Watch another exciting #JasSuccess episode as we feature another 100k Masterclass student, Aiza Cabilan.

In this interview, we tackled a lot, including:

• How a typical promdi who worked in Manila found her escape from the hustle-and-bustle of working in the city and moved back to her province to work without hurting her income.

• How Aiza found her feet in freelancing

• Her secrets as a Social Media Superstar In Pajamas

Be inspired!

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NOTABLE QUOTES:

• We both agree, money is not the most important thing in this world, but let’s face it, money affects the most important things in this world; your relationship, your family, how you support them and etc. and your time with them. It will affect you. Kung hindi sapat yung money mo, how can you treat them? Or how can you support them or how to be free in terms of how you spend time with them?
• Malaki na ang sweldo pero bakit ko pa siya iniwan. I was happy, learned a lot, but at the end of the day parang may kulang pa rin. Nung medyo nag ma-mature na nga ako, ang kulang nga ay freedom. Tapos ang freedom na definition ko ay wearing my pajamas and be at home. That’s my definition of freedom.
• Siguro talaga, blessing in disguise. Sobrang paborito lang ako ni Lord, I’m always claiming that. Imagine, 2014, nag close ang company, ‘oh diba?  Parang nakakalungkot iyon or we felt unsecured during that time. Hala, nasa corporate kana parang hindi parin pala secured.
• Sabi nga ng ninong ko, si Brian Tracy, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Sabi ko i-try ko nalang siya.
• Lagi kong sinasabi sa kanila na, no one is too good or is too successful to have a mentor. And even the most successful people in this planet have mentors, right? Like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey. Lahat sila may kanya-kanyang mentors. And needless to say, these mentors, they save me years of wasted efforts. Like really, shortcut.
• Career ang gusto kong mangyari, hindi lang bastang trial and error. In short para mag-mukha kang expert sa gusto mong pasukin na niche or sa role na gusto mong i-pursue, naisip ko na gawan ng tutorial yung bawat tools na ginagamit sa social media for example sa Hootsuite, I’ve made a tutorial about Hootsuite pero ang totoo, habang inaaral, inii-screenshot ko bawat page ng Hootsuite, bawat step ultimo iyong verifying, parang “an email confirmation has been sent to you to verify your Hootsuite account”? Pati iyon, isi-screenshot ko siya and all. So ‘diba, isipin mo parang ang dali niyang isipin. Talagang, patience lang talaga yung kalaban mo.
• I still believe that experience is our best teacher. And we learn from our own mistakes, no argument on that. But let’s be smart enough to learn from other people’s mistakes too. Para hindi mo na ulitin iyong pagkakamali nila. Natuto na nga sila sa pagkakamali nila, uulitin mo pa? Kaya medyo napapabagal tayo kasi parang akala kasi natin lagi, kaya natin ang sarili natin. Oo nga, pwede naman talagang magself-study, e di, hintayin mo mga 8 years. Bakit hindi? Ganun. Okay lang naman eh. Ang sinasabi ko lang, my mentors provided me shortcut.
• Sabi ni Abraham Lincoln, “If I have 6 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first 4 hours sharpening the axe.” But think of it, itong mga mentors na ito, nauna nga sila, ang dami na nilang mga mistakes na nangyari parang they were sharpened enough na para i-guide ka ano yung effective sharpener so wala ka nang trial and error.
• Lagi ko ring sinasabi na parang kapag may magtatanong sa akin na, “Miss Aiza, hindi ba graduate ka ng masterclass ni Jayson, tapos student ka din ni John, and also Nix’s.” Parang sinasabi nila na, worth it ba talaga? Automatic ang sagot ko ay yes. Kasi nasaan na ba ako ngayon, I mean, I know I still have long way to go pero iyon nga, I’m so satisfied where I am today. Na parang utang na loob ko iyon sa mga mentors na nagtiyaga sa katigasan ng ulo ko.
