In 2007, I went abroad together with my then fiancee (now my wife) to work as IT consultant in Malaysia. My main goal for working abroad then was to save up for our wedding. After 1 year of working we saved enough and were able to get married.

Unfortunately for us, we were also in the middle of recession. It’s 2008. There were mass layoffs all over the world. Working in a bank, our company was no exception. Our friends were let go in a snap of a finger.

One day, one of the bosses asked my officemate for a minute to speak with her. When she came back, she was visibly shaken. Soon after she was already packing her things. She was just fired. It was after all a recession.

When there is a recession nobody is immune to geting fired.
Even if you are the best employee and you just got promoted.
You cannot do anything if the whole department or even the whole office in your country is laid off.

The next few days (weeks and months) was pure terror for us OFWs. I can remember the feeling of UNCERTAINTY. The feeling of not knowing whether it would be your turn next is the worst feeling in the world. Getting fired is one thing, but becoming suddenly unemployed overseas is a disaster. Sleepless nights. Stress. Lots of stress.

For many people, this uncertainty is even more brutal. There are Filipinos overseas who are not documented. They were supposed to work as caregivers only to end up working as a domestic helper. Not that there’s any shame in that. It’s just that they are more at risk for abuse from their employers due to them being undocumented. You can only imagine having your worries and stress shoot up 100x!

Fortunately, the dust soon settled. The company was able to endure the storm. My wife even got absorbed by the company. Our contract was renewed for another year.

Everything was back to normal again.
But experiencing something like that wakes you up llike nothing can.
From that day onwards I promised myself to never put myself in a position like that ever again.

That I would do everything in my power to put myself where no one can suddenly turn off my main source of income. That’s when I started to explore the world of business and entrepreneurship with an extra vigor.

Fortunately, I was able to make it. I want to tell you there is a better way. It can be done. There is help on the other end when you finally decide to change your situation.

They say OFWs are the new heroes. They keep our economy afloat. They remit $2.5 to $2.9 Billion every month. They are the main drivers of our economy, apart from BPO, Electronics exports, Agriculture, the BUILD BUILD BUILD infrastructure spending by the government and of course, our Taxes.

Today, I want to salute the millions of Filipinos working away from their families. It is no easy task, sacrificing every moment away from your loved ones. That’s the price you are paying (and more.) With that sacrifice you are able to send money (and gifts) to your family back home, especially during Christmas season.

I won’t make you cry anymore by sending you a link to the Coca Cola commercial featuring former OFWs who went home for Christmas. Please don’t torture yourself by googling it or going to youtube and watching that video. It’s too personal. Please don’t. You might end up crying the whole night.

I know because I cried when I watched it.
Just know that your family back home miss you so much too. One day, it will soon get better.
There are just so many great things and stories of people who were able to make it.
Perhaps, one day your story will be next.

In the meantime, here are some of my ideas and thoughts that might help you get closer to your dream
of coming back home for good. You can put up a business while working. Or set yourself up so that the transition back home will be as smooth as possible.

A few months ago, I did a VLOG series dedicated to OFWs. This was after doing a 3-day training and workshop on Financial Literacy and How to build a sustainable business to our associates there. Everytime I meet an OFW, my heart bleeds for them. It’s not an easy journey they are taking.

If you are an OFW, I encourage you to watch these videos. Or if you have a family who’s working abroad as an OFW, you can forward this to them. I also have great news for you and free gift I’d like to give you and your family and friends.

Vlog #14. USAPANG OFW Series – Bakit Maraming Naga-abroad na Pinoy

Vlog #15. USAPANG OFW Series: Negosyo Para Sa Mga OFW o Pinoy Na Nasa Abroad
Vlog #16. USAPANG OFW Series – Paano Mag-ipon Ng Mabilis As OFW?
Vlog #17. USAPANG OFW Series: Best Investment Tips Para Sa Mga OFW

Vlog #18. USAPANG OFW Series: OFW Business Ideas – Why Do OFWs Fail in Business?

When I was working abroad, I was so eager to learn more about how I can do business. On weekends, I would go to the bookstore, and read through many business books. Then I would hear some seminars in the Philippines, but unfortunately because of the distance I could not attend, even if I badly wanted to.

Fortunately for me, the Truly Rich Club was launched around that time. It gave me a way to avail of the seminars and learn about business while still working abroad. I was one of the first to enroll. I would eagerly wait for the package (which consisted of some VCDs and audio CDs.) I would listen to it day and night. The rest, as most people would say is history. I can’t even imagine to describe to you how different my story would have been if not for the Truly Rich Club. In fact, this blog would not be where it is today if not for that seamingly simple decision to try it back then.

If you want to avail the same thing, you can CLICK HERE.

In the spirit of transparency, please note that I am an affiliate of the Truly Rich Club. I may earn a little income whenever someone buys anything through the link I provided. If you do sign-up, I would like to say my personal thank you in advance. Drop me a message here and I’ll send you a free gift.

