Tag: work

Shelo9’s Decade in Review

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As 2019 and this decade finally buggers off I thought I’d share my good and bad bits of the decade for your entertainment or boredom…

Starting with the really bad –  the early part of the decade was hell due to various reasons.  Also, I worked at a horrific FMCG as Head of Legal for a few years.

As bad as FMCG place was I made good money and got to travel a bit.  Also I bought a few Chanel bags and spent a lot in Selfridges and made some friends from there.

Also due to the hell of a time in said company, I left in 2013 to start my own business – Decluttr Me. The crazy decision has been tough but worth it. Best decision I made for my heart, soul, and head. Plus I have organised a lot of brilliant spaces and been in amazing houses.

I didn’t make as much money as I would like for a bit, so worked in two real estate companies for 2 years. Both went bankrupt in the same week in consecutive years. Not my fault honestly. Still waiting for my commission from the last one. As a plus, I made a few good friends from it and know more about properties in Dubai which is useful when talking to Decluttr Me clients and discussing their wardrobes and kitchen space 😉.

I became an Auntie to my two darling, intelligent, cheeky monkey nephews Conrad and Ashton. Have so much love for those two muppets even if there face is stuck on the iPad watching someone else playing football games!  I also gained a sister in law and fallen in love with Polish dumplings (and her of course). ☺

I also became an Auntie to various friends and although I am rubbish at remembering their names (or spelling them right) and also forgetting partner names, I care about them all very much.

I lost one of my best friends 5 years ago – Shenifa – still get teary every so often, but know she is looking after us all.

My closest friends (hopefully you know who you are) both here in Dubai, UK and globally have been my rock through my depression, boy issues, work issues, etc. Thank you always. I met also some amazing people who have become dear friends over this decade in Dubai and elsewhere.

Got to visit a lot of amazing countries around the world – Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark Italy (I want to retire in Tuscany), Various parts of India, Iran (well Kish Island), Kenya, Ghana, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sri Lanka, Nepal,  Zanzibar, Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico, Switzerland and of course Orlando to name a few. I have been lucky and thankful.

One of my cool hobbies this decade has been to become an F1 Motorsport Marshal. Have been at the F1’s to marshal them since 2014 in Abu Dhabi. Hoping to do more marshalling in 2020 to then go abroad.

Lost my first 2 furbabies – Jasmine and Amira. Jasmine died on my Dubai anniversary 21 June 2019 and the ache is still there, but life has improved having my fatty Oreo and new darling Keanu.

I dated a lot of fuckwits – the last one was dumped on Boxing Day!   On a plus, I didn’t get married or divorced. I think I was engaged during this decade, but never got the ring…

The depression has had its ups and downs. 2019 was particularly horrific for some reason, especially when in the Happiest Place in the World – Disney. Hoping this new year it will improve and the chemicals will be more balanced.

Finally, I drove my parents up the wall with my antics but I think they still love me and I love em. They have been very good to me in ways I cannot describe.  Thanks, mummy and daddy x

So that’s my some of story. Thank you for reading and being part of my life this decade and beyond. Happy New Year and hopefully it will be joyful, interesting, safe and amazing.

 

Working from Home

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Last week was my final week as a Solicitor. Did I feel good?

Yes!!

After 12 years  it felt brilliant to finally stop being an in-house lawyer and start running my own business – a decluttering service business (see decluttrme.com) It also feels good to say I am an entrepreneur, owner and even Managing Director (as it states on the trade licence and my business cards – slightly knobbish I know but hey it was offered to me). I am excited, scared and thinking as I type of how to get more clients.

I have faith that this is a great idea but it is a new concept in the UAE and it is a service that people have to get used to. Also you have the trepidation from potential clients to let you into their house and clutter. No one would want a stranger into your house to see the clutter and tell you that you need to change your space. There may be images of me coming in and just throwing everything away into a big bin bag, but the reality is different. Decluttr Me is about organizing your belongings into a neat easily accessible manner for future use. The bin bags will be used mainly for out of date food and torn underwear.

