Briefing In

Being A Veteran VA: Changing the Narrative

April 29, 2024 • a podcast for VAs by VAs • Season 1 • Episode 5

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In the 5th episode of Briefing In, we sit down with Cess, a “Jill of All Trades.” Cess is a seasoned Virtual Assistant and Freelancer who’s been navigating the world of freelancing for 8 years. Building her own brand, she has left a mark in Digital Marketing and continues to look forward to what’s next in her career. Discover how the market has evolved over the years, the biggest challenges facing freelancers today, and how the role of a VA has changed since she first started. She shares how things aren’t always what they seem, and gets real about the different ways freelancers are hurting the industry.

Don't miss this insightful discussion! Listen to the full episode and hear firsthand experiences from a veteran who has witnessed the industry's growth and transformation. 

If you liked this episode, feel free to reach out to us on IG and Tiktok. We love hearing from our listeners and welcome your feedback!

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) - Opening Spiel
(00:42) - Introducing Cess
(02:12) - Chapter 1: Getting started
(06:03) - Chapter 2: Journey into freelancing
(11:38) - Chapter 3: Embracing marketing
(14:02) - Chapter 4: Building a personal brand
(20:29) - Chapter 5: Perceptions and realities of freelancing
(29:27) - Chapter 6: Challenges and advice
(44:22) - Chapter 7: Defining success

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Read the full transcript of Episode 5 here.

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Intro
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Briefing In Podcast, where we talk about all things VA and work from home.

In this episode, we're going deep into the world of freelancing, entrepreneurship, and personal branding with our guest, who's been making waves in the freelancing industry for over eight years. We're covering all bases, from the secrets behind a long and successful career as a freelancer, to how to stand out in a crowded market.

I'm your host, Chelsea, and this is Briefing In.

Welcome back everyone. And thanks for tuning in to today's episode. I'm very excited to get into all the things that I want to talk about with the person that I'm sitting with today.

So without further ado, let me introduce our very special guest, Cess. Cess is a 27-year-old introvert who's been navigating the world of freelancing for almost eight years now. All her clients like to call her a Jill of all trades, and she wears that title proudly. So you can tell that she's a veteran VA who's carved her own path and has built a thriving career in her niche.

But that isn't the only role Cess thrives in, as her true joy comes from being a mom to her amazing seven-year-old daughter. When she's not working or doing mom duties, Cess is usually lost in the pages of a book, a fellow bookworm, and she's a sucker for collecting them too, which is an entirely different hobby than reading.

And she always takes mandatory trips to Fully Booked whenever she hits the mall. And to those who have an obsession with watching true crime documentaries and police interrogations on YouTube every day, you and Cess will get along perfectly. At home, she's surrounded by quite the eclectic bunch, a tarantula, five lovebirds, and two dogs, and she's currently on a mission to convince her mom into letting her add a corn snake and a scorpion to the mix.

So welcome to the podcast, Cess!

Chapter 1: Getting Started
Hi, Chelsea. Thank you so much for having me and hello everyone tuning in to today's episode.

Yay! When I reached out to you and invited you, you told me that this was the very first time you'll be doing a podcast. So I'm so grateful you said yes and are taking the time to talk with me.

It's always nice to try something new every day. It's always nice to get out of that comfort zone.

Yay, so Cess, I feel like you should talk a bit about your work and what you're currently doing and how, honestly, how you've been doing these past couple of weeks, especially in the summer season.

Oh, well, I'd like to touch on that first. It's really hot right now in the Philippines. I think I haven't turned off my air conditioning for a couple of days now. I can't go out without, you know, the moment I step out of the house, I'm already dripping in sweat. So it's been a struggle. And well, just on my freelancing journey, I have been in the industry for roughly about eight years now, but I've only really started focusing on doing things on my own for about, let's say, four years now. And right now my main job, or yeah, my main job is - I am a paid ad specialist, so other people call it a media buyer, other people call it depending on the platform. But for me, I'm a Facebook ad specialist.

Wow.

So when you go into Facebook and you see those annoying ads, we are responsible for those. But not specifically me, but you know, there's a whole group out there that specializes in Facebook ads. And the company that I'm working with right now, I like to always use the term work with instead of work for. They're an Australian company. They offer lead generation services in the form of Facebook ads. And our clients are from the roofing and home improvement industry in the US.

