To complete the CaaSocio story, we give you the other half of CaaSocio co-founders.

Aiza was a licensed electronics engineer. Now, she co-manages multiple businesses — steak and wine, balloons with flowers, and CaaSocio. But her love for writing is just so deeply rooted. Even as a child, there was an inner writer who would one day come out and conquer the world of writing. 

How did Aiza become the go-to SaaS copywriter?

Today, she shares her story. She is the other half of the CaaSocio brain. If you missed CaaSocio co-founder Sarah’s story, please check it out here.

We'd like to know more about you. Please share who Aiza is? 

I am an only child. I grew up in Iloilo and graduated BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering there. An electronics company used to visit our school to scout for new hires. So I eventually tried my luck too. I applied. When the company hired me, I began a new life as an engineer in a province far from my hometown.

I got married there. Now I’m a mom of a soon-to-be 4 toddler. 

What brought you to SaaS?

I had a day job back then. I was a test development engineer for that electronics company. I was even given a chance to work off-shore — Ireland, to be exact. But even when I enjoy my professional career, I cannot resist my passion for writing. 

‍

So, I worked as a freelance writer through Upwork. That is where I had my first SaaS client. That was when I discovered the world of SaaS. The funny story here is that I was hired because of my honesty. When my ex-CEO hired me as an email drip marketing copywriter, I told him that I had no experience writing drip emails. Though I showed him samples of my writing (which he liked!), my honest promise to learn fast was what got me hired. I stayed with them for 5 years, and I left as a Marketing Manager.

If you’re already an engineer, why did you still freelance?

I’m having a good time as an engineer. I’m slowly building my career in a really beautiful place with awesome Filipino and Irish engineers. Yet, I was torn. My mind kept going back to my freelancing work and blogs. I’m obsessed with my multiple blogs on WordPress, earning either by freelancing or free sponsored posts. It’s hard to shake the idea off though I tried to push it back to my mind. I love writing, plus I love the idea of earning money even when I’m at home. I was still writing articles at night even when I was already in Limerick for an offshore project!

But this happened — I had a life-changing conversation with a friend. And that pushed me to act on my carefree plans. He asked me why I do things half-heartedly. He told me that I do multiple things, but I’m not 100% committed to one. True enough? I even called myself Little Miss Half-hearted. But ever since I had that convo, I made the decision to act on my dreams. 

That one day, I’ll resign from my day job.

Let us know about CaaSocio. What inspired you to build it?

Honestly, at first, it’s just because of my co-founder, Sarah. She approached me and presented the idea of building a SaaS agency. 

Actually, I was already happy as a solo freelancer in SaaS. I really didn’t have big plans. I just do my own thing and enjoy my hobbies — enjoy a carefree, comfortable life. 

But almost 1 year in, I saw that the vision of building the agency was rewarding. Before, I barely knew any Filipino freelancers who work in SaaS. Now, every 2 days, or so I get messages from fellow Filipinos who are exploring or in the industry. 

Much more, whenever I talk to SaaS founders, they would always mention that they have been working with Filipinos—customer support, developers, VA’s, etc. 

So I’m inspired all the more to build that connection between freelancers and SaaS teams—it would positively impact both parties.

Marketing agencies face fierce competition; what makes CaaSocio stand out?

The edge of our agency? We [CaaSocio] are more like growth partners for our clients. We just don’t deliver copy (and content, we’re offering blogs now). We actually take their business as our own. Most of our copywriters have real experience in the SaaS industry or have a technical background. Not every copywriter has that deep understanding of how SaaS apps work so this is key.

From years of talking daily to my previous exec team, I’ve known the pains and agony of CEOs, stakeholders, and marketing heads — I was a manager, myself. Being an in-house team member, we used to juggle multiple things. Launching web pages, making sure emails go out, and doing UX microcopies for the product team. 

It’s stressful with 1000 things happening simultaneously. They can write, but with the pressure, meetings, and multiple projects, it’s impossible for them to sit down and “focus” on writing the copy.

With CaaSocio, they can now breathe out and feel relief, knowing that a capable team is handling their content. 

They can take away copy, content—and strategy behind all these materials—from their plates. We can work with their internal team and the 3rd party providers that they hire so we can work together towards the same goals.

Does your experience benefit your team in any way? Isn't having multiple businesses disadvantageous to your team?

This is a recent realization about my experience last year.

I think I wasn't ready at that time to be a marketing manager. I don't know about systems, really. I don't have a guide. I don't know how to manage a bunch of writers. I don't know who to hire. I don't know how to say what I really think. I don't know how to give feedback without offending my team. I just and always avoid conflicts. 

But that failure transformed me today into a better leader. I run CaaSocio as its co-founder and I feel like a different persona takes over whenever we have to talk about business. 

If I avoided conflict before, now I am comfortable saying the hard stuff. Like giving honest feedback to my writers, I can give them now. I'm increasingly obsessed with discovering my strengths. I even took the Clifton test that revealed my core strengths—Strategic, Maximizer, Positivity, Focus, and Individualization.

