The Element of Building on The Foundations Of Our Success, And Its Hope for Going From Strength to Strength

At the start of both of my careers, the foundation of my success was flimsy.

I got into advertising as a copywriter, on the strength of some freelance writing I had done for the local newspaper.

When you do freelance writing, you are not subject to any rules.

You can choose any old topic, select a humorous, or cheeky angle,  and then go for it - use bombastic words, pun like there’s no tomorrow, be as self-indulgent as you like; if there’s something charming about your piece, you will get published. It’s all a matter of luck.

So when I was hired as a cub copywriter by an ad agency, I was keen to continue with the kind of writing I had done up to that time.

I imagined what I would write for a brand of shoes:

“You’ll love our shoes to the bottom of our soles.”

“There’s not just a ‘sole’ reason you will love our shoes.  There are many.”

“What would you give to be in our shoes?”

“When you buy our shoes, you and our shoes will be sole mates.”

I was eager to show off this ability to pun, or to use twists on famous phrases.

Was I unique as a budding copywriter in feeling that way?

Do Chinese like dumplings?  Do Italians like meatballs? Do Indians like Falooda?  Do people rave about my brother David’s cooking? Do Mangaloreans like to use big words? Is Ajay’s A Short Stint in Advertising, one of the most popular posts on my blog? Is Aarathi a whiz at feedback?

Yes, copywriters do like to show off their punning ability.

But disappointment awaited this punster.

A glass of cold water was thrown in my face - on my very first copy assignment.

The Account Manager handed me some product materials, and explained to me what was needed.

But she could have been speaking in Tagalog, for all the attention I gave to what she was saying.

I went back to my desk (I could hardly wait), and out poured a barrage of puns. 

Feeling rather pleased with myself, I went to the Account Manager to show her my ideas.

Disaster struck!

I was greeted with a shake of the head.

Not the vigorous nodding side-to-side shake of the head, which means a  “yes” in India......

....but the firm and quick shorter-range shake of the head, which means a “no” in India.

Soon, the waste paper basket was piled high with my rejected ideas.

I got the message. 

I had to throw out all the puns, and all the writing I had been used to, and I had to tailor my writing to the client, the product, the target audience, the size and content limitations of the medium. Above all, I had to tailor my writing to what the client wanted.

And so, I got with the program.

I learned to dive into each assignment.  Who is the ad intended for?   What do we want the takeaway to be?  What are the limitations of the medium we are working with?

I soon realized that finding a happy medium between what I thought should be the message, and what the client wanted to see, was the best I could hope to achieve.

After I got over my initial disappointment, even though, I couldn’t write “whatever I wanted”, I began to enjoy my job.

Whatever the endeavor, we have to learn to fish, or cut bait.

I learned this phrase from Carl, who works with me at Aruba Networks.

It means the same thing as shape up or ship out.

I shaped up.

I began to enjoy the challenge of coming up with the right message for a product, and for a particular medium.

I liked the problem-solving aspect of the challenge.

I dived into it, bringing all available resources to bear.

I pored through archives of Communication Arts Magazine, and Art Director’s Annual; I read any advertising book I could lay my hands on. I began to apply process to my creativity.

And I got better at my job.

I had started with flimsy foundations, but I began to strengthen those foundations.

I did this again in my second career.

As you learned from my last post, The Element of Getting On Our Feet and Its Hope for Our Independence, I did not even know Excel when I took up my first Commissions Administration job.

When I lucked out and got that job, it was like being at sea in a raft.

I had so little to go on.

Then my manager went out on maternity leave, and soon after, announced she would not return.

I realized at the time, that the flimsy raft of my knowledge and skills wouldn’t suffice.

I would have to build a ship to successfully navigate my job.

And so I built my ship.

I needed to strengthen my knowledge of Excel.  That would put a firm foundation under me.

So I got permission from my new manager (who was my manager's manager) to buy and expense 5 Excel books for beginners. 

I can hear you go: “Five?  Minoo, why did you need 5 books, wasn’t that a little excessive?”

