By Eric Khaw
Today, Colin is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Calibre Communications, helping brands, leaders, and experts build their visibility and authority in the market. His journey is one of perseverance, reinvention, and a belief in the power of clarity.
Early Struggles & Unexpected Turns
After the 1998 crisis, Colin’s career was lukewarm. He still dreamed of success as a copywriter. He still did some sporadic freelance writing but his lack of a business network meant limited writing jobs coming his way. Income from his small education business was enough to get by, but it couldn’t provide long-term stability.
In 2012, things looked bleak when he and his wife were pressured to sign a lopsided contract with his franchisor or forego the business. As both of them were franchisees of the same company, it threatened to undo everything they had built.
At the end of his rope, Colin reached out to some friends — a decision that led to a surprising opportunity at Yahoo Malaysia. Although he had no experience in digital media, he went for it anyway. His background in advertising and his instinct for audience engagement proved valuable.
Within 12 months, he doubled Yahoo Malaysia’s website traffic, far exceeding the initial targets set for him. His achievements demonstrated that a strong messaging strategy makes a measurable impact in a fast-changing industry. His aim was to be on the corporate track and be promoted to Singapore and even the US office. He hoped that this would be his pathway to success and financial freedom.
But just as momentum picked up, Colin’s hopes were ended. In 2014, at a company off-site, he got the news that he was being let go because Yahoo was shutting down its Malaysian operations. Ever the professional, he woke up at 5am the next morning and started work as usual.
Saying “Yes” — Over and Over Again
While he had lost his opportunity with Yahoo, other doors began to open. He was offered a content strategy consultant gig with a digital marketing agency. He had no experience in the industry, but he said “Yes” anyway. With his advertising and digital media experience, he created many campaigns for major brands.
Then in 2017, he was offered a content strategy consultant gig with a boutique PR agency. He had no experience in the industry, but he said “Yes” anyway. With his accumulated experience in advertising, digital media and social media, he was able to bring a unique perspective that brought much success to his PR work.
During this time, a wide range of writing requests came in. Many of these assignments were new to him — annual reports, white papers, digital content, speechwriting for C-suites and ministers, book writing and more. He said “Yes” to everything because of his hunger for new experiences and achievements.
Despite having no experience in all these industries, Colin went all-in for every assignment, as usual. He enjoyed great success. His digital content broke records for going viral – over half his content got hundreds of shares, and about a quarter of his content got thousands of shares. One article — over 3,000 words — achieved more than 90,000 organic shares online. Another 5,000-word piece earned over 17,000 shares. At a time when short content dominated the digital world, Colin consistently proved conventional wisdom wrong. He understood that meaningful storytelling had power.
“My dad had always told me, ‘If opportunity comes your way, say yes first. Then quickly learn how to do it.’ That’s exactly what I did,” said Colin.
One of the most life-changing things he said “Yes” to was writing a book about the family that created the CNY Yee Sang tradition. (Fun fact: it was Minister of Transport Anthony Loke’s grandfather!) Although he had never written a book before, he was also the project manager, researcher, editor, and art director for this project. The book was even praised by Robert Kuok.
Colin explains, “I loved the whole experience. It wasn’t so much about the money; it was the satisfaction of doing the job well, especially telling an important heritage story.”
The same client then engaged him to co-author a white paper on e-waste, sponsored by Seagate. Colin had no experience writing white papers, but he said “Yes,” anyway. At the meeting to present the paper to several global brands’ sustainability heads in Singapore, the chair of the meeting turned to Colin and asked, “You know so much about the issues. How long have you been in the e-waste business?”
“I replied, ‘Actually, I only started working on this paper 3 months ago!’ She was so surprised,” said Colin with a laugh.
Rising Above Another Economic Crash
As his experience grew, Colin began focusing more deliberately on building his personal brand. In late 2019, he started building his website and Facebook page. But when the pandemic hit, everything came to a sudden pause.
