For those who happen to be very passionate in their hobbies, opportunities knock, and the door to real business opens.
I love batik!
FGD (Forum Grafika Digital) is the biggest graphic expo in Indonesia, exhibiting the work of designers, photographers, graphic digital producers and many more. First launched in 2003, this forum has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors in its two yearly events in Jakarta. I am glad that I have been a part of it since its first show. This time I was asked to give a mini-seminar with Herman Pratomo, an offset-graphic expert, for the students of Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen Informatika & Teknik Komputer (Stikom) Surabaya and Universitas Surabaya (Ubaya).
From hobby to business? Sounds tempting and promising? 90 percent would say yes. How many have done it? Less than 10 percent. Why? Well, because not all of us have hobbies 
. Once we have it, we might not have enough passion to really make it an important part of our lives. For those who happen to be very passionate in their hobbies, opportunities knock, and the door to real business opens.
Picture this: you wake up in the morning, go to work, do what you like, enjoy it to the fullest and make a living from it. It’s fun. You will of course feel bored sometimes, but it will never be that boring. You will need less time to refresh yourselves. You would even do it without getting paid and still feel satisfied. Things would only get tricky when we have to deal with the business aspects that may suck out the fun and make it complicated, such as dealing with clients, suppliers and not mentioning the competitors. The way I see it? Just accept it. It’s that easy. It’s part of the deal, but hey, it’s worth it.
I’ll talk more about my passion some other time. The main topic was how I started it. Many never heard it, but I never hide it.
It all began in year 2000. I was 24, a cum-laude fresh graduate. I moved to Jakarta as soon as I finished my university in Bandung. I had Rp 2,25 million in my pocket (around USD 200), and I decided to buy an air-con (very smart huh). So, I was broke, but had a cool rented room (no sunlight though). My room was tiny, so small that I had to sleep on a mattress (couldn’t have a proper bed, not enough room).
I spent my first three months looking for a job, found one but moved to another one in three weeks. I quit the second job in three months. A portrait of ideal employee 
. To be honest, I did plan to stay for at least 2 years, but the temptation to start my own business was too great. In retrospect, I believe that I have made the right decision. Entrepreneurship could only get harder the later you start it. The sooner, the better. When you start with nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.
My first priority was to make a self-promotional item. I made a desk calendar, displaying 13 of my best amateur-era pictures, with zero expense. Sweet deal. Getting more curious? You should.
During my three-month second-job-career, I called a friend of mine who was in charge of a small shop at ITB, my former university. The cute small shop at a corner of my faculty sold souvenirs and university memorabilia to visitors. I offered the shop to sell my calendars on a commission-based deal. They agreed. So I selected my best photos (mostly human interests and landscapes) and asked my former boss to hi-res scan my slides with minimum fee (after all, it was for sell at students’ little shop, right?). I got the scanning for free at the end. I then called the color separation house and asked for a discount (again, the calendar was for students ). I got 50%. Nice. The last step was to negotiate with the printer. I chose the best one in town, and got 70% off. All because of the good will of these good fellows to support the students.
It all started with this
So I printed 500 calendars, and gave 200 to the shop at ITB. All was sold out. And the other 300? I sent them to advertising agencies and corporations in Jakarta. My goal was very simple. If I got only 1% feedback (3 clients out of 300), it would have been enough to start up my business. Only days after sending all the calendars, Conoco Phillips (formerly called Gulf Resources) called. They wanted me to shoot their new site in Grissik, in South Sumatera. I immediately quit my graphic design job and shot for 3 days. The profit was as much as my 2 years salary at that time. I didn’t spend a penny during the whole process. All the expenses incurred in making all the calendars were covered by the profit from selling the 200 calendars at the ITB shop. I even bought my second-hand camera that I used for that first project with the initial payment of that project.
The wanna-be rocker at his first proper office
I ran my first year of entrepreneurship in that little rented room. I made more money than I could have ever expected. Within a year, I moved to my second place (my first ‘proper’ office) in year 2001, after viewing 82 possible houses. It wasn’t easy to find a big house that could be converted into a studio with at a reasonable cost. I hired my first marketing, secretary and courier. 2 years later, I bought a land near my office, and started to design and build my dream studio. On 6th February, 2004, my team and I moved to our 3 storey office-studio, had a big launch party, and continued to pursue our true passion: to make a real change in creative industry in our country. Sounds fun? Have a hobby.
Very much inspired me!! Thanks for sharing the story and never hide it, Jer.. you are such a gem! God Bless!
membeli AC di saat dompet pas2an termasuk salah satu trik biar ide kreatif keluar
btw, apa yg akhirny membuat Kak Jerry memutuskan untuk menjadi enterpreneur? dan kenapa fotografi?
thanks for sharing..hehehe
Thank you for sharing your great and very inspiring story. I’m also a former of ITB student, class of 2003. Unfortunately I never see your calendar while I was studying in ITB. It would be interesting if you would like to share the design. Thank you and keep sharing, I always follow your blog update, also come to your fascinating booth on FGD 2007. Cheers!!
hi rocker wannabe…
thanks banget sharingnya… amat sangat membangkitkan inspirasi. saya sedang merintis jalan itu om, semoga kebaikan om jerry dalam berbagi crita dan pengalaman, mendapat balasan dunia dan akhirat.
skali lagi, THANKS!
kapan seminar FGDnya? saya mau bela-belain datang ke jakarta … ?
Inspiring!
