Date: July 2013

40. It's not exactly something that I have been looking forward to, but without realizing it, it is almost here. 

My friends keep telling me that "life begins at 40". To be brutally honest, I am not so sure. How can someone think that is the case, when in your 20's you made all your mistakes but had the time of your life. In your 30's, you made some more, but they were far more manageable and life was pretty good. You had more money than in your 20's, more experience and had fewer issues. You felt as though you were more comfortable in your own skin and you came to terms with your flaws.

Then you started approaching 40. Somehow everything went back a few steps. Firstly, just when you thought you were comfortable in your own skin, you realized that there were a few things you wanted to change. For instance, your appearance. Do those wrinkles really belong to you? Have your eyebrows really drooped that much? Are your boobs really that saggy?

Innovation was a popular word in the office yesterday and as I watched everyone talk about innovation in one way or another, I became enthralled with how excited everyone was just by using the term.

Over the years, I have been dumb-founded by what former employees have written on their LinkedIn profiles about what they did while working at Marketing Eye.

The first one that had me gob-smacked was a French assistant, who wrote that she had developed and managed the Marketing Eye brand, building the company’s marketing strategy and executing it.

In reality, she was a personal assistant, who had poor English and was struggling to do any task at all from an administrative perspective. She didn’t write anything, had no contact at all with design or branding but was excellent at organizing my dinner appointments, assisting me with my wardrobe and in general being a great personal assistant, albeit one that could not write on an email on my behalf because of the poor English factor. She worked for me for a few months only which I did it as a favour for her boyfriend who was a good friend at the time. In the end, I had to tell him, that her English was so bad, I couldn’t afford the luxury of her impeccable taste in clothing, makeup and picking restaurants at that stage of my life.

The best decisions are often the hardest to make.

With the economy on the recover, many business owners are faced with the task of reshaping the future of their business and having to look from the outside looking in - while taking into account that the economy may take more time than anticipated to get to a point where businesses are flourishing in the way it did pre-GFC.

When making a personal decision that is tough, I always write it down. Its something that I do and I find is helpful when looking at the pros and cons. I also don't think too much about it. In fact, it is usually my gut instinct that comes into play and while it is important to consider factors that impact the direction of your life or your values, it is always your gut instinct that will ensure your decision making results in the best outcomes. It is tougher when it comes to how you feel, but if you can put that all aside, then quite often if you reflect in the future, you will realise that it is in fact that best decision you could have made at the time.

Business is not too indifferent from that.

“You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.” ― Michelle Obama

Top 5 Tips for Making a Tough Business Decision

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