Question.

What's the greatest sacrifice you've done for someone?

Probably skipping a meal to give it to a friend or stranger.

Or it can be selling a gadget at a cheaper price because someone badly needs it.

For a mom, it could be leaving your work to nurture an upcoming baby and provide full-time breastfeeding.

(A mother's love.)

That's what Lemon did.

"I want to stay home back then since I'm pregnant with my miracle baby boy. Miracle kasi ligated na ako after I had 3 cesarean babies . My previous OB already

cut my fallopian tube.

Last December 2016, nalaman ko that I'm pregnant. Worried si husband kasi baka may abnormality sa pregnancy ko due to my ligation. In February 2017, I

decided to stopped working."

But staying at home doesn't mean she won't do anything at all.

She remained productive by learning about freelancing.

"I started watching Youtube channels on how to do it. Though at that time, I don't have any plans yet of working kasi nga I want na manganak muna ako bago

magka-client. Nalulungkot din ako at that time kasi 8 months na akong walang sahod."

Until she saw my videos.

"I saw the videos of Sir Jason Dulay"...Super naniwala talaga ako at  kaagad naging super excited sa mga opportunities na parating. Lagi kong sinasabi sa isip ko

"DITO AKO YAYAMAN, hahahaha!"

Want to know what happened next?

Wondering if she was able to get a client?

And how much is she currently making every month?

Join us as Lemon shares her freelancing journey on this replay of JasSuccess.

INTRODUCTION:

Lemon Abby Martes, is an accountant by profession. She graduated BS Accountancy from Far Eastern University. She jumped from one job to another, until she bumped into Sir Jason Dulay's Work From Home Road Map and decided to join freelancing that turned her life 360 degrees. She’s now living her dreams and enjoying her freelancing career.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

• Isa rin sa mga gusto ko i-share sa mga viewers, sa mga nanonood na you continue and never stop learning talaga. And yung 'ROI', sinabi nga ni sir Jason yung 'return of investment' mo sobrang dali lang. As in, in one month time pwede mo nang maibalik lahat ng nailabas mong pera and yet the skills and the learning will continue, even after me, even my kids, even generations to come, I can share all those skills na meron ako sa mga anak ko. 
• I believe it 100%. Nun nakita ko yun mga testimonials, nun nakita ko yung mga video nun mga super successful na - nanonood din ako ng Jassuccess! Dito rin ako natuto na, there are a lots of moms na actually I can relate kasi naranasan ko rin na mag breastfeed while working. 
• Napaka blessed, kaya I want to share dun sa future mothers out there and then yun mga single that it's really possible that you can do multitasking work and then take good care of your kids.
• Kapag na-acquire mo na yun certain skills, na-acquire mo na yung mga yun na mag-oopen ng doors na parang pila pila na yun mga clients na nandyan. So parang if you want to earn a Million, and there's a possibility but yet yung time mo naman yung makukuha. So, you have to balance din. Kasi syempre  mabu-burn out ka rin sa dami ng inaasikaso mo na mga reports sa mga clients. Ofcourse, clients they're paying for reports, they're paying for kung ano yung naachieve mo.
• Kaya nga one time I shared it to a friend, sabi ko 'earning 6-digits a month is not  just earning it.' I mean, I worked hard for it. So at the back of it, hindi lang ito puro pasarap na sumusweldo ka ng ganitong kalaki but there is a trade off na kailangan mo ipakita kay client na this is what we achieved.
• There are a lot of opportunities out there. And never ko pang na feel that I'm in a competition. Lagi ko lang sinasabi na I'm competing with myself. Kasi yun ibang mga freelancers, sinasabi na ah kasi marami na dyan, marami ng mga Indiano. And why was I able to get a premium $15 client amidst COVID? Napakarami pa talagang kliyente dyan.
• I just want to share, my clients are now listening to me. I am not the one listening to them, but they are listening to what I will tell them. Dati, I'm just following the instructions and then I'm telling them that oh, we can add this one, we can buy this tool to help us out. And then once I have recommended something, they will listen. Because they know that I want to help their business. 
• My clients are always telling me, 'I want to be with you forever.' that's their word. So dun pa lang you have an assurance that you will be earning a month, so it will be a long term client. This time you can count on the client long term and they can be your bread and butter.
• Actually, I'm always putting a word in my proposal, 'Here's what I can do for you' and then I'm stating it bullet by bullet. So, that's also one of the techniques I learned from Sir Jason, when you're making a proposal you make it really very personal hindi lang copy paste, copy paste because they can really sense.
• Sabi pa sa akin ni client, I know you can do everything. Sabi ko, yeah I will be honest to you if this is something that I can't do. But don't stop there, that you can't do it. 'Coz Google has a lot of help. Youtube has a lot of help, you can learn. I'm telling my clients that if I don't know something, I will definitely make sure to make a way for me to know it.
• Meron at meron darating, keep on sending proposals.
• Always pray intently everytime you are submitting a proposal. Make it sure that the job post is really what you want. Dapat skill set mo rin is naka based dun sa job post. I mean kaya mo yung work kapag binigay sa'yo.
• Help your client genuinely, which I keep on pressing out and they will really help you back.
• Never stop learning. 
• Give back. Pinangako ko sa sarili ko to help people to learn how to work from home to the best of my capacity.

