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From Online Selling to Freelancing - An interview with Maria Christina Garcia

August 9, 2017
by Jason Dulay 
Jason is the founder and CEO of Work from Home Roadmap and VA Bootcamp. Aside from teaching Filipinos how to succeed working from home, he likes traveling, playing board games, and drinking coffee.
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In this #JasSuccess interview with a VA Bootcamp graduate, Maria Christina Garcia we cover a lot, including:

  • How a High School graduate overcame her hesitations and ventured into freelancing
  • How a non-fluent in English aced her interview invitations
  • How a non-tech savvy factory worker got her first client 2 months after enrolling in the VA Bootcamp

And much more...

Watch the whole interview here and be inspired by Christina's freelancing journey.

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Notable Quotes:

  • Nine months and you know you’ve heard her story, How you know, she’s only a high school graduate, she’s a nontech, nontechie factory worker and she’s not of you know, she’s not exactly very fluent in English. It sets her very hesitant to start with Freelancing. But, not right now, she is a successful Freelancer.
  • Yes, Google, Youtube, yun talaga. Duon na nag start yun eh. Parang, masyado na akung na ano nag enjoy sa pag aral, sa pag aaral about freelance. Tapos ini interview ko narin yung sister in-law ko. Ano ba ang ginagawa ninyo sa ganito, sa ganun?” Yun.
  • Nung nasa group na ako. Nalulula ako sa mga earnings nila. So sabi ko possible ba to? sabi kung ganun. Possible ba to na kaya niya kumita ng 50k a month ganun, 30k, 20k, a month nasa bahay ganun.  So sabi ko parang di naman possible parang ganun ako lagi, “may hesitations” na parang hindi naman siguro imbento lang nila yun. (Hahaha.)
  • So that dedication, you really wanted talaga. You really have that passion to succeed na pinag ipunan mo talaga ng ilang months.
  • Medyo nakakainip din kasi yung five months. Masyadong malaki yun parang iniisip ko, itong iniipon ko para sa “PC” itong iniipon ko to para naman dun sa “internet.” Tapos ito yung para pang enrol sa “Boot camp.” Medyo nakakainip din, pero habang nag re-research ako eh di talaga ako natigil sa panonood ng mga Youtube, ng mga “videos ng mga taong naging successful, at saka yung sa group natin. Yun po yung parang, “di ako” kahit naiinip ka maibabalik yung puso mo dun once me mapanuod ka ng bagong videos about dun, ganun.
  • Yes, ang dami kung ginawang profile. Halos lahat ang dami daming mga platform. Lahat yun ginawan ko pero walang napansin. Pero dun sa Hubstaff, iyon araw-araw kasi halos nag babago ako ng profile, nang overview, nag-iimbento ako kung anong ilagay ko dun sa portfolio. So yun may nag message na nga.
  • Yung mga keywords,  mga tricks ganun. So sabi ko, kung di ako nag enrol siguro sa Bootcamp, baka naka nganga nalang ako dun. Ano sinasabi niya? Iyun so sinagot ko sabi ko, “well-experience ako sa Linkedin”. So kahit hindi naman ako well-experienced, sinabi ko well-experience ako kasi sabi ko familiar naman ako. Alam ko yung mga paggamit ng interface niya nung LinkedIn.” Very good daw” dun daw kami makakakuha ng mga Leads. So yun dun na po nag start.
  • And for everybody watching, you know when people when clients ask you. Like what's your experience? Even if you have, even if simple Facebook page experience or call center experience, I know maraming call center agents in our audience, or mga admin na experienced. You can certainly say that hindi naman kailangan na as a Freelancer na experience pero parang related lang na experience that you can still use in your work for the clients. That's a very good tip for everybody.
  • I can certainly attest na confidence talaga, coz that's what clients look for. They want somebody who like, “I remember” I have an interview before, Tapos my client ask me, If I do have experience with Quicken na software yun. Wala akong experience “sabi ko sa kanya, Na, I have experience in QuickBooks since QuickBooks is similar “ganun”. Even with other interview yung mga ibang software parang wala akong idea. I'd say na, I've heard of it. I've used something else or tried something else. I am sure that I can learn it. So, kahit di mo alam yung stuff, hindi mo sabihin na alam mo at expert ako dun. Don't lie to the clients.