After years of helping corporations, I now have a chance to help people in a way that can change their lives even if it is in a small way. Also the items that are cleared away will be sold and their proceeds donated to worthwhile charities, or if they are not sellable items, provided to clothes banks for recyclable use.  I am still undecided on which main charities to assist. I would like to help a woman’s charity in the UAE and a charity in Kenya (where my family are originally from). I have been in touch with Dar Al Ber Woman Affairs Dept and hope to liaise with them for Decluttr Me and also to volunteer as well.  If you have contacts with worthwhile charities in both countries please let me know.

Starting this week as a full time business owner, I have been working in my apartment in my home office, which I formed over the last few weeks (see the picture with kitty included, the kitty does not want to leave my office…ever).

131002 Home office and oreo

I had been warned by friends, who are freelancers, of the perils of working alone and they weren’t wrong. The issues I have faced so far include:

–  Munching on chocolates, cookies (from Ben’s cookies – bloody tempting), salt n’ vinegar crisps;

– Making lots of cups of tea (not normal for me) and a big cooked lunch;

–  My two lovely cats sitting on my chair, desk, keyboard, blocking the screen and generally getting in the way;

–  No one to talk to except the cats

–  Distractions of new TV to watch – I had to start this home office the week of new TV coming out. The Ultimate Airport Dubai was very good by the way.

–  The balcony is a few feet away to have various breaks;

–  Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook easily distract me, but to be fair they are mainly accessed for Decluttr purposes (honest!).

Working at home you have to be strict with yourself. I am continuing to wake up at 7am every morning, however I will start dressing up as if I am going out to work, as wearing my slob clothes doesn’t inspire the work juices. I also have to stop the snack food and breaks.  My friend wisely advised that you need a break and not to work 7 days a week. I hope to follow that advise and also not work in the evening as well. I do need a distraction from myself every so often so my social media viewings will be allowed.

I also think that it is a good idea to get out even if it’s to a coffee shop to work for a bit. There are places I have read where freelancers and entrepreneurs hang out during the day. I have been to one or two places and the clientele have annoyed me with their superiority complexes. The corporate side of me is not a fan of bs chat and behavior so it will be hard for me to summon the willpower to go to these “hubs”. I should try them out as they might not be that bad now…

One or two places I will be trying include the Archive in Safe Park, which was expensive but had great coffee and atmosphere, Bastakiya (as it is my favourite place in Dubai) and the coffee shops in Motor City (as MC is near me). I will be giving my review of these places and business hubs so that other newbie freelancers and entrepreneurs have an idea of where to go when they want to work outside home.

For now, I have to take a break from working and watch TV.

2010 – the year of many downs and a few ups

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I know that many people have written blogs about last year and what they thought of it. Well you might be bored of it now but hey it’s my blog so I’m going to write about my year.

2010 early on was shite for me. I had three days of being incommunicado which scared the shite out of my parents, brother, friends and work. I survived the hell and I got out of it a stronger woman but it haunted me for the rest of the year. Thankfully the people mentioned above were there for me with their support and love and I apologise for putting them in that position and thank them for being there for me. I would be a broken woman if it wasn’t for them.

The *insert swear words* couple who stole my money (see previous blog) have yet to be found by Interpol or to return my money. Hatred remained for the whole of 2010 and will remain until…

I also became one of those horribly boring 100+ hours’ working women. Due to a massive project at work and lack of a department except me, I have had to work like a dog with the help of various external counsel to do this project. I have lived on about 3 hours sleep, had near nervous breakdowns, screamed, cried and drowned in paperwork. But on a plus I had the steepest learning curve ever and got to go India (finally) and Geneva for the deal, as well as two visits to London which meant I got to be home more than I expected. Was it worth all the hours of work? I have yet to see, but hopefully there will be a decent size bonus at the end of this long tunnel and maybe a few people working for me??!

Due to the work issue, it meant I once again didn’t get to go on a holiday. I desperately needed a holiday to be away from my laptop and blackberry. I’m hoping this year I get a reprieve and can book somewhere far away to just unwind and read books.

On a plus I welcomed into my life my little nephew, my close friend’s third son and my little kitty Amira. All are completely adorable, lovely and cuddly and I miss them when I am away from them. So I have become an Auntie and cat woman again 🙂

I also had to live through my older cat going through her teenage bitch years for most of the year but she suddenly snapped out of it in November after a super duper hair cut. There was something in that shampoo I tell ya.

