Cofounder, Lonk
When Your Hobby Becomes Your Career. | Wan Qian Ta | TEDxUSMNibongTebal
Making videos was her passion and hobby but when this hobby becomes her career, Tata faced a lot of failures and difficulties. Through the past experiences and failures, she knew that she can do it slowly and surely by having a proper planning and purpose. Well-known as an online content creator for her work as former MGAG crew member and her portrayal as "Asian Mom”, Tata captures the essence of our typical lives and naturally turns it into a comedy.
Having had 9 years of video production experience, Tata has developed a diverse set of skills through various stages in her career. She eventua...
About Qian Wan
Qian Wan, cofounder of Lonk, has spoken publicly about her career transition from hobbyist video creator to professional content producer. In a 2020 TEDx talk, she described her journey as a former MGAG crew member and creator of the "Asian Mom" character, noting that she had been making videos since age 16 and had accumulated 10 years of production experience. She stated that while pursuing a passion can be fulfilling, it requires proper planning and financial stability, advising that individuals should have enough savings to sustain themselves for at least one or two years when starting out. Wan said her purpose is to create content that impacts and changes perspectives, particularly among young people, rather than chasing fame or money. In a separate 2008 presentation on Exxon, Wan analyzed the company's financial performance, noting that its 1.9% revenue growth in 2006 was weaker than peers such as Chevron and MVP. She attributed this to weak upstream performance in the US while overseas net income grew by about 60%. Wan identified opportunities in emerging markets and unconventional oil resources, and threats including potential US economic slowdown, environmental regulations, pending lawsuits, instability in the Middle East and Africa, and natural disasters such as hurricanes.
Transcript (20 segments)
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Qian Wan0:17
Hi everyone. Hello everybody. Wow, all this because I look so well? Hello, good evening. I thought like this right, excuse me, it is so cold here. Okay, before I begin to introduce myself and my topic, thanks for being here today and thank you to the organizing team. Thank you. So our topic for today: when hobby becomes career, it is going to be a realistic one.
My real name is Tata Huh Papa. Yeah, okay, and I am an online content creator and also the founder of Tata Studios. What is an online content creator? Unlike online credit, someone who creates content like images, photos, artwork, comics, and videos. So for myself and Palace Studios, we create videos for brands and companies to promote their brands and also to promote their products or services to raise awareness about the umbrella. So Tata Studios is sleeping one year, Maksoon, and for myself, I've been doing this since 16 and it has been 10 years. So you guys know my age.
Hobby was making video, and now I make videos while living. It has become my career. I don't know whether it is lucky or unlucky. Okay, so how and why it all started. Throwback to when I was 15. I went to this school event and I saw this photographer. He was holding a very, very huge camera. So, you know, I've always been a very poor girl, the very busy body girl. So when I went up to him and asked, 'Hi, can I see your photos?' The moment when he showed me the photos and videos, I was like, 'Oh my god, this huge camera managed to capture moments that you might miss out during...'
I stopped carrying it around with me. I would sleep with the camera next to my pillow. And also, I never liked something for so long. I never even liked a boy for so long before. So I know that okay, this is getting serious and this is my passion. So I decided to join a lot of photographic clubs. You know, I was from a very small town in Pahang, I was from Kuantan, and that Manuel Rafi was not a thing. So I joined all very closely with uncles. I was only like seven people and I joined the clubs with like 40-50 year olds. So I just asked them to teach me. Back then there was no YouTube or anything like that, no tutorial videos. So I just asked them to teach me, I just practice, practice, and I realized okay...
I didn't know what mass comm was. And I remember a lot of aunties, you know, whatever, they would ask me, 'Hey, when you understand yourself, go to college.' They say, 'Oh, aunty, mass comm must come today.' They'd be like, 'Welcome.' I say, 'Aunty, media, media.' They'd be like, 'What's that?' Okay, I try to think of something closer to anything they know. So I know they watch TV, so I say, 'Uh, TV show, TV show.' Then this aunty, oh she told me, 'TV show? You want to be there so pretty, is it?' 'Uh, yeah, I indeed do.' 'Don't study that, you waste your parents' money.'
