Gina Tan is the Marketing Executive at Coinhako, a crypto exchange to buy cryptocurrencies in Singapore, and Asia.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
Hi, I am Gina. I am currently working as a marketing executive at Coinhako. I am in charge of demand generation marketing, which focuses on brand awareness and demand for the products. It consists of marketing campaigns, running ads and even creating educational blog posts.
In my time as a digital marketing manager in HF Lifestyle, I have synced with third party agencies on SEO, SEM and Google Ads. With a team of 6 in both Singapore and Malaysia, we managed social media accounts of the two countries.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
A day in my life will be usually packed but I would say fulfilling at the same time. Let me bring you through my recent workday, which is a Tuesday. Every Tuesday, I will start work at 9am. As the team has flexible work timing, most of them usually start at 11am (stand up call).
Before 11am, I headed to Linkedin Learning to take up online courses and read all my emails to catch things up. After the stand up call, I started the main task for the day, which is to plan a marketing campaign within a budget.
After lunch, I had meetings and the simple tasks that I left to do for that day – posting on social channels. At 6pm, I ended work and headed to my regular weightlifting training.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
My current role allows for both flexible and remote working. Adjusting to this new normal is a little tough at first as my previous job requires me to be in office all the time.
With this work arrangement, I am able to work in a space with limited distractions and more time to upgrade my skills through online courses.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work-life balance means higher productivity. With better work-life balance management, I am more motivated to work and get things done faster than when I am burned out. Achieving work-life balance is not easy as electronic devices are always on our hands.
To achieve that goal, I will discuss this with my direct manager and respect my colleagues’ time. I believe mutual respect and understanding are the keys to work-life balance.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
In the past 12 months, I stopped drinking as much as I did in 2020. Whenever I get stressed out or burned out, I will drink after work. This led to further fatigue and poorer attention. I think this good change was mainly due to the new work environment that encourages work-life balance.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
One of my recent favourites is Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. It is about the importance of habits in business. By turning products into habits, it drives a lot of value – which is also known as brand loyalty.
After a habit is formed, less advertising is needed to ensure usage and it is also linked to users’ emotions and routines. This book covers some of the key aspects that businesses would do well to keep in mind.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
I can’t live without my Google Calendar App. It has a nice integration with Gmail, which reads my emails and adds relevant info (like flight booking) automatically to my calendar. This is how I keep things organised in my daily life.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I have yet to read an interview about work-life balance by anyone. However, the Tedtalk by Shawn Achor, about The Happy Secret to Better Work, is the most memorable sharing that got me the eureka moment that got me thinking about work-life balance.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
In this fast-paced world, it is really tough to achieve work-life balance. I went through a period when I was working 45-50 hours a week and felt so depressed about my own work.
Despite getting praises and promotion opportunities for these work performances, I realised I have nothing to show off other than my work.
My other friends or colleagues have lovely family time, outings with friends and even vacations – observed from Instagram. This is where we need to find time after work to work on a happier version of ourselves.
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