• Ang hindi ko kasi maintindihan, akala kasi nila magic. Ang gusto kong i-explain sa kanila kasi, kahit pa maglupasay ang Jayson Dulay, at tumumbling ang John Pagulayan, at magtu-tumbling at magtu-tumbling pa din kasama pa si Nix Eniego. Tatlo kayong sobrang powerful, kung hindi mo din i-aapply, wala din. Sa totoo nga niyan, unfair ka na sa sarili mo kasi hindi mo inapply, unfair ka pa sa mga mentors mo kasi sinayang mo iyong oras nila. So execution lang talaga. Have a bias for action. Iyon lang talaga.
• I still have long way to go. Alam ko na I still consider myself as a newbie, kaya nga sabi ko sa sarili ko, there’s so much more dito sa freelancing journey. Kasi if someone asks me if I consider myself as successful, I always say “yes”, kasi nga success is a journey. So as far as you try to get better or atleast 1 % better than yourself yesterday, you’re successful, so it’s a journey for me.
• Kasi gusto ko talagang ipaliwanag sa mga newbies at mga aspiring freelancers ngayon na this is a journey hindi siya magic o parang easy money. Hindi ito easy money, this is work, hard work. And then later on, you will learn how to work smart dahil makakakilala ka ng mga mentors, na tapos na sa hardworking so ang ituturo nalang sa iyo ay smart working. So beautiful.
• There’s one book, “How to Turn Your Thoughts into Things”, kasi I just I love how Bro. Bo Sanchez discussed about two seasons of life or two seasons in the Universe.  Sabi niya, there are only two seasons in the universe; planting season and harvest season. So iyon, I’ve learned talaga na this is very important lesson at parang kailangan alam din ng mga newbie at mga aspiring freelancers iyong tatahakin nilang journey, this freelancing journey. So for planting season, bakit siya yung first season and I agree na yung season na iyan applicable rin sa freelancing journey natin na kasi for newbies and aspiring freelancers, even if you see no results yet, keep planting. Just keep planting. When I say planting, I mean never stop learning and keep showing up.
• While you are still in the planting season, huwag mo nang hintayin iyong harvest season mo before you develop your wealth mindset. Develop your mindset now while you are still in the planting season. Get rid of your scarcity mindset. And when I say wealth mindset, I always equate that to blessing mindset. I call it blessing mindset. Like, always expecting to be blessed but at the same time being grateful about everything. Kasi, for us to develop our wealth mindset, we need to have gratitude. Let’s be grateful about everything.
• And also, if we learn to celebrate our victories, no matter how small, we will also be capable of celebrating the victories of other people and to celebrate their success. Kapag kasi na develop natin iyong wealth mindset natin, mare-realize mo na, the Universe always get your back, so there’s enough [inaudible] for all of us, that you are not in competition, you’re in competition with no one but yourself. Always compete with yourself just make sure you are better today than yesterday. We are all in this journey together, hindi siya competition. Journey siya. That’s my first season.
• And now let’s talk about the second season, I believe the second season of freelancing is the harvest season. When we hear the word harvest, parang una nating maisip ay money, pay, client, pera, well it is. It will equate to that, sana lang kapag nagsisimula palang tayo, medyo malinaw sa atin na, don’t make money your goal. Kasi hindi ka tatagal kung iyon lang iyong goal mo. Money is nothing but a symbol of value. A simple rule of thumb sa law of the harvest, what you plant, you harvest, if money is the symbol of value then plant value. If you want more money, plant more value.
• Lets’ enjoy the financial blessing, pero sana lang medyo malinawan tayo. “When we earn money, it’s not the money that’s important. It’s who we become through the process of earning money that’s important.” huwag tayong mag focus sa digits, tingnan natin ang process at kung ano iyong naging development doon sa tao habang papunta sa siya doon sa journey na iyon. Kasi nga the more you provide value, the more you earn money. So don’t make money your ultimate goal, provide value and the money will follow.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA SUPERSTAR IN PAJAMAS – AIZA CABILAN

