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ARP 015 - Turning Courage Into A Superpower
86 Plays3 years ago
Ever since we're kids, we're told that the youth is the hope of the nation but sometimes, we (intentionally or unintentionally) undermine the capabilities of our young people. In this episode, I am joined by the virtual ate herself - Virtual Ate Le-an Lai Lacaba. We talk about how she started working from home at a very young age, her experiences, challenges, and inspiration working from home, and how she used them now to encourage and teach more people about online jobs.
Le-an's channels:
http://leanlai.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leanlailacaba
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanlailacaba
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanlailacaba
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/leanlailacabaVA
Connect with me via the following platforms:
Website: www.abovepreciousrubies.com
Twitter: @AboveRubiesBlog
Instagram: @AboveRubiesBlog
Facebook: @Above Rubies Blog
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Transcript
Surviving Typhoon Yolanda
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm actually a survivor of typhoon Yolanda, where the waters were up to my neck, it was came to our house.
Youth vs. Experience
00:00:16
Speaker
Have you ever felt looked down because you are young?
00:00:24
Speaker
In our culture, people think, and I call it from a song, when you are young, they assume you know nothing. It's not easy to get your point across, especially when you are trying to encourage older people.
Meet Lee and Laela Kaba
00:00:40
Speaker
This episode is going to be really interesting and encouraging because my guest will break that mindset.
00:00:49
Speaker
She slowly started her online empire when she was 15 years old, became a CEO at 20 and partnered up with her boss to start to exhale executive services at 20.
Introducing Above Ruby's Podcast
00:01:02
Speaker
In this episode of Above Ruby's podcast, we'll welcome our guests, Lee and Laela Kaba. We'll be talking about how she started working online and how she didn't let her age stop her from doing great things.
00:01:15
Speaker
will also know about how she is now able to help Filipinos bring food on their table because of her digital agency.
00:01:29
Speaker
Thank you for listening above Ruby's podcast, created by a mom for every mom and parents for that matter, embracing parenthood and sanity. Here to help you get by through weekly discussions and parenting, relationships, home and faith as you juggle daily in life.
00:01:57
Speaker
Welcome to Above Ruby's podcast, where we talk about working from home, faith, parenting, relationship, and sanity. I am your host, Lynn, and with me today is a very important guest, Lian Lailakaba, a CEO and co-founder of 2XU.
Lian's Online Journey Begins
00:02:13
Speaker
It's a remote executive assistant service company that specializes in working with creative entrepreneurs in packaging that chaotic entrepreneurial genius with a highly trained executive assistant.
00:02:25
Speaker
Thank you so much for your time, Lian. I am so excited for this session. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How are you? I'm fine and a little nervous. You know what? This week, two days ago, I just guested Lian's YouTube channel too. I don't know why, but I'm more nervous now than when she was interviewing me. I'm not sure. You're doing fine.
00:02:49
Speaker
Thank you. But yes, this person is, let's call it Intagalo Naka Wow. She started at a very young age, at 15. Can I just say, when I was 15, I never thought I could start earning. I was just studying and relying to my parents for financial assistance. Please walk us through how and why you started working online at a very young age.
00:03:11
Speaker
So for me, it was more of a discovery. So at that time, it was summer. It was right after I graduated high school. I was about to start UP next year, I will next semester. And then I was just playing around and I already had a blog at that time. I used to write a lot of short stories. I would write poems and I would post it on this blog that I have or I would post at that time, you know, very
00:03:35
Speaker
kind of activist like UP mindset when I started out with my blog. And then there was this Facebook group that I used to be on before Facebook groups was a big thing where we would be comment for comment. So on the different blog posts that we had. And then one of them said, Hey, I actually really liked the way that you write.
Family Influence and Work-from-Home Path
00:03:52
Speaker
Can I hire you as a writer? That's how it started. I was like, I can get paid to do this because my hand was to become a lawyer.
00:04:00
Speaker
The only way that I could do it at that time, I thought the only way that I could be paid the right was becoming a journalist, which was I had both goals of being a journalist and a lawyer at the same time. So that's actually how I started. And then from there, as I started talking to more people, as I kept posting on my blog, people kept asking like, Hey, can they just pay you to do this? And I'm like, yes, of course. Yeah, that's how I started working online.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's great. We have one common denominator which is blogging. That's how I started too. And it's really interesting. I had comment for comment or comment exchange. I've been joining that too before and I just got too busy. It's amazing how you are able to connect with people just by blogging too, right? And now look at you.
