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Bare Nanay

Motherhood | Marriage | Freelancing | Lifestyle


Looking for ways to boost your career or get the job you want?

In the Philippines, a research from Jobstreet.com in 2015 named communication, trainability, and competence as the top three functional skills being sought by employers. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in the US almost has a similar result ranking leadership, communication, and ability to work with a team as the most valuable skills in the workplace.

When I became a freelancer in the beginning of 2016, I made sure that I was and will always be well-equipped when it comes to my writing jobs. Occasionally, I have spoken to fellow moms who want to venture into freelancing to be able to stay with their babies. Aside from the usual "find what you're good at" advice, I always tell them to never stop learning. It's not easy just because we work at home. There are hundreds of potential employees out there whose CVs are too good. It best to stay on top of the game by continuously equipping yourself with knowledge and new skills.

You need to continuously invest in developing yourself to cope with the demands of your job. Aside from reading articles or videos from the internet, an effective way to learn is by attending workshops where you can interact with the trainer and meet fellow participants face-to- face. 

Go Up Events, an all-around event logistic provider, aims to support your career goals by organizing various workshops in Manila this 2017. Their upcoming events this June and July focuses on communication, leadership, and marketing. Attending can be a sure way to set your learning objectives on track.

So here's a line-up of seminars for aspiring work-at-home moms and anyone, in general:


Business Writing Seminar



In partnership with Manila Workshops and WhenInManila.com, Go Up Events Manila presents Write Your Way to Success - A Business Writing Seminar for Professionals.  If you want to learn how to write an effective letter, memo, minutes of the meeting, or e-mail, this is a highly-recommended workshop for you.  To register and view course outline, visit http://bit.ly/WYWJune.

Effective Proposal Writing


Writing Hacks for Entrepreneurs (http://bit.ly/WRITINGHACKS) is a two-hour seminar discussing tips on how to write content fast, create winning proposals, and use online tools to polish your documents.  Professionals working in the fields of sales and marketing who write correspondences to gain clients will benefit from this event. The registration fee will suit your budget at Php 200 only.

Search Engine Optimization 101


The second series of Writing Hacks is about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO for Marketers is designed for the professional tasked to create content and drive traffic to their company website. Learn more about this event at http://bit.ly/WRITINGHACKS2.

Leadership Training for Supervisors


Leading direct reports require communication, management, and interpersonal skills. Coaching that Sticks - Leadership Training for Supervisors will help you navigate the task of motivating people to maximize team performance.  Save the date on July 15 and reserve your slot at http://bit.ly/CoahingThatSticks.


Schedule Your Next Learning Event

Does any of these workshops in Manila interest you?  Contact Go Up Events Manila by sending an e-mail at goupeventsmanila@gmail.com or visit their website goupeventsmanila.wordpress.com.

Commit yourself to developing your skills and building your confidence. Take action and plan to join at least one workshop in Manila in each quarter.  Set aside a sum of money each payday for the events you’d like to attend.  You may also share this link with your boss and ask if your company provides budget for training opportunities. 

Let's make it even better with a 10% discount coupon!


6:31 PM No comments

Find your passion.


I read this on Facebook a few days ago and it inspired me to write this ahead of those in my line up.

When I left my job as a Customer Service Manager in one of the biggest retail stores in the country, I was almost three months pregnant with Popy.

It was my third job in a span of five years, and I was particularly happy there even when I had to face angry customers from time to time.


My Team Customer Service at The SM  Store - SM Mall of Asia

I've made my parents proud since time immemorial. Honors, medals, certificates and maybe even those stars stamped on my hand as a pre-schooler... I think I have supplied them well with recognition.

I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Magna Cum Laude. As there was no Summa, and I was the only one who had the 2nd highest Latin honor, I had the privilege of delivering the commencement speech.

Graduation Day, April 2009

My mother had always been supportive and proud with even the most menial of achievements we had. She cried a river when I introduced her to the crowd of students, parents, and faculty. My father, on the other hand, had always been pushy and I was often hurt by his expectations of me. If I won second place, he would ask why I wasn't first? Or if I got a partial academic scholarship, he would ask why it wasn't full. But now that I've grown, I've started to think it was something worth thanking him for, although I still hoped he could have told me he was proud of me back then instead.

