issues. We’ll also be providing information and motivationin a way that’ll be fun and will inspire them to act.Let’s see what happen.

Q 10: You are a maker, & creative worker, do you have any special style of working of your own?

Well, I can’t work without flow chart. I need white board with a marker while communicating with others other wise it becomes very difficult to infuse into other people. Flowchart and white board help me a lot to strategies, to deliver things to other people, and to inspire people with innovative ways.

Samira Zuberi Himika & part of her white board
Samira Zuberi Himika & part of her white board
Samira uses charts to organize and strategies things
Samira uses charts to organize and strategies things
I really love excel, it helps me to arrange works accordingly, it’s a wonderful tool not only for calculation but also for project management, and for designing strategy. For project management excel is excellent.

I love and listen music when I’m in deep work. And I’m in very much ingrained with technology, I can’t think a day without email and Google.And even when I’m at home I’m always connected with my people.

Q 11: How do you feel about starting-up now? Do you think you made some mistakes that you would avoid if you get a second chance?

Well, if it’s wishful then I would have rather started with a lot of money. Although it seems impossible before starting a company but now I think it’s possible. There are many people who have lots of money, and who want to invest their money too. But you must have great ideas, plan and you have to reach to them with your total plan. I believe, it’s possible to start with a good amount of money if you have a good project.

Yes, there were mistakes and you know, everybody makes mistakes, but it’s not what’s important, above all I have learned a lot and you can’t avoid mistakes in life and in work.
The second thing is, I would have started years back. I mean I wish if I could start earlier. As earlier as possible. Because I’m now around 30, If I were in my 20’s then I would have been more energetic. Otherwise everything is wonderful. Yes, there were mistakes and you know, everybody makes mistakes, but it’s not what’s important, above all I have learned a lot and you can’t avoid mistakes in life and in work.

Q 12: Do you have a view of ideal start-up founder?

Number one: they have to be extremely passionate and at any circumstance, they should not lose their sanity. Sanity is the main thing. Because, so many unexpected challenges arise every day, every month. So, patience is the virtue.

Then comes the proper planning and operation according to plan. It means you should have a good scheduler in back of your mind-it will help you with your daily and weekly targets and promises to meet. And then comes the Commitment. Without it moving ahead will be impossible. And finally, a never give up mindset that ‘I’ll stick to it until I get there’.

 So many unexpected challenges arise every day, every month. So, patience is the virtue.

Source: http://futurestartup.com/2013/01/11/face-to-face-with-samira-zuberi-himika-founder-managing-director-team-engine/

44

Inspiration Stories / Face To Face With Taslima Miji, Founder And CEO, Techmania

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:17:58 PM »

Q 1: We’re excited and grateful for having a chance to interview you. We have been following your work for a long time and it always inspires us. We are really interested to know about yourself and your passion.

I was born and grew up in Chandpur with my other five siblings. We were joint family and the best part of my childhood was the time I spent with my grandmother. Though I’m a forgetful person, I even forget what happened yesterday, but I can still go back to my childhood days. Those days are special and filled with sweet memories. I remember in those days, I was kind of rebellious, extrovert and outgoing type.

When I was in class five we had a headmaster who was a wonderful teacher and honest person. Sir has this system of spending some extra time after school where he taught brilliant and dull students together so that they could do better. And he never charged for it. Actually teaching was his true passion. I was always good in academic performance, so I was in that group. One day sir told us that taking money in exchange of coaching and private teaching is unethical and illegal and no teacher should do that. Although we were too young to understand the ethical ground but he asked us not to attend coaching which other teachers were giving in exchange of money. He said it is unethical to sell education, and they could not do that. If you don’t understand anything in class you must ask your teachers, even should demand extra time after class. But we were taught that if we don’t go to the coaching those teachers would scold us. Realizing that he said, you could complain to school managing committee, but after thinking about our age he said, you are too young to complain and I’d look after it. But we said we could do it and insisted, finally he agreed to let us do the job. And we went to managing committee and complained about the matter. Along with complain we even said that we would call for protest if our demand was not met. The members of managing committee got so fun out of our approach of complaining that they laughed. Unfortunately! I was the leader of this gang of children protesters and to my utter surprise managing committee said that they would solve the problem and instead of scolding me for being so naive at a very young age they encouraged me and also said that I’ll make a very good leader in future. Well, I did not become a leader but this memory still inspires me a lot.

I studied in Chandpur till my SSC and then I came to Dhaka and finished my HSC and then attended Dhaka University.

From childhood I was the most rebellious and outgoing one among my sisters. My elder sister was (and still is) the best girl I have ever seen and also most deprived one! She was a very talented student and good at almost everything. But she had this habit of taking permission from parent for almost everything. I guess she never did anything without the consent of my parents. I was just opposite. I did everything what I wanted to do. So, difference between us was apparent. Just because she was kind of calm and ideal child she missed a lot in life. She was talented and very good and missed a lot in life and I was rebellious and curious and I got a lot in life.

