From BPO employee to being my own BOSS

A true story.

Where I come from (and at the time) living the BPO life was everyone's dream. And I lived it. Talking to people was easy for me, it came out naturally and to this day I’m still grateful of the experience I’ve had in the industry. But after years of being with several call centers, I started to notice a pattern.
It was so obvious and if I could see it, my colleagues sure as hell should see it too. Right? I mean sure, it took me a while, as I was enjoying the comfort and security a corporation offers.

Walk-in and apply..
Submit your resume, and if you don’t have any it’s cool.(Most of the time)
Do the initial exam.. (it was a basic language test)
Go through the interview process..
And if you’re lucky, you’ll get hired on the spot.
And I wasn’t just lucky, I was the best!(Not to brag)

I was being asked this question, “are you from around here or have you lived in the states?”

ALL. THE. TIME.

And I always stuck to my answer.

No, I’m a born and raised Filipino. Even my last name is very much Filipino. (Magdaraog)

Then after a few years in, I suffered a nasty fall and got injured from basketball which meant that I couldn’t possibly come in and work.

After using all my sick leaves, I was still not well. I got laid off.

Understandable. Business is business, and work is work.

I then worked for another company and it was still the same pattern.

Get hired.
Be good.
Work until you can’t anymore.

It doesn't matter if you're sick, you gotta show up to prove that you are indeed sick. If you don't, that's a red flag (occurrence) you’ll carry with your name for at least A YEAR to redeem yourself and buy it back.

And after working for years, it didn’t sit right with me anymore.

I kept telling myself, there has to be something better than this, than having this job.

I took some time off. I was unemployed.

Gathering everything I’ve learned up to this point, what do all my experiences have in common?

A business is the client.
A call center company handles all incoming calls, inquiries, complaints, concerns, etc.
A representative(me), does all that and more because it’s what they call “above and beyond” and you get points for that.

I figured, what if there was a way to not work for a company but still offer all that?
And then it hit me. I wanted put up a business where I can work directly with clients.

With no money upfront, I turned to google and searched for the terms “how to make money online.”

Much to my surprise, there were lots of ways to generate income without leaving the comforts of home.

With nothing but burning desire, I came across freelance writing. I thought to myself, If I could speak it, I sure as hell could write it too.

Keep in mind that I was begging for work at the time. I wanted to write but didn’t know what to write about or who to write for.

Soon after, with graces of God I was able to land a client in the health and wellness niche.

All I had was a vision of where I want to be, how to get there was a whole different ball game.

I stuck to the pattern I realized when I was a corporate slave.

Business - Company - Employee

This time, I wanted to be THE company.

I studied my only client’s business, what he needed to continuously run and make profit.

Went to google again and this time, I searched for the terms; "how to write and make sales."
The term copywriter appeared on my screen.

Read an e-book “The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini” (which my client bought for me btw!)

And the rest as they say is history.

I now co-own a successful service based business in the cabinetry industry with my family. Generated $10,000+ in sales in our first quarter.
And help market several local online stores that I support.

With nothing but words.

If there’s any take away you can get from this story. It’s this.

There’s no limit to what you can achieve so long as you’re willing to learn.

Whatever it is that you’re passionate about, do it.

No excuses. No delays.

If it wasn’t for writing, I’d still be stuck in that soul sucking job.

Not that there’s anything wrong about it.

I just wanted more out of life because I believed in myself.

That I can do more, and be more than just a guy with an American accent.