1. What have you found most challenging as a leader of a small or medium enterprise?

Well, I believe, finding a competitive edge in the crowded marketplaces of today can be a real challenge. It’s important to every business like mine, but requires time, money and resources to make sure the company has done everything it can to stand out. The biggest challenge I face as a leader of SME is the right plan with right execution wheather in terms of time , money or resource.

2. How did you become a leader of an SME? Can you please briefly tell the story?
My journey started way back in 2010, when I passed my Post Graduation in Management. I planned to be an entrepreneur but I didn't have any knowledge about the industry or market, so I decided to work for Small and Medium Size Companies so that I can have maximum exposure to different profiles and departments. As we all know, working in SME requires a lot of multi-tasking which helped me a lot in gaining knowledge about various departments. I started with a media house and publication house and landed in IT sector and realised that it best suited my way of working. Thereafter, I decided to open up my venture in the year 2015 with zero capital. Now ,with the grace of almighty, I have a team of employees with offices in two different locations.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I am a new mom and trust me, planning your day along with the baby is too difficult as mostly your work structure starts depending on your baby's sleep pattern and activity time. For that reason , I plan my work day in advance before going to sleep. I try to schedule my tasks based on the importance of every task. I make sure to keep my team posted with my availability for them to reach me in case of any concerns. Also, I juggle between tasks rather than sticking at one. I have assigned dedicated time to keep a check on my email and group the similar tasks. Thanks to smartphones which keep me notified of every single task.

4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

Time is your biggest asset. Every task has a self life and performing it at a designated time is really important.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The Leadership Challenge. It is about how leaders mobilize others in an effort to get extraordinary things done inside companies and organizations.

6. How do you build leadership capacity in an SME?

Communication is the key here. I try to practice better communication with transparency.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader of an SME so far?

Money is important but employee satisfaction matters the most. I remember one of my clients paying me a good amount for a project which was really important during the initial days of my startup but the client was so authoritative that he doesn't even let my employees have a lunch break and makes them work until midnight . It started affecting their health. That was the time I decided to lay my terms clear to the client and make him understand that if he wants more time to be dedicated towards his projects he needs to get people involved at different shifts. Fixdax is treated as a family and not a company which is having employees as family members. None of my employees ever left me or switched to another company and they are much more productive now rather than being treated as machines.