I still didn't know what I was doing. I know this, but I wondered. I said, 'But aunty, can be something else?' They'd be like, 'Never in my life. I think you also cannot be lawyer. I think you just go sorry.' I was like, 'Okay, I'm okay.' I wasn't hit. So the first time I said, 'Oh, my comfort zone, I took mask off really well.' That's my hope at 18. And I came to KL Wow. And that's not I have aspired so nicely. You know, when I'm with the orientation or the boring stuff, then I would like this ARP Paula. So your company oversleep TP. It was really, really tough cause back then I couldn't really...
Then I'll tell you what, okay, no outside. Hmm, maybe maybe I should just go back to Kuantan and just stay at home, blah, since my parents are supportive. But I thought to myself, 'Oh my god, I haven't even seen anything yet.' So I thought, okay, if I can't change them, then change myself. Why did I buy my source? Really crazy. I went to buy a lot of English books and I read them out loud. I would buy what every night. Come home from college and I would like, my sister, I just stopped in English. She can't really speak English back then. And I know to make more friends, you need to make more friends so that you feel included. So I wanted to make more friends. So I know that one way is to work really, really hard.
I'm here standing and talking to you in English. Okay, maybe maybe here you have the boat over Libya. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. So then, plus, last year in my uni, I started noticing this online video marketing trend on Facebook. Then I thought, 'Hmm, okay, I'm making videos, but why not I can make this and I make it into something really big and I make money for Allah?' So I thought, okay, I want to be like them, you know, I want to have my own company. So I reached out to all of like restaurants and small startups at the time. I say, 'I have a special message to...'
I was shooting a lot of videos and just well, actually I just post on Facebook. That's not getting a lot of messages. People asked if I can make videos for them and they pay me. Okay, back then it was not la la la Bastille Manila. So I thought, 'Oh my god, wow, study for four years mass comm and they say useless, but now can you see? Some make money.' So I thought, 'I can do something I like, I can make money. Okay, okay.' So I just say, 'Yeah, I can do for you, can cheap cheap, never mind, just practice.' Initially I really wanted to just practice. Then I got a lot of requests and people asked me to shoot wedding, even corporate. I was like, 'Wow, business down to that.' I got another friend to do this together with me. And then first it was really fun and games, like you know, dancer that...
The same thing over and over again. I can't, I really put this, I'll then put that. I realized I didn't know where I'm going to. So I thought, you know, I didn't know how to run a business. I didn't know how to all the legal procedures and I didn't know how to manage people. And I ended things on that term since I acts business panel. And also I remember my mom had to use like three months to settle my accounts for me. So I thought, okay, you know what, I'm not ready to be an employer. So I decided that, you know, maybe I need a change. So I just end things with mine and the business lasted for two years. Yeah, so this is the kind of video that I made. It was really, really boring. So I thought, you know what, um, maybe I do...
Funnier. So I made my first video, 'Wow, types of people in the city.' Why? You know what, now I remove the video from already because it was really cringey. But at the time, I was really proud of it. I don't know. So I submitted to all of Facebook pages including M Guy. And that's when they approached me and say, 'Hey, yeah, are you kid? We'll be rough.' So I thought about it for two days and I knew that okay, I need a change. So I say yes. I put my company on hold. I just say, 'Oh yes, how come I join you know?' So then that's when you can see, 'Hi, I'm Monica, Asian mom and the pretty girl.' So then I join in as a videographer only. But there was only a focus, so we had to do everything from production to post production, including acting as a talent. I was never on the screen before this. Before I'm gay, and then actually as...
Playing different characters and also true videos. So I was like, 'Life is good now, you know. I can just focus on creating content. I don't have to care about finance, I don't have to care about people.' And then, you know, I just keep making these comedy videos, imagine which five million people every week. And then it got really overwhelming. When I go out on the street and people started recognizing me and they say, 'Oh, they want a photo with me.' That's when I realized, hmm, videos are really impactful, especially when you post it online. I was like, you know, if you follow me, actually don't really care about how I look. Oh, I don't really care about my image. So now that, you know, I reached out to five minutes before every week. So now I...
Know what famous good man. So I just keep making videos, keep making videos. I worked so hard, very, very late at night just to make videos, funny videos. And then this happened. So then, I actually neglected my health. But I found out there is one humor in the world of my knee. So I had to go through it. Actually, if you saw me just now, I keep working like semi, semi okay, because I went through this knee surgery and there's like for the first time ever, after shooting videos for so many years, that's the first time actually took a break, a few months break. I couldn't walk for three months. Okay, that's when, oh my god, I have so much free time and I would think about my life and what am I doing?
