I was inspired by reading some people who share their year-end review. Especially Abbey Sy year end review. Maybe I should write my own as well so I could immortalize some experienced and struggles I’ve experienced while pursuing something beyond my capabilities.

Note that this blog will contain some of my summary on my 2017 and continued to 2018 because I didn’t write my 2017 post and most of my stories will be related to the previous year up to 2018.

So sit back and have a deep breath ’cause it will interest and you might learn something along the way.

Short backstory

I’ve learned to code since I was in High School mostly (HTML and CSS) and pursued a career in IT and eventually move to Computer Science since I’ve got bored with the IT and I wanted to have a more in-depth study on programming and algorithms. And got 2 years’ experience in the corporate world (mostly DevShops Building website and web-apps for clients).

For some unknown reasons, I almost forgot why I even learn to program when I was in corporate may be because of a lot of workloads that occupies my mind. During those times. I’ve been getting referred on some freelance projects from my friends mostly thesis.

During those time, I’ve been devouring a lot of books about financial literacy, business, and building startups. It makes me think those things are the things I wanted to do but didn’t pay much attention to it (more on it later ’cause everything will make sense).

Last 2017 around June I went to full time in freelancing. Before that, I’ve joined one startup that builds tech products (Machine Venture) ’cause I was thinking maybe I should join a startup first before venturing on my own. Maybe, somehow would help me understand what building startups.

My stay in Machine Venture is short but meaningful ’cause of some amazing and great people I met there who are deeply passionate in startup and building cool stuff (some of them invite me to join their tiny team (Hey Inza and Stephel!!).

Team Startup –  NICE PHILIPPINES

NICE Enterprise Logo

While freelancing I have other ventures with my friend in business ( Hey Nicolo and his friends) which is the NICEnterprise (Nourish Idea in Connecting Enterprises).

NICEnterprises is a marketing platform which provides local communities high-growth markets with vibrant online marketplaces: NICE MAGAZINE PH connects local people to buy, sell or exchange used goods and services by making it fast and easy for anyone to post a listing through their magazine or on the web..

I mostly contribute on the directions of the tech side. Take note we didn’t really build the platform since it was quite complicated with some Networking and MLM inside (Multi-Level Marketing). It was better to outsource the development to a system provider that already have the software that only requires few tweaks.

 

If I remember correctly, we start with a lot of Nicolo’s friend here since he has a lot of connections with his friend that do business but we end up with remaining 5 people along the way. Unfortunately, we need to disband the team ’cause of everyone’s availability and lacks money coming into the business and the expenses are getting high. Plus, our directions get blurry on what the business is doing and how to make it sustainable.

On my side, My financial side is taking hit as well ’cause I’m not getting something here so I need to focus do more into freelancing ’cause of my expenses and some debt.

Few things I realized here:

  • You will start with a journey with many people but you will not end up with all of them. Only a few people who still believe in you

  • Cashflow is important in the business it keeps moving. Without sales, for a long period of time, the expenses will catch up to you and forces you to close the business no matter how many motivations you have.

  • Directions are more important than speed – No matter how hard and how fast you push on something but you are applying it in the wrong directions it will not be enough. Take time as well to step back and look where are you assess the situation if you are still working on the right things.

Team Startup – Protaas Technology

Inza on the left, Me at center, Stephel at write typing in keyboard

Back to 2018, I’ve been doing freelancing with my Team Inza and Stephel with the name Protaas Technology (Prototype as a Service). Well, it’s like a Dev Shop but mainly we cater clients who’re into making their tech products into MVP (Minimum Viable Products).

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a development technique in which a new product or website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters in a short period.

I focus on Protaas Technology when my NICE Philippines Team disband.

We have few clients on our belt but it seems it was not enough to make our team and business sustainable.

Although I have few ideas on how to make the team stick together and continue working the Protaas. We disbanded the team since my other teammates need to have steady money as well to pay the bills and they have other ventures that require more attention.

We didn’t disband it because of conflicts or negative things happen on inside. It’s more on what the personal reasons, personal responsibilities, and the main thing are if the Development Shop is something we really want to do for a long period. The answer to the main question is NO.

Basically, I was left there ’cause I’m only the one doing it full time in my team. They have been telling me to get some other projects, but I didn’t really listen ’cause of my stubbornness.

Some Lessons I learned during this venture:

  • It was too risky to put your egg in one basket ’cause when it didn’t go as you expected it will really affect your financial side and possible bring a lot of burden in your mental health).

  • Marketing is important in freelancing/agency

  • Without Marketing it there will be only people who know your business exists. Most of our clients are word of mouth and the people we know. This is something I’m not comfortable yet to do (since most of the things I do is the development of the products).

  • Yeah, we didn’t build out of a website ( hahaha ) to summarize what we are offering

  • Meeting Clients face to face is a bad thing when you don’t have an idea about what they want yet.

  • It would be nice to have an idea first on what the client needs before meeting them via chat or forms. So you have a rough idea on what they need and if you could really help them

  • Spending time thinking if what you are doing right now is something you really want to do for a long period. If not, you can always slowly stop it and evaluate your priority ’cause it was too easy to get a trap on hustle and bustle of daily lives.

Elder Brother Passed Away

As the title above, My elder brother pass away instantly around the end of May. He mentions before that it’s weird that his skin turns into a white color. The main cause of skin whitening diseases is from his works in South Korea in the factory of plastics. Basically, there is some plastic chemical in the factory that affects his health. And it compounds during his 10 years of stay in the factory.

We really don’t know about it until only when he was brought to the hospital because of high fever and he fainted while working.