JOURNEY TO FREELANCING

• An accountant by profession.
• Graduated in BS Accountancy from Far Estern University.
• Her first job was to work as Accounts Payable in Ortigas and was earning 10,000 per month.
• Then she tried working in a call center and was earning 15,000 a month. Later she then realized that it's not the work that she wanted in the future.
• So she shifted her career into shared services and worked as a Financial Service Specialist.
• She transferred to another job until her last position she had was Operations Analyst in Makati. That time, she already knew to herself that there is something more that she can do. She just doesn't know where to find it.
• For the last seven years of her experience working in the corporate, she never got promoted.
• In December 2016, she got pregnant. She and her husband didn't expect her pregnancy since it was already ligated 5 years ago. It was a miracle for them. 
• Due to her pregnancy, she then decided to stay at home for good to have more time with her kids.
• In February 2017, she finally stopped working. It took her 8 months since she opened her Upwork profile but still no one noticed her proposals.
• September 2017, she was on the verge of going back to corporate since she still has no income for the past 8 months. She begged the Lord to give her a client (emotionally and in tears). In every proposal that she sent, she prayed intently to get her client.

• Then she bumped into Sir Jason Dulay's Work From Home Road Map. At first, she doesn't have money and her husband was worried that she might get scammed. But then she still believed in it. So she bought the course, which up until now she hasn't finished all the courses because when she learned the beginning of the course, she was fortunate enough to get her first client.
• In October 2017, it changed and turned her life 360 degrees. That one client opened doors for a lot of opportunities.
• Finally, after three years, she was able to achieve her dream of landing her premium clients that will give her a 6 digit income that she didn't imagine she could have.
• She started working from 3 - 4 clients up to now with 2 premium clients but flexi schedule and yet still managed to get a 6-digit income per month while enjoying the perks of staying at home and earning 3 times more from what she had from the corporate job.
• In October 2018, she was able to transition her husband to join in freelance. And now, he already got 3 clients under his belt. Presently, they are both helping each other out and becoming workmates at the same time.
• They named their baby 'Noah' as he was her turning point of working as a freelancer.

Q & A:

Do you have issues with time management?

Actually, ang pangit lang sa freelancing, because you want to grab all opportunity kuha ka ng kuha ng client and then you will come to a point na,'ay wala na akong oras para magpahinga, wala na ko oras for my kids kahit nasa bahay lang dahil grab ka ng grab ng opportunity' kaya nga I really prayed for the clients that I have now na flexi time na everytime na yun mga kids ko they want to play, they want to be with me, I just turned off everything and then sila lang muna. And then once they're sleeping na, that's the time that I can work. You have to balance din.

You don't look stressed, what is your secret?

I don't know. Just normal. Wala namang secret. Na-realized ko that when you take good care of your clients, they will take good care of you back. If you help them genuinely, money will follow.

Possible po ba talaga na magkaroon na agad ng client kahit hindi pa tapos ang course? 

Yes! Never ko pang natapos. Ang ginawa ko, pinili ko lang yung mga gusto ko. Nag ju-jump jump na ko until such time na nag-jump na ako how to make proposal. Then nag-start na ko mag send ng proposal via Upwork. Nung nakuha ko na yun strategy ni Sir Jason in the Work From Home Road Map, that time nagkaroon na agad ako ng client. Until such time na nagkaroon na nagkaroon ng mga clients na hindi ko na nabalikan yung Work From Home Road Map kasi busy na.

Why the desire to improve?

Actually, gusto kong maging katulad ni Sir Jason, a $150 per hour. I'm telling my husband that I'm gonna be a business consultant someday. And I think it's really possible 'coz right now, ako naman talaga yung nag-hahandle ng account ni client. Actually, parang next to the client ako na. So, sinabi ko noon na hindi pa ako na-promote ever since? Now, I'm next to the owner of the client. 

