Freelance/Self-employed Instructor - Ah Ho Chan

Introduce yourself and how you'd describe your job.

My name is Ah Ho and I'm from Hong Kong. I'm a self-employed outdoor instructor, more commonly known as a ‘freelancer’.

Explain your line of work for someone who might not know much about it.

 I mainly help schools, companies, or other organizations to provide training or outdoor activities. Sometimes I also help my friends, like teaching them kayaking courses, since I'm a kayaking instructor.

As a freelancer, I don't have a specific employer, but I work for different companies or groups to lead their activities. Sometimes I'm a group instructor, and other times people will contact me to help organize some programs, like adventure trips or private camping activities, or even events for children.

Who do you normally work with? 

The work I do varies in nature. Sometimes I work with schools, both international schools and local schools, to lead team-building activities. During the summer when water sports are more popular, I tend to focus more on water activities. Then when schools start again in September, I may work with them again. In the winter, I may have the chance to organize some hiking or mountaineering activities, which may even take place overseas.

Since I don't work for a specific company, most of my work comes through referrals from friends or from clients being satisfied with my previous work. I don't have a particular company or online store, it's mainly through word of mouth.

Describe a normal work week for yourself

As a freelancer, I need to manage my own schedule and activities. There are usually busier seasons and slower seasons - the slower period is usually after Christmas and Chinese New Year when schools and companies are on holidays. During the other times, I try to keep my schedule full, but I also make sure to take breaks, like a month or couple weeks, to do the things I enjoy.

Overall, being a freelancer gives me the flexibility to choose when and for whom I work, but it also requires me to proactively manage my own schedule and workload.

What do you love about your work?

The favourite part of my work is that I am an outdoor educator. So my work is largely carbon-neutral and based in nature. This might involve things like working with ropes outdoors, going to islands, kayaking in the ocean, or camping on grasslands. This is the kind of work environment I really enjoy. And because I collaborate with different companies, I might end up working in a range of places - the New Territories, Hong Kong Island, or the outlying islands. I'm not stuck in one location, but get to experience a variety of work environments, which I find very enjoyable.

What are some of the negative aspects of your work?

As a freelancer, we are quite affected by the general economic environment. For example, during the previous pandemic, many activities were completely shut down, and there were even periods of several months where I had no work at all. At the same time, there may be busy seasons where multiple companies request my services during the same period, and I have to make choices about which ones to accept or decline based on prior commitments.

Since we are freelancers, each client and company has different requirements, so we always need to discuss with them beforehand to understand exactly what they need from us to ensure the activity goes smoothly.

What training or experience do you need to get into this type of work?

If someone wants to enter this field, having relevant experience is very important, whether that's experience with kayaking, ropes courses, or other outdoor activities. It's also helpful to obtain certain certifications, whether that's for ropes courses, kayaking, or other activities you're interested in. I would recommend seeking out reputable organizations to gain practical experience, such as by interning at an outdoor training school like the one I started with. There you can get the necessary training and then continue building up your experience over 3-4 years.

What advice do you have for people looking to start a career on this line of work?

If you're really interested in developing a career in this field, I strongly advise trying it out first to see if it's a good fit, and then systematically obtaining relevant certifications in the specific areas you want to specialize in. This can help you build up the necessary expertise and credentials.

One other piece of advice is that in this line of work, we often get to interact with a diverse range of students and participants, which can be incredibly rewarding and leave you with wonderful memories.

I can provide the students with beautiful memories, that might help them for a lifetime.  If we made a small mistake, or caused them to have a bad experience, there is also a chance that they will never want to touch that activity or nature again. I hope that if everyone really wants to develop in this field, they can think about this. What are you doing this for, not just for money? We may have helped a child who originally didn't like to go outdoors, or didn't like to contact the outdoors. Maybe after that experience with you over those few days, it may have helped them.  Like planting a seed in them. In the end, they may want to continue in a new, positive direction.  They may not work in this field, but there is a chance that they’ll continue to develop in this direction; maybe in the future they will go climb more mountains, or spend more time in nature, and hopefully learn to protect more of nature.

For example, I like to go kayaking, so I hope I can use kayaking to help others to know more about how to reduce waste and pollution.  We will arrange to go to different beaches to help with beach cleaning. This is also hoping that with my own small personal power, I can also infect the people around me, so that everyone can continue to protect our beautiful environment, not just in Hong Kong, but maybe after learning this, it can help in all parts of the world. So that everyone when they return to spend time in nature, they do not produce a lot of garbage and do not destroy our environment. So then this can also be left for the next generation so that they can continue to appreciate this beautiful nature.