Awakening
I live in a country where people firmly believe that school education is the key to success. As a clueless kid, I innocently followed the path people laid out in front of me.
Not until I turned 17. I recognized a pattern in the lives of people who'd gone through the same system that the majority of people propagate as the only way to success. Looking at these graduates and now-working people, seemingly unhappy, I didn't want to have their lives. I didn't want the destination they'd ended up in from taking the same traditional path that the society has demanded of them.
LIVING THE LIFE THAT'S ALREADY BEEN LIVED IS MEANINGLESS.
Go to school. Get a job. Work 40/50 years. Retire. Die.
I don't know about you, but that for me didn't sound like a life. That's like more of a template. And templates are for people who are cowards to write their own story.
Denial
At 17 I was deliberately looking for ways to make money online. Social Media Marketing Agency (SMMA) was a hype back then. I joined a community of people running SMMA. I met an owner of SMMA called Creaet and proposed me a role in his company as a Head of Operations. I accepted it.
Since I was still at school, while having an involvement in a startup, I could barely fulfill my role in the company. So I have two options and only one I could take—whether to pursue schooling.. or enter the business world.
I chose the latter since we only have one life. I mean, why the heck bother settling for mediocrity?
I wanted to build my own business by studying the workflows and systems of the business that I'm getting into. So I dropped out of school and started the business venture.
Ran away
At 18, my family couldn't understand why I spent all day in front of a screen. Well, from their perspective, I was just "chilling" at home.
What they didn't see was that I was leading meetings, interviewing and hiring candidates, helping develop strategic business plans, and managing operations for a startup SMMA. The role was commission-based, not salaried, so although I was gaining valuable experience, I wasn't earning an income yet.
Because I wasn't bringing any money, my family believed I wasn't contributing anything of a value. They eventually insisted that I get a traditional job so I could at least be fucking "useful" to the household.
I don't blame my family as this poor mindset is common in many Filipino families. That if you don't have a college degree, the expectation is that you'll spend the rest of your life working low-paying & physically demanding jobs.
So my dad sent me to my uncle who's an architect and a contractor to be one of his construction workers, and all of my hard-earned money goes to my dad's pocket. I would wake up 5am, and work from 7am up until 5pm on construction. And 6pm to 2am as a Head of Operations.
Fast forward, I can no longer fulfill my role in startup due to my body's need of early rest from heavy work at construction. I haven't earned a penny in that startup because we had zero clients. And just late April 2026 I deviated away from my family completely to live by myself.
Building from ground up
The first three days from running away from home was an unimaginably difficult experience.
I slept on floors, by the roadside, and at the park bench.
I tried applying for local jobs related to sales and communication roles such as front desk receptionist, salesman in mall, customer service representative. Only to end up having each of my applications rejected, simply because i didn't have a school diploma/degree.
This Philippine job fucking market will humble you fast if you don't play by their rules.
So as a last resort, again, I was forced to take on a job that has the lowest barrier of entry, yet most physically laborious ~ construction worker. Luckily, workers can stay in a container van barracks which currently is serving as my temporary shelter.
Now I work 6 days a week, 7am-6pm, earning $10/day leaving me by the weekend payday with only enough money to pay for the borrowed food that I ate for that entire week.
I cannot afford staying here for long so at night after every shift I'm allocating my time to acquire a skillset that I know will pay for a lifetime: sales.