00:04:40
Speaker
Now, knowing that our upbringing contributes greatly into the character we have become, how do you think your loved ones or your family, your parents, to be exact, help you become the woman that you are now? So part of my story is that my dad wasn't a OFW my whole life, actually until just three years ago when he finally decided to come home. But at that point, I was already here in Cebu. But for most of my life, I would only see him once a year, twice a year sometimes, or twice a year if
00:05:08
Speaker
he switched from different companies. And for me, when I discovered how to work from home, it blew my mind like, okay, if this was something that my dad had when he was growing up, or when he was at the age that he was looking for a job, then he wouldn't have to leave. So I kind of really learned how to do it online. So then I can start teaching like my siblings, like both my siblings have side gigs right now. They started when they were 16 and 17.
00:05:31
Speaker
Wow, they're now still doing it. So that was kind of a big part of my journey was then once I saw like, Oh, there's an opportunity to work from home. I can teach other people to do this so they don't have to go overseas to find good jobs.
Skill Development Driven by Family
00:05:43
Speaker
And then my mom is a writer. She's the one who started me on the path and
00:05:48
Speaker
for most of my life, because my mom started out as an English teacher, became principal, and then switched to working in the government. She still kept that love for writing. I would read her old diaries. I would read her old entries. And then when I actually started at 15, she got me a job later on at the magazine that she was working for, and I became their head junior writer.
00:06:11
Speaker
So she really encouraged that writing and that curiosity for me. And then anytime that I was learning new skills, so at 16, I learned graphics. At 17, I learned video editing, and it's mostly because I was doing it for her. Ah, companies. She would be like, oh, yeah, and we really need to have this, you know, tarpaulin made in the office. I'm like, I got you all. So a lot of the skills that I kept learning, I kept getting, I kept learning because she would just, you know, throw tasks at me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:06:40
Speaker
She's like, oh, Leanne, don't you know how to do video editing? I'm like, yes. So she would help me do video editing for their Christmas party, for their reunion at class. So a lot of my side gig learning started because of just that of my mom being open to having me take on different challenges.
00:06:56
Speaker
Oh wow, that's awesome. And since this is a parenting podcast, I just wanted to talk about how important it is for parents like me to have that trust. And when we see that potential in our children, to encourage them to doing that, that's really something big when children cease.
00:07:12
Speaker
you know that their parents trust them and yeah it's just amazing and I have to agree also with you know right now with working from home especially with FH moms which is the common group we're into we are encouraging them to learn especially these OFWs they can go home already and take care of their family my husband was an OFW for three years and I can really say it's not easy and I told him you know what give up that job because our son is growing
00:07:41
Speaker
And we don't want him missing or we don't want you missing that opportunity growing up with our kids. So that's really amazing and incredible. And you know, the writing now I know it runs in the blood.
From Survival to CEO at 20
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing. I just like that your mom trusts you so much that it built, it really contributed greatly into what you are now. Let's talk about your partnership with your boss in starting
00:08:06
Speaker
2x you executive services at the age of 23. So this was like two years ago. Is that correct? How did that start? One of the things that I went through in my life is I'm actually a survivor of typhoon Yolanda, where the waters were up to my neck. It was on our house. And I had that flash of moment of looking through, like I said, my plan was to become a journalist or lawyer. That was kind of the path that I was on. And
00:08:32
Speaker
I really had that your life flashes before your eyes feeling. But what happened instead was I saw forward. I saw my life as a lawyer. I saw my life as a part of the plan for me was I'm going to move to the US. I'm going to have this big life outside of the Philippines.
00:08:49
Speaker
And I hated it. That was actually the feeling that I got. I was like, if I continued on this path of my life, if I died, I wouldn't have been happy. So then I literally changed my life. I just finished my third year in UP. I never went and proceeded with my fourth year because I moved to Cebu because my PTSD, my anxiety got really bad in the club.
00:09:08
Speaker
So I moved here at 18 years old and I started working for this publishing company, which was Work From Home, which is actually how I met my boss. I started out as one of the book editors. I was, you know, professional bookworm. I was being paid to read. Yeah. Oh, wow. And then I rose up. I started rising up just because nothing to lose anxiety, PTSD.