Let me tell you an interesting story about this. Once there was a picnic tour from my sister’s college to Gazipur or Joydebpur, I forgot the location. It was an academic picnic and everything was organized by college and there were teachers to look after students. So, there was nothing to take permission from family. But my sister was a good girl! So, she asked my father and he did not allow. Consequently, my sister missed the chance.

On the other hand, once I had to go to Tripura for an organizational purpose. It was during my university life and I was staying in university Hall. So, I thought if I ask for permission from my family then I would not get the permission to go rather what if I go first and tell them after coming back from there. So, I went and came back and then told my father. He was like “oh! your sister asked me to go to Gazipur and could not go and you went to Tripura and now telling me”.

I think being a bit more curious and rebellious is much better. Moreover, after 18 everybody understands everything and parents also should understand what their children want. Well, there are many constraints in our society, especially for women. But I believe in life you have to be a bit rebellious, extrovert, curious, and a bit daring to live it fullest. There is a saying that good girl goes to heaven and bad girl goes to everywhere.

I studied sociology at the University of Dhaka. But I had a knack for writing in newspapers. It was around 1997 I started writing first and later on I started to contribute to some Bengali newspapers and subsequently ended up working as a regular reporter. Back then it seemed that writing was my passion. Although I was not sure whether writing would be my profession but I was kind of certain that writing and journalism would be my vocation finally. And gradually I started reporting regularly and became a reporter. I worked as a staff correspondent from 2001 to 2007 in a number of print Media. It’s quite a long time. Back then it was my dream that I would be a renowned journalist and writer. And people around me also appreciated and they praised the standard of my writing, insight, and style of investigation. My colleagues always said that I had this capability to write brilliant investigative report.

Journalism was an idealistic job to me. And behind my underlying motivation to choose journalism as a profession was that belief. I thought it was the right thing to do. But at one point of my career as a journalist it happened to me that the standard of ideology was not set then, or it was not even there before, or it was derailed. I did not know whether there was any ideological ground in the field of journalism but in my heart I always considered Journalism as an idealistic and noble profession. But when in a profession like journalism you live a life that have almost everything i.e. you live a snobbish life, you send your kids to costly schools, you often go to clubs, fashion houses, you also manage to give a decent time to your family and your study, then you have to understand that there is something very much wrong-at least in our present context. Well, I don’t want to talk a lot about my previous profession and I’m not a regretful person too. But it’s true that writing was a true passion to me.

Those were awful days for journalism, channel after channel, newspaper after newspaper was closing down. Besides, I was a very young mom that time, the age of my baby was only three months, so it was very difficult for me to collaborate with my co-workers. I was having serious problem with my team. Then I left my newspaper career and worked as a freelance writer for about 8 months and then I joined at a Television, unfortunately, that channel was closed down suddenly and I was kind of unemployed! That’s when one of my friends asked me to start a business by giving a very simple idea. It was like that business is a very plain thing to do! That’s how my journey to the world of entrepreneurship started.

Entrepreneurship is an act of calculation, it’s a matter of vision, and you have to be very smart- smart in a sense that you have to be cleaver enough to survive. Moreover, you have to be calculative like magpie, and sometimes you have to play some tricks to win the game in a way that people would not understand that you are playing tricks. I have to confess that I had not have these qualities when I started. It’s not that I’ve already acquired them all but I’m trying, as you know I’m from a non-business background, I studied Sociology at University and I practiced journalism as a profession so it was tough for me to learn and apply all those tricks. Well, still I’m trying to make sense of many of these tricks.

Journalism is called one of the most challenging jobs for women, but now I think business is much more difficult for women. I have this habit of giving my 100% to work I do and I think your ideology, how you see things and world around, has a profound impact on what you do. And I don’t believe that there is something called social business or non-profit business, I think business itself is a pro-people activity and it has a lot to do for people.

At the beginning I had this feeling of regret that I came to this entrepreneurship thing by leaving a noble profession but now I don’t feel that way. Rather, I think I’m doing a great job and I’m breaking rules and barriers for women and many young people.

I think being a bit more curious and rebellious is much better. Moreover, after 18 everybody understands everything and parents also should understand what their children want. Well, there are many constraints in our society, especially for women. But I believe in life you have to be a bit rebellious, extrovert, curious, and a bit daring to live it fullest. There is a saying that: good girl goes to heaven and bad girl goes to everywhere.
Q 2: Is there anybody who is/was an entrepreneur in your family?

I don’t know whether entrepreneurship is a matter of heredity but, yes, my father is a quite successful business man. However, my business is no way related to my father’s business.

My family is a business family. My father was a very successful entrepreneur and I always had a dream that I’d ultimately take care of my family business but my father always opposed the idea and told me that it’s not a business for girls. And you know business is always a manly job and especially, in sectors like manufacturing, working is tough for a woman. It’s partly true. It’s partly because most of the sectors is not ready yet for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. There are few sectors where women are leading but it’ll take time to get hold in other sectors.

I don’t believe the projection that business is a manly job. It is how our society project. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh structure of business is organized around this very projection. But the scenario is changing fast and many women are entering into the world of entrepreneurship. Woman can do business and I’m the proof of that. In Multiplan Center there are 450 shops and I’m the only woman owner.
Q 3: Briefly tell us about your journey to become an entrepreneur.

