This post and initiative is sponsored by Creative Nation. Be prepared for the most honest sponsored post you’ll ever read.
We started The Woke Salaryman way back in April. Six months ago. (We know our Facebook page says March 2019, but we actually sat on our asses for a whole two months before starting.)
Because, you know, procrastination.
When we first launched, we already knew we wanted to help people make life and financial decisions. But admittedly, we were not completely altruistic.
Yes, we wanted to create a site that had social good we could be proud of.
But we also wanted to show our brands and clients we were pretty damn good at creating content on seemingly dry topics – perhaps even better than the marketing agencies they were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to.
Then, we were gonna conduct workshops to teach marketing agencies and departments our approach to creating content.
The idea was to help brands stop wasting money on stupid banner ads, videos and Facebook posts that always screamed OmG mY ProDucT iS thE BeST EveR!!!!
Yeah, it was a pretty complex and silly plan. We know.
But then, we had more impact than we expected.
We never expected to get the traction we did. We didn’t think people would be that interested in what we had to say. When our first post was shared 7,000 times, we were down right shook.
But even more we did not expect to get a community that was so supportive.
People told us about their personal finance problems. A teen with gambling problems reached out to us. Fresh grads who feared for their future texted us if they should do their honours year. There was even a dude who was thousands of dollars in credit card debt. He told us our post inspired him to work towards paying it off .
We realised we were on to something.
As it turns out, one of the reasons why our page was doing well was because social impact was built into the mechanics of the Woke Salaryman.
The foundational consideration is (and will always be) “how can we best reach and help our reader?”.
In other words, doing good was a very powerful way of doing well.
Being sustainable as a blog, and as a business
With our posts helping people, we wanted to keep the pace up. But coming up with elaborately drawn comics and interesting articles each week also took up a lot of time.
A lot.
We were spending hours each week writing, editing, illustrating, and then repeating the process. It was time away from side-hustles, time away from our loved ones and time away from the prime of our lives.
That’s why we decided to take on sponsored posts for it to make financial sense. After all, we put in so much time, spent so many hours and we were pretty good at it.
“If you are good at something, never do it for free,” amirite?
We did one for CPF. Then another for Dr Wealth. FWD and then ASME.
Putting all of them together, we’ve covered the man hours put into this humble project.
The best part? You guys didn’t bat an eyelid and were even supportive of our sponsored posts.
Thank you for that.
But having money has changed us
Now, we could use all our revenue to speed up our retirement plan or pay off our debts – and that is still in the works. But we also want to channel it back to the community who supported us when we were nothing.
Getting paid for creating sponsored content has opened our eyes to the possibility of helping others not just through financial comics and advice we give – but also how we might help give back to the community that supports us.
Now, we get plenty of questions on career advice on being engineers, nurses, doctors and social work that we are simply not qualified to answer. Other times, we are posed with difficult questions that we lack the experience to share meaningful knowledge.
But we know some people who might – our readers.
So here’s a side hustle for our readers
We’re starting a content series* that sheds light on the struggles of various professions in Singapore. (We wanted to call it “broke salaryman” for the lulz, but let us know if this is offensive.)
As a start, we’re paying contributors a handsome S$500 for each article (well above market rate for an article in this day and age, we guarantee).
The remuneration will come from what we earn from sponsored posts, starting with this one. If there are no sponsored posts, we’ll dip into our patreon page.
We know $500 is not a lot of money. It’s just slightly more than a GST voucher. It’s half an intern’s salary. Three or four trips to Hai Di Lao. It will get you a tiny common room in a HDB without an ensuite toilet.
But let’s look beyond the amount to see what this side income opportunity could do you for you.
It could go towards your emergency fund or your first foray in the stock market. You could use the article you write for us in your portfolio. List us as referees when you apply for a new job. Warn younger salarymen about the perils of your industry.
It’s your choice. And it’s your story.
How’s that for hustling together?
Stay woke, salaryman.
Now, of course, you can’t anyhowly write and expect to get paid – because you’ll be depriving someone else of $500. That said, we also won’t leave you in the deep end.
If you’re not confident about your ability to write something, don’t worry. We’ll help you along and give you pointers.
For this initiative, we are only accepting entries from writers based in Singapore.
Pitch your stories to hi@thewokesalaryman.com. Include “The Broke Salaryman” in the subject line. Some examples of stories that would be compelling:
- How credit card debt nearly swallowed me
- The unseen struggle of being a creative professional in Singapore
- Why working in audit is seriously underrated
- Growing up as an orphan who raised their younger sibling
- How my gambling addiction spiraled out of control
- I spent $20k on mobile games… Yup.
- What it’s like trying to inherit debt
If you want to talk in person, talk story ideas, or just say hi, we’ll be having a Meet & Greet session at Marina Bay Sands, 7th December 2019, 12:30PM – 1:30PM, as part of Creative Nation’s launch event.
Sign up for the session here: https://www.facebook.com/events/519454481984549/
Use the promo code: THEWOKESALARYMAN for free access!
About our sponsor:
Creative Nation is an organisation that believes in creativity as a solution for societal change. By encouraging, igniting and empowering creative solutions to societal problems, they create experiences and content that builds bridges of understanding in an increasingly fragmented world.
(We had planned our content series initially for next year, but Creative Nation wanted to sponsor us to write about how companies should do good for their communities. We thought this was the best time to launch it)
i think bout it..wow! $500 hor