Painting Her Way to Success: Woman Leaves Accounting for Construction

Last month, a video uploaded to YouTube caught people’s attention. It was about a woman who left her successful career as an accountant to work as a painter.

On the 21st, a video titled After graduating from a prestigious university, she quit her respected job as an accountant to paint at construction sites daily was uploaded to the YouTube channel Moneymentary.

Choi In Ra, featured in the video, was a prodigy among prodigies, having graduated from Sungkyunkwan University’s School of Business and worked as an accountant at ING and KPMG in the United States. The turning point for her to quit being an accountant was the birth of her first child.

While working as an accountant, she was deeply engaged in her work until just before giving birth. Despite being pregnant, she was recognized enough in the industry to move to a French company. After giving birth and turning to a full-time homemaker to focus on childcare, she started her second career as a painter in 2019.

When the Moneymentary team asked about her monthly income, Choi In Ra said, “I earn about $8,000 a month. I do my construction projects, have corporate margins, and charge expenses separately. I earn about $200 a day.”

She also mentioned why she changed her career from an accountant to a painter, saying, “How much do you think an accountant earns after ten years?” and then revealing, “The average monthly take-home pay is a little over $4,800. I accidentally saw the actual take-home pay of a senior accountant when I was working at the company”. I expressed, “Even though I was good at my job and got calls from everywhere, it was only about $4,960. It wasn’t as much as I thought.”

However, the main reason for her resignation was her children. Choi In Ra recalled, “My younger sister had seizures when she was young. But my parents were both working. If my mother had been there, my sister could have gone to the hospital sooner and wouldn’t have ended up with a lifelong disability, which is still a regret.”

She added, “Children should be raised by their mothers. Anyway, I was doing well at my job, but I quit because there was pain in my family. That’s the most important value. I followed that belief and have been a full-time homemaker since 2015.”

When asked about job satisfaction as a painter, she said, “I’m delighted, but it’s hard. This is a job you have to be crazy about. Yesterday, someone posted on the Naver cafe, ‘It hurts, so I’m the boss,’ saying, ‘The market is so tough. I’m thinking about doing painting, what do you think?'” and mentioned, “I hope people don’t think ‘I’m doing painting because other jobs are hard.'”

She continued, “If you’re not good at something, you’ll probably be bad at other things too,” and said, “I did well as an accountant. It’s not that I’m doing painting because I was bad at being an accountant. Whatever it is, if something doesn’t go well, it feels like the person doesn’t understand the mechanism of making money,” expressing negative feelings about the attitude of quickly judging others’ jobs.

Finally, about her job as a painter, she said, “This is hard. There’s a lot of dust, but it becomes a fun episode if I like it. If it’s not, and you’re doing it because you ‘have to make money to live,’ then the world becomes painful and sad.”

Meanwhile, on the 21st, the YouTube channel Hot Blooded Boys uploaded a video titled A 29-year-old who quit being an idol and learned painting skills to earn $144 a day, which became a topic. The video’s protagonist was Oh Ji Min, who worked as a painting contractor for 11 months.

Oh Ji Min was a member of a 9-member boy group called BTL, which was active for about two years in 2014. He revealed that he is having so much fun living as a painter right now, saying, “There is always something to learn no matter how much I do. There’s a lot to learn, and it’s enjoyable and happy,” and “I’m working on a construction site right now, earning $144 a day. As a skilled worker, my daily pay increases, and if I start a business, it could triple,” expressing his expectations.

When asked about his job satisfaction as a painter, he said, “I’m living in the present, so I don’t know, but I’m much more satisfied now. It’s good because I get back as much as I do,” and revealed, “Satisfaction is 120%.”