As someone, Cess, who really isn't that familiar with that side of things, and you know, as a casual consumer of Facebook and all those other social media platforms, what would you say is the true value that people get from those ads?

Well, you know how everyone right now, at this age, at this digital age, we are always on our phones, we're always on Facebook, we're always on Instagram, we're always on our phone, and these ads that go out, a lot of people would say we're always listening in, you know, we're always listening to what you say, and these ads they pop out of nowhere, you know, when you need something it's gonna show in your timeline, it's gonna show in your feed and I'd say it's really helpful.

Well, not really helpful for the company that runs these ads, cause they're like putting themselves out there and kind of marketing themselves to people that spend a lot of time on these platforms because some people, you know, they sell their services, they sell what they're offering on Facebook.

And because most of us at this age, we are always on Facebook, like especially the, I'd say the older generation are always on Facebook. And it gives that opportunity for companies to put themselves out there, to sell their services in a different way more than just going face to face and putting up a store and whatnot and just really taking advantage of this age where social media rules the world.

Chapter 2: Journey into Freelancing
Honestly, that is a true statement right there and it's kind of interesting to know that there's so much going on behind the scenes cause we only take like, yeah, it only takes like a couple of minutes or a couple of seconds out of all of our day as the consumers, but I imagine there's a lot of research that goes into it, a lot of reading and analyzing people's behavior and analytics.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. You've explained that very well. Exactly. We track, not really track, but we learn what you're doing on Facebook. We study your, like everything, every Facebook page that you visit. We grab information and data from that and use that to run our ads.

And that is so useful and valuable for people with businesses and services, just like what you said. But to kind of maybe go back in time a little, Cess, I'm pretty sure you mentioned once to me before that you started out as a general VA. Is that correct?

Yes, that's right. I can still remember. I was a baby in freelancing at that time. Honestly, I didn't know that there was more to it in freelancing than just being a general VA.

Honestly, I didn't understand or didn't know the meaning of what a niche is. And I thought freelancing means just working as a general VA for the rest of your freelancing career. I didn't know that the industry is broad, that there's a lot of opportunities out there aside from being a general VA. And yeah, but I started from there. I built that foundation from being a general VA, and I think it paid off pretty well for me.

And it worked out. I mean, when I first kind of officially met you and got the chance to hear more about you, I was so impressed by your work experience and your portfolio and the fact that you were able to build a career for the past eight years. That's really, really impressive.

But what made you want to pursue a specific niche, Cess? And what was that process like for you?

Well, going back to what I said earlier, I didn't know what a niche was, and I was six months in my job as a general VA when I came across the different niches. I came across digital marketing at that time, and I really thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life as a general VA and it got me really excited to know that there are a whole lot of other things out there.

I mean, don't get me wrong. Being a general VA is really a good, I'd say a solid foundation to start and build your freelancing career, but it's something that I didn't want to do for the rest of my life. So the process of what I did was - I did take a step back. I didn't resign or leave my job, but I took a step back. I assessed my current skill set, like what am I good at, what do I love doing. And then I did some research, just basing from my own assessment, what am I good at. And then I did my research and eventually it got me to digital marketing. Specifically marketing management and marketing automation. So that's how my career started to skyrocket.

At the time, Cess, I feel like, of course, it naturally comes with trying something new or trying something different. Something that you're completely unfamiliar with, like the fears and anxieties and the worries about, I guess the unknown. Not to sound dramatic, but yeah, at that time, what was going through your head? What were some of the challenges or the fears that you personally thought would come with taking on this new venture?

Well, first off, you're gonna keep asking yourself if am I skilled enough to do this new role? Do I have enough knowledge to work in this industry or work for this industry and do I have what it takes to help out or to work with clients in this different industry? And it took a while actually for me to get over that, which I think is what everyone calls imposter syndrome. So you question yourself all the time even though you did all your - right?

And I think until now I still have that thought. It doesn't go away, especially if you start something new if you try something new. There's always that fear and that's really the main thing that gave me the anxiety before when I jumped from being a general VA to marketing. And marketing is a very, I'd say it's a big world, there's a whole lot of other things out there in terms of marketing. And even though you know a part of marketing, there's so much more that you don't know. And that's what gave me the anxiety. And it actually also gave me that push to continue learning what marketing is about. So it's a mix of good anxiety and bad anxiety.

Chapter 3: Embracing Marketing
I like that.

If you want to put it that way. Yeah.

