DA Story: Romely Esquejo Faith to Succeed

What does success mean to a Distant assistant? Behind every DA’s smiling face and diligence in working with clients is a story that could be enough to inspire you for a lifetime. This week, we interviewed another rockstar DA about her career journey. Here’s Distant Assistant Story: Romely Esquejo Faith to Succeed.

“Fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure.” -Aaron Walker

Job at the Call Center

Romely spent more than a decade of working in the call center industry. She started working soon after she graduated from college and climbed the ladder from being a customer service representative to becoming a team manager.

But it was not always as easy as replying to customer emails and calls. Shift schedules proved to be extremely challenging. Particularly for her, she would either wake up during the very early hours of the day or during the late hours of the night.

While everyone else in town was probably enjoying a blissful sleep, she was up and busy doing the best she could with her job.

Stepping Out Into a Greener Pasture

By December of 2015, Romely gave birth to her third child. That prompted her to find a better way to earn for their family. Her salary was no longer enough to supply their needs.

She also wanted to spend more time with her kids. They were growing up so fast, and she wished to be by their side as their mother.

“The best thing about working home-based is that you get to be with your family and friends.” -Romely Esquejo

What was supposed to be a maternity leave turned into a resignation—a deliberate, permanent leave from the call center industry.

Now, she enjoys working from the comforts of her home. According to her, she is able to work online while doing household chores or watching her kids play. She appreciates the fact that she now gets to be with her family and friends more often.

Not only that…

Romely enjoys a very flexible work schedule. She gets to work anytime she wants. Gone are traffic jams and management meetings as well.

Overall, her job as a Distant assistant provided her with more benefits than she expected. She has more time with her loved ones, has a better way of earning and advancing in her career, and is more confident that her kids will become the best they could be—so much more than a loving and highly skillful momma could wish for.

Surpassing What Seemed Impossible

Despite her skills and intellect, however, the success that Romely savors with her career as a distant assistant was not done overnight. According to her, it took her grit, prayers and much waiting before she finally had her “Yes”.

“You do not owe it to yourself. You have to pray.” -Romely Esquejo

Romely is not your ordinary Distant assistant. She graduated with a degree in Business Management from the University of the Philippines, an institution that is known for its high quality of education.

What is more remarkable is she studied there as a scholar. She remembers that even with free tuition, there was a time that she still couldn’t afford 36 pesos for her requirements. But she surpassed all the challenges and graduated in four years’ time.

Her achievements inspired her to soar even higher.

That was why…

When she resigned from her job at the call center, she was fairly confident that she would land another job immediately. But, things did not turn out as she expected.

She received two rejections out of the four jobs she applied for online. That was devastating to the point that she doubted herself and started to wallow in fear. Rejection was not something she had prepared for.

She remembers crying to her husband because of it.

“You have to be willing to start from scratch. It’s really up to you to build your skills up.” -Romely Esquejo

Her faith in Christ became a huge part of her life. She became humble enough to admit that she has her own set of capacities and limits. Just as someone once said, “Sometimes you’ll find yourself in a place where you are confident and then in a place where you are not. That is just to let you know that you can’t do everything by yourself.”

And that is when faith steps in.

According to Romely, it takes a strong heart—a step of faith—to go where you are supposed to go. With her strong faith in Christ, she believes that things will turn out for the best. And if it is something that God has for her, she will have it in His time.

Challenges to Success

Rejection was only one of the major challenges she faced in seeking greener pasture. Romely also experienced being “scammed” by a client. Her story runs similar to that of distant assistant Michelle Calma.  

“I didn’t realize that even while you are still working home-based you might still encounter people who don’t have good intentions.” -Romely Esquejo

She did her best to help supply for her family and advance in her career. She also experienced teaching kids online as well as working as a skills trainer.

It was not easy after she resigned from her job at the call center. There were the hospital, credit card and utility bills to pay and just recently given birth to her third child.

That’s when Bottleneck Distant Assistants came. She fervently prayed and waited for a total of six months before she found her current job as a distant assistant.

And guess what? It was more than worth the wait.

More Than Just a Miracle

Romely is happy and thankful to be working with Aaron Walker of View from the Top. She was confident with the skills she had when she applied.

“[My DA outsourcing agent told me that] if [my client] did not hire me because of my skills, he hired me because of my heart.” -Romely Esquejo

Looking back, she still can’t seem to believe all the blessings she has since been receiving. After all that she went through, she admits how rare it is to find clients who are so generous and who share the same faith as her.

“It’s just because he was very happy with my disposition that I am always two steps ahead.” -Romely Esquejo

To Romely, it was a miracle that she never thought was possible. It was more than what she had prayed for.

Her clients stayed with her on her journey. According to her, they made sure that she had everything she needed. A MacBook Pro, books, and casual monetary gifts were just splashes from the main shower of blessings she’s received.

Life Outside of Work

Romely does social media marketing as well as website maintenance. She also does other tasks when necessary.

But outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time, particularly with her family. She used to do scrapbooking in her free time. She enjoyed it so much that her scrapbooks could be enough for her to buy a new home appliance.

Also, to improve her skills, she makes sure to sign up for any opportunity that could help her out. But no matter what type of material—online courses, webinars, blogs—she goes through them and makes sure it’s aligned to her job.

Advice to Current and Aspiring Distant Assistants

Staying for long in the industry is not a question to Romely. She said, “Do you really have to ask that? It’s a big yes.” Still, her doors are open to any great opportunity that may arrive—including her dream to teach in a college.

To distant assistants, she encourages them to be genuinely involved and concerned with the business of your clients. If you do, according to her, your output will be 105% perfect.

“It’s never going to be an easy position or job. You have to be willing to work on your own. It’s not all (a) bed of roses.” -Romely Esquejo

She understands that challenges will always be part of the journey. You might even reach a point when you will probably doubt yourself. But in the end, you have to decide whether you will continue or not.

If you give more of your effort, you definitely won’t be doubting your output. And that’s how you thrive.

To aspiring DAs, be brave to take that step of faith. She advises the need to pray hard for that one thing that is in store for you. You simply have to step up and trust God in the process, because sometimes you need more than skills to achieve your dreams.

This has been the distant assistant story of Romely Esquejo. She sends out her warm wishes and encouragement to everyone in the industry. Special thanks to her for sharing her journey with Bottleneck Distant Assistants.

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