Accidental Tech Entrepreneurs Turn Their Hobbies Into Livelihoods

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In my previous job as a researcher and consultant to small and medium businesses, I knew that most of the entrepreneurs’ business orginated from a hobby. Much as I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I didn’t have the guts or the hobby. Sure, I had the management skills. Ten years ago, I discovered the internet and web design. It was a whole new world and I got obsessed with it. Reading this article Accidental Tech Entrepreneurs Turn Their Hobbies Into Livelihoods made me smile. Basically, the article reveals some of the common features from its interview of 5 accidental tech Enterpreneurs:

1. They all possess [tag]Information Technology[/tag] backgrounds
2. They all were in the right place at the right time with the right product/service
3 They have supportive people around them (i.e. life and business partners)
4 They all faced a moment of truth, when they had to screw up courage and stake their financial futures on their new businesses.
5. They all are a little obsessed

The 5 common traits are so true. I don’t earn as much as these interviewed tech pros but being an accidental [tag]Tech enterpreneur[/tag] has given me financial freedom. At the age of 45, I wanted to enter back in the corporate world. Alas, I was not in touch with the latest economic policies. Of course, I didn’t expect a high starting salary but the offers were just a pittance. Sales is not my cup of tea either. So I was left with ways on how to start a business. But what? I’ve already told you how I entered into the IT business. I’d just like to list down how the 5 common traits of the Tech Entrepreneur applies to me:

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Birthday Celebrations and a High School Reunion

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I’m not a party animal but this weekend was something. I attended 3 parties. Two were birthday celebrations while the other was a high school reunion . I feel so bloated with all the food and the yummy desserts which I couldn’t resist.

manila_reunion1.jpgI have never attended a single high school reunion because going to Cebu seemed depressing. Whenever my classmates would hold a Cebu reunion, a family member recently died and I didn’t feel like socializing. The thought of a reunion used to bring me anxiety. In the back of my mind, the image of the catty classmate or the popular mestiza
 loomed. Those were the days when my inner child issues weren’t resolved yet. Healing my inner child addressed my child-self’s wounds and freed my adult-self to make decisions based on the present. Good thing I got rid of that emotional baggage.

I looked forward to meeting some of my classmates whom I’ve never seen since high school graduation in 1974. A number of them flew in from Cebu just to meet up with a balikbayan classmate. Talk about embarassing moment. My house is just 2 blocks away from the party venue and I was late. I lost the address and I ended up driving in circles. It seems like half of my classmates in that reunion didn’t age at all. It’s like I never left high school. Maybe Cebu is not as stressful as Manila. It was also difficult for me to shift from Tagalog, English to Cebuano. The change of accent is not easy. Time ran so fast and before we knew it , we were yawning. The sign of old age beckoned. Much as we wanted to continue our girl talk, the sleepy brain refused to cooperate.

Congresswoman Neri Soon-Ruiz couldn’t make it but sent us lots of bibingka (rice cakes) and budbud (the Cebuano term for suman, gelatinous rice delicacy wrapped in banana leaves)
cebu bibingkabudbud

And just some of the food I devoured over the weekend celebration:
alimangopancit
mixed dishbuko pandan

I have so many food photos that I’ve decided to talk more about these photos at my Pinoy Food Photoblog.

Chatting with Bayantel guys

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I’m right now at the VOIP conference having a lunch break. Remember that entry I wrote about the Bayantel ad? I visited their Bayantel booth to check out their Sky Internet VOIP services. For their cheapest subscription fee of 499 pesos a month with a 2900 pesos installation fee, one can get clear voice calls for as low as 5 pesos per minute and 100 minutes free voice calls. Then I met Ricky, the associate brand manager and I couldn’t help asking him “What is that satisfaction guarantee?“. I introduced myself as the blogger who wrote that entry. “Ah so you are the one who wrote that? I finally meet the writer. “, he laughed. Apparently, their satisfaction guarantee is a 15 day money back guarantee. So why couldn’t the ad agency or their marketing guys promote the “15 days money back guarantee” instead of that tasteless ad? I wanted to test their Sky Internet VOIP services but my sister in San Francisco barred incoming calls. The satisfaction guarantee has yet to be tested . If and I ever get satisfied, I don’t intend to look like that model in their tasteless billboard ad. Anyway, I am looking forward to talk to the Brand Manager later for other business questions.

