It’s Storytime: My (Not So Simple) Journey To Becoming A Freelance Content Strategist/Writer and Lifestyle Blogger

I was recently approached by a young college student to meet for coffee so she could ask me “How can I do what you do for work?”. She was referring to my career as a freelance content strategist/ writer and lifestyle blogger. I didn’t have a short, concise answer for her. I had to to tell her my full story so she could understand for herself how and why I am where I am today.

And I want to share that story with you today because my journey is far from simple and straightforward. I hit multiple roadblocks and forks in the road and each time I had to make a decision I had no idea if it was the right one; I just went with my gut. I’m writing this more for posterity’s sake so I have something to reflect on in when I’m older. Maybe there’s a nugget of wisdom or anecdote or lesson learned too 😉

So grab a drink or snack and let’s dive in.

I graduated from university in 2008 — right in the middle of a global economic crisis — with a degree in marketing. Well, you can easily guess which department budgets were immediately cut. So there I am a fresh graduate with stars in my eyes and a head full of dreams of landing a swanky marketing / advertising job except suddenly there were no jobs to be had. I decided to move back home to Bangkok and figure my life out because living anywhere else without a job or income seemed pointless. And I think somewhere deep down I always knew I wanted to live and work in Asia, maybe Singapore or Hong Kong, and also be close to my parents. I never imagined I would wind up back in Thailand — that was definitely not in my life or career plans at the time.

I job hunted for 6 months and reached nowhere. I sent out over 50 job applications, maybe landed 5-8 interviews, and received 0 job offers. The timing for a marketing graduate like me couldn’t have been worse. With no full-time job offers, I very reluctantly switched my strategy and began applying for internships. I was desperate to gain work experience, whatever it looked like in the current economic climate, because I didn’t want a huge gap on my resume. It was a huge kick to my ego and blow to my confidence — I was a university graduate applying for internships that were essentially unpaid.

I got so embarrassed anytime someone asked me “So, what are you doing now that you’ve graduated?”. I always answered sheepishly “I’m doing an internship…”. I had no choice so I buckled down for a year and a half of internships. I did 3 to 6 month internships in the client services department of ad agencies and the brand marketing team of an FMCG. At the time I hated being an intern but looking back I realize the whole experience taught me a few important things.

First, it built my resilience to accept and push forward even things quite go as planned and it also shaped my work ethic: there is no internship or job that I am too good for. I realized in the real world my qualifications mean nothing if I had a bad attitude and wasn’t willing to learn on the job. Companies hire people, not the qualifications on a resume. This has stuck with me through every twist and turn in my career, so I try very hard to be the kind of person people enjoy working with.

Second, being an intern after graduating ended up being a blessing in disguise because it gave me a little more time to figure out what in the realm of marketing and advertising I like and don’t like. I figured out I’m not cut out for advertising like I always thought I was. I preferred working with a single brand and enjoyed brand storytelling. I can see now this has kind of always been my “thing” when it comes to work. I am happiest when I am building or creating something around a brand and connecting the bridge between brand and audience in an authentic way.

The economic situation in mid-2009 did not improve much. I kept job hunting on the side but to no avail. So at this point I decided to go back to school and get my masters degree. I was very fortunate I had the opportunity to do so. With the internship experiences under my belt, I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted to study and do with my career: I wanted to hone my skills in the creative side of marketing/branding because that’s what brought me joy. In the summer 2010 I went back to the US and to pursue my masters in Creative Advertising. I know I said advertising wasn’t for me but the specialized skills I gained in art direction and copywriting during my course is what I was truly after. I knew this was a way to increase my talent value and carve out a niche for myself.

I loved every part of my program; it was very creative, hands-on, team-centric, and, most importantly, focused on giving students lots of real world experiences through guest speakers, networking/portfolio review nights, and project tie-ups with local clients. I felt in my element and knew I was slowly figuring out what I wanted to do with my life and career, to some extent.

