Ivan's Journal - THE BIRTH OF A WRITING TALENT

I couldn’t remember the first time I’ve ever hold this printed media called “Marketing”. It was still in the tabloid form at that time. It never crossed my mind that I could be a part of it, yet it became a part of my career.

It was no different like any other tabloids. There’re maybe hundreds of them spreading all over. But as far as I can remember, it was the only tabloid that spoke about marketing. So I bought one, took it home, and read it. That’s all about it. I’ve never buy it again since then. I even forgot the topic of the tabloid when I first bought it.

Few years had passed since then, when suddenly I met a friend of mine who said he read a magazine – majalah called “Marketing” because he worked as a marketer. Majalah Marketing?? As far as I know, there’s no such magazine. When I searched for it at the bookstore, it turned out that the Marketing tabloid had transformed into magazine. Now, it’s called Majalah Marketing.

I was working with my friends at that time. We ran a business of production house, making videos / photos about wedding and company profile. We even sold computers and built websites for extra money. Life was tough and not much cash around. Building a business was never easy, but it was the only thing we had to do to survive at that time. We did everything to make money ‘here, there, and everywhere’. It was a fun and challenging job though.

One day, a friend of mine named Olaf, rode a bicycle and dropped by at my house. He said he knew someone who’s working at Majalah Marketing. That someone turns out to be Mr. Andrianus Pohan, an old friend of mine at high school. I’ve never met him again since I graduated from high school.

The next day, I decided to contact Mr. Pohan. It turned out that there’s a job vacancy at Majalah Marketing. Guess what, the job matched my previous experience and the office is not far from my house. I always say, you shouldn’t pass an opportunity when it knocks your door. So I went to the mal, bought the latest edition of Majalah Marketing, and found myself sitting at Pizza Hut, reading it. I remember it was the January 2006 edition about “Premium Market”.

It was not long after that, I found myself having a conversation again to Mr. Pohan. He said he wanted out and needed a replacement. I shook his hand saying that I’ll take my chances of replacing his position at Majalah Marketing.

Few days later, I sat on a chair in the waiting room of Majalah Marketing. The receptionist handed over a form that I had to fill in. It was a standard form of employee’s identification and background. The next step was the interview. I went up to the second floor, seeing the office’s activities at a glance.

Someone pointed me to a room where the interview would take place. When I opened the door, I found a man who turned out to be the editor in chief of Majalah Marketing, Mr. Rahmat Susanta. We had a conversation for a while, until he finally nodded his head several times and asked me a question, “When do you ready to begin?” I took that as a positive sign for me that I am accepted. It was the shortest and most comfortable interview I’ve ever experienced. Modest and smart – that is my first impression of him.

Later, I found myself working on a computer in order to develop and maintain the company’s website. As time went by, I started writing articles for the magazine. Little did I know that my work brought me into this blog – “The Popcorn Story”.

Ivan the Freelancer