I had researched the internet to find out the best books to learn Excel. My search turned up 5 books with different advantages to offer. I decided, I needed to study all of them.

And so, having purchased these books, I would sit with my computer and these books, building my ship, after Tanita had gone to bed at night.

None of this was visible to my boss, to the rest of accounting, or to the salespeople I did the calculations for.

But there were no complaints about the work I did, nor did any big boo-boos or errors surface - because I had made sure I knew what I was doing.

I kept strengthening the foundation.

Every time I had a new challenge, I went back to the internet to find a solution.  Sometimes I would talk to friends and they would help me.  It was a thrill to be able to write my first if formula, or to include an iserror in my formula, so that NA values could be suppressed.

When we build on our foundation, we get stronger and stronger.

We develop confidence to go for bigger goals.

I had a goal that was audacious at the time.

I decided I would keep strengthening my skills, so as they added sales people and more sales orgs, and the plans became more complex, I would still be able to handle the work by myself.

I had a very important reason to want to handle the work by myself.

I was doing most of the work remotely.

I knew an additional resource might jeopardize my telecommuting privileges.

I didn’t want that.

I did not want a Commissions Manager, and I did not want a Commissions Assistant.

Does a strong foundation mean more money, more recognition?

Not necessarily.

In my case, because my work was so invisible – almost all of it done at home – money and recognition did not come my way.

What came my way – in spades – was self-confidence.

I was completely unafraid of the work, and being able to handle it.

I had bulked up so much in the skills and knowledge area.

Since becoming a Commissions Consultant, I continue to bulk up in any way I can.

I continue to enjoy challenges, for the opportunity they give me to grow.

Every challenge is an opportunity to grow.

Every challenge successfully met makes us stronger.

What challenges have you successfully met?

You should be proud of successfully meeting those challenges.

When the chips are down, you should remind yourself of your capability to do that.

Read my post How To Feel Good About Yourself When The Chips Are Down, if you need to remind yourself of how far you’ve come with the limited resources you started out with.

Our amazing success reminds us that resource constraints need not be obstacles to our success.

In fact, resource constraints are a great spur to creativity.

Read my post The Element of Constraints for how resource constraints can spur your creativity.

How can you build on the foundation for your current success?

What new thoughts, new ideas, and new habits can you bring to bear?

Never underestimate what small changes in the right direction can do.

Align yourself with two goals, your goal for yourself, and the goal for your employer, or customers.

To find the happy medium where you are happy, and they are happy, you have to cut both yourself, and them some slack.

Don’t burn bridges with anyone.

We never know how important someone, anyone, might be to our future happiness and success.

We need to learn to tolerate people’s weaknesses, and look instead at their strengths.

Learn to go with the flow.

There will be disappointments, irritations.

Part of building a strong foundation, is learning to deal with disappointments and irritations in a positive manner.

The best approach is to overlook, and to forgive and forget.

Do not respond with any global actions to any temporary issue.

A temporary issue should be dealt with, using a temporary solution.

If you car doesn’t start and your battery is dead, you get your battery jump-started and you drive your car, until you can replace the battery.  You don’t get your car towed to the mechanic.  That would be excessive.

Avoid excessive responses.

If you are tired, hungry, or you have had a bad day, and an issue comes up; ask for more time to respond; do not respond, right away, most probably, your response will be excessive.

Some people’s actions will wear us down on occasion.

We will need to learn to deal with such situations, without showdowns.

Mature responses are part of building a strong foundation.

Skills, knowledge, attitude……all are important to building a strong foundation.

So are coping skills – being able to cope with unfairness, with aggression, with disappointments, with broken promises.

We should focus, not on what other people are doing, or not doing for us, but on the steps we are taking to build our foundation.

We can succeed, despite other people not playing their part.

When you think about your foundation, do you feel you have a raft, or do you feel you have a ship?

Is the ship as strong as it can be, or can it be made stronger?

Luck may have gotten you to where you are, but only courage, determination, and doing the right things will keep you there.

