Muslim Women in Management: Challenges and Strategies
DinarStandard, April Issue
Written by Maria Zain
(Excerpt)
"The greatest challenge in managing a virtual Human Resource team is to find Muslim graphic and web designers. This field is not as popular in the Muslim ummah as other traditional fields, like medicine or engineering. It takes more effort to find the individuals I need for the company."
Iman Kouvalis, 29, built Optimize It. Designs, a solutions centre where marketing meets designs, after deciding that entrepreneurship would spur her career freedom. With 6 years of top managerial experience at a private education facility, she soon found herself hiring internationally, and virtually, and leading a team of young and dynamic professionals from around the globe.
The Strategic Plan for Human Resources
Her experience in management taught her to immediately draw-up a ten year plan including one that concerned human resources. “My strategic plan from the start was to hire a team of professionals and when the demand [for my services] exceeded the ability to supply, I knew I had to start hiring.”
“I went through the process of sending out job postings, interviewing and then orientation and training.” Iman’s team now consists of graphic designers, web designers, web programmers, a copywriter and an Arabic / English translator – they hail from Canada, USA, UK and Pakistan.
As if it were not difficult alone to manage a team of cross-cultural employees, Iman’s team is a virtual one, with her office being the comfort of her own home. Luckily, technology is her forte – “we communicate through our online project management software. With a robust system of structure through policies and procedures, everyone is clear of what is expected of them and when.”
Her delegation of duties has also helped. “I have two departments and two project managers that head those departments - that takes care of most of the online communication.”
To read the full article, visit http://www.dinarstandard.com/management/MMImanKouvalis040608.htm
Blogging for Business
Rush Magazine, April Issue
Excerpt written by Iman Kouvalis
When I first started blogging, I admit, I was a bit nervous about it. Could I keep up with it? Would people actually like it or would they fall asleep from boredom?
My biggest motivator for doing this is to share my hard-earned experiences with other business owners. There is an overwhelming amount of information for businesses out there and if you can't filter out the best from the mediocre, you might just spend months or years trying to figure it all out. I wanted to give back the best of the best, especially to Muslimahs who aspire to work from home and need that extra time to give to their families.
So, my goal is to share all the pieces of business advice that I had to find out the hard way in hopes that others can fast-track to success quicker than I did. You can visit my blog at http://optimizeitdesigns.wordpress.com for insider tips, best practices and best resources for businesses.
A Passion for Pixels - Sisters in Graphic Design
SISTERS Magazine, Winter 2007
By: Umm Junayd and Atiyya Gardee
THE SCENIC ROUTE
"I am known as the "Greek revert" to many," says Iman Kouvalis. “My parents migrated from Greece, so my brother, sisters and I were all raised in Windsor, Ontario Canada. I reverted to Islam in 2000 after graduating from university, alhamdu lillah, and since then got married.
"My education and experience are diverse. I graduated as a mechanical engineer and, after working in that field for a year, I switched careers and started teaching at an Islamic school. I worked my way up to Vice-Principal and have learned many lessons from my experience there that help me today as a graphic designer and business owner of Optimize It. Designs.
"I became interested in graphic design about six years ago when I started to volunteer to make flyers for sisters' events like camps, competitions and Eid parties. Till this day, my friends remind me of a flyer that I created for our first camp. It is nowhere near the design quality that I offer today but they do get a kick out of reminding me of my lack of design skills at that time!"
Umme Ahmed, a mother of three children, owns Cre8tive-Pixels.com. Like Iman, she never formally studied graphic design, starting out with science at university. "I’ve always been very creative and involved with many different types of arts and crafts. I think that’s where my interest in graphic design stemmed from…it was just another type of art that I found intriguing and wanted to have a go at. I thought about studying graphic design but it wasn’t a hit with my parents…so I suppressed my creative side and went the science route! I’ve studied up to university level although I never completed my degree because I ended up getting married midway!
