Charmaine Montejo – Virtual Assistant

Hi, this is Charmaine Montejo, otherwise known as Charm. Allow me to tell you something interesting about myself. In my 41 years of existence, I have been a daughter, a mother, and a wife, to a loving family. I graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Science Major in Psychology from the University of San Carlos, where I then worked as an HR staff in the world of corporate management. Honestly, if someone came up to me seven years ago and told me that I’d be working from home, I probably would’ve shrugged it off because I used to be a really big believer in the saying, “Real opportunities lie in the real world.” Still, of course, I was greatly proved otherwise, for even better chances awaited me in the world of virtual assistance. While working from home may be stressful and challenging, it also happens to be fun, flexible, and rewarding.

After I resigned from my HR job, working from home has always been an unfinished sketch. I’ve always planned to try it but was never given the right opportunity to do so. It wasn’t until a local virtual assistant company passed by my Facebook timeline that I finally decided to add an outline and colours to that sketch.

I took the online courses that the company offered, wherein I was taught everything I needed to know about getting into virtual assistance. With its help, I was able to hone my skills in a shorter amount of time. That way, it was quicker for me to start looking for companies to apply to. Fortunately, as a former trainee, I was given a chance to be able to work for them, which I think was a very wise choice, because I was able to learn so much more with the experience that it brought about.

I started working for them as a Customer Service Assistant wherein we sell online freelancing courses to those who want to shift their career from corporate jobs to remote. My role is to answer all incoming inquiries and messages from their Facebook and Instagram accounts, and to keep track of enrollees’ payments via Google Sheets. Admittedly, given the change of environment, coping up and adjusting was the hardest part of being a newbie. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a kind working environment, so I was able to get through with it a lot faster. Indeed, teamwork can truly play a crucial part in everyone’s development. With my outstanding performance, I have been promoted into far bigger roles ever since.

Aside from that, I also maximised my skills by taking on different clients who gave me different tasks to accomplish within a specific amount of time. This was helpful not only for the financial benefits it provides but also because the experience I’ve had in working for them has helped me improve my skills in so many ways.

Someone once told me, “To be able to perform well in your job, you’re gonna need to understand it well,” and I couldn’t agree anymore! Starting with nothing but course learnings was like deep diving with no oxygen to support you, but the experience, along with the guidance and support offered by my family and colleagues, allowed me to swim back up to the surface just fine.

Over the years, I’ve learned that working isn’t just about the roles you play within the company but rather, it’s about how you embrace your job. It’s about surpassing your skills and always striving to learn things beyond what you already know and what you need to know. And most importantly, it’s about teamwork and leadership, learning how to accept help from others, and knowing how to take responsibility for things that are left on your hands. I believe anything is possible so long as you know how to put in effort and understanding on things.

Although virtual assistance may not be the easiest of jobs, it is the benefits it brings about that make me choose this over many other different jobs. While it can be somehow complicated, its flexibility allows me to still get a grasp of my life as a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a person, even in projects, and that in itself is what I believe is the best thing about it.

Now, as I venture into this brand-new journey, I aspire to achieve and learn more things. I aim to improve myself in many ways which I can apply not only in my job as a virtual assistant but also in my everyday life. After all, I believe that success is for the wise, and wisdom comes with endless learning and improvement.

For a copy of Charmaine’s resume please click here.