Image: 

New Thailand’s Got Talent judge, Jirayut Wattanasin, 45, aka Joe Nuvo, recounts his long music career, opens up about how loneliness sometimes brings him to tears and explains why commercial success isn’t everything.

I was inspired to be a musician by 70s-80s acts like the Bee Gees, Thai folksinger Phusming Nosavan and funk/disco band Royal Sprites.

Recording music in the analog era was more sophisticated. You had to play perfectly to get the right sound.

I had to wait until I graduated from high school to earn some money playing music at pubs. My parents would have killed me if I dropped out to be a musician.

My dad [Charoen Wattanasin, businessman and former badminton champ] didn’t care much for my music career. He only realized how famous my band, Nuvo, had become when his friends started asking for my autograph to give to their daughters.

I think a combination of good marketing and a lack of technology helped us become famous. Teenagers didn’t have too many forms of entertainment 20 years ago. Internet was 52K dial-up and cable TV like UBC only had four channels. It was just the right time for us.

Back then, if a pub didn’t have a full band, people simply wouldn’t turn up. But now all they need is a guitar and percussion. Pubs sell expensive alcohol and hire musicians very cheap.

I became fed up with the trappings of being on a big record label so I quit Nuvo after our fourth studio album, Oxygen. Sure, we had success, but I was not proud of the way we were doing things.

It’s really satisfying to create something that is all your own, even if it’s not a big success. It’s just good to have a small corner where you can come up with something that you love, and if someone else appreciates it, all the better.

My brother [J-Jetrin Wattanasin] persuaded me to join Twitter so that I could keep track of the news and follow some of my celebrity friends. But now I have over 70,000 followers.

I never use my Twitter account to promote myself. I just want to express my true feelings.

I’ve been in trouble for some of the things I’ve Tweeted [accusing someone believed to be Nitipong Hornak, veteran GMM song composer, of taking money from the red shirts]. But I’m not afraid to say what I want. You shouldn’t have to please everyone all of the time.

It’s a total mess that our politics are seemingly beyond criticism. You might as well just watch lakorn [TV series] and forget about it.

It’s kind of absurd to see some fans still going nuts about me. I’m already 45 years old, not a pop idol anymore, so please calm down.

The entertainment industry is a place where people come together to make money. But in the live music scene we meet because we love music. I can get paid B30,000 to play a gig, but I’m happy playing for free with the people I like.

I’m a big fan of Broadway productions. I love the attention to detail, everything has to be perfect for every show. I had to watch Mama Mia four times and Chicago five times just to take it all in.

I would love to do a stage play but I haven’t had the chance yet. It comes down to money and timing because of my tour commitments with Nuvo. I would like to try my hand at drama.

I also love being a music critic and I’m now writing for Kom Chad Luek newspaper. I was overwhelmed to be chosen as a judge for Thailand’s Got Talent because I can combine my passion for being a critic and for watching live performances.

I am first and foremost a musician and I will continue playing until I am an old grandpa. I may be famous but at some stage I want to go back and play at pubs in Pattaya or Koh Samui like everyone else.

I love diving so much but it’s hard to find a group of friends to go with. They are all having family or health problems. I want go diving somewhere exotic, like the Galapagos Islands.

It’s better for me to be single. I would love to get married but it’s hard to find a woman who understands that I sometimes need my own space.

It makes me sad to think I’m getting old. I sometimes cry when I feel lonely. But I’m lucky that ordinary things like playing video games or watching movies can cheer me up.

It’s kind of a pity that so many talented musicians can’t make the kind of money I do. I’m really blessed. But even if I wasn’t where I am today, I would still thank God.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

S.E.A. Write Award winning writer Prabda Yoon, 38, recently made headlines for his support for amending Article 112, relating to the lèse-majesté law. He defends his comments, while revealing his former desire to become a priest, and his love of all things Japanese.

I love mystery. As a kid I wanted to be a magician or an archeologist so that I could dig up something mysterious.

I wasn’t an outdoor kid. All I did was read books and watch movies alone.

Bookstores were my favorite place when I studied in the US. I would be there for hours reading books and magazines till late at night. I was interested by novels but had no confidence to become a writer.

I came back to be a soldier in the Thai army for six months. I didn’t want to do it because I was kind of against the whole idea of the army. But I had to come back because it was required by law.

Being a soldier was pretty boring. I thought I would feel frustrated being under such strict rules, but I wasn’t. It was like going back to school again. All I had to do was wake up at 4am and train until noon.

There is internal politics everywhere, even in the army. I saw that soldiers are professionals; they also want to get promoted like everyone else.

I started my new life after the army without any plan. I felt out of place here. All my friends were in the US and I didn’t know where to find new ones.

I had no motivation to be a writer. I just wrote some English novels while working as a movie critic for the Nation Weekend magazine. I watched lots of movies back then.