Whether it is a job, a business, a relationship, a passion, we should continue to strengthen the foundation.

Then, even if we lose any of these things, we will have the foundation to begin again.

Each time we strengthen our foundations, by increasing our skills, enhancing our knowledge, or improving our attitude and approach, we give ourselves fresh possibilities.

If we know how to harvest, we will get harvesting opportunities.

If we know how to plant, we will get planting opportunities.

To translate that in terms of personal experience, when I knew Excel, I could get Excel opportunities; when I learned Xactly, I could get Xactly and Excel opportunities; when I learned Varicent, I could get Varicent, Xactly and Excel opportunities.

At any point of time, we are far from our ultimate potential.

When I started my copywriting career, I never imagined I would one day have my own creative shop Purple Patch, with four copy interns, an admin, and a driver working for me.

When I started my Commissions Administration career, I never imagined I would one day become a freelance Commissions Consultant, getting involved with both implementations and administration.

Miracles happen when we take steps to strengthen our foundation.

In 2010, unemployed, and in the midst of a bad economy, I decided to do the Xactly admin course, paying from my own pocket.

How I came to this decision is a miracle in itself, because it was a random conversation with my sister Rosie which gave me the idea.  I have made mention of the conversation in one of my earlier posts.

Soon after doing the course, I received a call from Don Gootee of Solution Partners, an Xactly implementations company. He asked if I would be interested in joining his implementations team.

I jumped at the offer.

A few months later, I asked him, “Don, what made you decide to give me this job, though I didn’t have the experience?”

“I was impressed by your initiative in doing the Xactly admin course,” is what he told me.

When you build your foundation, miracles happen.

So we shouldn’t indulge in all or nothing thinking.

We shouldn’t say, “I need to get paid this much for doing this, or I won’t do it.”

I earned only $18,000 in my first year of doing implementations; but the knowledge, the skills, the connections, and the confidence I gained, was worth much more than that; in fact, it was priceless.

Take some time to think about your foundation today, and think of ways to strengthen it.

This will give you self-confidence, no matter what the future brings.

Before I end, here are some last words I would like to leave you with. Never, never, never, never, never give up on yourself, and on what you have built so far. Keep strengthening the foundation.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day and week…..M…..a Pearl Seeker like you.  In response to my last post, Ajay, Aarath, Anita and David sent some wonderful compliments my way. Thank you all. And thanks to rest of you for your likes, pins and votes……much appreciated.

The Element of Getting On Our Feet and Its Hope for Our Independence

My first job was teaching English to foreign students in India.  I did this while I was still at college. I also started writing for the local newspaper. This brought in a little bit of money too. When I got my first copywriting job in an ad agency, I was able to negotiate. When asked how much I should be paid, I told them what I was making from teaching English to Middle Eastern students, and from writing for the local newspaper.

Getting that first job in advertising was lucky; I got it on the strength of the writing I had been doing for the newspaper. No one asked to see my resume. I just brought in my published writing, and they could see I had the spark.

Once you get your break in an industry, especially if it is a small one, it's easy to move forward.

I moved from ad agency to ad agency, going from copy cub to junior copywriter, to copywriter, to senior copywriter, to Copy Chief.  3 years was the maximum I stayed in any agency.

Eventually, I would set up my own creative shop.

When I came to the US, I had to find my feet again. I could not break into my field immediately; and immediate work and income was what I needed.

So I applied to admin jobs. The tech boom was in full bloom then, so it was easy to get an admin job.

I did that for a couple of years.  Then a Commissions Analyst job opened up in the company where I was working at – Palm Inc - and my boss suggested I go for it.

I did, and I have made a career of Commissions Administration ever since.

It’s a thrill to get on one’s feet.

Making an income from doing work, and then meeting our needs, and the desires of our heart, from the money we earn, beats depending on anyone to meet our financial needs.

That is why any steps we take towards getting on our feet, are worthwhile.

We have to keep our eyes open for any opportunity.

