How I searched for the next step in life
Recently, several friends shared with me their career confusion and anxiety about what to do next in life:
should I land a job that fit my skill sets right away OR stretch for a complete change in life?
The common theme I gathered is a purpose in life not fulfilled by the current job.
I recently left a marketing role at Uber and it took the leaps of faith to understand my passion, past experiences and value-add to society to take a bold step to be a freelancer:
- First, to publish a book (in fall 2017) to share the stories and take aways of the year I lived on Airbnb. It was a commitment with significant trade-offs (such as relationships, old friendships and sleep) and deserves to be shared.
- Second, to leverage my painting skills and love for pets into commissioned pet portraits.
- Third, to be a bridge between US and China, who understands China user acquisition and marketing.
Everything outlined above comes from a deep understanding of what makes me uniquely me. The process includes: (1) Soul Searching (2) Understand my core values to society (3) Synthesize what I should do in others’ eyes
A bit background info:
A Sparkle To Join Uber
I vividly remember at 4pm on a Friday afternoon in early 2016, a surprise email came from a Director at Uber.
His words not only piqued my interest to join Uber China, but also taught me a lesson to carry along for the rest of my life. He wrote:
In life, the best things happen as a result of hard work and lots of luck. You can construct a lot of things — the right schools, the right jobs, the right scores, but often it takes those leaps of faith … the sort of flying leap of “this isn’t really what I’m supposed to do, but heck, let’s do it” … that’s when the real doors open.
I first learned about Uber in November 2011 when a group of us visited RG in San Francisco and started using it in 2012. I love the product and its impact on both drivers and riders. Here are the heartwarming drivers I met from Shanghai to San Francisco.
1500+ rides later, I still remember my first Uber ride and the driver decorated his car with disco balls. Why ? He wants to make passengers happy and that Uber helped him pay his monthly bills.
Having worked in finance, this tangible product that affects our daily life left me a lasting impact. I became an advocate of sharing economy in China.
Every decision in life comes with trade-offs. When the opportunity came: to join Uber as a product marketing liaison between HQ and China, I remembered Sheryl Sandberg’s quote:
“When you are offered a seat on a rocket ship. Don’t ask what seat, just jump on.”
I jumped on the Uber ride to make a dent in China, where I grew up. I paused blogging and Airbnb urban nomad project. Deep inside, my heart itched for the alternative: blogging and video production that I was going to do instead.
I felt conflicted as I am growing professionally as a Marketing Manager, but at the risk of gradually losing my edge in China among my social media following.
So how did I reach my decision of not pursuing a career in marketing in Silicon Valley?
1. Soul Searching
2016–2017 has been a rocky year. On August 1, 2016, Uber China was merged with Didi and effectively, my job as a Product Marketing Manager (PMM)for China disappeared. My manager suggested me to take some time for “soul searching” to understand who I am and what would I like to do next:
do I want to be on the product marketing track or social media/ content track?
She helped me write them down on a piece of paper.
After 100+ coffee chats and interviews, taking on assignments on the way, I was faced a decision and a firm deadline of moving to Singapore to run social media for Uber APAC.
I was stubborn. My heart was set on UberEATS as spotting and writing about food has been my identity more than a hobby. No headcount was available in HQ.
Magically, I persisted with one last coffee and that led to a marketing role in City Ops team. Before receiving the offer, the hiring manager asks:
Are you sure you want to turn your passion into work?
I said：
Of Course. That’s my dream.
Now I learned one caveat:
It is fine to combine passion and work, but be clear on what part of the work you signed up for: growth marketing? product marketing? social media? production? they are quite different:
- Some are more strategic, others more tactic.
- Some suits jack-of-all-trades (especially in early startups) but most roles require highly specialized talent (such as paid search)
You perform best when the job functionality leverages your core skill sets. Often, what is best for you is not what is best for company growth. We need to put company goals first.
I quickly realized that a Marketing Manager at a high growth “startup” comes with rigorous data-driven marketing (running query and identifying cohorts), hitting weekly growth target (which means we identify 3 most impactful marketing tactics and then execute them to the best, often with a playbook).
For my role, creativity was not needed, and I found myself learning Exact Target, query building, owning referral programs from end to end.
I felt that I was an execution machine.
I sat around Marketing weekly meeting for North America and cannot help but notice that most of my marketing peers are blond and native speakers. I stood out as one of the only immigrant who speaks English with an accent. I was proud to have “made it” in America, but I was not happy.
After a while, I paused and asked myself:
Is this “marketing” work what best use my talents?
Am I doing something replaceable or uniquely me ?
(it might be different for recent college grad or someone building a career path.)
That is a legitimate question that everyone should ask him or herself.
- I love writing: blogging for 10+ years and writing for major Chinese publications made writing a daily habit. It is part of who I am.
- I love art: art is meditation for me because my mind is not racing and can concentrate on doing one thing.
- I love culture exploration: growing up internationally, I developed a habit of living with locals and exploring local cafes, art museums, yoga studios and street markets.
- I love interior design: I have been religiously keeping photo albums of bathroom design, plants, tiles, menus etc— only out of true love, some one would do it.
- I enjoy synthesizing and sharing my findings with a broader audience to break down culture barriers.
