Writing has always been my way of getting rid of depression. I used to write in a piece of paper all my dramas in life and throw it away in the trash can, or burn it right after so no living soul could ever read it. Today, writing has become my bread and butter.
It all started in 2019, almost two months after I resigned from my job. I was so desperate to find a job because my loans were waving at me, begging to get paid right away. I was certain that I could get a job because of my mindset. I thought if my former colleague could find one with his broken English, I guess I could get one too. Im not saying I'm better than him, but being able to communicate with a client properly is a plus, and I used that mindset as my motivation as to not lose the only hope I had.
Then I started applying for different data entry jobs. Making the cover letter is easy but getting noticed by the client is always not. And the situation got worsen when I contacted support, which led to the suspension of my account. Yes, my account was suspended due to my stupidity. When I learned that I could still open my previous Upwork account, I immediately asked them to remove it permanently, so it won't conflict with my current one.
But I got suspended instead, and that incident had cost me a lot. I lost my account with more than 100 hours of working experience, as well as the positive feedback from the client. Although those hours were done by my friend (coz she borrowed my account when hers got suspended), I was still sad coz that was my only key to my freelancing career.
I felt devastated and hopeless because getting approval from Upwork after signing up takes time. I did sign up again for the third time but I got a lot of rejections from the Upwork team. But instead of giving up, I decided to Google other freelancing platforms, and that how I discovered OnlineJobs, a freelancing platform exclusive for the Filipinos only.
I signed up right away, completed my profiles, and started my job hunting. Not sure how long I did my routine, but one night, I came across a job offer looking for a ghostwriter. I don't even know what that was, but I still tried my luck and applied. A few hours after, I got a response, asking for some details and samples of my work. Luckily, I have my WordPress blog and sent to her the link to it. She then hired me the next day.
My first client was a Filipino. The initial rate was only $3 per article. The job was to write something about renowned entrepreneurs. She would give me the names, and I just Googled them. Luckily, most of the names are in Wikipedia with everything that I needed to know. But some aren't in Wikipedia yet, so I had to search all over to find what I needed. The job wasn't easy because that was my real first writing job ever. But with the help of my client, I was able to pull off her demands.
I also managed to get another client as a content writer for his Shopify store. I was assigned to write product descriptions and other stuff. Sadly, it didn't last long though. It only lasted for two weeks and earned $200 for that.
Days to weeks to months, and I finally got my courage to ask for a raise from my first client from $3 per article to $4. Unfortunately, something came up, and I hadn't heard anything from her anymore. So I applied for another writing job but the task was too much to handle that I quit after two days.
Then my first client came back, and we were back to business once again. But after two weeks, our internet connection was down and had to stop working for months. And then in January, I decided to update my Upwork profile again (for the nth attempts). The next day, I finally received a congratulation message rather than a thank you. After I got my new internet provider, I started applying for jobs. Then one day, I was invited for an interview for a job that I didn't apply for. I then grabbed the opportunity and after the interview, I got the job.
I had to end my contract with my Filipino client so I could focus more on my new one. Today, I have written more than 500 articles for my Italian client so far. But I'm also searching for jobs that are non-writing related, so I could do both without killing my brain cells.
And that's how it all started and definitely won't end it right there.
**All photos are free images from Pixabay.
Quite an experience but I'm glad you have a good mindset