Me with my two sisters, Annisa & Putri. Around 2000.

How to Help Your Sister’s Early Career

Ricky Saif

Published in

Rizky Syaiful Life Journal

10 min readMay 7, 2016

Just now, my second sister Putri texted me . We haven’t talk a lot — as I’ve been in Bandung for quite long time.

She is quite anxious about choosing her college major. I want to reduce her anxiety.

I’m not a typical person who believes that college major is so-that crucial for someone’s career. A chunk of life at 20-ies might not have a lot of impact to your 40-ies or 50-ies…

…that’s because life is an exploration, not a race.

But still, when you are in the edge of high-school, choosing a college major is the most important and immediate act, to influence your future career.

As my little sister faces now, just right in front of her eyes.

#1. Right Mindsets

First thing to do is instilling the right mindsets. I have done it since her early high-school years — or maybe since junior high-school years, if she heard my talks with her older sister Annisa. Here are the right mindsets:

Career is more important than university. Choose your future career first, then, you can choose your future college major and university to reach it. Those who’ll use your service won’t care much about where did you go to school. Well, they will, if you don’t have any good portfolio (read: track record) to show off — and not having it is a bad sign. Don’t be like my friend who gave up his medicine career just because he failed to enter FK UI (best medicine school in Indonesia). Ugh, those elitists.
Only call it career if it takes-over your head every morning shower, and you’re so happy for it. Self-explained. When you are in this state, you’ll produce many good portfolios soon. You are on the right track.
Money is more important than career. Don’t ever choose a career that won’t give life to your family. I said life, not luxury. So, this rule is quite easy to pass.
Good portfolio is more important than career. They show your characters: your care for quality and — most importantly — your persistence on making things happen. When you can show your characters, you’ll be able to change career easily. Because people will trust you. And thanks to God, producing good portfolios is not a zero-sum game like entering top university. Everyone has an equal chance to do it (soon actually, internet is working on it right now).
Having good portfolios in more than one career field is even better. Yes, it’s all about putting eggs to more than one basket. People will trust your characters more, and now also your adaptability. They will fight to invest in you. They will beg you to work for them — I’m not kidding, I’ve been begged like that before. Above all — even though only minority of people realize it now — the ability to change career easily is so fucking important. Yes, I said that F-word. You’ll be ready for the worst. Economic recession, war, famine, riot, or even zombie outbreak; they will try so hard kill you. As Charles Darwin might say, “adapt or extinct”.

To have good diverse portfolios =
to have the ability to write your own ticket

All of those mindsets rooted on these two things:

Good portfolio, as a proof that you have the capability to produce good & rare values to others. It’d be better if you can do it in more than one field.
Money, as a proof that you have produced good & rare values to others, and of course, your source of life.

#2. Right Goal(s)

Look for a career that will give you smile as wide as Putri’s.

With the right mindsets, now lets set some goals.

I mean: finding a career that’d take-over her head in her morning shower, and she’s so happy for it.

So, next step is listening to her personality. That brings me to the long texted I received just now. Here are her interests:

TALK with SOMEONE I LOVE, HANGOUT with THEM, MAKE SOME JOKES. When it’s just me and my mom in home I OFTEN MAKE A CHIT CHAT with her, not with serious topic, just ask how is her day and tell my silly experience.
SOCIAL JOB: I remember when I HELPED an old man in hospital, I was truly HAPPY that day.
GIVE AN ADVICE to SOMEONE that I think not wiser and smarter than me (lol). Because I little bit afraid my suggestion doesn’t work with someone who smarter than me and they will be disappointed with my advice.
I like to RECOMMEND SOMETHING to my friend, and I will be happy if they like my recommendation.
I’m happy when I MAKE a wonderful (for me) EVENT PLAN. I often imagine how closing party of my high-school musical event will look awesome.
I’m a DEADLINER.
I HATE MESSINESS, but my every things are MESSY.
I DON’T LIKE WRITING, in class I just hear what the teacher said and not taking any note, but if I learn for a task I would read the copy of my friend’s notes.
I’m NOT A LEARNER, I cannot enjoy the time when I learn something, but not feeling curious on it.
TOO OPTIMISTIC, and I don’t know why.
I love to make a video, any type of video, maybe because I love movie.
I love music, if I see a person who play any instrument so perfect, I always wonder why I can’t play the instrument like him/her.
Mrs. Maryatun (me: her Physic teacher) said I am a typical rushy person.
I love fixing something, handphone, tv, computer, remote, anything.
I love chemistry, physics, math, and biology. I basically a number person, my numerical brain is working well.
But I love biology too, I love remembering study notes if I have interest with the kind of content.
I’m bored with routine.
I often make a plan, but if in the middle there is a second or a new plan, and I think it’s good for me, I will follow my new plan.
I love to hear someone story, but I think I’m not a good adviser when they ask my advice.
When I’m going to hospital to see my sick friend, I will focus to her and ask what is her disease, and what is the symptom of her disease, and what the disease feels like, when friend just give a “gws”.

