Prologue: My Career So Far

Ever since a close friend suggested that I work as a copywriter (CW) for an advertising or marketing firm because of my creative writing skills, I’ve been meaning to get, at least, my foot in the door of one.

So, I’ve been sending résumés to every company in the industry that was looking for a copywriter. The closest I got to working for one was for a Hong Kong-based publisher of trade journals. They were setting up a production office in Manila. For two years, I wrote headlines and body copy for hundreds of the company’s magazine advertisers. I thought I was going to write copy all my professional life until I got promoted to production assistant (PA). As PA, I supervised the production of a trade journal. I also had my own clerk who acted as my personal assistant.

Magazine production was entirely new to me. I had no idea how to paginate the journal until the production manager (PM) likened the process to playing Tetris.

And there I was with my assistant, tabulating ad breakdowns and editorial pages, planning page layouts, and building master and mock-up dummies. My tasks looked daunting; but if I were to add up my days of actually working on magazine production every month, I was only working for two weeks! I couldn’t complain; besides, the money was better.

However, I still wanted to write marketing and advertising stuff. While still working as a CW in the production department, I applied for the CW position in circulation marketing. The manager probably thought I was still a newbie in the business; so, she hired someone from outside who had more copywriting experience.

Years later, circulation marketing’s CW later became project executive. Soon after, she transferred to production and would become our new PM. One day, she called me in her office. She informed me that one of the project executives was leaving, and she wanted me to apply for that position.

Apply I did. After an interview with the manager and a writing test, he offered me the position. Finally, I was performing various marketing duties, like creating DM kits and selecting third-party creative services for our trade show booths. Of course, the pay was much, much better.

It was around this time that my wife and I planned to migrate to Canada. Seventeen months later, my wife, my three-year-old son and I boarded a plane to Vancouver, B.C. Nothing could have prepared me for what would happen in the next seven years: unemployment.

For seven years, I had no regular income. My first job was only seasonal. One Christmas, I was doing maintenance and housekeeping duties for a high-end men’s clothing store. Then I landed my first freelancing writing gig, where I didn’t get paid in full.

Realizing that it was taking me long to get a job, my wife constantly prodded me to take a publishing course from a community college to upgrade my skills. After passing an English and writing test, I got in.

Twelve months and a publishing diploma later, I was ready to take on the corporate world again. No biters though. But thanks to college’s publishing coordinator, I was able to get a six-month contract as a listings editor and editorial assistant of a publisher of travel magazines. At the same time, I also got a freelance work for a U.S.-based travel website reviewing Vancouver’s sights and sounds. Then I landed another short writing stint where I got paid $20 per 200-word submission. And like good things, all of these came to an end.

However, another good thing started. A classmate of mine from the publishing course called me up one day to tell me that he was publishing an Asian-Canadian lifestyle and culture quarterly. He asked me if I wanted to join him as his copy editor. I said yes, of course. He added that since it was a start-up, I won’t get paid at first. Bummer.

It took him more than a year to pay me. To augment my meagre income, he had me do freelance work for two of his acquaintances. One didn’t pay me a single cent; the other one paid extra.

After six issues, an apparent suicide and a lawsuit, the magazine went belly up.

These were desperate times, and they called for desperate measures. So, I worked part time proofreading an online book retailer’s auctions on eBay.

It wasn’t that bad actually. After a month, I started working full time. Two months later, I received a promotion and a significant raise. The next year, I was made product manager. This time, I got quarterly bonuses besides another pay increase. Two more raises follow. I was on a roll. Or so I thought.

Just two months short of my fourth anniversary with the company, I was laid off. Sales were going downhill and the much-needed reorganization rendered my position useless.

Three months on employment insurance after, I found work as a researcher for a producer of an awards show. Because it was only a survival job, I wasn’t totally happy with my work. I wasn’t even planning to stay with them for a long time either. Besides, working in a virtual office wasn’t fun for me anymore.

But telecommuting has certain advantages. For one, your boss won’t know if you go out for job interviews, which I did five times.

One of these interviews was for my present position as a proofreader.