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A call center agent.

A band vocalist.

A theater actress.

She seems to be doing well until an officemate told her that she should just work from home as she just had a baby.

Meet Richie.

The idea that she can watch her kids' milestones while earning dollars from home motivated her to pursue freelancing.

And right now, she's earning 6 figures every single month.

The best part?

"I can hire more people to work from home and soon freelance.

I'm my own boss.

I can work less but earn more.

I can make my dream life happens right before my very eyes."

And she'll share with us her journey on this replay.

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

INTRODUCTION

She is doing freelancing for eleven years over. A mommy of two kids.

She is the owner of We do the talk Agency. A wife of a supportive husband.

A coach that has a generous heart to help out a newbie freelancer.

A teacher to all mommy and daddy wanted to work from home in the Philippines.

  Notable Quotes 

• Getting clients is hard but once you choose that hard path, it's all up to you.
• I choose my hard work by choosing to work from home and become a seasonal freelancer and later on I become an agency owner.
• I owe the success not just because I want to do it but I want everyone else to do it kung nagawa namin you can also do it”.
• JUST START, don't wait for the right time cause the right time is now, you wouldn’t reach that bridge kung hindi ka hahakbang, fear is always there, rejection is always there, what you only have to do is overcome it and you would never ever overcome it without starting out.
• Being a freelancer is a business. Imagine iiwanan mo yung buhay mo na meron kang regular na sweldo, fifteenth day and thirtieth day of the month, and then makiki baka ka on getting your clients. How are you going to prove to your family or your husband na di hamak na mas malaki kita ko dito, hayaan mo lang ako. The only way that you can actually show them is to give them the actual proof that there is something na worth your time, worth your effort, worth your eyebags(laugh).
• Pag freelancer ka ihanda mo ang sarili mo, madalas makikita ka nilang kausap mo ang sarili mo(laugh). 
• Tulungan lang tayo there’s no competition, either we all lose, or we all win.
• The ladder to success is giving out your best effort. That is also the main way for you to win the trust of your family member.

JOURNEY TO FREELANCING

• She started her job as a freelancer at an agency called telemarketing with sir John Neri. This person gave her an opportunity to work in his agency and then she earned weekly. Before, she taught working from home was a scam.
• She was working in an appointment setting job. She didn't have any difficulty because she’s working at BPO before. She pushed and transition to freelance.  
•  After three months of being an appointment setter, she was able to enjoy the payout in dollars.
• When her income was getting bigger she started doing it full-time and started looking for her own client.
• The agency where she was working paid her three-point five dollars per hour in 2010. She says it was huge at that time.
•  She started a payout of one point five dollars then after a month it went to two point five then three dollars and then three-point five. After three months of doing it full time, she was able to become a project manager. 
• She also start her own agency hiring people, one to two people, that was April ten 2010.
•  She was an Independent contractor (freelancer call). In two thousand eleven, her first-time meet-up happened somewhere in Ortigas.
•  She was one of the top contractors in the Philippines at that time so she was able to have a chance to speak and encourage people to work from home.
• She was remembered according to the stat. She said we only had 40 to 60 thousand work-from-home people in the Philippines and imagine how many millions we have (laugh). wherein now  4 to 3 million if not mistaken for those who worked registered from home now.
• She quoted  Angeline Quinto, “what is needed now is to make life fun, you don't know if you'll be there tomorrow, right? In these words, she got her idea and she reset her goal.
• As she said, being a freelancer is very important to have support from partners, family and friends, and people around you. Then, to all singles “sana all may jowa"(laugh).
• She said without the support of her husband with what she did was hard especially she’s always staying on her laptop most of the time (laugh).  If her husband didn’t understand her, then’ what would I be now'? she said. 
• Her husband is very supportive of everything she did. He actually helped her outrun their agency.
• Because of freelancing, they can renovate their house, they were able to buy a property, and their children were studying in private school. She said life wasn’t tough when she earned weekly. Work hard worth your value and effort.
• At the moment they are able to buy a car in cash, not an installment.

Q&A Highlights

How to get started in freelancing? Do you have any known batch mates? Who is still doing freelancing nowadays?

Some of them quit, some of them went back to the corporate, others had built their own digital marketing agency, they were built somewhere in the south.

But many of them who quit because they can't sustain themselves probably handle the client or find the client.

Depending on our goals others are able to work from home for some reason.

I'm used to working from home and this is what I want to live for eleven years, so it seems like it's ok with me.

