University life was over and it was time to get a permanent job. As a fresh graduate of business school who specialized among others in banking and finance, it made total sense to find a job in this field. It was a legit career path and one that supposedly paid well too.
After about 3-4 months I got accepted as a Management Trainee at HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world. The interview was an assessment center that took place at a Shangri-La hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, over 2 days. I aced it. After further interviews and personality tests in which I discovered that I was an introvert for the first time, I was assigned the job of Project Manager, Global Premier. Well, that sounded fancy!
And it was indeed the launching pad for a fast-track career. From day 1 I was working as a project manager on a global project. Over the next 5 years, I was promoted 3 times and got several raises. My job titles and positions changed multiple times, from Management Trainee to Manager, AVP, and finally VP. What all my jobs had in common was that I was always working on projects and initiatives. I was never part of BAU (Business as usual) but always working on launching and rolling out something new. If this were a story, this would be a foreshadowing of my future career!
A separate post on “How I Quit My Banking Career” will follow soon here!
After 5 years, I quit not only my job but also my banking career. This was my first career. I had a lot of jobs within this career, but I would roughly group them into 2 jobs. Job count so far: 8 jobs.
With a fat but not FIRE emergency fund, I said goodbye. The plan was to pursue acting and become an entrepreneur. Further details? Nah…
This was the beginning of a wild rollercoaster. I shuttled back and forth between Jakarta and Singapore every month or so depending on where I got work and auditions.
Over a few years, I had accumulated over 10 acting credits in small-budget indie films, mostly screened at alternative theatres.
Instead of waitressing, which most Hollywood actors do, I survived on a combination of a ridiculously small income from my business, interest earnings, and a very frugal lifestyle.
In between acting jobs and while waiting for audition callbacks I had plenty of time. I started businesses selling physical products. Something I thought I always wanted. I realized soon after that while I was interested in the products, I was less interested in the process of selling them. In short, I didn’t have sufficient interest.
The first one was a home apparel business. Ikea had not opened yet in Indonesia, but it was a well-known brand there. I purchased IKEA products in Singapore, moved pallets of these to Jakarta, and sold them online. I ran this as a one-man business for about 2 years, made my investment back but not much more. I realized that while I loved the idea of the business, I didn’t like dealing with physical products.
Almost in parallel, I ran a second business, the homemade yogurt business together with my uncle. My father, a biochemist and nutrition expert, had perfected the recipe for homemade yogurt. Thick, creamy, delicious, with a high probiotic count. I thought that with such an awesome product, I could build the business I always wanted. In addition to this, my father with all good intentions nudged me to try it out. Nothing could go wrong! Until I found out that I couldn’t have been more wrong here. Again, while I loved the idea, I quickly discovered that a business that involved manufacturing processes – even on a home scale – was not for me! At least not at that time when I was pursuing acting which required me to be on the go.
I was lacking a lot of business skills at that time. But business skills are something that can be learned with a lot of persistence. The biggest and most crucial thing that was lacking was desire. The will to make it work no matter work. I picked up these 2 businesses because they were kind of interesting. It was late, but not too late when I realized that weak interest cannot sustain you in building a business or a career in the long term.
This was my first experience tinkering with my own business. I would summarize my first business pursuits as my 9th job and acting as my 10th job.
Then, I got a supporting role in a feature film that was screened at ‘real’ theatres. The ones that sell popcorn and soda and seated 300 people, instead of a tiny dark theatre with just 50 seats. This is when I got really fired up.
A separate post on “How I Got Into Filmmaking” will follow here!
The entertainment business is a tough world. It’s perhaps 0.1% glamour and 99.9% hard work. I knew that the only way I could play meaningful roles as soon as possible and not wait for a lucky break was to make my own films and with that create my own break.
I became a Film Producer by producing a film. It sounds simple, and on some level it is. Being a film producer simply means producing films. Of course, the process is crazy complicated. But different from being a doctor where you need years and years of education and training to start, most people can just go and produce a film.
I developed the desire for film producing out of my love for acting. I developed the skills for this from my Banking-Project Management career.