"After marriage, I would spend considerable amounts of time sitting at the computer putting my babies to sleep…that was the perfect setting to learn graphic design and I started out by playing around with various design applications. Now, I specialise in brand development, corporate identity, web design, flash media products, and all types of printed media.”
FINE-TUNING THEIR CRAFT
Both Iman and Umme Ahmed worked hard to develop their craft. Iman says: "I've studied graphic design intensely by reading many, many books; practising; becoming part of graphic design network; reading some more books, and practising some more. The key to good graphic design skills is practising and an excellent way to do that is to build your portfolio by volunteering your design efforts."
Umme Ahmed began entering design contests online: "After my first win, I got addicted and kept going… I was learning a lot of new skills by competing with designers from around the world. Alhamdulillah, I won many contests in a short period of time and am still counting! In this way, I started to get clients and felt confident enough to take on freelance design work in between all the nappy changes!"
In order to build her portfolio, Iman volunteered her services to Islamic centres. Word got around, and soon others asked her to do pro-bono work for them too. "While I was doing that, I started to define my business mission and plan for the next 10 years. Yes, 10 years! I started doing design work locally and was determined to network my way into three more Canadian cities. Today we design for many businesses and organisations all over the US and Canada and are now even reaching UK markets, alhamdulillah."
Unlike the stereotyped competitive business owner, Iman's mission and ethos embraces the input of other designers to the field. "My mission for this business is to raise the design quality of businesses in our global community (i.e. Ummah). I actually see other designers helping me in this mission, and not really competing against me. From the beginning, I knew that running a business was a tremendous amount of work so I did not want to only spend that time making money for this life; instead I wanted to find a way to make it count in the Hereafter as well."
THE GENDER QUESTION
"I think many women see graphic design as a male-dominated industry and are therefore reluctant to get into it,” says Umme Ahmed. Thankfully, in this field of work, you get hired based on your portfolio and not your gender."
Iman also finds graphic design suited to her lifestyle as a Muslim woman and even recommends it for stay-at-home mothers.
"Asa graphic designer, you have the flexibility to work from your own home and across the globe. I hire designers from all over the US and Canada and some of them have children. For them, they are able to tend to household duties and take care of the children while working part-time from home."
FREE ADVICE
What advice do these sisters have for others who want to venture into the field of graphic design? Umme Ahmed stresses careful study and proficiency with design software. "In order to do well, you need two things: creativity and a sound knowledge of the software you will be using. For those like me who have no formal qualification in graphic design, it is vital to study your art carefully, to learn from other designers, to know the latest trends in graphic design and to go through tutorials to familiarise yourself with the applications you will be using.”
For those aspiring to run their own businesses, Iman has words of caution: "I usually tell people 'not every chef is a successful restaurant owner'. This applies to all professions, not just graphic design businesses. Owning a business means you need to know a lot about dealing with planning, leadership, finances, marketing, systems, legalities and managing people. It's not only about the product or service. If you are intimidated by this, then I would suggest that you either take the time to learn about running a business or simply apply for a job with a graphic designing company instead.
"The main advantage of running a graphic design business would be controlling your own hours, your own location, where you do business, what your prices are, whom you chose to do business with and what policies you set. For example, our target audience are Muslim businesses so we can set a policy that we don't take on projects that are in direct violation with Islamic principles.
On the other hand, the disadvantage would be the hours, managing people, dealing with complaints if they come, and the money to purchase design software (sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars or pounds). A business owner has to work around the clock. It's no 9-5 job. If you chose to be a business owner, you choose to sacrifice your free time, at least for the first five years."
Umme Ahmed is also very realistic about the pros and cons of working for yourself: "Pros… you get to do something you enjoy, you get paid for it and you don’t even have to leave the house! It is also a very rewarding business, alhamdulillah, and working as a freelancer means you can take on as little or as much work as you can handle, so it’s easy to juggle work around your family commitments. Cons would include the pressure of meeting tight deadlines; dealing with difficult clients; preparing files, which can be quite repetitive and tedious."
KEEP COMING BACK FOR MORE
For Iman, it is the satisfaction of improving Muslim companies’ design standards that inspires her to continue. "This is my mission and I feel happy when I see that other Muslim businesses are professional in what they do".
Umme Ahmed sums up the contentment of being able to earn by following your passion: “I get paid to do something I really enjoy and I also love that I can work from the comfort of my own home."
We pray for their success in their business and private lives, in this world and the Next!
If you have a passion for pixels and are interested in pursuing graphic design as a career or hobby, log onto the following website for ideas, advice and support:
http://forums.mpadc.com
www.OptimizeItDesigns.com
www.cre8tive-pixels.com
To enter design contests, go to:
http://www.designcontest.net
http://gfxcontests.com
Alternative Careers
Islamic Horizons, Nov/Dec Issue
By: Iman Kouvalis
New Trend
With societal and family pressures to earn degree after degree, Muslim women and women in general are being put in a position to strike a balance between career and family. After many years of pressure to finish post high school education and many marriage proposals turned down in the pursuit of finishing one’s education, women are now faced with a new societal challenge.
As a youth program leader, one of the most common questions I get asked from young women is, ‘How do I strike a balance between pursuing my career and fulfilling my marital and motherly responsibilities?’ The '9 to 5' North American occupational system is not very 'user friendly' for Muslim women or women in general. One solution that Muslim women across North America have been turning towards is starting their own home-based businesses, either locally or online.
Whether it is to apply her career skills, to work out a convenient schedule that works with her home responsibilities, to earn extra income or just for a creativity outlet, home-based businesses are proving to work better than 9-5 job schedules for many women. “The most important thing was to be able to meet the needs of my family and remain independent. I could not seem to accomplish this by being out of the home for long periods of time at work and building a successful business was a long time goal of mine,” Umm Abdillaah Maryam Thabiti, MuslimahLINK business owner states.
One of the issues that females discuss with me when working outside the home is male – female interaction. Depending on the career, females relate to me typical uncomfortable situations of being faced with shaking men’s hands, being alone in a room with men, or in general having to attend social outings with men that are related to work. By working from home, women control who they deal with, depending on the market their product will serve. Even when men are customers, it can easily be done via phone or e-mail and therefore be more business-like and to the point.
Big Challenges
The advantages seem enticing but the challenges shouldn’t go unnoticed. No matter how easy you think running your business might be, the bottom line is that all businesses take time, money and effort. “In running my business I often lack the time I need to build the business as much as I would like,” Seema Imam, Professor of Education and owner of Eduvision Plus Consulting admits and can identify this challenge with many other Muslim female owners. Yes, it takes lots of time to run a business. In fact, business owners will tell you they eat business for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
With any business, depending on its nature, start-up capital funding can serve to be a major challenge and many Muslim women shy away from loans in fear of compiling interest rates. “The biggest challenge is funding, especially in the beginning,” says Umm Ibrahim Murtuza, owner of NISAA’ Mag, who started a business in the form of a magazine to help young Muslim females. “But if you have a good plan, are organized, and put your trust in Allah, funding will increase.”
Another challenge for some Muslim women, mainly reverts including myself, is bargaining. "The biggest challenge for me was definitely learning how to deal with different cultures. For example, many foreigners will try to negotiate and Americans for the most part do not," as Kawthar Ijai, owner of The Islamic Marketplace suggests.
When asked to give advice to women who are entrepreneurs, Sabirah Parker, owner of Beadalicious said, “Remember this word: PASSION.” While I agree with Sabirah, I can relate with the statement, “Make istikhara and plan, plan, plan!” as Toni Mecca, owner of her new business, Mecaa Emporium, matter-of-factly states. “Dreaming is good but don’t let it take over,” Medina Oozeer, manager of Medina's Book & Gift Shop advises. Dreaming is good to an extent but you should make a business plan even if it is informal. Map out what your products and services will be, who your target audience is and how can you effectively market to them.