I asked Praew magazine about writing short stories for them when they contacted me for an interview. They said yes and that’s what kick-started my writing career.

I’ve never thought my writing was that important or gave value to society, so it was a real surprise when I won the S.E.A. Write Award in 2002. I thought they would focus on serious novels, but this cemented my desire to become a professional writer.

I’ve never felt any pressure having a famous father [Suthichai Yoon, Nation Group’s Editor in Chief]. I’ve never really gone out much so I didn’t know what people’s expectations were.

Becoming a journalist like my father was never my plan. I love routine: to go to work by day and to go home in the evening.

Media is now in the hands of the people, so it’s hard to maintain steadfast principles. I think the media is in a period of transition. The fact that you can write and post something online, doesn’t make it news. Journalists are still the main reliable source of information but they have to adapt to technology.

I’ve come under attack from some parts of the media because I support an amendment to Article 112 [the lèse majesté law]. It’s a sensitive issue, so I understand why they are so angry at me.

I want to live in a society where we can have an argument without violence. When disagreements occur, one side shouldn’t be painted as traitors. It’s an immature society that fights without reason. We should accept that there are different opinions and faiths.

Loving your country doesn’t mean that everything is good and you can’t criticize it. Specific issues should be considered individually. If we don’t talk about these problems now, it might be too late in 10 years time.

If the definition of being a traitor is disagreeing with the majority, then yes, I might be one. But from my viewpoint, I love Thailand in my own way.

I opened Typhoon Publishing House nine years ago because I wanted to slow down my work. Writing lots of column inches burns a lot of energy.

I now plan to open an e-book shop and website, www.bookmoby.com I plan to make it a society for book lovers, writers and book designers to share their work and get noticed. I want it to be as open as Youtube or Facebook, where you can share your work freely.

I love Japanese philosophy and culture. I fell for their artistic simplicity when I studied in the US. I even thought of becoming a priest in Japan where they can marry and have children. I couldn’t be cut off from the world like a Thai monk.

All I can do is travel there. I’ve had works like Kagami no Naka o Kazoeru (Counting the Inside of a Mirror, 2007) and Zayuu no Nippon (My Desk-Side Japan, 2008) translated and published in Japan. I am also an occasional columnist for Esquire in Japan.

My life is quite straightforward because I live in the city. Now I dream of being more outdoorsy. I used to go trekking and camping in the forest and it felt so good. I’ve been planning to take a trip with Japanese friends for years but have not yet managed it.

I never think about success. All I do is focus on finishing the work at hand.

I will consider myself successful when I have no passion to do anything new, and I content living a routine life.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Safe

Editor's Rating: 
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)

Jason Statham’s rise up the ranks of Hollywood tough guys hasn’t exactly been built on a wide acting range, but these days he just seems content to fall back on his highly-marketable reputation. This he does to a tee in Safe, the latest film written and directed by Boaz Yakin (Uptown Girls, Remember the Titans).

Opening Date: 
Tue, 2012-05-15
Images: 
Author: 
Monruedee Jansuttipan

Veteran director Nonzee Nimibutr, 49, reveals why he gave up lakorn TV series to go back to the big screen and make new film Kon-Lok-Jit (Distortion), how he got tired of being rich and why he thinks that we’re all a little bit crazy.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life when I was a teenager. I didn’t have someone to be my advisor. I lived with my grandpa, an old soldier who wasn’t home very much. So it was hard to communicate with him.

I had to leave King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) because I had no motivation to study. I had just followed a friend who wanted to study there.

I even ran away from home because I was so bored. I didn’t know what to do.

My aunt saved my life. She said, “You used to love drawing. Why don’t you study art?” I was like “Right, I love art.” So I signed up to Silapakorn University to study fine arts.
Studying art gave me happiness. It’s real fun to live with art all the time.

I became enchanted by motion pictures after a friend asked me to help make a documentary. I was thrilled every time I went onto the movie set.

It lit a fire in me. I wanted to study motion pictures but my university didn’t have a faculty. The dean told me to get 250 students to sign up and then he would open the new faculty for me. I got 270.

Directing is magic. I can give life to my imagination through sounds, color, light and pictures. I feel I can compose all these things better than others.

I am lucky I started doing what I love sooner than others. I started working as a director when I was in my third year of study.

I was a millionaire before I became a movie director. I earned more than B30 million being a commercial director for twelve years. But I got bored with my wealth and everything around me.

I felt like my work had become a routine. I just got a brief and did it. It wasn’t me anymore. So I rejected the money to become a movie director.

Life is yours. You have to fight for it, respond to it and take care of it. I told my daughter that I would help her until she graduated. Then, she had to create everything on her own. I started from zero so she can too.

I lost all my savings to my first two films: Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters (1997) and Nang Nak (1999). But I was so happy.