Your simple action helps me support this blog because it does take away some time from me instead of putting the time and resources into other businesses. Unlike other blogs which earn from advertising, this blog is 100% fully supported by my other businesses (and affiliate income from products I highly recommend.)

It’s been 12 years running this blog, thanks to those who have supported me along the way through my businesses. Who would ever thought this blog would stand the test of time?

Also, as my way of saying thank you to all of you my OFW readers (as well as families and friends of my fellow OFWs), here’s another gift just for you.

Simply click here or go to http://bit.ly/OFS2019FreeGiftAllan to claim your free gift.

You will receive a free copy of Sha Nacino’s book “My Money and Me” in e-book format. The hard copy of the book is being sold at around P350 in National Bookstore and at The Feast. Another book is from her brother March Nacino titled “How to work from Anywhere” which I feel is a good fit also for OFWs.

Sha is a very good friend of mine. We met in real-estate as part of a group of aspiring investors back in 2009. We have since moved on to other ventures but I feel what Sha offers is something I can definitely recommed.

In the spirt of total disclosure, please note that these gifts are part of the Overseas Filipinos Summit project of Sha which I am also an affiliate for. Know that I may earn a little income should you decide to buy anything using the link I provided. But if you decide to not buy anything and simply avail of the FREE gifts, that’s perfectly ok as well. 🙂

That’s it for now. Do you have a specific topic or question as an OFW? Simply hit the reply button (if you are receiving this through email) or contact me here. I might feature you in my next article or vlog.

Recently, I celebrated my 8th year being out of the corporate world.
September 30, 2011. That was my last day at work.

It’s amazing how life’s twist and turns can bring you to beautiful experiences and destinations.
It’s easy to look back now and connect the dots. But truth be told, I was scared back then.

I can still remember like yesterday, the self-doubts and sleepless nights I was feeling.

“Kaya ko ba to?”

“Itutuloy ko na ba talaga?”

“Posible ba talagang mabuhay na hindi aasa sa trabaho?’

You see, I turned over my resignation 3 months prior to my last day.
My employer requested to have a 90-day notice because the project we were working on was critical, and they wanted to have more time to look for someone to replace me.

Not wanting to cause too much trouble, I obliged with their condition. I was on a contract anyway, and the last day at work would be exactly the day my contract ends.

Looking back over the past 8 years, I’ve learned so much about the intricacies of deciding to quit your job. To celebrate, I’d like to share the top 8 things you need to know before you quit your job. It might help you decide if you are contemplating about leaving the comforts of your corporate career.

1) Yes, it’s possible.

Yes, it’s possible to live a life without a job.
It’s possible to do it on your own. It’s scary. It’s uncomfotable.
And if you have hesitations, understand, that how you are feeling is very normal.

A month before I was about to render my last day at the office, I learned that my wife and I were expecting our first baby. I was so happy and excited at the same time. But at the back of my mind, I hesitated whether to push through with my resignation or not.

It’s easy to make a decision if you’re only thinking about yourself.
But when you start being responsible for another person’s life? That’s a different story.

I asked my wife one last time whether to push through or not, and she simply answered,

“ikaw? kaya mo pa ba ng isa pang taon na ganon pa rin ang sitwasyon?”

She was referring to the stress and restlessness I was feeling. It’s been years of me contemplating whether to resign or not. I knew I was no longer growing in my IT career. I’ve been doing the same thing for 9 years.

I knew all the ins and outs of the system I was working on. I love the work, but I feel I am no longer learning anything new. On top of that, my stress was mostly due to dealing with bureaucracy and office politics. There were instances where I simply wanted to have more time in my life.

One thing I disliked is the feeling of being bullied. When they say you have to work on a weekend or you have to do overtime work, or increase the workhours to compete with other companies, you simply had no choice but to go with the flow.

What other option could you have?
Complain? Whine? Quit?

I really felt it was now or never. I could no longer stay and endure for another year.
Finally, I did it. And I never looked back.

2) There’s no such thing as a safety net

“When do you know? When do you know you can already quit your job?”

I often get asked this question.

Some recommend having at least 6 months worth of monthly expenses. Others say 3 months.
Some say you have to have a business that’ earning at least your monthly income from your job. Or double that.

In my years of seeing people resign, I learned that there is really no safety net.

It’s only in your mind.

The simple answer to when should you resign is, “WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE THE GUTS TO DO IT!”

I think that for most people, the problem is not in the amount, but in their thinking.
When you are too afraid to fail, the tendency is that you will always be in a state of half-hearted commitment.

One foot is out of the door. The other stays inside.

Am I saying that you should resign without a safety net? Not really.

But I have seen people without a safety net do it, and still become successful.
I have also seen people who have lots of savings, managed to spend it all and then later on returned to their jobs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Don’t let anyone else decide for you. Not even me.
Only let someone else decide for you, if they are also willing to pay your bills when you fail.

