[Nazir's]

Prior to September 5, 2007 I was a Sales & Marketing manager. I ran, ran, and ran EVERYTHING! Sales and Marketing is one of those jobs that never end. You take them home with you. Even when you are out eating dinner with family, if you see a prospective client you'll feel the need to grab their business. After all, your salary bonuses depended on it. Then, add to that the fact that I managed a staff of 15 and basically ran a operation. My phone rang 24/7. Sometimes I'd get calls at 5 am in the morning on my days off. I was pretty much gone for the most part of the day and it really started to take a toll on the well being of my life. What I did like about the company I worked for, they understood and accepted my love for my animals. I raised a litter of pups in my office, as I certainly wouldn't have left them home alone. That's right, I carried them to work every single day for the first two months of their lives. Every now and then I would get depressed because I was away from home so much. I didn't feel that it was fair to my kids (dogs). So, to ease my mind a little I started rotating--I would and was allowed to bring my babies to work with me. I would do a week on and two weeks off with the pets coming to work. Oh, my General manager absolutely loved it. I couldn't get HER to do any work when the puppies came into work with me and she was MY manager. I included a picture that was taken by MY manager with the company's mascot (in a stuffed animal form) and put into our company newsletter. She took this picture while she should have been working. I was known as the pet lady and whenever someone from corporate would come into town the first thing that they'd ask me was how was the dogs doing. See, they were very well aware of my kids as well because I was the worker that always had to have the pet friendly hotels when corporate paid for my business trips. I got my first parrot when I finally saw a break in my schedule, after being allowed to hire an assistant. Iris (my CAG) came to work with me for the first couple weeks after I obtained her. However, I would alternate the days so that she could also learn how to be alone. Anyways, we had a reduction in force and my local venue was closed down. Although we all were then without a job, I was a little relieved because I didn't know how much longer I could go on without having a life.

After that, I had a decision to make and I decided not to ever dedicate so much of myself to anything that takes me from what I'd most enjoy doing and that's being with my babies, as they deserve. I then decided to go into business for myself. Thus far, it's working out just fine and is paying the bills. I wish I would have done this long ago. I now have more freedom over my OWN time. I spend more time at home now but sometimes it does feel redundant.