The idea of entering into the world of business came to me from one of my friends who gave me this idea of starting a business. It was a very simplistic idea of starting a business. I could not find what he thought when he pitched me about the business, it was like this: he said- I know where to source product, how to sell and few other things; so let’s start a business, we will source product from here, then we will put them in our shop and people come and we will sell and get the money. So, this is how I got the first idea of starting a business. I don’t know, he thought me very smart and cleaver to understand the rest of the game or that if we could use my talent in the business then we could do a robust business. But, he was wrong and I was not that much cleaver to understand the rest!

However, after much thought we jointly started the business in 2008. When we started I had no investment. The deal was: I would be working partner and my friend would be financing partner. But our partnership business did not last long. We were very close friends but for reasons we did not continue our business together. You know in partnership business- perspective, ideas, goals and values should be alike otherwise you’ll have lots of problem. I believe that business is an act of commitment and when I can meet small commitments then I’ll get the chance to meet bigger deal and commitment. There we few issues between us and we decided to split and work separately.

Our joint shop was in level 9 of Multiplan Center at that time. When our joint business ended level 4 was opening up for shops and businesses. Then one of my friends suggested me to apply for a shop. The process of getting a shop was simple: you need to give a fixed deposit for getting a shop and a choice. Fortunately, I was one of the few early bookers and got a shop in a good location. That’s how my own journey started.

At the beginning it was impossibly challenging and tough. I was new and knew nothing. I had to learn everything myself by doing. Things are not easy now, neither that difficulties are fading away but now I know how things work. Among the major challenges, finding clients was the most critical one. Moreover, I was from a non business background and I had no experience of managing business. In addition, I had very limited capital and in Hardware business it’s extremely difficult to have innovative ideas and implement them. In service, and manufacturing industries you get lots of options to innovate and implement new ideas but in Hardware business this opportunity is very slim. The only scope to work is in marketing. Besides, hardware market is a very competitive market and I was new, and even I did not start with a market survey.

Moreover, the glass ceiling issue was (is) always there. People were more curious about my background than me and my business. It was like that I don’t have an identity as a person. They had huge interest in everything I do just because I was a woman. All these things took serious toil on me but I told myself that you have to go through this and you have to be patient and be focused. At times, we need to close our eyes, our ears, and our mouth to make progress in life and in work. I tried to divert my focus from these trifles to my progress.

Business is a very tricky game. I have to deal with tough things like getting deal, connecting with clients and managing funds etc which are extremely difficult. I don’t know whether I should share these things but I think newcomers should know what they are going to face and how they should prepare themselves.

Fund is one of the major problems startup entrepreneurs face often. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh banks don’t welcome new entrepreneurs. Moreover, if you are a woman then things are going to be extra pungent for you. When a woman entrepreneur seeks bank loan, bankers often think that the money is not for the woman herself rather for her father or husband. Well, it happens sometimes, husband takes loan in the name of wife, but there are real entrepreneurs too and they should not be the sufferers of someone else’s sins. It’s responsibility of banks and other financial organizations to identify real entrepreneurs and serve them. It’s never an acceptable behavior to close door on the face because she is a woman. And this is unethical too.

People were more curious about my background than me and my business. It was like I don’t have an identity as a person. They had huge interest in everything I do just because I was a woman. Well, it was not like that all these things never hurt me rather it did. But I told myself that you have to go through this and you have to be patient and be focused. Sometime we need to close our eyes, our ears, and our mouth to make progress in life and work. I tried to divert my focus from these trifles to my progress.
Then comes the challenge of getting contract where corruption slips into the process. In all big purchase there is corruption. And for woman this is a big disadvantage. I have experiences of facing peculiar types of questions just because I’m a woman i.e. you provide technology? Can you provide technical support at 12 am? Can you do that, do this etc? I often reply like this: well, would you please tell me who will do this for you at 12 am?

Beyond this, they, buyers and sellers of big budget, have social mixing after business hours. They sit together and do party, drinks and do many things that are impossible for a woman to do. And I don’t think I could afford this as a woman and as a result I sometimes miss big deals.

Then comes to our business related infrastructures like TAX, VAT, bank loans, LC, interest rate, various types of loan etc. and in case of availing many of these opportunities you have to do the same thing as I said previously. The system is highly corrupted. Say for example, there is a BDT 300 crore fund for women entrepreneurs but Banks, according to authority, seldom find any genuine and eligible woman entrepreneurs to disburse that money. And when I asked them that don’t you think I’m eligible and genuine then what’s the problem to give me the loan and why you give me only BDT 12 lakh instead of a big amount? Well, you would not get an answer.

I took loan three times and I never defaulted and never missed my payment deadline. It’s really a mystery that how they give loan and who are those lucky persons who get loan. You know the incidents like Hallmark issue; it is actually a tip of iceberg and there are many more of these kinds of incidents. Basically, the total system is corrupted. And if you want to work here you’ll have to go through these problems. New entrepreneurs seldom understand many of these things, and cannot foresee and that creates problem for them. But it’s in the market that, business is like this.

