The pandemic has brought so much suffering for many Filipinos.

But sabi nga, one thing can be a curse to others or a blessing to some.

And for a student pilot, it's been the latter.

It led him to go back to a career that he once hated.

Find out how this crisis has blessed Jowi in our JasSuccess episode replay.

Be moved and inspired by his story.

INTRODUCTION

Watch this video as Jowi Morales narrates his own freelancing journey.

Find out how a student pilot got another chance to work as a freelancer in this pandemic. Be inspired by his life, career, passion, and success in Freelancing.

NOTABLE QUOTES

•  When I started with freelancing, I was targeting $3 - $4 per hour. Iyon lang masaya na ako.  And then, nag VABootcamp ako, ginawa ko yung profile ko, pinost ko sa VABootCamp members-only page. Nilagay ko dun is $5 but sabi nila ang baba ng rate so tinaas ko ng $7 at natanggap ako sa job na inaplyan ko. My Goodness! Yong posting niya is for $10, I could've gotten the job at $10. It's a lesson learned. 

•   If ever you’ll gonna apply for anything, tingnan mo muna ang rate sa market. Huwag kang manghula, don't think na ito lng ang rate mo. Di mo alam mas mahal pala ang rate mo. 

•   I wasn't confident enough to charge and yun yong natutunan ko. You have to be confident in what you’re doing, Kaya ka nga naging VA eh because they hire you as an expert. Now, you just have to show your value.

• If you're going to apply for a position or a job, hit mo yung pain points nila, kung ano iyong kailangan nila, empathize, and then sasabihin nila "Oh, this guy knows most of what  I want".

•   Emotion-based yong tao eh. If they feel that you're worth it, they will pay you. 

•  For you to find out how you are doing with your applications, you should write it down, so I have an excel file.

• I have sent a total of 28 proposals for the year 2020. Out of the 28 proposals that I sent, I receive 9 responses ( 32%). Out of 9 responses, I was able to close 3 so that is 11%.

•  Rejection is good for a freelancer. I got rejected pero it doest mean na I'll stop to apply. A week later I got hired for the same task, writing product reviews at a much higher rate. 

•  For me, very great blessing sakin itong VABootCamp and FLIP because the Lord has used these people,  in my career and yung mga discussions natin,  yung mga lessons natin sa VABootcamp, FCC at JASuccess. I experienced it right now, so very grateful ako with this community.

• Pinapatos ko yung internship ng VABootCamp, so FLIP intern ako sa September. It's very important to have a community with you if you're into freelancing. Sometimes you wouldn't get it from the people that surround you coz they don’t understand what you're doing. Alam nila yung traditional corporate, so you have to find people who do understand. People who loves you will eventually understand what freelancing is. Ako swerte ako because my parents understand it and they support me.

•  Kahit natapos ko na ang VABootCamp, I'm still continuously learning. I'm still enrolled in other courses, free and paid courses. My parents and wife supports me on that. So it's  very important talaga ang support system.

Jowi  Morales Journey to Freelancing

•  After he graduated from college, he entered the corporate world like most of the people do. He worked as a Customer Service (telephone banker) for major Philippine banks for 1 year.

•  But  he hated the job because of the following reasons:
  •  He worked 8-9 hours a day. He lived in Novaliches Quezon City back then and worked in Makati. Travel time is 3 hours one way, 3 hours going back. So he is working 9 hours, traveling 6 hours, a total of 15 hours a day. 
  • He is getting paid lower than most of the call center agents.
  •  He was really unhappy.
  • As a customer service support, he is one of the shock absorbers of the company. If the company does something wrong, they are the ones who will take the blame. He got scolded, heard profane words, and customers hung up the phone with him.

•  In  2015, he tried freelancing. He applied at freelancer.com and worked as a content writer. Back then, he had no idea about the freelancing group on Facebook. He didn't know about FLIP, VABootCamp, and hadn't heard of Jayson Dulay.

•  His salary as a content writer was $1 for 500 words. It's not even enough for electricity and other bills. He is just writing for the sake of getting it done because he is not happy with the job and salary. 

•  Only for him to realize that the guy who hired him is probably getting clients paying him maybe about $10-$ 20 and he outsourced it to him for just $1 in 500 words. That rate  is way below in that industry so he quit after 3 months

•  Late in 2018, he has a friend who is an office manager for a New York-based company. She hired him as a general VA and got paid for $2/hour . Most of the work is general VA and customer service. After a month of doing that, he realized that customer service is really not for him so he quit. 

•  His cousin referred him to FLIP maybe around May-June. As he started his freelancing career, he saw VABootCamp in FLIP. He got interested but not willing to spend.  He tried to apply for jobs but nothing is happening so he said to himself that he needs to study on how to be a freelancer but needs to spend about 10k on a skills package. 

• He then decided to enroll even though their family funds are already limited. He pursued it without telling his wife as she might complain because it involves money. He paid the course using his credit card but made a  promise to  himself that before the billing statement reflects on the card, he already paid it.
•  Supposedly it is a 30-day course but since he needed to pay for it in just  2 weeks before the bill reflects on his credit card, he finished the course in just 4 days. 
• Then he saw the Guided Hustle Challenge and wanted to join in for August but unfortunately the enrollment closed by July 29 so he was not able to join. Hence, he needs to do this on his own because he only has a 2 week deadline to land a job and pay the credit card for his enrollment in VABootCamp.
•  He started to apply for jobs on August 1 and got his first client on August 4. Right now he has 2 active clients , 2 previous clients and starting to work for another client. He is also writing a book about freelancing.
• He is giving away a PDF copy of  "Online freelancing. A Four-Step Guide To Start Your Journey"

Q&A Highlights

How are you able to maintain such an admirable attitude of just being happy?

• I was able to maintain an outlook na I don't care what they say about me as long as I'm doing good . I've always been a happy go  lucky kind of person, I roll with the punches. I'm a christian, a baptist and my life verse is Romans 8:28 " “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose". This is one of the things that I'm holding on.

When did you reveal that you are a freelancer to your wife?

• So  when I got the job, I told her about 5 days later. Sabi nya “Gumastos ka?"  Sabi ko “Bawi na", my monthly pay is much higher than the tuition fee. I can enroll 6-7 times over with the hourly rate that I got for 1 client and I have 2”. It's very effective to get results first to convince them that the money was well spent.

What is it that you want our audiences to learn from you from all your experiences?

• If there's one thing that they can take away during this time is you should never stop learning. You always have to learn  and invest in your skills. Huwag kang mahiya gumastos ng tuition, yang gagastusin mo na 4K will go a long way. I promise you it will go a long way and take it seriously. Go for free and paid courses.

 What is the future of Jowi? What comes next? What is the goal for you?

•  My goal is I want to build a freelancing service based  agency. I wanted to give jobs and opportunities to other people. I have this idea that I will train and find people who are experts in their own fields, mix it all together and operate as one whole package to clients. Another thing is, I want to help aspiring freelancers out there, that's why I am writing a book about how to start your freelancing journey hopefully it will be out by December. Of course, I wanna be a pilot, buy my own plane and ride above my travels, my travel adventures.