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For many people, losing a job feels like the ground disappearing beneath their feet. The income stops, the routine vanishes, and the question of what comes next can feel impossible to answer.
But sometimes, that very moment of losing everything familiar is what pushes a person toward something they never would have found otherwise.
For Vikneswary K. Balan, also known as Viky, losing her job was never part of the plan.
After three years working as a graphic designer, she was retrenched during the MCO in 2020 with little savings, no backup, and no clear idea of what came next
Today, she is the founder of Viky Arts & Creations, a freelance visual/graphic design business she built from scratch, and has recently launched her very own product line.
But the road from retrenchment to running a business was anything but straightforward.
Losing everything
Viky had spent three years working as a graphic designer at an advertising company when the MCO hit in early 2020. By May of that year, word started going around that the company might be retrenching a portion of its staff.
“It was a family-based company, and I was the only Indian girl there. I could feel that I might be one of them.”
Her intuition proved to be accurate when the news was broken to her that she would indeed be retrenched from her job.
I was mentally prepared. I told myself: ‘Maybe my journey here is done and it’s continuing somewhere else.'”
With that mindset, Viky accepted her retrenchment and began looking for work elsewhere. What she did not anticipate was just how difficult that search would become.
During the MCO period, Viky applied for a number of companies and briefly did online work for a few of them. But the experience left her disheartened.
“The MCO situation made it easy for people to take advantage of designers like us. Work was undervalued, compensation was uncertain, and the instability made it hard for me to believe I was building something real.
“Eventually, I made the decision to stand for myself and that no matter what, I’d find my own way,” she said.
Picking a pencil & herself back up
With time on her hands and uncertainty weighing on her, Viky turned back to something she had always loved but rarely had time for during her corporate days: drawing.
She started by creating simple sketches and oil pastel drawings before uploading them on social media.
Viky clarified that she did it not with the intention to start a business, but simply to keep herself productive and cope with the anxiety surrounding an uncertain future.
I only wanted to show people this: ‘Hello, excuse me, I exist.”
What surprised Viky was the response as friends, family, and even strangers began engaging with her work, sharing it, and leaving encouraging comments. That visibility gave her something she had not expected to find: confidence.
“The support on social media gave me inspiration to move forward. I realised people were beginning to recognise my design skills.”
The moment that changed everything came through a familiar route: a friend of a friend.
Someone who had seen Viky’s artwork online reached out and asked if she could create a custom painting using oil pastels. It was small, A4-sized, and was to be given as a wedding gift.
“I was excited because it was the first time someone saw value in my work. It made me realise that my creativity could solve problems for others.”
It was also Viky’s sister who nudged her in a new direction. “She said: ‘Maybe your manual artwork can be done in a digital way since you are a designer.’“
That suggestion sparked an idea and Viky began converting her hand drawn sketches into digital artwork using Adobe Illustrator, combining her traditional art background with her professional design skills.
From compliments to clients
For a while, the feedback Viky received was mostly warm words and while they were encouraging, they did not pay the bills.
“At first, people were saying things like, your work is beautiful. But eventually they started asking: ‘Can you design this for my business? How much do you charge?’“
And with that shift, came the turning point as well.
Beyond business logos, social media content, marketing materials, and branding, Viky wasn’t just making pretty things. She was also helping people communicate and grow.
“When I saw that people were willing to trust me, pay for my services, and recommend me to their network, I realised there was a real business here.”
This then set the stage for Wiki Arts and Creations to be formally established in February 2021.
Juggling every hat imaginable
Running a business alone, Viky quickly learned that being a designer was only one part of the job. She was also a marketer, accountant, customer service representative, project manager and art director all at once.
“When you work under a company, your role is just graphic designer, and the art director finalises the work. But when you run your own business, you have to be both,” she explained.
The most difficult part, she admitted, was not the design work itself, but the steep learning curve that came with running the business.
“The biggest challenge was learning how to run a business while still delivering quality creative work. There were days when I spent more time managing the business than actually designing.
“Over time, I developed systems, learned to prioritise, and began to see the business side of things less as a burden and more as part of my growth.”
This may be a surprise to many, but Viky never once studied about business administration or pursued a degree in it.
In fact, she built her personal brand by regularly sharing her work online, documenting her projects, and letting the quality of her output speak for itself.
She also attended networking events during and after the MCO period, connected with other entrepreneurs, and sought advice from mentors she met along the way.
“I learned through experience. Every client showed me a different pattern of business,” she said.
Her approach was simple but deliberate. Focus on what she could control, keep improving, and show up consistently.
“I realised that a personal brand is not just about visibility. It’s about trust.”
The income question
It would be dishonest to say entrepreneurship was immediately more rewarding than her corporate days. In fact, Viky actually earned less than she did as a salaried designer.
“When you are employed, you have a fixed income every month. As an entrepreneur, your income can fluctuate. Some months are very good, while others can be slower.”
But as Viky’s client base grew, along with increased referrals and expansion of services, her earning potential followed in tandem too. Today, she says her income over the past two years has exceeded what she earned in her previous job.
“Now I have more control over my income, because it depends on the value I create and the opportunities I pursue,” she added.
Viky’s journey has not been just about building a design business. It has also been about community.
Recently, she co-organised an event called Bloom Together in collaboration with a fellow entrepreneur, Anusha. The event was created to bring people together through creativity, networking, and meaningful connections. It was a reflection of how much the support of others had meant to Viky throughout her own journey.
At the event, she also launched her very own product Whispers of Flowers, an affirmation card deck designed to inspire self-reflection, positivity, and personal growth.
“It was a proud milestone for me because it allowed me to combine my creativity, my entrepreneurial journey, and my passion for empowering others into something with a meaningful purpose.”
What she would tell anyone who is starting over
Looking back, Viky’s biggest takeaway from losing her job is this: setbacks do not define a person, but their response to them does.
She is clear that if she had not been retrenched, she would likely never have taken the leap into entrepreneurship. The loss, painful as it was, turned out to be the beginning of a chapter she never would have written for herself.
It forced me to step out of my comfort zone, discover strengths I didn’t know I had, and take risks I might never have taken otherwise.
“I believe sharing my work online gave me visibility, confidence, and opportunities I would never have discovered if I had chosen to give up. Sometimes our biggest setbacks can lead us to our greatest opportunities.”
Today, Viky is proof that a career built on creativity and courage is one worth fighting for.
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