When In Manila, finding a decent job that pays enough for your lifestyle may not be that easy to do. With our country having one of the highest percentages of income tax and average income, it’s no wonder why most Filipinos have resolved to making it through freelancing. Bear in mind though that freelancing is not necessarily for everyone, so here are a few tips I learned from the Manila Workshops’ recently concluded Freelancing for Beginning 1.0
These tips are in no particular order.
1. List down your Go-To skills
Your Go-To skills are composed of the thing you love doing that others might find “not so fun”. These are the things that you love doing for free but others might be willing to pay for, things that you can do on a day to day basis. These may be as simple as baking, typing, etc. There are a lot of things we do on a daily basis that we take for granted. These things we love might just be the key to starting our own companies and the like.
2. Prepare your Elevator Pitch
Say you’re in an elevator with the Bill Gates, what do you say to him? An elevator pitch is a short 2 minute description of yourself and possibly the job you can offer. It should be short and catchy enough to gain other people’s interest and leave them curious enough to ask for your card or call you afterward. Put your skills and strengths together to get your elevator pitch.
3. Start an online portfolio
Having an online portfolio allows you to be seen. After succeeding with your elevator pitch, your new client would want to learn more about you. In this day and age, everyone turns online for more info. You wouldn’t want them to find crazy photos of you on Facebook would you? The photo above is the Ms. Ginger Arboleda’s online portfolio. She is the General Manager of Manila Workshops and as just by looking at her page, you can already what a fun-loving person she is. Through your online portfolio, your soon-to-be client can already tell if you are someone he/she would want to work with. Think of it like your resume.
4. Start small and slowly go up the ladder
Before you go for bigger and higher paying jobs, you have to build a portfolio. Then again, how do you build a portfolio if you can’t find a job yet right? Well, lucky for you there are a variety of sites where you can find simple jobs to get you started. Sites such as Odesk, eLance, Freelancer.ph and 199jobs.com. I found 199jobs.com very useful as you can offer a variety of services for PhP 199. Through these small jobs, you can slowly build your portfolio and test your skills.
5. Stay organized
If you want to start doing freelance jobs, then you better count on getting numerous emails, messages, requests, etc. You will have to juggle multiple projects and various people. Make sure you stay organized and stay on track with the help of various tools such as Followup.cc for emails, Wunderlist for reminders, Hootsuite for Social Media etc.
These are just some of the tips I learned at Manila Workshop and Freelance Blends’ Freelancing for Beginners Workshop. It was a fun and informative workshop that really lived up to our expectations that day. The speakers Marv De Leon, Fitz Villafuerte, Ginger Arboleda, Nica Mandigma and Dandy Victa shared a lot of their own experiences in their freelancing career as well as gave tips and advise to those who needed it. For more information, make sure you follow Manila Workshops on Facebook. You wouldn’t want to miss out on more helpful seminars like this!
Manila Workshops
www.facebook.com/manilaworkshops
Freelance Blends
www.facebook.com/freelanceblend
