Chronicles of a Gig Worker

As I have ceased the F&B operations of my cafe since early May, I am now officially a gig worker. Gig workers refer to people who do temporary or freelance work, in their independent capacity on an informal or on-demand basis.

Seems like I’m really going through the cycle of working in every form of possible employment – self-employed, private corporation, government, social enterprise, business owner, and now gig worker. I hope to eventually become a digital nomad so I can live overseas too while drawing some form of income. To achieve this goal I will need to devise a game plan. Should I look for a job that allows me to work from anywhere? Or can I offer my skills as a freelancer to anyone anywhere around the world? Alternatively would I be able to create a merchandising line that allows me to fulfil shipment from anywhere?

The amazing thing about having started this ‘entrepreneurship’ journey is the appreciation that it is totally possible to generate income from your passion. While it may not make you rich like a stable corporate job, it can be enough to sustain a modest lifestyle. Of course I’m saying this from a position of having saved and invested for a very long time to the extent that I have created small streams of passive income to support my family needs. My husband is still working full time, and in about 5 years’ time, my older two children would also be working too which will contribute to the family finances.

I thank God for His amazing timing every step of my life. You can read about His goodness in my life. I’ve had this blog since 2004 when I entered the workforce and have journaled almost my entire life story. I’ve been praying for God’s leading since a year back on the future of my café business. It took me the last two years to discover that while owning a café sounds sexy, there is nothing about the daily F&B grind that excites me. It is not that I can’t do this work – I’ve survived it and managed to commit most of the dailies to muscle memory. I think the main reason is because I’ve never been a foodie or a subject matter expert when it comes to food. No matter how I look at it, I can’t bring myself to be excited about food. In which case, does it even make sense to build my business around it?

Referencing Jim Colins Hedgehog Theory or more recently the concept of finding our ikigai, then the answer is no. Cooking in itself is not something I love to do. Couple this with the daily routine of stocking up supplies, firing up kitchen in the morning, wiping down at night, and meeting the demands of a transient lunch or dinner crowd, it isn’t the kind of life I would wake up excited for. Sure there are other aspects of running a business such as R&D, business development and marketing that is interesting but I could easily apply that with ANY business and for an area I’m actually passionate about.

So why did I even set up a F&B business in the first place? It is simply because food is the easiest way to bring people together. What I really enjoy about my café is having the platform to create a safe space for my regulars to unwind, as well as shower them with my hospitality. I found that through this avenue I got to know many people, form valuable connections, learn interesting ideas, and gain the satisfaction of knowing I brightened up someone else’s day. Can I achieve this same outcome outside of a F&B set up and still earn decently from it?

As I ponder the answer to this question, I’ve been diligently taking stock of my SHAPE – Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences, an acronym coined by Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestseller Purpose Driven Life. God created all of us with a unique SHAPE and until we are serving in a capacity that our shape is designed for, we won’t feel fulfilled. In fact I think it is no coincidence that my church suddenly decided to organise a workshop to help us identify our SHAPE. Hopefully through this exercise I’ll get to discover more clearly the next step that God has planned for me.

In the meantime, I feel like I finally can take a break from work. I really wanted a break after my government job but lo and behold I was called into the social enterprise. Though the work wasn’t that tough, it was emotionally draining. Right after that stint, I leapt straight into my business, which has exhausted much of my creative juices. So I think it is timely for me to take a break and gather my thoughts. The irony though is now that I’m faced with endless possibilites, I don’t know how to focus. With time on my hand, it becomes even harder for me to be still. Yes this is the product of a millennial growing up in workaholic Singaporean society. In the end, I’ve planned for myself a slew of activities to occupy my days.

• SG Conqueror Challenge – complete an 80 km route around Singapore
• Diploma in Baking and Café Managment – 6 months course where I will learn how to bake and market effectively on social media
• Japanese language – multiple start and stops over the last ten years. Really hope to achieve some level of mastery
• Leather crafting – a new handicraft hobby I recently picked up
• Storywriting – a few months back I had a sudden inspiration for a coming of age story that I would love to bring to life
• Merchandising – I’ve been keen on sourcing for cute handicrafts to bring to Singapore for quite some time. I plan to attend a trade show in China to kickstart the process
• Cupsleeve Events – after a successful run for a Love and Deep Space themed event, it’d be a waste not to strengthen my stake in this space
• Buy an akiya in Japan as the first step towards the next and last item on my bucket list
• Inspire my daughter to monetise her talent
• Build a virtual marketplace – simply because it is novel and perhaps it can solve a problem for local artists
• Launch a youth programme – related to a gig I’ve been attached to for almost two years. Can’t quite say it is a gig anymore.
• Attend even more courses using my newly acquired $4000 SkillsFuture credits. There’s so many things I want to learn! One of which is a Specialist Certificate in Youth Engagement, Mentoring and Mental Wellness.
• Level up as a content creator – I love to journal but somehow I don’t get many views. Maybe it is what I write about which isn’t interesting to anyone other than myself. But is there no way for me to build a niche that would be useful to my readers while interesting for me?

It appears I’ve planned for so many activities that coming up with my business 2.0 doesn’t even feel like it is in the pipeline anymore. However this isn’t a random list. It’d just take a bit more time to bring them altogether into some sort of coherent master plan.