During the course the one class that really stood out and impacted me was Interactive Marketing (the old school name for digital / online marketing :D). I was fascinated by the whole concept of creating ads / content (whatever it looked like back then); being able to target the audience so specifically; and looking at data to optimize advertising campaigns. I was curious to learn more about the online marketing space and how websites, search engines, and SEO worked. So during the summer break between semesters, I came back home to Bangkok and enrolled in a 4-week web design course. I didn’t know if it was the right way to go but the course seemed interesting and I was hungry to learn. The web design course turned out to be the exact thing that satiated my curiosity and established a passion and drive to go deeper into the web / digital space.

I finished my three-semester program in December 2011 and with the economic situation improving globally, I had promising opportunities and offers in the US. So what do I do? I move back to Bangkok! I realize how scatterbrained and unfocused I appear but hear me out. Living and working in Thailand were not in my life plans after university, but neither was meeting the love of my life amidst the ‘chaos and confusion’ that was my life between 2008 – 2010. He just happened to live in Bangkok and it just seemed to make sense that if I wanted a future with him, I had to make a decision. So I made one based on emotion. Like I said, my journey is far from logical and straightforward. In fact, if I am candid a lot of my career decisions have been based on emotions. If I always did what was logical, right or expected, then I don’t think I would be doing what I do today.

Are you taking a nap? Maybe I will too. We can take a break here…

It’s 2012. Operation Job Hunt Bangkok 2.0 is underway. And this time the job application math is good. I get a job offer as a Marketing Communications (MarComms) Executive for a consumer goods company based in Bangkok after a few weeks of applying. It’s also a sign the economy is doing better: marketing / advertising budgets are back!

I really enjoyed my MarComms Executive role and the team I worked with. We were a diverse bunch from different parts of the world and they made work so much fun every day (in keeping with Thai work culture norms we discussed where and what we would eat every single morning over the office chat messenger). My main duties as a MarComms Executive was to write marketing communication material for internal stakeholders on the company’s corporate online channels, website and blog. I wrote email newsletters, product announcements and descriptions, and blog posts. My experience with HTML and art direction played an important role in my job because my team had weekly deadlines to publish different pieces of communication, so I had to be on top of my content calendar and send design briefs to the graphic design team with enough time to produce the graphics to accompany all the written pieces. It was a stressful and demanding role but I learned so much.

After a year in this role, I felt like I was ready for more. The work began to get very repetitive and there wasn’t much scope for change or growth in daily tasks. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t quit my current job until I landed a new one. So I job hunted on the side and I guess my timing was right, I went on two interviews at different companies and received an offer from one for the role of Assistant Manager – Digital Marketing. I really didn’t think anything would come of this particular interview for this role because I had no experience in digital marketing. A few months into my new job, I had a mini performance review and I asked my supervisor why she hired me knowing that I didn’t have the right experience. And her answer is again one of things that has just stuck with me, she said “Your resume tells me what you did but during the interview I wanted to see what you are capable of. Are you eager to learn? Do you have a good attitude? Can you be a team player? You showed me you were willing to learn and enthusiastic, so I took my chances with you”.

Again, reiterating my point that resumes are only the tip of the iceberg; there’s a huge mass of personality behind the paper that needs to shine through during interviews. I firmly believe that is what good employers focus on: personality and potential.

I still remember my first week working in the digital marketing team of a larger e-commerce team for a hotel management company, which managed four hotel brands with properties across Asia. I seriously had no idea what I was doing but I was very fortunate to have a supervisor who was incredible about my training and a team that gave me all kinds of interesting opportunities to show my potential and grow without judging me for making mistakes. Even though I had no direct digital marketing work experience, my knowledge and skills working with web and graphic designers, HTML code, content planning and strategy, writing for blogs, and internship experiences in ad agencies and FMCGs, all put together helped me excel at my job and take on additional responsibilities. I did everything from running online search and display ad campaigns; editing code in email newsletters; writing website content; taking the helm of the brand blog; managing brand video and photoshoots locally and overseas; leading marketing campaigns with the company’s C-suite; attending workshops; and investing in my own personal development, so it’s no surprise that I spent the next five years of my career with this company. The days were long and the daily commute borderline brutal battling Bangkok’s rush hour traffic, but I loved my job and the sense of fulfillment it gave me.