We have to have an open mind.

Because we do not need to move in a straight line.

It is okay to start doing one thing, and move to doing something entirely different.

Even someone who studies for a very specific field of work, such as civil engineering, might end up becoming a real estate agent.  I have a friend like that.

We have to be willing to try new things, as I was willing to try my hand at commissions.

Nothing in my prior career prepared me for a Commissions Administration job.

But sometimes, we have to take a leap, even without the skills, background, or experience.

We have to be willing to start small.  I earned only $18,000 in my first year as an independent Commissions Consultant.

We have to keep our eyes open. What do people need? What are the jobs in demand? What is difficult for people?

For example, it is difficult for people to drive, when they have had too much to drink. The answer – we can make ourselves available to drive people home from parties and nights on the town. Uber drivers make most of their money from that.

We have to figure out what we like to do most.

Are there aging boomers on a tight budget?  What services can be offered to them?

Can you cook?  Everyone has to eat. The more specific people’s diets are, the greater their need for a tailored meal solution. Who wouldn’t like a hot, fresh tailored home cooked meal delivered to the office in a lunch box, like they do in India?

People have parties. What do they need for parties? Decorations, entertainers, food, servers, clean-up help.  Do you have a talent for any of this? Let people know. 

We should be ready for a change of heart. We should be ready to consider something we would never have considered.

As we get older, and we have more limitations, we may need to work with our limitations. 

Think of what you can do, in spite of your limitations, but don’t think small. You need to be inspired by Marlee Matlin...and all the other folks covered in my post “How To Let Nothing Come Between You and a Fulfilling Life”.

In order to be job-ready, we have to mind our fitness on many planes: we have to mind our physical fitness, our intellectual fitness, our mental fitness, our spiritual fitness, and our financial fitness.

All these are essential to getting on our feet.

To get on our feet, we have to demonstrate an ability to be disciplined, to  work hard, to  follow rules and instructions, to get along with others, to meet deadlines, to be flexible, to have a good attitude, and to do things right. 

We have to demonstrate a good work ethic, and an awareness of our employer's goals.

We should not be whiners and complainers.  We should not be filled with "I can’t do this" or "I can't do that."

We should not cut corners.  We should not be a problem to deal with.

While all the things listed above are needed, a good attitude will take us furthest. 

If we see some not so skilled people in high positions, it's their attitude that got them there.  People found them a pleasure to deal with.  If we are a pleasure to deal with, people will want us around.

We should master our attitude, while we master our skills.  What is the point of developing show-stopping skills, if we are impossible to deal with?

We should try to develop a service heart.  A service heart looks at what we can give, not what we can get.

“But Minoo, if I only look at what I can give, but not what I can get, people will take advantage of me.”

Actually, for every person who takes advantage of you, there will be another person who notices how much of a bargain you are, and who will want to whisk you away for more money. 

It's always good to be a bargain.

Master your health as well. 

If you are a great worker, but you are out sick, or unable to function every now and then, your overall contribution will be a net negative.  Each time you are out of action, it will be disruptive to work.

Every manager or business owner wants a smooth operation, not an operation prone to disruptions.  You can't get far if you cause disruptions.

Master your habits.  Habits can cause work friction, or work downtime.  For example, if you have the habit of being loud, you will disturb other people. If you have the habit of needing to step outside to do any non-work related activities, that's work downtime.  If you have the habit of stirring up trouble, that’s work downtime.

There are good habits and not so good habits.  You will become more productive, and help others be more productive, if you give up your not so good habits.

Master temptation.

Master your ability to focus.

It is easy to get distracted.  Try not to get distracted.

Master your tongue.  You have heard the phrase, “if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.”  Apply this as much as possible.  There is no need to give our opinion on everything, unless it is a positive opinion - praise, encouragement, a compliment – an opinion that raises others.

People will have different ways of approaching a task; you don't have to give advice, even if you think there’s a better way– unless you are asked, or you know your advice is welcome.