You see, it’s easy to give advice. But the true test is in realizing that we all have different situations. Different mindsets. Different paradigms when it comes to money. Some are too afraid. Some are reckless. Some overthink and when they finally decide, it only takes a day or two to change their minds.

Be responsible for your own choices. Be it good or bad. Whether it leads to success or failure.

Never explain and never complain. As they say, “SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES. FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.”

I have tried to live with that mantra and it has allowed me to accept both the good and bad parts of my journey outside of the corporate world.

3) Start small. Fail more. But more importantly, start now.

Can you do business part-time? Of course.

Is it easy? Of course not.
But nothing worthwhile comes easy anyway.

The tragedy for most people is they are always waiting for something.
Some people say, “saka na…” and follow up with their favorite excuse.

“Saka na, pag naging manager na ako.”
“Saka na, pag nanganak na si misis.”
“Saka na, pag nag-aral na mga bata.”
“Saka na, pag tapos na sila pag-aaral”

Before you know it, time has passed. 5 years. 10 years. 20 years.
“Saka na” becomes “Sayang na.”

If you’re going to do it, understand that in the beginning you are probably going to fail. That’s simply the law of life. Before you learned how to walk, you first failed taking your first step so many times. What did you do when you were a baby? You simply dusted yourself off, stood up and tried again. Tried again. Tried again and again, until you finally managed to take a walk and not fall down.

That’s simply how we learn as a human being. So if you are contemplating doing something on the side, the perfect time to try it is when you are still employed. I know. I know. You say, you don’t have time. And that’s certainly true to a certain extent.

You will have to make some choices on how to spend your extra time. Are you going to use it scrolling on your Facebook or Instagram feed? Or spending it working on your side hustle.

I have learned from Carlo Ople, VP of PLDT and sneakerhead Youtuber about the 7-1 principle. He says to work on your job from 9-to-5pm, but do your hustle from 7pm-1am.

Take a moment to think. Last night at 7pm, what were you doing? Perhaps you were in a commute. Were you listening to something worthwhile? An audio book about your side hustle perhaps? Or were you just “waiting” for your time to get home?

You have to trust yourself, that you will learn what you need once you start doing. As they say, “experience is the best teacher.” So get more experiences. Get more failures. Because one day, those lessons will turn your failures into a huge success.

Start now. Don’t wait. Don’t wait for retirement before you make your first mistake. Do it now. Do it while you’re still young.

They say it’s best to fail before you reach 30. Because then, you still have a lot of time to get back up. If you’re a little older like me, just know that people say “life begins at 40.” But if you are still not convinced, simply think of Colonel Sanders of KFC. He failed 1,009 times selling his chicken recipe before succeeding. He started his business at the age of 65. Age doesn’t matter unless you make it one.

4) Apply for loans before you quit your job.

This is one recommendation I learned from Jomar Hilario, the Virtual Career trainer who is also a former IT professional just like me. Get housing loans or car loans before you resign from your job. I realized afterwards why he recommends it.

You see, when you are working for yourself as self-employed or a small business owner, the bank won’t lend you money unless you can give them proof that you can pay it back. To evaluate your credit worthiness, they will ask for you business’ financial statement. Normally it would be about 2 to 3 years worth of financial history of your business. If you are just starting, you might not have this yet.

You can have your loan approved faster if you are still employed. Even if you are earning more income in your business than you do in your job, your loan may still not be approved for the sole reason that business income tends to fluctuate. The bank considers this risky. Being employed for a multinational company is less risky for they are actually betting not on you but on your company’s ability to give you the income to pay the loans.

It’s not fair, but that’s the reality we are living in. Of course, after sometime when your business is already 2 to 3 years old, you will then have the history and financial statements to back you up. I guess, it’s not really a problem when you want to pay in cash because you have a lot of income. But for big ticket items where you need to take out a loan from the bank, this is something you will have to think about.

5) The change is more than the money.

When I resigned, I underestimated the changes that were about to come.

Most people think that when you shift from being an employee to an entrepreneur, that the only thing changed is how you earn money. That maybe the farthest thing from the truth.

Soon you will realize that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Simple things like when people ask you, “what do you do?” When you are employed, it’s a simple question to answer, you simply reply with your job, “e.g. IT consultant”

But once you are on your own, it gets tricky. In the beginning, it’s hard to explain. There’s a split second of hesitation, not wanting to sound too complicated. Once you finally embrace your new identity, you simply say “I am a businessman.”

To which a new question will probably pop up like, “what’s your business?” and the conversation will go through all the things that is relatively new to you. You grapple with words.

You can no longer introduce yourself as an IT consultant because you are no longer working as such. Much of our identity is tied to what we do. That’s why a lot of people start to have an identity crisis early in their journey.

There’ also the change in emotions you go through once you realize that you are no longer what you used to be. Your social circle will change. You will spend a lot more time with new friends, a lot less (if not totally rare) with your friends who are still employed.