After graduation, the hotel in Oman where I had my internship absorbed me into the company. I was with them from 2008-2012. When I came back to the Philippines, I managed to get a few MBA credits but had to stop because the job I was hired into didn't fit my class schedule. I was hired by an integrated tourism destination in their head office's marketing department. I handled merchant acquisition for the loyalty program and I stayed with them for almost two years.

I went from customer service to sales and marketing to customer service again.

My grad school mates in Far Eastern University - Makati.

At Hotel Muscat Holiday in Muscat, Oman where I worked as a Guest Relations Officer.

The Progam and Product Management Team of Resorts World Manila.

When I resigned, people often asked me when I plan to go back to work. That or they would tell me I was sayang (a waste).

What a waste that I was unemployed given that I graduated with flying colors.
What a waste that I resigned when I was already a manager.
What a waste.
What a waste.

Let me tell you the truth behind what motherhood did to me.


I am yaya-less in a household of three (me, my husband and our son). That means I have to do everything by myself when my husband goes to work.

Three weeks after giving birth, my sister gave me her old laptop, so I can start writing again and maybe earn from it, but I didn't start immediately. I had a lot of hesitations because I didn't have a degree in anything related to writing.

On my son's fourth month, I became a breastfeeding peer counselor and did online counseling and home visits to other moms. Eventually, I became an admom for a motherhood and pregnancy online community and an advocate of ergonomic babywearing.

Graduating as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with the little guy that inspired me to do so.

The Buntis Brigada Support Group PH Admoms.
We got featured in a local magazine and Huffington Post Canada for Babywearing.

April, the following year, my husband and I put up Posh/Mum Maternity and Nursing. Our dresses were 100% Pinoy-made and were created with mommy needs as our topmost priority. My husband was the designer. Unfortunately, we had to close this when I started taking more online jobs.

Posh/Mum Maternity and Nursing Wear at Cloth Diaper Addicts PH's The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2016

Also in 2016, I started venturing into freelance writing. Back then, the pay wasn't really that much. Since it was mostly project-based, the income wasn't stable. But in a single-earner household, the money I made from those projects often got us through tough times. It may be petty for some, but there was a time when we didn't have extra money to buy rice, but a project saved us. To date, I have written for BPOs, NGOs, private people, websites, restaurants and other companies here and abroad.

I also reopened this blog to write about my life as a mom, a wife and our family life.

With mommy-blogger friends of Mommy Bloggers Philippines in a book launch

Sometime in July, I got a job opportunity as a Mom Editor. I thought it was perfect! It was office-based and they told me that the child care room I requested was workable. Until, suddenly, it was occupied. We painstakingly tried to look for a nanny or a daycare. I searched my heart if it was really something I'd give up being a SaHM for because things don't seem to fit.

So I let it go.

But I didn't give up.

To be honest, we weren't really financially well off. We managed to pay off debts we had when I gave birth via emergency caesarean section, but our monthly income (or at least, my husband's) was just enough for our needs. Savings was very very little. Sometimes, none at all. It was so little that our family bonding often meant taking a walk in the park. Not that it was bad. I loved taking walks, but we couldn't afford so many of the things other parents can give to their children.

When I had to let go of the opportunity that promised to pay better than my previous corporate jobs, I swore to my husband that I was going to find a job online, so I wouldn't have to sacrifice my time away from our son, his health and at the same time, I'd be able to contribute to our budget.

In October, my promise came true in the form of SocialGen. I started out as a content curator then moved to the social selling team. My colleagues are wonderful and I had the best bosses. I was so thankful to SG that I cried during our team building when they called us in front to talk about our work life. Yes, we had one even though we were online workers

A lot of us in the Philippine team are moms and wives and basically, family-oriented people, and I appreciated our company because they had given us a chance to work without sacrificing our time with our families. I work and earn, get to see my son's milestones, homeschool him and be the wife that I am to my husband.

This year, I've also caught a flexible part-time as a copywriter for a Canadian company.

The SocialGen Family

So what was there to waste?

I didn't write about this to brag, but instead, to let people know that there are so many possibilities and opportunities for moms. But even if they don't do as I do, raising a child is an achievement on its own. I am so tired of people talking about moms at home sounding like raising kids is the easiest job in the world.

