Watch another episode of #JasSuccess as Host, Anna Soriano features another VA Bootcamp and Road to 100k Masterclass student, Cecil Joaquin.

Cecil is a mother of two. She started working at age 17. She’s a former Singapore based OFW and has been working as a corporate HR for 13 years. She’s now back in the Philippines and plans stay here for good to pursue her niche, Freelance HR Recruitment.

In this interview, Cecil shares a lot including;

✅How she started freelancing with zero knowledge.
✅Her triumphs and struggles as a freelance HR recruiter.
✅How she handled both corporate HR and freelance HR recruitment.

All these and more of Cecil’s freelancing journey.

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Notable Quotes:

• Tinuruan ko yong sarili ko gumawa ng website. So, nagkaroon ako ng website kasi nga naman isip ko as an HR hindi lang basta resume kapag online, kailangan may makita sila na ginagawa mo talaga. Gumawa ako ng article sa sarili ko, ng cover letter, tapos in-upload ko.
• What is a question that is hard for you to answer? I believe, her also a mom something that is easy to answer is, being a mom how were you able to multi-task yourself to something? At the end of the day what have you done.
• Don't say how, just do it. Help yourself para ma-discover mo kung ano talaga gusto mong gawin. Tapos tsaka mo explore yong something na talagang passion mo.
• Kasi mag-i-invest ka. Parang business din lang yan sa labas, di ba next week gusto mo ng siomai yan. Magkano siomai yan hundred thousand magbabayad ka. Then you cannot tell naman kung kikita ba yun after a year di ba? Parang ganun lang din siya. You spend, worth it naman.
• Hindi naman yan overnight meron na, diba. Hindi ganun yong sitwasyon. Ako talaga nagstart ako is August 2016. Hindi ko pa ma feel yong sarili ko na established kasi you keep on learning eh.
• Inspirational quotes by Richard Brandon, “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it just say yes, then learn how to do it later.” Pag alam mong medyo kaya mo naman gawin kasi syempre overwhelming, ang dami mong dapat matutunan. Kahit paisa-isa lang try mo mag-apply sa kung ano ang kaya mong gawin. Tsaka ka na mag-jump in na kaya ko tong gawin. Ngayon kung mag-feedback si client, sabihin mo ng mas maaga na hindi ko alam to, but I can be trained well.
• Hindi basta input lang din, kailangan din in the operation you must be prepared, no need to be skilled but have to be prepared. You have the attitude.
• According to Simon Sinek," You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude, because you can always teach skills.” Kung mapapansin nyo sa mga companies, priority nila is fresh graduate di ba. It means they don't have skills yet but they have to check your attitude. Later on you can teach naman ung skills eh.
• Maraming clients na willing din talagang mag-hire ng mga wala pang experience, kasi yun lagi ang tanong ng iba. Paano ako mag-start eh wala pa akong experience. Merong mga clients talaga na willing mag-train.
• Advice ko doon sa nag-a-apply, let say may Upwork account na kau. Titingnan niyo din yung mga feedback nung client. Kumbaga pakiramdaman kayo kung okay ba itong si client na ito, good payer ba siya. Let say maliit ang rate pero yong mga freelancers niya ang tagal na din. Titingnan mo din yong consistency ng mga feedback nila.
• Alam niyo po madaming nagsasabi na bakit may bayad, at I don't know you guys personally, should not be legit, but in what you have said na hindi naman necessarily mag-enroll ng VA Bootcamp, I will tell them na it is legit.
• Ang naging thinking nila pag may bayad hindi legit. Hindi kasi networking ito. Parang benefit of the doubt. Kailangan mo din mabigyan ng effort yong nag-develop`sayo as a freelancer. Parang ikaw,pag magaling ka na as professor you can charge ba forever for free? Di ba hindi naman. Kumbaga, ang gumawa kasi nitong course, na try and tested na nila itong formula kung papaano mag-succeed.
• If you want to grow your wealth you need to grow yourself.
• Meron talagang certain days na ma-de-depress ka. Parang na-apply-an mo na lahat scroll down, scroll up wala. Na-reject ka ganyan. Ang cover letter mo hindi napansin. Wag kang mag-stop dun kasi merong something na in time ibibigay naman sayo. Tsaka may time din talaga na tamad tayo. Yung tipong ayaw nating kumilos. Pag mga ganyan, rest lang talaga. Yun din ang kagandahan dito sa pag-freelance. Unlike pag nasa corporate ka, hindi ka pwedeng tamarin, kailangan everyday ka pumasok. Kailangan mo naman dito disiplina. In times na tamad ka dapat mag-cover up ka the next day. Motivation talaga for yourself.
• Siguro sa tanong na pag gusto mo talaga, you will only be failed, let say, 20 or 30 percent of a hundred. Kasi talagang gusto mo eh. No matter how you fail you will still be on top of what you want to do. At the end of the day, okay lang parati mag fail, basta wag kang susuko. Walang sukuan, para later on mag-succeed ka. Kasi kung failed ka ng failed, and then hindi mo na ita-try, eh pano ka magiging successful.
• Being resilient na syempre minsan, may time na pagod ka na. Magpahinga ka, pag pagod ka syempre. Then, acceptance kung ito lang kaya mong ibigay kay client, or ito lang nakuha, doon ka muna mag-start. Kasi hindi naman mag-start ka sa taas. And then, magkaroon ka ng outlet para at least by the time na nag-freshen up ka na, meron ka nang mood and ma-gain mo yong motivation mo again para makapag-start ka uli. 

