Kung mayroon mang proud ako na naging ako (bukod sa pagiging isang dakilang ina, chos!), yun ay ang pagiging isang online freelancer. I'm a Virtual Assistant, by the way. Not to brag or anything pero I'm good at what I do. Hindi lang halata sa pang labas kong anyo, but when it comes to my work, nagmo-morph ako into a completely different person. Besides, I'm included on Upwork's Top Rated Freelancers pioneer roster, so yes, ginalingan ko talagang maigi mga bes! :D



Of course I know that my job is not one of the most promising career dito sa entire universe. What I'm very proud of is that I have, as a person who really take my job seriously,  been given the proper recognition that I deserve. Not to mention na masarap sa pakiramdam na alam mong nakakatulong ka in making somebody's business a successful one. =) Oh, wait. Just to be clear, I'm not discrediting my previous companies here ha. Kung wala sila, baka iba ang situation ko ngayon so gusto ko malinaw yan. Hehe

Anyway, are you interested to know  how I started working on Upwork? If yes, please continue reading. =)

It was 2009 when I first learn about oDesk. Wala pa akong sariling computer nun. Dumadayo pa kami sa computer shop dahil adik sa dota si Papa Prinz. I would just surf the internet (or blog) while waiting for him to finish his games.

Year 2010, I decided to sign up for an account. Trip-trip lang. It was very evident na nagtri-trip lang ako by using 'probinsyana07' as my username (yes, my original blogging nickname!). Had I known na hindi pwedeng magpalit ng username or magpalit ng account, I would never use that. It's very unprofessional eh. Agree? Good thing: hindi naman sya publicly available so sarili ko lang din ang naiinis na natatawa sa sarili ko each time I log in for work using that stupid username.

Anyway, 2010 was also the same year that I got married and move out with Papa Prinz. It wasn't until 2011 that I started applying for jobs. Napakahirap pala. Mantakin nyo, simpleng data entry napaka bongga ng competition. Around 100-200 freelancers ata ang average na nag-apply sa isang job posting na $1-$2 per hour lang ang bayad?! I was given 5 or 10 job application quota lang ata per month. After that, the following month na ulit pwedeng mag-apply. I had to carefully craft my proposals before sending them out. Naka-archive lahat ng job applications ko. They're constant reminders of all the disappointments that I've been through when I was just starting out.

My first successful application was for an Australian environmental services company. $50 lang ang bayad for the entire project which I've finished for about 3 days (totaling more or less 15 hours). Hindi na masama considering na madali lang naman syang gawin.




I'm very glad that my client left her seemingly honest remarks on my profile when she ended our contract. It became my stepping stone to other opportunities. Because of that positive feedback, madali na for me ang mag-apply sa ibang jobs. Kapag nakukuha ako to do a particular project, I always do my best. I have a full time job pa noon as a Market Researcher in Ortigas. Things started to get complicated when clients started inviting me for job interviews, meaning hindi ko na kailangang mag-apply kasi sila na ang lumalapit sa akin to discuss about a particular job. Maganda sanang problema yun, pero hindi ko kayang mamangka sa dalawang ilog. I'm not that type of person eh. Let's just say na as a person born under the sign of Libra, importante sa akin ang balance. Haha

Needless to say, I quit my day job and it was one of the best decisions that I've made in my whole life. =) I want to tell you more pa sana pero ang haba na pala nito. Lol. I'll be making a separate post na lang about naman how me and Papa Prinz talked about my decision to quit my job. He was against it at first eh. You know, in marriage kailangang pag-usapan nyong mabuti ang mga ganitong klase ng desisyon. But as I've said, I'll talk about that on my next post.

STAY TUNED!