Best Video in My Freelancing Career

If someone ever asks me, what was the main thing that helped me transition into freelancing, it will be stumbling into this video below.

Let me explain.

1. The Beginning

March 2020, everyone knows this date. The beginning of years-long quarantine.

All of us were stuck at home, and I? I just got laid off from this minimum wage office job.

Sad & bored.

At that time, my friends shared a list of FREE online courses that offer legit certifications.

I looked through Coursera, and they provided a Graphic Design course called The Language of Design: Form & Meaning.

I watched the whole course, did the tests, and I managed to finish with flying colours, but then after that, I asked myself. What now?

2. Feeling Lost

I was restless. I was stressing out because I realised that I didn't have a career.

I was only doing this or that job to get some money.

What if I get sick and have no money to pay the hospital fees?

What if I don't have a future and just became a house cleaner?

What if? What if....? Being stuck at home with nothing productive to do affects you mentally.

So to solve this overthinking I had, I started doing more things.

I started learning more about Adobe software. I was already good with Photoshop & Premiere Pro, but not with Illustrator & After Effects. I spent day & night in my room watching tutorials and doing everything step by step.

It felt so good, but then... what else? What's next? What am I going to do with this knowledge? How will I apply what I've learned and make the skills stay with me?

With these questions in my head, I finally found Johnny Harris's YouTube Channel.

3. Founding The Video

Johny Harris is known for his immersive videos on the channel Vox.

I learned that he has dyslexia, studied journalism, and had no studying background in video making. So how did he become a video maker in Vox???

I explored his channel more and found the video(click picture). Johnny Harris mentioned how he approached a State Department. He offered to do their video for FREE because their previous video just looked so bad.

Despite not having many skills in editing, he finished the video and learned so much along the way. (He has always been interested in video making, but his animation & editing skill was still at the Beginner's Level.)

Thus, after that experience, he found passion in creating more videos and started working for a company as an editor. He learned so much more afterward before applying to Vox.

4. Excited for My Journey

Doing something for FREE never occurred to me before. I guess it makes sense; it's like doing internships. Companies only pay you a small amount of money, and you get exposure and experience in return.

After giving it some thought, I approached my entrepreneur friends. I began asking them if they needed me to design anything for their businesses for free.

They were pretty surprised but complimented my efforts. One of them is a baker who turned into like my business mentor; one was selling second-hand clothing. The experience was great! I learned about entertaining clients and understanding what they need, and no, it was not easy. I was always designing things, but I never gave design services.

It was a steep learning curve and gave me so many headaches.

5. Experienced & Ready!

After around two months of doing my 'internship', I gained confidence and started creating a portfolio.

I began understanding customer services and knowing what client needs.

So I decided to advertise my business and began attracting paying clients! The first time I received a significant amount of money, I was shaking. I couldn't believe I had made it! I started everything from scratch and earned it from my blood, sweat, and tears! (I had experiences with other works before, but it was not as satisfying.)

Do I recommend my journey to others? Not really... haha... So hard lah wei But I want people to know that nothing is impossible and never stop chasing your dreams. Don't overthink, and start DOing something.

When being done consistently, a tiny act today will make you nearer to your goal than not doing anything.

I hope this can inspire you to find your own path to your career in freelancing! See you in my next post, thanks for reading.