If you have watched my previous episode – My Online Journey, I mention there my very first income online. That is actually in Upwork, freelancing. Upwork is a freelancing platform where different employees online go there. It is a global. All freelancers around the world is in Upwork and search for online opportunities. At the same time, employers also go there to find their virtual employees.

Basically, Upwork is the most common platform used when looking for online opportunity. If your focus is freelancing, Upwork is one of the most common used.

Since you have watched my online journey from last episode, I have actually 3 Characteristics or 3 C’s where I will share on how to earn your first online income.

These three (3) characteristics is the characteristics that you should implement and you should have to start earning your online income.

First C is you have to be CONSISTENT.

You should have consistency. As said: Consistency is the key to success. Let’s say you create your own profile, and you really want to start into freelancing. You create your own profile in Upwork then you complete your profile. At the same time, you have to be consistent. Whatever your title in your portfolio, your summary should also be like that. At the same time, the jobs you are applying is the same also. It should all be aligned. Your title, the summary and the jobs you are applying are also aligned.

We have many ideas, we have plenty of works we want to do, we can do many things especially in computer, I can extend. But one mistake that I have done is I am not consistent. I really don’t know what area or focus when I work online.

When I am starting out, my goal is to work online and to have online income. Actually, my another goal is to show off my profile earning. I’ve been changing my title, my summary and I am applying for different types of jobs. I am not consistent on what I really want to do.

But lately, you need to complete your profile and be consistent on what you can really do. What you can really show off to your clients. You have to be consistent. That is what you need to do first.

If you don’t know how to start in freelancing, if you don’t know how to build your own online business or online opportunity, if you are confused, you assessed yourself and think of what you want to do, what you want to focus. Not because you are working online just because you want it, you have to have the reason why and you have to be consistent on it. So that would be your area of focus. Time will come that you will improve everyday and moving forward. You can still develop it.

If you are really starting, start on the things that you can do and you can show off. Be consistent on that part first then later on, moving forward is you can develop it.

You have to be consistent in your profile and especially what you input in your profile. Another mistake I made before in Upwork is I got my first online job which is the manual presentation. Converting PDF to PowerPoint, that is my first task.

I am consistent on that part but on the next month, I am having a hard time of finding an online work, mostly I am denied or the applications are closed. In my news feed, I saw a post where for $1 I will test a system, I will download the app and install it on my mobile phone then they will give you $1. Because I really want to earn online, my thinking is that is additional to my income and for showing off a bigger income in profile, I grab it.

Even if it is not aligned, my profile is mostly closes to office, Microsoft Office so it is a little bit disaligned because it is testing of application or downloading an application. That is not good for my profile. If I will check back on that profile, actually it is already gone. If I will check back on that profile, it is quiet not good. I am not consistent on the jobs that I am applying for.

If you are having a hard time finding your client, don’t shift too fast. I can do this job but it is not aligned on your profile – that’s bad move. Yes, it is income, $1 but not good for your profile. Because you have to be consistent on what you can really do for your client, you can show off, should reflect on your tile, summary and your profile which is your work history. Which could be seen by your clients.

Second letter C is CONFIDENCE.

You have to be confident. If you are consistent on what you do, and consistent on what you want to do online, you also have to earn confidence on what you can do. You have to build that confidence that you can do that work and at the same time, you can prove that you can do it.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t be afraid that you will lose or you will not be accepted because that will test you how strong and confident on what you do.

Learn to be proud. Learn to be proud on yourself especially on your skills, your abilities, things that you can do that others cannot. If what you do is same with other freelancers, that’s still okay because you have to be confident that you can do it. You should have that when you are working online. Either freelancing or entrepreneurship. Anything that is online opportunity, whatever it is, you have to be confident.

One of my example is the first task that I did, which is the manual to presentation. The employer has 2nd question on the application, “Why did you apply to this particular job?”.

My answer is “I can simply do the job”.

Done.

I am very confident on that part I can really do that task. And that is what mostly employers look for. You have to make sure, that they are assured that you can do the tasks they have assigned. You are not just applying because the offer is good, the payment is good, the benefits are good, it’s not what employers look for. They want to be assured that you as an applicant, you are confident that you know and you can do what you do and if that task is assigned to you, they know that you know what you are doing. You know what they want to happen.

You have to be confident on that particular task assigned to you. You have to be consistent, consistent in your profile, consistent on what you can do then 2nd, you have to be confident that you can do all what is shown in your profile.