You will observe later on that you no longer concern yourself with the same things as your friends. You no longer care about promotions, politics or tsimis. You simply want to have conversations about life in general.

 

6) The hardest part is dealing with your self-doubts

You start to question whether you made the right decision or not.
You start to question whether you can really make it or not.
Now that you are finally free, you are excited, but afraid at the same time.

Excited because it’s a new world out there waiting for you to explore.
But afraid too because your brain is telling you it’s dangerous outside of your comfort zone.

You are afraid what other people might say.
You are afraid what if you fail.
You are afraid what if you succeed.

Yes, some people are more afraid of success than failures.
You say, “what if I become successful and I will become a bad man?”
You say, “baka maging mayabang na ako”
You say, “baka tama sila, ‘others’ na ako.”

You are starting to get out of the feeling of “security.”
You are starting to move into the feeling of “freedom.”

What’s more important for you? The feeling of comfort and security?
Security. That’s what you feel whenever you earn your monthly paycheck.

Freedom. That’s the feeling you get when you are now finally in control with what you do with your TIME, MONEY and ENERGY.

7) Being on your own means you are 100% responsible.

One of the hardest things you will have to accept is in being 100% responsible for your life.

When you are employed, you can always defer responsibility.
You might say, “that’s not my job.”
Or “kasalanan ni x, kasi pinabayaan niya yan”
Or “si boss kasi, or si ano kasi”

The challenge is that when you are on your own, there’s no one you can defer responsibility to.
The sooner you accept this fact, the sooner you can utilize this great power.

It’s hard at first because you will be the one to decide what to work on, when to work and with whom you want to work with. At times, it can be overwhelming, making so many choices suddenly.

That’s why a lot of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have the same wardrobe every day. They call it decision fatigue. Apparently choosing what to wear each day can put a damp into your mental energy. This energy saved can help you make better decisions that matter more, like whether to fire thousands of your people or come up with a solution that does not involve firing people.

8) There is no substitute for hardwork

I can still remember the first day I was finally out of the corporate world.
I thought there will be fireworks. Or it would feel really great.
The truth is, I felt sick. It took me 2 weeks to recover.

It’s as if all of my stress for the past 9 years suddenly came out.
It’s surreal to think that it’s already been 8 years since that day.
But I never regretted that decision.

Yes, there have been moments when I thought of going back.
Yes, there were moments when I did try to go back.
I applied for a job, but it didn’t push through for one reason or another.

Eventually, when I decided to no longer go back, I simply said, “if I am not going back anyway, might as well make whatever I am doing now work.”

I remember a story where a friend of mine, after being in business for a few years went back to visit her former boss. Her boss congratulated her and said, “I am happy that it worked for you.” To which she said, “of course sir, it worked for me because I worked hard for it.”

There is no substitute for hardwork. Whether you work at a job or being your own boss or building your own business, or expanding your sales career, it really does require hard work. Lots of hard work. Hard work that makes you cry at night. Hard work that makes you want to give up. Hard work that makes all worth it in the end. They say, “easy come, easy go.” When you work hard for it, you will keep it.

Be prepared to work hard. But do remember that nothing goes to waste. There will be moments when you question yourself whether what your doing even matters, or making a difference to other people. When that happens, take a moment to breath. Say to yourself, “what I am doing makes a difference.”

Be a difference maker. You will never know until you try. So take a deep breath. Take courage. Pursue your bliss with a heart.

P.S. If you are contemplating building a side hustle or you are working your way out of the corporate world. Let’s connect and explore the idea together. Perhaps my 8 years of experience might be of help to you. CLICK HERE to message me.

P.P.S. When I was working as IT consultant in Malaysia, one of the hardest part was not being able to attend seminars in the Philippines related to business or other side hustles. That’s when I learned about the Truly Rich Club. If you’re based abroad or in the province and want to have access to materials to learn more about building a side hustle, you can join the Truly Rich Club.

 

 

Sometimes, we travel to places only to find ourselves circling back home. Here’s a picture of me and my wife Anna while strolling along a busy street in Singapore. It reads, “Manila St”. We went all the way to Singapore to see “Manila St” (same name as the capital city of the Philippines) 🙂

It’s been a few weeks since I got back but I haven’t had the time to digest it all until now. While I was reviewing my notes from our 8-day trip in Singapore, I got reminded of my goal when I was starting this journey of entrepreneurship. I wanted to learn HOW TO BUILD A TEAM. There were several attempts at building a business early in my professional career but all of them did not take off because I was a one-man show. I was handling everything. I didn’t know how to delegate. I didn’t know how to LEAD. That’s why I’m very excited to be sharing with you 5 ways to be a better leader I picked up from John Addison during my Singapore trip. Here they are:

