NEW JOURNEY

2020 is a year of dealing with unforeseen challenges for me. Who will know that this pandemic will affect all over the world? Not only did the coronavirus transform so many lives, but also businesses. We are confined to our homes, and the future feels very uncertain.
Before the pandemic, our family was living a simple and contented life. We had a small business that was sufficient to meet our basic needs. Because of the aggressive rise in coronavirus infections, our president ordered a national Enhanced Community Quarantine to contain and mitigate the virus. During the ECQ, people were obliged to stay at home. Businesses were not allowed to operate for one month. Only front-liners were authorized to stay outside. I felt troubled due to the difficult situation. Our money was not enough to meet our basic needs. There’s a question that haunts me, how do we live through this situation? One thing that came to my mind was to seek God’s help to relieve all worries. I knelt, prayed, and cast all the burdens upon Him. I felt relieved then.

 I all started with no experience and don’t have any skills. I don’t have any experience working from home. This is all new to me And then, I have to learn how to juggle everything for this NEW JOURNEY to begin.

 I began to get more information about how to set up work from home. Many of my friends have convinced me to take an intensive training course so I can learn more about freelancing. I borrowed money from my friend to enroll in a short course for General Virtual Assistant. I also asked my parent’s help, asking them for money to use for internet installation. One of my brothers in faith asked him for help to assemble a desktop computer to use. After a month of training, I passed the course and received the certificate. But in my heart, I still doubted myself. I felt like I wasn't ready for a job, and one of the hindrances is that I'm not good at speaking English and I don't have enough experience. There were so many things that went through my mind. So many questions in my mind. What if I'm not familiar with the task? What if the client is like this or like that. These are the things that have held me back from starting my new journey. Again, I sought God's help in overcoming this fear. Since then, I have begun to apply for jobs. I've been through many interviews and rejections. I've been bombarded with a number of rejections. I was demotivated because no matter how hard I tried to get a client, the furthest I could go was initial interviews. But I tried to be as persistent as I could. I continue self-studying and watching video tutorials. Until one day, my friend outsourced me in handling her clients' accounts on social media. This is the very first job I had working from home.

Until one day unexpectedly, upon checking my emails I received a message for a job interview from hundreds of job applications I have. I was so happy because, after so many months of waiting, I could apply the things I've learned. I felt happy cause it feels like I'm rewarded for all the hardship I made. It took me less than a year before I had my first client and worked for 15 hrs. a week with a $100 salary for one month. I worked as an Ecommerce Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager in a startup company and stayed up to 10 months in that company. Though the salary is small, I accept the job offer because the salary doesn't matter for me, since I'm a newbie in this industry. It was a great experience and helped me to grow as a freelancer aiming to be successful one day. From then on, I also worked as Lead Generation Specialist and Amazon Virtual Assistant.

Now, I'm working as an Executive Assistant in a reputable digital marketing company. Another journey to start, new skills to learn, and a great experience to help me grow as a newbie in a New Journey in my life.

The lesson I learned was I can’t do it alone. I am surrounded by positive people that are ready to help me even in the most down moments in my life and no matter how long I achieve my dreams. Even though there are hindrances, no matter how hard it is, If we have a goal, as long as we believe in ourselves and keep faith in God, we can reach our goal. Everything has perfect timing. Learn to wait, and things will fall into place. From what I have now, I am very grateful and all this thing is for the glory of God! 🙏🙏🙏