I was surprised some of my friends were going back to BPO, they can't afford to stay at home, in one place that's my thought why they went back to corporate.

Some of them maybe drowned because of too much information? (laugh)

Could you tell us about your life before working as a freelancer?

To be honest with those who can follow my journey I actually share it on my wall from time to time.

I started freelancing when we're living in Cainta, Pasig where it's always flooded. 

My children grew up on the east side in a floodway area.

When you go out you need to be careful when walking on the side because the car will pass by you. 

My eldest child was six at that time then I decided to do freelancing.

I have my newborn baby that time she was three months old, my youngest.

Dahil sa freelancing,  kaming mag asawa ay actually napa renovate namin yung bahay, were able to buy a property. Ang mga anak ko sa private school sila nag-aaral, hindi mahirap yung buhay.

I would say talaga hindi mahirap yung buhay because meron kang kita weekly expected. 

I experienced it, when I was earning thirty-four thousand a week that's a week ah, I thought “where did the thirty-four thousand a week go”? (laughs)

I was improved. In my mother-in-law’s house, we didn't rent. I'm only paying for our internet electricity and water.

The land we bought in the province isn't that big price.

I said I've been in freelancing for about 5 years. I  have an agency at that time but it's not that big.

Now, we're still in the floodway but we’re staying in the condo unit.

Before, I struggled with chickens, dogs, and neighbors singing videoke. They thought they were the only people in the world, they didn't know that someone was working in the neighborhood. 

My goal was for my children, of course as you go along your journey I want to see my kids grow in a quiet environment. Ayan ang goal ko, hindi ako pwedeng ganito lang.

As I grow old in freelancing kailangan yung goals ko lumalaki din ganun yung thinking ko palagi.

Right now not to brag but to inspire, we are in a condo that we own, we're still paying for up to now and we were able to buy a house and lot in the province aside pa dun sa lote na una naming nabili. 

This moment kakatapos lang po namin mag asawa ng driving lesson. We are going to buy a car in cash, hindi hulugan kase yun talaga ang gusto namin.

I won't buy a car in installment because I'm still paying for our condo amortization your money needs to be budgeted, that's it.

Because I've learned for a few years where was my income goes (laughs), enjoy eh, everything you want to eat you ate.

Then we're able to be with people who influence us, people with better perspectives in life. So ayan na meet natin sina mommy Anna, Jason Dulay, John Pagulayan, I was able to look after these people and reset your goals in life. 

When we started moving here in the condo, Mommy Ritchie was different (laughs). 

I guess I am the only person excited to be forty. Because I'm super excited to reach the goals.

I said I need to be the CEO of my own company. I was able to be a CEO at the age of 37.

I have to set goals that are very close, but you know those will not happen in just a snap eh, you really need to write it. I visualize it plan it and find a way.

I would say, I owe it not just to myself but to the people who guide me but also to the VA’s of We do the talk.

The common mindset I saw freelancers and VA's now, enjoy your first two salaries. Then slowly gradually do what you need every payout, you need to buy a reward for yourself.

Probably the others have retention clients, lima naman yung client ko eh, while in the situation that we have, hindi pwedeng hindi ka nagbibigay ng room for what if.

Worst come to worst pandemic came, a lot of businesses stop.

Yung client na lima naging dalawa, paano kung wala palang natira dun sa client mo di ba, we don't know what's happening, sa nangyayari sa situation natin ngayon, everything is very unpredictable .

Take it from my experience, sa experience din ng iba, it's different now because you save as much as possible, invest your money because we wouldn't know what will happen. 

  

 Ritchie, how long did you execute your plans? When will it become easy for you?

When I reset, I can really say reset, it's rock bottom, not really rock bottom because I had another client. 

I had been comfortable with the regular income that I was getting.

I had very relaxed and then something happens like I lost a client at the same time, there is only one left.

I had personal issues so it seems like it's hard to concentrate on my work.

I just realized the amount of time I wasted, I enjoyed it so much I didn't think about it.

Then the time came, though I am no longer zero, I suddenly thought "what if I am zero?", what will be my children's future, those are my thoughts.

When I tried to rest, what happened is I was found a community. 

I start teaching, at that moment I offer my help, coaching for free for a few people.

I start the We do the Talk agency, yung pag transition ko ang naging part nun is yung itinuro ko, kasama na rin siguro nung pag renew ko ng aking faith. 

What I mean, I call it, I renew my bow to myself.

It's always on my mind to help others because I believe If you help others it will come back to you a thousandfold without replacement and it's really true.

