This #JasSuccess featured Jhen Sison – a mommy VA who has found her ‘ideal job’ in freelancing.

After stumbling across a VA Bootcamp ad on Facebook, Jhen only started her freelance journey 8 months ago but is now earning comfortably online.

In this LIVE interview, Jhen shared a lot, including;

✅ What made her choose the online world over her ‘stable’ corporate job
✅How she juggles between her client tasks and taking care of her 3 beautiful daughters
✅How she was able to increase her rate from $5/hr to $15/hr in less than a year

And a lot more…

Free VA Course for Newbies
FreeLancing In the Philippines (FLIP) FB Page
Subscribe to Jason Dulay's YouTube Channel

Watch another episode of #Jas Success as Host, Ms.Anna Soriano, interviews Ms. Jhen Sison which also a VA Bootcamp graduate as she shares her success story on her freelancing career despite the struggles she went through.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

➽ Na eenjoy kasi ako pag ganun nagtitinda din ako sa school tapos nakakatuwa kasi pag kumikita ka ng sarili mong

➽ Nag abroad kasi yung husband ko so di ako obligado mag work so full time ako sa panganay

➽  So 2012 nag try ako mag apply ng call center

➽ Na tanggap ako sa NCO Marikina, tech support ako sa telecoms noon. After a month nag resign ako kasi di ko kinaya.

➽ Ayoko ng ganun everyday ko hinahatak sarili ko papasok sa work

➽ Sinearch ko yung odesk pero dun pa lang sa paggawa ng profile overwhelm na ako

➽Kung dati pa pala mayroon ng mga ganitong community katulad satin na may mahihingan ka ng tulong, may makikitaan ka ng mga unang nagka experience, mabilis ko sana siya napasok.

➽Talagang ina-aral ko siya, pinapractice ko siya, nagsasalita ako sa harap ng salamin kasi pag kaharap mo na yung nag- iinterview naba-blangko ako palage eh.

➽ Na hire naman ako at tumagal ng 3 years

➽ Yung time na yun na discover ko na meron pala akong PCOS

➽ Gusto ko lumaki yung pangalawa ko na natututukan ko din

➽Nagsesearch na ko ng kung saan ako pwede kumita online baka may mahanap akong online jobs. Etong ads ni Jason na kumikita siya ng ganitong amount. Sabi ko, ano ba naman ‘to, parang hinahabol niya ko, sa facebook, mapa cellphone, mapa laptop, parang nananadya. Nakikita mo naman na, sinearch ko na din.

➽Basa lang ako sa FLIP, sa ibang community nagbabasa lang ako. So ,aware ako na hindi ganun kabilis pasukan yung freelancing, hindi ganun kabilis humanap ng kliyente, hindi ganun kabilis bumuo ng profile, ng portfolio.

➽Yung mga nagsasabi na wala kasi akong time tapusin, panoorin. Hindi yan totoo! Ako habang nag-uurong, habang nag luluto, yung cellphone ko nakaharap kung saan saan ko pinapatong, iniipit ko ng mga lata para hindi tumumba, pinapanuod ko si Jason habang naghihiwa, habang naghuhugas ng pinggan kaya hindi niyo pwedeng sabihing walang time, merong time kahit papaano merong time.

➽Wag mo ilagay na expert tapos ang rate mo $5,$4 lang,ganyan.

➽Dahil nag hustle challenge ako mejo nahasa na ako gumawa ng cover letters. So, sige apply na ko, confident na ko eh! Tapos,hindi na din ako mabilis ma-discourage kapag hindi napapansin yung cover letter ko, hinahayaan ko na lang. Basta ako nagsusubmit ako. Ngayon, ang yabang ko pa mag transcription!

➽Nabawi ko na yung pinang enroll ko sa bootcamp. Hindi ko lang siya nabawi, nadoble ko pa siya. Sa transcription pa lang yun hindi pa ko masyadong confident doon sa transcription tinatiyaga ko lang talaga.