I actually kind of joined this workshop and this talk about VA and freelancing, and one of the speakers was also in marketing. And to hear what their industry is like, and it was so fascinating, but also it made me kind of realize like, wow, marketing is a totally different beast. Like there's actually so much that we don't know about. And like what you said, it's such a different world. It really is its own thing.

Did you always have an interest in marketing and stuff like that?

Honestly, no. Because I was intimidated by, you know, I was intimidated - when you say marketing it gets me scared cause I didn't have any experience prior to that when I was in college. I was in a medical program. And I jumped to this industry, it's a big shift. It's a big jump and I thought it wouldn't match, or I wouldn't thrive in the marketing industry. But as long as you do your research, because I've done so much research, I think that's what really helped me get past that fear, or get past that anxiety.

And there are so many terms that you're going to be unfamiliar with, like KPIs, like CPC, CPA, those stuff. I didn't know anything about that. I didn't even know those existed until I did my research. And when I started handling clients that work in marketing, like sales and marketing, I didn't know about that. So it was a little bit intimidating at first, but when you get a hang of it, it's rewarding. For me, it was fulfilling to work in marketing.

I love how you kind of shared that you just really felt ill-prepared and had all these worries and fears, but you still kept going. I read this advice once that when it comes to doing these things or trying something new, you really do just have to get started before you can get good. And it's always the getting started part. That's the hardest.

Yes, I agree. It's always day one that’s hard.

Chapter 4: Building a Personal Brand
So you mentioned that four years ago, that's when you kind of started building your own kind of brand or marketing yourself as an independent digital marketer - freelancer?

Yes, I'd say independent contractor because I didn't stick to marketing really, because I jumped from one role to another because I didn't want to stay in one niche, I jumped from one niche to another until I got to this point,  because I have a ADHD and, you know, I couldn't stand being in one role for a long time.

And it was just that this client of mine gave me that opportunity. Well, I stayed with them for about three years now because it's always something new with them. And I think, yeah, that's what made me stay. But, sorry, just going back to your question. Sorry, a bit of a segue there.

But going back to your question, I'd say - so I've had my fair share of experiences with working for agencies. Some good but mostly bad, and there are a lot of horror stories out there with working for agencies. I'm pretty sure you've come across them, and you've heard of them.

And what really pushed me to become an independent contractor was this specific moment, let's say, this specific time where my client reached out to me and then said ”You know, I'm paying this much to your agency. How much are you getting?” and it opened up my eyes because I was only getting 20 percent of what they're paying the agency. And the agency's cut was 80 percent. So I get it. They have overhead costs because they have people working, they have people managing, advertising, they have people working for them. I get that.

But I felt like at that time, it was a little unfair, because I was doing mostly all the work for the client, and I'm not getting compensated properly. And that's what really pushed me to get out there and be an independent contractor. But there were some challenges that came with it. When I stepped out of that, working with an agency, and I'd say it was really hard at first because you're basically doing a one-man, one-woman show. So you're basically your own marketing team, your own payroll, your own finance team, your own admin team.

You're own HR.

Everything. You're on your own. You're on your own and that's really hard if you haven't prepared yourself. If you just went straight to being an independent contractor with no idea how to become one or how to be more prepared to become an independent contractor, there's a struggle. I wouldn't even say a little bit, but there's a lot of struggle there. But eventually, once you get the hang of it, once you get into the flow with working on your own, it's really rewarding. Less headache for you, I'd say.

That actually gets me into my next question, Cess, which was, what are really the essentials? You said that if you really have no idea about what you're getting yourself into, that's not a good place to start, right? So in your opinion, in what ways should people who really want to get into this industry and build a career and start on the right foot, what are the essentials that you think they should ensure that they've got on their back before they get started?

A lot of people will probably expect me to say, you know, internet, a laptop, computer, but no, I wouldn't touch on that because that's given. You know, you won't be able to work from home if you don't have those. But off the top of my head, I have a couple of things that I think are essentials when you wanna start joining the freelancing industry.

First one, I'd say this is gonna be a long one, because I have a couple of things that I really wanna say out loud. So I'll start with the first one, which is the mindset. If you have a mindset that freelancing is easy, please get rid of that mindset before you disappoint yourself. Freelancing isn't a walk in the park. It's not like the easiest way to get rich. Please, get rid of that mindset because it's not, right? It's hard.