VoIP Conference 2006

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VOIPJust came from the First International VoIP Conference in the Philippines at the World Trade Center. The conference is timely because the House of Representatives just recently approved the VoIP deregulation bill on June 5, 2006. The Senate has yet to approve it. [tag]Voice Over Internet Protocol[/tag] ([tag]VOIP[/tag]) is a transmission technology that uses the internet to send voice and image in real time. Bah, I’m tired to talk about it so just browse the photo gallery

Vacation Ownership

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Read Danvil Plans, Crown Regency, Nuskin and other Scams

crown regency“You have just won a FREE 4 days 3 night package for two including 2 children from Crown Regency Hotel.“, the caller congratulated me. I know there is always a catch to freebies. They got my name from a “raffle stub” that I dropped at the Fil-Negosyo Expo 2006. The lady sounded a bit defensive “There is no catch. The gift certificate is valid for 6 months and you have the choice of staying in our Mactan or Davao Hotel. All you need to bring is a valid ID. You don’t even have to bring cash, credit card or a checkbook“. Something about the “too-good-to-be-true” call piqued my curiosity. This must be a new marketing gimmick which I needed to experience. When I relayed the news to my husband, he immediately thought of a time sharing scheme. When we arrived at the reception area, we found out that we could only get the gift certificate after listening to a 90 minute audio visual presentation. I couldn’t imagine why it would take that long to view the hotel features.

So the catch is this. No, it’s not time sharing. It’s a club membership of sorts. The guy introduces the concept of a dream vacation and the expenses it entails. But with an investment on a lifetime Club Ultima membership, your vacation expenses are not lost forever. One can avail of discounted hotel rates around the world including the Philippines. Their partnership with Interval International is very appealing.

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Pinoy Entrepreneurship: Fil-Negosyo Expo 2006

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fil negosyolectureI had a lot of time to kill before picking up my daughters at their dorm yesterday. I knew about the Fil Negosyo Expo 2006 at the 5th floor Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall starting on June 23 till July 2, 2006 . My curiosity got the better of me. What are the latest small business ventures that one can enter to these days? I wanted to see if some existing businesses could complement my ecommerce plans. A quick glance at the booths showed that most of the business ventures didn’t need a lot of capital.

pinoy expofil-negosyo

enegosyodloads

A number of e-load dealers touting “1 SIM Load all” in the expo proved that the e-load retailing is a multi-billion industry. There was the eNegosyo, d-loads, Load Xtreme and Megaload. One thing in common with this business is networking opportunity and low capital requirement . For instance the capital for the retailing with networking business is 500 pesos ($9.40) enegosyo , 800 pesos ($15.00) for d-loads , and 16,000 pesos ($301) for Load Xtreme. Megaload claims it has no networking so its capital outlay is only 299 pesos ($5.60). It looks like Load Xtreme makes a killing just on networking model.

Visit my Pinoy Travel Booking Engine and take that romantic vacation to the Islands of the Philippines. Compare our Cheap Airplane Fares.

megaloadLoad XtremeSince I already had an eLoad retailing at home, I invested 500 pesos at eNegosyo to complement my existing eload services. Why enegosyo? Though they are relatively new, they had a professional demonstration at their booth. Well, it’s also because their financial goals seemed more realistic. It remains to be seen if they are really reliable but hey, 500 pesos isn’t going to kill me. Take risks, right! (Add me as your sponsor if you’re joining eNegosyo )