➽Nagkaroon pa ako ng another 3 clients pa sa transcription. So dun pa lang, siksik, liglig at umaapaw na yung kliyente ko so sabi ko “Wala na! Hindi na ko babalik sa Corporate, kasi hindi lang nag doble, hindi lang nag triple yung pinang enroll ko sa bootcamp kumbaga hindi siya ganun ka stable pero hindi na ko nawawalan.

➽Ikaw lang sa sarili mo ang makakapag-limit sa mga opportunities na pwede sa’yo. Kasi marami masyadong excuse ang mga tao, tanggalin nyo lang yung mga excuses na yun. Pwedeng pwede ka’yo maging successful.

➽Pwede naman mag work throug phone lang, pwedeng ipilit pero ikaw din mahihirapan. Mahihirapan ka sa totoo lang napakahirap. Simpleng word lang pwede mo gawin through phone kaya lang mahirap.

➽Yung iba kasi iniisip nila as expense yung pang enroll, hindi, investment siya para sa sarili niyo. Hindi lang kayo made-develop, maganda nag iinvest ka para sa sarili.

➽Hindi mo naman kailangan mag – enroll, kasi ako hindi din naman ako kaagad nag enroll. Pwede ka naman mag self-study kasi kung tutuusin lahat naman ng nasa bootcamp pwede mong aralin on your own, yun nga lang difference lang kasi hindi ka na mahihirapan i-compile kung ano yung mga kailangan mong matutunan. Hindi din sobrang info overload . Pwede ka namang mag aral, marami kang makikita sa google, marami din sa youtube. Actually, etong mga free courses na ino-offer ni Jayson sobrang laking tulong na nito, so i-maximize nyo lang yung mga resources na readily available na.

➽Kung newbie ka at wala ka pang nakukuhang client or hindi ma-approve yung profile mo sa upwork wag kayo mawalan ng pag-asa kasi sabi ko nga napakahirap talagang pumasok ng freelancing pero hindi naman siya imposible. Pwede mo siyang tyagain.

➽Make the feelings light, kasi kapag masyado mong pinupush yung sarili mo parang ang bigat bigat sa pakiramdam lalo kang mahihirapan kumilos. Pero kapag tulad ko, hindi ako agad nakakahanap ng kliyente, ok lang sakin kasi mas magaan ang buhay kapag wala ka masyadong pinoproblema

➽Wag masyado mastress. Keep on Learning. Keep on hustling

Jhen’s Journey to Freelancing

➦ At a young age, she already has this Entrepreneurial mindset. During her High school years, she’s helping her family by selling stuff in her classmates like Embutido.

➦ She did Direct Selling when she was in College.

➦ She got pregnant with her first child so she needs to stop her studies for a year and went back again after she gave birth. She was very determined to finish her studies even she juggles her time between studying and being a mother and was able to graduate in the year 2011 with a degree in Business Administration.

➦ She decided to become a full-time mom after graduating from college while her husband works abroad.

➦ In 2012, She passed the interview as a Call Center Agent in NCO Marikina and started her training but she only lasted for 5 months because she always felt sleepy during training.

➦ Her brother in law encouraged her to try Odesk because her brother-in-law knew someone who is working from home. She doesn’t have a computer that time, she just borrows from someone and shared internet connection.

➦ She searched for Odesk but got overwhelmed in how to make a profile. She doesn’t know what to put on her profile, portfolio and cover letter because of lack of experience. She got discouraged so wasn’t able to push through with the possibility of earning online at that time.

➦ In 2013, She worked in Western Union as a teller but after 5 months within the probationary period, she resigned from the job because she got bored with repetitive tasks and minimum salary.

➦ In 2014, Her cousin referred her to IBM in Eastwood but she didn’t pass with her first try in applying. She really wants to work there so when she applied again in 2015 she got hired as a Project Life-cycle Manager.

