No one of sane mind would say that pregnancy is easy.

(Wait, hindi ko pa na-experience to and never ko siguro ma-experience. LOL)

But I've seen women who went through this so I know that it's not a joke.

And for some, the experience goes far beyond the usual symptoms of morning sickness and back pain.

Some have to give up work early.

While some spend most of their time in bed.

But other's still opt to work kahit mahirap — to support their pregnancy and monthly expenses.

Just like Cleofe.

That's when she decided to pursue freelancing.

"I started back when I'm pregnant and had no choice but to teach online. Local companies
won't hire pregnant people.

After several No's from different ESL companies. Finally I landed a job that supported my pregnancy and our monthly expenses.

Then I got very lucky to hit a Full-Time CSR job, non-voice, when I had my baby. And I did not know how to get back to the real world after that."

But even if she got lucky for getting a non-voice job, she also has her own experience of setbacks.

"...losing a client without notice, and not paying you for the last month. That was very tragic because we were on a monthly payment."

Despite all of these, she still continues doing freelance work.

Find out why (and how she was able to sustain her freelancing career) in our JasSuccess interview replay here.

1. **Introduction**

Watch this video to find out why she left her job as CSR and ventured into freelancing that supported her during pregnancy.

You’ll know what are the struggles she encountered in freelancing and how she overcame those.

Notable Quotes

• For the first year I've been freelancing, I was able to buy a car, like getting our house and buy some appliances for us.
• Taong-Bahay ako but I want to be productive in some way.
• So I got client feedback, they realized that my dedication to work is important.
• Mahirap siya at first pero nung nakita ni Mama meron akong trabaho and she was happy because andun lang ako sa bahay, tapos kumikita pa ng mas malaki kesa sa normal na jobs dito.
• So the lesson learned is ,get 2, 3 or 4 if you can. Kasi pag mawala yung isa hindi ka pa iiyak.Mawala yung dalawa, di ka pa iiyak. Pangatlo, diyan ka kabahan.
• For Moms that are having second thoughts of freelancing, why are you having second thoughts? Actually, yung Fear is the Fear of not learning anything.
• I became resilient, that's one thing that I really want to practice more, master Resiliency, like to stand up like even-though everything is saying no to me. Like, yung perseverance mo, because no one will work for it.No one will work for you to have a job, no one. That's just you, so if you want to be successful, work on it.

Journey to Freelancing

• She had to quit her job as a Customer Service Representative to go back to her hometown to take care of her Mom who is sick
• She tried to get a job locally but had no luck until she got pregnant which lessen the chance to get hired 
• She asked her sister who works abroad to pay for the internet installation with the agreement that she will be the one to pay for the monthly fee.
• So to support her pregnancy she decided to apply for online jobs and got a part-time job in ACADSOC where she earns 10,000/month
• It was challenging because there shouldn’t be any background noise so come December she saw a job post for a CSR role posted by her Trainor before from her BPO and had her initial interview competing with a technical support agent that has a 10 yrs. working experience.
• The second interview was right after she gave birth so she sent them a message and advised them about her struggle with poor internet coverage in the hospital. Then the client asked why she did not advise them about her pregnancy which she answered that she can still work despite her circumstances and with that, she got hired as a chat support with a salary of 6 times higher so then she left her online teaching job.
• While working as chat support, her partner is the one taking care of their baby.
• With her first year in freelancing she was able to provide her family with their needs such as groceries, even a car and more so, moved to their own house.
• However after a year, the company she works for filed bankruptcy and she lost her job without any savings.
• She had to cut down expenses and manage the salary she had when she got an ESL job again with the rate of 7,000 a week and she learned her lesson so she also got a project base job at the same time.
• However, freelancing was not a smooth sailing journey for her when she had struggled with being a Mom and juggling between household chores and her freelancing job. She suffered mentally and physically and got issues with her partner due to lack of support.
• After a year, her partner realized his fault and started supporting her. He got his ESL job as well so they worked together·They were able to manage their expenses and save. They got married and now she’s pregnant again and enjoying her maternity leave.

Question and Answer

How are you able to manage to work after giving birth?

 It was very easy because my husband is a good player in my career. He took care of the baby while I was working. And then the baby cooperated, while I'm working, he's awake and he is not crying.

What made you decide to focus more on working and let the family take care of the rest?

 I am the breadwinner. I am really like a woman that would want to achieve. We had an agreement that while I’m working, my Mom will do the household chores and my husband will take care of my baby.

What made your client decide to go for you?

My client realized that my dedication to work is important. I made them realize that whatever circumstances I might have, I always make sure I will find a way to deliver the work.

You work right after you deliver your baby, hindi ba naapektuhan ang health mo? 

Nope because my work as chat support in Forex is an easy task.Although at first, it was a difficult thing to learn especially no mentor but my client trained me for the things that I'm gonna use and then more on like self-study but after that the job was so easy that I can even breastfeed my baby while on duty.

How are you able to manage your family, where did you learn that?

I think it started when our family had a financial problem before college. Back then I helped my Mom to manage our finances and our business.

Does the client provide HMO?

No. We are in the process of getting our own HMO for the family.

Was it hard for you Ms. Cleo to adjust sa lifestyle nyo?It was really hard.Yung anak ko from expensive milk down to Nestogen kasi wala talaga.Tapos diaper from pampers down to pinakamurang diaper.