Cheekie Albay left the exciting world of lifestyle publishing in Manila to be a hands-on single mom to her son in Davao City. Here, she shares how she found her way back to her first love—writing—and found the kind of success that you can’t put a price on.

I’d like to start off this piece by saying that I’m not your usual success story. I don’t own a car; I don’t have huge fortunes lying in investments somewhere; in fact, I’m in my 30s and I still live with my parents. If you’re looking to be inspired by someone more accomplished, please feel free to skip to the next article now.

But if you’re looking to be inspired by someone who kept getting sidetracked from the one path she wanted to take yet still found her way back to that very path, and because of it, feels grateful and content and very, very lucky every day, I’m your woman.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always loved writing. But my parents wanted me to be a doctor, and, like many kids, I unquestioningly accepted the dreams they had for me, so I muttered “doctor” whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Once I was in college and trudging my way through a pre-med course I turned out to be hopelessly mediocre in, I shifted out and pursued communications instead—a decision my family wasn’t thrilled about, but one I’ll always be glad I had the guts to stand by.

After graduating, my first job was as a writer and web content specialist for the now-defunct Philippine web portal Yehey.com. I later moved to Summit Media, where I joined the pioneering team of Cosmo.ph, the online home of Cosmopolitan Philippines. I was very happy in those two jobs—I got to explore interesting topics, meet famous personalities, visit new places, cover exciting events, and best of all, I got to write, and I was paid to do so.

Challenges And Expectations

Here’s where I introduce the plot twist: I’m a single mom. I got pregnant in my third year of college. Right before I was to graduate, my son’s father and I broke up, and since I was living in a tiny studio apartment at the time, my son lived with his father’s family and I saw him only on weekends. As the years passed, I could no longer deny that he needed his mother around more; I was rubbing elbows with celebrities and creative types during the week and rubbing gunk off my son’s face only on weekends, and it wasn’t enough. So I ended that glorious streak of being a young writer in Manila and came home to Davao City where my family was based, with my then-five-year-old son in tow.

The months that followed were a blur of me trying—and failing—to fit in professionally in Davao City. I tried to find a writing job, but no one would hire me; I tried to find a job teaching communications, but there were no openings for me. After a few months of me sitting at home feeling useless, my family convinced me to start a business instead; at least I’d own my time, and I could keep being a hands-on mom. I didn’t know squat about handling a business, but I was so sick of failing, I said yes.

I went as far as starting two businesses, but at the back of my mind, I always knew it wasn’t me—I was only doing it for my family and to meet some metric of success I imagined all my peers had already met. Those days, I would often find myself thinking, “What am I doing? I’m a fraud.”

It came as no surprise that I lost money and eventually had to give up those businesses. I then changed tack with something I thought would be a better fit for me: I moved to a corporate job. However, I soon found that the job brought with it a new set of challenges; coming from being a full-time mom, I was now spending much less time with my son, and when you’re a single parent, you have to be doubly present. Plus, within the corporate setup, I couldn’t rekindle that drive, that passion, that certainty that I was where I was supposed to be—all those things I felt in the few years I worked as a writer in Manila.

In the end, I decided to just go back to doing what I loved, but this time, I’d do it in a way that I could still be there for my son whenever he needed me. I quit the corporate job, resolved to write freelance full-time, and hoped for the best.

Full-Time Freelance

Since I moved back to Davao, I had continued writing freelance sporadically for different publishing outfits in Manila so I still had friends in that world, but the transition was still scary. At the time, I only had one client that gave me regular freelance work; they could dump me any time and I’d be back to square one. So before I left my corporate job, I told my boss that I was willing to keep doing the communications work I was doing for them, but on a consultancy basis. Luckily, she kept me on, and I have been working freelance for the company since.

Still, “remote work” and the “digital nomad” life weren’t the big work trends they are now—this was late 2014; all I knew then was what I was doing was extremely risky. I agonized over everything from taxes to health insurance to how to find clients to whether or not I would even be able to sustain my little family month after month, let alone year after year. But I just kept writing, and writing, and writing—and all the while, hoping that with every assignment I completed, I was attracting more assignments to come.

Sure enough, come 2015, I began to write regular lifestyle and relationship articles, profiles, and essays for Cosmopolitan Philippines; by 2017, I was doing the same for FHM Philippines. Not only was I writing full-time, but I was writing about things people cared about, things I cared about as well.

Since my workload started filling out, I’ve had to turn down some projects so I don’t stretch myself too thin—I’m adamant that I do what I love, but not at the expense of my time for my son. Still, I remain grateful—giddy, even—with every opportunity that comes my way, even the ones I turn down. After all, it wasn’t so long ago when I couldn’t get a break and had to settle for other jobs just to get by. I’ve never forgotten where I came from, and that has always made me treasure each day I feel like I’m finally in the right place—again.

Be Nice

If there’s one piece of advice I can give to anyone who wants to do what I’ve ended up doing, whether you’re a writer or not, it’s this: Be nice. Make friends, treat them kindly, show a genuine interest in their lives, and nurture the relationships you’ve formed. People I met, whether online or offline, whether it happened 10 years ago or just last week, turned into people who gave me opportunities, offered me help, or at the very least, connected me with people who did—most of the time without my prompting. It sounds simple, corny even, but just be nice, and people will not only want to work with you, but they will also root for you.

See? I’m not your regular success story—I’m neither swimming in money nor leading teams of underlings to unprecedented triumphs. But hey, I get to do what I love, I get to write about things I care about, I get to enjoy the friendship and respect of my peers, and I get to do all that from the comfort of my bedroom, barefoot and bobbing along to a Charli XCX song while waiting for my son to barge in and plant a kiss on my cheek when he comes home from school.

I have never felt as successful as I do now.

Did you enjoy this post? Please comment, like and share!

—

Tired of doing it all by yourself? #ConnectedWomen helps entrepreneurs find affordable, talented women virtual assistants. Click here to search our database of applicants (FREE for a limited time).

Got more questions about hiring your first remote team member? Download (for free) Gina Romero’s new eBook ‘Delegate or Automate’ for a complete guide.

If you’re a jobseeker thinking about transitioning from office based work to online work but don’t know how,check out our new program ELEVATE.