Master your patience.  Apply yourself, putting one foot in front of the other. You may not be rewarded as fast as you want to be, but you will be rewarded eventually.  If you expect instant gratification, you will be disappointed.  Even people less capable than you may be rewarded earlier than you, because they are being rewarded for their loyalty and years of service.  Accept that.

Master your sensitivity.  Become more sensitive to other people's needs and feelings; become less prickly in your own feelings and responses.

Master your fears.  Don't let fear keep you from taking on more responsibility, or tackling more difficult tasks; don't let fear hold you back from giving your ideas, when you are asked for them.

If you have a fear of speaking in front of groups, join Toastmasters.

Master your emotions.  Getting upset, or angry, or responding without thinking, will cost you.  You may never be able to earn back the trust or confidence that you lose by getting upset and responding without thinking.

Read my post How To Become a Low Maintenance Person for help.

Master the rules.  The stated rules, and the unstated rules. Master your sense of appropriateness.  There's a right time and a right place for everything.  You need to sense when the time is right, and when the place is right.

Master your ability to deal with constraints.  Everywhere you work, it will be different.  You may not have all the tools you need to perform your job, or all the tools you need to be comfortable. 

You are used to Excel 2013, but the company has Excel 2010; you are used to a Mac, but they give you a Windows computer. 

Since becoming a Commissions Consultant, I have learned to adapt to constraints.  On one assignment, I had to bring my own computer, and I was not given a badge, so I had to check in at the lobby every day; Also, I never got access to the shared folders. But we coped.  I occupied a conference room. The analyst I worked with, came down to the lobby to get me every day, and I opened a Box account, and files were passed to me and from me, using this account.

In another assignment, I was given a Mac, and I worked on this Mac, with an external monitor, but no external keyboard. Further, I discovered I couldn’t use any of the Excel shortcuts I was used to.  But I survived and thrived.

Constraints, while they may sometimes hamper productivity, usually spur creativity.

Read my post The Elements of Constraints to see how constraints can spur your creativity.

Master your ability to bounce back from a disappointment.

This is very important. 

Not everything is going to go our way.  We will not always get what we deserve, or expect.  If someone did something wrong to us, we may not get an apology. If we bust our gut to do something for someone, we may not get the due thanks, or praise, or rewards. We should learn to bounce back quickly from such disappointments. 

Replace expectations with expectancy.  Read my post The Element of Expectancy vs Expectations for inspiration.

Master time-management.  Do not leave your work till the last minute. Plan your work and work your plan, as they say. Don't be a procrastinator.

Master resilience.

When we suffer a career crisis, we have to learn to get back on our feet again. 

We may have to face new realities. 

Our reality has to take into account our health, the current environment, technology, our home situation, our financial situation, and more. 

We may have to change our lifestyle. 

When I came to America and had to get a job, my situation was different from when I started my advertising career in India. 

When I started my advertising career, I was living at home, and had no financial responsibilities. 

When I came to America, and had to find a job, my situation was very different.

I had to earn enough money, to support both myself, and a child who was just 11 months old.

I had to find a place to rent, furnish it, pay the utilities, pay for our medical insurance and medical bills, pay for our food, pay for my daughter's daycare, pay for her diapers, wipes and baby food.

Further, it was necessary for me to learn to drive, insure and maintain a car.

Luckily, my family gave me an unused car, so I didn't have to buy one; but I had to get a license, learn to drive; and then use and maintain the car, paying for insurance, gas and repairs.   I also had to pay for an AAA membership, so I could handle car breakdowns.

My car did breakdown several times. In the first 2 years, I had to call AAA, get my car towed to a mechanic, and rent a car - on at least 3 or 4 different occasions.  Besides the rental expenses, there were other unexpected car expenses, such as having to pay towing companies for parking violations, which happened twice in my first year in the US.

On top of that, I had to drop Tanita off to daycare, and get back in time for her in the evening, so anything other than an 8-5 job would be out of the question; even an 8-5 job was extremely hard, because what do you do when the child is ill, and the daycare won't have her?