I don’t like to repeat things. People say I would be rich if I did a sequel to Dang Bireley’s but I think it’s a waste of time.

I don’t put my life into things that are tried and tested. Life is all about moving forward. Making new things is more of a challenge.

After four years making The Tsunami Warrior (2008), I moved from movies to do lakorn. It was like going back to school, because the art of making lakorn is hugely different. I had to learn everything anew.

People buy tickets to watch a movie while lakorn needs to cry for attention from an audience who are always doing other things, like the laundry or eating, while watching. So you have to make the story easy to follow. Now I’m directing Nue Mek II which is going to air on Channel 3 this July.

I’m getting more isolated as I get older. Some days I don’t want to turn on my phone. I don’t want to talk to anyone.

The lowest point of my life was a year ago. I had to pay a friend’s debt. I was his guarantor on a B4 million loan and he defaulted. I had to sell my stuff to pay it off. This lesson made me scared of trusting people again.

People in this world are pitiful. We change a lot and sometimes lose our minds because of the stress of society. Kon-Lok-Jit (Distortion) is based on the winning script from the Thailand Script Project 2010, which touches on this topic. It made me decide to direct movies again.

I think 98% of people in society have mental problems. It’s just a matter of how severe. This movie shows that everyone is at risk of going insane, so you should seek help before it’s too late.

I love diving. I have a diving school, Blue Shark Diving. I love to dive at the Similans. It’s one of the most beautiful diving spots in the world.

I don’t like Bangkok. I feel sick every time I come home to the capital.

I think one day cinema will be like likay (street theater). Movies will screen on the internet which everyone can watch anywhere. I think it’s going to happen within two years.

Being a director takes everything out of you. But if you keep doing what you love you will be successful.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Lead singer of Friday, Trai “Boy” Bhumiratana, 40, says perserverance, identity and jealousy are the key to the band’s success. As they prepare for their 15-year anniversary concert on May 19, he tells BK about his love of manga and look-tung and the importance of the dinner table.

Everyone in my family loved music in some way. My dad loved listening to classic songs while my mom used to be a singer in the Chulalongkorn University band. My brother was the one who taught me to play guitar.

Today, everyone plays the guitar. But back then, it was special. There weren’t many teenagers who could play, so it made me a very cool teen.

I was working as an architect for a year when we finally got a contract to release our first album, Friday I’m in Love, in 1997.

Friday is a fine day for everyone. It’s the day you know you can party all night and sleep all the following day. It’s a really colorful day for me.

Music is really powerful. I have faith in what I do. That’s why I won’t go back to being an architect.

I feel little regret that I threw away all that I studied in architecture to be a musician. I really don’t know what my life would be like if I were still an architect. And I’m happy with what I’ve done as a musician in the last 15 years.

It’s like you keep hacking at this big tree at the same point for 15 years and it’s finally paid off. I’m proud we’ve gone this far. We’re having our 15-year anniversary concert with Fat Radio and our full-scale concert later this year.

Being an artist isn’t easy. We have to cry for attention all the time which is not natural to me at all. I just have to find the right path for me.

Musicians must be survivors. The music industry is always changing so you need to find ways to adapt. But you also need to cherish your identity too.

I often feel downhearted as a musician. But it doesn’t go too far, like ever wanting to stop working or anything. I just feel jealous when I see other people’s work, and it’s cool. It makes me want to advance my work, too.

My music is modern but I love look-tung. Look-tung is really melodic. Its sounds especially beautiful when played on an old record player. I love vinyl. I play look-tung as a side project called Fat Siam.

My life was at its lowest point in 2003. My dad died, Bakery Music closed, I broke up with my girlfriend. It was like I’d been hit by a tsunami. I never thought it could be that bad.

The dining table is a symbol of happiness for my family. My dad loved to cook and we always ate together. When he died, we had to sell our house to pay off our debts, and our dining table went as well.

Losing my niece was also a turning point for me. She was born with a kidney problem and doctors told us she would die when she was eleven. And that’s exactly what happened.

I knew we needed to get a new dining table, after we lost her. I built the house to put it in. And I got married to have a family.

Every time I feel down, I go back to my music and create new work. It helps me focus on what I want and what I feel in that moment. It makes me happy.

Everyone around me inspires my music. I’m not so self-centered as to only write songs that are about my life. Other people’s stories make impressions on me, too.

My wife is now my inspiration. She is confident and I’m always amazed by her wonderful attitude and what she has done. She is the magnet that makes me want to be at home.

I love to cook breakfast for my wife. Women have their daily ritual to look good every morning. So I have my ritual of cooking breakfast so she can eat when she finishes dressing up.

I’ve been a big fan of manga since I was a kid. Every year, I do a personal list of the best manga. My favorite comic now is Beshari Gurashi which portrays the real life of a comedian’s buddy. It’s really dramatic. I even cried when I read it.