➦ She found out that she has PCOS that’s why she was not getting pregnant again.

➦ She enrolled in seminars on Tesda like Food and Beverage, NC2 and NC3.

➦ She underwent tonsillectomy in 2016, that’s also the time when she felt that she always got sick easily maybe because of lack of sleep due to work and coming from work she still needs to take care of her children. She also breastfed her youngest at that time.

➦ She found out her pregnancy in May 2016 for their third baby and due to some pregnancy issues her Ob-Gyne advised her to have a complete bed rest. Luckily, her manager allowed her to continue to work staying at home.

➦ She went back to the office after giving birth but she’s already struggling that time on how she can balance her work and taking care of her children.

➦ It was October 2017 she started searching again online on how to work from home and she saw the FB ads of Jason Dulay and became curious about it.

➦ When he got her 13th-month pay she immediately enrolled to VA Bootcamp and started reading also from different freelancing groups. She was already aware that It’s not that easy to do freelancing.

➦ She fully resigned from work in December 2017 but still, she didn't study the course but during that time she's already establishing routines for her children so she can balance her time with work once she starts working from home.

➦ She started taking the course seriously in February 2018. She created her profile in upwork and got decline for more than 5 times. She also created profile in other freelancing platforms. She’s also searching for a job in Facebook and saw Ms. Bong Job Post, she got the tasks and that’s her first 5-star client feedback and from there she was able to get clients through Facebook.

➦ She joined the April 2018 hustle challenge in VA Bootcamp but got eliminated early because she wasn’t able to send 3 proposals a day. She only applies to a job when that suits her current skills.

➦ During cover letter checking in hustle challenge, Ms. Anna offered her a transcription job, that was her first transcription job. That time she doesn’t know how to transcribe, she just grabs the opportunity. Deadline has come and she still not finished with the task It’s getting hard for her and got discouraged but she persevere to finish the task and managed to finish on time.

➦ Because of Hustle challenge, she was well trained in making proposals and gained confidence in applying for jobs. She’s not easily discouraged anymore if she can’t get any response from her proposals, she just continues applying for jobs.

➦ She focuses first on transcription jobs in upwork and luckily she always get a client from transcription. Now, she’s confident in doing transcription jobs.

➦ She was able to get the amount of money she invested in bootcamp in her first transcription job plus additional earning from other transcription jobs she got from upwork.

➦ In June 2018, She got her first invite from upwork. The client just saw her profile, and after their conversation, she was immediately hired as VA. Her first tasks were Email management at $5 dollars per milestone. She finished the tasks in 3 milestones.

➦ She gave birth last July 2018 and after 5 days postpartum, she already started doing transcription jobs.

➦ She followed up with her first client in upwork , she continued working with this client outside upwork as her first direct client.

➦ She even got another 3 clients for transcription aside from her full-time client. She don’t want to go back to her previous corporate job because she’s already earning more than enough to what she’s earning before in her previous job.

➦ She’s getting a lot of fixed job and confident with her experience so she raises her rate to $7 dollars in upwork.

➦ She got her first hourly work in August in upwork ,10 hours per week.

➦ After the freelancer fair, she underwent an operation and after she was discharged from hospital,she enrolled for another course and really wanted to freelancing more seriously.

➦ She’s already contented with her current upwork and not sending proposals anymore so she increase again her rate to $10 per hour and still receiving invites.

➦ She got another client for $15 dollars per hour at 10 hours per week.

➦ She’s already earning enough by just working 4 hours per day plus the transcription jobs that she’s doing and was very much contented.

Q & A Highlights

Before freelancing, Paano ang buhay?