Believe that you can do it. As Nike said: “Just Do It”.

Just do it. You have to be consistent, then you have to be confident.

Third C – or the last C – last characteristics that you need for you to be able to start your own online journey is COMMUNICATE.

You have to communicate. I remember my first application in a BPO company, I was actually accepted for third attempt. For the very first attempt, that was after my graduation, I passed the exam, but I failed in the interview.

Their reason for my rejection is because I don’t have communication skills. That was a heartbreak for me that time maybe because I am a fresh graduate and at the same that was my dream company, at the same time that was my dream job. I tried but I failed and the reason is lack of communication skills. My respond that time is – why I need to communicate if I would only do is to program. I am graduate of BS Computer Science, and in my thinking I will just be programming, I will just code it, why I need to communicate. I need communication skills if I am just applying within the Philippines – blah – blah.

That is what I am thinking before. When I actually started working on BPO companies, I am also hired within that company for 3rd attempt and I get inside that industry. There I realized, we really need to communicate.

I also realized, that in everything you do, you need communication skills.You don’t need to be so good in English, you don’t need to be fluent in English, you don’t need to have accent, what they need is you can communicate with the international clients so that you can understand each other. That is what they need. That is also why, one of the criteria or characteristics is you have communication skills. You don’t need to be good in English, or fluent in English but as long as you can communicate in English because that is the universal language that you need to communicate. As long as you can speak and can communicate through English.

Moving forward, when I enter it, even I is not good in English, even I am working full-time online and everyday we have Touch calls in English. We tell ourselves, nosebleed for us Filipinos especially taking to our clients but it is not actually nose bleed but you need it.

You also have to be confident, how to communicate with them. You can answer their questions. You can understand each other.

It is said, you have to be good in English, you really need to be but you don’t have to be expert in English, or fluent, or social, or with accent in English, – like that, you have to speak in English.

I am not so good in English and I always tell it on my interviews but I can communicate through English language.

In Upwork, there are choices – Are you fluent in English or Conversational – that are choices in Upwork.

There are employers who likes Fluent in English, straight English, you can communicate but some are Conversational as long as you can understand each other through English language.

You have to communicate and that is one of the characteristics that you need. It is not you are working online, you have to speak in English, well you really need it because mostly of our clients are International. Most of the time, it’s English language, you can communicate.

You don’t have to be perfect in English language but you have to be confident that you can talk through the English language.

If you are starting your online journey, then you have to practice your English. They said, the best way to practice your English is to watch English movies or to read books in English. Actually it’s effective. I did it before.

I watch English movies, I read English books, and to be familiar with words. At the same time, if you don’t understand the words, get a dictionary or open Google, research for the word so that you can understand it more. You can use it more on other things. That is the practice that you can do when it comes to practicing your communication skills.

That is all that you need to do in your online journey.

[1] You have to be CONSISTENT. You have to be consistent on what you can do so that you can show it off on your profile.

[2] You have to be CONFIDENT on what you can do. Be proud on what you can do, on your skills, abilities and if you have secret power, you have to be confident on that part.

[3] You have to COMMUNICATE. You need communication skills for you to be able to have a conversation with your clients.

I hope you learned something from this episode especially for the 3 C’s. Actually there are more characteristics that you need to have when starting your own online journey.

Whatever journey you take online, there are more characteristics out there aside from these three.

For those who experience working online or having their own online journey, share in the comment box the 3 characteristics, not only letter C. Depends on you. The characteristics that you think that should earn by a starting online employee or virtual worker. Comment it below – in the comment box. Let’s share it so we can help others start working online.

How I earn from 0 to 75 to 500 plus dollar online. This is episode number one of Show and Tell.

This video is actually about my online journey, how I started and what I have invested to be here on where I am right now. I hope at the end of this video it will also be helpful for you to start your own online journey.

This is the timeline of my online journey.

2012 when I get interested and started working online. I register in Odesk and has been verified. Odesk is now called Upwork, it’s a freelancing platform we’re all virtual employees around the world bid for one job post.

I failed and had no income.

Why because I don’t have my own computer. I need to go to a computer shop to check on my emails and to respond with my employers. The next month, I invested for a desktop and still no luck. I decided to work for a BPO company.

2015 I got interested again to work online. With my desktop and my pocket Wi-Fi, I invest 2 to 4 hours of my time applying in Upwork formerly known as Odesk and finally I got my first job. It’s a one-time fixed project.