Once I had this opportunity to meet Samson H. Chowdhury and I asked him about his chemistry behind his success, how he built a giant business from a medical store. His answer was rather self evident: “one should stick with his plan and idea and there is the question of luck with this and you have to work hard.”

I also believe that successful people often persistent type, hard working and they sacrifice many happiness of their personal life. You know everything has price.

Q 4: Please tell us about ‘Techmania’.

At Techmania we basically provide hardware and hardware related services, i.e. computer, computer assembly, networking and computer related peripheral items and trouble shooting of various items etc. Besides, we have some other dreams and plans and those are still in dreaming stage.

I started Techmania in June, 2008. It started with taking my shop in Multiplan Center. At the beginning, when I was going to take the shop at Multiplan center, I got into trouble with installment deposit. The amount was around BDT 2 lakh, back then which was really a big amount for me. For many people it’s no big deal but for me it was. To arrange that money I applied for bank loan and asked for an amount of BDT 8 lakh. That time my banking activities was with AB bank and many of AB Bank’s employees were known to me and one of them was Faruk Mainuddin, who is now working at The City Bank Ltd. When I approached for loan Faruk Bhai said that- I know you and I would help you to manage finance but you have to think twice whether you have the courage that you could repay the loan. I replied that I could with all my available confidence! Then he helped me to get the loan.

From my dealing with loan I learned one lesson that an old trade license worth more than a new one. And for me this was a problem. My trade license was a very new, and was almost spotless! And immature business man does not get loan. The fact is that if you have a much used trade license it’ll make you more acceptable to bankers because it tells that you are doing business for a long time.
Beside, ours is trading business. It was hard to prepare myself for it. For me it was more like a journey of self discovery- a journey where you know nothing about places and you need to know everything and also manage to keep moving ahead.

For me it was a whole new world. I had no idea about my clients but I had to prepare myself for almost everything. And all of it was random. I was preparing myself randomly without knowing the tricks and was doing random marketing of my products.

Techmania snapshotMoreover, there was my gender identity to stand still on my way to hinder my journey time to time. Say for example, when I went for any promotional activities, firstly they tried not to take me seriously, even not to give me an appointment, then when I got a chance to talk they (clients) started taking their own instead of listening to me. Many times I had to listen to my clients first and then I could talk about mine. And even it happened that at first they refused to talk but later they started to talk too much that it difficult for me. And unfortunately all these were new and pathetic experience for me.

While I started, I started with one staff in my team. And later on it starts to grow and now we are seven. The journey was indeed difficult. My background was neither tech nor business. As a result I had to learn both of these slowly. And it was extremely difficult. I learned them through hard work, reading and understanding.

Ours is trading business. So, it’s very difficult to prepare myself and to do the marketing. For me it was more like a journey of self discovery- a journey where you know nothing about places and you need to know everything and also manage to keep moving ahead.
Q 6: Tell us about few problems you faced and the way you outperformed those problems. Have you ever faced any problem because you are a woman and an entrepreneur? And what do you think, how can we make it a little easier for women entrepreneurs?

As I said previously, state mechanism would not welcome you. It is corrupt and it does not accommodate young startups with smile. It does not welcome young people, it does not welcome women. Corruption is all over there.

It made me feel too sad many times that I only face certain problem because of my age, gender and social status. In fact it made me to cry, especially, if it’s for gender issue. But now I think, in some situations you have to adapt and act according to your societal demand. And I’m trying to do so.

The thing I want to tell women entrepreneurs that please lock your ears and close your eyes. You have to be shameless. When a society does not allow a woman to do what she deserves it is shame on that society. Someone has to come forward and break the silence and obstacles and social dogmas, otherwise things will never change. I want some shameless women who will come forward and break the glass ceiling issues. Well, please don’t take me otherwise, when I’m talking about shameless I mean women with courage in a positive way, when I’m talking about breaking rules I’m talking about doing it for social goods, and I am not talking about anything barbaric. I want to tell that, don’t bother about what other people talk about you, people will talk anyway. Women should have the courage to break rules and go ahead.

I have experience of rough conversation with my fellow business men. I have a business card and my phone number is there which is almost public and I have experiences of having some terrible phone harassing as well. It hurts me but I always said myself that- ‘ignore’, and my focus is nothing but to go ahead.

I want to tell women entrepreneurs that please lock your ears and close your eyes. You have to be shameless. In point of fact, when a society does not allow a woman to do what she deserves its shame of that society. Someone has to come forward and break the silence and obstacles and social dogmas, otherwise these will never change. I want some shameless women who will come forward and break the glass ceiling issues. Well, please don’t take me otherwise, when I’m talking about shameless I’m talking about courage in a positive way, when I’m talking about breaking rules I’m talking about doing it for social goods, and I am not talking about anything barbaric. I want to tell that, don’t bother about what other people talk about you, anyway people will talk. Women should have the courage to break rules and go ahead.
Q 7: What it takes to become a successful woman entrepreneur?

