Business: Working with Clients (The Beginning)

In the website design business working with clients can be fun, but also very well...challenging. I have been designing websites since I was twelve and since then I've gotten better in terms of creativity, learning HTML, and CSS coding and took it a step further by creating the Zobia Alvi Creative. After being very indecisive, I decided to take that a step further as well. The Zobia Alvi Creative will no longer exist. Instead I am renaming the business and building it completely from scratch. 

However, before I get to officially launch the business, I needed to gather clients. I have worked with a few since that decision was made and the experiences with each client were VERY different. 

One of the experiences left me doubting my ability to design creatively, another said my design was just terrible and then went on to design a (what I think was terrible because this person knows nothing about website design whatsoever) website themselves, and another loved the end result and will possibly hire me for another project. 

The first client asked for a website without any specifications for their company. So I decided to research some websites in that field and came up with a design all by myself. I was pretty excited with the way the design came to be and eagerly presented it to my client. The client didn't even look through it, they batted an eye and just said "Maybe, if you made it pink?.." Oh, the shades of color my face turned in that moment. 

The next client was a few years back. They asked for a website that represented their project, but again did not know exactly what they wanted. I designed a beautiful cohesive website representing just their project and nothing else. They said that it wasn't "flashy" enough. What in the world does that mean?! They ended up taking my work and putting red sirens and "Do Not Cross" banners all over the site. Literally. 

The last client was quite delightful. They had a basic understanding of what the website could look like and we were able to work together to create a great site. No complaints here. A client like this is hard to get by, so I am glad I might be doing another project for this one. 

I've also been reading Clients From Hell lately and I can totally relate to even the most ridiculous client stories. These are just a few of mine. 

Being Friendly VS. Being a Friend

A recent Instagram Photo. Follow me on Instagram: @ZobiaAlvi

If you know me in person, you might think I am reserved. If you read my blog or get to know me beyond the "need-to-know" basis you'll realize I'm not so reserved after all. You'd also know that although I play nice in person, I don't have too many friends.

If I blog about my friends, I usually talk about my best friend (who is my only true friend) or my "so-called" friends who really aren't so true to me at the end of the day.

On a daily basis, I am pretty much a friendly person. I'll converse with you, share insights, help you out as well as I can, and try to please you in any way I see fit. You can come to me with one problem, a million problems, or just say hello and I won't push you away. Trust me, I like knowing I could be useful to someone by just being an ear to listen.

And if nothing else, I like talking to people. Sometimes people actually have something interesting to say.

Being a friend means sharing the mutual feeling of comfort, trust, and loyalty.

Being friendly is a means that could lead to being a friend, but simply doesn't cut it to the edge.

I have always been friendly, not often that I become a friend.

Are you always being friendly or being a friend?

Accepting That Life is Not Perfect...

One of the hardest thing a perfectionist comes to learn is that life is just not perfect no matter how hard one tries to make it so.

Being a perfectionist, I've come to the conclusion that life will not be perfect, but I have found a loop hole.

All these imperfections that get in my way on a daily basis do not have to be looked upon as negative drawbacks.

So what if I miss a deadline? Who cares if my "so-called" friends decide to cancel on our plans last minute, for the tenth time? Or that I stayed up so late that my eyes are too swollen to put my contacts on the next morning?

It happens.

These little everyday imperfections shouldn't take me aback on my strive to be perfect. They should be given more credit.

If I look at it this way then life is perfectly imperfect...and that is how I accepted that life is not perfect. ;)

Being Your Own Hero...

Photo

Lately everything has been rushed.

I have been avoiding a lot of my overdue tasks and even though I do, I still feel the weight of it all falling down on me.

Create one major client website. Create two client blog designs. Finish this semester's homework. Get back to novel writing. Re-do my web design business. Venture out my fragrance business, Fragrance Essence. Write a MEANINGFUL blog post. Make a college choice. Organize my desktop files. Edit my personal calendar.

Okay so it's just a handful of tasks, then why am I so taken aback by them? Well, it gets a bit complicated.

I don't have the motivation I used to (or tried to have) to get things done. I lounge around in my night gown, get my butt off the couch for a completely non-healthy snack at Dunkin' Donuts and come back home to browse the interwebs as if I have no responsibilities.

During those "lounging-around" days I convince myself the work I have to do is a waste of time and then I find myself rushing at the very last minute to get things done.

Clearly, I need someone to force me to do these things. I need a hero.

Last night at literally 1:51 A.M. I believe I became my own hero.

I took down a piece of paper from my bulletin board and started to scribble random thoughts. I started by writing a few things I liked, jotted some ideas on what I'd like to do, and then I started creating new tasks that I was actually excited about doing. A simple creative spark is what we'll call it and it led me to writing up this blog post and thinking...all I really needed was a place to start.

Lesson here: being your own hero means getting out of your head and taking one small step towards your goals.

