TOPAZ HORIZON

Today, I'll share with you what I do for a living. People ask me all the time, "What exactly do you do?"

Well, I do a lot of things but since I don't go to an office, people sometimes assume I don't work. Oh, I work a lot! I hustle for need (pay bills, send kids to school, etc) and for pleasure. I love working!

But what exactly do I do? I always say I'm a writer. That's what I do. All my jobs has writing in there somewhere. The more writing it has, the happier I am with it.

My favorite photo from my PR job last year. L-R: Cosmo.ph EIC Jill Gatcheco, Paint It Red managing director Cath David, me, and our client Dr. Candy Drilon-Dalman of Centro Holistico.

Last year, I had an 8-month stint as a PR Manager at Paint It Red. I learned so much from that job. It was intense because I haven't been employed for 6 years and I literally didn't know anything about the PR industry. I was really lucky I had bosses who took a chance on me and were diligent in teaching the oldest member of their staff new things.


I think they didn't have an easy time (this old dog had a hard time learning new tricks!) but I did learn and I did have fun. I was surrounded by young blood and they were so masipag and mabait! I only left because I found I couldn't juggle a job with being a mommy and running my own business.

Yes, I have a legit, BIR-registered freelance writing business. My writing business earns from foreign clients and local magazine websites. I write product descriptions for e-commerce sites, write branded content for websites, do proofreading and editing of manuscripts, and - my absolute favorite - I write articles! Articles may pay the least but they nourish my soul.


My business also covers my PR consultancy work. Now that I'm no longer employed, I have more time to do freelance PR. I've decided to just focus on family-friendly brands, so my PR work now involves promoting products and services moms would like or are owned by mommies. So now, I like my PR work better because it's more meaningful (and easier) to me.

Ask me what job earns the most, however, and it's blogging hands down. It earns me more money than my job as a PR professional and my freelance writing and editing combined. And I'm not even power blogging like I did in 2013-2016! What I earn from blogging now is a third of what I used to earn and yet it still is the one that brings home the fattest bacon. My blog also lets me earn through speaking engagements and workshops, which scare the shit out of me but are fun to do anyway.

Sneak peek: New campaign involves me admiring a giant bell pepper.

Anyway, I guess I should say I'm a blogger first and everything else after. It's not my dream job (will always be magazine editor!) but it's made my dreams come true so I can't complain. And I guess the point of this post is to say all that I do to earn money so people will stop wondering haha. I also want to say that I'm grateful I have my blog.

Everyone hates bloggers, I know, so I feel weird when I say I'm a blogger. I shouldn't because I know people have been moved by the things I write. That's a profound change in people's lives I know I've done and I am so proud of that.

Now, if you've ever read any of my blog entries, shared them, left a comment, attended my workshops, sponsored my blog, got me as brand ambassador, invited me to your events, even clicked "like" on my blog shares, THANK YOU!!! You have helped feed my family and you are a blessing to me! Love you all!