Success is a relative term. For some people success is how much money you have, for others it is entirely different. To me success is not a station rather it is a journey. If you enjoy the journey, if you make progress every day, if you slowly move towards your goal then you are successful. I think we should not make the definition of success conclusive rather enjoy the journey. For me, I have not made tons of money but my journey is still on. I’m moving ahead and making progress every single day, slowly I’m moving ahead towards my goal. And this is how I think about success.

Then success is all about spirit. You have to have the spirit. To be successful you must have clear goal in mind, what do you want to do, and then you have to stick with it till you make it. In business there will be ups and downs, but if you give up in the face of obstacles then you are not going to make it. I think one should study the past success stories of one’s filed and should learn from it.

And another thing is people. One should know how to relate his/her initiative with people. To me people are basically helpful and supportive. Although it’s often said that people are selfish in nature, but I don’t believe it. If one can explore goodness within oneself then it’ll be wonderful.

And above all you have to be extremely hard working and a real fighter. One should be in touch with people who have the connection. Having connections from where you might get some help is important.

To me success is not a station rather it is a journey. If you enjoy the journey, if you make progress every day, if you slowly move towards your goal then you are successful. I think we should not make the definition of success conclusive rather enjoy the journey.
Q 8: You are a maker and entrepreneur. Do you have any special style of working of your own?

I use a primitive age CityCell phone, in this cheap phone I’ve a function called reminder and I use it. I’m a forgetful person and I need to remind myself about things time to time so that I don’t miss a deadline.

I’m an avid user of Google drive. I maintain a file in Google drive. Whenever, I get an idea, no matter wherever it is, I enlist it in my note book and when I get online I update it in my Google Drive file. Every morning I start my day by checking my Google Drive file and work schedule and I also finish the day with it. It helps me to maintain my schedule.

Q 9: How do you feel about starting-up now? If you are given another chance to redo everything from the beginning tell about few things, if any, that you would do differently.

I’m not a regretful person. I do much of thinking before doing anything instead of regretting about it after doing. It is true if I were aware of few things then I could avoid few troubles but that is not important. I think, I did my best based on my energy, and capacity, and I’m happy with that.

Q 10: If a young woman come to you and ask for your advice, what would you tell her?

Be focused. Study market before starting. I started without a market study and I had to pay the price many times. Don’t listen what people say. I would also suggest to start with some working experience in the sector she is going to start. Be realistic. Talk less and work more. Don’t be showy. Don’t be too friendly and be strategic. Moreover, a woman should also remember that society is very much critical about her behavior and this should not be ignored completely.

She should know the obstacles and be ready to face them. If anything wrong happen, one should take help from state mechanism, should knock on all doors without considering lead. Make connection. And be bold.

One thing I want to emphasize specially is that, women are very much aware of their body and often put illogical importance on bodily beauty. I think they should expense less money in cosmetics and beautification and more on development of their soul and brain. Please don’t spend lots in beautification and lipstick. As an entrepreneur one must be conscious about useless cost.

One should separate her working and personal space. Never do the work from your bed room! In fact one can’t. My experience about ‘working from home’ is failure. One should rise early, If not that early then at least at a reasonable time. Don’t stay around your bed. It makes people lethargic. Be always fit in health and cloth. Dress smartly-it sets our psychological tune for work.

Be choosy in case of using social networking sites and virtual life. Make schedule of your leisure time, sleeping time, and hangout time. Sleep late/work late at night and wake up early. Most importantly, work hard and make it happen.

To be successful you must have clear goal in mind, what do you want to do, and then you have to stick with it till you make it. In business there will be ups and downs, but if you give up in the face of obstacles then you are not going to make it. I think one should study the past success stories of one’s filed and should learn from it.

Source: http://futurestartup.com/2013/03/08/face-to-face-with-taslima-miji-founder-and-ceo-techmania/

45

Inspiration Stories / Face To Face With Bibi Russell, Founder, Bibi Productions

« on: July 09, 2017, 11:16:29 PM »

BiBi Russell is the founder of ‘Bibi Productions’-a world renowned fashion house working with crafts people in Bangladesh. Bibi was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh. She grew up in Dhaka studying in Kamrunnessa Govt. Girls’ High School and Home Economics College. Later she went to London and earned a graduate degree in fashion from London College of Fashion. In the next few years, Bibi worked as a fashion model with different prestigious organizations and talented people.

In 1994 BiBi returned to Bangladesh and opened Bibi Productions in the year of 1995, a fashion house, fusing indigenous Bengali cultural elements into her line. With BiBi Productions she first claimed the much cited slogan ‘Fashion for Development’. Then on Bibi has been working with crafts people with a vision to save crafts and revive their dream.

Bibi has received recognition from many prestigious organizations around the world- “Honorary Fellowship” by the London Art University, “Entrepreneur Woman of the Year” by the Foundation of Entrepreneur Women, “UNESCO Special Envoy: Designer for Development”, UNESCO Artist for Peace, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, and YODONA Award for Humanity are few of many.

