Chapter 4 — When I Stop Being Invisible

His eyes were very sincere. This man is not bad. It's just that over the past twelve years, he has gotten used to everything being automatically solved, without ever thinking about who is the one solving the problem.

“Boss Ha, I recommend a management consulting company.”

“Which company?”

“Thuy Hoa Consulting.”

He nodded.

“Okay, I will have someone contact them.”

He stood up and prepared to leave.

“Wait, boss Ha.”

“Chu Han wants to use the non-compete agreement to force me.”

Ha Kien Quoc's face changed.

"He used a non-compete agreement with you? For an administrative position?"

"He texted me. I already replied. Just wanted to let my boss know about this."

Ha Kien Quoc placed the cup firmly on the table.

“To Van, let me handle this matter.”

He left. I closed the door and glanced at the computer screen. The plan is half written. To Niem poked his head out from the room.

“Mom, who was that uncle just now?”

“Mom's old boss.”

“He seemed very guilty.”

“He should be.”

I officially came to Thuy Hoa to take the job on Monday of the second week. Desks are prepared, separate seats, and windows. Compared to the cramped corner that Hang Vien stuffed me in for twelve years... it was truly ten times better. Tham Dich took me to get acquainted with the team. The whole company has more than forty people, the average age is about thirty. When they see me, each person has a different expression. Some people are curious. Some people smile socially. There are also undisguised eyes of scrutiny. A new operating partner… and forty-three years old? A girl with a ponytail walked over.

"Hello Ms. To, I am Project Director Vu Tieu Man. Boss Tham assigned me to assist you in implementing your new business."

“Vu Tieu Man, have you ever done an operations consulting project before?”

“Yes, I did two projects, but both were quite small in scale.”

"Okay. Meeting at three o'clock in the afternoon. Remember to bring review documents of previous projects."

Vu Tieu Man was slightly stunned.

“Let's start today?”

“Start today.”

At three o'clock in the afternoon, I met five people from the new business in the conference room. Besides Vu Tieu Man, there are also two analysts, one in charge of UI and one sales staff. I took fifteen minutes to finish presenting my business thinking.

"What we do is not traditional consulting. Traditional consulting is the customer gives us a problem, we give back a report."

"We are different. We directly help customers build complete operating systems — from processes, forms, tools, to documents. Everything delivered must be able to be used immediately."

Tieu Ly from sales raised his hand.

"Ms. To, does this really have a market? Previously, when I sold consulting packages, customers were most afraid of receiving the report but not being able to apply it."

“So we don't sell reports.”

“We sell the results of actual implementation.”

"At my old company, I worked for twelve years, responsible for eight departments. All processes, tools, and SOPs were built by me alone."

“What we need to do now is standardize that whole experience, turn it into a product.”

Vu Tieu Man took notes very quickly.

“Miss To, who is my first customer?”

“Already there.”

“Hang Vien Group.”

“Maybe next week they will proactively contact us.”

Year people stared at each other.

"Hang Vien Group? The company... you just quit your job?"

"That's right."

I saw their eyes change from suspicion to an indescribable admiration.

“Sister To…” Tieu Ly scratched her head, “This treatment is too bad.”

"It's not burnt. It's accurate."

The meeting lasted until five thirty in the afternoon. After the meeting, Tham Dich stood waiting for me at the door.

“Miss To, you caught on faster than I thought.”

“Boss Tham, just call me To Van.”

"Okay. To Van, I have seen your plan. It is very complete. But there is a risk."

“You say it.”

“Chu Han from Hang Vien, if he knew you were in Thuy Hoa, he might try to obstruct you.”

I nodded.

"That's why I said, customer Hang Vien, I won't show up. Let me do the plan, and you guys will worry about working directly."

Tham Dich pushed up his glasses.

“What if he still finds out?”

"Then let him investigate. The non-compete agreement won't make things difficult for me."

“Are you sure?”

"Boss Tham, at Hang Vien I work in eight departments, including legal support. I understand each clause in the non-competition agreement more deeply than their legal department."

Tham Dich burst out laughing.

"Okay. Then next week we'll wait for Hang Vien's call."

Sure enough, on Wednesday afternoon, Hang Vien's administrative department called Thuy Hoa. It was personally approved by Ha Kien Quoc. Project name: Optimizing Hang Vien Group's Operational Management System. Budget: Eighty thousand. Person in charge of direct work: Operation team leader Tran Loi. Seeing this name, my mood is quite complicated. Tran Loi, it's been hard for you. After Thuy Hoa officially accepted Hang Vien's project, Tham Dich brought Vu Tieu Man and two analysts to survey and do preliminary interviews. And I'm in the back, in charge of writing solutions, building frames, and designing forms. All handover documents... do not contain my name. When the first week's interview feedback summary was sent to me, I realized something unexpected. Hang Vien's condition... is worse than when I left. In the interview, Tran Loi said:

"Since Ms. To left, there has really been no one to handle the work of the eight departments. Deputy General Chu said he would divide the work down, but each department only received three or four jobs, yet every department complained of being overloaded."

Head of Department Trieu said:

"I've never seen To Van do so much before. It was only after she left that I realized that just scheduling events every month was enough for me to hire another person."

Engineer Lam from the technical department said:

"That project management tool using Excel, although simple, is very easy to use. Now that we have changed to formal management software, everyone is not familiar with it. We have organized training three times and still no one understands it."

But what surprised me the most... were the words of Mr. Vuong from the financial department.

"Every month To Van helps me compare the books, the accuracy is always 100%. After she quit, the first month of reporting had errors and was called out by the auditor."

I read all of these interview transcripts, feeling very calm. Just because you're recognized doesn't make you happy. It's because... finally someone sees it. Not happy, not sad. Just a very slight feeling — “Ah, so it is.”