How I can study 4 different majors at different universities and still manage to bootstrap my own business :

When I was in high school I was a bad student, never study just wanted to play and hang out with friends all the time. However, I like reading book in my spare time, I just hated the formal education form in the country I live in, I really hated school and it made me skip so many classes including my English classes. And one day Thanks to my ex girlfriend who dumped me over my best friend and then somebody else ( complicated ) I am not gonna talk about this any further :p , in short this was the turning point of my life. 🙂

I study 4 different majors at different universities and college, but no I actually study 5 different majors but dropped out my first major 😀

Back 2010 I was registered as a student at a public university with Economics and management major, after studying for about a year I was dropped out and decided to learn English intensively for 6 months in Pare, a small town and very well known as an English town but not because there are many English people living there but because there are so many English courses are available in town which make the learning environment conducive, at least that was what I thought  at that moment.

and in between I was trying to apply for scholarship abroad such as New York University in Abu Dhabi, HongKong university, Brunei Government scholarship, Turkish Government Scholarship but all failed. Then  in my depression I decided to come back home to Bali and tried another opportunity, I then decided to give it a try for applying student visa to Australia using agency called DK Sydney at that time.

Shortly after dealing with so much administration and paper works plus waiting for about 10 months, my visa was rejected,  so I failed again to study abroad plus I lost $3000 AUD which was my parent’s money, it’s not refundable for visa application and other documents’ process.

In this very high depressing situation in my life, I felt lost and didn’t know what to do, I felt like I didn’t want to go to college anymore, but then God has another plan for me through unpredictable ways, I was introduced to a travel site community in which I can meet many people from around the world who come to visit your town, and since Bali is a touristic place in Indonesia, it’s not difficult to interact with foreigners and through this platform I improved my English so much and have been meeting many interesting people from different backgrounds and countries. Hence I began discovering the possibilities and opportunities of working online in digital and IT industry. I met a guy from Bosnia that inspires me to work remotely online even without a college degree, I found it as a new eye-opening for myself personally and instantly I just got new spirit to stand up again from my failures and rejections to once again dare to take risk and live my passion and have new dreams.

I started to take 4 year degree or Bachelor / Undergraduate degree in Communication Science at a public university that has a blended learning method ( online and offline ) which enables me also to take full online classes but still do face to face offline examination and consultancy only. Hence I got another idea to invest my time by taking some different but related vocational diplomas from 1 to 2 years that can teach me practical skills and I thought later on , they can be extended / transferred to full 4 year degree. In short I moved to a city called Malang in east Java to take 1 year diploma in Graphic and multimedia design and 2 years diploma in Computer Science / IT while continuing my communication 4 year degree at the same time. I finally managed to study those 3 different majors at 3 different universities and college, but I have to admit that those times drive me crazy, I was super busy running from some morning classes to other afternoon classes, evening classes, not to mention the regular assignments I needed to complete, after all, I keep going with my life like this for the next 2 years.

 

COMPLETING MY FIRST DIPLOMA IN GRAPHIC AND MULTIMEDIA DESIGN

 

I felt so happy and relieved when I finally could finish my first 1 year vocational diploma in Graphic & Multimedia Design, many people in my fellow age at that time might think that 1 year diploma is worth nothing because it’s not equal compared to 4 year undergraduate / bachelor degree. But I don’t care what others say or think, I try to learn to appreciate small achievement that I can achieve in my life, they don’t know how I struggled and put a lot of efforts to manage my time and to always keep motivated finishing this till the end.  Yes that year of 2014, I completed this phase of my life. I have learned some practical skills that I can use to get some freelancing gigs or maybe short term contract job with potential clients. That was what I thought and yes since this time I got my first freelancing job and being able to start my own small brand.

 

DECIDED TO TAKE ANOTHER 4 YEAR DEGREE

 

Finishing 1 study didn’t mean that I could chill and have a party, it was a small happiness that I need to appreciate. I then decided again to take another 4 year bachelor / undergraduate degree in English literature. This literature degree is not actually focused on learning about English literature but more into writing skills, translation and scientific analysis. I thought I really need to improve my English writing skills and being able to instantly write or translate English to Indonesian or vice versa. One of my dreams is to be able to publish my own book in my native language which is Indonesian / Bahasa Indonesia and also in English since English is an international language. I want that my future works can be recognized not only nationally but also internationally. I decided to start this new degree as soon as I completed my first diploma in graphic and multimedia design, however, I take this degree at the same university I take my communication degree which means I can choose to access online classes so that I can also start working and doing other things such as to finish my computer science diploma and earning some money as a freelance student.

 

ENDED UP FINISHING MY 2 YEAR DIPLOMA IN COMPUTER SCIENCE FOR 3 YEARS

OK, Since I finished my first diploma in graphic and multimedia design, I began being able to make some graphic design works and photo manipulating using different adobe software, I started to be able to make website such as static website from HTML, CSS, JQUERY, bootstrap framework, and WordPress based site customization, basic video editing, and 3D Design.

I began discovering new online courses available on the internet platforms. So I got tempted to sign up in many online courses related to web development, business development and social media marketing. Besides doing all these things together I needed to work also on my clients’ projects, despite I could get partial scholarship because of my final score in each semester, I still ended up not being able to complete my 2 year diploma on time but I ended up completing it for 3 years due to me being so busy with my works and projects I was doing at that time. I almost thought to give up not to complete my Computer Science Diploma, but it was just one step ahead, I was thinking to myself  after 3 years hard working I would just give everything up just like that ? so I decided to continue my struggle in the middle my busyness I need to allocate a spare time to take my final project more seriously.

 

Finally after all obstacles I have faced, I was able to finish my final project and complete my another second diploma in Computer Science.

 

BACK HOME TO BALI AND BE MORE SERIOUS IN BUSINESS

After completing those 2 different but related diplomas from different universities, I decided to go back home for a while, also I have got to be more serious with my freelancing business and start a real company but I want to have virtual company, I don’t really like working at the office so I have been learning how to manage remote team that work together with me in different cities or some they are in Bali but we work remotely.  It’s not an easy task and it takes a lot of effort to learn and long process to understand the patterns. I have hired and fired, I have lost some investment in renting a place and make it as an office but it was not really effective, I take all my failures and experiences as lesson and I really learn from it. Dealing with people has never been easy so it requires us to constantly learn about this subject. Since there are a lot of digital nomads working and living in Bali, I learn a lot from different individuals who also run their business remotely.

I am now running my business while trying to finish a thesis and final year for my communication Science and English literature Degree

 

this is not the final word from me, I will continue writing for the next chapter, meanwhile let’s keep it for the next time and I will continue writing when I get spare time from my busyness in the work 😛

 

see you in the next post