Make music from the inside. You can’t just listen to hit songs and mash them up into your own. Tap into the things you cherish and you will float above the current.

I’m jealous of new musicians, in a way, but I also love to see new artists that have so much more talent than the old guys. Otherwise our music scene would never go anywhere.

To me, success is a safe place, earning a living by being a musician and having people who still want to listen to our songs.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

We check in with the members of retro-inspired comedy band S.O.D. (Sod Tae Mai Sod).

BK: How do you become a band?
IT:
Tonhom, Jane and I are all colleagues at Pen Publishing [Penthouse, Digital Camera and T3]. The original idea came from Tonhom’s ringtone. He is a really retro guy so he always has Elvis Presley songs, like “Jailhouse Rock,” as his ringtones. We always did parodies of those songs and we thought it would be good if we could compose funny songs and play them together; even though Tonhom and Jane don’t know how to play music at all. We just wanted to do crazy songs. We weren’t trying to be cool.

BK: How did you land a contract with a big record label?
Tonhom:
We composed and played together but never actually played anywhere for two years. Then one day, in 2010, I heard about the Kodindy Music Festival #6 so we decided to send our demo CD in and they picked us to play on the small stage. But when the day arrived, Deep O Sea, a famous reggae band from Koh Samui, couldn’t fly to the show due to a thunderstorm. The promoter chose us to replace them on the main stage! We got lots of fans on Facebook from that night. Then we went and took part in the Bacardi Hitz Unheard music competition and were one of the finalists who scored a contract with Warner Music.

BK: What’s the idea behind the band’s name and music style?
It:
S.O.D. means Simple of Details. And with Sod Tae Mai Sod, it means that we just we want to make our songs in a simple way and that we’re single, but not virgins [sod tae mai sod].
Tonhom: When people ask me what is our style of music, I just say, “I don’t know.” I just call it, “music that can create happiness.”

BK: Why does your band have such a vintage style?
Tonhom:
Old stuff is so classic and so colorful. I don’t think a flashy new car is a cool thing for me. They all look the same. But old cars are really unique. I have an old Volkswagen Van from 1967.
Jane: It’s from Tonhom, because he lives in a real vintage style all the time. He dresses like an uncle and drives his old van.

BK: What are your day jobs?
It:
I write for Penthouse, Digital Camera and T3 magazines.
Tonhom: I am a nude photographer for Penthouse and do some freelance work.
Jane: I am a freelance nude stylist and event organizer. I used to work with Pen Publishing but have been freelance for three years.
Pop: I have a homemade bakery shop named “Eat Me Please.” We sell our products at schools, universities and hospitals. Our popular pieces are crunchy brownies and custard cake.
Nut: I’m a backstage sound engineer at concerts or events.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Is being your own boss really worth it?
 

We spoke to five freelancers about what it’s like to go solo. We weren’t so much interested in client horror stories (after all, you get those in an office, too) as in what motivated their big decision, and if they still felt positive about freelancing after having experienced it first hand. Two of our interviewees eventually went back to full-time positions within a company­—and another is considering it—but all felt freelancing is a positive experience. Find out why.

Pursuing Dreams

Wachiraporn Janrut

Going freelance could also mean doing two jobs, or pursuing that job you’ve always dreamed of. In this particular case, Wachiraporn Janrut, 33, quit her job as a salesperson at a magazine to discover another side of her industry—writing. But to complement her income she began by doing both sales and writing as a freelancer.
“Time flies. If you want to do something, then you should act right away,” says Wachiporn, although her decision didn’t exactly happen overnight. Por started her sales career at Big Chili, an expat magazine in Bangkok, and worked there for seven years before moving to a deal-a-day website startup. At the time, she was making from B70,000-100,000 per month, but she still yearned for an opportunity to pursue her passion for writing.

She quit to become a freelance salesperson. On the plus side, it meant being her own boss. “There are no rules and regulations to comply with,” she says. “I can work from wherever I want, so it doesn’t get boring.” But freelancing also requires huge self-discipline. Although her working hours were not fixed, she would set to-do lists for herself. “Each day I set a goal of what work I will get done and follow it.”
On the downside, it can get lonely working solo: “Sometimes I want to talk to someone. But there’s no one around me like in the office.”

Another drawback is that income can be inconsistent. Freelance salespersons get higher commission than in-house salespersons as they have no job security, no salary, no benefits and take up no office space. Hence, while salespersons on staff earn commissions between 5-15% depending on the industry, 25-30% commission is typical for freelancers.

“A friend of mine is a sales freelancer and is doing well due to her large customer base. But I don’t have that many,” she says. Her family and friends also doubted her choice.

