Viv Onumah-Yau 邱凯琳

I’m guessing most people won’t define success as scaling down from a well-known influencer marketing agency with a team, office and awards to now being a freelancer/independent.

But here’s why it is success to me!

1. I sleep better at night. My mental health is no longer in ruins worrying about paying team salaries, client wins, and client losses.

2. Complete autonomy over my schedule. I’m no longer dictated by going to a permanent office, managing a team, or constant catch ups. I can change up my schedules whenever I want.

3. Which means so much more time for activities, like volunteering at my local Chinese community centre 💛 and running besean 🫶🏼 and joining protests 🇵🇸

4. I only manage a handful of creators and take on way less clients and projects than I used to. I’m way more picky about who I work with now! I get to choose to work with clients who share similar ethics and morals as me and challenge me to be a better person.

5. I listened to that small voice in my head telling me something wasn’t right and did a brave thing instead of continuing down a path I knew no longer served me. I’m so proud of myself for that!

6. I no longer compare myself (as much) to other agency owners / founders because I realised everyone has their own struggles, whether they tell you or not (this was me included, I kept it hidden for too long because of the shame, the shameeee!)

7. When I started listening to my intuition and decided what makes me happy on my own terms, not what society expected, I became more true to my goals, myself, and my happiness.

Years ago I went down the path of creating an influencer marketing agency - because I cared too much about what others thought rather than what makes me happy. It’s not really what I ever wanted and I never aligned with those business founders telling people to hustle and wake up at 4am (could never be me!) Defining success by what others thought of me over my own needs was a huge trap. I’ll never go back!