malayo pa pero malayo na
We’re half-way through the year! I just did a partial “audit” of how my business has progressed for the past 6 months. I say business because I really really need to start operating like one instead of having the employee or “I’m just a freelancer” mindset.
This is a business. I bring value to my clients. I create products that bring joy to my buyers.
Wow. Now let me just speak that aloud.
Words have power. I put that in the header of my blog’s main page. And I gotta utilize it more, especially with the way I think and speak about myself and my business. I’ve gotten so used to phrases like, “I’m just this…,” “I only do…” and many more variations of belittling my expertise.
I don’t want to give numbers but less than half of the proposals I send to potential clients turn into an actual project.
And you know what? That’s okay!
Because all those rejected, or sometimes even ghosted proposals refined the way I spoke about my work. I went from “I’m a freelance designer who can help you with your social media content” to “I specialize in crafting social media content so you can amplify your brand digitally”
Well, not exactly as confident as how I typed it out (a.k.a. non-verbatim), but you get the idea!
Selling my services turned into providing solutions for their needs.
It’s nice to know that doing business isn’t really about me. It’s about helping the people who are willing to collaborate and invest in what I bring to the table.
I may not have the numbers to boast (yet) for the past half of 2023. But I’m grateful for my growth.
The title of this blog post is in Filipino, "malayo pa pero malayo na” which roughly translates to “we have a long way to go, but we’ve also already gone so far.” I think that’s a beautiful phrase to sum up what transpired for the past 6 months.
Let’s take all the grit we can bring for the journey ahead.
Let’s give ourselves the grace when our pace is different from others or from what we expected.
And here’s to being grateful for everything in the process.
Malayo pa pero malayo na.