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Blogger’s Rights

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Read EFF's Legal Guide for Bloggers
My daughter receives threats and insults from internet bullies every now and then because of her “bombastic” blog entries. I recall the times she was bullied on her entries about speaking english over tagalog, the jologs, the conyos and lastly, her roomie rants. Sometimes I attribute it to jealousy. One day she asked me if [tag]blogger rights[/tag] exist. Her celebrity entry drew the ire of the stage mother that the latter even threatened to file a complaint to the college dean. Nothing materialized of it. Good thing she didn’t file. My husband-lawyer was ready for a countersuit. My daughter has learned to publish blog entries in private or public mode to prevent harassment from internet bullies. It’s one reason she keeps changing her blog domain name. Anyway I found this site that provides a Legal Guide for Bloggers, a collection of blogger-specific FAQs addressing everything from fair use to defamation law to workplace whistle-blowing. These FAQs are limited to the USA laws but remember, most of our websites are hosted in US servers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) covers US servers. Some can be applicable to the Philippine blogosphere. A historical first in the [tag]Philippine blogosphere[/tag] was that time the PCIJ blog was slapped with a temporary restraining order. Nothing is FREE and dandy in the blogosphere.

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Reconnecting with long lost friends

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The blog is indeed a nifty tool for long lost friends who want to reconnect with you.
With the aid of google search, two friends I haven’t heard in years found me through my blog. One is Betty who is now based in Singapore. The last time we saw each other was in Sampaguita Residence Hall at the UP campus in 1978. Suddenly, my memories brought me back to those carefree years when we would gossip on our latest crush , search for dinner or just hang out in our rooms. I don’t know why I lost touch with Betty. It must have been because we left for the province after graduation or we were too caught up looking for jobs. Then there is Bing, my officemate at the UP Institute for Small Scale Industries. She is now in New York. Am I really that bad in communicating with friends whenever a milestone occurs in my life? Bing said that the last time she saw me was when Lauren was a few months old. How terrible I am.

I don’t think I meant to overlook or neglect friendships. I know that there are some friendships that wax and wane , going through cycles throughout the years. Some trail off when one person outgrows the other. I just didn’t know how to take care of myself during my early years of marriage. I thought family should come first. But I know better now. Friends are a joy. Adult friendships can be a good place for us to learn to have fun and to appreciate how much fun we can have with a friend. A friendship is a comfortable place to be ourselves. Bing and Betty are two friends that I want to reconnect. Hopefully I can visit Singapore or New York within the year.

I thought friendster was also another way to communicate with long lost friends until my techno-challenged hubby questioned me in a tone that sounded a wee suspicious. This conversation occured during our troubled marital years.

“Why are you at friendster?“.

“huh? How did you know that?” (sounding a bit defensive after hearing his suspicious tone)

“My fraternity brods saw your Friendster profile.”

“Let me explain. I am in [tag]Friendster[/tag] so that high school or college classmates know how to reach me. Ahhhah. you thought I placed that up because I want to date? Don’t you know friendster is also for social networking? Oh….and did your brods tell you that my photo is that of our son, Luijoe????.”

That shut him up.

My friendster photo has since been changed to our couple photo . And dear hubby is not so technically-chaellenged anymore.

Apple MacBook, a birthday gift to myself

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Edit (November 27, 2007)- I bought a new Apple MacBook – black (Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard). View latest Macbook and their prices

apple macbookgloriettaWhenever I buy something expensive, I feel guilty . Never mind if I validate it by saying that it is an early birthday gift or a fixed cost for my online business. Excuses , excuses! I strolled Glorietta Mall this afternoon just to check out the BPI Express Credit Card Madness which runs from June 7 to 18. Note, I had no intention of buying anything today. *sigh* At the Power Mac Apple Center, I caught myself staring at the 1.83 GHz, 13-inch white Apple MacBook. The svelte 1.08 inches thin Macbook with the 13 inch widescreen and pretty icons caught my attention. Not to mention my face…haha..Clickety!

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