1. Decide who you are. What drives you? What makes you get up in the morning? People are attracted to people who know who they are.
2. Build on your strengths. Build on what you are good at. Find what you are great at without trying and try very hard in your strengths. If you don’t know your strengths, a great book I can recommend is Strengths Finder 2.0. There’s an online assessment that you will have to go through to find your core strengths as a leader.
3. Focus on what you can control.  Focus on your sphere of influence: your attitude (i.e. how you think) and your activity (i.e. what you do.) As my mentor would always say, “you can’t control the weather outside, but you can control the weather within.”
4. Develop a peaceful core. A peaceful mind generates power. Leaders are the CALMERs, UNITERs, PEACE keepers. You got to be the EYE of the STORM. Be the person people can count on.
5. Be a lighthouse. Lighthouses are needed when it’s dark. They are built on a rock where they can be counted on. A leader is needed when it is challenging. You as a leader need to transfer confidence to unconfident people. They’ve got to build on your confidence. Leader has to be strong. A leader has to stand out in front and be different.

Getting reminded by these 5 leadership principles allowed me to look back on my journey of becoming a better leader. As with all things that are important, knowing these things is not enough. You have to practice it in your daily decision making as a leader. You will only know you have courage if you encounter challenges that you felt you cannot overcome because of fear. The true test of leadership comes when you decide to embrace the fact that there’s no other way for you to go but to step up and be a better leader.

 

P.S.  I’d like to give you a special gift today for being a loyal subscriber of my blog. I wrote my first ebook Rich Money Habits a few years back with Foreword from Bo Sanchez himself saying ‘this ebook contains the most essential tools you need to start your journey towards becoming truly rich.’ The sale from the ebook reached $605.66.  Now, I am giving the ebook away for free so that MORE people can benefit from it. Besides, my business is earning enough to sustain my family’s needs and wants. If you want a FREE copy of that ebook, you can click here. Thank you for being part of my journey. I wish you well.

 

Around this same month in 2011, I finally felt how is it like to wake up in the morning without alarm clock. It’s been more than 4 years since I last held a job, and I am loving every minute of it. 🙂

I worked 9 years of my life as an IT consultant. Yes, the pay was great. I was passionate about what I do. I worked hard. It is in line with my core strengths having graduated as a computer engineer. I loved my job so much I was always thinking of ways on how to work better, smarter. I spend my time coming to the office on weekends. In a year, I only have 1 week vacation. I was a workaholic to say the least.

But what I couldn’t bear was the realization that every day goes by I find myself losing my freedom bit by bit. It’s not the money that mattered most to me, but the freedom to choose what you want to do with your life, what you want to spend most of your time with.

That’s when I got the entrepreneurial bug. That’s the one idea that when it gets to your head and your mind expands to the possibility that there’s another way to achieve your dreams, you can never go back to doing the same thing ever again.

I read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and it changed my life forever. It was the first time I became aware how the world of money works. I knew how to work hard and thought it was the only way to make money. But the book opened up my mind and explained to me in simple ways how you can make money through other means like business.

I realized, this is a fascinating world to dive into and learn from. I cannot go on doing the same thing over and over again. It’s true what they say, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” It may appear through a mentor or an opportunity that you finally recognize for the first time even though it’s in front of you for so long. It’s as if you were given a brand new eyes to see the world. I grabbed opportunities left and right to learn as much as I can. I bought and read books, hundreds of them. It’s funny how I bought books only after graduating from college but back when I was in school I hate buying much less reading books. Now, I even search for specific titles I want to learn from.

Then after books, I gradually attended seminars in money and investing. Eventually, I tried to dip into everything, trying out real-estate investing, stocks investing, setting up businesses. Some failed, Some broke even. Some did earn a few bucks. But I learned from all those experiences. Some of the lessons were painful. But it thought me more than what hundred books can give. It’s true, real-world experiences make the biggest teacher.

Eventually the itch of braving this new world of entrepreneurship keep popping on my mind. I had a comfortable life. I had no kids yet at that time. My wife and I were earning well. I had what most people would hope for in a career. But sometimes, the spirit leads you to expereinces that makes your life more meaningful, exciting and colorful, only if you suspend your disbelief long enough and try it out.

I did it in 2011 and the rest, as they say, is history.

It’s been more than four years since I ventured into business by becoming an independent business owner of USANA Health Sciences, a 23-year old NYSE-listed, US-based company operating in 19 (going 20) countries.

It was a lot of struggle at the start, but thanks to my team XTRM 1-11, an organization of professionals who provide TRAINING and SUPPORT system for people like me who wanted to transition from a life of employment to a life of entrepreneurship. With the team’s help and lots of trainings, my wife and I eventually learned and got a taste of success, and found out what is it like to lead a group and mentor other people become successful as well.