You can see how my situation was vastly different, from when I started my first career. 

But I did it.  I got back on my feet in America.  And you can say “I did it my own way”.

I got an admin job.  I found a daycare. When the opportunity presented itself to become a Commissions Analyst, I jumped at it. When I got sick, and my company gave me a laptop, so I could work from home, I requested regular work-from-home days, so my life would be less frantic, and I could spend more time with my daughter.  

I did the best I could with my job, and my income.  I entertained at home.  I kept my needs simple. 

My focus was on making sure I handled my Commissions Administration job well enough, so my company would never feel the need to add an additional resource.  I was clear in my mind that an additional resource would jeopardize my telecommuting privileges. 

Each one of us will have our own stories to tell about getting on our feet. 

And we have to be prepared to do it again and again.

Each time, the challenges will be different, and the rewards will be different. 

Time, and less stress, is the greatest reward for many people. Just ask any mother of a young child. My Gift of Time post celebrates time.  We should all celebrate time.

Scan for new ideas, when you have to get back on your feet. 

Every conversation, every experience has the potential to give you ideas for something new you can do.  A conversation got me started as an independent Commissions Consultant. You learned this from my post, Advice from the People We Love to Hate.

We should seize the moment.  My series of posts – It’s Never Too Early or Too Late - is all about seizing the moment.  You can read the posts here, here, and here.

It is never too early, or too late to get on your feet, or to take steps towards doing so. 

We should never think “I have gone off track for too long.  I have lost too much time.”

It’s never too early or too late - to get back on track.

Weldon Long spent his early adulthood serving time in prison. While serving a 7 year prison sentence, he read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  It had a powerful impact on him, and he decided to turn his life around. He started making different choices. He completed his MBA in prison. He started writing daily letters to his young son.  When he was released from prison, he began to look for a job. He was turned down by employers for almost a year because of his background.  But he never lost hope.  Eventually, an employer decided to take a chance on Weldon and hired him as an air-conditioning and heating salesman.  He proved to be a star.  He started his own air-conditioning company. He was featured in Inc Magazine because of his success. His son and him have a great relationship. Encouraged to inspire others with his turnaround story, he wrote two motivational books and became a motivational speaker. You can read about his story on Stephen Covey.com.

Weldon could have said “it's all over for me” but he chose to say, “I could try to do something with my life.  I have the power to turn my life around and be of service.”

We need to be audacious when finding our feet again.  What's the worst that can happen? Egg on our face, which can be washed off. 

It was audacious of me to think I could do Commissions Administration; I did not know even know Excel.  I hadn’t worked with numbers.

But audacity is good, it helps us find out things about ourselves.

By being audacious, I found out I could do Commissions Administration. The problem-solving aspect of it appealed to me tremendously.

If it didn’t work out and I found out I couldn’t do Commissions Administration, I would have moved on to try something else.

So go be audacious -  and get on your feet, or get back on your feet.  You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. If you haven't started, let your time start now. Take the first step today.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day and week….M….a Pearl Seeker like you.  In response to my last post, my friend Ajay said “Thank you Minoo, for 300 wonderful, thought-provoking and hugely inspiring journeys!!!! Look forward to being with you for 400...500...and then 1000!!!! and absorbing the the positive motivational cues from your brilliant posts , in the process!” My friend Anita said “I'm so glad you've kept up the excellent, inspiring writing. We live for others, not ourselves.” My brother David said “Minoo… I have been on this journey with you all my life since I’m the younger brother ... and always looked up to you as you were always different and very very special ... you never had a harsh word to say however much I pestered you ... you have a calmness and kindness that you showered upon me however much a chokra boy I was you never said a mean word ... I thank you for that and I thank God for blessing me with a sister like you... Much love Minoo and as always I thirst for your wisdom and fortitude ... love you from the bottom of my heart dear Minoo!! Thank you for this post!!”.

Thank you to Ajay, Anita, and David for your encouragement, and thanks to the rest of you for your likes, pins and votes.  Much appreciated!