Everyone knows that one of the worst-hit industries, thanks to COVID-19, has got to be the airline and aviation industry.
And this yandao air steward Daniel Tan, who has been with Singapore Airlines (SIA) for 7 years, is among the many airline crew whose livelihood kena affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was still enjoying his job as a flight steward with Singapore Airlines (SIA) until the pandemic hit.
Bo bian, he decided to take a “leap of faith” and left SQ to join Airbnb as a social media specialist.
But you know de, life is full of uncertainties, gekko barely a month into his new job, he also tio retrenched – his leap of faith jitao become macam jumping to death.
Except he didn’t really jump to death lah! *choi choi touch wood!*
He decided that instead of becoming a degen and living parasite at home, he should go and look for new opportunities himself. Because if you ownself 自暴自弃 (give up on yourself), who can help you right?
So hor, this yandao went to learn how to bake Basque burnt cheesecakes and started his online baking business The BBC SG with a partner. Besides baking, Daniel and his partner also had to handle their accounts, marketing, and content creation themselves. You know de, 一种bao ka liao 的概念, everything must ownself learn and ownself do.
Business was not bad for a start. Daniel and his partner managed to sell 200 to 300 cakes a month and in about 3 months, they were making about S$2,000 to S$3,000 a month!
Add together all the COVID-19 Support Grant lah, the Care & Support Package payouts, and utilities credits all these is ok ok one.
But Daniel knew that he cannot possibly be selling cheesecake for the rest of his life lah. Do for a while to tide him over this difficult time still ok. He wanted more stability. So, he decided to start looking for jobs again and also take online courses, including social media marketing and digital marketing courses to make himself more employable.
He also used his SkillsFuture credits to attend baking courses and enrolled in a business development course.
It’s always like that one lah. As long as you are willing to help yourself, the 老天 (God) also will help you.
Soon, Daniel also started to receive replies to his job applications. He also used his own experience of running his online business to impress his potential tow kays. His willingness to learn and grow and the new skills he learned also made him stand out more.
In the end, Daniel managed to get shortlisted and was eventually hired again – by Airbnb when they started recruiting again!
Happy ending.
So hor, the moral of the story is, help is everywhere. Is whether or not you willing to pick yourself up and accept the help or not. Daniel could have wallowed in self-pity and blame everything else under the sun, but he did not. He went ahead to improve himself and became a better person than he is before.
Buay pai leh this Daniel. Not only yandao, but also got 上进心 (aspirations) and willing to upgrade himself. Lao niang like, lao niang 很可以! And confirm very yummy…. I mean his Basque burnt cheesecake lah!
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