I have had a chance to be given all-expense paid trips for 2 to international countries through Star Cruises via Sanya China, Halong Bay Vietnam and Hong Kong, as well as through Royal Carribean Cruise via Tianjin China, Busan and Soeul Korea. We have been awarded Top 7 Growth Awardee in the Philippines and Top 23 Growth Awardee in the Pacific Region, competing with other countries like New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines. We were able to buy our own family car, a brand new chevrolet trailblazer. Got a 10-year multiple entry US visa. Had a chance to share our success story here and abroad…and many many more blessings and unforgettable experiences.

But more importantly for me, I’ve had the priviledge to directly or indirectly help other people who trusted me become successful in business as well. One had become a 3-million peso achiever and another a 2-million peso achiever. A lot of people earned an extra income part-time in US dollars while not having to leave their families just to work abroad. Some even had a chance to go back to the Philippines and be home for good.

I wish I could say it was easy, but it is not. But it is also not hard either. I’ve had people come in and in just 1 year work so hard in their business, create a result that is 2x or 4x that of those who have been doing the business already for 4 years. It is never too late to decide to change your life for the better.

When I was starting, I had a lot of questions in my mind: it is not my line of work, how can I do this? How can I start a business with little money? I don’t have time. I don’t know how to sell. I don’t know anything about business. I am shy and introverted. I don’t have a lot of friends. I don’t think I can make it. That’s all true. But I have no way of knowing the answers to those questions or doubts, unless I tried. Trying out was the better option for me because I can live with TRYING and FAILING in the end, than REGRETTING and blaming yourself down the road for not even trying.

I wish I could say to you that I know the answers and this is what you should do, but the reality is that I don’t know your circumstances. Only you know that. Only you know why you are working so hard on your job to provide for your family and loved ones. Only you know the feeling you get when you see your paycheck at the end of the month. I knew how I felt. I was always frustrated realizing that almost half of it is taken away in different forms of taxes, 30% when you earn an income and 12% as VAT when you spend…that’s 42% effective taxes that I needed to work hard to earn day in and day out. Only you know how it feels like getting up in the morning at 5AM because you know if you snooze and get a little bit more sleep, that you will have to endure the horendous traffic waiting for you during the morning rush hour.

But only you know also how is it to work hard day in and day out and HOPE that one day it will get better. Yes it will, if you do something about it. As they always say, HOPE is not a business strategy. I’ve learned that true change happens if you accept the brutal facts. When I saw this illustration, I knew then it was the brutal facts. No matter how painful, I knew I had to face the reality and do something about it…because numbers don’t lie.

Our dreams have a price. House and Lot. Car. Travel. Savings. More. Working hard everyday, earning and saving an extra P10,000 every month is simply not enough. After 50 years of working hard, you are only a little more than halfway to your dreams. If only you could be working for another 50 years…but you are already 70 years old by then..you are way past your prime. Can you go back to working on job? Of course not. Unfotunately, these are the brutal facts waiting for most people who are not aware and not willing to learn how money works.

The good news is, there’s still time left to make your dreams happen. Only if you are willing to learn and be coached. Only if you are willing to let go of your excuses. Only of you are disgusted enough to do something about it. Only if you are like me who one day found the courage to take a leap of faith. You don’t have to be great to start, but you definitely need to start to be great! What better day to start changing your life than today? Today, decide to do something your future self will thank you for.

P.S. It’s been months since I last wrote in this blog. I have decided to get back to writing more and sharing more of my experiences here. One reason why I haven’t written more is because there were countless of times that I have hesitated sharing some of the things I’ve experienced with you in the fear that people will not appreciate it, or say negative things about it. But the reality of life is that not everyone will agree with you, and that’s ok. I respect you for it. In fact, I admire you for taking a different viewpoint and taking a stand on it. That’s what makes life so exciting and colorful. But there are also things that I passionately believe in that I feel I need to write about. I am consumed by the calling to share it. That is why I write.

P.P.S. In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more stories of people whom I’ve had the priviledge of working with in my business in the hope that their stories will inspire you to create your own success story yourself. I realize that not everyone is cut out to be in business. That’s ok. Everyone needs to find meaning in whatever it is they feel they were meant to do. I wish you well on your endeavor. But for those few people who have read rich dad, poor dad already, went on and tried different things before, and those who are at that stage in their lives where they are looking for a personal mentor and would like to take part in the same training and support system that has allowed me to escape the cubicle nation, this is for you. There’s help out there, if you have the courage to try. Contact me and let’s meet. Perhaps this is going to be a start of a long partnership.  I am currently building my 5th business center and I am on the look out for people I can train to become the leader of the new business team I’m building. I can only work with 4 this month and 1 slot is already taken. If you know someone who is exploring a change in career and would like to check it out, please feel free to forward this invitation to them. Contact me and let me help you change your life. I can only work with those who are willing to go to our business office in Makati to meet up with me. If you are overseas, or you cannot make time to meet up with me, I cannot work with you yet.  But of course, I’m not someone who discourages a person who is highly motivated to change his life situation and are very much willing to do whatever it takes to make it hapen. 🙂

P.P.P.S. If you feel like this blog or article is not adding value to you anymore, please feel free to unsubscribe or delete it from your inbox. I encourage you to do so. But if you feel you learned something that might be of value to you or those you know, feel free to share it away. God bless you. 🙂

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My mentor Simon Chan once said, “as an employee, you are overpaid in the beginning but underpaid for the rest of your life… as an ENTREPRENEUR, you are underpaid in the beginning but overpaid for the rest of your life”. Now I realize how true this statement is, having spent almost a decade of my life as an employee, and more now as I continue my young career as an entrepreneur of a global business.