During those moments, we all are really shocked on what happens ’cause everyone around him doesn’t really know what pains he was experiencing inside.

This sudden death makes us stop everything we are doing and make us focus on what really matters which is the family.

Hitting the Mid-Life Crisis

After those two failures, it makes me ask scary questions about on “What’s should I do next?”. This question makes me reflect on the things I’m doing in my life.

It gives me anxiety and leads to some depressions ’cause I don’t know what I wanted to do next. Client works and freelance projects become a big part of my waking life and I have little side projects on my own besides these blogs.

If my memory serves me well, I think I’ve spent almost a month in my home thinking and brainstorming on what should I do next base on my interest that somehow would make sense. Some list the idea I have are:

  1. Look for Remote Works – for consistent pay so I could do my personal project on the side.

  2. Look for a freelance project on my own.

  3. Learning Blockchain Development – ’cause I was curious about this field and possible build specialized skills around it.

  4. Go Back to corporate – This choice doesn’t really appeal ’cause I don’t want to waste my time on the daily commute.

  5. Build My Own Startups – aka Maker / Indie Hacker

  • I’ve discovered another world about startups. It is the movement of self-funded startups aka Maker and Indie Hacker. The idea is you will build your own product with no funding from Venture Capital. This really destroys my mental model on what startup should really look like.

  • I’ve been wanting to do this since I’ve discovered the other world of Tech Makers and Indie Hacker. But I need to settle first my finances ’cause it’s hard to move around when you don’t have money. (I’m almost broke during those times but luckily I was staying at my Mom’s home).

Experimenting with Blockchain Development

I end up with the choice of Learning Blockchain development for more than a month.

I send Resume on some Blockchain development company and I’ve got a few interviews from HR because they say they like my resume.

I refer by my friend that works in the Blockchain Development Company but I didn’t get the position ’cause they prefer those with the in-depth knowledge in the Blockchain. But I still continue my self-study on the Blockchain.

Start of the Remote Work

Here comes the twist. While I was studying the Blockchain development. I was referred by my friend in Startup ( Thanks Stephel ) in one Philippine base Startup that is building their own product. They are looking for a Software Engineer to offload task.

The startup is Brideworthy. Brideworthy is an online platform bringing wedding professional and soon-to-wed couples together. It provides a reliable and trustworthy wedding resource in the Philippines.

Yeah, we have got a quick meeting and luckily they hire me immediately and I already work on their product BrideWorthy mainly focus on integrating functionalities in front-end and some a little back-end.

I realized here the hidden power of your networks because you don’t really need to undergo the normal interview and technical exams. They didn’t even check my resume. I think it has something to do when those people you’ve worked before with like your worth ethic and the way you treat them.

During Remote Work

One day after the start of my remote work, The problem in my MacBook charger gets worst. The 3 pins in my magsafe 2 charger got fry. Basically, I need to pause for a while on the project I’m working on and need to fix this issue.

I try to add a small paper in the magsafe to make it fit and I’ve tried as well different angle to make it work. Unfortunately, it no longer supplies the power in the laptop and my MacBook no longer opening.

I’ve given up after 100 times trial. I need to bring it to the Apple store so they could check my charge to see if I need to replace it.

The guy in the store check it out and it confirms that it no longer works.

He tries a different charger but my laptops still don’t open. It seems there is something wrong as well with my Mac Operating System because it doesn’t load the operating system. His advice is that the only way to make it work is to reformat it. So I ask him how much it will cost to format it (He said around Php. 3,000.00) with the latest MacOS Mojave. I’ve pretended that I’m not techie guy when I ask him about.

I’ve said I will buy the new charger and probably I’ll try to make it work when I go home.

I walk away in the store feeling down a little, but somehow have a little hope I could get back again my laptop.

When I finally got home, I test my new charger and my laptop but still doesn’t continue in the login. My last resort is to format it. The problem is I don’t have a backup yet of my files.

During this time, I don’t have yet cash luckily; I have a secondary credit card from my sister. This really saves me. So go out again to purchase an external hard drive to back up my files before formatting it.

To cut the story short. I’ve spent my weekend trying to revive my MacBook Pro. I’ve managed to successfully backup everything before formatting it in my new external hard drive. And Reinstall the El Capitan. It feels like a brand new again. I didn’t upgrade it yet to Mojave ’cause I know it will take time. The most important thing at those moments is I need to get it back to its normal states where I could code again.

Struggles on Remote Work

Although I’ve been freelancing for almost 2 years, one aspect I’m still struggling is dividing my time and attention in clients work / remote project and shift my thinking in my own personal projects. Once I work on a specific project, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I have a rough Ideas now on how I could do work around with it ’cause I wanted to continue working on my side projects while doing a Remote Work.

On Motivations

This One Phrase Pulls Me Back When I feel like giving up that I tell myself is “Things Might Get Better.”

Fall seven times, stand up eight. — Japanese Prove

Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill

One song that put me into chill when every time I hit the rock bottom is The Climb by Miley Cyrus. The lyrics really hit me.

In Summary

  • Team Startup – Nice Philippines

  • Elder Brother Died

  • Team Startup – Protaas Technology – Disbanded

  • Hitting the Mid Life Crisis and Ask My Self What’s next?

  • Learned Blockchain Development – Pause

  • Referred to the Remote Work as Software Engineer

  • Macbook Charger Not working in the middle of the Remote Work

All I can say 2018, was one of my crazies year ever because of a lot of failures and struggles. It really helps me to better shape on what I wanted to do in the near future.

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