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You know another curve ball is headed your way: if I was so happy with my job, then why is a twist coming up?

I had my first baby in 2017 and went back to work after three months of maternity leave. As I said before, I am human and I have emotions. For me this has always played a huge role in my career path. While I was happy to be back at work doing what I enjoy, I was more sad about being away from my infant son for so many hours a day. I wasn’t sure if this was just a temporary feeling or had something truly shifted in my perspective? I gave myself about three months back at work to figure out what I wanted and it became abundantly clear with each passing day: I just missed my son and I wanted to be with him. I was doing a disservice to my team by being an unhappy and unfulfilled team player, so, with a heavy heart, I handed in my resignation but it was the right thing to do.

While the company found my replacement and handled the transition, it offered me a 6-month part-time freelance contract to be able to work from home and tie up projects and tasks I was managing. In that time I realised that maybe part-time freelancing from home might be the answer to my desire to work but also have the flexibility to spend time with my son. At this point I had enough work experience to give freelancing a real shot and I felt good about taking the leap. It felt right.

I reached out to my network to let them know that I was going to freelance as a content writer/brand strategist for digital and social media. It’s a mouthful and I never have a clear answer when people ask me now “So, what do you do?”. I do a little bit of everything as you can tell by now. It also depends on the clients I am working with and what they need.

There was (and still is) a huge learning curve for me with freelancing (read more in this post). I have learned how to write contracts, proposals and pitches; manage my own billing and invoicing; handle clients and appointments; and do business development on my own. I have been fortunate to work with a few different brands and clients on content writing, branding, and social media marketing projects. While it sounds like I do a lot of different things (and to some extent I do), the common denominator in all the projects is the “brand guardianship” I take over when a client works with me. As I explain to my clients: my job is to make sure their brand maintain its integrity and authenticity in marketing messages and content across different channels and mediums such as websites, social media, email, blogs and more.

Choosing to be at home with my son also gave me the time and space to finally start blogging like I always wanted to but never had the time (or motivation) for. I have captured so many memories and documented so much of my journey into parenthood on the blog; I love that it has allowed to me to create a community online that I can connect with every day.

I treat writing and creating content for this blog like a job too. It’s always been a dream of mine to have one, so I show up and do the work needed to keep it going and growing. I have a general content strategy and calendar I follow and I try my level best to not stray away from it. Last year, I was pregnant during the pandemic with my second baby and this blog is what kept me going during some pretty low moments throughout the year.
Writing, storytelling, sharing and building connections are deep passions of mine, so the hours I spend on my blog never actually feel like work. I remember thinking that I won’t be able to write for a few weeks after having a baby, so I prepared a month’s worth of posts in advance to ensure there wouldn’t be too much of a break for my readers. It’s not something I had to do but it’s something I wanted to do. Like the saying goes “If you love what you do, then you’ll never work a day in your life”. I feel lucky to have found my calling.

I realize with a full house and the demands of a young toddler, growing baby, and fur baby (my dog Milo :)) I have the hustle even harder, if I want to continue freelancing and blogging, because me-time is now a luxury. I don’t have set hours in a day to work and each day looks different depending on what’s going on with my brood. I often work, write and plan content at night once my kids are asleep, after I’ve already had a full day and exhausted most of my energy.

Freelancing also means the work and income is highly irregular, so the fear of not having a client is very real and it’s something I have to accept as a consequence of choosing this career path. It’s not easy choosing to be (a whatever you want to call me) freelance writer / content strategist / blogger but I do know it brings me immense happiness in this season of my life. It may change again and we’ll see what the future holds.

In the end this is what I told this young soon-to-graduate sitting in front of me with eyes full of hope and a mind full of curiosity: As you can see, I don’t have a simple answer for you. That’s my whole story. I ended up at this junction in my life in part due to my own decisions and in part due to luck, timing, and circumstance. There are no shortcuts. Get out there, explore, and make your own decisions and learn from your mistakes. The journey is what matters; not the destination.