I experienced an Aha moment a few years ago. I realized how a career that burnt me out and a bunch of jobs I didn’t care too much about, equipped me with skills that were critical for this. Finance, budgeting, time management, project management, organization, business plan writing, and many more.
So, instead of working on a yogurt business or furniture business, I was now in the film business! And man – if you think that film is art, yes you’re right, but if you realize that film is a business, then you’ve fully understood the magnitude of it.
For the next few years, I was busy producing some short films and finally two feature films.
This was the beginning of pursuing multiple careers, here multiple concurrent careers, “portfolio”, or “slash” careers to be exact, as film producer/actor.
The two films were nominated as best feature at several international film festivals. One film was screened in theatres in Indonesia, and both were streamed on an online streaming platform. And If I can tell you one thing about film producing, from a time investment perspective, that is that film producing is a long game. A film producer starts long, months, and years before any actor steps foot on a set, and remains with the project for years after. Working hours? If you’re an independent film producer who has anywhere from 5-10 hats on, you’re easily working 50-60 hours per week.
So what about the money?
I’m leaving out a lot of money details since this post is supposed to be about my jobs and careers. I promise I will talk in more detail about this challenge in other posts.
For now, I can tell you that again, we survived on a combination of various income sources: interest earned, cents from the remains of my first businesses, our producer fees, some acting income, and – the biggest source – significant profit we made from flipping our house.
After the two feature films that were produced relatively fast, I entered a long break of filmmaking which lasts until this day. Except for a sci-fi short film I made and brainstorming some story ideas, I largely put this endeavor on hold.
It was time for another move. This time from Indonesia to Canada.
I and Tekun, my husband wanted to move abroad. He never lived abroad before. What sparked his interest, apart from Canada being one of the best countries to live in, was an encounter he had with a senior executive working at Disney. He told Tekun that if he wanted to thrive in the film industry, he had to go to the US. We ended up in Canada, but close enough!
For me, it was a mix of wanting to learn more about film producing and wanting to live abroad again. In a democratic, developed nation. This, my move from Germany, the US, Indonesia, Singapore, and ultimately arriving in Canada, has been such a lifelong challenge for me, that I’ll need to cover it in several posts. Requests for this post in the comments will certainly speed this up!
This upended our life. We downsized our belongings into around 6 suitcases and 6 boxes which we stored at our parents’ house.
Finally, we arrived in the beautiful, cold, windy city of Toronto! We didn’t exactly start from zero. But it did set us back a few steps, at least in the beginning.
The two of us took turns getting a post-graduate certificate in film business. While my husband smoothly developed a career as an accountant in film, it was another rollercoaster for me.
In our first year, I took a variety of jobs. These were kind of survival jobs. I worked as a barista at Starbucks for half a year and as sales associate at a furniture store for a bit. The reason that I say “kind of” is because while we needed the income to survive in expensive Toronto, I did have the luxury of choosing what kind of service or sales job I wanted. I always wanted to have the experience of working as a barista. I never wanted it as a career, but opening a cafe could be a possibility in 1-2 decades from now. So, it was enjoyable for some time. Making myself a free flat white after my shift and walking through the snowy park!
After my turn of getting my C$18,000 post-graduate certificate and a short stint at a film production company, it was time to get another job.
I had to choose between what I wanted, which was filmmaking and acting and working in the business side of film. My educational background and experience were perfect for pursuing a path in film accounting, business affairs, etc. It would have also been relatively stable and secure, and well-paying.
I decided against the secure and stable path. First, because I didn’t believe there was such a thing as a secure job or career. Second, because I learned over time that in the long term, net-net you’ll lose out if you pursue a career for which you lack genuine interest and go after for the wrong reasons. Third, because I knew it was time to pursue the kind of career that I really wanted.
I decided against working in a full-time, permanent job, and instead decided to continue developing my career as producer, actor, and once again pick up the threads of entrepreneurship.
