Get ready to be inspired by another #JasSuccess interview hosted by Anna Soriano with Upwork’s Top Rated Shopify VA, Maris Luna.

Maris was a Product Planner and Control Officer and also worked with Manulife Business Processing Services as an Insurance Claims Adjudicator.

In this interview, Maris shared a lot including;

✅ How she became A Top-rated Upwork Shopify VA
✅ The importance of giving Shopify clients the winning product that pays her $10 hour
✅ 5 Skills you need to learn to be a Top Rated Shopify VA

And a lot more.

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Notable Quotes:

• Yung eagerness ko talagang matuto, kahit dalawang oras na lang yung tinutulog ko. Talagang nagbabasa ako kahit sa cellphone lang.
• Lagi kong sinasabi sa sarili ko na mas malaki yung needs ko kaysa fears ko. Dapat mas malaki talaga yung confidence ko na magrisk. It’s all about taking risk talaga.
• Kasi hindi naman lahat may time para sayo. Talagang kinayud ko na ako talaga yung matuto sa sarili ko.
• Dapat basahin mo yung job post. Yung cover letter mo at yung proposal mo dapat  hindi adjectives. Like “I'm very responsible” hindi ganun.
• Pag nagkaroon ka na nang clients, first, second, third client eventually bumubuhos na yung self-confidence mo. Alam mo  na yung best cover letter mo. Kahit project based lang 1 month 1 gig, alam mo sa susunod magkakaroon ka parin nang client.
• Para doon sa mga kaunting tapik na lang na hindi sila sure, kung hindi talaga kayo sure part time lang muna. Wag kayong magresign agad. Yun din  ginawa ko and most freelancers nagstart as part-time naman. Hindi agad agad nagresign lalo na pag hindi pa solid yung knowledge or mas solid yung experience.
• Your only one decision away from a completely different life. Nasa sayo talaga yung decision, yung commitment.
• Wag niyong gawin excuse yung wala tayong experience, wala tayong backer or ganoon kasi maraming freelancer ang talagang nakatayo at sabihin na, kami din wala kaming experience. Wala kami as in zero walang laptop, walang internet zero lahat pero kinaya namin, nakaya namin.
• Pwede mo naman matutunan ng ikaw lang sa sarili mo. Pero yung kinaganda kasi nung may mentor ka talaga na may guide ka instead of spending 1 year na ikaw mismo yung nagreresearch,  baka 2 months lang shortcut yung learning mo.

Maris Journey to Freelancing

• First, she was a Production Planner and Control Officer at a BPO Company.
• Her second job was a Business Process Associate in a different BPO Company. But she needed to look for other high paying jobs because her father got really sick. Her income for her  job was not enough to support all their needs.
• Third, she landed a job in Manulife Company as a Business Associate.
• She enjoyed her work in the Manulife Company because of the higher paying job and she received more incentives, performance bonuses and benefits from the insurance.
• Even though she had already had a good job, she didn’t stop finding another source of income because her father had always kept on going back to the hospital almost every month.
• She did the research on Google and YouTube because she wanted to do a business.
• She kept on doing the research on her own without knowledge of freelancing until she read about a home-based job.
• She attended orientation and seminars in three networking businesses but she said "networking business does not fit to her".
• She never stopped searching for some information on website about home-based jobs until she found a freelancer’s group which called “WAP” before it became a Freelancers in the Philippines (FLIP).
• She got hired for a first job in freelancing as a writer of an article, which she was only paid 1 dollar for 3000 words article. But she was already grateful for that.
• She enrolled in the Virtual Assistant Bootcamp.
• She was approved in Upwork and got hired in writing again but she felt burned out in writing so she tried Shopify and started freelancing even when she was still working in BPO.
• She was hired by a Shopify owner and it molds her to become a top-rated Shopify Virtual Assistant. And that’s the time she resigned her job in Manulife.
• She has now a Sub-con to her work in her family and friends and built up her own Shopify store.

Q & A Highlights

Before your freelancers journey, ano ang iyong dating buhay?

Before I started freelancing full-time, nakapagtrabaho na po ako sa corporate job. Office job po for 3 and ½ years yung first ko po inline po sa course ko Industrial Engineering. The second job is known as BPO company naman. Pero hindi po ako yung nagtitake ng calls. Business process associate po ako, hindi kinaya nang current rate ko doon sa current employer ko nung time na yun. So, I have to decide na magresign tapos lumipat sa higher paying company. So, yun napunta ako sa Manulife as a Business Process Associate.

Yung time na nag enroll ka, hindi ka pa naapprove sa Upwork?

Opo, hindi pa ako approve ng Upwork. Nung nag enroll na ako tsaka na lang ako naapprove kay Upwork. Pero it doesn't really mean na pag hindi kayo nag enroll hindi kayo ma-aapprove.  Oo, siyempre parang nakatulong lang talaga siya ng malaki. Kasi instead of spending more time, sabihin nating 1 week paano maapprove  syempre nandun na yung tips right in front of you na mapashortcut ng mabilis.

Yung na nagstart ka sa Upwork paano mo naisipan na sa Shopify yung magiging work mo?