I started to get student scholars on my agency.

I also religiously apply it to how I do it because I wanted to teach something that I did for myself and then I'm just surprised, wow! the seven students have become more and more. 

From now on we are controlled in membership, we are still three thousand but I am very very proud of the VA's that I am able to hire.

Before paisa-isa padala-dalawa pinaka malaki nahahawakan ko is twenty and then nag forty ako this year. Ang goal ko is just to hire forty VA until September 9, but in total we are now one hundred twenty sa We do the Talk agency.

My agency was registered sya noong we have nineteen human resources management services, and I am able to hire one hundred twenty VA's and growing pa. 

I am also still working with another client, so every time, I am seeing these people working hard for their families.

Kung makikita nyo yung vision and mission ko sa wedothetalk.com is just to help out filipino families to be together at home while earning.

Yun  lang vision ko before kase naiiyak ako pag nakakita ako ng nanay na aalis ng bahay tas umiiyak yung baby nila so, ang goal ko before was just to hire mga nanay, help out mga nanay and it turn out yung "Women entrepreneurs  we do the talk" which is the original name of "We do the talk", naging "Entrepreneurs working we do the talk" kase marami ng nag re reach out na daddy din.

I just re-brand na lang yung "We do the Talk" into "Working entrepreneurs student".

I'm glad that aside from the output from the students who are also very limited, they worked together and at the same time, my agency was able to hire trained people.

I am very grateful not just for the wisdom given to me. I am still able to uphold the mission and vision of "We do the talk". It will not happen without the support of those who came before. 

When I went live on my timeline(FB) I was happy that there is one or two watching.

Even if they don't understand I'm glad they stay every time that I am doing free training even if it's just in "wedothetalk" group or in my timeline and someone will message me,

“oh, mommy Ritchie thank you for the one you teach is great ”.

I'm glad because even though it's free, they learned from it, especially when they texted that "I worked hard because you taught me". 

But like what I am telling to all my former students who have been hired by us.

“When you pass the blessing to others, blessings pour out back to you”.

You don't have to count because you can't count it (laugh). I can't contain my happiness and gratefulness to the people who trusted me before, especially the ones I hired. I’m not into scams (laugh).

 Do you have some tips to help you understand your choice to become a freelancer?

Well, the bottom line is always the actual output eh, once they saw that, “oy may pera ka nga dyan ano? (laugh) It's always the output that will make them realize na ok nga career nga yan.

A lot of people kase they wouldn 't understand until they saw a result, ganun naman eh kahit saang career or business.

Being a freelancer is a business.

Imagine you leave your life with a regular salary of the fifteenth and thirty every month sa corporate because you pursued freelancing.

How are you going to prove to your family or your husband that you made more money online.

The only way that you can actually show them is to give them the actual proof that there is something worth your time, worth your effort, worth your eyebags (laugh).

The money was where the effort was being given. There was no easy job.

The ladder to success is giving out your best effort and that is also the main way for you to win the trust of your family member.

Kung single ka your parents kase isipin ng parents mo na I can actually feel those "what are you just hanging out".  I'm not hanging out, I earn dollars every time I wake up every night (laugh).

They wouldn't understand until you prove them na kumikita ako work from home.

The technique there, once you earn your first dollar bili mo ng grocery si mommy.

Like what I've said treat yourself with all the hard work that you did and then help the expenses in the house.

I actually saw, I receive a message from one of my scholars just yesterday and she's thanking me because she's a very timely scholar she's a scholar of "we do the talk" then I hired her at the time of the pandemic her husband lost his job.

What if I didn't give her the opportunity to study as a VA, she's the one who paid for expenses, all the help he gave to her family. 

It's the same thing if you won't be able to win the trust or probably the respect because they say you just work from home, well it's all the output that will pay off, that's all (laugh) treat them.

That's how you take care of the money because when they saw or they think you're just playing around, don't mind those people, that's what I encourage.

Imagine if I lost before "what do you do to work from home you have a newborn child?” (laugh).  I’m getting ano eh angel and evil back of my mind, yung nag encourage sakin na magwork from home. “oy hindi ka na nakakabuo ng isang linggo, lagi na lang absent. Tapos yung isa ay "mag wowork from home ka? bagong anak ka paano yung anak mo?".

So I listen to the angel, working from home, oh! see! (laugh) the rest is history.

When you are a freelancer, prepare yourself, they will often see you talking to yourself (laugh). 

Just help us, there's no competition, either we all win.