Faces Behind the Business: Chrishanne @ The Wordsmith
Chrishanne Sebastiampillai, while on an unplanned break, did soul-searching and discovered the world of freelancing.
Chrishanne can be described as a joyous person. In her previous role, she was performing administrative and secretarial support in a private university, in which she had to work for 12 hours daily, writing minutes accordingly to suit the requirements of each of the 5 Head of Departments which although she enjoyed, was highly challenging and kept her on her toes.
She was informed by her previous employer, that her fixed-term contract may not be renewed. It was during this period, she took an unplanned break to relax, to think about her talents, knowledge base, skill sets, experience, expertise – in order to explore options to stay productive and earn an income, while job hunting for a suitable Admin full time job. In the course of this process and soul searching, somehow she came across the world of freelancing.
Her family, like any typical Asian family, urged her to study and secure a stable job. During her break, she compiled the list of written communication services that she provides on a freelance basis, based on her competencies. In addition, based on the demands and interest of prospective clients, she added on to the list of offerings, in order to keep up with trends in the market. It wasn’t in her plan ever, to do freelance work, however, it was meant to be a back-up plan – while waiting to secure a suitable full time job. One of the good things of doing freelance work, Chrishanne deals directly with her clients and has the flexibility of managing her schedule, to include client requests, pursuing courses and attending selected events to gain more knowledge and for networking purposes. Therefore, it provided her an opportunity to connect and communicate with diverse people. She has now been freelancing for almost 4 years.
Chrishanne was previously an introvert, so she was very quiet by nature and more of an observer in secondary school, it was a little challenging when group work activities were involved. The turning point was when a classmate who knew her from primary school days, encouraged her to talk more and after that she became an extrovert, thus becoming comfortable with being highly communicative, as well as actively engaging with more people over time.
Chrishanne, the Wordsmith offers many services such as; Proofreading, Redesign and edit Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV), Resume/CV writing, Translation (English-Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Malaysia-English), Drafting/Writing letters, Copywriting and Creative writing, Individual Profile/Speaker biodata, Subtitling (English-Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Malaysia-English), Company Profile and and Typing book, letters, documents etc.
She chose to offer the Redesign & edit Resume/CV service primarily, because it is an important skill that is not taught in secondary school nor at college or university. As part of the Career Skills class during her tertiary education at Hawaii Pacific University, there were 2 assignments; design a business card and write your resume. Chrishanne being detail oriented, organised and meticulous by nature, thought about resume writing in a logical and systematic way, wrote her resume from scratch and was satisfied after the third version. She has extensive hands on experience over the years in redesigning, editing and updating her resume over the years, which later took on the form of a CV.
In addition, she has also handled recruitment as part of additional duties assigned, in senior Admin roles she held in 2 of the company where she worked. Therefore, she has practical knowledge both from the perspective of an employer and employee thinking hats. So with this wealth of knowledge and experience, Chrishanne decided to provide the Redesign & edit Resume/CV service and Resume/CV writing, in order to help others who may face the challenge she encountered. She segregates her work based on regular requests and urgent requests. Urgent requests usually take priority, however this depends on her workload, as well as, taking into consideration the information and materials provided by individual clients.
Chrishanne also translates texts from English to Bahasa Malaysia and vice versa. She finds translating can be a little challenging when it comes to finding the right word, but she thrives on it, as she draws on her excellent command of the English language and fluency in Bahasa Malaysia. To keep abreast of new words, she checks with her friends who speak Bahasa Malaysia regularly in the course of their work and are aware of the latest terminologies. Chrishanne shared with us some of her translation work which includes working on translating English subtitles to Bahasa Malaysia for a movie in the post production stage. She mentioned she faced minor difficulties in maintaining the context and accuracy, especially in translating foul words, as there is a delicate balance involved, knowing the censorship requirements of the relevant authority.
Redesign and edit Resume/CV is Chrishanne’s niche and the most in-demand service from clients, followed by Proofreading, Translation, Copywriting, as well as, the other services she provides. She described this niche service; the process involved as deciphering the information provided in the client’s resume. Chrishanne further explained that it is like putting each piece of the CV together to form a complete jigsaw puzzle, different and distinct to each individual, as this is a personalised service.