No one said that business sense is innate but you do have to learn it. Like the old saying goes, “Not every gourmet chef can own a successful restaurant”. Just because you are a specialist in your product, don’t assume that you can have a successful business based on that. If you didn’t graduate from business school, it’s not the end of the world, but you do have a lot of research and networking ahead of you.
Marketing
When I say marketing, it does not only mean advertising. Small business owners may not be able to afford widespread advertising in major publications but they can be creative in how they send messages about their business. After surveying many female business owners, the importance of marketing for a business ranked 9.7 out a 10. “Marketing is the most important aspect of any business. Word of mouth, magazines, and flyers or anyway of getting attention to your business is important. Business cards are a must.” Sharifa McKee, Owner of Executive Travel wisely advises. To sum it up, take Sabirah Parker's advice and “Make your business
everybody’s business!”
An effective marketing strategy if planned well is web advertising. From creating your own web site to online business networks and advertising, your business can reach global status. One thing for sure is that your first impression counts. Showcasing your business without having a professional image can prove to your customers that you cannot be trusted. There’s so much competition out there that customers just move on. So in conclusion, female-owned home based businesses can prove to be a great solution and balance between career and family as long you equip yourself with the right business skills.
Copyright 2006 Iman Kouvalis
The Problem with Using Photos from the Internet
By Iman Kouvalis
Have you ever come across an amazing photo on the internet and then try to use that on your sales literature or printed material? You paste it into your MS Word flyer and come to find out that it’s too small. So what you do? You stretch it.
But here’s the problem:
When you stretch it, it becomes fuzzy.
And even worse:
You print it out or send it to Kinkos (or Staples) and it becomes even more fuzzy.
This is why you can’t use photos from the internet. At least not what we call “web resolution” photos. Web resolution photos are small-sized photos that are enhanced for fast viewing on the internet. In the design world, they are known as “72dpi” or 72 dots per inch quality.
Print resolution (i.e. for press printers) typically use photos with at least 300 dpi, or 300 dots per inch for best quality.
Unless you have a photo editor program like Photoshop or similar, you probably won’t be able to distinguish this difference. A fast way to estimate it would be to check the file size. If it’s under 10KB, most likely the image will be horrible for print. Like the photo I have above. Do you notice the difference between this one and the sunset in the previous post?
A general rule of thumb is that most (if not all) photos on the internet cannot be used for printed material. That’s why www.sxc.hu that I recommended earlier is a great website because these photos are to be used in printed material. This website is free but if you want professional purchased photos, try www.istockphotos.com or www.dreamstime.com.
The 'Selling Everything to Everyone' Syndrome
By: Iman Kouvalis
Do you ever notice how thrilled business owners are when they talk about their product or service? It’s as if they are talking about their own child, their pride and joy. And that’s great. But then we move on to whom they are selling it to and sometimes I get feeling that they want to ’sell everything to everyone’. You know what I mean?
It’s very common. But also ineffective.
Unless you plan to compete against Wal-Mart or Amazon, you want to narrow in on who your target audience really is. Ask yourself:
What type of person specifically would buy this product or service?
Is it an honest to goodness benefit that this type of person really wants?
Are you sure or are you just guessing (i.e. have you tested this hypothesis)?
You can also break it down further to decide on more specifics like age group, ethnicity, social status, gender, location, hobbies, etc.
Why am I such a stickler about this? Because it drives your entire business. Here are a few things it will affect:
- identity (logo, website and marketing material style and colors)
- pricing models
- marketing tools
- location and setup of your business
- product look and packaging
- who you hire
… and the list goes on.
Until you are firm on who exactly you are selling to, you’ll be stuck in the ’sell everything to everyone’ syndrome and that could definitely put you in a rut, wasting tons of money.
Advise Me! They Say…
By: Iman Kouvalis
I get a lot of people asking me which marketing tool they should use for their business. Most of them are trying to build their business and they scope out what their competition is doing. So, they ask me something like this:
[Them] What do you think I should do, advertise in a magazine or the local newspaper?
[Me] Hmm… (Me thinking, probably none of those. How am I going to answer this in only one sentence!)