• A graduate of Psychology. It took almost two years in pursuing her career. Went to Manila to look for fancy careers. Worked as a Human Resource Officer, worked at the payroll department, as a recruiter and everything related to Psychology.
• An entrepreneur in college before she pursued Psychology. That is why the compensation has a big impact for her.
• She got tired of working or pursuing the career that is aligned to her degree because she felt that the salary is too low and wasn’t very good.
• During that time, call center was growing and she found out that it pays well so she decided to shift to another career. She earned enough and it supported her main goal which is to have her own business because she loves to sell anything. While working in Manila, her thoughts were really to earn more so that she can have more capital to sell more.
• Because the company is going to close down, they were given a separation pay, or what she called “bye-bye pay” because that pay was more than what regular separation pay was at that time. And aside from that “bye-bye pay” that were given to them, they were also given a paid month of transition. As her pull-back, she then had the chance to at least focus on her small buy-and-sell business for the meantime and had the chance to go back home in the province. It was supposedly just a maximum of two-week vacation for her to at least recharge herself because she already had a job offer waiting in another company in Manila to start working after that last month of transition.
• An opportunity arises for her to teach in a university in the province while she was enjoying her supposedly two-week vacation. She grabbed the opportunity and thought that maybe that could also be her cityscape so she doesn’t have to go back to Manila right away while she was not yet sure if she will stay in the province for good. So she worked as a college instructor for almost 3 years and in her own experience as a teacher, they worked from Monday to Friday and instead of just Monday to Friday, their Saturday, becomes Post-Friday and then Sunday becomes pre-Monday. So she really doesn’t have enough time.
• She got engaged last November 2016, so she needs to find ways to slightly tweak her plans. She can’t pursue teaching career full-time because she needed to have more time. She was happy with her teaching career and most importantly she could always go home since she was in the province. But at that moment, she needed to prioritize first because she was not only thinking of herself alone but also for the future since she is going to settle down and start a family of her own soon. She wanted her plans to be aligned for long-term. That was when working-from-home crossed her mind when she decided to quit her teaching job.

Q & A HIGHLIGHTS:

Aiza is a Social Media Superstar in pajamas, that’s a very catchy title. Aiza, why pajamas? Why in pajamas?

"Pajamas, for me, always signify comfort and me being at home. The bottom line of my story is that home is where my heart is. So I really wanted to go home to the province and leave the bustling metropolis. That is why pajamas, and I love being in pajamas."

How did you jump into freelancing?

"I first heard about freelancing from Bro. Bo. He was promoting a book, Virtual Careers by Jomar Hilario, so I read that book. From there, I enrolled in different paid courses. I started as soon as possible. While I was just studying about freelancing, I also created Upwork profile kasi may sakit ako na analysis-paralysis. Overthinker ako kaya hindi ako pwede magtagal sa pag-iisip kasi the more I analyze things the more na napa-paralyze talaga ako, wala akong masisimulan. Although, during that time I was already following and stalking some of the first Virtual Professionals that I knew and look-up to, like Miss Nina Mendoza, that are really into freelancing. I followed them on Facebook, IG, anywhere and even attended seminars in Manila and Kerygma conference just to meet them because I wanted to confirm to myself that they are real and freelancing is for real. Hindi siya kuwento-kuwento lang. Kasi noong una nga akala nila ang gagawin ko magfu-fulltime ako, “power-power” or “open-minded”, some things like that. I started with that book and it was my guide, I learned about paid courses for freelancing. Bago ko pa talaga narinig yung freelancing, as in zero idea. Bawat tools na mai-encounter ko, hangang-hanga ako na they really existed pala talaga."

How did you master these online tools?

"When I was still starting out, I read books and plenty of articles about building portfolio. But as I knew it, offline portfolio refers to diploma, TOR, certificates of seminars, and trainings that are related but I knew nothing about where I can get my online portfolio. So I thought it was impossible for me to start. I learned from that book and from different paid courses about the tools that are necessary but at that time I was not yet sure what I will focus on, whether Social Media Management or Social Media Marketing. Na ito nga ang different tools na kailangan. Tiningnan ko lang yung list, Social Media, so anyway, I started out to search for the tools Social Media Managers are using. Social Media was the first thing that came into my mind because I felt it was just easy. I knew how to use my own social media account and I just have to manage other’s social media account."

