MR. UMPAN

A side quest I did not quite choose

Some side projects begin with a spare weekend and a bright idea. This one began with retrenchment, closed schools, and bills that had not received the memo.

In the early days of COVID-19, I lost my job. My other half was working as a frontliner, while the kids were at home because schools were closed. I needed to earn a living, but I also needed to be there for them. Finding another job was only one part of the problem; finding a way to make work fit our family was the other.

MR. UMPAN became my answer. A small Malaysian fishing-tackle brand, started with RM500, and a fairly simple ambition: keep the bills paid without being far from the kids.

It was not the grand entrepreneurial entrance I might have imagined. It was a practical decision, made in an impractical year.

RM500, and a much bigger job description

With a budget that small, I could not afford to build a business around everything an angler might ever need. I had to find a few useful products, give people a clear reason to try them, and make the whole thing manageable from home.

My role quickly grew beyond designing a logo or making a nice product listing. I was working across the offer itself, branding, go-to-market strategy, distribution, social media, video editing and post-production. There was no handoff to another department. Usually, the next department was still me.

That changed the way I thought about design. A product could look good and still be difficult to explain, awkward to sell, or simply wrong for the moment. Every decision had to work for an actual customer while staying within a very small budget.

Three products that found their place

The best sellers were not complicated inventions. They were useful answers to familiar fishing problems.

Dedak Rohu

A bait offering for anglers targeting rohu. The challenge was not just to show a bag of bait, but to help someone picture using it: the fishing setup, the technique, and the possibility of a good session at the water.

That made practical fishing content a natural part of the product story. Rather than relying only on a sales pitch, I could let people see the brand in the world it belonged to.

Pengasah Mata Kail

A portable, retractable hook sharpener. A small tool with a straightforward purpose: keeping the hook sharp enough to do its job.

The marketing had to make an easily overlooked problem visible. A dull hook may seem unimportant until a fish gets away. The product gave me a chance to turn that familiar frustration into a short, clear explanation.

Set Kombo Grease 3 IN 1

A reel-maintenance bundle. Here, the job was to connect the products to a routine: looking after the equipment an angler already owned.

The reel-servicing videos made room for a longer explanation. People could see the process, follow the steps, and understand where grease and lubricant fitted in. The product and the content supported each other, instead of competing for attention.

Show the work, then make it easy to buy

My go-to-market approach was to bring the product explanation closer to the customer. Facebook and Instagram carried the brand’s social content; YouTube gave the fishing sessions and servicing guides more room to breathe. Shopee provided a route from interest to purchase.

The public archive still shows that journey. A hook-sharpener launch post points viewers towards Shopee and selected fishing shops. A reel-servicing video walks through the work, then links to the 3-in-1 combo. These were not separate exercises in “content” and “commerce.” They were different parts of the same conversation.

Distribution taught me something just as useful: attention is only the beginning. People also need to know where to get the product and what they are getting. A video might earn curiosity, but the offer and the route to purchase still had to make sense.

Learning to tell a useful story

I learnt video editing and post-production because the business needed them. Fishing footage, product demonstrations and reel servicing each asked for a different rhythm. A short launch needed to get to the point; a servicing guide needed to stay clear long enough for someone to follow along.

It was a different kind of design work, but the underlying question was familiar: what does this person need to understand next?

The videos below are from the Mister Umpan channel. One takes the brand out to the fishing pond; the other stays with the detail of maintaining a reel. Together, they show the range of content that sat around the products.

A modest business, with a meaningful job to do

During 2020–2023, MR. UMPAN generated around RM55,000 in cumulative retail sales. That is sales over the period, not profit, and not a monthly revenue figure.

It was a small business. But small does not mean insignificant when it is helping you navigate a difficult season of family life. What began with RM500 had become something people were willing to buy, and a way for me to keep working while staying close to the kids.

I do not look back at it as a neat growth chart. I remember it as a real business, with real responsibilities, built around a life that could not be put on pause.

When the world reopened, the rhythm changed

As sectors reopened and everyday routines returned, the conditions around the business changed too. In my experience, customers had less spare time for their hobbies, and spending felt more cautious. Sales gradually dwindled.

Malaysia’s loan moratoriums are part of that background, although they were not one continuous nationwide pause. The initial automatic six-month moratorium began in April 2020 and ended on 30 September 2020, followed by targeted repayment assistance. In July 2021, the PEMULIH package introduced another six-month moratorium that eligible borrowers could opt into, with applications opening on 7 July.

These measures offered temporary breathing room; they did not remove the repayments altogether. As repayment commitments returned for borrowers, there was less room in some household budgets for optional purchases. I understood the quieter sales in this context, without attributing every lost order to a single policy change.

By early 2025, I decided to close the book on MR. UMPAN. It was a difficult decision, but keeping a chapter open is not always the same as moving forward.

What I took with me

This was one of the toughest episodes of my adult life. In many ways, it felt harder than working in someone else’s company. The responsibility did not stop at making the work good; it extended to making the business work at all.

Five lessons stayed with me, and still shape how I approach my work today.

MR. UMPAN did not become a forever business. It helped me through a season when I needed a way forward, and taught me what it feels like to build with very little room for error.

That is a chapter I can close with respect. The shop is closed; the lessons are still very much at work.

Sources & the public archive

The family story, RM500 starting capital, approximate RM55,000 sales total and early-2025 closure are my own account. The links below provide context for Malaysia’s repayment relief and examples of the brand’s public work.

This is an archive of a completed business, rather than an invitation to place new orders.