*hahaha tukang jiplak ide!*
Saat membaca postinganmu yang ini saya juga langsung kepikiran membuat kalender 2010
Tetap membagi ilmu dan pengalamannya bung Jerry!
Dan gaya rambut di masa mudamu itu. WOW! :p
Kalau sempat Mr.Aurum silahkan berkunjung ke blog saya http://lalabohang.wordpress.com
really inspiring…hope i can do the same, while enjoying your hobby, still it produces money…cool!!..:)
Bravo, thanks for sharing
very inspiring
i’ll try it my self
best regard
hehe…keren bung jery…..benar-benar menginspirasi……
luar biasa, coba bikin buku autobiografi juga….trus dapet diskon 50% kan bagus juga tuh……hehe…..nanti aku beli satu…..tentunya dengan diskon 70% ya….
what can i say, you are certainly the master of your destiny
don’t get to see your old gondrong photos much..:)
Aku ingat kalendermu itu jer..
Ingat juga sama kantor pertamamu mulai dari Puri Indah trus pindah ke Praja dalam
Bravo Jer..
Ikut bangga..
Maz, ijin kopas quotenya, donk…
Yang ini , niy :
“For those who happen to be very passionate in their hobbies, opportunities knock, and the door to real business opens.”
You did real good, Boy. So proud of all your achievement. You deserve all that you have right now, you work hard for it (while having fun at the same time…
)
Very Inspiring Life Experience…Wish Me Luck Like Your Story…keep in touch..G B U..
thanks for sharing..
very inspiring..!
Arghhh foto itu…so inspiring :p
well i admire your artworks, really…it is beautiful, it’s about FGD SEMINAR at STIKOM Surabya, it’s been honor you spent your time speaking about your hobby which is transformed into big money printing machine, but….the continuation of STIKOM is “SEKOLAH TINGGI
MANAJEMEN INFORMATIKA & TEKNIK KOMPUTER
SURABAYA” and Strongly “NOT SEKOLAH TINGGI ILMU KOMUNIKASI” as your article for your very own blog…so mmm, it will be nice to fix that ambiguous
Wow…. Nice to read your article Mr Jerry. Very an inspiring one. Here, I’d like to introduce myself.
My name is Jaydee Lau (actually this is just a nick name of me, I just made a shorter one to be easily remember. Hahaha). I live in Surabaya, and ever studied Graphic Design at Petra University Surabaya. Now I’m 24 y.o; and have a great interest in branding and its related application through my 4 years study. I also have a blog jaydeelau.wordpress.com even it’s still a new one (hahaha…). Through it, I’m eager to share as much info as I can which is related in branding.
If you don’t mind, please leave some comments in my mini article (I haven’t written some articles at present ’cause still looking for good topics, and still have no comment on it). It will be my honor if you do that and maybe be the first commentator (hahahaha). Will you? ^^
Well, I’ll be waiting for your next inspired story. Keep doing the good work Mr Jerry !!!
Best regards,
Jay
inspiring bang.. thank you^^. this is the story that i’ve been waiting for.
keep on moving, bang. wish Blessing for you.
nice story…
Jer.. (I don’t know if you still remember this)
I still remember like it was just yesterday, when we had a really late lunch near your ’second’ office, and we were discussing about making a company in the future. And you had this paper and written down some of your lists: “What will I need to start my own company”.. I remember number 1 is a computer ha ha…Not long after that, you’re resigned and the rest is a history. Those memory always cross my mind whenever I heard your name. I Think beside you have a hobby, it’s also important to ‘write’ down what you want to achieve and without any doubt just give it a go, no turning back. Just a thought, do you still keep that list? I think I’ll have a goose bump when I saw that list and looking now that you have achieved more than what you’ve written. And it was 9 years ago…
what a story …!!! thanks for sharing …
selalu ada yg menggelitik ketika membaca success story seseorang…gwa selalu bertanya2 bagaimana proses negosiasi pertama yg di dapat sehingga mendapatkan deal yg katanya senilai 2 tahun gaji.
gwa selalu stuck di situ. gwa pengen banget dapet minimal 1 aja true story tentang behind the scene-nya kesuksesan seseorang, tapi sampai sekarang masih belum ada yg rela berbagi cerita behind the scenenya. tung desem, sam nugroho, sampai bob sadino udah berusaha gwa kontak, awalnya ada respon, tapi begitu nanya behind the scene-nya selalu aja jawabannya ngambang, seperti : ‘itu proses, nanti juga tahu sendiri bagaimana cara membuat deal yg menguntungkan’
well, jawabannya mungkin benar, tapi itu tidak menjawab tanda tanya besar dalam diri gwa….gwa tau gwa gak punya talent sebagai entrepeneur, tapi karena itu gwa selalu pengen belajar dari orang2 yg punya talent, kalau yg punya talent perlu waktu 5 tahun buat tinggal landas, gwa rela belajar sampai 10 tahun. but at least I need some clue which step should I take. sebuah clue dari orang2 yg memang pernah menempuh jalan tersebut….
tapi entahlah, gwa gak tau bagaimana rasanya hidup di belahan dunia ’sana’ sampai2 rata2 penghuninya enggan memberikan pelita.
kalau mas jerry gak keberatan, gwa pengen banget tahu cerita behind the scene dari kisah di atas…
thx…
[...] nyaingin cerpen di majalah remaja. Kisah JADP sendiri pernah diulas di posting blog ini tahun lalu, From Hobby to Business and How I Started It. Cerita singkatnya, pada saat itu saya berumur 23, belum lama tamat dari ITB, mau sekolah lagi tidak [...]
Thanks for the input man!