Melody: Melody Tan

Hi everyone!!!

I cant believe it's been months since i last blogged, to be honest it felt really recent.

But i've received quite a few "reminders" from some of you through email, comments on my postings whether

i could do a post on my personal life, promotion and my work as a whole and
OF COURSE i could this is like what my life has been revolving around the entire year!

Thinking back i have really grown so much as a person and accomplished quite a lot, pretty sure it's evident through my occasional instagram postings.
I never thought it was possible to be promoted in a year to the Assistant Vice President, and some have told me that i could potentially be the youngest
in the entire industry!
and some of you have been asking how much i've been drawing for my pay and I don't see a reason to hide, neither do i think it's the cap of what my career would bring me
but it's been averaging at $8,000/month for now.
Bonuses will keep stacking and i look forward to getting my future EC goal in 3 years!!

Most of you know i've been a piano teacher and considering the whole university path 2 years back. "WHY would you step out of it?" was a question i got countless of times.

I really wanted to venture out of teaching music was because i wanted to progress WAYYYYY further in a career rather than doing the same old things weekly for the rest of my life.

I know and many have told me how much my music career could earn me but it's not all about the money.

Reasons why i didn't go to the conservatory in Cardiff / go to NUS or whatsoever was simple.

I didn't see a need to spend so much money just for a certificate (cause that's all i see it for).
I feel that certificates are important up to a certain extent but this is a personal opinion of course.

I know most people do their degree cause their parents feel it's the ultimate safety net and just because all their peers are doing so too (and will in turn lose out without going for it too)
Yet, let me pop this question.
How many of you who are studying on marketing, accounting, econs&finance and business management actually know why they're getting this degree for?
If you aspire to become a banker so you choose to do this course, do you know their job scope, their daily routine day in day out?
Or what goes through your head is just them in a suit sitting behind a counter?
If you are taking a business degree, is it just so as to open a business? Do you know how to start one, which includes government grants given etc
Or is it just because people around you say that it's better to own a generalized degree?
Deep down, i know countless of people who just want that form of recognition by having a degree and after which get a job title that sounds pleasant to their ears.
But what comes after that, do you truly know?

Here's some food for thought. Is it common understanding if i said that we are only employed by companies to solve their problems?
Being a problem in a company is a no-go, if not why would they choose to pay us?
Salary range is determined by the difficulty of these problems we are capable of solving.
The level of ability to handle these big problems, determines what our ranks should be.
Still, all of us in this present society still think that having a degree should render our $4,000/month. How funny is that?

Most fresh grads (who aren't studying for passion) these days have a very narrow minded mentality towards this whole "i go to school get my degree come out find a stable job earn 4K and my pay keeps increasing my job is secured i am an educated individual".
This would probably have worked out in Singapore 10 years back, but not now evidently.
Statistically and based on many graduates i've met, this is no longer true.

My word of advice would be to work and study at the same time if not you'll be losing out to your peers and nowadays,

job experience and knowledge CAN actually outweigh your grades.

I truly respect how quite a few people in our unit are actually studying AND working at the same time.

I think it's a really smart move? Cause they're building up their resume as well.

To put a rough overview on what i do, i deal with many things which includes portfolio management, writing reports

and providing access to different platforms for investments catering average earners to high net worth individuals.

I chose this career cause i knew, without stepping out of familiar grounds, i would never achieve the lifestyle i want to attain.

I know, all those fears of uncertainty, demoralization, disappointment and fear of failure. Of course it did run through my mind.
But with the mentality constantly kept in my head to face my setbacks, "if the rest can do it, i don't see why i can't".
Not doing a degree to have a head start over my peers, was it all worth the hard work?
Damn right it was, looking back, i never regretted my choice and it was never a waste of time and efforts.
Everything i did was only bringing me a new learning experience to get even better and stronger in this career.

But sure, you can say it was a risk, but i dont see any reason why anyone shouldn't go all out to fight for a career and future

so long as they don't have their additional baggage of having to feed their children at home etc at the start.