“If being a freelance isn’t what I expected, then I’ll go back to working fulltime. There will always be a job for me,” she told us on our last meeting. In fact,
her plan paid off sooner than expected.

A few days after we spoke, she had indeed accepted a new job as an associate editor at ScandAsia, thereby fulfilling her original plan to transition from sales to writing.

“Being a freelancer gave me the courage to follow my passion sooner. Now, I’m thinking about saving money to start my dream business as a publisher.”

No Pain, No Gain

Sirichai Kamrat

Sirichai Kamrat, 37, studied animal science, gaining a master degree in the same field. He then worked at a pharmaceutical chemistry company for a couple years until one morning, he snapped and quit. He traded his B60,000 salary for a B15,000 one at California Fitness, working as a trainer, just because he loved working out. Then, three years ago, he quit California Fitness to go freelance.

“I didn’t want to wait until the dead end comes,” Sirichai says. “I felt awkward being part of the team. The policies weren’t going to work for the long term system so I just figured it’s better to quit before everything goes downhill.”

Sirichai had always loved sports, but just didn’t think he could make a career out of it. “I was on the rugby team at my high school. But I can play any kind of sports, from basketball and football to tennis and golf. But there’s no money in it in Thailand. So I thought that it’s better to study and try to do something else to make money.”

Soon, the temptation to go back to his passion for sports proved too tempting, though. “I thought it would be great if my passion could make me money, too,” says Sirichai. Apart from the training course at California Fitness, Sirichai paid B27,000 for a course that paved his way to an international fitness instructor certificate from The American Council on Exercise (ACE). He also went to a lot of courses to broaden his skills.

Then word of mouth eventually began to spread, and new clients introduced him to their friends. Today, he makes B120,000 a month, charging B900-B1,000 per hour. Not that his lifestyle has changed that much. “I don’t drink, don’t shop, don’t hang-out. I still use a motorcycle to get around Bangkok because it’s fast and cheap. I can spend about B200 a day because of it.”

For Sirichai, the reason his clients love him is that he is strict and punctual. “My clients are business owners so their time is valuable. They love punctuality. If you’re late, they’re wasting time they could spend making money. And I lose my reputation.”

Sirichai now dreams of opening a small fitness center or a sports campus where he wants to train athletes to be world-class champions. And it all started with quitting his job: “Being a freelancer helps push you forward. Though you can’t achieve your goal right away, at least you’re getting closer to it. I love to win and I know how to train you to be a winner.”

Contact Sirichai at 083-090-2004.

Relating to the Public

Natsaran Deeprasert

Natsaran “Jay-Jay” Deeprasert, 35, never planned on being a freelancer. But he did have a problem. He worked in public relations at a media agency, on yearly contracts, and wasn’t getting any advancement.
“Public relations is the last step in the marketing process. People only recognize its importance when they need immediate feedback,” he says. “It costs money, but it has the biggest pay-off.”

To move his career forward, Natsaran was looking for a full-time position in the field of property. That’s when an old client from the agency rang him up with a job. That was three years ago and he’s never looked back, getting a constant stream of jobs through word of mouth ever since.

“Being honest is important as a freelancer. I can tell clients right away what they can or can’t get—and the same goes for the press. The press feels that freelancers are more independent, and therefore more open [than in-house PRs].”

The downsides? A lack of office in the CBD, for one. Instead, Natsaran relies on his smartphone, and even sends and receives faxes online. But connectivity, too, is not without its drawbacks: “I can work and be easily reached anytime, anywhere. And most people, whether they are customers or friends, expect a freelancer to have more free time than an employee. So even when I’m at home, I have to dress up like it’s a day at the office. I have to be ready in case a client needs to see me immediately.”

A quirk of the profession is that Natsaran says freelance PRs actually help each other out. “We share information and even jobs if we feel it’s in a colleague’s area of expertise and would be better suited to them. I’ve passed on B200,000 PR jobs to take on B15,000 ones, just because I had a crush for that particular project,” he says.

Despite an easy start, Natsaran went through a rough patch last year, during the flood. Public relations were put on hold everywhere, but he pulled through thanks to his savings. Natsaran doesn’t plan on freelancing forever, though. He plans on getting a full-time position again but “only if I get a good offer,” he says.

Meanwhile, he plans on giving some official shape to this loose band of freelance PRs—and continue his development on the job. “Being a freelancer, you get to know your real potential. You find out that you can do things beyond what you thought were your limits, and that you could take on the most challenging jobs.”
Contact Natsaran at 080-064-5464 or pr@jaytherabbit.com

Accidental Freelance

Nuttaporn Srisirirungsimakul

Can a freelance career survive bombs, gunfire and a flood? It seems the answer is no (at least for now), although this newly re-employed freelancer doesn’t regret the adventure.

