Every product or service has a price to pay and more importantly, has a value to offer. Oftentimes, we only see what we get. We do not see the time, effort and the experience it took to get to the actual product or service. We do not see the pre-work behind all the final output. We do not see the struggles, sleepless nights, and the countless failures that the provider had to go through. We only see the tip of the iceberg. 

I once encountered a Metaphor Story about a customer who went to a car mechanic to have his vehicle fixed. The mechanic checked on the car for a few minutes, and figured out immediately what to do. He simply tapped on a very specific part of the car and boom! It worked! Upon payment, the customer was charged $1000 and was completely shocked! When asked why it was “so expensive”, the mechanic answered, “That’s $1 for tapping on the car and $999 for knowing where to tap and how to tap.”

It might sound ridiculous at first but it actually makes a lot of sense because we are paying for the skill and experience behind the actual solution. $1 be the tip of the iceberg and $999 be what’s underneath.

In our day jobs, I would like to believe that we all have a value to offer, a skill and talent to showcase and a personality to carry alongside. All of these in exchange for monetary rewards a.k.a. salary / paycheck / professional fee. We demand for higher rates if we think we are not being paid enough. If we opt to have more rewards, we even work on side hustles whenever time and opportunity permits. We’d feel insulted if an employer (for example) would give a lowball offer beyond reasonable circumstance.

The next time we visit our favorite shops or local businesses, think about the value that they provide more than the tip of the iceberg that we get. Think about the labor and energy it took to have your favorite item at the palm of your hands in exchange for a monetary reward. If we can’t pay at full amount yet, then maybe it’s not for us to have yet. But if we have the means to pay in full, imagine yourself being a blessing instead. We have no idea how far a single purchase can reach. We have no idea how many families we feed with every payment we gratefully give. Trust me, we unlock a different version of self in every moment we choose to shift our perspective.

I guess people would agree with me 99% of the time if I say that 2020 is quite a tough year. With all the quarantine and lockdown, businesses shutting down, people losing their jobs, calamities everywhere (at least in my country). Day by day, we look for signs and symbols of hope for a better future… and what better sign could it be other than a beautiful morning with a message of new day and a new hope.

As much as possible, I try to keep this page updated with perspective stories and / or Video Projects that I proudly edited. Well, not all projects are created equal as each one requires different kind of treatment.

Anyway, these past couple of weeks have been quite busy: Had to do several works as I render my last day on my day job as a Marketing guy for a local gallery (hurray for me finally doing full time Remote Work!) Had to work on several projects, both from Upwork and from local clients. Had to keep my mental health and physical health in check by doing several exercises to keep my endorphins up – I must say, Yoga keeps me sane. CrossFit keeps me in shape… I’m not in my best shape as of writing this but you get the point. Had to check on my parents every once in a while. They live about 40 kilometers away from me.

To sum it up, I guess it wasn’t really a “Busy” couple of weeks for me. I would like to call it “Productive” instead. We can get busy but lack on productivity. We can also be Productive while not being too busy to see and experience the goodness in life. See the difference in perspective when we change the label of an experience? A wise person once said, “If we change the way we look at things, the things we are looking at will change.” I guess it would be such an honor to meet that human in person. See how I used the term, ‘wise person’ instead of the most commonly used ‘wise man’? In my lifetime, I have witnessed several wise women in action and I think it would be just fair to be gender-neutral in some of the common terms that we use. Again, change of label. Change of perspective.

Until then.

Lately, I’ve been asking myself, “What’s my purpose on Earth? Why do I even exist?”.

For many, it is a constant question that has a longing for answer. It takes a matter of time and contemplation before we finally figure things out. It could take a while or it could take a lifetime.

“Start with Why”, a best selling book by Simon Sinek is something that has impacted my life in answering this question. Though I must admit, I’m not quite a reader. I haven’t even read this book. 32 years of existence as of writing this, and I have only read about less than 10 books. I wonder how I survived school without finishing all the required readings.

You might ask, “How could you say that about the book if you haven’t even read it?” and that’s a completely valid question. When I was still pursuing a career in corporate training, I am blessed enough to be mentored by Carelle Mangaliag of TrainStation, Inc. Her wisdom and passion for her craft is really commendable. As the President and CEO of the company, She guided us, the trainers, into finding our ‘WHYs’ with reference to the said book by Mr. Sinek. We kept on digging. With her help, It took some time before I finally found mine, “I impart what I have to feed joy.”

From that day on, it felt like I am almost always being moved by this phrase, “I impart what I have to feed joy.” I intentionally put ‘almost always’ because I know I can’t be at my 100% all the time and there were times when I just choose to set things aside. But overall, it is an eye-opener for my soul. It’s like the governing guidance that leads me to making life decisions – at least in choosing a path career wise.

Time, Talent and Treasure: Something of high value for many of us. I don’t have that much Treasure (yet) but certainly I have a lot of Time and some Talents that I know I can use to pursue my purpose. I used to only pursue my dreams but I felt empty – it didn’t feed my soul. In times that I find myself pursuing my purpose, that’s when I know that my soul is fed.

Just so you’d know a little bit more about myself, I have an uncle who is a priest. I kind of grew up living in a convent with my uncle and some priests. For the past few weeks, I have been helping out my uncle in developing an Online Recollection Project. If you would visit the site, it’s still under construction and in need of more development. Pardon the simplicity and we promise to have it improve as time goes by. All the contents are care of him while all the video and development projects are being taken care by myself. This. This is one way of me imparting what I have (time, talent and treasure) to feed joy. God’ message is joy itself. I know that His message of joy will be planted in good hearts.

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.