It's been a while since I last wrote here. Last night, I was talking with my friend about our past, and it made me think about how much my work and life have changed over the years. So, I thought I would write about one part of my past that I haven't really talked about here, and how it eventually led me to the kind of work I do today.
There was a time when being a tour leader was a big part of my life. From the outside, it looked like a fun job. I got to meet people from different places, visit beautiful destinations, and create memorable experiences for travelers. And honestly, it was fun. But it was also exhausting in a way that people probably didn't see.
Back then, I wasn't just a tour leader. I was involved in the whole process, from talking to customers and selling the tours to planning and running the trips themselves. I had to communicate with customers, understand what they were looking for, prepare the budget, create the itinerary, calculate the timing, decide which places made sense to visit, and make sure everything could actually work in real life. Sometimes, when I received guests through Airbnb, I didn't want someone else to handle the trip for me. I knew exactly how demanding the program was because I was the one who had put the whole thing together. Some trips started before sunrise and didn't finish until around 10 at night, with almost no real break in between. It was a long, nonstop day, so I knew how exhausting it could be for anyone else to take over. Since I had planned the whole experience myself, I preferred to be there and handle it from beginning to end.
The trips were not only about visiting famous places. I would take my guests to temples and museums, introduce them to local attractions, and bring them to restaurants where they could try local food. I enjoyed putting these experiences together because I wanted the trip to feel more personal, rather than simply checking places off a list. One of the programs could start before sunrise at Borobudur Temple, followed by a temple visit, a museum, lunch at a local restaurant, Prambanan, Ijo Temple, and eventually the Ramayana Ballet in the evening. It sounds amazing when I write it down, and it was. But imagine starting before the sun comes up and continuing until the evening. By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted. It was one of those jobs where you could have an amazing day and still think, "I really need to sleep."
Some of those trips became best sellers, which made me happy because it meant people liked the experiences I created. But there was another side to it. I had to wake up very early, and sometimes I barely had enough time to rest before doing everything again. After COVID, I eventually realized that I didn't want to continue doing it. It wasn't because I suddenly hated traveling, and it wasn't because the work wasn't interesting. I was simply tired of waking up before dawn. hahaha,,,
Sometimes we think that if we enjoy something, we should keep doing it forever.
But I don't think that's necessarily true. You can love something and still decide that you don't want that lifestyle anymore. I enjoyed creating itineraries, meeting people, and showing visitors places I loved, but I also realized that I wanted a different kind of working life.
These days, most of my work is in online media, and I also spend a lot of time creating affiliate content. The funny thing is that this work can be tiring too. I sometimes laugh when I think about it because apparently, no matter what kind of work I do, I always manage to find a way to keep myself busy. The difference is that now I don't have to wake up at four in the morning to take someone to see the sunrise. Instead, I might be editing videos, writing content, managing online projects, or creating affiliate videos.
And lately, the affiliate side has become more interesting too. I've been doing Shopee affiliate content consistently, and it has grown into something much bigger than I originally expected. I now receive free products from different brands and sellers, and I create videos to introduce them to potential buyers. I've received products from brands such as Royal Canin, Hanasui, and various cosmetic, food, and other pet supply brands. I now have so many lipsticks and cosmetic products that I honestly don't need to buy makeup anymore. A lot of them are sent to me for content creation, which still feels a little funny because I never expected affiliate work to change my shopping habits this much.
There have also been milestones along the way. I recently reached the Golden Tick level on Shopee, which is something I had to work toward rather than something that simply appeared overnight. It also comes with the responsibility of maintaining my sales and the quality of my videos, so there is always something to work on. The more I do it, the more I realize that affiliate content isn't simply about putting a product in front of a camera and adding a shopping link. I have to think about the hook, the information, the way I present the product, and whether the video is actually useful enough for someone to stop scrolling and watch.
Sometimes I look at a product and think, "How did I not know this existed?" That's another thing I enjoy about this work. It keeps introducing me to things I wouldn't normally discover. Some of these products are actually really good, and I get to learn about them, understand what they do, create content around them, and see how people respond. I never expected affiliate content to become such a significant part of my working life, but somehow, it did.
When I look back, I realize that my work has changed quite a lot. I went from planning trips and calculating budgets to running online projects and creating videos. The skills are different, but there is something similar underneath: I still have to understand people.
As a tour leader, I had to think about what would make a trip enjoyable. Which places should come first? How much time should we spend there? Would the schedule be too tiring? Would the experience be worth the money? I had to think about the experience from the traveler's point of view.
Now, when I create content, I ask different questions. Why would someone want this product? What problem does it solve? What makes someone stop scrolling? What kind of information would actually be useful? The environment changed, but curiosity is still part of the job.
In a strange way, some of the skills I developed years ago are still useful today. Planning, budgeting, understanding what people want, creating an experience, and paying attention to details were all part of my old work. I just use those skills in a completely different environment now.
My experience has also changed the way I think about work. I used to think more about whether a job was fun or interesting. Now I think more about whether the lifestyle around that job works for me too. A job can be exciting and still exhaust you. A business can be enjoyable and still require a lot of work. And something completely new can become an opportunity you never expected.
I never planned for affiliate content to become such a significant part of my working life. I certainly didn't imagine that I would be creating videos for brands I had never heard of before, receiving boxes of cosmetics and other products at home, or working toward milestones like the Shopee Golden Tick. But here I am, still working, still learning, and still trying different things.
When I think about it, maybe this is what working life is really about. We don't always have to know exactly what we will be doing five or ten years from now. Sometimes one job teaches us something that becomes useful in a completely different career later. Sometimes we simply outgrow a lifestyle that we once enjoyed. And sometimes, an opportunity comes along that we never planned for.
I went from waking up before sunrise to take people on tours to spending my days making videos from home.
The work is still work, and I still get tired, but at least I don't have to wake up at four in the morning to catch a sunrise anymore. And honestly, I'm quite happy about that.
0 Comments