“Having experienced the 1998 crisis, I was very anxious,” explained Colin. “But one day, I thought to myself, ‘I survived 1998, and there were people who also rebounded and did very well during that time. Why can’t I?’ So I started to look for things I could do instead of worrying about things I couldn’t control.”
His first proactive move was to offer free webinars to help other freelance writers cope, drawing from his experience of the 1998 downturn.
“This was a very empowering move, because I was focusing outside of my own anxieties. I had never delivered webinars before, and I even wrote an ebook to help these freelancers. This eventually led to more invitations to deliver webinars, and soon I was reaching audiences all over the world,” explained Colin.
The LinkedIn Pivot: From Unknown Writer to Recognised Thought Leader
He also recognised a shift — people were turning to digital platforms to learn, connect, and seek guidance. While many industries slowed down, he decided to step up his presence on LinkedIn, seeing it as a great B2B networking platform. He posted regularly on communication strategy, thought leadership, and branding. He made connections with people around the world. He offered online masterclasses. He was invited to be on podcasts.
LinkedIn became the engine behind his transformation — something traditional marketing alone could not have achieved. In just 2 years, he grew from his LinkedIn connections from 400 to over 5,000. Today he has almost 13,000 connections from around the world. His LinkedIn strategy has resulted in multiple new business opportunities. Entrepreneurs, industry leaders, universities, and professionals reached out, including from overseas.
In just 2 years, Colin had moved from being primarily an unknown writer to a recognised authority in his field. In 2024, he formalised his freelance work by setting up Calibre Communications Sdn Bhd, transitioning from a solopreneur to a business owner.
A Communications Philosophy Born from Hardship
For Colin, communication is more than a skill — it is the key to business growth.
Having climbed from near-bankruptcy to global visibility, he knows the transformative power of clear messaging, strategic storytelling, and consistent presence.
Today, as he leads Calibre Communications, he is part of a growing movement encouraging Malaysian organisations — especially SMEs and emerging leaders — to prioritise communication as a core capability rather than an afterthought.
It is essential.
“One of the most underestimated business-building tools is communication. Billion-dollar companies around the world pay top dollar for communication consultants to help them win in the market. Imagine what Malaysian SME businesses can achieve if they take business communications strategy more seriously,” he said. “We are living in a narrative-driven world today. If you can’t communicate with clarity and confidence, you are limiting your potential for growth.”
This belief is at the heart of all the work he does. His training programmes on branding and communications emphasise clarity, authenticity, presence, and strong strategy — qualities that also define effective leadership today. His writing reflects this as well, as he helps businesses, leaders and experts win trust and loyalty in the market.
His own experience in strategic communications has led to growing his business in writing, speaking and training, including from overseas.
“I believe strongly in authenticity because that’s where the real power is. With image building, you may be focused on ‘creating’ an idealised façade to attract audiences. This façade may collapse at anytime, because it’s not real. I advocate the ‘curation’ strategy – selecting and presenting the best aspects of yourself. This way it’s always real, which gains stronger trust and loyalty,” explained Colin.
Looking Ahead: From Survival to Influence
Colin’s professional story is anything but conventional. Yet it inspires precisely because it is out of the norm.
His story is not one of sudden breakthroughs, but one of continuous resilience, adaptation and learning. It is a reminder that professional reinvention is always possible, and growth is a choice we make daily.
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Colin Lai Chee Seng is one of the participants of the MALAYSIA SME Sportrepreneur 2026 Congress, joining a 30-member team in the ASEAN Records Attempt Expedition to host the highest-altitude Congress. More than just a climb, this journey represents resilience, entrepreneurship, and the spirit of pushing boundaries—both in business and beyond.
MALAYSIA SME’s 12th installment of its Congress will take place at Panalaban of Mount Kinabalu, 3,272 meters above sea level, in June 2026. Stay updated on the training for the ascent and interviews from the expedition members on the MALAYSIA SME Congress YouTube channel .