Kasi nga parang nadiscover ko yung una kong client na talaga. Yung sa product description writing natiyempuhan lang na shopify store owner siya. Tapos nung nabigyan nya ako nang access sa store niya, doon ko lang parang diniscover at  inaral ko ano nga ba yung functionalities ng stores. Tapos ayun para kasi akong naburn out sa pagsusulat.

Nung time na yun, niresearch ko na yung shopify. Tapos yung ginawa ko actually parang spying, nagsaspy ako actually ng profiles ng mga shopify freelancers. Binabasa ko ano nga ba yung mga skills nila. Ano ba yung mga sinusulat sa profile nila ano ba yung skills dapat na meron sila.

Intensive ba yung training?

Masasabi ko po, opo kasi marami silang orders yung store nila. Tapos dapat  everyday talaga may tinetest kaming 5 to 10 products ganun so medyo maanu talaga siya madugo, madugong training pero super mabait sila.

Pero nakamanulife ka parin niyan on the site yan? Hindi kapa nagresign?

Opo nakamanulife parin ako hindi pa ako nakaresign, yun na para kasing since na confident na nga din ako sa sarili ko na ay profitable talaga. Kasi sabihin nating mga 1 month 2 months siguro na stable na meron na nga akong work about Shopify nagkaroon na ako nang confidence na ito na yung niche ko. Pwede na akong magresign.

Magkano ang hatian niyo pag may sub-con ka?

Actually, yung integrated na full-time is greater than kung ano yung trade nila nung nasa office-based sila. Kasi nagfull-time na din yung kapatid ko.

Paano po hinahandle yung benefits tulad nang SSS, Pag-ibig, PhilHealth?

Hindi ko talaga pinutol yung sa SSS. Tapos kung ano yung premium sa SSS talagang pinatuloy ko siya. Yung sa Philhealth lang nag stop nga ako. Sa SSS kasi pwede na siyang maging quarterly nung nagstop ako. So, my option pa ako na magquarterly. Yung sa Philhealth hindi ko pa sya naanu, pero processing na ulit ako. Yung sa Pag-ibig lang hindi ko na siya pinatuloy kasi yung nangyari kumuha narin kami nang In-house na financing, hindi Pag-ibig yung gamit.

Ano pong super basic ang dapat matutunan if VA Shopify store set up, if VA advertising, if VA product description?

Yung super basic talaga, actually may kasama nga pong pdf yung pagnagshare ka. Pero yung talagang skills na ginamit ko is product research, product listing. Kasama na po yung  pagsusulat ng product description, order fulfillment, customer support though hindi ko sya paborito. Pero ayun nalaman ko na din, basic video editing.

Since Shopify ka na,  gumawa ka na ng sarili mong shop? Since nagboom ang E-commerce

Oo actually, meron akong sariling store pero hindi ko pa talaga na official. Hindi ko nalang po sabihin kasi parang  hinubad ko na yung store talaga. Pero hindi pa naman talaga siya officially running, testing palang kasi inaaral ko pa yung Facebook ad. Dun naman sa clients ko talaga yung  ginagawa ko kasi ako yung nagseset up ng campaigns, pero yung decision to kill an adset or to post the campaigns to scale up. Hindi po ako yung gumagawa nun, kaya yun yung part na inaaral ko. Pero pag set up ng camapaigns somehow profitable naman yung mga campaigns ko. Pero yun lang paano lang yung analytics aralin yung dapat tingnan mo sa statistics.

Nagtry na ako nang Upwork pero hindi po ako successful sa pagkuha nang client. Ano po ba ang dapat kong gawin?

Kung live pa yung profile mo kay Upwork, meaning hindi ka suspended ganun. Yung ginawa ko talagang usual na kahit na pinopost yun talaga ang dapat basahin mo yung  job post yung details niya. Yung cover letter mo at yung proposal mo dapat hindi adjectives. Like “I'm very responsible” hindi ganun. Dapat kung ano ang makukuha ng client pag inaccept ka niya.

Ilang beses nang nadecline yung profile Upwork ko. Ano bang need in complete ng profile ko?

Parang nasagot nung sinabi niyo na bago lang Miss Anna nagpa ilang beses ka nang nagtake at walang nangyari maybe it’s time for you to try another platform talaga. Yung clients kasi hindi lang kay Upwork marami pang iba. Hanap ka ng ibang platform malay mo nasa ibang platform ka. Pwede rin sa LinkedIn or minsan sa Facebook makakahanap din tayo. Pag nagjoin ka ng mga groups sa ibang network makakahanap ka ng pwedeng maging referrals.

Ano pong mga skills ang inaral mo to become a top rated Shopify VA? Saang platform ka po?

Yung platform ko ngayon Upwork and Onlinejobs.ph, mas marami lang talaga ako sa Upwork. Kasi siguro yung kinaganda nun na established na yung profile ko sa Upwork, may mga solid reviews, may mga solid feedback, may mga ratings na. Kaya mas madaling makakuha ng clients para sa akin kay Upwork. Hindi na kailangan ng offer or i-convince mo si client. May tatlong clients ako na hindi ako dumaan ng interview deretso na, kasi nabasa nga nila na may feedback ganun.

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