KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5  ― Contrary to all appearances, this whole hipster thing is over. Sure, you still see them at every cafe in town with their rolled-up jeans, old school glasses and vintage accessories.

But that is exactly it. Once the whole subculture becomes mainstream, it really loses its meaning.

So what’s next? Introducing the "yuccie”, a term coined by self-proclaimed yuccie David Infante, a US-based writer who wrote on Mashable that yuccies are Young Urban Creatives, essentially the cultural offspring of yuppies who care about success and hipsters who prioritise creativity and individualism. 

Basically someone like Nora Ismail, 29, who left a salaried copywriting job in the advertising industry after six years to start a home-baking business called sayaBAKE in December 2013.

Although the money in advertising was good, Nora gave it up after burning out from the long hours ― having "no life” as she puts it ― and pursued a passion she has had since she was 14. She said owning a baking business gave her more creative control and felt more "tangible”, compared to long-term advertising projects where the end result sometimes wasn’t very clear.

"It’s just nice knowing I can change whatever I want, when I want,” Nora told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

The best part of her job, where she bakes and supplies cakes to three cafes in the Klang Valley, is "just seeing people enjoying what I make”, unlike in advertising where "you don’t see the impact on people.”

"It’s like instant gratification… like I go on Instagram and I like seeing people take pictures of my cakes, that I make what I like and not someone else’s idea of what’s good,” she said.

Nora seems like a hipster, reflected in her tastes in music (Britpop) and movies (Wes Anderson films), as well as a love for flat whites (four to five cups a day, although she said she has come to appreciate espressos and long blacks).

But, financial success is important to her too, as it is to yuppies, saying: "If you live in KL, you need to make a comfortable living”. Nora, who lives with her parents, also has a Prada wallet, a Fendi handbag for special events, and has travelled to Santorini, Rome, London (her favourite city), Paris, as well as Valencia and Madrid.

Making money on their own terms

Digital culture commentator Niki Cheong said yuccies emerged in Malaysia in the past few years, with young entrepreneurs coming up and the increase of creative-looking co-working spaces that can be rented by freelancers or work-at-home professionals to do their work in.

"They still want to make money, but on their own terms,” Cheong told Malay Mail Online. "When you’re your own boss, you can create your own terms”.

Yuccies want to determine their own working culture, from having meetings at cafes near LRT stations so they don’t have to drive, to setting their own pace so that they can work long hours into the night if they want extra money and then taking a holiday, Cheong said.

They’re also not tied to wages set by industry standards in typical corporate jobs.

"Now with bigger contracts, you can get richer faster. Or some might take longer. This goes back to the idea of individualism,” Cheong said.

Validation is important to yuccies too, with the digital culture commentator saying: "It’s easier to get acknowledgment if you’re the only person doing the work”.

The freedom to chase your dreams and to get paid for your own ideas is, however, only available to the privileged middle-class, as those from the lower-income group can’t afford to take a year off to make a product successful, Cheong noted.

No one cared about my ideas

Nicholas Thang, who drives a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, is the perfect illustration of a yuccie who comes from an upper middle-class family living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. He managed to make full use of the financial help he received from his parents initially to start a burger joint in December 2012.

Nicholas Thang shows Malay Mail Online on July 2, 2015, his new restaurant called ‘Steaks And Lobsters’ that is still under construction in Hartamas.

Now, Thang’s Burger Junkyard has two outlets in Kota Damansara and Damansara Perdana. He also owns a centralised production kitchen that prepares and supplies pre-made food to cafes, a steakhouse concept in Damansara Jaya where he has a joint venture with a cafe and trains their staff on how to prepare steaks, and he just opened a new restaurant in Hartamas called Steaks And Lobsters.

Thang’s main business is his restaurant consultancy, where he has advised eight restaurants in the Klang Valley over the past two years.

He left his six-month-long job as head chef at a restaurant before starting his own business because there was "too much politics” and "no one cared about my ideas.”

"I was trying to push promotion and sales but they had a vision of their own,” Thang told Malay Mail Online in an interview. "Maybe it’s a clash of Gen X and Gen Y… we just didn’t see eye to eye”.

The 25-year-old businessman said he didn’t ask his parents for help when business slowed down drastically mid-last year, to the point that he didn’t have enough money to pump petrol, but decided to press on instead of going back to the corporate world that seemed so much safer.