[Me] Well… do you have a marketing plan?
[Them] Huh?
[Me] A marketing plan. You know, a plan that you’ve worked on to research your target audience, how they think, do they really need your product or service, where they shop, your business goals and your marketing budget, to name a few.
That’s when they get confused and they don’t see the value in what I’m saying. They think I’m complicating things. But, the reality is that I can’t answer their first question off the fly. I need to see the plan.
Bottom line: Without a marketing plan, most businesses, waste hundreds, if not thousands, monthly in ineffective marketing or lost opportunities to gain customers. Isn’t it ironic that they would rather do this than spend, let’s say, $100 and one afternoon coming up with a marketing plan?
Well, It's Their Fault!
By: Iman Kouvalis
It’s their fault if they don’t want to buy my product! They really need my product and I don’t know how they are going to survive without it. I’m so bewildered how people can act so strange. I go out of my way to spend thousands of dollars creating a product that they NEED and all I get is “no thank you” after all of that hard work! Pfff.
Does this sound familiar to you?
It could for some businesses.
This is an example of the difference between NEED and WANT. It’s and interesting topic. It really hurts that after all the hard work and money you put into building your business, your baby, people don’t buy it. It’s easy to put the blame on your customers. But I’ve seen so many business owners do it.
So, what’s the solution, you ask?
Stop blaming the customers.
To make things clear, do you go and support every single business out there even when you you don’t really want their product? Do you just buy it anyway? Maybe if you have a really good heart but not for billions of companies out there.
The real reason you buy something is because you’ve been convinced that you really want it and that this company is the best place to get it!
And who convinced you?
We’ll of course, the company’s marketing program, whether that be through its website, advertisement, free product give-away, referrals from a trusted friend, a thank you card or a sponsorship of a charitable program or all of the above.
Most of the time it’s a consistent nagging of attention that’s plastered in your face through internet, tv, radio, direct mail, online mail, e-mails people forward to you, free products and gifts, magazines and on and on.
Have you realized yet that it’s not the customer to blame? Perhaps, it’s you.
Are you in the Do-it-all-by-yourself mode?
By: Iman Kouvalis
When I first started my business, I tried to do everything myself from designing to writing contracts, to finding clients, to managing the finances. Ironically, I would cringe every time someone was interested in hiring me for design work. That’s because that meant it would make me busier in the next week and I was just overwhelmed with all the work I had to do already.
Are you in the same boat?
Most of my time was spent researching on the net to learn about areas I was not familiar with. I spent countless hours reading books about marketing, finances, how to run a business and legalities, on top of keeping up with my design projects. I was utterly exhausted.
I was in the do-it-all-by-yourself to save money mode.
What I didn’t realize then was that doing everything yourself is a formula for disaster for your business.
Now I know the best way to do business is to delegate or outsource in areas I am not an expert. Sure, this sounds much more expensive, right? You might be thinking, that’s just way to expensive for me. I can’t even start to think about that.
It’s actually much cheaper to outsource and much more effective. Here’s why. Let’s say to figure out how to create your own website it takes you 50-100 hours of research time to do it yourself. That’s a pretty realistic timeframe to create your sitemap, your website content, your hosting, domain, learning html, searching for tutorials, etc. You might save yourself hundreds of dollars or more.
But did you really save?
Most likely your finished product will not be as effective if you hired a specialist and therefore your customer’s first impression can be deteriorated. Now you just lost an opportunity to gain more business, which may be worth hundreds or dollars, or more. This is not including the 50-100 hours of time you could have been spending on future planning, your product or finding more clients.
So, bottom line: outsourcing usually wins.
So, How Much Does a Typical Website Cost?
By: Iman Kouvalis
We’ll that would be easy to answer if there was such a thing as typical. But there’s not. Maybe in the fast-food industry. Or the music industry. But not in the web design industry.
So, the e-mails from random people go like this,
“I would like to have a website done. How much do you charge?”
It’s kinda like walking into Rogers and saying,
“I would like to have a cell phone. How much do you charge?”