Full disclaimer: Nuttaporn Srisirirungsimakul, 30, used to work at BK Magazine, as a senior writer overseeing the dining section then as a features editor. But while we sorely miss her sharp reviews (she had zero patience for bad Thai food—or music), Nuttaporn’s career extends well beyond the realm of BK. She began her work life at the Bangkok Post, and went on to Thai Airways’ Sawasdee Magazine. While freelancing is a pretty typical mode of operation for writers, Nuttaporn never chose to do so. But in the wake of the 2010 political upheaval, her life was suddenly turned upside down.

With red shirt protesters occupying the heart of the central business district, including stretches of Rama 4 where her office was situated, getting to work became impossible. When bombs and gunfire erupted on the streets, her employers, based in Dubai, decided to pull out of Thailand entirely. They promised employees three months compensation and packed up.

“No one got that money,” says Nuttaporn. “It’s hard to chase them for the money because they fled back to their country. It’s beyond our ability to try to get the money now.”

But her large network of friends in the industry immediately began throwing jobs her way. Soon Elle, Bangkok Post and BK Magazine were commissioning her for jobs ranging from B5,000-50,000. Still, she recalls those times as tough. “Sometimes I only had B2,500 in my bank account to survive until the next job came along,” she says.

Freelancing was beginning to grow on her, though. “I liked it! It’s so free. I can manage my life and my schedule any way I want. It’s like, ‘I’m going to work today’ or ‘I will go out shopping for a whole day even though it’s a weekday.’”

And she was soon also making a good living again. “I even had enough money and time to travel to places that I had wanted to go to for a long time, like Japan and India. It was such a great time.”

Another benefit is that Nut is a homebody, and could spend more time with her family. “Going out means you have to spend money so it’s better to stay home and save money. My mom also loves that I can be with her more. She’s totally fine with the fact that I am a freelancer.”

Then the flood hit. Nuttaporn lives in Nonthaburi, and her home (she lives with her brother and her mother) was severely damaged by the flood. “We need money to fix the house,” she says. “But I am a freelancer so I’m not qualified to ask for a loan from banks. And my mom will retire from her work next year. So I started looking for a full-time job.”

Nuttaporn had just taken a full-time job at a big oil and gas company when we spoke to her, working in the public relations department. “Going back to working office hours again isn’t easy. I have to wake up at 5am every morning to be at my workplace before 7:30am. I get home and I pass out at 9pm every night, now.”
Would she ever do it all over again? “I like the security that my employer gives me but if I can be freelance again, I will go for it.”

Freelance at 40

Jean-Francois Cousin

Jean-Francois Cousin was a vice president at Lafarge, a multinational construction material company headquartered in France. For over 15 years, he enjoyed all the perks of being an expat in Asia, but then he decided to quit it all.

“I questioned myself when I was 40 years old. I asked myself what I want to do with my life for the next 10 years. When I reflected about what I had enjoyed the most so far in my career, it was clearly developing my team members’ talents. That’s why becoming an executive coach was a passion of mine. I help my clients unleash their talents, reconsider their boundaries and bring greater balance between their private and professional lives.”

In just three years, Cousin has coached executives from leading brands like Unilever, Mazda, HSBC, DHL or Hermes. Today, he says he’s coached 300 executives from 60 companies. “I had worked in Asia for more than 10 years, so I had a good network of country managers at multinational companies in Thailand and Singapore. I’m lucky I got help from them in the first year.”

When asked if it takes courage to go freelance, Cousin says passion is more important. “It fuels you with the energy and confidence to get past obstacles.” But Cousin also had a solid plan to back up his venture. He had saved up money for his family to get by for at least two years in case his freelance dreams did not pan out. “Not having to worry about money also gives you the confidence to make people trust in your ability and be willing to do business with you.” Today, Cousin says he makes 30% more than in his previous job, charging B50,000-B200,000 per course, and that he is much happier.

Cousin does warn of pursuing a dream out of passion alone: “You can’t just say, ‘Oh…I want to open a restaurant because I love to take care of people.’ That is crazy. It’s a dangerous thing to do at this age [in your 40s]. You must develop a fully-fledged business plan, especially the cash flow part, and then gather reasonable worst-case assumptions and write the pessimistic business plan. You need to complete a master plan before hitting the road and double check the reality.”

Another thing that Cousin underlines is that you have to expect that being a freelancer means you have to work very hard. Sometimes it might be harder than your previous job. “Having high standards, a positive mindset and not being afraid of failure are key to your survival,” Cousin says.

“The life of a freelance entrepreneur may seem glamorous when people look at it from a distance, but successful freelancers will all tell you that they have worked very hard to achieve their dream.”

Contact Jean-Francois Cousin at www.executive-coach-thailand.com
 

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Dtac founder and chairman Boonchai Bencharongkul, 58, is now more worried
about his legacy than making money. He just opened his Museum of Contemporary
Art (MOCA) and even has a project to support Thai farmers.

