Key Takeaways from the 1st CDO ICT and Freelancer Fair

Way back 2009-2010, I did some part-time freelancing through Odesk (now Upwork) and earned some cash writing different kinds of articles. That time, I already started blogging but did not earn from my website/s yet. So, my side income really came from my job as a freelance writer. However, it was short-lived because I got busy with my personal life and my day job as a teacher. Back then, the freelancing community was relatively small and there was little competition. Years have passed, I focused on earning through my education blog and forgot about doing some freelance work. I never knew that the freelancing community got bigger and bigger and the opportunities are wider as well, as compared to before.

The First CDO ICT and Freelancer Fair poster

So, I was really when a friend of mine, Joan Sheng, invited me to the First CDO ICT and Freelancer Fair. I immediately confirmed my attendance upon reading the invitation because it sparked my curious mind. I went at the venue with excitement and an open mind to learn and relearn things that I can use as a digital citizen. True enough, I learned some new things on how to ensure online access as a freelancer.

The Freelancing community in Mindanao. Photo by Thea Alolor

Here are my key -takeaways:

The sessions were mostly focused on how to be able to get clients and earn money from freelancing. I got so amazed with the earnings they get from working online and I hope to be able to reach that level too.

#1 Takeaway:

CONNECT - CALL - PROPOSE - PAY

One of the speakers, John Pagulayan, founder of The Freelance Movement, highly emphasized that when connecting and communicating with potential clients, we should be able to do these things: (1) Establish a connection by creating meaningful conversations. That is to start communicating in a friendly manner, avoiding discussion of the services we are offering right away; (2) When communicating with a potential client, we should be able to uncover, diagnose, and confirm the client's problem. This is so we can establish our expertise in the services that we offer. By uncovering the problem of the client, we are showing that we know what we are doing and that we are there to help the person; and (3) When we propose our services to the client, it should be in a manner where we emphasize what we can do to help and not who we are. For example, instead of saying, "I am an expert web developer", we can say "I can help you get more clients by creating a website of your products and services". By doing so, the focus is on the client, it is action and solution-oriented which will entice the client to avail of your services.

#2 Takeaway:

IDENTIFY YOUR SUPERPOWER AND IDENTIFY WHOM YOU WANT TO SERVE

Nix Eniego, founder of the Social Media Academy, said that the first thing to do when venturing to freelancing is to identify our skillset first and what we can offer. I agree to this because I really believe that we cannot give what we don't have, right? By writing down what we are good at, then we can immediately identify the skills that we have which can be profitable. Also, by identifying our skills and what we can do, we can be more focused on improving ourselves in that aspect so we can give better services to our future clients. 

On the other hand, it is also important that we know our target market so we will know where to find them and how to reach them. Also, if we know our potential clients, we can create a better strategy on how we can get them to avail of our services. 

#3 Takeaway:

NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME TO VENTURE TO E-COMMERCE

What I really appreciate the most if the talk on E-commerce by entrepreneur CJ Cajoles. She talked about the concept of Dropshipping and it got me so interested. I will be researching more on Dropshipping and I think, you should too.

Final note:

Attending the fair motivated me to go back to freelancing once again. I'll be exploring more from this day on. Exciting!