After I completed my National Service (NS), I faced some difficulty choosing a school for my undergraduate studies. I had shopped around for a school towards the end of my NS. Initially I decided to enroll in MDIS’s Mass Communication program.
But a flat-out lie by one of MDIS’s consultants forced me to consider another school.
As I continued to shop around, I decided to begin a career in advertising. I initially started work as a ‘Project Officer’ in Mentis Marketing. The title is a slight misnomer. Even though I was required to perform certain elements of project management, I primarily served as a copy writer.
But I was dissatisfied with my prospects at Mentis Marketing. I sent my resume to Ogilvy and was somewhat shocked (but incredibly elated) when they wanted to employ me.
As I waited for my employment at Ogilvy to start, I worked for Sukaimi at Fat Pixel. I had previously met Sukaimi during my National Service. We were both attached to the Republic of Singapore Air Force website (this was one of the many websites I had to manage during my NS).
Sukaimi was aware of my impending employment at Ogilvy but was kind enough to take me in as I waited for my employment to start.
Eventually, I would work at Ogilvy for 5 months. During this time I finally found the ideal Mass Communications program for myself. After a short fiasco at SIM, I decided to settle on SMa’s Mass Communication programme by Murdoch University.
My parents were aging rapidly. My sister was living in Canada with her husband. I was realistic about my situation. If I did not complete my undergraduate studies soon, I would never get the opportunity once family commitments took over.
Soon a time would come where I would have to look after my family. I had to leave Ogilvy to complete my studies.
As I waited for my employment to end and for school to begin, I received a curious phone call. I had been head-hunted to teach classical guitar. By this time, I considered myself more of an ‘advertising man’ than a ‘classical guitar man’.
I had kept my skills sharp, but teaching was the furthest thing from my mind. I also thought that my reputation had evaporated through years of dormancy. Clearly, I was wrong.
The job was challenging. But it rekindled my love for teaching. Suddenly, I was hooked on teaching again. I restarted my teaching business and within 5 months I was booked at 70% capacity.
But I wasn’t content with the ‘old ways’. I wanted to offer my students much greater value. Strangely, my experiences in advertising would contribute to the way I conducted my renewed teaching business.
To be concluded.