Q. This is really wonderful to have you. Please tell us about yourself and your passion.

I’m Bibi, I work with and for crafts people. My aim is to save and revive crafts and help crafts people to live better life. I believe in positive Bangladesh. Whatever I do I keep that in mind. I believe fashion can be used for social and economic development. Fashion, for me, is a cultural identity, a necessity. In todays world no one can go naked. You need a piece of cloth to cover your pride. This holds a very fundamental truth that fashion is a part and parcel of social and economic development which opens up many doors of opportunities for us.

As I said earlier, I work for and with crafts people and whatever I do I make sure that it’s a sustainable income for the people involved. I want to ensure better livelihood for crafts people and education and health for their children.

I was born in Chittagong, that time it was East Pakistan, and brought up in Dhaka. But my father was from Rangpur and my Mother from Dhaka. So we were brought up in a multi-cultural environment and I had a very wonderful childhood. Today I know many things about our art, culture, music, and everything because of my brilliant childhood and all the credit goes to my parents. They made us believe that there is a positive Bangladesh. They made us feel proud of Bangladesh.

I’m very lucky to see and come close to many great politicians, great artists, and great musicians during my childhood. Our house was open to all. So, we were not like stuck rich children, we had a very beautiful childhood and we did travel a lot.

Now, when I look back I understand, when a person grows her dream grows too. So this dream of mine, to serve, is not an accident rather something deep-seated into my heart. It was there from my childhood, despite the fact that it became clear when I was in abroad.

I want to preserve the heritage of my country, foster creativity, provide employment, empower women and contribute towards the eradication of poverty. That is what I’m committed to do. Save the crafts people and help revive their dreams.
I did my basic education in Bangladesh. I went to a Bangla medium school and then I went to Home Economics Collage to do my BSC. I was lucky enough to have Siddika Kabir, Hosna Banu Apa and many other great teachers. I received my education on fashion in London, from London College of fashion; I’m graduated as a fashion designer.

Today I’m back because I love this country. I believe there is a positive Bangladesh which was implanted within me by my parents. That’s why I think how you grow up; and how you spent your childhood is a very important issue. Nobody asked me to come back; neither did my parents give me an injection of DeshPrem [love for country]. They knew I would come back and do this. My two feet are in the ground. I lead a very normal life.

I want to preserve the heritage of my country, foster creativity, provide employment, empower women and contribute towards the eradication of poverty. That is what I’m committed to do. Save the crafts people and help revive their dreams.

Now, when I look back I understand, when a person grows her dream grows too. So this dream of mine, to serve, is not an accident rather something deep-seated into my heart. It was there from my childhood, despite the fact that it became clear when I was in abroad.
Q. Tell about one of your favorite memories?

Well, I have hundreds of sweet, favorite memories. I can’t tell you one because I don’t want to tag a single memory as favorite. Many memories make you. It’s equally true for me. So, I don’t have one favorite memory but many.

Q. You were a renowned international fashion model and worked with brilliant people & prestigious organizations and life as a top fashion model and life as an Entrepreneur is completely different. So, what’s the reason, what’s your underlying motivation behind becoming an entrepreneur and designer?

I think someone like me would not do something very suddenly. I’m a very focused person. I knew what I wanted to do but it had to be very clear to me whether I could do it or not before embarking on a journey. So I took time. I had a dream but it took me many years, 20 years, to make my dream come true. I wanted to come back but I wanted to have mental and physical strength to be able to put everything behind my dream and drop everything on earth to make it happen.

You can go forward in your life but you have to be focused. Being a girl from Bangladesh and to work in Europe and to make your first name known to the world is not an easy to do. It’s a very tough job but I did it.
Then and again, as I told you earlier I was brought up in a very cultured family. I saw and met great people in my childhood. And I always wanted to make a difference. I think family, how you grow up, is very important. My parents always make a list of stars in the sky for us. There were Tagore, Shakespeare, Nazrul, Jibonanondo Dash, and many more and they never made me feel like you are the star. So, I never felt myself like a star. Since my childhood I had stars to follow. It was built-in inside me. And my major source of motivation or inspiration is within.

Most importantly, I believe that whatever success I had in Europe or in the world it was because of Bangladesh. I owe this to my nation. If I had one bit of success it was because the world was curious about me, it was because I was from Bangladesh, so I wanted to give back. That’s what motivated me to come back and does what I’m doing now.

You can go forward in your life but you have to be focused. Being a girl from Bangladesh and to work in Europe and to make your first name known to the world is not an easy to do. It’s a very tough job but I did it. So, I thought if could do tough there I could do it in my own country.

I believe that whatever success I had in Europe or in the world it was because of Bangladesh. I owe this to my nation. If I had one bit of success it was because the world was curious about me, it was because I was from Bangladesh, so I wanted to give back. That’s what motivated me to come back and does what I’m doing now.
Bibi productions web
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Q. Please briefly tell us about ‘Bibi Productions’, what’s the main idea?

I came back to Bangladesh on the first day of 1994. Prior of that I traveled around and used to come to Bangladesh often but not for living. My parents always lived in Bangladesh. So, I used to come for long weekend. It’s exigent to know Bangladesh very well. But when I came back I knew I came back to live in Bangladesh. I came back to make my dream happen. There is a big difference between coming on holidays and living because each area of Bangladesh has its own dialect, culture, food habit and way of life. I had to be used to that.

