"Life is too short. I wanted to live my life being free from the slavery and toxic of the corporate world!"

This has been the motivation of a food and beverage coordinator in pursuing a freelance career.

Meet Jebah.

The pandemic made her realize a lot of things.

"One thing I missed working in a corporate world is the precious time to spend with your family**! Yung tipong wala akong weekend. Kapag Weekdays naman ang off, other members of the family naman ang wala."

Good for her. She came to know about freelancing.

And she didn't let the opportunity pass.

*Right now, she's already doubled (or even tripled) her income.*

Meet Jebah as she shared her experiences here on this replay.

Get to know her challenges and how she dealt with them.

And of course, we'll also celebrate her wins.

 Introduction

Jebah used to work as a food and beverage coordinator for three and a half years. During the pandemic, where she found herself and her family struggling with income, she discovered freelancing--now with her chosen specialty as a virtual assistant. Today, Jebah is blessed with four clients and is enjoying the perks of being a freelancer, she is even able to double her income in less than a year after her enrollment from VA Bootcamp.

 Notable Quotes

• Akala ko magiging madali ang buhay after graduation. Dumating sa point na nag-apply sa mga jobs na parang pinapangarap mo pero hindi mo abot yung standard. Luckily, my first job was SMB coordinator. I was working in a corporate world in three and a half years to be exact. So yung naging routine ko na parang "Ha? Eto na? Hanggang dito na lang ba?" Everyday pumapasok ka na lang na may pamilya kang sinusuportahan. Yung para ka na lang pumapasok from paycheck-to-paycheck. Sabi ko hindi ito yung buhay na gusto ko.
• Dahil nga nangyayari sa family ko, may times na sabi ko, tama ba yung pinasok ko? Ipagpapatuloy ko ba to? So after nun, binalikan ko lahat ng greatest WHYs ko--why I started this? Yun nga yung gusto kong gawin, freedom and everything.
• Dun ko rin narealize na ito yung isa sa mga perks ng being freelancers. You have the right to choose the clients you want to work with. Yung hindi mo kailangang makipagsiksikan sa corporate world.
• Very helpful talaga merong groups sa Facebook, meron kang mga friends na freelancers na same mindset as you. Kasi pag ishe-share mo siya sa friend mo na walang idea sa freelancing, para kang nag-share ng story sa hangin.
• There is no such thing as a perfect life. So being successful for me is that you are being grateful for all the things that you have.
• Always trust the process because there is no such thing as a shortcut to success.
• Favorite quote ko siya, "Never compare your life with others, because there is no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it's their time."
• You need to believe in yourself kasi paano magtitiwala sa'yo ang ibang tao kung ikaw mismo walang tiwala sa sarili mo. Just take that small action. Kasi yang small action na 'yan, it will be a bigger one.
• Power of mindset din talaga. Kasi pag sinabi mong hindi mo kaya, tama ka. Hindi mo talaga kakayanin yan. Pero pag sinabi mong kaya mo to, makakaya mo yan.
• Dreaming something that you want will remain a dream if you just sleep and keep dreaming.
• If you want to change the world, you must change first within yourself. Ang buhay natin ay parang libro, ikaw ang author at magsusulat kung ano ang magiging takbo ng kwento ng buhay mo.