I wasn’t as afraid to do this anymore. I mean, I was scared and still am until today. Uncertainty can be nerve-wracking! But my fear was significantly reduced as I realized that I wasn’t in survival mode.
All this while I had mistakenly assumed I was in survival mode. Many millennials and Gen Zers living in first-world countries do. But the majority of us aren’t! Instead, most of us are in what I would call ‘false survival mode’ (post on this to follow as well!).
Over time I had so many jobs and found so many ways of making money that I knew I never had to rely on one job or one company. If I couldn’t make enough money doing what I wanted to do, I could simply get a job. It might not be the ideal job, but it would be enough to survive.
But as long as I could pursue the career I wanted, I would prioritize that. And yes, in the history of my jobs and careers that meant living frugally, living in a studio apartment, or renting a room in my aunt’s house, having drinks at home instead of at a bar. But that was a small price to pay for the chance of pursuing a bigger dream.
Instead of going back to corporate life, I got a much better deal. I got a job as youtube channel manager. It was extremely well paid and fully remote.
The company was looking for someone who had experience with youtube, a background in project management or film production, and could speak Indonesian. Bingo! Coincidence? If so, then it was a very happy coincidence.
It was a contractor job, meaning I could manage my own working hours as long as I got the job done. I started working full-time hours in the first week, but as I increased my efficiency I quickly reduced it to only 4-6 hours per week. It left me plenty of time to work on my new youtube channel.
The jobs I had and the career I pursued in the last years led up to this point where I had the exact qualifications for this job. I had solid project management skills, I was a film producer, spoke Indonesian, and also had my own youtube channel.
Was this a job or a career? This was a job to me, but it had skill elements that supported my career.
By this point, I lost count of how many jobs I had. Some honorable mentions include voice acting jobs, German-Indonesian translation jobs, and working as an Extra on film productions. I am a participant in what you nowadays call the gig economy. And while many people complain about how unstable it is, there are invaluable upsides to this, the most important being developing independence from any specific company.
On the other hand, the career that crystallized from these series of experiences was a career of a content creator. I was still a producer, just producing youtube content, instead of films at the moment. It’s different in many ways, but similar in many other ways that matter.
I immensely enjoy creating content. When you produce a feature film from end to end, the cycle lasts around 3-5 years. When you create one youtube video, the whole cycle can last as long as one week to as short as one day. Here too, I get to enjoy the whole process from idea conception or selection, ‘story’ development, I insert myself as actor or host, edit the thing and launch it. All in my own four walls.
What about career coaching? At this point, career coaching, ironically, is not my career. I do not have a career coaching career. It’s a job I do because I can’t find a way not to do it. Whenever someone comes to me with a career problem, feeling stuck, desperate, lost, helpless with their career, it’s difficult for me to ignore. I feel compelled to do something about it and help. And I feel fulfilled and experience meaning if I can do something, may that be through my blog posts, videos, or coaching, to help that person make their career just a tiny bit better than before.
I believe that I have gathered the type of experience, insights, and formed a perspective on careers that I MUST use to help other people. I will do this as long as I can. It may ultimately morph into a career, but it’s something I don’t know yet.
What about acting and producing films? These are careers I will never give up. Acting is a risky thing to pursue, and the world of show business is not for everyone. I realized that while I love acting, it may not be the best thing for me to spend 100% of my time in this world. And while producing films is the most exciting ever, it is so exhausting that I need a lot of time in between film projects. And yes, that can mean years. I don’t want to act in anything for the sake of acting. People may agree or not, but that’s just a choice I’ve made. And I also don’t want to produce films for the sake of producing.
For now, acting and film producing are in a ‘dormant stage’. Until I find a role that is compelling enough or an idea that is seductive enough to get me into producing mode again, I’m hitting the pause button.
In the meantime, I will do my very best to help people with their careers. To build a career that is fulfilling and meaningful, instead of just going through the motions. To dare pursue a career that outsiders may not understand, but that means everything to you. As my various careers and jobs have inspired ‘Multiple Careers’, so may ‘Multiple Careers’ be an inspiration for my future film work.