I love motherhood and I love moms whether they choose to work outside, stay at home or work at home. My mom was a working mom when she had us, but never in my life had I thought that she had failed mothering just because she couldn't stay with us. We all have sacrifices to make whatever path we choose, but we are never ever less.


So, here I am writing my way to life. Writing is my passion, and I thank God, I was given the heart and the opportunity to pursue it even with the roles that I play. I don't have any degree in journalism, but it is with pen and paper that I have risen above all that I used to be.

I am a woman, a mother and even though I may have let go of dreams I had when I was still young and childless, there's always an opportunity to dream something new with the person I have become.

Motherhood never stopped me.

Don't let it stop you.

12:41 PM 13 comments


"Let's embrace new beginnings."

For the long weekend last Holy Week, I proposed that we go on a staycation. Initially, we planned to go home to my province, and then figured that the traffic was awful last year.

When I got my first regular home based job, my husband treated me for an overnight in Tagaytay. So now that it's my husband who scored a new career opportunity, I thought it would be nice to take a break before he starts.

We wanted some place nearby with a pool and buffet breakfast and we found City Garden Hotel Makati. :)

I have always had trouble with booking online because I have never owned a single credit card in my life (except for the extension that my mom gave me when I was in college). My husband doesn't have any, either. I wanted that online rate, but they didn't have an available MOP for me,

Being a former hospitality practitioner, I told my husband to come with me to the hotel. This may not work for all hotels, but as I used to work in a hotel, walk-in bookings that are paid with cash is always, always welcome.

Thankfully, we were given a better rate, thanks to their Front Office Shift Leader.

We booked for an Executive Queen Room and was upgraded to Executive Twin Room for no extra cost when we arrived on April 15.

We had our lunch at the nearby Hole in the Wall at Century City Mall. The hotel's location is just smack right in the middle of everything. Shakey's is right in front. A. Venue, a church, banks, restaurants, yep, they're all just a stone's throw away from our hotel.
Dessert from Scout's Honor at Century City Mall's Hole in the Wall

Our room has one queen size and one twin bed, T&B with a bath tub (the room we originally booked for only had an enclosed shower), and a mini kitchen The view was so-so, all tall buildings and some construction sites, but it wasn't noisy.

City view


The closet came with two bathrobes, an extra pillow and blanket, a safety deposit box, laundry bags and slippers.


Mini kitchen complete with tea and coffee-making facility, electric kettle, fully stocked mini bar, and complimentary bottles of water.

What I loved about the room was that it's not so child-hazard. There are a few corners from some of the furniture, but none that my wild 21-month old can't handle.

He loved this really fluffy carpet. He spent more time on this than on the bed.
This little guy kept on running around.

City Garden has a roof deck pool with jacuzzi. Popy likes pools more than the sea, and hates his floaters.

View from the roof deck

Popy kept trying to escape from the floater. :)
Jacuzzi and the boys



Breakfast was at Bistro located on the 2nd floor. They serve it buffet-style from 5:30 AM. The selection wasn't very big, but there were a lot of Pinoy breakfast favorites and a few western ones. They served lugaw (rice porridge), fish fillet, adobo, tocino, fruits, rice cakes, cereals, salads, and juices. They also have an egg station. You can choose whatever you want in it.



Overall, it was a pleasant stay. The staff was wonderful, especially the ones assigned at the reception! We will come back for sure. :) We definitely recommend this for those who just wants a quick getaway from it all or those who want to celebrate with staycations without hurting the pocket.

Mother's Day is coming up soon! It's not yet too late to book. :)

_________________________________

For more information on City Garden Hotel Makati:

Visit their website at http://www.citygardenhotelmakati.com/ or their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/CityGardenMakati/

City Garden Hotel Makati is located at:

7870 Makati Avenue corner Durban St.,
Poblacion, Makati City,
Philippines 1210


7:20 PM No comments
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Hello! I'm Nanay Nini

Mom | Wife
Digital Marketer | Copywriter | Blogger
Breastfeeding Peer Counselor
Homeschooler
Speaker

Work with me: niezhining@gmail.com

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