00:09:27
Speaker
I started rising up really fast and I became CEO by the end of the two years that I was with them. So at 20 years old, I became CEO. And then three years later, we had the publishing company running. I was getting to the point where I was handing off the publishing company to someone else that someone else was going to be able to run it. And I wanted to start a different business. I wanted to go into a business and start it from scratch because like the businesses that I've done before and I've done a lot, it's usually
00:09:55
Speaker
pay and usually didn't really do it. So that's how we kind of got to 2x you. In the beginning 2x you started out in my head as a social media company where we provide you know social media services because that was the big thing you know two years ago and then my boss said why not an executive assistant company because then we're providing one-to-one service to the client. At that time I got really good at hiring and managing people because I was doing it during the publishing company so then that's kind of how we got started
00:10:20
Speaker
I was like I want to keep working with you guys like him and his son have kind of become my second family here in Cebu Like they literally these when I moved to Cebu I used to live in a like shoe box like the usual maids room I that was where I first lived in because it was really cheap when they saw me that I was living there They literally adopted me and then have me like in the condo that I'm living now That's where they also live because they were like no, no, no, you're not gonna survive here. I'm like, okay
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. It was funny because I found out that it was actually a drug den and I didn't know. So it's a good thing that they love me. So that's how we started to XU. It was started as me already working with them and me wanting to branch out, but they said like, okay, no, no, no, you don't have to branch out on your own. You can start this together. I'm like, resources. Okay. Yes.
Lessons on Titles and Career Growth
00:11:09
Speaker
Connections. Yes, exactly.
00:11:11
Speaker
Wow, you know, the fact that you all started too early is already really good. But now that I realize that you're also Yolanda, I'm literally just having goosebumps right now. You deserve all of these success that you are currently experiencing. And, you know, sometimes they say there's no way but up and you have nothing to lose.
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, there's just no way you'd butt up. At this point, is there something that you regret doing or not doing that affected how you build your digital empire?
00:11:42
Speaker
I guess the biggest one and I try not to fault 18, 19 year old me for that because I was young, I had no idea how the world works. I remember I was so obsessed with titles. Like the moment that my boss opened up that we're going to be trading a new CEO, who wants to be CEO, I was so obsessed with that term, with the term CEO. Again, I was 18, I was 19, I had no idea.
00:12:04
Speaker
the responsibilities that it came with, the headache that it came with it. But that is one thing that keeps popping up in my mind. Because I was obsessed with titles, I never took a step back and look at myself, like at that person that I was becoming because I was obsessed with this title. So when it all crashed in my face, I was like, oh.
00:12:27
Speaker
Ah, that's why you focus on yourself and not on the title first because basically we got to the point where because I was just chasing this title, I wasn't looking at, we were hiring. I wasn't looking at the people who was coming into our company. I wasn't filtering them as well. And it became this so toxic culture that we ended up having to let go of like 20 people in one day because we had to restart.
00:12:48
Speaker
And I was like, okay, I had to learn that lesson as a news because I was like two months in being CEO as a new CEO, I have to make sure that I'm looking at myself and the people that we are. So that was like one of my biggest regrets was being that kind of very title driven person. Wow.
00:13:03
Speaker
And I mean, mistakes, they help us better. So it's not really like a mistake, but it's just a stepping stone. And a few days ago, I saw you posting on your story that you are now about a group of 60. Is that correct? Did I get that right? 60 people. I was like, wow, this woman is just amazing.
Becoming a Career Coach
00:13:23
Speaker
Coming up next, let's learn about Leon's passion to teach more people about working from home. Don't go away, we'll be right back. For your daily dose of inspirational proverbs, visit us on Facebook and Instagram. Simply search above Ruby's blog. Want to know more about podcasting and connect with podcast virtual assistants? Join us in our exclusive Facebook group. Simply search PodcastBAsPhilippines.
00:13:48
Speaker
And we are still back still with Leyan. I'm really loving this conversation so far. I am so inspired by your life and how you started. It's really amazing. And just keep it up. I know you're keeping it up because I see you. I've been following you on YouTube. I see you on FH Moms. It's just...
00:14:05
Speaker
that we just had, you know, this conversation now in this week, but I know you. So yeah, we know each other and we have a mutual group, which is FH Moms. And for some reason, even though you are not a mom, they welcome you there. And so you are one of our FHT tasks. I'm pretty sure a lot of people mistaken you for a mom. And you are now a CEO, or not just a CEO, but also a coach. Why did you become a career coach when you already have a business?
