Yo Work Fun Nation

Yesterday’s email about following your passion seems to have hit a nerve. (What is it about me and Rudy Baldwin, lol)

Hahaha. Salamat uli sa feedback and replies. 

Isasama ko pa sana kahapon yung reflections ko around the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, but it was threatening to become another short novel na naman. 

So today ko ituloy.

My parents had a copy of this book lying around at home in Tacloban.

I was home in the province during sembreak when I first saw it. 

As a professional toilet reader (yes naging disgusting habit ko magbasa ng whole books - - pati yung buong bible - - in the toilet, to the annoyance of my family members), kahit ano babasahin ko basta malapit sa CR.

Minsan nga kung wala books, labels ng shampoo papatusin ko. 

Shoutout dyan sa mga fellow (ku)Beta Readers natin!

Hemingways, The Purpose Driven Life makes the case that everyone's life has meaning and purpose. While hindi ako deeply religious, it is a really great read. Kaya mo tapusin in bite sizes. 

However, I remember finishing the book with my brain feeling meh. I suspect this was because di ko pa gets at the time what it meant to live for others. 

I was mostly thinking with my hormones back then, and letting my lizard brain and base emotions control me. 

It was only years and years later when it finally clicked for me. 

More than 10 years nga e. 

I continue to make mistakes, churn through my passions, and burn out over and over. 

Man, talk about being a slow learner. 

So I go through several careers, and generally go through life going with the currents of whoever I work for or whatever was taking my attention at the time.

Life seemed to happen to me, and I wasn’t in any sort of control at all. 

Me pretending that I wasn’t starting to burn out. Externally, it looked fun because I’m a visual creative after all. Circa 20** hehe

Going back to purpose, if I asked you why you do online freelancing, the most common answer would probably be “to get clients and make six figures”. 

I also used to be obsessed with getting more clients and just making more money. 

When I worked as a full-time filmmaker, I would hustle nonstop, submitting proposals and doing anything to land the next project. 

Then burn out, pahinga muna ng extended period all the while feeling lost, and try again.

Eventually, I'd burnt out for good and enjoyed the video work less and less. 

And then it finally hit me - I was so focused on the results that I lost my passion for it. 

I mean, I get it. 

We all want to earn well as freelancers. 

But chasing money and clients is an endless hamster wheel that only leads to exhaustion. 

I've learned it's better to focus on your purpose. 

And no, it doesn’t always have to be this grand thing where you feed millions of kids or you exterminate polio. 

You don’t have to be Mother Theresa or Gandhi. 

It can be as simple and as personal or as selfish as you want it to be. 

As simple as breakfast, even.

I kid you not, that’s what one of my really successful business mentors told me.

He said that he wanted to be able to cook breakfast for his kids and be a full-time dad. 

On the surface napaka-basic ng statement nya. Naive even. 

But it helped him focus on what was important. Being with his family. 

That meant na wala syang time to overthink kung anong market or niche or industry yung need nyang pasukin. As long as it could provide for his family while not being physically present in the business, he would give it a shot. 

If hindi pasado sa criteria, move on. 

A lot of his attempts failed, but some of them actually worked and are still working to this day. Di sya nagging choosy. 

And if you look at his portfolio today, you might think baliw sya. 

May mga Zagu stores in several locations, may mga laundry shops, may condos for long-term rental to expats in Rockwell, may stake sa isang pharma distributor, may investment sa new hospital malapit sa house nila, and many others I don’t know about. 

It all hinged on his question, will this business allow him to cook breakfast for his kids? (Deeper layer here is, habang kids pa yung kids nya)

So if you’re still commiserating on what to focus on sa freelancing business mo, tama na yan.

On your deathbed when you're 90, you won't be thinking na "sana nag Facebook ads na lang ako instead of social media marketing".

It’s not your life. 

You are not your business, it's just a small part lang yan of who you are right now.

Heck, you could stop freelancing tomorrow and still be you. 

You could fail and create crappy stuff a thousand times and hindi pa rin yan ikaw. 

You are not your failures.

If you suddenly offer something else for another market, no one will actually care.

Kaya please I implore you. 

Focus on building a life you love, not just worrying about your niche or worried na ma-reject ka sa outreach. 

Go further pa and don’t stop at being a Freelancer lang. 

Sure this is the Work Fun Home Nation, where I help Pinoy freelancers work less and earn more while having fun.. 

but ultimately lahat tayo are just using freelancing as a vehicle to enrich our journey through life. 

It just so happened na teaching and sharing ideas with others is what I discovered my purpose to be, na kahit anong career I was in, that seemed to be the common denominator of what I found fulfilling. 

Oh yeah, and ginaya ko din yung purpose ng mentor ko hehe. 

Yes pwede rin i-copy paste muna yung purpose as you’re discovering your own, ako bahala sayo hehe. 

So far it’s working. 

I’ve been present in all the milestones ng son ko his whole life.

That’s why nag-switch ako to online freelancing when he was born kasi being an actual offline freelancer and filmmaker would still take me away from the house.

Nag-step down din ako sa active operations dun sa video school and worked remotely na lang, before this business got hit by the pandemic.

Kahit hindi ako nagluluto lagi ng breakfast, it’s been great so far. 

How do I know it’s working? 

Kasi even if he’s only six, he’ll just spontaneously say I love you Dad out of the blue. 

Kinda getting a bit emotional as I’m writing this email at a coffee shop after driving him to school. 

Osha, hehe.

That's all I have for today.

May you find your purpose sooner rather than 10 years later, 

Shoden “Purpose-Driven Cook” San

ps. Our first WFunHome Ebook "How to Stop Self-Sabotage for Pinoy Freelancers" is going to be up for pre-order this Friday! bukas na pala yun omg! Exclusive price sa pre-order: 399 pesos until Oct 31. Then 997 na sya.

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