Cecil Joaquin’s Journey to Freelancing

• At 17 years old she was a working student as a service crew in McDonald while taking up AB psychology course. Then she became a food trainer and look store marketing.
• She was still in McDonald and was promoted as a swing manager after she had graduated. That was the start of her career as a professional.
• At the age of 22 years old she was transferred to Montessori as a Guidance Counselor at the same time, computer teacher. She only stayed there for one year because she was not satisfied with the salary and benefits. She was also supporting her sister at that time which is taking up a Nursing course.
• She applied to a big company which is Fatima University Hospital. She hired as a Guidance Counselor, and after two months she got an HR role, which is her dream job and she was happy with it.
• She stayed there for three years as an HR role, and she decided to try to work abroad because her mother wants it.
• She searched in the internet in Workabroad.com. She tried to apply as a sales clerk in Dubai, but she got afraid because the interview was weird.
• She found a job opening in Singapore General Hospital, and she hired them as an HR coordinator.
• As an OFW, she knows how hard to live in a foreign country because of culture differences.
• She guided by her high school friend in Singapore who courted her before, but she rejected him. They rekindle their communication and now became her husband. Her destiny brings her in Singapore.
• She worked in Singapore for ten years. When she reaches eight years, her boss told her that it is her last contract. Before that, she thought that there is no growth and no chances to promote, because as a foreign there is always racial discrimination.
• She thought of what she should do that turn her life into something, and she can still also enjoy, and started to learn about freelancing.
• She learned by herself because she doesn't want spoon feeding. Her IT friend introduces her to Jomar Hilario.
• Her friend gave her a copy of the lesson. She learned and started to make 100 reasons why she wants to become a freelancer and to work at home.
• She taught herself how to form a website using hosts and domain. She created an article for herself, cover letter, tutorials and uploaded it.
• She created a tutorial on how to use Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Canva and other tools even Shopify.
• She also created a Facebook page which she called Brilliance wherein she put the quotes.
• She handled having a corporate work, a Mom for one kid while she was pregnant and have a client.
• She created a cover letter in Upwork but rejected in the interview because of communication skills in English. She struggles to find work that suits her career as an HR until she found VA Bootcamp.
• She survived of having a client, a corporate work, attend to her newborn baby at night, at the same time studying at VA Bootcamp.
• She also attended wave two masterclasses and enrolled at Udemy which focus on HR role.
• She survived from Bell's Palsy and other health problems and returned to Singapore. She didn't give up. She endured herself in working abroad to make sure of her career.
• Her greatest fear is to lose some work. And they decided to go back to the Philippines because of the high cost of living in Singapore.
• In 2016, she has a first client and offered to do a questionnaire and answer, got an offer of 20 dollars per hour.
• She reached her 100k goal last year, and help her husband to renovate their kitchen and garage, and she's okay with what she achieves now.

Q&A Highlights

I'm an Architect in Riyadh I want to switch to freelancer. Pwede kaya?

Oo naman. Yong IT freelancer friend ko Architect din. Actually my husband is an Architect din, ayoko muna siyang paalisin kasi it’s not time pa. Depende sa iyo yun, pero as an Architect pwede naman siya. Merong mga client kasi di ba sa US their looking, let's say mga real state. Yan, yong kailangan nyan mga Architects din. Like yong mga blue prints. Kelangan nila mga skills. Napakalaki ng chance mo. Sa ngayon parang clueless ka kung papano gawin pero marami kang skills na pwede mong i-offer.

How to access client in US?

Maraming platforms. Basta tingnan mo lang ung Facebook group natin makikita mo yong mga platforms. Kasi dun ko lang binabalikan, minsan pag marami ka nang tanong hindi ka na nababalikan diba. So, might as well check mo, browse mo ang mga conversations before.

Pwede ho ba part time?

Pwede naman. Kasi flexible hours kaya nga gusto mo mag-freelance eh. Depende sa mahanap mong client. My flexi-time, may part time, may full time. Nasa iyo yan.

I'm working po kasi from 12 noon to 9 pm. Then 1 hour travel nakakauwi ako past 10 pm. Kaya inisip ko kaya po ng part time?

Matter of time management lang talaga. At tsaka ung motivation mo. Kasi pag alam mo na nag-progress ka alam mo na ung susunod. Gusto mo umakyat pa.

What is the percentage of a person failing when they want to try out something?

Siguro sa tanong na pag gusto mo talaga, you will only be failed, let say 20 or 30 percent of a hundred. Kasi talagang gusto mo eh. No matter how you fail you will still be on top of what you want to do. At the end of the day, okay lang parati mag-fail basta wag kang susuko. Walang sukuan, para later on mag-succeed ka, kasi kung failed ka ng failed and then hindi mo na ita-try, eh pano ka magiging successful.