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Stay at Home Mom

Deal or No Deal?

deal.jpgMy husband’s text message cracked me up:

The buyer offered ______ pesos for the land. Is it a deal or no deal?

Haha, we were deciding on whether to accept a buyer’s offer on my husband’s property in Baguio. The proceeds will be used as equity to our new home.

Almost every night when my husband is home, we tune in to entertainment shows to just free our minds from a hard day’s work. Mindless shows like the lucky game show “Deal or No deal?” with Kris Aquino lightens my husband’s mood. While the game show is progressing, my husband and I decide if it’s a deal or no deal. Oftentimes, my husband place the banker role. Most often I take the conservative role and scream “DEAL!” or “How stupid!”.

Back to that text message “Deal or no deal?”

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Inspiration from a Working Mom Magazine

working momI was 42 years old and reading the “Working Mom” magazine. I wanted to get back to the corporate world or do research work like I used to do or so I thought. Armed with an MBA, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Reality sank in that Filipino employers never or rarely hire women past thirty five years old. Look at the classified ads…”not more than 30 years old”…or “not more than 40 years old” as if age diminishes our mental faculties. The problem was I quit the workforce at the age of 30 years old to devote the full time homemaker role to my three children. Those lost years deprived my exposure to business trends and development. I had a part time job though. During those 10 years, I devoted my brains to my husband’s family properties as he could not attend to it. He was a budding lawyer tied down to a law firm. He literally dropped his property management role to me. I had no choice but support his wishes as we derived substantial income from it too.

To add to my credentials, I acquired a license in real estate brokerage in 1989. Things didn’t work out in the end because of misunderstandings which I’d rather not explain further. I resigned in 1998 much to the disappointment of my father-in-law.

I knew I needed something else. A job?

I could get a job through network of friends but what was my specialty? The past years saw me dabbling with the internet and web site development. I was out of the loop in the corporate world.

On that fateful day , I read this article about moms who quit their jobs and went into business. There were 3 women who started a business because they were tired of working

So that was it! Start a business. But what kind of business?

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Most Inspiring Techno Entrepreneurs in the Philippines

One of the highlights of the Techno Negosyo Expo (which by the way ends today, September 15) is the recognition of the 10 most Inspiring Filipino Techno Entrepreneurs. See, I went to the Techno Negoso yesterday to keep myself abreast with the recent technologies or e-commerce solutions. My husband thinks I can be the next technopreneur (in his dreams. hehe). Yet, I wanted to see the brillant minds behind the Philippines Information and Communications Technology if I can be inspired to go beyond my small and medium business frameset into the realm of high technology.

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Awarding of the 10 Most Inspiring Technopreneurs in the Philippines:
1. Diosdado Banatao (Computer Chips- Mostron and S3)
2. Nonoy & Ben Colayco (Online Gaming- Level Up)
3.Joey Gurango (Software Development- Webworks OS)
4. Danilo Manayaga (Biotechnology- Servac Philippines)
5.Dennis Mendiola (Wireless Technology- Chikka Asia)
6. Manny Pangilinan (Telecommunications- First Pacific, PLDT,)
7. Dr. William Torres (RP Internet Pioneer- Mozcom)
8. Peter Valdes (software development- Vinta Systems )
9. Orlando Vea (Mobile Communications/New Media – SMART founder, MediaQuest)
10. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II (Diversified IT investing-iAyala)

Enlarge photos here, here , here and here

For me the most brillant of the lot is Diosdado Banatao, better known by his nickname, Dado. Why? It was Dado’s genius that gave the world the first Ethernet controller chip that enabled computers to link up and communicate with one another (our internet cable for one) and the first chip set that significantly reduced the complexity of the personal computer. In short, Dado’s innovations made computers cheaper ,faster and more people-friendly.

Why am I impressed?

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The Globe-Innove Sponsored Blogger’s Meet at Temple Bar

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I had so much fun tonight. Actually the most exciting part of the night was finally meeting and chilling with techies and bloggers in real physical time. I am thankful though that Globe-Innove sponsored this meet. For the first time in my life, I felt that I was not alone in my passion for internet work and online activities. I don’t know many people my age that are into the online world of blogging or even e-commerce.