"I’m still young. YOLO and all that. If I don’t make it now, when you’re older with kids, you can’t take risks anymore,” Thang said, using the acronym for the phrase "you only live once” that means one should take risks and enjoy life.

Social media enables entrepreneurship

Joe Lee, who owns a social media management and music production company and has 168,000 followers on his @klubbkiddkl Twitter account, said the growth of social media and the internet has enabled Malaysians to freelance or to open their own businesses.

"It is a lifestyle option. Freelancing or working remotely or using the online platform ― it's more feasible, it cuts down a lot of costs and your returns could be more, as opposed to doing a nine-to-five job. Plus, you don't have to commute,” Lee told Malay Mail Online.

He said the phenomenon of Malaysians leaving full-time jobs to run their own businesses started in the last two to three years. Lee added in June alone, he’s seen his friends leave journalism, lecturing or management positions to do retail, online business or even open a vaping shop.

"Technology exposes you and awakens something. People are taking that opportunity more because they're chasing their own dreams,” Lee said.

Shannya Preeya speaks to Malay Mail Online on July 2, 2015, in Petaling Jaya.

For 24-year-old Shannya Preeya Vijayarengam Sundara Moorthy, Instagram is a crucial platform to promote her Black Burlap floral bouquet business @blackburlap, her third attempt at a start-up after previous failed tries to sell mille crepe cakes and homemade accessories. She used to work at a call centre for almost a year.

"I started thinking about opening my own business while I was at the call centre because it was the most braindead job. It was paying the bills but I saw no future,” Shannya Preeya told Malay Mail Online in an interview.

She said the high point of her work now is receiving compliments for the bouquets she arranges. "The first delivery I made was for a birthday girl. When I handed the bouquet, she almost started crying. She was so happy”.

While customer satisfaction is a driver for some yuccies like Nora and Shannya Preeya, 29-year-old Danial Tahir left his policymaking job at Bank Negara after four and a half years to open a burger and steak kiosk called Bruno’s Steaks & Burgers at Hartamas, just because he could.

"I did this because I can. I’m more impulsive,” Danial told Malay Mail Online in an interview.

Danial Tahir speaks to Malay Mail Online on July 6, 2015, in Petaling Jaya.

He makes less cooking and selling sous-vide steaks and burgers than at his previous job at the central bank, but he’s fine with it and doesn’t want the pressure to make tonnes of money; he works four days a week, fewer hours than the typical six-day week for food businesses.

"I don’t call it a job,” Danial said. "I just do stuff”.

Government grants for young Bumiputera entrepreneurs

The government has also been encouraging youth entrepreneurship. SME Corp Malaysia in collaboration with other government ministries ran a 12-month programme for Bumiputera youths called Program Tunas Usahawan Bumiputera (TUBE) last year that trained participants on the ABCs of how to run a business.

The pioneer batch of 448 Bumiputera youths across the country who successfully completed the programme was provided with a RM15,000 grant.

Shannya Preeya promotes her Black Burlap floral bouquet business on Instagram.

"In the first quarter of 2015, a total of 98.2 per cent participants / graduates of TUBE have officially registered their businesses with an estimated monthly sales record of an average of at least RM13,000 per entrepreneur, or cumulative sales value of RM5.87 million,” SME Corp Malaysia CEO Datuk Hafsah Hashim told Malay Mail Online in an email interview.

The majority of businesses run by these young Bumiputera entrepreneurs is in the services sector, such as retail in textiles, apparel and accessories, food service, health products and cosmetics. Some went into manufacturing of parts and components. This year, a second round of the TUBE programme is expected to start in November.

"I am very much encouraged to see younger people today more inclined to become entrepreneurs as a result of their exposure to leadership training and technology. This set of young entrepreneurs now become job providers and not job seekers; and they are set to change the economic landscape in the country!” said Hafsah.

Yuccies are not just about millennials getting into business. As shown by the five 20-somethings whom Malay Mail Online interviewed, yuccies want their talents and individuality to be recognised above all else. They want to make it in life realising their own visions, not someone else’s.

It’s a lifestyle change ― life is no longer compartmentalised into work, hobbies and socialising. Yuccies want to do what they love, work and hang out with people whom they think are "awesome”, and get rich at the same time so they can have their luxury cars, designer bags and Europe vacations. Or sometimes, the money doesn’t even matter that much; they do it just because they can. Because they’re young.