Journey to Freelancing 

• Jebah, second among six children, was born and raised in Ilo-ilo. Struggles arose when all of her siblings, including her, started studying and the eldest reached tertiary education. In 2011, when Jebah was in her 4th year of high school, her father decided to go abroad to sustain their expenses.
• Even though she was a CHED scholar and her sibling was a DOST scholar, the expenses on their education were still too much for her father's income to handle. So she sacrificed and stopped school when she was in 1st-year college. That's the time when Jebah started to struggle mentally--she felt depressed and somewhat rebellious; she preferred to be alone. This caused worry to her mother because she was afraid that Jebah might have suicidal thoughts.
• In 2013, a devastating disaster happened. A landslide occurred near their home. Her uncle then asked them to come and live in Tagaytay where he resides. Jebah's mother sold their farmland to pay debts. They followed her uncle's suggestion and lived in Tagaytay, with nothing but faith. But because of the tragedy, they went back to zero.
• Because of a free-tuition opportunity in a college in Tagaytay, she was able to continue her education in hospitality management. She then graduated with flying colors.
• She landed a job in Nasugbu, Batangas as a food and beverage coordinator. She was working for three and a half years when she began to question her repetitive work routine--"Is this it? Is my fate destined here?"
• March 15, 2020, was when the pandemic finally caused alarm to the country. Many businesses and employees were affected. One of the major ones was the hospitality industry where she's in but for Jebah, she took this situation as a blessing in disguise. Why? Because that was the time she discovered freelancing.
• Before discovering and settling with freelancing, she tried applying for a government job she found online. Unfortunately, only one slot was available and she didn't get it.
• She didn't lose hope and continued looking for work online. That's where she stumbled upon a site called “onlinejobs ph”. She came across the word 'virtual assistant' and got curious.
• Jebah then found VA Bootcamp's Youtube account. She watched videos of Sir Jason Dulay talking about freelancing, virtual assistants, ways to earn money at home, and the like. What attracted Jebah the most was how freelancing is the key to freedom from the corporate world, no more boss and toxic environment, no more hassle to commute, and no more alarm clock set in the morning.
• Before enrolling, she was skeptical at first and thought it was a scam. But when she saw the various testimonials from real people, she decided to resign from work and take the risk. She enrolled in September and pawned a ring gifted by her father so she could cover the payment. However, everything still didn't go smoothly.
• Three days after her enrollment, one of her siblings got dengue and Jebah had an eye infection, a reason why she couldn't focus on the screen for a long time. A week after, two of her brothers got dengue as well, and eventually all of them. This all happened in just one month.
• Negative thoughts clouded Jebah's mind again. Did she make the right decision? Regret seems to be creeping in. Thankfully, she gathered her thoughts and remembered all her greatest WHYs-- ”Why did I start this in the first place?” The answer was clear. It's the freedom and being able to do everything she wants to do in life.
• Jebah got back on track. She and all of her siblings got better after a week. She continued with the course and finished within 2 weeks.
• After another 2 weeks of sending proposals, she failed to get clients. Luckily, she was able to take part in VAB's Guided Hustle Challenge for November.
• The first day of GHC's orientation was full of learning. The next day, Jebah submitted three proposals with all the knowledge she got from the first day. To her surprise, all those three proposals got replies.
• She only considered two clients. Although after a week, she needed to drop another client because of a communication problem. Her headphones also got broken that time. That left Jebah with one client.
• Even with one client, Jebah was still able to recover her investment from the enrollment. And she did it while working for 3-4 hours a day only--which is kind of impossible to achieve when working in a corporate world.
• Jebah's hunger for learning didn't stop there. Even with a client, she juggled lots of internships from VAB. She became a FLIP moderator in December, a marketing intern from January-February, and SEO under Sir Jason Dulay from February-March. These helped boost her confidence.
• And true indeed, Jebah got another client around January. However, it ended after 2 weeks because she felt uncomfortable working with them and talked to the client about it. That's when she realized another perk of being a freelancer--the right to choose the clients you want to work with.
• Although earning a stable income, Jebah felt stuck with her freelancing career. She wasn't satisfied with having just one client. Luckily on February 26, 2021, she came upon a webinar by Sir Jason Dulay about the same topic. It's called "Stuck in Your Freelance Career? How to Get Unstuck".
• One of Jebah's greatest learnings from that webinar was goal-setting. If you have big goals, break them down first into mini-goals, by then you can achieve the bigger goal.
• Eventually, she started to reach those mini-goals one by one. Joining Facebook groups and interacting with co-freelancers also made the burden lighter for Jebah. She even persuaded her best friend to jump into freelancing as well.
• After lots of proposals and upskills, she got her second client. What's more amazing is that her third and fourth clients were all referrals. Jebah's at the point where she didn't need to apply, clients come to her.
• Right now, Jebah's enjoying all the perks in freelancing including having time for family especially during special occasions and holidays, having a healthier body free of stress, and having a sustainable income which made her pay their debts and pawned jewelry.
• Jebah has a bigger plan ahead of her. She encourages her family to take freelancing and eventually build their freelancing agency.

