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Why She Pursued Freelancing Even After Her Client Had Left Her Without Pay

September 30, 2020
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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Can an undergrad succeed in freelancing?

Here's my answer.

You can become a successful freelancer EVEN IF you're not a college graduate.

In fact, our JasSuccess guest tomorrow is a BS Nursing undergrad who managed to transition into freelancing....and succeeds.

But not without the challenges — one of her clients even left her without pay.

Ouch!

So what happened after that?

Why did she pursue freelancing kahit naloko na sya?

Find out on this replay here.

You'll surely learn from this rockstar freelancer.

Introduction

Watch this video as Erica D. de Guzman relates her journey as a freelancer.

Find out how someone who didn’t finish college ventured into freelancing and succeeded. Her journey was not without challenges.  Despite her client pulling a fast one on her, she still chose to pursue freelancing.

Let’s find out about the ups and downs of her journey and how she overcame them.

 

Notable Quotes:

  • To be honest mahirap masungkit yong first client.
  • Pero advise ko lang po huwag tayong titigil. Kahit na depress ka na, napuyat ka na, na pagod ka na hustle lang po ng hustle. at the right time ibigay sa iyo ng Diyos ang iyong first client. Mahirap po talaga, lalo ng ngayon alam ko po maraming nag tratransition po na maging freelancer dahil sa pandemic, madaming nawalan ng trabaho. so huwag po tayong titigil. Yon lang po. Kahit mahirap.
  • Yong time na hindi ako nabayaran ni client, siempre mas naging ma ingat ako. Naging sobrang komportable ako sa kanya so ngayon nagkaroon na ako ng limit. Akala ko kasi naging friend ko na siya. So parang naging sobrang trust. Ngayon every client medyo meron boundary na.  Hindi na ganoon nagtitiwala. So kung wala pang contract di ako magtratrabaho, kailangan may contract na tayo.
  • Unang naging strategy ko sa pag aapply ng trabaho. Yong nag aaply ako ng trabaho dalawa ng inisip ko, isang negative, isang positive.  Yong positive, pinerepare ko na emotion ko na pagka natanggap ako happy. Kasi pag doon ka lang naka focus tapos biglang na reject ka ma dedepress ka eh. So pineprepare ko na rin yong sarili ko pag nireject ako. Parang sinasabi ko hindi pala talaga para akin tong client na ito. Hanngang nasanay na akong mag apply ng mag apply. Parang ngayon manhid na ako kung ma reject ako or  matanggap ako parang naging normal na po siya. 
  • Pero mga newbie huwag tayong titigil talaga kasi dadating at dadating po sila.
  • Ang advantage lang po dito sa online nasa bahay ka lang. hindi mo na kailangang mag biyahe, pagod ka na sa biyahe hindi ka pa natanggap. dito po sa computer lang, Kung di ka matanggap eh di apply na lang po ulitsa iba.

Erica D. de Guzman’s Journey to Freelancing

  • A BSN undergraduate
  • In 2018 got to know about the freelancing world through a friend, Mark Uy
  • In 2019 finally decided to try freelancing. She wanted to review her computer skills to prepare herself so she enrolled at Cavite Computer Center. In Jan-Feb 2019 she finished the two courses, Computer 1 & 2.
  • In March 2019 she saw Jason Delay’s youtube 4-week webinar on How to Become a Freelancer. In the 3rd week of the webinar, she was introduced to FLIP.
  • After finishing the free webinar she got to know about the Accelerated course through Ms. Anna Soriano. She also heard about the FLIP meet up in Kawit Cavite.
  • She wanted to learn if VA Bootcamp was legit before investing in it. So, she attended the meetup. There she talked to Ms. Honey who explained to her what the VA Bootcamp was about. She liked what she heard so after she finished the 4-week webinar she enrolled at VA Bootcamp. She was also inspired by Ms. Anna Soriano’s testimony
  • August 2019 she joined the hustle challenge with Ms. Anna as her coach. After the month-long hustle challenge, her proposal finally got noticed. The was tasked to do email support and social media management but the pay was only $60/month. A bit low even for a newbie but she grabbed it to gain experience. The job lasted 2 months. The client gave her a 5-star rating, this jump-started her freelancing career.
  • Her second client was her biggest challenge. It started off well, it lasted 3 months. After each project, she’d get 5-star ratings which resulted in her being Top-rated in Up Work. Because she became comfortable with the client, she started working on the last project with no signed contract, that was when she didn’t get paid. She later learned that her client had some problems in his business. Five months after, the client paid her and gave her a good review in UpWork. Things turned out okay in the long run,  she is now the client’s VA again.

