Gaggay-ay: DigitalJobsPh Advocacy Workshop

With the Christmas week that is ongoing, DICT-CAR with Digital jobs Ph has provided an early Christmas present to aspiring freelancers and MSME with an Advocacy workshop that shares the insights and experiences of leaders in the online freelancing industry and down below are the topics covered:

First of all, a bit of an overview about this workshop is that it aims to help aspiring freelancers like me or MSME have a bit of an edge in the digital space. And here are the topics that are covered in this workshop.

• Topic 1: The Rise of Digital Career Profession, Impact of Online Jobs in the Local Economy by Thea Jean Peralta ( Social Media Marketing Specialist )
• Topic 2: Overview of the Online Job Industry Tools, Software, and Equipment Needed by Paulo Bayao ( Online Business Manager, Co-founder of heysuccessph )
• Topic 3: Online Job Platforms, Finding and Negotiation with Clients by Paulo Bayao ( Online Business Manager, Co-founder of heysuccessph )
• Topic 4: Application, Registration, and Taxation: Benefits and Processes on Payment Channels and Government and Government-Mandated Benefits by Jaypee Lagman, CPA

Before anything else, a bit of trivia. Did you know what “Gaggag-ay” means? If yes, that’s awesome but if no, it simply means “We come together and discuss intelligently” as stated by Ms. Jaemie Chua, DJPH PMT as she intelligently shares in her talk, DigitalJobsPh Talk: Enabling digital opportunities and innovation in the countryside, the challenges of the Filipinos with unemployment and how could the DigitalJobsPh program help solve this issue with their 29 digital courses offered for FREE. To learn more about DigitalJobsPh, follow their Facebook page with this link: DigitalJobsPh

Moving forward, let’s proceed to the topics of this workshop. A bit of disclaimer, the contents of this blog are the things that I have noted and added some personal opinions. I am just a participant in the workshop and here are my learnings.

Topic 1: The Rise of Digital Career Profession, Impact of Online Jobs in the Local Economy by Ms. Thea Jean Peralta

Ms. Thea Jean Peralta is a social media strategist and in the workshop, she shared her experiences in the freelancing industry. And here are my key takeaways from her:

• S.B 136 — a bill that is ongoing that best serves the interest of aspiring and existing Freelancers
• Statistics, Pros, and Cons — as she shared statistics on the impact of online jobs in the local economy and surely there are opportunities in the digital space
• Challenges — every profession has challenges and freelancing is not exempted and one of which is competition.

With those facts discussed Ms. Thea shared a strategy for aspiring freelancers in the transition phase, which are:

1. Understand your goals in the next 5 years — know your why and calculate your risks.
2. Decide who you want to serve as a digital professional.
3. Learn 1–2 necessary skills that can help your ideal market.
4. Establish your profiles — Ms. Thea openly shared how to do this, to learn more about this, follow her page on Instagram with this link: socialsbytey
5. Network and sell your skill
6. Lastly, enjoy the journey! — which personally I highly agree with.

Topic 2: Overview of the Online Job Industry Tools, Software, and Equipment Needed by Ms. Paula Bayao

Ms. Paula Bayao is an Online Business Manager and the Co-founder of heysuccessph — and in the workshop, she also shared her experiences as a Virtual Assitant Agency founder. A lot of things were covered but here are my takeaways:

1. Making your work from home work
   a.) Involve the family members (or anyone you are living with under one roof)
   b.) Share the details
   c.) Share your plan
   d.) Plan for household management
   e.) Share that Work From Home (WFH) is important to you
   f.) If all of the above doesn’t work out, consider doing it anyways
2. Establish work routine
   — Organize your home and office — have the necessary supplies, tech equipment, and office supplies relevant to your work.
3. Online Jobs and Software Tools — a lot of software was presented but in my case, I only manage to take note of the things that I have encountered/suggest/recommend based on experience ( cuz they’re free /freemium basically )
   > Marketing Your Skills — Mailchimp
   > Tracking Time — Toggle Track
   > Productivity and Project Management — Asana & Trello [ personally I use JIRA and Notion for this because I’m a web developer but basically they are the same]
4. Tools for communication — a lot of technologies were covered here but the most fundamental is Gmail or any email service provider as they are more applicable for a formal transaction. But you might be wondering, why so many? Consider it as a door for clients virtually, the more open doors you have, the higher the probability of people coming from different doors.
   — Gmail
   — Slack
   — Discord
   — Viber
   — WhatsApp
5. Payment and Accounting — I am not able to keep note of the other banks as I already have found what works for me which are Unionbank and Gcash ( cuz it’s relatively easy to open an account, both are digitally competent and do not require a remaining balance)
   — Every month billing or through billable hours
   — Prepare Invoice