I always wanted to be an artist ever since I was a teenager. My parents were afraid that I would get into an art school so they tricked me into going to the US for a short trip and ended up leaving me with a host family in Illinois.

I was a little shocked at first but I had lots of fun there. I even hosted a party where all the teenagers in town came and destroyed everything in the house while my guardians were out of town. I ran away to New York in the morning before they came back home.

I finally came back to clean up the mess and took a cut from my allowance in order to fix the house. Anyways, I got this reputation for being the guy who threw the coolest party in town.

Being a patron for the arts is better than being an artist. I realized that when I studied business in university. I’ve been collecting art ever since.

It was really hard to take over my family’s empire, because we had huge debts from lawsuits. My dad was sued by his friend who was his business partner at Narai Hotel.

When close friends fight, it’s always hard to reconcile them. The partner demanded I bend down on my knees and ask for forgiveness for what my father had done. I did and later sold all stakes of the hotel to him.

You can make a decision easily when you have made a promise. My dad was dying from cancer of the gallbladder when he made me promise to take care of the family as well as he had. And I have always kept that promise.

It’s better to stumble alone than to drag others down with you. I paid off all the debts on my estate’s share so my siblings wouldn’t have any problems paying it off.

The biggest problem with business people is their egos. Many leading businessmen in Thailand have failed because they hold their ego above the survival of their business.

Let the boxers of the same weight fight each other. That’s why I sold Dtac to Telenor Group seven years ago. I learned that AIS would sell Shin Corp. to Singtel Group, the leading mobile company in Asia, and there was no way we could win over that regional player. But now I’ve bought some shares back.

Everything has a starting point. Nearly 30 years ago, I wanted to use a mobile phone in Thailand so I decided to import mobile phones and established the mobile network [TAC] to support it. Now we have more than 80 million mobile numbers in Thailand.

Art museums also need someone to start them. If the government isn’t ready for an art museum, then why can’t I just make one? If others want to open museums like me, that’s exactly What I want to do, widen the appeal of arts.

I don’t want people to remember me as the guy who founded Dtac or the guy who had a big fight with the government about mobile networks. It’s not a nice picture.

I want to be remembered as a delicate man who admires the beauty of art and gives back to society as a philanthropist.

Creating beauty is harder than destroying it. It takes years to create a beautiful art piece but it takes just a minute to destroy it. We need to support those who create beautiful things in the world.

My parents are my biggest inspiration. They are my business and life teachers. When I came back from the US, my dad sent me out to be an insurance salesman. It taught me so much about life and how to persuade people to believe in what you’re doing.

The king devoted the best 60 years of his life to the people and that has inspired me to give back, too.

I can’t imagine any other place on earth that I’d want to live in other than Thailand. I have friends, food and Chatujak Market. This is our home.

Don’t put personal benefit ahead of charity. I put a hundred million baht into creating the Rakbankerd Foundation 15 years ago to strengthen our agriculture industry. Our objective is to cut out the middle man.

I am like a snake antivenom for farmers, protecting them from the poison of this capitalistic world. Our farmers are losing out to everyone, and it’s weakening the system. I’m trying to make Rakbankerd successful as quickly as possible, as I know capitalism well. If it’s successful, it will be my biggest achievement.

Money can bring happiness only if you know how to spend it on what can bring you true, lasting happiness.

I’m not a playboy. People always depict me as having many wives but I’m still broken-hearted, waiting around for this one woman who left me.

Love is the biggest threat to artists like me. It can destroy your life.
Visit MOCA website at www.mocabangkok.com

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Cleo Bachelor of the Year 2009, Angkul “Utt” Thanasobcharoen has finally graduated from modeling to acting in his first movie, Chob Kod Like, Chai Kod Love [in theaters May 10]. Here, he opens up about his dream to become a musician and a world traveler.

BK: How did you finally cross over to acting?
The director, Pakpoom Wongjinda, saw me in a short film project for Samsung called “Love at First Flight” last year, and he thought I might be a good fit for his character. So he called me in. Acting is really much harder than I thought. I used to act only in commercials, which are quite short, but being in a long scene is really challenging. It’s all about acting naturally; like you’re not acting.

BK: What do you do apart from acting?
I have my a band with friends. I have played music since high school. At first, I started playing because I just wanted to look cool. But it turned out I really like it. So I continued playing and we sent our songs to a GMM producer, Fong Beer. That led to the release of a single “Won” in another music project called Love Pill. Now we’re called Yes’sir Days and we just released our first single “Karn Ma Kong Ther” in January. Our full album might roll out later this year. BK: What do you like most between acting and singing?
I prefer singing because I can be myself on stage. It’s all me. I can also encourage the audience to have fun with me as well.

