I was surprised, I woke up with a tag of the world's top freelancers. Yes, it was me, I can’t believe a boy who was struggling in his job, 4 to 5 times resigned from top MNCs company within a few years because of dissatisfaction & lack of money in his career & turned into a world top freelancer within a few months & earned $30,000+ of just entering & starting up his freelance business in game graphic designs. 

Hello, everyone. I am Vikash Jha, and this is my own story that I am sharing with you, spanning from the year 2010 to 2112.

How did this happen?

It is the story of the belief that I am going to tell you. I just graduated from my Fine Arts college in 2010 and was searching for a job in Advertising Agencies, but I failed. After one year of struggle, I got rejected from many doors, and I couldn't find any way to enter it. I changed my path and started illustrating digital art, eventually landing a position at a large book publishing MNC company as a Visualiser. When I received my offer letter, tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn't believe it was me holding an offer letter from such a big MNC. I walked home with that letter and the next day, I looked at it again. Then I believed - yes, it's me who got a job, a permanent job. My life was set, and I was happy.

Day 1 at my office:

I had imagined a lot about how my first day would be, and I was sure it would be great and exciting. On my first day of joining, I woke up at 4 AM in the morning. My office bus arrived at 5 AM, and I logged in at 6 AM at the office for my shift, which was from 6 AM to 2:30 PM.

Upon entering my office, I started searching for my cabin, or you could call it a cubicle, but it seemed that there was nothing special waiting for me. Someone offered me a broken chair to sit on and start working, even though I wasn't provided with a computer or laptop. I found myself with nothing to do, and as I looked around, it felt like everyone was staring at me, but in reality, nobody was paying any attention to my arrival. My self-consciousness was playing tricks on my mind, and I was quite stressed, anxiously waiting for my manager who had hired me. Someone mentioned that he would arrive at 9 AM. I spent the entire day waiting for him, but he never came. I returned home after completing my shift, and when my brother asked how my day was, I told him it was good. I was so exhausted that I went to bed without eating, feeling tired from doing nothing and not interacting with anyone.

Day 2

I woke up at 4 AM in the morning. My office bus arrived at 5 AM, and I logged in at the office at 6 AM for my shift, which was from 6 AM to 2:30 PM. Yes, I am repeating the same day after sunrise.

I was once again very excited. On the bus, I met a person who worked in another department on the ground floor. I was on the 1st floor. We quickly became friends on the way to the office. When I reached my office, I sat in the same broken chair because it was always unoccupied. I waited for my manager, but he didn't arrive. When I came back home, it felt like a good day because I didn't have to do anything. My brother looked at me, and I slept without eating again. I was exhausted.

Day 3

I didn't wake up on time and missed the bus. I skipped my office, as I didn't know anyone and didn't know where I should be.

Day 4

Once again, I woke up at 4 AM in the morning. My office bus arrived at 5 AM, and I logged in at the office at 6 AM. I waited for my manager, and this time he arrived. I was excited to meet him and went to his cabin, but he refused to meet me. He asked me to wait outside his cubicle. I waited for a while, but he didn't show up. Then, the friend I met on the morning bus passed by. He asked why I was waiting there, and I explained. He advised me to go back to my seat, saying that my manager would never come and that the project I was hired for was on hold. I was shocked to hear that the project was on hold.

I returned to my seat with this thought, and suddenly, my manager appeared at my desk. He asked me what I had been doing for the last three days. Everyone in the office was looking at me. They were really looking at me. I had no answer for him, so I explained that I was waiting for him. He laughed and without making eye contact, he said to everyone, even raising his voice, that if everyone waited for him to come and assign them tasks, then why had he hired them? He asked the graphic designers to train me for upcoming projects and left.

Before moving on to the next part of my story, I want to share a brief story about a friend who helped me get this job but left the same MNC within a few months of joining.

He was excellent at illustrations and digital art, and I learned a lot from him. He guided me like a big brother and offered me an interview after confidently landing a job in the same MNC I'm talking about. I interviewed and got selected after several rounds. I saw that his name was well-known in the office, and people knew that I was his friend and got selected for the same position.