  • Nice ad that’s how a lot of I think how was the hat, noong anu nong freelancers na yung mga pinoy freelancers ganun din eh usually we start with other task mga VA things like data entry and eventually we learn more or yung client wants us to work in other areas and that’s when do a good job naman kasi if you don’t do a good job hindi ka naman bigyan ng ibang offer. Pero when we do a good job that you were given other responsibility and I think most of us our that way. Bong is asking; will Pat Pacho Olive is asking, how do you handle two full-time jobs and one part time po. I think we answer this a little bit, pero I guess we can go over it again.
  • That’s good you pay it forward diba? That you what you know you know you’re able to earn a lot and you pay it forward to other people to teach other people and give them back what we did and that sounds great to hear. Bong Isleta is asking, online seller ka pa din ba or full-time freelancer kana?
  • And panalo din yun yung profile, let’s if you have a strong profile that’s when you’ll get you capture client’s attention. Ako nga din same experience na people yun yung clients are the one reaching out to you. Kahit it’s not exactly what’s in your profile they just they see you’re your profile and they like your profile parang they like your feedback and that’s they really reach out to you. Yun yung picture baka yung picture din yun baka picture lang yun.
  • Ayun, wag sumuko kasi siguro kaya madali din sila nag give up kasi nunng umpisa pa lang hindi din nila siguro alam sa sarili nila kung ano yung gusto nila kasi ako ganun ako eh. Noong umpisa pa lang na nakita ko naging interested ako, sinabi ko na sa sarili ko na dito ako, eto na yun. Gagawin ko lahat basta magawa ko to, so yun determinasyon kailangan talaga ng matinding matinding matinding determinasyon kasi within 2 months na mula nag enroll ako sa bootcamp, so may pumapasok sa isip ah nasayang ata yung ininvest ko etong lahat ng to kasi hindi biro yung pera inilabas eh. So within2 months na hindi ka makakuha ng client na parang walang nagyayari nakaka frustrate talaga yun na parang gusto muna sumuko na parang mag-apply na lang ako diyan ulit sa labas doon pa sigurdo kaysa dito walang mangyayari. So pagka ganun po yun yung thinking ng mga tao hindi ka talaga magsa - succeed eh. Meron ngang iba na inabot pa ng 5 months 9 months bago nagka-client pero hindi naman sila sumusuko.
  • So yun time na kunwari halimbawa wala kang walang pumpansin sayo ang gawin mo yung opportunity nayun para mag-aral, pataasin pa yung skills mo. Para once may pumansin na sayo ah ano biglang masasabi na lang niya wow, ikaw talaga yung hinahanap ko.
  • Oo, theres a saying mention yata, “Inside this when you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result” so yun nga when you do things naman you should improve yourself you should made some changes in everything you do. And if your learning like yung sinasabi if your learning parang everyday if you're improving yourself everyday ofcourse naman you’ll be doing things differently, you’ll be able to update your profile, you’ll be able to add mga new skills, you’ll be able to add mga portfolio items ganun.
  • Yes namo - motivate din ako kasi marami doon na ano eh na parang ayaw na nila eh. Naisip ko oh bakit ako naman kinaya ko eh hindi naman ako, high school graduate tapos ang English eh I hate English [laughs]. Pero okay naman ngayon yung earnings may mga clients naman may pumapansin naman, so sabi ko kaya din nila yun hindi pwedeng hindi.
  • Oo and I do believe na everybody should keep up there doing themselves diba like even you na, you know you never dream na you’ll be able to earn this much and your earning lot more than your before pero you know you know that you can do more kasi, you now that you can do better, you know that you can, it’s possible for you to provide more for your family din. And I think that’s one trait that we should have na un nga keep improving yourself. I want to point in that for having that in that attitude na keep improving yourself always push yourself and you know for everything we do and that’s what I’ve been doing personally that’s what I’ve been hindi lang parang nasa sa atin lang pero if you know you can do more if you know you can improve consider you can provide more for your family then try mo.