The task is to convert a manual to presentation basically copy pasting from PDF to PowerPoint so I earned my first $75 from that project but then again became busy so I forgot about working online.

2016 when I invested for my own laptop, from leaving my three-year BPO company to work for an IT Consultancy company to losing my job in November 2016 it’s like an open door for me to start working online again.

I am very determined and passionate to work online. So the next month, because I am passionate I upgrade my pocket Wi-Fi to an unlimited Broadband.

Serious and motivated to find my career in online. Days and months passed by still I had no luck. Of course, never give up so I had a deal with the Lord.

I pray to God that I will enjoy my three months vacation from December to January to February and will find a work again on March 1st.

I used every hour of the day to study and then I decided to enroll for an online course. I enrolled in a Virtual Assistant Bootcamp to increase my knowledge. I am the kind of person that I want to learn new things from the experts.

After several attempts of application in freelancing platforms like Upwork, Onlinejobs.ph and Fiverr, Guru.com, GoLance, Freelancer.com so finally I got another task. And that project cost $85 per website.

At least I am able to pay for our Monthly Bills and Rentals, monthly expenses in house but still short-term projects is not enough. What I need is a company that is full time for stable income to pay my Monthly expenses.

Finally last February 2017 while having a side job for a data encoding project, I received an email where I got an exam, initial interview and final interview and luckily I passed. In the email stated that I will be going to start on the March 1st.

One week before our trip to Iloilo, God answered that prayer. At least I can go home with new work on the March 1st. Truly God is an amazing God with perfect timings and until now I am engaged for that company as of this day.

Now you see my online journey, and I have takeaways for you before you decide to work online.

There are three investment that you need to be able to start.

First investment, of course, it’s a Laptop or a Desktop.

It actually depends on your personality. If you are an on-the-go freelancer then go for a laptop. If you are happy staying at home you can have a desktop. That depends with you. It’s better to have your own. Learn from my experience, applying jobs online are unpredictable. You should have your own, so that you can respond on your employers at your own time.

For the second investment, Internet

Actually we have lots of choices for the internet connection but you have to choose it right. When I decided to upgrade from Pocket Wi-Fi to unlimited broadband, it’s because the data usage allowance are not enough for  me to respond on my applications and perform my tasks. It is easily consumed, the 10 to 15 gb because less than a week, it’s fully consumed.

That is the reason why I switched from limited data to unlimited data. I first used Sky Broadband with 3 mbps. Then this year 2018, I upgrade to 25 mbps. Which is still affordable for me.

There is actually other options that you can research that depends on you. For me, this is what I currently use. Of course, for some unfortunate events, we sometimes lose internet connection, so we needed back-up.

For me, my solution is to invest for a prepaid Wi-Fi so I go with Globe At Home prepaid Wi-Fi so I can just load it up if I needed back-up.

Disclaimer: I am not an affiliate or employee of these companies. I just shared these because I use them and they’re useful form for me.

For our last investment, the most important investment that you need to start working online is Time.

Yes Time! Time to apply for jobs, Time to respond and communicate with your employers and mostly Time to study and learn new things. While I am applying for online jobs, I enroll in Virtual Assistant Bootcamp.

It’s an online course. Even if I am not a starter in online jobs, I am the kind of person who still want to learn MORE. I actually found new learnings from this online course.

The Work From Home Roadmap Team is continually progressing to be a better mentors for Filipinos who want to start working online. They will actually help and guide you side by side to be a successful and world-class virtual employees. If you are interested to learn and trained by experts, they have FREE online courses.

I will provide the link in a description box for the links on the online courses. For transparency purposes, I am an affiliate of this online courses. Meaning if you click on the links and you purchase, I get a commission but don’t worry that’s NO additional cost to you. I am just sharing this because for me, the Virtual Assistant Bootcamp has been useful in my online journey. That’s why I recommend it.

Please do not spend any money on these courses unless you feel you need them or they will help you achieve your own goals.

To recap, to be able to start working online and earn from 0 to $75 to $500 online you have to invest for these three (3).

Your own Laptop or Desktop.

Your Unlimited Internet for Unlimited work and of course,

Time – Time to start your own online journey.

Thank you for watching and I hope you found value on this episode. If you liked it click on the like button. If you have comments, recommendations and questions just comment it below and if you are still unsubscribed, please click on the SUBSCRIBE button and the bell icon to notify you on my
next episode.

This is Sarah Borja, this is Show-And-Tell Episode Number 1 and see you on my next episode.