If you just started your journey as a Filipino freelancer, one of the questions that has been bugging your mind is most likely this: how can I start?
I also had that question several years back when I started mine. In this article, I will tell you how I could start my digital marketing agency from scratch.
Yes, I’m now a registered entrepreneur in the Philippines, and it’s time to start sharing my perspective with more Filipinos through this blog.
Let me begin my short story…
How I Started My Freelancing Career
After six months of working as a programmer in a local IT company after graduating from college with a BS Computer Science degree, I decided to become a digital marketer.
For several weeks, I taught myself digital marketing skills and applied for a company that luckily hired me to help their digital marketing agency.
I started my freelancing career when I realized that my friends from Cebu Blogging Community back then earned a lot without having full-time work in an office. Most of them have salaries way bigger than I ever imagined. They’re living a life that I always wanted: work whenever and wherever I want.
My last office-based work was in 2018. Since then, I’ve been getting freelancing opportunities I found across the internet. Most of the time, I get referrals from friends who know that I help businesses get more clients and sales through innovative digital marketing strategies.
How I Learned Digital Marketing
Yes, I taught myself digital marketing skills. The fundamentals of digital marketing are self-learned through reading articles, watching videos, and enrolling myself in (free) online courses.
One life skill that I’m good at is I can find the resources that I need in things that I do. I often tell people that most of the things I learned are a Google search away, but I realized not everyone is skilled enough to do their research and learn things on their own.
That’s still true today. I’m also blessed to be surrounded by people who understand what I do and help me with my day-to-day business struggles.
How I Improved My Services
The best teacher is experience. That cannot be understated. Online lessons, articles, and videos help us know the right things to do, but it’s always when we do the things on our own we learn best.
With my failures, I was able to improve the services that I provide to my clients. I can determine the things that can be improved because I have already made mistakes in the past.
Each experience is always a blessing. The things we learned in our day-to-day life as freelancers or digital marketers or business owners will help us become better in whatever we do.
How I’m Surviving My Business
I just started my journey as an entrepreneur. I’m a part-time entrepreneur yet. My goal is to continue looking for more businesses to improve their digital marketing presence, but I should learn how to delegate. This is one skill that I must learn to survive my business.
That’s how I got to where I am today. Your journey might not be the same as I did it, but I hope I could teach you something today.
If you’re an aspiring freelancer, seek help. There are people out there who, like me, are willing to help you reach your dreams. Yes, we can dream, and we should strive to reach for our stars.
7 Responses
I strongly agree that the best teacher is experience! As a freelancer too, I think my experiences have taught me incredible things for my job. I am still learning and I am enjoying the journey. 🙂
Congratulations, Rome. Reading this makes me happy and sad at the same. Prolly because of the weather. Happy because seeing a glimpse of your journey is inspiring and know that you have my well-wishes. Keep taking actions and I know you’ll be able to reach more and help more business. Sad because I wish Camchan is also still here to watch you and celebrate these milestones with you. Anyhow, keep reaching for your stars! 🙂
This article is great for a good advise for someone who is planning to start a good career as a freelancer. I believe that freelancing is not good for all because it is a flexible career with lots of commitment and time value that really need to track all the time. That’s why I keep a balance workflow between my regular job and my freelance gig. It’s just the commitment and I hope this article really help for those who’s planning to start a business in doing freelance job.
I am happy that you shared your journey in starting your freelance career, Rome. It is not easy to transition to that, especially if you’ve been working in a company for a long time. I hope this can help me in the future. 🙂
HI, Rome! This article alone is an inspiration to never quit learning and dreaming. The greatest roadblock is our fear of the unknown and how to get started, but everything is learnt if we are dedicated and persevered. I am not a freelancer but I could say that starting a new business requires a lot of courage. Thanks for this, Rome. I always learning a lot from you and your post.
Don’t also forget to be open with to possibilities. If someone’s offering you to collaborate, grab the opportunity! There’s nothing wrong with trying! 🙂
I love this line “Yes, we can dream, and we should strive to reach for our stars. ” It requires dedication and time to make all our dreams possible. It may be hard but soon we will reap what we saw.