Friday, September 14, 2018

The Evolution of a Freelancer - From TFF Talk

As I've said in my last blog post, today is about Coach Jason Dulay's talk on The Freelancer Fair 2018 last August 25, The Evolution of a Freelancer.


There are 10 Stages in his presentation slide on a Freelancer's Evolution:

Stage 1: The Pain
Stage 2: The Researcher
Stage 3: The Quest to Get Hired
Stage 4: The Newbie
Stage 5: The 100k Earner (for 100hrs)
Stage 6: The Settler
Stage 7: The Niche Freelancer
Stage 8: The Confident Freelancer
Stage 9: The Smart 100k Earner
Stage 10: The Business

The following elaboration is my own interpretation of the talk. (Because I chose to listen to him while he's talking and did not take notes. Yes, I did not even record. Lol But he has a video of his talk if I'm not mistaken.)



Stage 1: The Pain


This stage is where a person feels the struggles in his everyday life. The pain of beating traffic every day. The pain of not being happy with what he is doing. The pain of not being able to spend time with his family or friends. Or whatever pain he's dealing, especially to his career.


Stage 2: The Researcher


When a person finally accepts the pain and decides to change his path to a more fulfilling road, that is where he starts to research the options. He starts to research about freelancing and how to transition to it.

He can search for blog posts or articles about how to start as a freelancer.

Or he can even search for a freelancing course that is suitable to him, wala nang paligoy-ligoy, turo agad kung paano ba ang gagawin as a freelancer.

After learning how to freelance comes the 3rd stage,


Stage 3: The Quest to Get Hired


He is now fully-equipped with the learning he got from researching. Now he just needs to search for a client and get hired.

Mind you though, a lot of aspiring freelancers tend to stop from here. Those are the ones who lose hope at this early stage. This is the most challenging stage which makes a person doubt if freelancing is really for him because the competition to the freelancers' market is no joke, it is continuously growing and one must stand out above the others to get hired.

But this is also the most inspiring stage, for me, because I've seen a lot of my classmates' stories on getting hired for the first time. Some took weeks, some months, and some even more than a year to get a client. They almost lost their hopes but with the help and motivation of our fellow VA Bootcampers, coaches, and mentors, they were able to get back up and finally able to land a job. And with the Hustle Challenge taking place every month, the chance is getting higher to get hired.

After successfully getting past this stage is:


Stage 4: The Newbie


As the word says, getting hired levels you up to being a newbie!

Since Coach Jason described newbies as those freelancers earning less than 100K, I figured I am still in this stage. 😆

But no worries. I am not in a hurry. I have my own pace and I am learning a lot in my current status. But I may have to haste to the next stage if the inflation in our beloved country continues to increase at its current speed.


Stage 5: The 100k Earner (for 100hrs)


According to Coach Jason, a freelancer has evolved to Stage 5 if he's now earning 100k who only works for 100 hours a month. That means, in peso, a freelancer's rate per hour would be Php 1,000 (or around $18/hr, given the 53.00 exchange rate) and only spends 5 hours per day in work (given 100hrs / 20 days, I excluded weekends).

So I assume those who spend 16hrs/day or so on their freelancing jobs does not count, right? Yes, there are those who spend lots of time with work, having multiple clients.


Stage 6: The Settler


As freelancers, we should always be growing, evolving.

Identify where you are and what the next step is.

Decide if you want to settle of evolving.

The world is constantly changing, evolving. If you don't want to be left behind, you have to evolve too...or get left behind.


Stage 7: The Niche Freelancer


Evolving is finding your niche. Being a General VA could be fulfilling enough for starters but as we continue on with work, we grow and learn new skills to offer, increase our rates, and separate ourselves from the rest.

In addition to that, we filter competition when we specialize in something. 

Stage 8: The Confident Freelancer

Stage 9: The Smart 100k Earner

Stage 10: The Business


**I'm the worst if this gets published without me finishing it....a lot has been happening outside of this blog, and I barely got time to think and write.**


****So this proved that I'm worst since it got published without me finishing it. xD But! I was able to update it....not all though. Kapit lang mga bes....darating din tayo diyan.****

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