Therefore, whatever I do next will include writing / art / culture, and sharing via social networks.
Another factor question to ask: what is more important to you?
money , fame or purpose ?
I am not into making big bucks: I don’t buy luxury handbags nor do I stay in resort or 5 star hotels. I don’t go to Michelin restaurants like when I was working on Wall Street.
As long as I can maintain a good quality of life or if I can exchange my skill sets (painting) to cover accommodation. If San Francisco is too expensive to live, I can move to Mexico City for the same quality of life.
Yoga
Yoga is part of my intentional living practice — it has given me answers when I am overwhelmed, burnt out or confused.
- Are we always rushing through life with no pause and forget why we started?
- Are we ignoring our emotions for so long that we experience physical and mental breakdown?
That is when we turn to yoga . Yoga is an expression of our true self and prompts us to ask why:
- Why we don’t spend Sunday afternoon in Dolores Park but in a heated room with 100+ yogis?
- Why do we step on the mat among so many options in life?
- We always worry about what others think about us, but in fact, everyone worries about him or herself first.
I choose to be myself and not what other people think I should be.
3. Ask Questions: “What do you think I should be doing to reach [Goal X]? ”
Just like my friends came to me with confusion, I had my fair share of conversations.
Mr. Noyes: my art mentor in high school.
In March, I was back at Hotchkiss, where I developed serious interest in painting. Again, he gave me practical advice. To reach your goal of improving portraits and gaining foundation of interior design,
“ it sounds like you need to take 2 art courses:
(1) observational drawing
(2) interior design ”
Mrs Gallup, my high school host family who planted the seed of hospitality in me and taught me what it means to welcome strangers home with a warm heart.
“Please follow those passions (art and travel) — they will lead you to a happy and fulfilling life. ”
Then I went back to China:
My parents have always been supportive of whatever makes me happy. With one caveat, being able to stay in the U.S. and work legally. When I told my mom that I may give up H1B work visa, which has limited my career options for the last 5 years, she thought it was too bold a move.
During the month, I also met with entrepreneurs, media, hospitality experts, book publishers. The highest priority was to secure a book contract and then gather feedback on who I am from experienced peers in China.
3-1. I received doubt and criticism:
A tech company exec:
Chenyu, writing a book is not a career.
A real estate mogul:
You are talented but a writer? Is that how you will be using your Princeton degree?
A veteran VC:
Gaining fame in your 20s is not necessarily good for you. It makes you less humble.
My grandpa (95 years old):
Let me find you a normal job in our hometown so you don’t keep being “homeless” .
3-2. I received out of the box creativity and courage:
A filmmaker:
make a documentary about how a Silicon Valley Uber marketing manager returned to China and make herself into a positive 网红 KOL (key opinion leader) for Chinese young generation.
Record 1 min video every day about how you are working toward your goal. Reach out to Vice China etc.
A close friend:
You have influence in China now, but it’s not enough to make a splash. Maybe go to KOL training school?
3-3. I got the nudge to be an entrepreneur:
an idea that has been incubating in my mind for the last 2 year.
An entrepreneur in crowd-funding place:
You gotta do something with boutique hotels & Bed and Breakfast space in China. Committing 1 year living in different homes is a serious “barrier to entry” for others to copy you — the unique YOU.
An Airbnb competitor CEO:
Join us to build a community and make a dent in China.
An e-commerce entrepreneur:
I’d like you to turn my Airbnb into a boutique hospitality business and build Beijing’s utopia land.
An entrepreneur I met at Burning Man:
Let’s start a mobile food truck business together.
A popular lifestyle video platform CEO:
I don’t understand why you would consider be an editor of my company. You are an entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur:
You can’t do everything yourself. Take advantage of the lower labor cost in China and delegate your tasks to prioritize.
3-4. These conversations clarified the value I can add to society (purpose).
Over a bowl of noodle in old shanghai, a philosopher friend (returnee from UK) :
Your mission is to instill the positive values you learned from America (via Airbnb) in a society that is driven by superficial luxury and perfect faces of girls. You embrace holistic and intentional living.
I said “I want to try.”
He responded “You must. Chinese society needs people who think differently.”
A mentor in media:
Start your own media production company. Tell Chinese audience the authentic America lifestyle: not superficial level but deep in the culture.
After receiving tons of data points and feedback, I kept drilling down to the core who I am — “an entrepreneur” “instill positive values” “explains culture, not scratch the surface” “hospitality”. I feel more comfortable about where I am heading.
Then I met with a long time mentor in Shanghai to share with her my progress. She “interrupted” my enthusiasm:
Wait to tell me all your plans.
Focus on writing the book first.
and Yes, if I learned one thing at Uber, it is ruthless prioritization, an ability that I still struggle to obtain.
As you can see, my process of figuring out next step in life is (1) soul searching →(2) understand who I am → (3) hear from others what they think I should be doing.
Hope this thought process and soul searching is helpful for you.
Disclaimer: I’m not in a position to give career advice and in fact, my “career” is made up with projects than a path. This article is to share my personal process . I realize that my story does not apply for every reader: after many years of dedicated work between US and China , I have a niche in bridging US/China — a more specialized field.
