Back in the days when I was still in my undergrad, my goal was to be a marketing manager in a company. True enough, I was able to achieve that. On my second job, I immediately became the marketing executive of a fashion brand in the country. After that, I became a marketing manager of a bigger fashion company. So I definitely was able to achieve my goal... but for some reason, I wasn't satisfied. What was wrong?
Apparently, a lot of things were. Like wasting my time on Manila traffic, not getting paid well for my efforts, not being appreciated...these kinds of stuff. Until one day, on my last job in the corporate world, there was an incident that everyone was pointing fingers at me for all the unfortunate events that happened during the project. That's where I had enough of everything. After giving my everything to the project, I never got even a little amount of appreciation.
This incident caused me depression and true enough, I had myself checked, and found out that I had a mental health issue. Working in the corporate world compromised my mental health, so for the sake of saving my sanity, I resigned from my last job and took a long rest. I stayed in the province and figured out what to do in life.
Ultimately, I figured it out... to work from home.
How I Started my Work-From-Home Career
I visited the city again for a while to meet with a couple of friends to catch up. One of them was already starting her career as a freelance marketing specialist. She shared her experiences as a freelancer, and I was encouraged to try it. So when I went back to the province, I immediately searched for the freelancing platform (Onlinejobs.ph) and looked for my first online job.
My boyfriend would always say I'm lucky when it comes to getting hired. Thanks to my work experience in the corporate world, I easily get hired since I already held an executive role. So yah, I landed my first online job: a marketing head of a babies fashion brand based in Israel. Fast forward, I did not like it, so I quit after just three months.
So I applied for another one in the same platform. I became a social media manager for a marketing agency based in the US. I worked for them for 11 months, but I ultimately quit because of conflict with a micromanaging operations manager. Everyone knows I hate being micromanaged. So I knew I wasn't gonna last long.
These two jobs weren't flexitime, but I was still able to pursue my fashion designing career on the side. I was able to join two fashion shows and created dresses for a couple of clients.
On May 2019, my life crashed like rock bottom. My designing career completely failed, and I jumped jobs in Onlinejobs.ph until I finally stopped looking for one. I was on hiatus for 6 months, and in the middle of it, I almost lost hope in both of my careers in fashion and in the work-from-home set-up. But now that I'm looking back, I realized that I needed that 6 months of rest to be ready for what's ahead of me.
Around September 2019, I tried Upwork.com and got a social media management client. It was a 10hr/wk client so it didn't really pay my bills. But it was in December 2019 when I finally scored the client that lead me to where I am today: being a Digital Marketing Strategist.
Now, I am a lot happier. I can work whenever and wherever I want, I feel appreciated, and I enjoy what I am doing. By pursuing the work-from-home set-up alongside my fashion designing career, I was able to invest in a condominium unit in the city, and I can travel wherever I want!
I don't know what the future holds, so now I am just thankful for where I am now and what I've been through. 2020 is a bad year, but apparently, not for me. It's full of blessings that I never imagined receiving.
Tips To Pursue an Online Career
Lately, I've been receiving a lot of messages on my website asking for career advice, how I got here etc, that's why I wrote this blog. I also want to list down tips/best-practices so I can easily share what I know so far about pursuing online freelancing.
Believe in yourself. Cliche as it may sound, but it's very important if you really want to go somewhere. If you have a failing mindset, you're really bound to fail. So start by trusting yourself that you can make it.
Explore Opportunities. This doesn't necessarily mean having a LOT of jobs. In fact, some clients get turned off when they see that you jump jobs too often. My advice is to explore opportunities where you'll learn a lot. If you can, level-up your experience each time you get a new job. And make the most out of each job. Learn as much as you can and give as much as you can so you have no regrets.
Continue Learning: While I was on hiatus, I was reading marketing blogs and took free online courses. There are a lot out there! Some courses even give you certificates after accomplishing it, which you can also put on your resume.
Make Your Resume Pretty: Make sure your online resume (preferably LinkedIn) is updated. Boast your experiences, your certifications, your skills. This will really go a long way!
Try These Online Hiring Platforms: There are a lot of websites offering online job listings, but I highly recommend Upwork.com because of its security features for the hiring process and the payments.
If you want more advice on working online, feel free to message me through the chatbox in my website! I'll be happy to help. :)
I want to leave you with a quote:
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston S. Churchill
