This is not about entrepreneurship, passive incomes, side hustles or get-rich-quick scheme. This is a story about an ordinary full-time employee who trade time for a salary.
$100,000 might be insignificant for gifted and talented or wealthy and privileged people, but it’s considered a fairly good amount for a normal person like me.
Average salary in my age is around SGD 3,500 ($2,600), which mean I am earning 3X higher than most of my peers.
This is not about entrepreneurship, passive incomes, side hustles or get-rich-quick scheme. This is a story about an ordinary full-time employee who trade time for a salary.
I have never been a high achiever nor top in school. My first full-time salary as a fresh graduate (23 y/o) was $700. It took me 5 years to reach 6-figures income from less than $10,000 (12X) by making bold career move and climbing up the ladder.
These are 5 most important lessons I learnt to accelerate in my career:
- Do not be afraid to start over or career change
I didn’t work in the field I studied. During my internship, I learnt that the field wasn’t rewarding with the amount of efforts needed in doing the job well. As soon as I graduated, I made it clear that I want to something different.
I joined FMCG company as a key account manager. It was fascinating and eye-opening. But it also changed my personality — becoming arrogant and always feeling superior. As it is a very fast-paced industry, I became hot-tempered and argued a lot with my loved ones which hurt their feelings. I realised it wasn’t sustainable for me and never did I regret that I made a bold move to start over, as a call center agent. - Ride on money wave
My annual increment was 3% in the call center and in the second year I earned my 8% promotion increment. It wasn’t bad but didn’t meet my expectation. I learnt that in business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the companies profit from keeping their operating cost low.
Then I realised that in order to have a higher pay, I should be a revenue generator to my employer, not a cost.
This led me to my current company, a growth company with many investors and positive cash flow allowing my employer to invest in hiring right talents. I decided to join advertising industry, a highly profitable business model and many potential future employers too, e.g. Meta, Google, Amazon, TikTok etc.
“Advertising is the most profitable business in the world,” says Jay Kahn, a partner at Light Street Capital, who notes that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group HoldingLtd. gets more than half its revenue from ads. “For Amazon, advertising is going to be more profitable than its cloud business.” - Negotiate for what you deserve
I didn’t settle with the initial offer and negotiated after doing my research about job market, having another offer on hand and asked for the amount that I think I were deserved for.
I took the offer with more than 50% pay raise and 2-month sign-up bonus. It was partially because I was underpaid in previous role. - Take ownership in anything you do
I was the only person in the team when I joined. I took up almost every task to move the needle, from planning to execution, as a strategist, analyst, operator and trainer. In a year, I was rewarded with a 28% promotion and in the next month, I had 10% salary adjustment to match market rate.
“Luck is where the hard work meets the opportunity” - Be analytical and data-driven
If you were to ask me about my biggest strength, that would being analytical and data-driven. It helps me to understand business better via numbers, make better decisions, solve problems and identify opportunities. I would see this as most important skill in any company.
I am grateful and privileged to have these career opportunities and ability to make things work. I hope my story can motivate someone who works for a full-time job and looking for stable income like me.
