Beginning

2020. Probably a year to remember – at least when I am old enough to tell stories to my future grandkids.

If you would ask someone these days, “what has changed in / about you this year?” prepare yourself to listen to different kinds of stories. For me, this is the year when I started doing remote work.

Remote Work is not something new to me. I have been witnessing people so called “digital nomads” traveling anywhere while making a sustainable amount of income to fund their travels. For once, I have also met several people who didn’t have to do the daily commute just to get to work – they work at the comfort of their homes. I had this question in mind for years – “how do they do it?” It remained a question to me for years. Many years. Maybe because I wasn’t eager enough to know the answer. I wasn’t eager enough to learn how to do what they do.

I continued doing my thing: Have a “regular job”. Suck it up daily. Get paid. Get stuck in traffic. Repeat.

Things changed when 2020 arrived. I got stuck at home. Suddenly, I have all the time I need to learn something new. I am blessed enough to have a means to live. Many businesses, organizations and even personalities went online. Suddenly, it was a different playing field.

Then it hit me. “I couldn’t take staying at the same place and doing nothing in this changing world.” This is metaphorically speaking, okay? I started doing my thing – different from what I used to do. As a person who is hungry to learn, I started doing research about the possibilities of doing Remote Work. Finally, after many years contemplating and giving myself many excuses, I have decided to step into the world of digital commerce.

I started revisiting my “old skills” that I have and voila! I found the treasure hidden somewhere deep inside me. Some treasure that I haven’t used in a while – telling stories through videos. That moment felt golden. It’s like finding a key that opens the door to the outside world – again, metaphorically speaking.

Projects started to arrive. People started to trust in me and as a Service Provider in my previous day jobs, I wanted to keep that trust. (Dear clients, you know who you are. Thank you for allowing me to be of service to you.) As I type these words, I feel the stoke that we surfers feel when we ride a wave. Even though we can’t go the beach for a surf session these days, I am feeling this stoke of being able to do something that I love at the comfort of my home at my own time, without having to commute and most importantly, without risking my family’s health and safety.

This is going to be a beginning of something new and wonderful and day by day, I am getting more excited for this new venture as I learn new skills so I can be a better service provider. I may not yet be where I wanted to be but I am no longer where I used to be.

A few days ago, I was fortunate enough to be invited by a good friend of mine, Ferina Santos of Millennial Mermaid, on her podcast to share some experiences I had as I transition to doing a full time Work From Home job. It is such an honor to be her first guest! Trust me, she is a genius.