With regards to my love life, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to redate my ex from last year and get re-engaged to him. Of course we once again didn’t properly get engaged and he failed to buy me a wedding ring (or anything else for that matter). I realised after a few months that if I loved my cats more than him that it was a recipe for disaster and that it might be best to dump him. Of course, I did the new social media thing and dumped him first on this blog and then to his face. But hey don’t judge me, he dumped me via Facebook (changing his status to single) last year.

I also realised that although there were men to fancy and date this year that I didn’t love any of them or let alone care enough to have them in my life for very long. This realisation dawned on me at the end of the year which was surreally scary. I don’t like being alone and I want to share my life with someone but I don’t want to be with just anyone just for the sake of being with someone. I want to share my life, I want to  be respected, I want to be loved  – I think I deserve it now after all these years of being in the dating world. So I have decided I am going to wait with semi open eyes for that man to turn up. I also think it’s best I stop looking to the past men and also to the men who only want to be friends. For the latter, I need to stop making a fool of myself.

So that was 2010, but what about 2011?  I don’t do new years resolutions, but due to the fact that I have become a bigger girl due to the lack of time to exercise, I have decided that I will start dance classes again  – hip hop classes to be exact. Yep I will be dancing to tinie tempah (my new love) and hopefully will go down two dress sizes by March.

Due to the fact that everyone who is anyone can’t stop giving me a lecture about my smoking, I think it might be time to stop soon. Patches, gum and plain old will power don’t work so I will be visiting a hypnotherapist when I have some time to test that out. It worked for one person I know so it might work for me. Otherwise will try that needle thing that the Chinese do.

My other plan is to redecorate my pad. I cannot take the pink walls any longer and need to clean it up and make it livable again for myself. That will be project numero uno for this year.

Of course I would be disillusioning myself if I didn’t say I wanted to meet someone, fall in love, get married and have babies this year. But I hope for that every year and it’s failed so far so why start this year with a stupid wish. Let’s see what 2011 has to give and take it from there.

To all of you readers have a great year and if it goes shit, just believe that things can only get better. xx

Bullshit

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Apologies for the postings disappearance for a while. It was due to external dramas which were off the richter scale.

The major drama revolved around my work. The environment of my workplace involves yelling, screaming, blaming, backstabbing and general bullshit. And thats not even from me. As strong as I am it got to a point were one conference call of being screamed at, getting told I was shit at my job and being hung up on resulted in a migraine which lasted for a few days. This is not how life should be. This should not be how work is. But that is the current status quo. Admittedly there are things that are happening within the busines that are causing immense pressure to all and is high level, which therefore requires my input on a regular basis but to be yelled at as if I am a slave should not be included in my job description.

Friends and family are worried about me but what you do in this environment currently. I have been without a job before and its not great to be broke, desperate and needy in this town. If I am being honest I enjoy the work I do, I just don’t like the majority of people within the business who I have to work with. I am a lawyer by trade but I have now become a politician, shrink, food provider (for two guys in my department) and a punching bag. These elements were not included in my lawyer training.

But how do you change the environment and the way that people behave. Can you ever change them or do you need to move onto somewhere more appropriate for your sanity? How do you deal with uneducated, sexist, backward thinking men (the office is run 90% by men of a certain nationality, with me being the only woman in management)? Can they ever be shown how to behave in a corporate environment?

This week was better. I didn’t get too many blackberry messages ranting about something that I had done that was incredibly wrong in their eyes. I didn’t emails every half an hour from 5.30am requesting me to be in a spur of the moment conference call immediatley (my bb was on silent and I was sleeping so was therefore a failure for not being in a conference call at that time!). Although work life improved slightly, the powers that be decided that I was incapable of being the head of the department and advertised for someone to be the head. Demotion is kinda of a shitty feeling, but there is a huge part of me thankful and relieved that I will soon hopefully not have to deal with ridiculous incomprehensible and unreasonable phone calls, emails and bb messages 24 hours a day and I can go back to having a proper 10-6ish life. Here’s hoping.