It seems that the feelancing world isn't so much affected by COVID-19, is that a safe assumption?

Actually, tinamaan din naman yung mga clients. But ang ginawa nila, while the world is experiencing this pandemic, is linisin yung mga listings. For example, since I'm in the E-Commerce, ano pa yung opportunity para maging number one ako right after the pandemic. Lilinisin naten yung mga listings natin, mga titles natin, yung mga pictures natin. So they see the pandemic as an opportunity to, alam mo yun, linisin yung mga dapat linisin so that when the businesses are up and running, they are ready.

What is your Niche?

E-Commerce. Actually, I started a $3, that's the turning point, Amazon Product Researcher. I also got Customer Service, nag call center din ako dito sa bahay that paying me $4 per hour. And then I dropped it because I got a real estate bookkeeping job paying me $5 per hour. And then I also tested Sales and Marketing, doon nag-jump from $5 to $10 per hour. Since I have kids, maingay sila, I dropped the Sales and Marketing. Then I got a client, an E-Commerce. Ikaw yung mag-hahandle ng lahat lahat ng activities ni client. When you say E-Commerce, you're talking about Shopify, Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Ebags. Hindi ka mawawalan ng trabaho, sobrang dami ng trabaho ng E-Commerce VA.

Were you ever rejected?

Oo naman. Nawalan na rin ako ng mga clients. I also learned kapag nag e-earn ka na ng malaki, don't make it your lifestyle. It will take some time, ipon ipon muna 'coz you don't know if the client might be there lang for a month, might be there lang for 6 months at least save save lang muna. 

How did you do it when you got your first client?

Actually, ang bi-nank ko lang noon is yung mga experiences ko with the corporate, yung lang yung meron ako eh. So kung baga, yun lang yung bankable. And then add to that is nung nag- enroll na ako sa VA Bootcamp. Kung iisipin mo 50% wala akong alam, and then nung nag bootcamp ako, 80-100% na agad yung confidence level ko na magkakaroon ako ng client. Kailangan mo lang talagang maniwala na magkakaroon ako ng client, magkakaroon din ako ng multiple clients. Sa dami kasi ng mga success stories dito kay Sir Jason, maniniwala ka talaga na nangyayari ito sa totoong buhay at yung mga sweldo na binabanggit nangyayari talaga sa totoong buhay.

Did you get that confidence from your course?

Yeah, sobrang daming confidence na Ah! ganito pala yung technique ni Sir Jason, ganito ko pala dapat aatakihin. For example, Upwork - nagbbrowse ng mga jobs, we know we can feel it on our heart na para sa akin itong trabaho na ito. Tititigan ko muna sya, and then sabi ko 'paano ko ba ito aatakihin na ako ang mapapansin ni client?'. And then, doon ko na in-apply yung mga learning ko from the bootcamp. Pag aralan mabuti kung ano yung naka job post. Basahin mabuti, internalized mo muna how you will attact the job proposal. Draft your proposal, paano ba ako mapapansin out of this 50 and above applicants.

You mentioned that this first client opens the door of opportunity for you? Could you describe that a little bit for me?

It's an Amazon Product Research. Actually, I learned this also from Jassuccess that at first you have to fake until you make it. Ang ginagawa ko for example, pag nakita ko yung job post tapos wala akong alam, ang gagawin ko i-sesearch ko na agad sya sa YouTube or sa Google. Though wala akong experience how to do it in actual, pero alam ko kung paano sya gawin. So in my proposal, lagi kong sinasabi 'I know, I know, I know' puro ganon. And then kapag napansin na ni client yung proposal ko at i-hire na ako, doon ko na aaralin siya ng bonggang bonggang aral kapag binigyan na ako ng access. It's always scary at first.

There's a part where you said, sabi mo sa asawa mo 'pakainin mo muna ako'. From that day, when was the time na nag stop yun?

Nag stop yun, October 2017. Tapos ang nangyari March of 2018, nawalan ng work yung asawa ko. So, it's okay, kasi at that time I already have 4 clients and earning 6 digits. That's when I told my husband na 'it's time for you to transition.' It took him a year before he got 3 clients. Pero dahil sa 3 client na yun, he bought a car pero backup nya ako just in case mawalan sya ng client. We can work hand in hand. But what's good about it, hindi kami nawawalan ng client and that's a blessing.

Was it difficult for you to convince your husband to join the freelancing family?

No, hindi naman. Kasi siya rin ayaw na rin niya lumabas.