Do you get unmotivated often? Who/what is your hero? 

March Highlights

1. My new bracelet and scarf simply just make me happy. My best friend is awesome for getting me this! :)

2. Since, I work at a pre-school, I dressed up as the Cat in the Hat for Read Across America Day. Afterwards, I walked all over town with my cat make-up on. 

3. 4 years in Marching Band, 8 years in band finally paid off! Graduating as an athlete! 

4. Finally, warmer weather means frozen yogurt season. 

5. My little home-office got a bulletin board. Boy, will I have fun with this. 

6. I won a pair of shoes for prom from Chinese Laundry. They are perfect! 

7. Last year, I participated in Trading Places at school and was able to be my favorite teacher for the day. This year, I decided to be another one of my teachers who I have grown fond of and it was awesome! I was boss. 

8. I decided to take some time one day and take my little sister out to watch a play at school. She loved it and I was so happy to see her little face light up with joy.

9. Off my Special K Challenge, but still eating healthy. 

This month was a bit strange. My Father has been out of the country for most of this month and college decisions seem to be on the rise. My Mother has been very supportive on the behalf of both of them...but, as for myself...more business ideas and ventures to roll out soon. Work keeps me busy and makes me the happiest (success is my true soul mate) and this month I think I balanced work and family quite better despite the family changes. 

The How I Met Your Mother Finale...

The How I Met Your Mother finale was to say the least interesting. This post is actually extremely hard for me to write, I've had 3 cups of iced coffee today and as I write...I still think I should have more.

However, before I start going into my views on the finale, I want to begin by stating that this show meant a lot to me. I started watching this show during the summer. All eight seasons on Netflix then onto CBS for the final season. I loved the way the show made me feel, it made me happy, it made me laugh, and it taught me a few things about love. Though just like other TV sitcoms, other How I Met Your Mother viewers probably felt the same way.

The show captured the long and incredible story of how the main character, Ted Mosby played by Josh Radnor met his kids' mother. It was a story that detailed every turn in his life and every little step that brought him to the desk he sat in telling his children the full-on story.

The story was beautiful and after every episode, I felt more reassured that Ted will find the love of his life. Throughout it all, I fell in love with Marshall & Lily's relationship (played by Jason Segel & Alyson Hannigan) and the slightly surprising, but wonderful match that Barney made with Robin (played by Neil Patrick Harris & "Cobie" Smulders). So naturally, Ted and the mother's relationship became one that I had high hopes for and in the final season, I was happy to see their relationship unfold a bit.

The writers, producers, and everyone else behind the creation of this show did great, they made all nine seasons (minus the very last episode) pleasant (although sometimes heartbreaking) and just out-right breath-taking.

The finale had lots of ups and downs. The ups being the fact that Ted finally met the Mother and she was perfect. She was everything Ted seemed to have wanted and much more. She was loving, charming, and made Ted feel like the luckiest man on earth (because he was). The other up being that we were able to see Marshall & Lilly grow their loving family even more.

On the other hand, the downs being Barney & Robin getting divorced after three years together, Barney impregnated some random woman (as part of one of his old Playbook schemes), the Mother, Tracy (played by Cristin Milioti) becoming sick and then dying, and the biggest down...the person Ted finally ends up with is Robin.

This in simple terms just broke my heart. 

Ted finds the woman he loves deeply, he starts a beautiful family, and tells his children his life's complete journey on his quest to find the "one" and as it so happens...no matter how much he loved the Mother...she ended up not being the "one".

For a little personal perspective, I must say finding the "one" will be a magical moment for me. I believe there is only one person you can ever truly love. Sure, love is infinite and one may love many people...but there is just something about the "one" that makes you realize why no one else could have ever been the "one".

Tracy was just a love in Ted's life. She was not the "one" fans like me were hoping for. She was just the mother of his children. Robin was the "one" all along.

This is crushing for fans that believe in true love since we were set up to believe Ted would find that love with the Mother of his children. That was the love we all thought Ted was looking for, but instead Ted only always had a place in his heart to be with Robin.

Barney was a great match for Robin, they seemed messed up in their own ways, but they were madly in love. It didn't seem fair to me that Barney spent all these years loving Robin only to give it all up in the end.

It made me feel like true love doesn't exist and that life goes on whether you have found it or not... It really took away the magic of this series from me.

Not everything in this world has to be realistic. Too much realism takes away our love of life, our motivation to become better humans, and definitely defies the definition of life we're all secretly trying to find.

Beyond that, Barney never found real love as he raised his daughter, Ellie. Marshall & Lilly kept their family together which was a sweet touch. But, overall, the episode was not bad, but my aching heart says otherwise. Ted could have moved on from the death in another way (even with another person) as long as the Mother was the last person he was with...as long as she was the "one" he truly loved.

I trust you all to take it from here. What are your thoughts? How did you feel after the finale?