I created a profile on UpWork a while ago. After spending about 45 days on building my Youtube and Instagram profiles. I worked for 16h a day each day to get there. While also writing for this blog. And working day job and doing some free, some bartered consulations. And taking care of my son, my close family, my friends, the house, the dog, the cat, the animals. I had one goal on my mind – get to a point where I can start getting paying customers. And they would land on profiles that show them who I am, what I do and what is my experience. I wasn’t expecting this would start so soon. My plan was to get there maybe in a year. I do find this however as a universe-send first sparrow. Even if no other will happen in the near future (I still hope it will though!). I have incredible amount of resilience and patience. Got it from my dad, who got it from his dad, who got it from his dad … and so on. I also have love and care from my mom, who got it from their parents. I also love spending time in the kitchen. This is likely my dad’s mom. But enough of that.

Bhavin is from India. He had posted an offer about writing a CV for a neurodiverse person. For small money, but hey – I do have some experience in that! We started chatting. ND is not really known in India yet. But Bhavin knows of it. He is well educated. He runs a small business with his village. Facebook likes. He takes about 30% of the profit, rest are the salaries of the villagers. Now you must know a “village” in India can have about 20,000 people living in it. And usually zero support from the government. People need to find ways to make money. I don’t judge. I laugh at people, who believe likes on the social media are genuine. I think maybe 10% are, rest are farms like me friends Bhavin.

His son Harshil, and yes – he is a joyful boy, wants to become a software engineer. So I consulted on his CV and suggested he tries with some of my friends in Pune, but I can’t promise much. Bhavin was extremally happy.

So he asked me a couple of questions on how to scale his Facebook business and improve the business model. While I was hiking around Strontian. We agreed on a fee that was well above 1000 GBP. He was happy to pay it.

And here is what Bhavin had sent in the end:

I found Gus for a small request—to kindly help with my son Harshil’s CV. My son is different, and Gus instantly showed a level of understanding and care I didn’t expect.

Then I asked him how to scale my Facebook operation that supports our village. We agreed on a fee, and I can say the advice was absolutely worth it. Gus’s strategy was very informative for our business model.

He has incredible knowledge and a great heart. Gus is highly recommended if you want real, meaningful results. Shubhkaamnayein

I think I will be doing more business with India,