Before the division into 2 groups, early birds like Jayvee, Abe (such an exuberant guy), Kiven, Bimbo and myself ate and talked about well…Google adsense. Psst, we can share Adsene tips some other time.

What can I say? The food, the company was great!

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An Internet Cafe with Free Wi-Fi

As a media partner for the upcoming VoIP Convention in 2007, I was tasked to write articles for their souvenir program. My deadline was yesterday, rather last week. Oh dear, I have limited VOIP knowledge and time at my hands. The first thought that entered my mind was to interview Silverback ASP, the only Filipino-owned VOIP Provider (for outbound VOIP calls). I didn’t know Globe, Bayantel, and PLDT were using VOIP resellers (like Vonage, Packet 8 etc from the USA). I immediately got the appointment with Steve Davis, the CEO of Silverback ASP. As I stepped into their office, I was surprised to see the ITX Cafe/Silverback signage by the large window panes. Oh an internet cafe! As I looked in, I liked what I saw.

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An informal ambience of comfortable chairs, swings, gorilla nest and computers in the corner for internet use . I was 30 minutes early for my appointment. You know, I’d rather be early than keep the other party waiting for me. As I eased myself on the chair, I turned on my macbook and was quite pleased that I got a wi-fi connection.

This is my dream business office setup. The virtual office was a plan but a physical office is so much better. Part business office, coffee shop with my baked goodies, and offering free wi-fi to the customers. It’s important to dream about a goal so it can eventually materialize one day. The most important value is having fun and doing business at the same time. Looking at the photos around the ITX cafe, the partners of Silverback ASP appear to be doing both. No wonder they moved to the Philippines and even devloped imindoro.net and providing internet service in Mindoro Island.

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August Bloggers Meet sponsored by Globe Innove

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(image by Kevin)
I am up and about at this time (2:00 AM) because I had to pick up my daughters at Eastwood. Now I can’t sleep. *yawn* Everyone is still awake. With nothing better to do, I checked my site stats and discovered a link from Jayvee’s site. As I landed on the site, I laughed when I saw that I was one of the The 12 Apostles of Globe Innove . I hope I am not Judas.

The occasion?

When: August 31 2006 (it is not on the 30th anymore)
Where: Temple Bar, Greenbelt 2 | 8:00PM
What to expect: It’s a surprise party (shhh!)

I heard that there were limited slots for this Globe Innove sponsored bloggers meet. According to Abe Olandres, ” they prefer bloggers with a fairly good reach in readership”. I don’t think I have that many readers but I’m sure this blog has a Google presence in a few important keywords. Hmm, I wonder what Globe Innove has to say during the Bloggers Meet. Will it be their unlimited dial up internet, the Broadband internet or the VOIP webphone? The last time I visited their booth at the Rockwell center, the guys remembered me. Hehe, it must be because I was bugging another subsidiary , the Globe Visibility if my Macbook is compatible with their mobile wireless internet. (Visibility works on a GPRS/EDGE platform)

Anyway, the rest of the 12 Apostles

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Misadventures of a Photo Blogger: Part 2

voip conA week ago, I received a call from Miriam, the chairperson of the VoIPCon Philippines Event Management Company thanking me for the wonderful photos and the VOIP convention entry I blogged about the event. I attended that convention in search for a [tag]VoIP[/tag] reseller in conjunction with future expansion plans for my online business. Miriam wanted to meet up with me because she wanted to have some sort of exchange deal for the upcoming [tag]VoIP Philippines convention[/tag] in March 2007. Right away, I explained that I have limited financial resources but I can help with the logistics.

voip conYesterday I met up with Miriam and Mar, her Operations manager. Mar expressed gratitude for the great photos of the VOIP event. I was surprised. “really? Why?

Mar explained “We hired an expensive professional photgrapher who gave us 1000 photos but most of it were heads. We liked your angles!

I laughed “That’s because I was a participant and blended very well with the crowd. I mean Speaker Jose de Venecia’s bodyguard probably thinks I am harmless

I was thinking, maybe amateur photobloggers see the event in another perspective. They shoot to capture the human emotions, that certain “moment”. Like in this photo below, I could not get inside the hall so instead I took a shot of the photographers.

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