You're not gonna go on starting sending applications and then have a client, snap of your fingers. That's not happening. You have to set expectations with yourself that it's going to take some time - from learning a new skill, from equipping yourself with knowledge to actual sending out of applications and to the time that clients get back to you. There's quite a bit of a time there before you actually start working for a client.

I don't have a feeling but I know what contributed to this mindset. I think you're familiar with this. If you go on TikTok you'd see a lot of these so-called freelancer influencers. They flex their lifestyle. They even flex their income, like six-digit income over TikTok. They flex their lavish lifestyle that they're always on the go, they're always on the beach. But most of the time, if not all the time, they don't tell you the truth on how hard it was to get to that point.

And people are so focused on that income potential. I mean, of course, who wouldn't? It's money, right, in this economy. We'd want to earn so much more than what we're earning right now, but save yourself the disappointment, save yourself. Yes. Just save yourself, basically, save yourself from that, get rid of that mindset. It's not gonna to get you anywhere quick. Freelancing isn't a get-rich-quick or get-rich-easy scheme. And you're going to end up going back to your corporate job if you keep that mindset, or if you don't have a corporate job, like your previous job if you keep that kind of mindset.

Chapter 5: Perceptions and Realities of Freelancing
Amazing. So, Cess, what's your opinion on, I'm sure you've heard this a lot more often than I have as I'm still quite fresh as a VA and in the industry, but what's your opinion on the notion or perception that people have about being a VA in the freelancing industry that, to kind of put it plainly, it's more of a passing kind of career.

Something that people just do in passing, you know, like it's not actually what they want to do or what they want to pursue but because they have free time and because they think it's easy, like what you said, and they think it's just like a quick way to make money, they go into the industry with that mindset and just it's like a passing thing. What's your opinion on that?

Honestly, I think it hurts the industry more than it's helping the industry. Because you know, if you are not serious with the freelancing industry, if you're not serious with keeping a freelancing job, being or staying in the freelancing industry, you're going to end up ghosting your client because you don't want to work anymore.

You don't want to continue working because you're already bored or you don't need the extra income. Well, not that that's true, but you know, we always need extra income, but it's definitely going to hurt the industry more because people or clients especially would think, you know, oh, “I've had a lot of experiences with Filipino VAs - they don't follow through, they stop working in the specific like two, three months time”, and it's going to give us a bad image.

If you don't want to stay in freelancing for a long time, say it out loud. You know, be open to that. Tell that to your clients. Don't let them think that you're going to stay in for the long run. Just say, if you want to be in the freelancing industry, just take on, like, for a short time, just take on project-based clients. Those will definitely fit that type of lifestyle that you want, that you don't want to focus your career in freelancing.

I love how you talked about the different ways that, you know, with our current market, there's so many people out there that's capitalizing on people's lack of knowledge, like the content that you said that is quite large on TikTok.

And I love how you really changed the narrative about that because it's so easy, once again, for those outside of the industry to not take it seriously and to be so ill-informed, and basically they are quite impressionable cause they know nothing about it. But why do you think, that is, that not that many people do talk about the negative side of things or the truly challenging things that comes with the job. Why do you think we don't talk about it that much?

Because a lot of people would take it as a form of discouraging them to join the freelancing industry. And, you know, it's hard to tell people - you know, humans are wired to always take in positive things all the time and they don't take it lightly when you say something even just a little bit negative about something they're interested in.

And these aspiring freelancers, they're very interested in joining the industry and when you tell them, it's not easy, it's not hard, then they will take it the wrong way. I actually had an experience, personally, someone was asking about how to be a freelancer and when I told them it isn't as easy as you think it is, they actually blocked me. And they told me that I'm just so focused on, you know, my own self, I'm being selfish because I'm not teaching them, but they just didn't give me the opportunity to tell them more.

And I think that's what - a lot of veteran VA's, as much as possible, you don't hear them talk about the freelancing industry a lot. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but when you go on TikTok, most of these freelancers that go on TikTok that talk about the industry are always those that just joined the industry. Again, don't get me wrong. There are a lot of veteran VAs out there that help other people. And help aspiring freelancers. They give out tips. They give out free resources, but it's always those Influencer-freelancers that are always on other people's feeds.

They're always out there. I just don't know how they got there, but they’re always out there. You can't escape them and they always position freelancing as it's a get-rich-quick scheme. They say that at the end of the week, this is their earnings and it's how they entice people to join freelancing. You know, they entice people by showing the income that they're gonna get. They don't tell you the struggles, how hard it was, they're not being transparent.