This story has two parts. One guy had tremendous confidence, did his own work, didn't accept tasks from other teams, and waited only for his own project. He quickly gained recognition within the company and within a month. He came to the office on his own schedule, and if there was nothing to do, he didn't show up. After a few months, he resigned confidently because the project we were hired for was on hold, and he joined another large CMMI Level 5 company with a higher salary. His life was set, I guess.

When he left the company, I was left to take on different tasks and was very low on confidence. I wanted to secure my permanent job, and I finally got selected for a crucial job in the company.

I was selected by the team lead of the graphic designers, who assigned me a job in a very irritated manner, and the team laughed at me. I was chosen for the book scanning job. This involved scanning hundreds of books within a limited time and converting them into digital PDF format for artwork revisions and new launches.

I entered the scanning room on the ground floor, where many people were scanning and exporting PDFs. I grabbed a large scanning machine and started scanning. A friend I had met on the morning bus approached me and asked why I was scanning that particular book. I explained that my team leader had assigned it to me, but he insisted it was their job, and he had the machine for it. I declined his offer and continued scanning. My team lead returned from lunch and asked why I was sitting there. I told him what had happened, and he took me to the ground floor, scolded my friend, and ordered him to scan all the books. He told me to sit nearby, and in silence, I scanned nearly 20 to 30 books, exported their PDFs, and uploaded them online for my team. I felt ashamed, thinking about what I had been hired for and what I was doing.

One day, my team lead returned and asked me why I was still scanning books. He reminded me that I had been hired for design work and told me to come back to the floor and start designing. The team needed help, and I was excited. My anger disappeared, and I returned to my broken chair to start designing on an older computer that kept shutting down when I opened design software.

One day, a team member didn't show up, and his seat was empty. My team lead offered me the opportunity to work on his computer. I was shocked and excited, wondering if he was offering me a chance to use a Mac. I happily accepted and worked on a 21-inch Apple iMac screen. I was thrilled.

But my story doesn't end here; it's just the beginning. A person who was once lacking in confidence and wanted a stable daily job had become a respected figure within the MNC and among my colleagues. They started listening to me and following my lead.

How did this happen? When I started working on graphic design, I began receiving projects to recreate book illustrations, which I was good at. But over a month, I gained extensive knowledge from scanning those books. I became familiar with the content of many books, their illustrations, and their pages' purposes. Whenever my teammates had questions about work they had been doing for years, I had answers within one to two months of scanning those books. I began answering their questions, and in return, they started to respect and appreciate me within the team.

One day, I arrived at the office to find a new chair and a new Mac waiting for me. It was an amazing day, one I'll always remember.

What's Next?

After spending more than eight months in the same company, I realized it wasn't the right place for me. When I joined, I knew nothing, but now I knew everything. I had grown comfortable in my role. I tried to settle there, but it didn't work out, and one day I resigned.

Yes, I, the person who was once low on confidence and wanted a stable daily job, resigned from a company without a new job offer. I didn't know what to do next, so I sat in my room chair and contemplated my new path. I realized that resignation was a simple step to build my confidence and hope for a new career, and it wasn't about losing confidence. Your comfort zone can sometimes undermine your confidence.

Conclusion:

One day, I was talking with my friend, and she told me about a freelancing website. She mentioned that we can choose our preferred jobs there and work freely and independently. Some of her colleagues were also using these sites, earning stable incomes.

I decided to embark on this new journey, and one day, a miracle happened. I was hired by a Canadian client on an hourly basis for gaming illustrations, and he was willing to pay me ten times more than what I was earning in my daily job. As the days passed, I began to gain my own clients, and my earnings underwent a remarkable transformation and growth. I became much more confident than I was a year ago. I remember that for some projects, I didn't even sleep for many nights. This turned me into a workaholic and someone who understood the value of money.

The Key Learnings:

1. Lack of confidence doesn't mean you won't gain it. (I left my job without a new offer, but it worked out)
2. Even seemingly unrelated tasks can be valuable. (Scanning over 100 books turned out to be useful)
3. Growth is always possible, so stay prepared, make the right choices, and work hard. (I changed my path, took on freelance work, and experienced growth)

Stay Tuned!

Vikash Jha

I posted about how this book helps me better understand the freelancing business and winning clients.

Look at my post here on LinkedIn...