“Embrace the power of ‘grititude’ as you navigate the path of personal development, where resilience meets appreciation, paving the way for growth and fulfillment. - Shoden 2023”

Yo Work Fun Nation! 

Yun o, akalain mo yun. I’m now prefacing my emails with my own kasabihan wuuut. 

Storytime: there was a period when I almost gave up on freelancing.

Scratch that, marami yan silang times, but ito yung nag-stand out sa memory ko.

It was my third month in, and I felt completely overwhelmed and doubtful. 

If you’ve been reading my emails for some time now, you’d remember na mula nung time I left corporate to jump into freelancing headfirst, wala akong clients for several excruciating months. 

It was me, myself, and Ramen noodles for the foreseeable future - it looked like. 

Also, my mom kept telling me to go back to my cushy corporate job.  

And I can’t blame her. It wasn’t her fault, that’s just how moms are. They can’t stand seeing their kids na naghihirap. 

They’re looking at the lens of their generation, and looking at how they didn’t put their kids through school only to eat Ramen noodles for the sake of following your dream. 

Follow your dream? Ano yun? 

Hindi kasi uso yung follow your dreams sa kanila dati.

Baka siguro "Palo your dreams." hahaha like wapak! because Asian parents in general likes to shit on their 80s kids' dreams. (I don't necessarily have a way to prove this, but I feel it's true lang)

just like how batman slapped dreams lol

It’s just how it was. All they want for their kids is to see them in good shape and able to fend for themselves. 

Also, my mom knew about the late nights struggling to meet deadlines, the feast or famine income, the isolation - it was all too much. 

She knew kasi I asked for financial support sometimes. 

I wanted to throw in the towel and crawl back to my cushy corporate job. When I say cushy, halos petiks lang kami don, higher than average pay, may overtime and graveyard bonus, international trips, transpo reimbursement, extra holidays pati (we had Philippine and German holidays), and generous medical HMO perks to boot. 

May yearly performance bonus pa kasi this was a legit multinational firm. 

But then I remembered why I started this journey in the first place - to have the freedom of being my own boss and doing work I'm passionate about. 

Mejo malalim to guys, and I don’t really share it that much. 

Essentially it’s this: 

My dad kasi is a really hard worker, and he came from a barrio elementary school in Dulag Leyte to go on to put himself through university in Tacloban City. 

For the time and circumstance, that was a big deal for him kasi he had 7 other siblings and their parents didn’t really believe that education was that important. 

He was born in the 50s, and wala pa halos kuryente sa lugar nila nung time na yun, and remembers going barefoot pa nga minsan on the way to his elementary school. 

In fact when he wanted to go to college, he was told not to kasi ikakasal daw yung kuya nya and yung kalabaw was sold para may pang-gastos sa wedding.

He’s in his 70s now, and sobrang kapal pa din ng kalyo nya sa paa. Legit hobbit ata si Papa hehe. 

Hemingways, he goes on to get a degree by working odd jobs (dati mechanical typewriter writing jobs and secretary/assistant ng pari yung freelance work nya because yun yung meron, and deeply religious din sya).

He graduates and finds work in a bank, starts as a teller, and makes his way up the ranks to assistant regional manager over the years. 

We saw our simple life get a few upgrades din over time.

Nagka-owner type jeep, from an apartment na rented, we were able to move into a bungalow type house in the suburbs. Nothing fancy, pero may clear improvement. Kumbaga hindi kami mahirap, and naging less mahirap lang.

I still remember yung first time kami nagka-aircon. We all decided to sleep in my parents’ room that night and bilib na bilib kami na malamig sya. 

Pero something happened nung malapit na sya mag 25 years sa same company. The first employer nya pati.

I was in junior high school then and I’ll never forget it. 

He got framed na nag-approve sya ng construction loan with conflict of interest. Kasi daw may kick back sya sa loan, and it was a form of embezzlement. 

I remember the amount to be around 7 million pesos. 

As in 5 months na lang, he was supposed to get his 25th year loyalty award and get a tidy lump sum plus the option for early retirement. 

Naturally, wala naman na prove na may ninakaw yung dad ko. Hindi ever nagbago lifestyle namin, in fact nag-hirap pa lalo kami kasi Papa fought for his principles, and naubos sadly yung savings.

My mom had to stop being a housewife (we have a brother on the spectrum) and started working at a pawnshop and also was doing all sorts of stuff para makapag-aral kami.