"How can I build my portfolio out of this? Mag-aaply ako? Una kong naisip nun, offer my service for free. My other problem was that my freelancing mentors were total strangers and they didn’t even know they were my mentors. And I knew no one in my place that is doing freelancing so I had problem with how I would start, having no one to ask to. And mentors before were not like mentors today. So I believe that newbies today are so lucky that they can easily ask and talk to Jason. How can I build my portfolio? Because it says, build your portfolio. So I thought if I offer my service for free. So what will I tell them? “Hi client, please hire me for free. Papag-praktisan ko yung negosyo mo para magka-portfolio ako.”? That’s insane. So I said that it can’t be. Or, choose my second option which is to lie - I can do all of that.”

"I was researching and saw the competition ng Filipino freelancers, sa mga American freelancers and Indians. Because I know I am overthinker, that’s why I’m always like this; I can’t just try and let myself look like stupid, and then I always feel that Filipino freelancers will be generalized because of what I am going to do. That was my second option; I will pretend to know it all. But it can’t be. Kasi hindi ko naman alam kung ilan yung mapag-kwentuhan nung client na sasayangin ko. But anyway, I was thinking hard, why not do the things that I learned from the book, master these tools. Because Social Media Management was what I was trying to pursue, so I will master those tools. Pero sabi ko, “Paano ba?”, papag-aralan ko siya. Na master ko, napractice ko. So pagkatapos noon, sa interview, anong sasabihin ko? “I know how to use this?” So parang suntok sa buwan yun. “I am an expert in Hootsuite”, so sa isip ko, “maniwala ka, please”. So it’s not okay. So I said, I don’t want to do trial and error if I want to do this for long-term and be part of my long-term goal."

As somebody very proactive how did you find these mentors? Were they helpful for you?

"Of course, I owe my success to my mentors. Some may think why I should consider that my mentors guide me when in fact I’m paying for the course. But for me, it was something more than that because not all mentors will guide you all throughout and hold your hand through the entire process. And will raise you up when you fall down. You guys really exceeded my expectations because my expectation was that you created the course, I pay for it, but you are like a virtual teacher. I didn’t expect that you will reach out to me and ask me if there is a problem, where I got stuck-up, what you can do to help me fast-track my freelancing journey. I really didn’t expect that. So yun lagi ko ngang sinasabi sa mga friends ko na parang sabi nila, “Okay naman iyong alam mo, eh.” Kumikita na that time bago pa ako mag road to 100k. Kumikita na ako ng more than sa kinikita ko sa Philippines parang tayo kasi kumita ka nang 30k na nasa bahay ka na naka-pajama ka, parang sobrang swerte mo na talaga. Sabi ko nga I can do more and I can earn more."

What is your day usually looks like?

"I already have 7 people in my team that I already trained. We have the same mindset and same goal so we are all striving. So now, my work in the team is client acquisition. So every day, my work is hunting clients, 2 to 4 and maximum of 5 clients if I feel like doing it. And now I am proud of myself, I am really more on acquisition and I am focus to that because I am done with that. I already duplicated myself that I can outsource and delegate tasks. And I also do the tasks that I can’t still delegate yet.

Where’s your main channel of getting clients?

I have 3 clients from Upwork, I have 4 clients from Onlinejobs.ph and 2 direct clients from LinkedIn. I also have 3 potential clients from Facebook.

Q & A FAST-TALK

If you could only focus on one thing, would it be love or career?

Love.

What’s one book that you would recommend to anybody?

How to Turn Your Thoughts into Things by Bro. Bo Sanchez.

What is your favorite productivity tip that stops you like procrastinating?

Run. Running outside.

If you’re stranded in an island, what three things you would bring with you?

Crucifix, my favorite book, and toothbrush.

What’s your favorite online tool?

Hootsuite.