Hobby. Okay, if this remains as a hobby and I have a like 9 to 5 day job, this which is not, I'll be doing that, do this as a hobby. Okay, about 9 to 5, I won't be happy if I put 100 percent into video making. This is when you get serious because you know when you come into doing something right, if you don't have money, it is not really sick. If I want to do this 20 percent without money, cannot. We're not coming, but cannot. So I save up, save up. And then when I was taking the break three months, I keep asking myself, 'What's the purpose of me shooting so many videos?' And I hate to admit that you...
Actually quite bad. I want to do more than just comedy. And that's when I realized, you know, I want to do more than just comedy. So it cannot be M Guy because they only make comedy. So I thought, okay, maybe it's not for me to end this. And you know, I just, I always wanted to have my own thing. So I started this company, that's why okay. And now that I have past experiences, which is not a lot but still my first company and M Guy, I know that this time I have to plan properly. I need to have a purpose why I'm shooting all these videos. So during the three months break, I also ask myself, okay, what's the one thing that I really like? This young the rest, oh my god, not boys. I...
Talk about like what, how to be rich? I'll be poor. Well, all these people, how to walk up? That's all. Okay, okay, that could be my purpose. Okay, so I thought, okay, I want to make doable contents that are educational but entertaining at the same time. For example, I used this antique curator to talk about safe sex. There's a lot but safe sex. I'm going to talk about like how can you buy a car in Malaysia? How to do EP? Sounds very boring, right? But it's something that youngsters need to know. Eventually you have to go through all this. It's not something that you can skip. That's why I want to, okay, if yeah, we need to learn a little bit. Okay, honestly, I think my first EP and you know how to do so. I went to this KSSV, right?
So that's why this is my main purpose of why I started Alice Studios. But now I'm quite lucky because I have clients and staff who really believe in what I want to achieve. I can't say for sure that I'm 100 percent sure what I'm doing, but I know through my past experiences and failures, right, I know that I have to do it slowly but surely. At least now, at least now I know how to send an invoice, how to manage people, how to manage my client. But with that being said, it doesn't mean that it would be very, very smooth because the transition period from me being the M Guy girl until now, it's really, really tough. The first few months I left M Guy, I want to do like your stuff immediately, you know. Then people still see me as, you know, 'Oh, this...'
To be honest, I try to make content that I don't really like myself. I try to please the audience, you know. Youngsters nowadays, audience nowadays, they would like to watch comedy, they only like to watch funny videos, prank videos. But I don't find myself enjoying doing that. So until someone, I tried to make it although I try to like grow my platform, like I don't get my fame. And then someone came up to me and say, 'Tata, your videos a bit no direction.' That's the, oh my god, okay, I need to do something that I really like. So I realized like people actually like me for me. And I have now, I have this new belief that you know, if you make your content so good that you don't even have to promote, people like you already. So I...
Me, I tell you, I teach you how to do abs. Campania once Adama is so boring. But I think it takes time, it takes time for people who want to learn but true are more interesting. A personal but this time I can say this for sure that you know, I'm ready because now that I have all these experiences, I'm ready to pick mistakes and I'm ready to go for now and then get back up again and again and again and again. But I find it more meaningful this way if my content can bring impacts to especially the youngsters and change their perspective on a lot of things. Bring like really, okay, I think a lot of influencers they don't like being called influencer because it is like a negative term. But if people really label me as influencer, I try with it as long as you don't...
A lot of youngsters nowadays they want like, 'Oh, I don't want to be employee. I don't know what 9 to 5. I want to be my own boss. I want to have my startup.' It's like a trend now, you know. And then, you know, if all these youngsters they go to like, 'Oh, uncle, auntie say, hey, just do it, you know, pursue your passion.' I'm not really a professional at this, but I can tell this for sure: if you have a passion but you don't have any proper planning, if you're not ready, right, your passion will die really, really fast. So I'm here to tell you this that, you know, if you want to have your own thing, okay, just do it, pursue your passion, but with proper planning and also be ready to fail. And also, lastly, please make sure...