Honestly, I wish I knew all about that when I was a manager. But I guess I wasn’t meant for that yet but I now know why I have to go through that difficult experience. Anyway, I give credit to all those mentoring and all those daily 5-6 hour marathon meetings for the past 5 years. That helped me the most in building my own team. 

Plus, I’ve worked with a SaaS coach and I got a lot of insights from writing SaaS emails from him.

Nothing beats real-life experience. The advice I got from my nurturing boss, I think I adopted from them and applied it to CaaSocio.

“Isn't having multiple businesses disadvantageous to your team?” I get that a lot. The truth is I have been a workaholic before. Having the manager position took a toll on me. So much that I got disconnected from my husband and child — we don’t have bonding moments anymore. 

I was always stressed out and mad at home.

That’s when I decided that I need to build something with him. Not for the money but to have work-life integration. It’s actually my dream to build a business with my husband. Since I can’t pull him into freelancing (his heart is into electronics), his eyes have opened to entrepreneurship by doing business with our friends. And yes, it really has!

Another big reason is my family. As I said, I left my hometown and settled here in another province. I wish that one day, they can move here as well. If it’s only me, I would rather focus on freelancing. But I took on these businesses for them, but the pandemic happened so I have to take over temporarily.

So to answer the question, NO. I feel that these businesses keep me balanced and less stressed. I’m just a lot more energized now that I can better express myself through them. I am not an overworked freelancer anymore — that gets me burned out anyway. 

Can you tell us about the challenges you faced?

Personal battles. The challenges I had were really inner battles.

First,  I WAS hesitant to accept the agency I co-founded. Because having an agency is not really me. I feel that I work better alone. I easily burn out whenever I work with others. I thought it would strain more to build relationships with a team instead of moving fast by myself. So it took me time to accept that I’m really part of CaaSocio. I was honest with Sarah about this, and I’m grateful that she gave me enough time to organize my thoughts. What kept me moving, though, is the significance I found on CaaSocio. If we can make it big, then we can help a lot more freelancers. 

The second battle was my mindset. The idea of working out there. It’s the opposite of my leave-me-alone-I’m-writing idea. Honestly, I think I still feel it from time to time but it’s much much less now. I already embraced working with others.

Lastly and worst for me is Imposter Syndrome. I’ve been vocal about that. Because I have mentors, but then now I’m doing what they’re doing! So I feel like I’m not the best at it. It’s like I don’t deserve to offer the service. I would always ask myself, 'What would they think if they see me offering this?’. But then, I also need to generate money, right? So I do what I need to do. 

Did there ever seem to be anything you wished you knew previously? Do you have any suggestions on what might be helpful to have?

A lot. I didn’t know that I would enjoy leadership. I just need to know how to play with my strengths so I can fulfill my role. Right now, I’m trying to learn more about myself to embrace everything that’s happening. Because my goal for myself is entirely different: I only want passive income, like affiliate marketing. But then the agency came, which is a totally different path. I’ve come to embrace it by learning more about managing people. I’m enjoying it now. And also discovering my strengths. Those two. I wish I knew them earlier.

Useful to have is to have a coach and community.

“Always surround yourself with people who can help you. “

I think what helped me most is having my mentor, Coach Marc. With his simple answers to my complex questions (haha), all my objections when it comes to running an agency dissolve. I had a 360-degree shift in my mindset. If not for him, I would’ve given up CaaSocio. The takeaway is to get a mentor with the same values as yours — which is for me, make your main thing the main thing.

Let’s talk about what’s to come for CaaSocio over the next two years. What's it like for you? Are there any specific goals you have in mind?

I think we want to build a bigger team — not the internal team but the external partners. 

Meaning, we also introduce them to clients for the services that we don’t offer. I don’t want to market services we are not good at. If we still want to serve our clients, we recommend them. I hope in the next 2 years, we could. As for internal teams, I’m seeing new leaders being created. 

My goal is to fire myself [hahaha]. That is for the business to function without me (and I really think that’s doable). The big picture is CaaSocio is still growing strong with several external partners. More leaders to lead the team of new writers. 

But I don’t imagine CaaSocio to grow too big. I don’t want that. I like to keep it simple. I like our external partners to grow, though, but I’m still torn about the core team. We [Sarah and I] haven’t talked about it yet. But I know she’s not up for it too.

Finally, describe yourself in one word.

REBEL? Not sure, though. Stubborn? If someone tells me one thing, I will say okay, but I will find a way to make it my own. It’s like I have my own way. Like I tweak the methods so it’s relevant to my exact situation. So, I think I’m a rebel in my own way. Even my personality test results show it. So templates? They don’t really work much for me because I rather do it my way. 

Yes, CaaSocio Co-founder Aiza Coronado is an introvert. But upon acknowledging her weakness, she found her strength. CaaSocio is the ultimate proof. She's an introvert through and through but her true strengths as CEO lie in empathy and her innate love for writing. Talk about someone who has embraced their weaknesses to find their greatest quality. 

If you want to work with copywriters with a solid understanding and experience in SaaS, contact us here.

‍

Images credits to Meanings by The Perfect Grey