Maria Christina's Journey to Freelancing

  • She’s only a high school graduate, she’s a nontech, nontechie factory worker and she’s not exactly very fluent in English.
  • A factory worker for 5 years, She stops working in a factory when she got pregnant.
  • A month after she gave birth, she started the online selling on Facebook and she earned around eight thousand a month.
  • Due to curiosity in one of Jayson Dulay's ads on Facebook, she filled out / signed up just to have access to a free VA Course. From there she started reading, and try watching videos on Youtube. At first, she's not interested because she thinks she's not good at English. But the next day, she opened the ads again.
  • She used to self-study; she does research on her own with the help of google and youtube. She enjoyed and get started to interview her sister and law about the freelancer. She joined a group of freelancers on Facebook.
  • She saw a post, at first she was hesitant because it's impossible to earn P20K-P50K a month while you're working at home, so she started to stalk the person who posted that earnings in a group.
  • She started to save money from online selling to buy a set of a second-hand computer, and save again for the internet connection as she only using the pocket wifi for her online store. And the last one is the enrollment for the VA Bootcamp. It took 5 months of saving before she started the VA Bootcamp.
  • She got her first client in Hubstaff, but now she got 3 clients with a total of 24hrs a day, she had her assistant to help her in some data entry job.

Q&A Highlights

Anong tools are you using for sa web scraping po?

Usually Hunter kasi pangkuha ng emails yun, isa yun sa favorite tools ko eh.

Saan ka nakakuha ng client sa e-commerce na willing magturo?

Sa Upwork po, ewan ko nga doon eh kasi ang nakapost naman ang title ko naman lead generation anu lead generation expert so bigla siya mag-message na kukunin niya ako sa e-commerce ang weird [laughs].

Anong reason niya bakit nag Bootcamp pa siya kung meron naman napanood sa youtube, free pa.

Magandang question yan guys [laughs]. Kasi tulad ko, hindi kasi ako ganun kagaling. So hindi nakapag college madami akong hindi naiintindihan. Nanonood ako ng youtube marami akong tanong sa sarili ko ano yung sinasabi nito sa youtube [laughs]. Ano yung ibig niyang sabihin ganun, so nagmamano-mano pa akong research, napakatagal na proseso. Nag-umpisa akong mag youtube, June 2016 hanggang August 2016, siyempre may naiintindihan ka naman pero yung parang naisip muna parang kulang kasi nga hindi ka naman ganun kagaling. Nahihirapan ako, yun yung word eh, nahihirapan ako umasa na magsariling sikap. Okay naman siya maganda mag research nag sarili kasi madidiscover mo na lang ang galing ko nalaman ko to mag-isa [laughs]. So dahil doon sa Bootcamp kaya ako nag decide mag enroll doon kasi hindi lang naman puro skills yung tinuturo doon eh. Meron ding mga motivation na mga sinasabi doon si Sir Jason. Tinuturo din sa Bootcamp kung paano makipag deal sa mga clients, sa interview kung ano ba yung tama paggawa ng profile mo para mapansin ka. So hindi lahat kasi sa youtube matutunan mo na isang click mo lang. So parang pinadali lang yung ano pag-aaral mo ng Bootcamp.

What can you say about sa support sa mga ibang students?

Ayun doon sa group natin doon din ako nag umpisa, nagbabasa ako doon. Nagtuturo sila pag may mga tanong ka, make sure na specific yung tanong . Pag kasi medyo annoying kasi yung dating kapag nagtanong ka ng “How po?” eh nandoon na yung ano, nandoon na yung babasahin mo na lang siya. So pag pasensyahan nyo na guys yung mga bago na bisita sa ano sa group natin na diba may naiinis kasi, how po? ganun. Ano be specific na lang kung ano yung tanong para masagot ka nila kasi lahat naman na expert diyan sa group natin willing silang sumagot, willing silang tumulong napatunayan ko naman yon.

How about the others, your classmates, have they pushed you in your choice of career, have they motivated you in your choice of career?

Sa sarili ko kasing desisyon to, pero kasi pag nasa group kana mamomotivate ka talaga doon na mag improve ka ng skills mo eh. So ako plan ko yan ngayong year, ayoko kong mag stay lang sa ano sa skills nato gusto ko pang mag upgrade yung nga lang complicated pa kasi yung time.

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by Jason Dulay 
Jason is the founder and CEO of Work from Home Roadmap and VA Bootcamp. Aside from teaching Filipinos how to succeed working from home, he likes traveling, playing board games, and drinking coffee.