Because it's, most of the time, these certain influencers. They are selling courses. And you know at the end of the video they're gonna say if you want to learn more just click on my bio, visit my profile, and click on my bio and you can learn all the stuff there. But when you get to the bio you get to the link, it's not actually free and you know, you have to shell out money. And you know, you can start freelancing for free. At this age, you have access to the internet. If you say you don't have Wi-Fi, you have mobile data, there are cafes out there that you can, you know, go to and use the internet. You have YouTube, you have Google, you have all the resources readily available to you to start doing research.

And basically these courses that you're paying for are usually just content that was just grabbed from Google. So you're basically paying these influencers, TikTok influencers, freelance influencers, to do the research for you. And if you can't do your own research, then you're not going to thrive in the freelancing industry, cause researching is really the main skill that you want to brace yourself with when you want to join the freelancing industry.

I agree. I feel like I always emphasize and kind of champion the soft skills that you really need to be a VA, to be a freelancer because, yeah, the technical skills, they are what we're getting paid to do, you know like our outputs and our tasks and the services we can provide. Of course, that's what we're marketing and that's what our clients are paying us to do.

But I love how you're really highlighting the soft skills that you need because it's not something that necessarily can be taught, right? And it's not something that if you Google, how to be a VA or something, they're not gonna tell you you need to have initiative or you need to have great research skills or you need to have critical thinking and problem-solving skills. You add value to your clients in that way because everyone can.

I'm just going to talk about some general VA tasks, but everyone can respond and write email templates, like they can respond to emails. They can write email templates. Everyone can schedule posts on a content scheduler or set up meetings on Google Calendar. But it's the experience, and the value that you bring to your client's businesses is how you really change or shape their business in a way.

But again, I feel like for those aspiring VAs who are just kind of in it for the quick get-money-rich type of things. I don't think they would necessarily think or care about the value that they're really bringing to their clients' businesses because at the end of the day, they just see it as a way to make money.

Yeah, exactly. And most of the time, these freelancers that are in it just for the money, they're usually the ones who don't last long, honestly. They're gonna last maybe a week or two, or if they do last longer than, let's say, a month, then the work quality is really poor. And that's gonna give a bad image to us freelancers who are doing their best, who are doing honest work.

Chapter 6: Challenges and Advice
But honestly, it really takes a lot of courage to be sharing what you're sharing now and to be so open about the different ways that the people in the industry are hurting the industry. It's so great to be sitting down with you, to be honest. I'm someone who has so much experience and so much valuable insights because I'm learning so so much. And I'm kind of curious, Cess, when you were starting out and when you were still fresh yourself, were you surrounded by people like you, right now, who gave work advice or who did you turn to to help you navigate that?

Honestly, I didn't have anyone.

Really?

Because I didn't know anyone personally that was into freelancing at that time. I was 19 when I started getting into the industry and I didn't know anyone. And I was too introverted, I was too shy to join Facebook groups, to ask people around. So I had to do everything myself. I had to figure things out myself. I clearly remember that I was always on Google all the time. I was always researching, I was always checking out articles, I was always on YouTube, I was checking out videos all the time, and I was trying to sustain myself, and I was trying to learn everything by myself.

And I'm actually really happy that today there are a lot of, you know, legit coaches. There are legit coaches out there, and those legit coaches, they actually offer a lot of free resources. And I'm really happy that a lot of people now are sharing advices, sharing tips, and sharing their journey because there are still a lot of honest people out there. I wouldn't say it's the same thing for everyone else.

But for me, yeah, there's a difference from when I started freelancing and today the major difference would be the support. Freelancing has a very lovely community if you start finding the right community, then there's so many communities out there. There are lovely people who are so helpful. And yeah, I'm just really happy it got to this point as opposed to when I started because I had no one, but here I am helping out people. Hopefully it will help people.

Absolutely. I'm so glad that Christine connected us and she said you were the first person that she recommended to be a guest on the podcast. And so I'm really, really glad that you said yes. And how does it feel, Cess, to be one of those people now who are advocating for the industry or for the VA freelancing jobs in this way?

I feel very proud and honestly, I wish I'd done this sooner. Because I haven't told anyone what my work is about. If you ask my family, they're not gonna know the answer to it. So I haven't talked to anyone at all about what freelancing is.