00:14:34
Speaker
So that's actually a interesting part of that story is actually I got to know MK of FH Moms when we were doing Freedom Summit two years ago. We had like mixtures for all the speakers and I actually when she started talking about like she has FH Moms at that point they had 80,000 members almost close to 100 if I remember right and she was talking like how she was training these people and then
00:14:57
Speaker
it was like very much like the universe aligning so it was that puzzle piece and then literally that same week my sister at that time she was 16 she was like hey Ate do you remember that thing that you started getting clients at 15 years old I was like yes can you teach me that
00:15:12
Speaker
So it was another puzzle piece. And the last puzzle piece that kind of started the coaching was I really wanted to get better at video. That in 2019, my goal was to become public speakers. We went to Singapore, went to Malaysia as speakers. I had that. And at the same time, I also, in the back of my head, I'm like, should I start a YouTube channel? So it was like multiple pieces coming together.
00:15:36
Speaker
And then I decided I want to be a career coach. And at that time, I didn't even know what career coach was a thing. I just started making videos. Every time my sister asked me a question, how to work from home, I'd make a video and then I would send it to her and then I post it on Facebook. So that's kind of how I started on that path, because I have looked at like more than 500 resumes in my lifetime.
00:15:56
Speaker
I've interviewed so many people. So I have this skill of being HR, of being the person who is in charge of hiring. So last year during the pandemic, the final puzzle piece clicked when the pandemic happened and people started wanting to have a course or some sort of guide on how to work from home. So I did a challenge where it was like a 10 day challenge where it was called the Work Anywhere Challenge. I developed that. I had like four batches. I developed the course.
00:16:22
Speaker
I've done so many both coaching and speaking gigs about how to work from home at this point. And of course my YouTube channel blew up. I got 4,000 subscribers in four months. So it was just this one piece, like I said, after the other of like, oh, this is something that I should be doing. And it's just now a full circle of me teaching teenagers how to work from home when at that time, when I was a teenager working from home, no one was teaching this.
00:16:45
Speaker
So it just became this really full circle moment of, you know, maybe I should coach too.
Importance of Delegation
00:16:51
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's awesome. And here in the Philippines, may I just say that we are, a lot of us have this, an employee mindset. I have that. And in fact, that's the reason why I started really late on my dream of, you know, building a digital agency, because I had that employee mindset and
00:17:10
Speaker
It's good to see people who are breaking that mindset now. A lot of Filipinos are doing that already, so that's really good. And I just thought you said you are now, you write a book, you coach and you have a company now, you're helping a lot of people and you're probably meeting and coaching. How are you able to do all these things? Well, I do what I preach. I have an amazing assistant. So like exactly why, you know,
00:17:34
Speaker
And within 2XU, one of the biggest things that I teach is you have to scale yourself. You have to grow. You can't grow just with yourself. So last year, just as my YouTube channel was growing, just as I had this course I was launching, just as 2XU was also taking off, I hired an amazing extent. Her name is Christina. I think she's the one who actually contacted you. So that's how awesome she is. She does things as if she was me. That's a lot of what I'm able to
00:18:00
Speaker
freed up to be able to do. She takes over. So it used to take me eight to 16 hours a week to edit two YouTube videos a week. I do nothing. I just like record, look at my camera for 30 minutes and talk per week. She just produces all of the content with the systems that we've set up. So it really, I do what I preach. I invest in her. I train her up. I give her all of the feedback that she needs. So then she's able to work with me really well.
00:18:23
Speaker
Wow, that's really awesome. And I have to agree because we just cannot do everything. And it's very important to delegate. Delegation is something that you cannot just easily do. We have to let go of that thinking that I am the only one who can do this. But instead, like duplicate yourself into someone else. That's why it's 2x you. Yeah, I know, right? That is very good. And that's a very good company name because I was like 2x you. You know, you don't have a lot of explaining to do because you're just duplicating yourself. That's all.
00:18:52
Speaker
That's all that you do.
Finding Passion Through Experimentation
00:18:54
Speaker
Now, this is just a question and encouraging all of our listeners, especially that I have some people who are young right now, but how can, in your case, it just like, it just falls into place, just what happened. How can someone discover their passion or goal?
00:19:09
Speaker
So the biggest, and I've gotten that question so many times, and I love it when people ask me that question because then they're thinking in that way. One of the biggest ways that you can find your passion, if you haven't found it yet, is to just try so many things. Like if you told me like four years ago that I was going to start an agency, I wouldn't have like, what?