My family’s background are employees.  I was raised in an environment where the only way to earn your keep, is to work and work hard on your job.  That’s the reason I tried to do good in school. My goal was to get good grades so I can get into a good company and help my parents financially as much as I can. Fortunately, I was able to graduate with a degree in Computer Engineering in one of the best university in the country in University of the Philippines, Diliman.  Right after graduation, I was offered a job to work for a multinational IT firm for a monthly salary of P16,000.  A huge sum for someone like me who was fresh out of college without any experience back then.  After a month of training, my pay was even raised to P17,000. Imagine, I haven’t done anything yet and I got a raise! Wow, this must be how it feels to get overpaid! Employment was a bliss.

On Overcoming Shyness and My First Attempt At Selling

Having been raised in the northern province of the Philippines, in what people call Ilocandia, I had a nice laid back life growing up.  I was a very shy kid back then.  Perhaps spending a lot of time alone has both cultivated my independence at an early age but also prevented me from going out of my own shell.  I can still remember I was so scared even to go to the nearby store (in what Filipinos call ‘sari-sari’ store) just to buy my favorite snacks.  I didn’t know what to say, or how to ask. It would take forever for me to even walk to the store, my mind going wild with all the tragic mistakes that can happen.  What if I say something stupid and they will laugh at me?  What if they get angry at me? What if they ignore me? It took quite some time for me to overcome those fearful thoughts, but I guess one must need to learn to overcome his fears eventually.

My first attempt at selling was when I was 6 years old.  My aunt who cooked banana cue asked me to sell in school.  I was a very shy kid back then, so I didn’t even attempt to sell the banana cue.  All I did was sit beside the plate of banana cue my aunt asked me to sell with a sign “banana cue for sale” the whole time.  When someone bought, I just gave them one and received the money. I can’t remember if I was even able to sell half of the banana cue with me at that time.  I was a lousy salesman to say the least. 🙂

It went on for quite some time.  Growing up, I didn’t speak that much.  I remember my first day in school, I was so silent.  I didn’t know anyone so I watched the other kids the whole time, amazed at how good they were being able to speak to the whole class confidently.  My teacher bothered by my silence the whole time, decided to put me in a lower section, assuming that perhaps I just needed to be around people like me and get more comfortable around people.  A year after, I returned her favor back when I topped the class and got promoted to the higher section the next school year.  Life is looking brighter and brighter everyday. It was the first time I felt really good around other people.  My selling career just got a boost.  Now I can talk. 🙂

Three Powerful Lessons in Business

My next venture happened only after I got off from school.  It was one business I am not very proud of, but was key for me in learning my first 3 powerful lessons in business.  It happened at a time when I was desperate to earn extra income to pay off my balooning credit card debt.  When you are desperate, you can do stupid things which I ended up doing much to my regret. My hope is that this story inspire you to build a strong foundation for your business.

When I read rich dad poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki, I was busy looking for a way to get involved in a business of my own. I was busy surfing the internet one night and saw someone selling pirated VCDs of my favorite TV show over the internet in an auction site.  Needless to say, I bought one for myself for P25/CD at that time. So a full season of 22 eposides would be around P550.  Then it dawned on me, I could actually buy the blank CDs at a nearby wholesale store for only around P5/CD, burn the same TV shows, sell it to my friends for P20/CD instead of P25 and I would get the P15 profit for myself.  At that time, it really made sense.  The numbers worked.  Naive as I was, I went on and started my venture of selling pirated VCDs of TV shows.

For a while, business was really great.  Orders were pouring in like crazy.  All night I was busy burning all the TV shows that were ordered from me.  During the day, I would meet with the customers to hand over the VCDs and get the payment in what we call in the Philippines as “kaliwaan”.  It’s cash on delivery (COD).

I was still working full-time at my daytime job at that time and it was really a challenge managing all of them together.  Yes, income was coming in, but the reality was because I was so busy with everything I didn’t have anytime to sleep at all.  First lesson I realized is that I never could do everything on my own.  I realized the value of TEAMWORK. I needed to hire my first employee.  Fast.  Otherwise, I would collapse.  Because of the nature of my business being “underground”, I can’t really hire a regular employee.  My first employee was my sister who agreed to work for me and help me burn the VCDs after I pay her a cut of the profit for every VCD that she burned.  It was ok for a little while until she also had other activities she needed to attend to.  For a while I managed to have the business stay afloat…albeit barely.

