Cecilia Loh was just 27 when she got laid off from her first job as a brand executive at an international beauty brand two months ago. She was devastated. Ever since she graduated four years ago, she had dedicated about 80 per cent of her time to boosting campaigns, maintaining analytics and brainstorming. She was a workaholic, but a happy and willing one at that.
In the spare (and seemingly endless) time she had, Cecilia didn’t know what to do. So she signed herself up for some affordable online lessons to brush up on social media skills and take up a new language.
Although she enjoyed the lessons, she couldn’t help but berate herself for not taking them on during the weekends while she still had a job. She would probably be way more employable and could even be a proper freelance consultant by now, she thought to herself.
Cecilia is just one of the hundreds who were laid off during the pandemic without additional skills or a side income. So we decided to get some tips from entrepreneurs who started their career as either side gigs or taking up freelance projects.
We spoke to Charmaine Lee of Sky Digital Agency, and lifestyle vloggers Michy and Tiffanie (who have 600,000 subscribers on YouTube and their most watched video stands at 2.5 million views) to get a wider scope on how various side hustles work.