With time, this career only gets more stable than any other jobs out there.

I am lucky to have Joshua as my mentor who guided me through everything at the beginning so i had a solid foundation to start off my career.
And surely i have to give credit to the rest of his unit as we have always practiced sharing of our experiences with each other.

it's really such a good thing not having to watch my back on politics and all of that nonsense! Thank goodness for them :)

Months have gone by since that day and putting aside all the awards that has been given to me (cause that's not everything in life),
i just kept on improving, till techniques of my own started to be formed, and it was all tested and proven to show results through personal experience.
I can't possibly explain how much i've learned and changed as a person since the day i started off till now.
With everything that i have been through, i don't believe i am unable to impart my knowledge and techniques to people in my own personal unit (and expanding).

Some photos of awards posted over the past year in Joshua's unit
September

Back in October!

November

December's top case count in the organization for the entire 4th quarter (director's challenge!)

Can't remember when this was taken hahaha but the guy in the photo is Andrew, one of Joshua's managers

Think this was January?

During end Jan i actually organized a team outing/photoshoot with a group of photographers i worked with before

Booked an entire cafe for 4 hrs just for this purpose!

Jake and Joel

Think this is the best unit shot we have taken from the photoshoot that day!
Most of them were having their first ever shoot but it appears they were quite natural in posing, we had so much fun with the shoot!
We are actually contemplating to make this a semiannual event cause there are so many new people joining us :')

Can't wait for the next one already

Don't really take many photos in the office but here's some work-moments!
Eugene

Anicia and Sylvia

Jake

And a crazy night for all of us to distress! Awaiting more moments with you guysss

And anyways most of you have been asking me for more details on my job, if you want to ask the specifics, feel free to email me via my personal email!
It's meloided@hotmail.com

To end of this post, i honestly feel that the slow paced career progression and pay of the typical corporate 8am to 5pm daily isn't the way to go especially
if you're still below the age of 30, when you're trading all of that away for a 2 year promotion window and double the pay you're meant to attain for what
you think is "stable" just because you haven't gone through retrenchment before.
How do i know that? Because i've met people in their early thirties and i've heard their stories.
Do you really want to keep hopping from a company to another?
Especially after hearing all about the politics and the kind of people you meet in the office are things out of your span of control.
Can you choose not to work with them or face their attitude?

There are only a handful of jobs that offer you hardwork vs returns with proper guidance from an experienced team.
If you wish to apply for me / us to put into consideration, feel free to send your resume on the same email stated above.
The requirements would be: Willing to learn and put in all efforts + public diploma/private degree equivalent & age 21 and above
I wouldn't want anyone who isn't willing to fight for their own future.

Will try to update this space more often, till next time~

HEY YALL

Hehehe i've been blogging real consistently lately right!
So damn rare for a procrastinator like me to be so hyped up about blogging.
Honestly speaking it's a really fun thing to blog but i'm always too lazy to start a post cause it takes me hours LOL.

Anyways this is Tioman day 2 and if you haven't read on day 1 it's over here

As mentioned in the previous post we had to get up real early at 6+am just to get ready for snorkelling!

I've actually been snorkelling around these beach resorts quite a number of times in my lifetime so i always thought it was a damn common activity.
But apparently many of them have never snorkelled before (eg my boyfriend) so they were terrified of the deep sea.

The only fear i had was when trying to jump into the sea from the boat, cause there were so many fishes.
Wouldn't the fish get angry when i jump in and accidentally kick them / invade their space? LOLOL
I'm not even kidding i really thought of that like wah later they all come and bite me or attack me cause i kick them idk.
It's not even funny pls like you've heard of people disturbing birds and end up getting attacked by them? YEAP same logic k
Apparently for fishes they don't actually attack you for kicking them HAHA (tried and tested...)