   ⇒ Ang buhay hindi naman salat, sakto lang. Kumbaga may pang-gala pa din. High school up to early College hindi na kasi nag abroad yung father ko so medyo ramdam na yung hirap ng buhay. Pero nakakaraos kasi maabilidad yung nanay ko bukod sa nagttrabaho kasi siya suma sideline ng tinda sa office so ako din parang na enjoy ko yung mga ganun. Na- experience ko din magtinda sa school. Nakakatuwa kasi kapag kumikita ka ng sarili mong pera. Na- experience ko din noon na bibili ako ng embutido worth 10 pesos tapos bebenta ko sa mga tita ko ng 15.Nakakatuwa lang kahit papaano kasi kapag may extra kang pera, highschool pa lang nakakatuwa na iyon.

College nag direct selling ako, like Natasha , pang sideline lang din.Ginapang ko na makatapos ng college. Natapos ko 2011.

Nag abroad kasi yung husband ko so hindi ako obligado maghanap ng trabaho so full-time talaga ako doon sa panganay.

2012,Nag try ako mag apply sa Call Center. Natanggap naman ako dun sa NCO Marikina, tech support ako sa telecoms noon.After a month nagresign din ako hindi ko kinaya.

2013 nag-karoon ako ng trabaho sa western union as a teller. After ng 5 months yung probationary period hindi ko na rin tinuloy. Nag resign na rin ako.

2014, Nirefer naman ako ng pinsan ko sa IBM, Eastwood. 2015 nag apply ako ulit nakapasa naman ako then tumagal ako ng halos 3 years.

Mahilig ako mag enroll a mag seminars at sa mga workshop. Nagtake pa ako sa TESDA(food and beverage service), Nag NC2 at NC3 pa ako.

Paano yun ng nag work ka night shift, Sino nag aalaga sa baby mo since nasa abroad si hubby?May yaya ka?

Wala, kundi sa mother in law ko naiiwan sa mama ko.

How did you find out about freelancing?

     ⇒ 2012 , nagsabi yung brother-in-law ko na try mo yung Odesk kasi mayroon akong kasamahan na work from home lang siya. Ako naman, sinearch ko pero bilang hindi ka galing sa mayamang pamilya,nung mga panahon kasi iyon makakahawak ka lang ng computer kapag nag computer shop ka.Nakiki computer ka lang tapos ang hirap pa ng internet connection.Sinearch ko yung Odesk kaya lang doon pa lang sa paggawa ng profile sobrang na overwhelm na ako. Kasi, kakagraduate mo lang tapos yung first experience ko na sana sa trabaho iniresign ko pa so wala tlaga ako mailagay sa profile.

October, nagsesearch na ko kung saan ako pwedeng kumita online. Tapos etong ads ni Jayson na kumikita siya ng ganitong amount sabi ko ano ba naman eto parang hinahabol niya ako,sa facebook ,mapa cellphone, mapa laptop,parang nanadya. Siyempre nakikita mo naman na kaya sinearch ko na din. Nakita ko yung video mo, sabi ko , sakin nga dalawang anak pa lang yung pinoproblema ko kayo apat. Sabi ko, Ok ‘to.

November nakuha ko na yung 13th month pay ko sabi ko mag eenroll ako dito may extra akong pera. Pinang enroll ko si 13th month, sabi ko minsan lang ako makakahawak ng extrang pera eh di i-push na natin eh tutal sabi ko mahilig din naman ako mag eenroll sa kung saan – saan, i-enroll na natin.

Papaano mo naisisingit yung pag enroll doon sa Tesda kung yung time na yun may work ka pa?

        ⇒ Eh kasi pang gabi naman , so sa araw. Sayang naman libre.

Where did you find the grit, when things were really tough? Ano yung source of strength mo?

     ⇒ Narealize ko parang lugi yung pangalawa ko kasi doon sa panganay full-time mom ako talagang very hands on ako. Sabi ko, gusto ko la-laki yung pangalawa ko ganun din matututukan ko din kasi yung mga panahon na bumalik ako sa office hindi ko na matutukan yung bunso.