Well, we all know how overwhelming it can get looking at all the different plans, trying to figure out which is the best deal for you.
I get a lot of those e-mails, regularly. The answer to that is, it depends. Do you want a 5 web page, text-only website or do you want an interactive 51 web page website with specialized login, custom forms and diagrams and a forum installed? You can go from hundreds to thousands of dollars in that one sentence.
That’s why we don’t post ‘typical’ prices on our website. Instead, when you inquire, I take you through the process of choosing the best deal for you before I quote you.
So, in the future, if you are looking to get a quote from a web designer, it’s a good idea to map out what you want first. If you want a shortcut, you can take the free report called, “How to Build a Website that Sells for You” on my website, www.OptimizeItDesigns.com. And if you want a more enhanced website that sells for you, you can take advantage of the marketing tips and questions throughout the report.
Bleed or Bleeding Edge
A bleed is a design that extends beyond a page. Your printer will print your design on a larger size paper and then trim the design to the desired size. For example, if you have a 11" x 17" poster, your designer might create it on an 11.25"x17.25" page so that the printer will be able to trim the page down to 11"x17" and still keep the design flowing to the edge of the page.
Browser
i.e. Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, etc.
CMS
Otherwise known as Content Management System. A system that allows a non-technical person to make changes or add content to your website.
CMYK
Otherwise known as Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. For example, 0-0-100-0 means that it is a pure yellow color. If your design will be printed, it must contain CMYK colors since printers only use this setup.
Copyeditor
A professional editor who proofreads and reworks text for effective web content.
Copywriter
A professional who writes effective web content using enhanced marketing and writing techniques.
CSS
Otherwise known as Cascading Style Sheet. CSS makes it easier to create web templates that specify elements to appear on all web pages. For example, you can set paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, etc.
Domain
i.e. www.yourname.com
DPI
Otherwise known as dots per inch. DPI is important for proper resolution for printers and for web. Typically, printers need at least 300 dpi and websites are best with 72 dpi.
E-commerce
The sale and purchase of goods or services over the Internet. Ex. shopping cart
FTP
Otherwise known as File Transfer Protocol. You can send large files from one computer to another through the internet. This is especially useful when your designer wants to send you or your printer very large files that can't be attached through e-mail.
Hosting Company
A company you hire to provide space on their server for your web site to be stored and viewed.
HTML
Otherwise known as Hypertext Markup Language; HTML is a system for creating web pages.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language that makes web pages more animated and dynamic in terms of graphics and navigation like a mouseover or drop-down list
JPEG
Otherwise known as Joint Photographic Experts Group. JPEG images allow for more colors than GIF images.
Meta Tag
Meta tags are used to identify the keywords and description of the page and is often used for search engine optimization.
Navigation
A clear 'road map' or menu that visitors can follow through your website to find out about your company easily.
RGB
Otherwise known as the colors Red-Green-Blue. RGB is used in web design. For example, 255-0-0 stands for pure red color.
Royalty-Free Photos or Images
Photos are sold for a standard fee that can be used over and over by the purchaser. In other words, the seller owns the rights to the images but is licensing you to use the photos.
Sans Serif
Sans Serif are fonts "without feet." Common sans serif typefaces include Arial and Verdana.
Search Engine
A search engine is a program that searches for websites for specified keywords. Ex. Google, Yahoo, etc.
Search Engine Optimization
The practice of trying to ensure that a website obtains a high rank in the search engines.
Serif
Serif are fonts with "little feet." Common serif typefaces include Times Roman and Garamond.
Site Map
An overview of the web pages in outline form arranged by topic that gives visitors a clear, organized picture of what the web site has to offer.
Thumbnail
A smaller version of an image. These are used in photo galleries or shopping carts.
Vector Graphic
An image drawn on the computer that can be made very large. For example, if a logo is drawn as a vector image, you can easily make it bigger to fit on a billboard. However, you cannot do this with a photo because the resolution of the photo is limited and you may very well only be able to increase the size to only an 8.5"x11" page. |
