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By June Ramli
Last weekend, a former colleague of mine from my Malaysian journalism days had left us suddenly. It was shocking, to say the least.
At this point in our lives, we were no longer in touch, and you could say that the friendship we formed during our working years had fizzled out completely.
We used to follow each other on social media and when I soon realised he stopped following me back, I reciprocated.
But recently, for some strange reason, I caught myself thinking of him days before his sudden departure.
In short, what happened was that he went for a joyride with his big bike and never returned home.
When I first heard the news, the journalist in me had the immediate urge to check his Instagram page. Funny enough there was an Instagram story still fresh on display there just eight hours before the accident took place. It showed him showing his followers the surroundings of what was to be his last motorcycle ride.
So, what’s the point in all of this and why am I writing about this in a column on branding. Well, it is because his sudden departure has given me the perspective that I needed and was craving for, for weeks on end.
You see friends, while I was busy building a brand, I was also busy looking for a job to supplement my income.
At the moment, I am working on this brand 100 per cent, but I’d like my ideal situation to be one of me working on the side for someone else while working on the formation of this brand.
As you know, building a brand takes a lot of money and I was thinking ah wouldn’t it be nice to have a job, at the very least part-time (three days a week and remote) to get some money while I work on LazyBumSkincare and also Blitz Hair Oil Spray.
Well, I haven’t been lucky enough to ace a job yet with my last interview being on Feb 1.
Was I sad? The answer to that is going to be a firm no and it is all thanks to my former colleague, whom I have decided not to name here.
You see, he was rising fast in his professional life and I can bet you many of his peers would have been secretly ‘jealous’ while he was climbing through the ranks ‘like a meteor’ and now they would only be so guilty to feel that way knowing how it all ended for him. In other words, there is a reason for everything that is happening in our lives.
Back to the brand and me. Now, I am at the stage where I need to find the customers, the market. In other words, I am at the hard stage, since most days I work from home, and don’t have many contacts in the buying space here in Australia, I am at a loss at what to do next and this has even demotivated me to even start. Yes, I have been sitting on my laurels for the past few weeks and haven’t been doing much because I could be burned out, or plain I don’t know where to start.
But not anymore, after this, I am going to make myself a nice cup of coffee and start tackling the matter at hand one by one.
Oh and all my LinkedIn invites that I sent out recently to connections that could have helped me with the brand formation haven’t been accepted and I am starting to think at this stage I may need a Plan B.
Till my next update.
To buy my products go to LazyBumSkincare.com.au or Tapiroo.com.
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June Ramli is the editor of DailyStraits.com. To stay in touch with June, look her up on Twitter @junesairaramli