And because of Christine and because of you and because of this Briefing In Podcast, it gave me the opportunity to share my side of things when it comes to freelancing. And I've made it a mission this year to start really helping out people because I've already noticed a trend with aspiring freelancers getting scammed, falling trapped to these get-rich-quick and easy schemes by those false coaches, and I really want to give insights and tips.

Because I've gone through my own fair share of experiences in the freelancing industry. I wouldn't say I've been in the industry for a while and if I don't have any tips to share then I'm one of those fake coaches you're going to see out there. So I'm just, I'm really happy. I'm really happy that I was given this opportunity, given this platform to share what I can share to aspiring freelancers.

Do you think we'll ever see like a, a paid course by Cess?

You're gonna have to be my number one hater there, Chelsea. You have to be my hater there if I do have paid courses out there. If you see paid courses by Cess, that's not me.

I was gonna say, I'm like, this is probably a scam or like a fake account. But it really is so, so great. And I think we really do need voices like yours, Cess, to be a part of that conversation. I am really glad to hear that you're proud of the fact that we're having this conversation today.

But yeah, I guess now, Cess, what are your thoughts or how do you see the future of the VA freelancing industry in the Philippines?

Well, first off, it's not going to go away anytime soon. Remote work is going to stay. I don't see us losing our jobs because at this age, we're at this digital age where a lot of work can be done virtually, over the internet. So I'd say there's a bright future in the freelancing industry in the Philippines.

What I'm just concerned about, there's just this part of, you know, going back to these aspiring freelancers that are just so eager to get a job, to land a client, to get started working, that they accept really low rates from clients. And it’s gonna hurt, it might work for them. It might be a huge bump from the pay that they're used to, but eventually in the future, it's going to hurt not just them, but everyone else in the freelancing industry. And I know you are familiar with it, but you've heard of stories. A lot of people or a lot of these aspiring freelancers take on jobs for $2 an hour. Some take on jobs for $1.50 an hour and it's not ethical anymore. We don't want to work for clients that offer that low of a rate.

But it's so crazy that it does exist and that people do take those clients on. It's just wild.

Yeah. And sadly, it happens all the time.

And of course, on the client's perspective as well. And we actually kind of touched on this a little in our previous episode of the Briefing In Podcast, wherein Western clients or, you know, foreign international clients, they also want to take advantage of the fact that they can get these services for really cheap prices.

Yeah. If you're on Twitter, I've seen a lot of these clients go on Twitter and proudly saying that they've hired VAs for under 4 an hour, and they're so proud of it, and it's basically exploiting Filipino VAs. And their reasoning is always that the cost of living in the Philippines is pretty low compared to our local counterparts, you know, people in the U.S., in any other part of the world. And it's really because a lot of people gave them that idea that, oh, we can hire them for 2 an hour. I've had people I hired for 2 an hour and they've always kept on saying that their life changed because of the 2 an hour. But aspiring freelancers, whoever is tuning in right now, just imagine how much your life will change for the better. If you're offering your services for the right rate. Just imagine that. Don't settle for that very low rate just to get that client. And I don't want you to think that it's okay because it's not. Know your worth basically.

I love that. And kind of what you said earlier that if those are the VAs that you don't want to work with, or don't want to hire those who are just in it for the get-rich-quick scheme, those are also the clients you don't want to work with.

Yes, definitely. Because you're gonna end up overworked, trust me. I've been there, done that. Don't do it. It's not fun.

But I am curious, Cess, if you have any tips or tangible advice on how people can find a way to know their worth, what would be your advice?

I'd say, aside from honestly knowing how skilled you are in that specific niche, I'd say also take into consideration your experience. You can't charge your clients a really high rate, let's say, 30 an hour, and you don't have any experience yet. You have to be honest with yourself. And build, I'd say, because I started at a really, not really low rate, but I started at the base rate of 5 an hour. And when I started upskilling, when I started gathering a lot of skills under my belt, that's when I started also upping my price or upping my rate. And that's what I always tell people. Make sure that you have those skills to back your rate. Not just because you think that's your worth, but always back it with the skills. So you don't get questioned by clients. You can't charge 40 an hour and these are just the specific skills that you have and it's not going to help them. So you have to assess yourself. Assess yourself, assess your skills. And just start from there. Just don't go below 5 an hour.

And I feel like that's really good advice because it's also consequently helping you set your client's expectations, like helping manage their expectations. Because if you say that you're all this, you're all that, but you're actually not, then you're probably going to have a really difficult time working for clients who are expecting you to work at that level of expertise.