Dear reader, can you figuring out the best career option for her? It quite easy right? You might argue that I’m his brother for her lifetime, so it’d be easier for me. But hey, she had already pointed out all her interests! As her brother I confirm that. :p

Here are my options for her:

Public-service officer. She loves serving and helping people. She hates being alone. She loves being around those who love her — just like everyone, but she’s on a steroid level.
Expert. She loves to understand the system. She loves to teach it to her friends. She loves giving advice — only when she’s confidence she has the capability. In general, she loves influencing other people.
Artist/entrepreneur. She hates mundane and tedious work. She hates deadlines and routine. She loves to work on her own terms. She loves to create new things. She loves to wonder.

I put that list in order. We used to mention the thing we love most at first right?

Now, let’s combine those three career options into one. For me, it’s:

Personal Health Coach

Why?

Public-service officer’s side. It’s crystal clear: she loves people! Health is one of the most important things for almost anyone. Ergo, she would be happy for caring someone`s health. Also, the perk of being a coach or consultant is the ability to choose your client freely. For a feeling-oriented person like her, working for someone you really love — or at least not hurting your feeling — is very very important. (I’m a non-feeling-oriented person. It take more than a decade for me to understand the depth of that statement for her type. Or maybe I haven’t understand fully yet? Well, just trust me on how important it is for her.)
Expert’s side. She can use her numerical brain to understand the complexity of our body. That’s why health coaching is a better alternative from finance, organization, romance, or career coaching, or psychologist. Because other than loves people, she also loves STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
Artist/entrepreneur’s side. It’s hard for her to just doing what others ask. I feel her. So, being a solo consultant is a good path for her. Also, she will utilize her artistic side to create and promote her free contents — things that every personal coach should never stop to do in order to get clients. She will create any artsy educational videos, articles, events, etc. Last one, the perk of being a coach or consultant is the flexibility to choose who you’ll work with. It might be hard for her to work ‘for’ others, but it actually makes her easier to work ‘with’ anyone she loves.

As I said before, good portfolio and money are more important than a career. Let’s elaborate them.

Can my sister create good portfolios there? My prediction is yes. She’s a people person. So far, people love her. I believe her future clients will give her good testimonies. How about good portfolio like book, or documentary series, or podcast? To be honest, I’m less sure about it. Since my sister hasn’t produced any big work like book, or even blog. But yeah. There’s always a first time for everything. Even I’m quite sure: my high-school version of me would be shock to hear that my 24-years-old version had wrote a book.
Can my sister makes money to feed her family? I admit, personal health coach is something new in Indonesia. As our economic growth, I see a big opportunity now. There are (or will be) some rich guys who eager to pay my sister to guide their healthy life, personally. But let’s deal with the worst case. What if my sister couldn’t sell any personal service? Well, she could make a living from educational blog she maintains. Or at least, she can work at a gym.

Is there any option than Personal Health Coach? Of course. Just follow the pattern and you’ll also get Public Figure Doctor, you know, a medical doctor who establish her/himself as a well-known expert of specific topic — rather than just curing patients in hospital. The point is…

…find a career that’ll resonate well to your personality.

#3. Right Steps to The Goal

We already have the goal. Now, how to be a personal health coach?

I’m not a big fan of college degree, but I must admit: it would help.

She can choose between these major, in order:

Medicine
Nutrition
Biology
Public Health
Pharmacy

Okay, thats’s the major. How about the uni?

Our mother (the far right) was going to UI too — also our sister Annisa.

I studied at Universitas Indonesia (UI) so I might be biased: she should study there too. The UI’s big brand will give a little bit help on starting personal health coaching career. A little bit. (again, good portfolios are far more important! Collage degree, more or less, is just another form of portfolio. A pseudo one.)

Even a college degree isn’t enough. She should learn from others sources. Personal healthiness is a wide subject. She should learn about diets, exercises, meditation techniques, etc. If there’s a certification on that, she should pursue it.

She should do experiments on her own personal health.

She should find many personal health coaches. Learn from them. Absorb them. Directly. Criticize them. Silently. Since she will compete with them in the future.

In her college years, she should start a blog on the topic. Just start with writing simple things she learned or experimented. It’d be better if she already makes an educational video series (as I did here & here). Her blog should also have her own web domain (as I did here). Yes, it means she has been building her expertise since her college years. Just watch this one and a half minutes video.

Even Tony Robbins said, 20s is the right time to built your expertise.

When she’s confident enough, she should start to offer her service to her friends. I 100% sure that she’ll have a friend who want to burn her/his fat — like I was, and still I am :p. There’s no need to charge. Because she needs the flight hours. Her friends will be her first clients. If they love my sister’s service, that’s a good thing: her first good portfolios. But if they don’t, it’s completely normal.

If there isn’t any Healthy Cooking, or Yoga or Tai Chi club in Universitas Indonesia, she should start it. I’ve witnessed the birth of a college club in my college years, and I’m sure the experiences (the ups and downs) will enhance her people skills. As an expert of a specific topic, she will have audiences. They’re all her tribe. She should learn how to deal well with them.