psychobabble

It’s 6.30 and I’m jazzed up by beer and junk, at the office waiting for dinner. So I figured, what better time to answer the most frequently asked question in my life?

“What do I do at work?”

Honestly, guys, that’s one question I get really, really, often from parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, people I just meet, cats, dogs, unicorns.. the list could go on and on really.

Often, people just resort to assuming I do some “Internet-related” thing that is kinda like blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Or sometimes they think I sit on the computer and build sites like techies do. The variety of assumptions I get never fail to amaze and amuse me. But I digress.

So, what do I do at work?

I’m just kidding. Yes, that’s my office, and yes, that was what I was doing just an hour ago. But that’s not all I do at work (and definitely not the norm).

Let’s start with something generic like… where can you find my physical body for 40-45 hours a week (daily time frames range from 9-4 or 10-7)?

For those of you who don’t already know, I work at MindValley with a team age that averages at 24. It’s this crazy young, successful and fast-growing American company that’s based in K.L. and has a business model that is, yes, centered on e-commerce. We’re basically online publishers for personal development gurus / authors like The American Monk, The Silva Method, Brian Johnson of PhilosophersNotes, and Sean Stephenson.. among others. Our business tagline? Spreading enlightened ideas. Although I can’t say I agree with every single one of the ideas we’re spreading, I have to admit we’re on a pretty awesome path.

So what role do I play in this awesome organization of approximately… 40 people?

I’m kinda like the project manager there for one of the businesses called Niche Domination. I know, it’s a mouthful and you’re wondering, “What the **** is that?”. But it’s okay, that part’s the easiest to explain. At work, I’m responsible for a variety of things that include:

Updating half of the MindValley blog network
Managing a community of 370,000+ subscribers
Using social media tools to get our ideas to the masses
Coordinating online sales promotions & launches
Experimenting with new ideas and niches
Identifying the next big personal development partner to publish

Basically, a whole array of stuff. Gabby, one of our copywriters, dished this out for me for the team website:

Organized, creative, and results driven is an understatement. With a brain likened to a supercomputer on steroids, Xinch (as she’s fondly known) manages MindValley’s largest online community, dominates the niches of personal development with a bullwhip, and makes use of the various social media sites to bring in the moolah.

While her mind-manipulating fancies may have faded with the completion of her Psych degree, she’s found new ways to use her understanding of the human mind to sell like a rock star, giving the customers what they want while dazzling them at the same time like Celine Dion in Vegas.

And though she’ll deny it, some have claimed that she is psychic as she seems to know what you need before you ask for it. Because of this uncanny skill, working with her is a cinch (no pun intended).

In order to maintain some semblance of a personal life she blogs on Malaysian politics, travels, is into photography and design, and loves eating, which begs the question, “Why won’t you gain weight, you lucky *****?”

I think in order to be really simple, I rake in cash for the company by using social media tools like blogs, Facebook & Twitter to spread the ideas of the partners we work with. Yeah, I think that’s the easiest.

What’s even better? Aside from the fact that I work my ass off at work, I’m given the freedom to move about as I please, work from wherever I want to, travel frequently if I want (e.g. Bali in March, Laos in October, Penang for a week in December), dress as casually as I can, freelance, and start my own businesses or projects on the side… and given near-complete trust with my often-untested-and-random ideas.

How cool is that?

And I have a boss that dishes out booze, chocolates, cookies & crackers at 5pm on Friday just because: “..we are kicking some serious ass I have decided to get drinks and snacks so we can roll into the weekend in style. Be back from my booz run soon and will see you in the Hall of Awesomeness ”