 Question and Answer

Nasabi mo Jebah na apat na oras lang ang trabaho mo. So what's your work schedule?

Ngayon po kasi flexible naman lahat ng clients ko. Wala naman po akong time talaga. So nasa akin pa rin po as long as kaya ko ma-deliver yung task sa deadline. Pero syempre, I have a routine pa rin po na sinusunod para at least productive pa rin po yung buong araw ko.

Sabi mo nabawi mo naman in a month's time yung pinang-enroll mo. Pero ang tanong ko, nakuha mo ba yung jewelry?

Lahat po nung mga naisangla nung nagkasakit kami, finally lahat ng ito natubos na po.

Hindi ba mabigat sa'yo na sinangla mo yung alahas [na bigay ng father mo]?

May part na mabigat pero sabi ko babawiin ko din naman siya. Kailangan ko lang talaga siyang gawin. I need to take action talaga that time.

Within a small amount of time, not even one year, nakaahon ka na agad. Have you ever imagined na ito ang mararating mo nung nagsisimula ka pa lang?

Actually, hindi ko in-expect na in less than a year. Dati nakiki-sana all lang ako sa mga posts--may bagong bahay, may bagong kotse--so sabi ko hindi man ngayon, hindi man bukas or makalawa, pero soon ako din. Yun na lang po yung nagiging motivation ko everyday. Samahan ng hardwork and prayers po.

Nakatulong ba sa career mo ang pag-i-intern mo?

Super. As what I've said earlier, lahat po ng na-learn ko inside internship sa VAB, priceless po siya. It helps me sa freelancing career ko. Si VAB po talaga ang dahilan. Kaya I'm super grateful po sa VA Bootcamp, kay Sir Jason po.

Do you have peace of mind? Do you feel secure na kahit na merong darating na panibagong problema, panibagong kalamidad, do you think na it will be okay with you? Will you be able to survive it easily?

When it comes to peace of mind, masasabi kong yes sa freelancing. Kasi nga po even sa corporate nung nag-pandemic nawala lahat hindi naman expected yun. Pero yung opportunity na meron yung online freelancing kaya mong magkaroon na mas malaki pang income. Saka yung plan ko rin po ngayon is magkaroon na rin po ng sariling agency. Kasi for now yung sister ko nagresign na rin siya sa work. Nag-online freelancing na rin siya as social media manager. And katulong ko na rin siya sa mga tasks and clients. Nagtutulungan po kami and [eventually] sana buong family maging agency na po.

With all your experiences, what can you tell our newbies from young to old, kung ano ang dapat nilang isipin when trials come?

Lahat ng trials, it helps you to be better. Whether it's good or bad, always remember surrender everything to God. Lahat po yan may rason. Hindi po yan ibibigay ni Lord kung hindi niyo kaya eh. It's a matter of how you handle things and your mindset. Will you take it in a negative way or in a positive way? Then sa mga newbies naman na natatakot makipag-communicate sa foreigners, marami pong clients na hindi mo kailangang makipag-usap lagi. So never stop believing and trust the process.

If you are a newbie, the first thing that you need to do is set the goal. Kasi kung wala kang goal, parang nabubuhay ka na lang everyday na buhay-trabaho-buhay. Pag may goals ka, plan [then] execute.

Is there anything else na gusto mong sabihin?

Surrender everything to God, take action, and work hard.