Fantastic Opportunities and Where to Find Them

We've all made that one impulsive decision in life. Even Steve Jobs says "People don't know what they want until you show it to them". That's how it all began for me. Curiosity, impulsiveness, and a mix of between.

The pandemic hits hard in 2020, that's a fact. One night I was scrolling my Instagram and came across an ads from RevoU, offering me to learn digital marketing fully online. If you're reading this 30 years after this is posted, you should know that online learning became "a thing" during Coronavirus period. Well, back to the topic. When I saw the ads I just said to myself "Oh, what the heck." I clicked sign up and that's it. That's how the opportunity began.

To make things exciting for you, I've created a summary on how the story will unfold in this post and in addition, I will divide the story into three parts: Learning, Knowing, Teaching, and Doing.

Learning

It began in June 2020, my first class in RevoU. I didn't know what to expect as I was only writing down what the lecturer is teaching in the class. I didn't ask many questions (even during the 12-week course). Well anyway, I was doing my full-time job and the course at the same time, I'm going to share how I learn to manage my time:

1. Anticipate - The expression "The busier you get, the better you're at managing your time" is not a myth. Your mind becomes so occupied and psychologically your first reaction is to anticipate - how can you get as much things as possible.
2. Think ahead - The course was indeed intensive, if you don't start early, don't expect to finish early. I know everyweek that there will be 3 assignments. I know that I can do 50% of the assignments already from Monday and the rest on the following day. This is what I did during the course. Constantly thinking ahead makes you be ahead of time, rather than be controlled by it, you are the one controlling it
3. Prioritize - You're not superman. Decide which one that needs your immediate attention and which one that is not.

Those two things got me going throughout the course. For future students, remember that you'll have to be able to manage your time to get the best opportunities in the learning experience. The benefit? You'll get to present in front of the instructors and get feedback from them.

Knowing

This next part becomes a bit more technical. After my graduation, I was hired to work with RevoU to be a part-timer. The first one was to become a team leader, the second time to become an account coordinator. However, those positions taught me the same thing:

1. Lead by Example - By this time, I have to know the technical things not just 1 channel in digital marketing but different channels all at once. I have to be able to deliver the materials to the students so that they can understand and at to master the materials. With that in mind, I have to study (again) to make sure that I can be the best example for them to learn
2. It takes two to tango - It takes both strong leaders and followers to make a great team. Me and my partner's effort to lead the team was not enough. We both have to make sure that the team has a strong sense of ownership as we do. The concept of leadership is widely known, but the concept of followership is the missing ingredient that is sometime being overlooked yet important to have.

Leading a team to reach a level understanding as the leader is not easy, leadership is not a "one-time event" , it's a continuous process which can only be achieved by hard work and perseverance.

Teaching

Time to scale up the challenge. I was thrilled when RevoU approached me to become an instructor. It was as challenging as it was exciting for me. I got to teach content marketing, which was my favorite subject when I studied back in 2020. For future students, if you are looking for opportunities to give back to RevoU and become an instructor let me tell you that it is possible, here's my tip to get you started:

1. Build trust with your students

The easiest way to do this is by addressing them one on one through the chat. Build your modesty around them to create a more friendly atmosphere. The biggest pain points that I had a student back then was a barrier that I had with the teachers. They were such an experienced experts in their respective field – doubting my own self-esteem.

Your students can feel the same thing, so what you can do to increase their trust is by talking to them and guiding them whenever they find a problem

2. Master your teaching materials

Talking about the more obvious – but often overlooked aspect of teaching. When I said teaching materials, it’s not just what’s written on your powerpoint or google slides. It’s how you deliver the materials.

I’m talking about a more technical aspects of teaching, like how fast you’re talking, your articulation, your tone, and even your gesture when you teach. You need to create the most comfortable environment for you to teach.

3. Show, don’t tell

When you positioned yourself as a student, you have to understand that some of them are seeing this materials for the first time, some of them have limited access to facilities that other people have in certain locations. What you can do to help them more understand is by explaining a real world example of your teaching materials.

Students love real-world practical problems and solutions. That’s what their look for these days, don’t spend too much time in explaining the theory based on a book or based on an article. Show, don’t tell.

4. Encourage students to participate

The last thing that you want as a teacher is everyone falling asleep during your lecture. It is clearly a challenge in offline classes, but it becomes harder in online classes. With everyone turning off their cameras, you can’t make sure whether they are really paying attention or not.

To overcome this challenge, you can encourage the students to participate in the class. Rather than telling your opinion on certain matters, ask them instead.

Before class, prepare a list of 10 – 2o students consists of most active and inactive students – or better yet, those who are struggling in following the materials (this can be seen based on their feedback form). During class, you can ask them their opinion on a certain matter. Making sure that everyone is on their edge of their seat, paying attention to your class (voluntarily of course)

Doing

I remember when I graduated, I told myself "Hey it would be great if RevoU have a Product Management Program. I'll definitely enroll myself." Exactly one year after I said that, the opportunity came and now (for the third time) I am working with RevoU as a Project Manager to launch the Product Management program!

I have always fascinated on how the team works inside RevoU, and having to experience it in the last 3 months, here are some of my key takeaways:

1. Helpful and Supportive

Working as a Project Manager means I have to work with cross-functional teams. I don't have a "team" per say, but I work with marketing, admission, and curriculum team to find the best way to launch the program in less than 3 months.

The team is very helpful, they shared a lot of documents and workflows to help me settle up in the first month so I can understand the process. They are always "one call away" whenever I need them. I believe that I'm not the only one feeling this because this is I think one of the shared value between the team.

2. Honest and Constructive

The road is always not as smooth as we'd like. Like Mike Tyson said "Everyone have a plan until they got punched in the face". There are some issues of course during the process but what I love while working at RevoU is the amount of constructive feedback that the team is able to give. They are able to point out what kind of problem that occured and how to fix it. It's always an open discussion and never about pointing fingers here - literally a positive environment to grow.

3. Beyond Expectations

If there is one phrase to describe my colleague at RevoU, this is the right phrase. They are able to do unimaginable things such as creating new automation process, engaging students that is looking for a job, and creating new initiatives to increase the morale of the company. They are one of the most talented people I work with for the last 3 years.