August 29, 2011
I usually feel like I am living in a tv show and there is a theme for that episode. I call often say there is a theme of a week. So my theme of the week or weeks right now is efficiency and delegation.
This week I have been updating my website and making a new logo. I have a friend helping g me with the website and I have already been searching many other immigration law firm websites that I like and aspects that I want to incorporate in my website. Being able to communicate what I envision can be difficult but later saw the challenge in making the logo.
I am using this website called 99designs to have designers make me a logo. I put in my ‘brief’ which information about the company, what I am looking for, colors, shapes, ideas, and then with one week, designers work to give me their attempt. I give them feedback and see how having multiple bids helps give me ideas I had never thought of. I can be creative but I am not really artistic or get to use my creativity much. So I am amazed at what had evolved from my brief. It isn’t finalized yet but what I realized in this exercise is that delegation requires good communication and a vision of what you had in mind in the first place.
My third example of my theme of the week is my hair incident on Saturday and Sunday of this week. I haven’t had my hair done since late May. I moved to Dubai July1. Between the heat and being a mom, I needed to cut it shorter and update the color. I took a leap of faith going to my neighborhood’s salon without a recommendation but I was getting into desperate mode and wanted it done.
Basically, this is one of the things I hate about moving the most, getting your new team. Hairdresser, church, OB, general doctor, chiropractor, dentist, nail salon, etc. For the last 2 years my sister ahs been doing my hair and she has perfected it. I told the hairdresser I wanted some highlights and lowlights and I wanted it to look natural, I don’t want to have to come back but every 3-4 months to fix the roots. I also wanted layers and it to be shorter. So, I had the vision, but I am not sure if I communicated it effectively.
About 3 hours later, I had 3 colors on my head with very chunky highlights that did not look natural at all. It was really blonde, then dark blonde or light brown (natural hair), and something darker. But I felt like I looked like those jars of peanut butter and jelly that are layered in stripes in the jar. Plus the cut didn’t seem short enough and layered enough. Frustration. 3 hours and a lot of money – They charged me extra for the 2 colors so it was way more expensive that I thought than when I walked into the door.
OH! So I don’t have tv and I don’t buy stupid, girly magazines because I get my fix at the salon. They only had business magazines and really boring stuff. Also, there was no music and they didn’t offer me anything to drink (because it was Ramadan).
In the end, it wasn’t what I wanted but they had already spent 3 hours and I swear they were all running out the door, I think because it was end of Ramadan for the day and they wanted to eat. I told her I wanted some changes and she told me to come back.
I went back the next day. I told her again and again about color and even pointed to charts. I later learned, she didn’t understand what I was saying but was pretending like she did. I learned that when I asked here some questions and her responses were completely not answering and understanding my questions. So, she finally got the coloring right and in the end she said something like she thought she understood what I wanted yesterday but that she had already started….? Then she did the cut very thoroughly and layered.
In the end, I was happy and it looked nice and I wasn’t upset for spending all that money. She said ok and walked away to work on another person. The receptionist was on the phone and so I left since I considered the work paid for from the day before. Then about 10 minutes later, I got a call and they were asking me to pay for the color. I told them they FIXED what they did the day before and I wasn’t going to pay. Plus, the hairstylist told me to come back and she would fix it. In the end, they said it was ok. I think that there was a problem of communication that made us all waste so much time and resources.
So, now that I have a law clerk about to start in a week and also a phone answering service, I realize, I need to be good at delegating by effectively communicating and having a vision. In reality, having the communication and vision can be difficult if you are not sure what you want.
I know delegating is the key to greater things and I am wanting to see what I need to do and what I should have someone else help me with.
I usually feel like I am living in a tv show and there is a theme for that episode. I call often say there is a theme of a week. So my theme of the week or weeks right now is efficiency and delegation.
This week I have been updating my website and making a new logo. I have a friend helping g me with the website and I have already been searching many other immigration law firm websites that I like and aspects that I want to incorporate in my website. Being able to communicate what I envision can be difficult but later saw the challenge in making the logo.
I am using this website called 99designs to have designers make me a logo. I put in my ‘brief’ which information about the company, what I am looking for, colors, shapes, ideas, and then with one week, designers work to give me their attempt. I give them feedback and see how having multiple bids helps give me ideas I had never thought of. I can be creative but I am not really artistic or get to use my creativity much. So I am amazed at what had evolved from my brief. It isn’t finalized yet but what I realized in this exercise is that delegation requires good communication and a vision of what you had in mind in the first place.
My third example of my theme of the week is my hair incident on Saturday and Sunday of this week. I haven’t had my hair done since late May. I moved to Dubai July1. Between the heat and being a mom, I needed to cut it shorter and update the color. I took a leap of faith going to my neighborhood’s salon without a recommendation but I was getting into desperate mode and wanted it done.
Basically, this is one of the things I hate about moving the most, getting your new team. Hairdresser, church, OB, general doctor, chiropractor, dentist, nail salon, etc. For the last 2 years my sister ahs been doing my hair and she has perfected it. I told the hairdresser I wanted some highlights and lowlights and I wanted it to look natural, I don’t want to have to come back but every 3-4 months to fix the roots. I also wanted layers and it to be shorter. So, I had the vision, but I am not sure if I communicated it effectively.
About 3 hours later, I had 3 colors on my head with very chunky highlights that did not look natural at all. It was really blonde, then dark blonde or light brown (natural hair), and something darker. But I felt like I looked like those jars of peanut butter and jelly that are layered in stripes in the jar. Plus the cut didn’t seem short enough and layered enough. Frustration. 3 hours and a lot of money – They charged me extra for the 2 colors so it was way more expensive that I thought than when I walked into the door.
OH! So I don’t have tv and I don’t buy stupid, girly magazines because I get my fix at the salon. They only had business magazines and really boring stuff. Also, there was no music and they didn’t offer me anything to drink (because it was Ramadan).
In the end, it wasn’t what I wanted but they had already spent 3 hours and I swear they were all running out the door, I think because it was end of Ramadan for the day and they wanted to eat. I told her I wanted some changes and she told me to come back.
I went back the next day. I told her again and again about color and even pointed to charts. I later learned, she didn’t understand what I was saying but was pretending like she did. I learned that when I asked here some questions and her responses were completely not answering and understanding my questions. So, she finally got the coloring right and in the end she said something like she thought she understood what I wanted yesterday but that she had already started….? Then she did the cut very thoroughly and layered.
In the end, I was happy and it looked nice and I wasn’t upset for spending all that money. She said ok and walked away to work on another person. The receptionist was on the phone and so I left since I considered the work paid for from the day before. Then about 10 minutes later, I got a call and they were asking me to pay for the color. I told them they FIXED what they did the day before and I wasn’t going to pay. Plus, the hairstylist told me to come back and she would fix it. In the end, they said it was ok. I think that there was a problem of communication that made us all waste so much time and resources.
So, now that I have a law clerk about to start in a week and also a phone answering service, I realize, I need to be good at delegating by effectively communicating and having a vision. In reality, having the communication and vision can be difficult if you are not sure what you want.
I know delegating is the key to greater things and I am wanting to see what I need to do and what I should have someone else help me with.
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