FINANCIALLY FREE

I have started different businesses throughout the years- from agribusiness to networking to retail to direct selling. I’ve sold clothes, accessories, beauty products, pillows, herbal supplements, real estate and articles. Now I am into financial distribution business.

A lot of people don’t like selling. I don’t like selling. But what most people do not realize is that we are all selling. And we are selling all the time. The moment we write our resume, we make a marketing tool to sell our skills, talents, capabilities and personalities. When we apply for a job, we are advertising ourselves. We dress up for the interview, prepare our sales pitch and convince the interviewee that we are the best candidate for the job. When we accept a job we are sold, per kilo and per hour. The company we work for dictates our price and determines the kind of life we live. To get ahead, we have to increase our value to the company. We need to promote our selves and prove to the bosses that we are worth more than what we are getting.

Not everybody can become an entrepreneur but we are all in sales, a lot of people just don’t realize it yet. Now check your tag price, make sure you are NOT short selling your most important commodity-yourself. Are you being paid what you are worth?

I’m a mess. If somebody would ask me, “ how’s life”, I would be struck dumb. I don’t know how I am doing. I miss my Christmas bonus, the ham and the giveaways. But that was it. I don’t miss my job, the workplace gossip a nd office politics that so dominated my life in the past eight years.

After college, I jumped from one job to another- which lasted from mere days to a few months. Eventually, I got a job in a government-owned and controlled (and corrupted) corporation. I don’t care much about the job but I decided to settle, like what everybody else was doing.

Yet at the back of my mind, I knew it was another temporary thing. I couldn’t bring myself to stay till retirement. At first I thought it was because I took the wrong course in college. I went back to school to equip myself with a masters degree for the next move.

After five years, I felt I was drifting on a gloomy highway to nowhere. I knew school or a better job is not the answer. A better-than-average paycheck doesn’t denote success. I am not employable. I want my own business. I want to be my own boss. I decided to quit and become self-employed. Every body told me I am too young to be burned out. It wasn’t easy. I was scared. I was pulled between two opposing forces-the drag of practicality and promise of better possibilities. I didn’t have enough money to support my career change. I blindly leapt. It was all madness. But I pass through this road only once and I’m hell-bent on NOT having a mediocre journey. I don’t want to wait till I’m 65 to do what I really want with my life.

I want change. I want new ideas. I’m tired listening to ten different bosses’ lecture about company missions and visions. I need to get moving... even this means moving in the wrong direction?

I started a business, but after a few months, the balance sheet did not look good so I had to close shop and bury another dream. It doesn’t get easier but I console myself with the fact that at least I tried and I learned. Someday days I feel like I don’t belong in the DIY-career club. A part of me is tempted to update my resume and get a decent, comfortable job. Yet the bigger part of me refuses to give in. I don't want to be a wage slave. I want to be free.

I screwed up a whole lot and paid the price, but I’ve leaned valuable lessons that empower me to go on.