This is the first of our series of interviews with real-life mommies who have succeeded in earning income working from home.
Our first mom who so kindly shares her experiences with us is Fleire Castro, social marketing assistant and project manager.
NANAY NOTEBOOK: Please tell us a little about yourself.
FLEIRE CASTRO: My name is Fleire Castro. I am a freelancer and a homeschooling mom. Some know me as Mae Castro at oDesk, and sometimes Likke on my social profiles. Stalk me out sometime if you wish to get in touch. :)
NN: What is your work-at-home job?
FC: I have two: a full-time programming job and my part-time jobs as a social media marketing assistant and project manager. Yes, they are all work-from-home.
Often, when people ask me what my work is, I just say “programmer” when I want to avoid weird looks and people asking me, “Social what???”
NN: Valid question, though. What is a social media marketing assistant?
FC: A social media marketing assistant is somebody who helps companies find and use the right channels and tools to engage a brand’s followers or potentially interested connections.
For my social media marketing projects, I handle client social media accounts and keep them updated.
NN: So you must be on Facebook and Twitter a lot, huh?
FC: Those are the top channels right now.
NN: This is a very personal question, but I’m sure some readers would want to know what percentage of your income comes from your fulltime programming job and what’s from your part-time work?
FC: I earn 50% of my income from my part-time projects, which are either social media marketing or project management work.
NN: Okay, so let’s talk about your freelance jobs. How long have you been working as a social media marketer and project manager?
FC: I am on my second year freelancing. Within that time frame, I have developed extra hands.
Kidding aside, it involves crazy time management abilities to handle a full-time job, part-time projects, homeschooling a kid and running a household at the same time.
Sometimes, I go to sleep too!
NN: Oh, I know what you mean! Now we’ll focus on your job in social media marketing (SMM). What skills would we need to be able to do a job like that?
FC: For SMM, you need skills in writing, basic knowledge of SEO, a bit of copywriting, and lots of awesome conversational English.
NN: How did you acquire those skills?
FC: From college. From my previous jobs. From self-learning. I am an Information Technology graduate so I attribute most of my skills to my college degree. I was also able to work on two office jobs before turning to freelancing. The rest are self taught through lots of reading and doing.
NN: And how do you find work as a social media marketing assistant?
FC: I mainly find work via online job boards, specifically, oDesk. I send out a sincere application letter to openings that I know I can help out with — I have mentioned it in my recent article How to Succeed in oDesk? which answered a question from a fellow mommy.
NN: Do you have any advice for our readers who want to do work like yours?
FC: As Seth Godin has said, “If you want to go into marketing, then market.” Market yourself. Market your favorite band, TV show, your blog — start somewhere.
NN: Do you have a website we can visit for more information?
FC: I maintain just two blogs. It gets crazy sometimes, and I don't get to update my work blog which is at Web Working & Social Media | Fleire Castro.
But I always make sure to update my son Dabby's homeschooling blog at Likke. Do visit me there and check out the crazies that I do!
Sep 17, 2010
Social Media Marketer: Interview with Fleire Castro