Lunch Break

Topic 3: Online job platforms, Finding Clients, Dealing and Negotiating with Clients by Ms. Paula Bayao

This topic is a continuation of Ms. Paula Bayao. And down below are the topics covered:

1. What to Expect
2. Prior Application
   — Resume
   — Curriculum Vitae
   — Portfolio
3. Finding Clients
4. Interview, negotiation, and delivery

For this topic, these are the necessary things needed to be done when working with a client. The flow of work ( process ) is well discussed as freelancing consists of the said above foundational workflow. Things got a bit technical here and advice was given on how to create a good resume and impression, however, due diligence is still required upon transacting with international clients. My fellow participant’s concerns were also addressed as questions were entertained.

Short Break then continuation on legalities

Topic 4: Applications, Registration, and Taxation: Benefits and Processes on Payment Channels and Government-Mandated Benefits by Mr. Jaypee Lagman, CPA

Mr. Jaypee Lagman is a Certified Public Accountant and here are the things an aspiring freelancer would need to get started when dealing with legalities.

1. Have either a:
   a.) Professional Tax Receipt — for licensed professionals
   b.) or an Occupational Tax Receipt — for skilled freelancers
2. You have to update your pre-existing TIN or register with the BIR if you don’t have a TIN
3. Registering as a:
   a.) Professional — doing business under your name
   b.) or Single Proprietor — doing business under your trademark/brand
4. Difference between a:
   a.) Sales invoice — for selling goods (applicable to MSMEs)
   b.) Official Receipts — services (skilled freelancers or licensed professionals)
5. The last takeaway for me is that if you were previously employed, you need to update the status on SSS, PhilHealth, and PAG-IBIG.

Mr. Jaypee Lagman thoroughly discussed the things a freelancer should be concerned about especially taxation where he highly suggests going with the 8% fixed tax. Personally, if you’re unsure of what to do, it is still better to consult an accountant and a lawyer or do your readings (this is quite extensive but yeah, consulting an accountant and a lawyer will set the foundation of your chosen path stronger, aka fewer headaches in the future).

Open Forum: Questions are then entertained by the resource speaker of this workshop

The questions that my fellow participants are now then answered with this allotted time for us to ask our concerns. Down below are the notes that might be helpful:

• It is best to consult a lawyer when dealing with a contract
• Be careful with fine prints
• Initiate contracts as clients are typically small businesses that are not that prepared or contact the legal team for bigger businesses
• Prepare contract templates if possible
• “Local Marketing” — to get started, you have to add personality to your business and start with friends, family, and people in your network
• Consider reviewing the taxes of middlemen or clients for tax deductibles or refund

In addition, the presence of the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) from the Baguio City Government also shared their insights and information on how to spot malicious job offers.

To sum things up, as an aspiring Freelancer, the topics discussed here are the fundamentals to really get started in Freelancing. The advocacy workshop further validated my personal research and readings as everything was well discussed thoroughly and advice and insights are new pieces of information that I can use in this field. If ever you are an aspiring freelancer, MSMEs stakeholder, or already a Freelancer, these are the things that you might find useful.

Thank you for reading up until this point, a bit about myself, I am Jhonas, an aspiring full-stack web developer based in the Cordillera Administrative Region, and here is a link to my website. Are you an aspiring freelancer, an MSMEs stakeholder, or already a Freelancer? well, I would appreciate it if we could connect, with that here is my link on link.ee/hellojhonas. Let me know your thoughts about this advocacy workshop by commenting on this blog post.

Acknowledgments:

A big thanks to the sponsor of this event and resource speakers for sharing their insight with us aspiring freelancers/freelancers/MSMEs for a wonderful present this month of Christmas.

• DICT — Cordillera Administrative Region Team
• DigitalJobsPh
• HeySuccessPh
• Ms. Thea Jean Peralta
• Mr. Jaypee Lagman
• Dr. Allan R. Lao
• PESO of the Baguio City Government
• Development Bank of the Philippines staff and security