Luckily I was able to go through parts of college as a full scholar, and had to take a lot of odd jobs to augment kung anong napapadala nila to me. 

I lost the scholarship eventually kasi nagbulakbol din me, uggh but yeah I had to work na talaga. Video editor, Internet shop attendant, research assistant, salesman ng dial-up internet card, prof assistant, runner ng paperwork, among other things. 

The resolution was 10 years in the making, and na-confirm what we already knew.

Na hindi nya ninakaw yung pera.

I was already working sa call center nun. Pero lahat ng potential benefits nya, all the missed sahod after he was dismissed, lahat ng fruits of labor sana of 25 years were just… gone. 

This made a huge impact on me.  

Kasi kahit gano pa ka-grabe dedication and commitment mo sa work, one swindling asshole customer ng company you work for can bring you down. This person who made the construction loan never paid it back na, and ginamit lang na fall guy yung dad ko. 

I still have serious limiting beliefs from this moment in time, but that’s another story.

Now, I realize now maraming parts of the story hindi ko na nakita due to my young age, and biased ako syempre towards my dad. May mga mali din syang nagawa, for sure. 

Pero, it taught me that putting all your eggs in one basket, - - no matter how big the company is - - is unwise. 

My dad did everything right, pero na-take advantage pa din sya. Maganda na sana yung success story nya, but it didn’t end well. 

He’d later come to terms with it, and okay naman na sya now but ibang iba lang life namin. It gets better din naman, but in a different way.

Whew, I think I fell into a trance retelling that story, but whenever I think about it, this happens: 

I realized I needed to dig deep and find the grit to push through. 

Grit is passion and perseverance combined. It's having a bigger purpose that gets you through those inevitable tough times every freelancer faces. 

Alex Hormozi and John Pagulayan both say “If you keep on doing something long enough, you’re bound to succeed. Just don’t quit.”

I don’t know if they said the same way, and matagal nang success quote yan but you get the gist.

I thought about the opportunities freelancing opened up for me to make an impact and inspire others. 

Whenever I felt like quitting, I remind myself of this purpose which reignites this fire.

Cultivating gratitude also became a game-changer. 

Lately ko lang natutunan as a freelancer yung gratitude, kasi to be honest I was angry at the world when I was younger. I harbored the notion that things had to be fair, and that everyone followed the rules.

But the world simply didn’t work that way. 

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and back when I didn’t have an awesome community to share things with, it was really easy to feel alone and confronted. 

Kasi nga hindi nag work for my dad yung “do unto others what you want others do unto you.” Turns out I was being a special snowflake lang pala. In the whole big picture, insignificant lang tayo.

I made it a habit to reflect on at least three things I was grateful for - a roof over my head, food in my belly, health of loved ones. Actually so much more than that na. 

It shifted my mindset from lack and negativity to abundance and positivity. 

On the hardest days, gratitude reminded me of how far I'd come from my high school and college self, and all I had to be grateful for. 

It gave me strength and kept me centered. And research shows gratitude actually enhances mental health and resilience.

We all face adversity as freelancers - burnout, problem clients, too many clients, no clients, handling people, growing, income instability, riding recessions, all of the things.

But by leading with grit and making gratitude a daily practice, you can overcome anything. Special mention dito are Tita Carol Medalla and Brian Zenarosa, they are masters at practicing gratitude. You can look them up and learn how to be more grateful and grit-ful din.

When you connect to your deeper purpose and stay anchored in gratitude, no storm can shake you.

So next time you feel like throwing in that towel, remember why you started freelancing in the first place and find one small thing to be grateful for - it will give you the fortitude to keep going. 

Your capacity and ability to thrive is so much bigger than you realize, .

Shoden “Grititude Rocks” San

💡Need guidance and clarity on your own reinvention? I’m opening a few paid slots after several of you messaged me about getting some extra coaching outside of TFMT. Limited lang ito, and first come first served basis. I'm starting with clarity calls muna with a 90-day action plan. Reply ka lang, let's talk.

🎉 Pst. Don't Keep Me A Secret. refer this newsletter to your freelancer friends and earn rewards worth $$!

☠️ Too many emails from me? I totally understand the need to declutter your inbox. Haha ako nga nagsabi na mag-declutter ka e. I hope my tips have helped you work smarter as a freelancer. No hard feelings. Just click below (may maliit na link dyan na kulay grey hehe).