Bibi ProductsIn July 1995, after much ado, I opened ‘BiBi Productions’. Back then I knew many NGOs and people who were working in same arena but I wanted to do something very different. So, I did the things differently. In Bibi Productions I’m the founder but surrounding me none of is my relative here. I picked up people who I thought believe in what I believe, and believe in positive Bangladesh.

Diversity of people is an important ingredient of Bibi Productions. All members of my team are from lower middle class families-poor the world says. I wanted to give them the confidence that poverty is not an incurable disease. You can come out of poverty if you work harder. You have to plan, you have to be focused, and you have to work hard to make your plan happen.

ProductsI started Bibi Production with the vision to save and revive crafts and to a better living standard for crafts people. There might be one or two mistakes I’ve made, but that does not matter, everybody does.

Bibi Productions is a hundred percent self funded project and financed by me. I never had anyone paying me. I’ve been doing this for 18 years, tough life is gone. I never had a sponsor, I never had anything. But it’s not a complaint. Whatever I have in life I put it in Bibi Productions. When I came back I thought many people and Bank would come forward but no one. They give it to corporate and big NGOs, they don’t believe. I thought it’s may be because they can sell the poverty but I’m showing not the misery of the poverty but the beauty. I’m showing hands of crafts people have magic.

However, at Bibi Productions I’m just the founder; I’ll be leaving Bibi Production for the people of Bangladesh. There is no other way, if I show you my card; you can see I’m just the founder- I’m not the managing director, other people do the work and they own BIbi Productions.

I thought it’s may be because they can sell the poverty but I’m showing not the misery of the poverty but the beauty. I’m showing hands of crafts people have magic.
Q. Please tell us few more bits and pieces of the story.

Well, till now I’m picking up and at the first phase of the ladder. Of course, it is much better now. Back then it was even difficult to make people understand that this was possible, something that can be done. Now fashion for development is picked up by almost all the countries because it’s important for social and economic development. May be I don’t make tons of money, or I’m still at the first step of the ladder, or Bangladesh does not give me any sponsorship or anything, that does not stop me working. I make sure our village people, our crafts people have what they need to make magic happen and to revive crafts.

I disagree with the majority of the people who think everything comes from the privileged class. There are no fools. I’m leaving Bibi Productions, if you have talent, if you know how to do it, there is a chance.

Q. How many people work at ‘Bibi Productions’ now? And how do they work?

In office and around we work around 30 people. They all are permanent. We work like a family.
At Bibi Productions three things are very important for me- one: whatever little money I earn I make sure that crafts people get their share straight away. All the people work in my office are from ordinary family and I make sure that they get paid for their contribution. No one gets paid second day of the month. That is my first priority that employees and crafts people get paid on time.

The whole world wants to know about Bibi Productions, and how Bibi Productions works. I always tell my team that, the most excellent team anybody can ever have, don’t think you have achieved everything, there are much better job to be done. We are always on run to make things better.

Research is an imperative for us. Whatever little money I make in Bibi Productions, I put it in research. If today I die, Bangladesh will go 30 years ahead with what I’m doing with my own money. It’s not like that if I die tomorrow Bibi Productions will be closed down, no; there are people who will take it forward.

Research is an imperative for us. Whatever little money I make in Bibi Productions, I put it in research. If today I die, Bangladesh will go 30 years ahead with what I’m doing with my own money.


Q. You mean someone will take your legacy ahead.

It’s not about legacy; it’s about crafts and crafts people. If there is no one to take it forward then what will happen to crafts, to crafts people?

Q. Please tell us few of the problems you have faced to date and the way you out performed them?

I started Bibi Productions back in 1995. I know the struggle. Only thing which surprises me is, if I knew, it took me many years to make my name, Bibi, familiar to the world. I thought with that I would get lot of support in Bangladesh, especially, from Banks, Cooperates, but I did not.

I do exhibitions in Paris and other countries. Do you think I do that with my own money? No, never. I have sponsors and patrons. But I never did an exhibition in Bangladesh. Because why do I spend my own money to show my work to my own people. I have better things to do with my money. There are sponsors who want to sponsor my work in India, Srilanka, Cambodia and so on. That surprises me how come the rich society, Banks and educated society don’t support me here in my own country. They are giving crorer loan; of course they would not give me because I work with poor people and banks don’t bank on poor.

I’m a person with full of energy, and I never get depressed. My mental satisfaction is there, in top. I never had to take a sleeping tablet to go to sleep. I sleep whenever I need to go to sleep. I wake up to go forward. And I work hard.
Q. 18 years-it’s really a long journey. And in case of Bangladesh it’s of course not a very common phenomenon.

I enjoy my journey. I love working. And I have the freedom.