Q&A Highlights

What is your niche, e-commerce?

Yes, Parang doon na ako na ako komportable.

 

How many clients do you have now?

Actually meron po ako ngayon 4 clients, yong isa po duon, i-outsource.

 

Do you have plans of getting more clients? Premium clients?

Kasi pag premium clients pagkakaintindi ko diyan yan na yon $1K per contract $2k per contract. Yes po, yon po talaga ang target ko.

 

What is the ultimate dream?

As I said before,  yong income namin hindi na kami na momoblema. May pagbayad ng mga bills pag tratrabaho ng 5 hours a day. Nababayaran na lahat electric bill, groceries and  nakakatulong pa po ako sa magulang ko, nakakaabot sa pamangkin ko. Yong pagkain na gusto namin nabibili ko na rin di ko na natitipid ang mga anak ko. Kasi pandemic di mo sila mapasyal kaya doon na lang sa ganoon na babawi ka. Yon short term goal. Ang long term ko po mag karoon kami ng sariling bahay sa pag freelance ko at mahatak ko na rin po si mister na mag join na.

 

 What are the first 3 skills you need to learn that you like?

 Facebook ads, SMM, and Lead Generation.

 

How many hours a day do you work for your 4 clients?

Bale 3 lang gina handle ko ngayon nag out source na lang ako humingi na lang ako ng commission.  3 hours per client, minsan 2 hours. Pagnaninigas na ang tiyan ko sinasabi ko sa client ko na papahinga ako kasinga nagiging honest ako na buntis kasi ako. 

 

With disappointments like when you weren’t paid, the difficulty of getting the first client, and the struggles freelancing, what can you tell the newbies? What can you tell them to prepare them for the challenges they will be facing in the future when they enter freelancing?

First yong unang naging strategy ko sa pag aapply ng trabaho dalawa ng inisip ko, isang negative, isang positive.  Yong positive, pinerepare ko na emotion ko na pagka natanggap ako happy. Kasi pag doon ka lang naka focus tapos biglang na reject ka ma dedepress ka. So pineprepare ko na rin yong sarili ko pag nireject ako. Parang sinasabi ko ah hindi pala talaga para akin tong client na ito. Hanngang nasanay na akong mag apply ng mag apply. Parang ngayon manhid na ako kung ma reject ako or  matanggap ako parang naging normal na po siya.

Yong pangalawa, bakit ko pa siya gi continue kahit na scam na ako? Kasi sa situation namin mag asawa, gusto ko magkaroon ng career ayaw na man mo niya aking magtrabaho. Finocus ko na lang sarili ko dito para magkaroon ako ng carreer, sa bahaga kasama ko mga bata para wala na lang din po kaming pag awayan.

Pangatlo, sa  una lang po mahirap lang talaga masungkit yong first client.p  Pero mga newbie huwag tayong titigil talaga kasi dadating at dadating po sila. Meron po iba jan 6 months na wala pa pong client pero naghuhustle pa rin sila. Parang ganoon naman din po pag  nag apply ka outside. Bago sila matanggap ilang beses din silang mag apply, Ang advantage lang po dito sa online nasa bahay ka lang. hindi mo na kailangang mag biyahe, pagod ka na sa biyahe hindi ka pa natanggap. dito po sa computer lang, Kung di ka matanggap eh di apply na lang po ulitsa iba, So ang laki po advatage talaga ng pag wowork dito sa bahay. kasi di mo na kailangan mag travel, hindi mo na kailangang mag spend ng time mag ayos sa sarili mo. `pipila ka pa doon, abutin ka ng buong araw. tapos di ka pa natanggap. Dito pa mabilis lang yong process. 

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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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110 comments on “Why She Pursued Freelancing Even After Her Client Had Left Her Without Pay”

  13. Honestly VA Bootcamp 2019 pa 2 nagsesend na nv emails sakin but wala pa talaga cguro akong chanz nuon.. ngayon kc may net na kami sa bhai wala ng reason not to enrol excpt nlng sa maka budget talaga

    Reply

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