The next lesson I learned is how QUALITY is very important and how to handle customer complaints.  One fanatic of a TV show complained to me one day after the VCDs that he got had portions which were badly damaged.  I apologized of course, but the great thing was he was very professional and he even gave me great inputs on why quality was important and how to give a better service next time.  I was ashamed initially but I took it all in stride because this was the price to pay for the lessons I needed to learn very fast.

The third and the most important lesson I learned is having an INTEGRITY.  After a while, the fatigue and stress was catching up on me when a BIG new client ordered a lot of shows from me.  Being very trusting and naive, I burned all the VCDs, spent quite a lot of money for the blank VCDs and did everything even without sleeping for consecutive nights in the hope of having a nice profit.  Lo and behold, at the time when my client and I were supposed to meet so I can hand over his order and get the payment from him, he was nowhere in sight. I waited and waited, for hours, until it dawned on me that I was deceived.  The worse thing is that I had nobody to blame but myself.

The funny thing is that since my business is illegal in the first place, I couldn’t really grow it into a BIG enterprise one day without getting into trouble with the law. That was a HUGE and painful lesson I needed to learn.  After that I decided to stop the business once and for all, I contacted all my clients and informed them of my decision.  Up to this day, I am still very thankful for that experience because it taught me a very valuable lesson — a business needs to be founded the right way so you can grow it to something you can really be proud of in the long run.

My First $100 Dollar 

After getting myself burned and having learned painful lessons in my prior venture, I concentrated on my full-time job as an IT professional.  It paid off quite well for me, getting myself promoted almost every year in the process.  But the more I climbed the corporate ladder, the more I got convinced that I needed to go back to building my own business.  I hardly felt the increase in my paycheck after getting a promotion since my tax rate also went up along with it.  I tried to save as much as I can, but I soon realized that there is a limit to how much I can save, or else I would die from not eating anything at all. 🙂

When the time came for me and my then girlfriend (now my wife) to get married, all I could think off was to go abroad to save up the money for the wedding.  I was still closed to other opportunities back then. After spending 2 and half years overseas, my wife and I were able to save up quite a bit of money, we started looking for ways to have that money grow.  That’s when I opened up to the opportunities around me, in real-estate, stocks, internet marketing, and more.  Internet marketing appealed to me because I had an IT background.  I thought it will be an easy transition for me having spent years of my life in IT. I started putting up a blog via blogger @ http://akosiallan.blogspot.com to get myself acquainted on how this whole thing works.  It was purely a way for me to share my stories, like a diary of my thoughts back then.

I learned that you could earn money from putting up ads on your blog, so I tried putting in Google Adsense Ads.  But I soon realized how hard it is to make money from ads when there’s only one or two people a day reading your blog.  Frustrated on how I can build up the readership of my blog, I even thought of going to an internet cafe one time and just pull up my blog from one PC to another. 🙂

It took me a few years and one seminar to really understand what it takes to build a following, and learn the fine art of ‘marketing’.  One thing I realized is that most technical folks like me who are familiar with IT are not very familiar with how marketing works.  I soon found out that in order to get noticed, you have to focus.  As for me, my articles on ‘fishing escapades‘ and my thoughts on ‘american idol‘ needed to be expressed in other channels, not from this blog. Or if I really can’t help it, it must be in one way or another relate it to business, investments or making money.

September 2009 marked a drastic improvement in the readership of this blog.  After applying the techniques I learned from Jomar Hilario’s Online Mentoring Club, the number of people reading my blog went up steadily as you can see in the screenshot of this site’s visitor statistics from then up to present. Never mind the dip sometime July 2011, it was when my old hosting account got hacked and I had to rebuild the whole site over again.  It was another painful learning experience for me but I managed to get back up quite nicely, don’t you think?

When the number of readers of my blog increased, my Google Adsense earnings went up as well.  It is quite exhilirating watching your account go from $0 to $100.60 after 1 year and 5 months.  You can read more about the story on how I earned my first $100 by clicking here.  My next project which was selling my own ebook, I learned how to earn the same $100 in a week instead of a year.  But I soon came upon another opportunity which would prove to be more lucrative and more exhilirating than all of my earnings from my stocks investments, real-estate investments and internet marketing income COMBINED.   The same opportunity has allowed me to not only quit my job and go full-time as an entrepreneur within only 6 months, but also brought me tremendous learning experience in building a global business empire.  I will discuss how I stumbled upon that opportunity in my next article.

P.S. If you can’t wait for the next article, and curious to find out what it is, you can simply email me or add me as friend in Facebook.  Unfortunately, with so many emails flooding my inbox whenever I send out an article, I might not be able to get back to you right away.  If you don’t receive a reply from me within 24-48 hours, please resend your email as it might have gotten buried with the many other inquiries.

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