Q. Tell us about team, team problem, and problem with people.

I used to come to Bangladesh often but I never understood the politics inside until I start living permanently. My problem with Bangladesh, with the society, is my name. People think I’m too famous. But I’m not. Thus, people used to come here to work because of Bibi not because of crafts people. They don’t handle crafts people properly, or their job properly. They think I’m may be the Bill Gates, tons of money. This caused me problem for time being. But when I understood I cut down those people and selected people who believe in this work, who have passion for crafts and crafts people. Who believes as much as it’s my baby, it’s their baby too. Now it’s okay. One of the distinctive characteristics of my team is: most of my team is from village.
You have problems in everywhere but problems help us to grow.

 My problem with Bangladesh, with the society, is my name. People think I’m too famous. But I’m not. Thus, people used to come here to work because of Bibi not because of crafts people. They don’t handle crafts people properly, or their job properly.
Q. Woman entrepreneurship

First of all I believe in women empowerment. My office, here in Dhaka, is all boys and I’m the only woman. I don’t believe woman empowerment means you put a red carpet on my way. I can compete with the man. Rather give me the chance I deserve to compete and give me a level playing field.

Q. Had you faced any problem because you were a woman? How did you outperform those?

Well, at the beginning of my journey I spent 99.9% of my time in village. So, I did not face any problem because of my gender identity. For first one year I tried to be close to them. It took me one year to make crafts people understand that I’m there for them, to give people the confidence. So, it was a lot easier in-terms of gender issue.

Yes, if I were in the Dhaka and going to banks, I never go to bank because I have bad experience, and going around with these people then might be I would have lots of problems.

But I choose who I want to work, who I want to recruit, and lead. It gives me the opportunity to work with best people. You rarely see me in any program because I don’t see our people know how to show respect to people. There is no point respecting me when I’m dead. I don’t think one should respect me because I’m a woman, but because I’m a human being.

Q. We really have very small number of woman entrepreneurs. What do you think about it?

That’s not true. In village level women are working in almost every sector. Whatever the number the situation is no means barren. If you go to ethnic places like, Cox’s bazaar, Rangamati, Monipur, everywhere women are attending economic activities and contributing. Well, the number may be not that much encouraging but I don’t think it’s frustrating too.

Q. Tell us something about your design.

I do many kinds of design but whatever I do, and why the whole world want me is because, I use local ingredients, local materials in my design. I work in nearly all the countries, everywhere I use local materials. It is a very important feature of my design.

I do a lot of research; I spend a big chunk of my money in research. This is the situation where no one comes forward to take part. I can tell you, if I die today, Bangladesh can go forward. This is very important for me.

Q. What it takes to become a successful designer?

No creative person can tell you that I’m very successful. If you think you are successful you will go down. You do day to day. I went to a very good collage and I learned and I worked very hard. I don’t go and download film, yeah I do listen music when I feel like that. But I go through lot of researches. I use local materials to produce world class design, for instance take Khadi- Khadi does not mean you have to make something that look like a politician’s cloth. You can make young things out of Khadi. I make diversified products out of local fabric and materials.

No creative person can tell you that I’m very successful. If you think you are successful you will go down. You do day to day.
Q. You are the first person to ask ‘fashion for development’; when and how the idea first came to your mind? And why that?

I always believe, because I’m a Bangladeshi, we made history for the first time with a piece of cloth-the Muslin. If we could make it in thirteen century then we can do that in twenty first century too. I think today we can do that. I don’t believe in charity, absolutely no charity. I always say that, I can compete with the world. If you know how to write you don’t need best pen you can do with any pen.

Q. Tell something for our young startup entrepreneurs and wanna be designers.

For any one, it’s important to know what you are up to before embarking on a journey. I know Bangladesh very well. Before I went to Europe I knew about our culture, our heritage-credit goes to my parents, and every other thing. And later on I learned a lot from people. It has made my working a lot easier.

If you want to work in Bangladesh, you have to know Bangladesh politically, geographically, and you have to know religious binding and all other things. I can’t do a show in Bangladesh with bikini because I’m a Bengali Girl and I know what my culture is. So, you have to know your country, culture, people; you have to look into the eyes of people and see what’s in inside.

For any one, it’s important to know what you are up to before embarking on a journey.
Do your own creation. Go out of convention. It’s unnecessary to make something because everybody does the same.
Respect human dignity. You have to respect people.

Today young people have so many chances, opportunities. You can know almost anything just by a finger tip. Recently, I was in Africa, there was a young girl asked me about my project in Senegal, she asked how do you do this in Senegal? I was amazed; I asked how do you know? I know everything about you-she replied. A 15 years old girl knows everything about me! This was sheer impossible in our time. Do make good use of your opportunities.

Stay focused. Money is not everything. There are many ways to make money. Choose one that also does some good for society. You also have to learn how to revolve money. I worked and learned how to make a 10 taka to 12. So, you have to know how to make it revolving.

Q. What are you reading now?

I’m a voracious reader, I read a lot. Now I’m reading autobiography of Salman Rushdie. Before that I finished reading a book on Surja Sen and Pritilota.

I always believe, because I’m a Bangladeshi, we made history for the first time with a piece of cloth-the Muslin. If we could make it in thirteen century then we can do that in twenty first century too.

Source: http://futurestartup.com/2013/07/27/face-to-face-with-bibi-russell-founder-bibi-productions/