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138 comments on “From Online Selling to Freelancing - An interview with Maria Christina Garcia”

  65. Thank you everyone for attending another #JasSuccess Interview today!

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    Reply

  68. How did you manage working from home while taking care of 2 kids? How old are they? Ako po kasi super hirap nung time na nag wowork from home ako. They were 3yrs old and 1yr old that time. Super kulet ng mga anak ko hehe. Start pa lang ng work ko pero pagod na pagod na ko sa asikaso pa lang sa dalawang kids. ??

    Reply

    1. hi sis, 2 and 1 year old ung mga kids ko. Nung una, mahirap talaga kasi hindi pa ganun kalaki yung income so hndi ako makakuha ng katulong magalaga sa kanila, pero suportive naman c mother in law, kaya gora lang?? Kaya mo yan sis, time management din siguro ang sagot?

      Reply

    2. Thank you sis. Yun nga supportive din naman yung mother ko sa pagaalaga sa mga kids ko kaso talagang ako yung gusto nila magalaga sa kanila. Pag papatulugin na ng mother ko, ayaw magsitulog dahil ang gusto eh ako pa ang magpapatulog haha eh oras na din ng work ko yun kaya sobrang nahirapan ako.. nauwi tuloy sa pag reresign. Hopefully ngayon hindi na ganon. Lalo na nakabukod na kami ng house wala na talaga ako ibang makakasama magalaga sa dalawang kids. Sana maging successful ako ngayon sa work from home journey ko ???

      Reply

  69. How did you manage working from home while taking care of 2 kids? How old are they? Ako po kasi super hirap nung time na nag wowork from home ako. They were 3yrs old and 1yr old that time. Super kulet ng mga anak ko hehe. Start pa lang ng work ko pero pagod na pagod na ko sa asikaso pa lang sa dalawang kids. 😵😁

    Reply

    1. hi sis, 2 and 1 year old ung mga kids ko. Nung una, mahirap talaga kasi hindi pa ganun kalaki yung income so hndi ako makakuha ng katulong magalaga sa kanila, pero suportive naman c mother in law, kaya gora lang😊😊 Kaya mo yan sis, time management din siguro ang sagot😊

      Reply

    2. Thank you sis. Yun nga supportive din naman yung mother ko sa pagaalaga sa mga kids ko kaso talagang ako yung gusto nila magalaga sa kanila. Pag papatulugin na ng mother ko, ayaw magsitulog dahil ang gusto eh ako pa ang magpapatulog haha eh oras na din ng work ko yun kaya sobrang nahirapan ako.. nauwi tuloy sa pag reresign. Hopefully ngayon hindi na ganon. Lalo na nakabukod na kami ng house wala na talaga ako ibang makakasama magalaga sa dalawang kids. Sana maging successful ako ngayon sa work from home journey ko 😊😊😊

      Reply

  70. How did you manage working from home while taking care of 2 kids? How old are they? Ako po kasi super hirap nung time na nag wowork from home ako. They were 3yrs old and 1yr old that time. Super kulet ng mga anak ko hehe. Start pa lang ng work ko pero pagod na pagod na ko sa asikaso pa lang sa dalawang kids.

    Reply

    1. hi sis, 2 and 1 year old ung mga kids ko. Nung una, mahirap talaga kasi hindi pa ganun kalaki yung income so hndi ako makakuha ng katulong magalaga sa kanila, pero suportive naman c mother in law, kaya gora lang Kaya mo yan sis, time management din siguro ang sagot

      Reply

      1. Thank you sis. Yun nga supportive din naman yung mother ko sa pagaalaga sa mga kids ko kaso talagang ako yung gusto nila magalaga sa kanila. Pag papatulugin na ng mother ko, ayaw magsitulog dahil ang gusto eh ako pa ang magpapatulog haha eh oras na din ng work ko yun kaya sobrang nahirapan ako.. nauwi tuloy sa pag reresign. Hopefully ngayon hindi na ganon. Lalo na nakabukod na kami ng house wala na talaga ako ibang makakasama magalaga sa dalawang kids. Sana maging successful ako ngayon sa work from home journey ko

        Reply

    2. Ok.confused lang ako kc recently my kakilala ako na HS grad pero cannot apply for the position at least college level at need ng experienced.Cguro,hindi lahat ng company like yours.:)

      Reply

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