If you don't know about snorkelling, it's REALLY the deep sea and not just near the shore!

if not, the waters wouldn't be as clear and there wouldn't be as many corals / fishes

water activities = no make up = disaster LOL

Just had to take several photos before jumping into the sea and get our hairs wet LOL

If you're curious to know whether the waters are clear in Tioman then the answer is YEZ
You can see the fishes while on the boat! (pls dont stay on the boat because of that cause you'll miss out A LOT)
Plus there aren't many sea urchins in comparison to the places i've snorkelled at. There are many corals (but not very colourful ones).

The fishes are a little small, but there was quite a variety in colours and sizes and it was just really beautiful to watch!
Whenever i snorkel i actually just stay afloat on the same spot and just watch everything moving around me and the feeling is amazing.
If you've never snorkelled, the reason why we can stay afloat on the same spot is because of the life vests that we wear (you don't need to know how to swim/swim at all).
However for this time's snorkelling i had to keep lifting up my head to double check that Dion isn't playing pranks wtf HAHA
He was pouring water into the mouthpiece of the pipe/ pushing it into the water so many of them (eg my boyfriend) were drinking GULPS of seawater.
Damn disgusting i know, that's why i was being damn careful HAHA

HAHAHAH omg this photo
This is actually the second place that we were snorkelling at, and it's closer to the shore BUT the fishes were HUGE.
Like they were the size of my face or even BIGGER.
So when you actually throw bread into the water they start splashing and it looks damn scary.

I saw Nanette and Yanting swimming their way towards the float and i just had to tell Dion to start his attack of bread throwing HAHA
6 of us were throwing bread at them LOL
Omg they were so terrified and their reaction was damn funny i seriously should have gotten a waterproof camera for videoing!

As mentioned before usually when it's near the shore the waters wouldn't be as clear which explains why the second snorkelling location couldn't be compared to the first.

After having Ramly burgers (again) for lunch we went for Banana Boat!
Most of the guys (eg my boyfriend) didn't join us for i dont know what reason, probably because they have no guts and were scared HAHAHA.
I was so damn excited cause i have always loved banana boat since i was a kid!

If you don't know how it's like, it's basically just sitting on a huge long float that fits about 5 pax that's tied to a speed boat.
The speed boat would then go really quick, make sharp turns and stuff to make you lose your balance and almost/really fall off the float!
It isn't true that guys are less likely to fall because they're stronger or heavier cause all the guys who went for banana boat have fallen into the water ;)
HAHAHAH *girl power
Even if you don't fall into the water i swear it's worth the thrill! It's like the same thing as taking a roller coaster ride without the safety belt, just handles HAHAHA
But of course you're safe with the life vest on so it just makes it even more exciting?
You wouldn't know whether you'll fall, you don't know when there might be a turn.
You also wouldn't know if there might be a huge wave which makes the whole float FLY LOL.

If you were wondering it's 35 RM per pax ($16 SGD) for 15 mins (you might think 15 mins is short but trust me it's more than enough).
I woke up with sore muscles from head to toe esp on the arms and legs for 2 DAYS.

Right after i was done with the banana boat i immediately chionged to get my other life vest and goggles to join the humji guys for fishing!
At that point in time they only caught one tiny fish through 30 minutes of standing in the middle of the sea HAHAHA
They seriously looked damn funny from afar. 3 of them standing there, 1 holding a loaf of bread high up above the waters,
the other one wearing goggles but not looking into the waters and the other one holding the net LOL.

Guess what, 3 mins after i reached the spot they were at they managed to catch THREE FISHES at once!
Heheheh what would they do without me HAHAHA though i didn't do shit

Beautiful sunset! (with some girl literally lying sideways on the beach for photos + extremely exaggerated poses)

MSC shirt with the boy~ hehe this piece is launching soon on www.StyleHacks.net as a couple piece!

Drinking nights can't be missed though i absolutely HATE martell

Drinking with this group of people though it eventually narrowed down to 3 - 4 of us cause we're hardcore HAHA
Smaller drinking groups = drinking more + drinking faster