girlsgotgoalsphAre you doing work that you love? Have you found your true passion? Are you excited to get up every morning and get work done?
If you have answered yes to all these questions, then you are on the right track on your career journey.
I’m a firm believer of finding joy in what you do. We spend more than half of our adult life working which means we owe it to ourselves to do work that we love.
Work doesn’t have to be mindless drudgery where we are dreading Mondays or are always looking forward to Friday or the weekend. Finding joy in your work is not impossible.
My career journey began when I got my first job out of college as an Associate Producer for videos and TV commercials in a small production company. I knew since college that production was what I wanted to pursue after college. So when I got the job as a producer, I was ecstatic!
My first corporate job and my mentor then was a huge stepping stone to where I am today and has molded me into who I am today. Being a producer meant dealing with all kinds of people and working on all different types of projects. Each video and each TV commercial had a different team that I would work with and being able to meet all sorts of people had both its ups and downs.
It was definitely challenging being in a huge position at a young age. A lot of older producers would look down at me and see me as just a kid fresh out of college who didn’t know what she was doing and some would treat me like a child. Clients and directors would try to talk their way and “bully” me because of my young age. This is where I valued and appreciated my mentor so much because she taught me how to stand up for myself and learn how to speak up.
After 2 and a half years at my first corporate company, I learned so much about myself and the corporate world. But my eager self was looking for a new challenge. So I decided to catch bigger fish and get into the events production industry.
When I landed my new job in a corporate events production company as an events coordinator, it was a whole new ball game.
The clients I handled were much more demanding, and the projects were much more challenging. I was again blessed with a great mentor and awesome teammates , who I grew close to. I am now in my 4th year with my company and have been enjoying producing live events for the past years.
Fast forward to March 2020, COVID-19 hit and everything changed in the blink of an eye. Our once jam-packed schedule filled with back-to-back live events suddenly cleared out. All our events got canceled a few days after the lockdown was announced. We were all dumbfounded and didn’t know what would lie ahead for us and for the events industry as a whole.
During these 3 or 4 months, while everyone was adjusting and figuring out what has happened to the world, I used this time to do some introspection.
I live alone in my condo here in the metro. But before the pandemic hit, I would see my friends and family and officemates every single day. So living alone wasn’t an issue for me. But when we were all forced to self-isolate and I couldn’t go out to see any of my friends or family, living alone took a toll on me. I started to have panic attacks, sobbing in my room, and just overall scared of the uncertainty we were all facing.
But then, with the help of my mom who is the strongest woman I’ve known, she told me to use this time to better myself instead of wallowing in self-pity. So that’s exactly what I did.
While our management team in my corporate events company was figuring out how to pivot to online events, I began dipping my toes into content writing as a side gig to help pay the bills. I was able to get a few clients here and there and was so grateful for them.
One of my clients, I noticed, wasn’t posting the blogs that I was sending her. So I hopped on a call with her and asked her why. Did she not like what I was writing? Was my content not good enough to be posted on her website? When I asked her these questions, she admitted that she just really didn’t have the time to post them online. So that’s when it hit me. I said to myself, I can help this client as a social media manager.
So I immediately did a crash course on social media management. I listened to all the podcasts, the Youtube videos, took courses, and read the books. When I finally had a bit more confidence, I pitched to this client if I could handle her social media management and help her out with the posting of the content. And guess what, she was so grateful that I actually suggested this, and she instantly hired me as her social media manager.
That’s where it all started. My journey as an entrepreneur.
I turned my blog name into my business’ name: Girl’s Got Goals PH.
From then on, I set my mind that I would grow this social media management business into something that would bring meaning and purpose to my life.
I looked for a business coach and started working with her to help me grow my business and understand the entrepreneurial path. She has been so helpful to me for the past 5 or 6 months that we’ve been working together.
In the past 6 months, I took on 2 clients for my business, launched my website, created my Facebook and Instagram pages, and a private Facebook group for women entrepreneurs. All while juggling my full-time job.
I got so addicted to personal growth and development during these 9 months of self-isolation that I’ve finished listening to so many podcasts on business, self-improvement, self-love, and self-development. Looking back to March, when this all began and the woman I am now, I can say that there has been exponential growth in these past 9 months.
Growing my business has been exciting and scary at the same time but the most daunting thing I have done so far was to submit my resignation letter (just last Friday!). My palms were sweating as I was writing my letter of notice and my heart was pounding right before I hit send. It came as a surprise to my boss and mentors but they were happy for me that I was following my passion.
My journey as an entrepreneur has just begun and I have so much more to learn. But starting and growing my own business has so far been the best self-development journey that I am able to take.
Social media has boomed so much since the start of the pandemic and I have been able to help my clients grow exponentially in the past months. If you need help with your online presence, I’m just one call or DM away.
Life is not about the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away, and going all-in with my business definitely took my breath away and I am so excited for the journey ahead.
I know the entrepreneurial journey won’t be an easy one, but it will definitely be worthwhile.