Yep. And if there's one thing that I also want to add in there, Chelsea, is that please do not fake it till you make it. That's not going to work in the freelancing industry. Don't say that you know how to do this. Don't ever say that you have this skill set when in fact you do not have and you're just planning to learn it after you get the client. You're basically straight up lying and lying in your resume, lying in your portfolio. It's not going to help you. It might get you the job that moment, but in the long run, it's going to bite you back in the ass. Trust me, because it's not going to work. You're going to end up wasting your time, wasting your client's time because you're going to have to spend X amount of days or even weeks or months to learn that skill when in fact, you know, because you position yourself to the client that you have that certain skill set. But I always say to people is that don't fake it till you make it, but face it till you make it. So gather all the information, do your research, gather all what you can think of that would help you get to that goal. Skill and it's better than being embarrassed in the long run just because you lied in your resume. And you lied during the interview process. And that's what I also want to highlight because a lot of people would say just fake it till you make it until you get that client. It's not gonna help you. It's not gonna help you at all. You're just gonna end up being embarrassed and no one wants to be embarrassed.

And it's also disheartening once you are kind of in that job and all the negative feedback you would probably get from your clients and the lack of trust that your clients are going to have in your work because, like you said, you're faking it till you make it or you're lying on your resume. So if you want to help yourself, then help yourself by looking for free courses and doing the research beforehand and listening to podcasts like this.

Wow. So many things to think about and just so many, I feel like everything that you said has just been food for thought this afternoon.

Hope so.

It really has been. But what's next for you? I'm actually curious, what's next for you on a personal level or career level?

Both if you'd like to share both.

Okay. So on a career level, I do have career plans and goals. I'm in a small team with my clients that I mentioned earlier. And really, I just want to be at that level where I provide a lot of value. I don't have to be the CEO. I don't have to be the manager. I don't have to be the COO or whatever. I'm what a lot of people will call pabida. But in a good way, in a good way, not in a bad way. I want to continue, I want to always provide value to the team. I don't want to be that team member that just wakes up and it's another workday. I don't want that. I want to always provide something to the team that for me is my blueprint to success. My own blueprint, everyone's blueprint to success is different, but that's mine. And on a personal level, I'm actually taking a two-week leave next week.

Somewhere cold and windy.

I hope to get away from this heat.

I hope so. I haven't really planned yet, but my daughter and I might go somewhere.

Chapter 7: Defining Success
And to kind of talk about success, how would you define success?

Like I said, everyone has their own blueprint to success. And I always equate having a career to having a professional journey. That means you have career plans set, you have career goals, and you have income goals. And if you reach those goals, if you achieve those goals, I consider that as a success. That's success for me. You don't have to be in a high position to be successful. You don't have to be earning millions to be successful. As long as you achieve your own goals, then that's success. That's success for me.

Honestly, I feel like there's still so many things that I want to ask you about. So maybe, who knows, maybe we'll be seeing you on the podcast again in the future.

Maybe. You can always tap me. I'm always happy to hop on and talk about, you know, backstab those fake coaches.

I will take note of that, for sure. That could be our next topic on our next episode. And you could be a recurring guest. I like that idea.

Well, we'll see. If those fake coaches don't get to me first then. We'll see.

But we are coming to an end of this episode and I've truly had an absolute blast learning more about your incredible experiences and loved hearing your insights, Cess. And like I said earlier, it's so great that you are one of the voices that are now part of this conversation. And I am personally so much more hopeful than I was about the future of freelancing and the VA industry because I got the chance to sit down with someone like you.

And thank you so much, Briefing In team and Chelsea for giving me the opportunity to use your platform to start helping people. It's a win-win.

And I really hope you had fun looking back over the past eight years and that you've had the chance to celebrate just how far you've come.

Yeah, definitely. There's always that reminder every day to look back and see where I came from and where I am now.

I'm so glad. So yeah, I feel like everyone is going to take away so many things from this episode the same way that I have. And it's just been really great to know what a career really means and how success is so much more than just a paycheck. And it's about finding your goals and loving what you do and staying in for the ride because it's not smooth sailing, everyone. There are so many challenges along the way. So, yeah, thanks for tuning in, everyone. Remember to continue to tune in to Briefing In for more episodes like this. I'll catch you guys in the next episode. 

This has been your host, Chelsea.

And I'm Cess.

And we're Briefing Out.