BK: Do you have any idols?
Yes, I love all the Thai rock bands like Bodyslam, Big Ass and Silly Fools. Their music really reflects who they are. You hear it and you know it’s them right away. I love to watch them in concert. They are really powerful acts. We dream to be like them. They believed in their dream and continued doing their music without ever losing hope. They are great artists.

BK: What did you do before getting into the entertainment industry?
I just graduated in International Economics. I chose to study it because my family faced serious financial problems during Thailand’s economic crisis in 1997. But I haven’t had any opportunities to use this knowledge that much. I guess I now use it a little bit, as I’ve started doing day trading. I think it’s a good way of making your money grow. It’s better than just freezing your money in your bank account. Interest rates in banks are really low. But playing the stock market you need to know how to invest, when to pull out, and research the stock you’re going to buy. I started with a small budget, like B50,000.

BK: What is your biggest dream?
I want to achieve my dream of being a musician and traveling around the world. Egypt is my dream country. I want to see the pyramids because they are really mysterious; we don’t know how those ancient people built them. I want to see how big they are. I want to feel the stones beneath my feet.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

Five years ago, no one knew this boy from Chiangmai. Today, Witwisit “Pitch” Hiranyawongkul or Pchy, 22, has millions of fans across Asia thanks to the gay teen romance Love of Siam and his band August. We speak to him as he prepares to release a new movie and his first solo single.

I loved to play music as a student. And Madiew [Chukiat Sakveerakul, director of Love of Siam] was a friend of some seniors in my high school. Madiew knew I could sing so he asked me to sing for the Khaoniew Mooping soundtrack [2006]. Then he asked me to audition for what later became Love of Siam.

I love to take risks. I was studying for the entrance exam to Thammasat University during the film’s production. It was really a challenge and a lot of pressure. Some people thought I would fail.

I figured that no matter the outcome, if the movie had flopped or if I had failed the exam, I’m still the same person. No one can take my identity away. I should just follow my desire to do the things that I want to do.

Love of Siam was so successful. Its success also made our band, August, famous internationally. Our fans in countries like China, the Philippines or Indonesia loved the movie and they wanted to see us live, so they tried to push organizers to bring us over to their countries.

Meeting fans in other countries made me realize that this isn’t a job you do just for the sake of it. We have a huge audience waiting to listen to our songs, and not just in Thailand.

Now everything is digital and it lives forever. There’s YouTube, Vimeo, etc. If we do things that suck, they will be there forever.

Many famous teen bands abandon their education but we didn’t. It was Madiew that insisted we go to university. If one day we’re not successful anymore, we still have a degree to earn a living.

The future of August is uncertain. We have a huge age gap between members where some are junior high school students some university students. We all have a different focus in life.

Now I focus on my music and acting. I am a producer for the band Sue Krong and I’ve just finished a project with the band 8 of Wands, who let me sing their latest single, “Mai Mee Chan” (Without Me).

I said yes right away when Madiew asked me to act in his new movie, Home, because the story takes place in my hometown, Chiangmai.

The Northern language is cute, and so unique. It has a grammar that is different from the central language. I haven’t had much opportunity to speak Northern Thai as I moved to Bangkok five years ago. I was happy to get to speak it again.

Bangkok and Chiangmai are totally different. Bangkokians are always rushing. But living in Chiangmai, it’s a different vibe. You can absorb and be happy with simple things, like taking your time to eat.

Living in a big city has given me focus. I plan my day before going to bed. Bangkok traffic is so bad, you need to count at least two hours on the road to get anywhere. And I write down what I have to get done before I go out.

Studying in university, I didn’t just study. But I made friends. And it builds your spirit too. At Thammasat, you’re taught that when you do something, you don’t just do it for yourself but also for a wider public. What you do creates waves that will affect society in some way. So you need to be cautious and think before you act.

Conflict is natural. Is there anywhere in this world with no conflict? I don’t think so. I’m fine with the conflicts at Thammasat. Development comes from conflict. It is what makes us see the problem more clearly. Everything has to change.

Try harder to understand others. That is the most important thing in this world.

I’m happy to make new mistakes in the process of creating new things. If something sucks, OK, but at least you tried. It makes your life worth living.

I want to work with talented people because they challenge you, and that can also make you more talented.

Do what you’re happy to do, and do it to the best of your ability. But you will never know what the outcome will be. Let life be.

I’m interested in writing now. I normally compose songs and now I write for a few magazines. I’m also interested in translating and visual arts.

I listen to negative comments only if they can make me look at my work from a different angle. I am thankful for those. But those who just hate my stuff, without reason, I think they’re the ones with a problem, not me.

I don’t care about people gossiping about whether I am gay or not. I’m always myself, and will not try to change myself to make people love me more.

Nothing in life will ever be 100% like you expect, so don’t be afraid of what is going to happen.

Advertisement

Leave a Comment