00:19:28
Speaker
Why? But it was just because at the time I was trying to find my new passion. Like, what is the next thing that I want to do? Oh, a service-based company. Sure. And I ended up falling in love with being both being the coach to the assistants and the consultant to the client. So just try different things. In 2018, I did a challenge with myself where I learned one skill a month. Among those skills were actually tried messenger chatbot. I actually tried learning how the podcast did not like them, but at least I tried.
00:19:58
Speaker
At least I tried learning the skill on, you know, huddle setups, messenger shutoffs, huddle setup a podcast. You know, I am doing the interviews on my channel, but a lot of that is just uploading into YouTube. I don't have to do anything else afterwards. So that's the biggest thing that I always try. If I'm feel lost, if I feel like what am I going to do next? I just try something new. I just do something new. Like, oh, okay. And this thing now. So that's just if for anyone who doesn't know what they want to do.
00:20:24
Speaker
Just taste more stuff in the world. You never know what you like and what you don't like. You also find that out. Yeah, that's true. I agree. I have tried a lot of things too before, you know, loving podcasting. So you'll just cross the bridge when you get there and then you see, oh, this is something. You just feel it in there. This is something that.
00:20:43
Speaker
for me. This is my very last question. Nowadays, where majority of teenagers are too concerned about social media, their number of likes and followers, what's your eyes to that one person who wants to start early but is afraid that his or her idea aren't valid because he or she is still young?
00:21:04
Speaker
Really good question. I guess on one side, when it comes to, you know, teenagers being obsessed with numbers, being obsessed with something that is usually like we think of as vanity metric, we have to learn how to understand that part. That's just the evolution of how this technology that started long ago has evolved into this. So that's one part of it is
00:21:26
Speaker
learn to understand why they're so obsessed with it. It could be something that they were taught. It could be something that they just saw their friends doing and they never understand it themselves, but they're just doing it anyway.
Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
00:21:37
Speaker
But if you are someone who wants to start out, take advantage of the zero followers. Take advantage of the
00:21:43
Speaker
not having anyone know about you because then you'll be able to experiment you'll be able to try a few things out like right now one of the things that I'm trying to do is I'm trying to switch my channel to be more business person centric instead of freelancer centric and it's a little bit hard to do because I did start the YouTube channel for freelancers
00:22:00
Speaker
So if I could go back, I would start with this, but because I have this platform already, then I have to slowly, you know, put some videos about how to start your own business. So take advantage of not having people know you. So then you can find the flavor or find the thing that you actually like doing instead of trying to do what everyone else is doing.
00:22:19
Speaker
That's really nice. I love that. And yes, at this point, I really can say that, you know, age is just a number and you can start young. I did not start young, but you, if you're listening to this podcast, you can start at a young age. And if these young people are, wanted to reach you and, you know, get coached by you, how can they find you? So, and everywhere.
00:22:44
Speaker
You can find me everywhere. I have Facebook, I have Instagram, I have, of course, my YouTube channel. I'm mostly active in all of the platforms. I think the platform I'm most active in nowadays is actually TikTok. I now have 13,000 followers on there, so if you want to be one of them. So I'm basically everywhere. Just search my username, just the nlaylakaba for all of the platforms.
00:23:04
Speaker
Thank you so much, Leanne, for this time. I am really inspired and I really like this session. I am so happy that we have this opportunity to talk about, you know, you, your business and how you started. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Embrace Work-from-Home and Youth
00:23:19
Speaker
And that's a wrap. I am so glad I got the chance to talk to Lian about her experiences, challenges, and inspiration working from home and how she used them to now encourage and teach more people about online jobs. If you are contemplating about working from home, I hope that this episode inspired you to start now and just do it.
00:23:40
Speaker
And if you are feeling like your voice isn't heard because you are young, I hope that this episode encourages you that you, at a young age, can now start to do great things.
00:23:54
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed today's episode. Sign up to my newsletter so you're notified of my next podcast at www.abovepreciousroobies.com or follow me via Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon podcast, and other podcasts for me platforms. If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, email me at n-i-l-y-n at abovepreciousroobies.com. I look forward to talking to you.
00:24:25
Speaker
Today's Bible reading is found in Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 and 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
00:24:43
Speaker
And now first Timothy chapter four, verse 12, let no man despise your youth, but be an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.