Kahit na mahal na mahal ko yung trabaho ko, napapaisip na din talaga ako mag resign kasi sabi ko dalawa lang yan eh. Either pipiliin ko yung trabaho ko or pipiliin ko yung mga anak ko. Siyempre alangan naman piliin ko yung trabaho ko , doon ka sa mga bata.

May nagtanong kanina Jhen, ano ba yung nilagay mo na Job Title mo? Anong work mo daw?

       ⇒ Nilagay ko lang “Professional Virtual Assistant”,very simple lang kasi naisip ko kapag ako yung kliyente at nangailangan ako ng VA yun lang din yung i-tatype ko so ang nasa isip ko parang kung meron siyang i-tatype kailangan mabilis makikita yung sakin.  

         Sabi ko kasi kapag nilagyan ko masyado ng maraming arte baka mapunta sa huli yung pangalan ko.

What is your work?

⇒Transcriber and General VA

Sa katulad ko po na highschool graduate lang, pwede din po ba akong mag- work as freelancer?

       ⇒ Pwedeng pwede, sabi ko nga ikaw lang sa sarili mo ang makakapaglimit sa mga opportunities na pwede sa’yo. Kasi marami masyadong excuse ang mga tao, tanggalin nyo lang yung mga excuses na yun. Pwedeng pwede ka’yo maging successful.

Gusto ko ding mag Homebased Job, pwede kaya kahit cellphone lang ang gamit ko? Sira po kasi ang laptop namin?

⇒ Base on experience , pwede naman. Pwedeng ipilit pero ikaw din ang mahihirapan. Mahihirapan ka sa totoo lang napakahirap.

Simpleng word lang pwede mo siyang gawin through phone pero mahirap.

Anong niche mo? Anong balak mo later on?

         ⇒ Social Media Marketing ang pinupursue ko ngayon pero nandiyan pa din si transcription, diyan ako nag start.

Upwork lang ba pwede applayan? Is there other agency that you can recommend?

Maraming platform na pwede kayong applayan. May list tayo sa FLIP community pero ako kasi sa Upwork ako nagfocus kasi medyo nabababaan ako sa Onlinejobs.ph, may nakikita kasi ako doon na $3 per hour lang. Pwede ka naman mag start ng medyo mataas eh kasi may skills ka naman na kumbaga hindi ka naman magsstart from zero kaya ayun mas bet ko si upwork kung sa rate lang din.

Ano daw yung tools or apps na ginagamit mo for transcribing?

⇒ oTranscribe

Any tips para sa mga newbie na gusto rin mag start , na walang budget for enrolling at wala pang laptop?

      ⇒ Hindi mo naman kailangan mag – enroll, kasi ako hindi din naman ako kaagad nag enroll. Pwede ka naman mag self-study kasi kung tutuusin lahat naman ng nasa bootcamp pwede mong aralin on your own yun nga lang difference lang kasi hindi ka na mahihirapan i-compile kung ano yung mga kailangan mong matutunan. Hindi din sobrang info overload . Pwede ka namang mag aral, marami kang makikita sa google, marami din sa youtube. Actually, etong mga free courses na ino-offer ni Jayson sobrang laking tulong na nito, so i-maximize nyo lang yung mga resources na readily available na.

And then, kung newbie ka at wala ka pang nakukuhang client or hindi ma-approve yung profile mo sa upwork wag kayo mawalan ng pag-asa kasi sabi ko nga napakahirap talagang pumasok ng freelancing pero hindi naman siya imposible. Pwede mo siyang tyagain.

Make the feelings light, kasi kapag masyado mong pinupush yung sarili mo parang ang bigat bigat sa pakiramdam lalo kang mahihirapan kumilos. Pero kapag tulad ko, hindi ako agad nakakahanap ng kliyente, ok lang sakin kasi mas magaan ang buhay kapag wala ka masyadong pinoproblema

Wag masyado ma stress. Keep on learning and keep on hustling.