I am Uselessly Useful

I am one of the partners who started Pseudoscops back in 2018. Apart from Engineering, Finance, and HR, I am responsible for all the other duties. Some of what I do includes Marketing, Sales, Business Development, Content Creation, Training, Consultancy, and Project Management.

I am Useless

Our two main projects now involved software development work; this is an area that I cannot help. The last time I wrote codes was back in 2007, where I was using VBA to automate a time-consuming process to generate invoices in Microsoft Excel. I still recall the program itself manages to help the company secure a management service fee, for which the company did not give any recognition of the effort to me.

Back to Pseudoscops, there’s nothing much that I can help with except to provide feedback based on the customer’s perspective. This is because I am the one who’s usually interfacing with customers and listening to their challenges. Furthermore, most users will contact me straight if they have any requests or feedback, and I visit them at times to understand their issues. However, probably due to the inability to work on development, I felt that I was seen as “useless”, and no one took my word and work to heart.

At times, this prompts me to question myself, “If the company still needs me or I am better off somewhere else where I can contribute better?”. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey and where we need to give inspiration, we need to get recognition too. Giving too much without returns will deplete our resources and pull us down. I think this is what I have been experiencing recently.

I am Useful

In terms of network and connecting to people, I must say that I am the best in the company. My network is extensive, and I have a few good friends who will not hesitate to come to me for technology matters. I am consistent in what I stand for, and I always deliver the same message regardless of who I am meeting.

I am not a designer, but I am relatively competent in designing marketing materials, presentation materials, marketing videos, and others. In addition, I am the only one who is leveraging my network to market our products and services to people. Therefore, I am always calling out to people shamelessly and asking for help to get me connected to someone I think might utilise our service.

What is my mindset and thoughts when I am doing this? When someone asks for my help, I will link them to those I know and do what I can to help them. As much as I like to Give, I need to Take from others for my benefit. I have yet to experience much help that can bring the company over the tipping point, and I try to tell myself that I must continue to believe in giving.

Uselessly Useful

A friend used to tell me that I was wasting my talent and I should be managing a larger team and getting wilder things done. But, if I cannot gain recognition in this small team, how can I contribute to a larger group? Probably I need to find a means or a place that can better match who I am and what I can do.

Well, at the moment, I will probably continue to work on what I am doing to market our product and services to gain more customers in 2022. I hope to bring it to a greater height and at least tell myself that I have done it and I am useful after all.