The services provided by Chrishanne are so unique, therefore she constantly actively sought out different ways to create awareness and market it, initially on Facebook, as well as, Whatsapp by spreading the word to her wide networks - thus using the Word of mouth method, followed by LinkedIn, Instagram with the latest being Google My Business and Shopee. Due to the pandemic in March last year, she chose to pivot by changing her marketing strategy from posting mostly just about her services, which included personalised information about her activities and achievements. After attending a Personal Branding masterclass, Chrishanne started posting selected quotes with the intention of providing a different perspective, encouraging, motivating, inspiring and empowering people who read the posts in which she shared her thoughts, reflection, personal experience, - in the hopes of sparking their interest and to bolster their confidence, to step out of their comfort zone and take imperfect action, after thinking things through and planning it out.
The global pandemic was a blessing in disguise for her, as suddenly, many free or affordable resources were available online, for her to reskill as well as, upskill and she wholeheartedly embarked on the journey – as in the next level of lifelong learning, by doing it full steam. One of the courses she enrolled in was the Project Entrepreneurs course by Brickfields Asia College, which equipped her with beneficial tips and current knowledge from trainers working in the field with clients. In order to improve on her entrepreneurship journey which originally was based on her own skills, talents, knowledge, expertise and experience; a daunting unchartered territory of freelance and learning hands on through trial and error, Chrishanne consulted with people she knew who were more knowledgeable and experienced in the services she provides.
She has a constant thirst for knowledge and always on the look out for new opportunities and potential methods to widen her reach to more people and expand her already extensive network. This spurred the idea of building her own organic community on Facebook in November 2020 (Entrepreneurs Supporting Entrepreneurs – membership is by application and must be approved). Chrishanne is a person who although is cautious about taking risks, has taken several calculated risks over the years such as freelancing, deliberately to push her limits as well as to realise her true potential. She says, "It is all about mindset, attitude, being proactive, building up confidence and making choices, which is a work in progress.”
She is also very active on LinkedIn and has secured clients through this platform, by revamping her profile last year because of the importance of pivoting due to this pandemic, with regular posts, as well as, choosing to actively engage with people with whom Chrishanne is already connected and selectively reaching out to individuals, in her areas of interest.
This year, in the month of October, Chrishanne experienced many firsts when she was invited by her friend to moderate panel discussions in an international event – 2021 Global Empowerment Summit that was attended by more than 200 people from over 30 countries. The day after that, she also participated in a live interview to showcase her CV/Resume related services, with her friend who was the organiser of the international summit. Few days later, in the same Summit, she was a guest speaker in a panel discussion. She was absolutely delighted with the experiences she gained in the International Summit, as well as, invaluable knowledge learned and the added benefit of networking opportunities with people from more than 30 countries.
In the coming years, Chrishanne is focused on growing and scaling her business, by incorporating more systems, processes, establishing more collaborations and strategic partnerships, as well as, including automation to maximise resources - in order to increase efficiency and revenue. One of the future considerations, will be to offer mid-level and high level packages to clients.
Chrishanne’s words of advice to people who aspire to be a solopreneur or entrepreneur (whichever is the goal) is, take time to do soul searching, identify your skills, talents, expertise and experience, do some research, put together a realistic plan, then be proactive, think positively, which emanates positive vibes, that attracts good things towards you and take action even when it is imperfect, as well as, get comfortable with asking others for help.”
She further encourages people to find their unique selling proposition, or think about what they can do uniquely and better than anyone else.
"Don't stay put, move, use the available resources and empower yourself. There is nothing wrong in making mistakes, start small, write it down, seek out opportunities by talking to people you know and find ways to differentiate yourself. If you happen to make a mistake, learn from it, correct and improve on it, as nothing will be served to you on a silver platter, so it is important for you make the choice to do something, rather than sit and wait in your comfort zone, as otherwise nothing will change." she said, ending the interview with an infectious smile.
Please visit Chrishanne @ The Wordsmith at: