Salarium: A Payroll Software That Declutters Your HR & Admin Dept By Providing Employee Self-Service Option

How the Bureau of Internal Revenue Promotes Efficient Collection of Taxes

Source: http://knowyourtaxes.ph/

7 Tips in Using Tinder, A Dating App

The Truth About Freelance Work in the Philippines

A freelancer working on his laptop Source here

In 1989, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web, which the world would later dub as the Internet. This innovation enabled people to share electronic data from computer to computer, and greatly revolutionised the way people communicate and do business. However, it wasn't until around 1994 that the internet came to the Philippines. In fact, the country just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the internet's arrival on March 28. 

The dilemma of a 30-year old woman who prefers to build her own (online) business while travelling than have a family of her own (at this time)

Geeks on A Plane in Manila: Exploring Technopreneurship Ecosystems

July 24, 2014 9AM - 12MN

Asian Institute of Management

Makati

The brains behind the Geeks on a plane is having a tour around SE Asia. This is a free event but they want to give more priorities to those who really need to be here like startup enthusiasts and the likes. All you need to apply for an invitation is to answer 2 questions.

1. How can this forum add value to your startup / organization / initiative? *

2. Tell us what you specifically would want to learn from the panelists, participants and organizers. This will help us curate the questions based on what you are keen on learning. You may list your questions below as well. *

Here's the link. Good luck!

How to Use Google Adwords and Google Partners for your Business

Without Google Adwords, my business is dead. To confess that using Adwords changed my life is exaggerated but I stand for what I say… up to the end.  I cannot think of any word that can describe how it helped my online shop acquire unprecedented sales for a bootstrapping online entrepreneur like me.  However I prefer not to divulge any numerical figures to support my statement because I want to protect the interests of my travel business partners and mine as well.  There will be a right time and a right place to do that.  

For the meantime, just picture it this way: I gave up my 8-year old very stable job to pursue an online career. .. all because of Google Adwords.  Now call it serendipity because I also found another path worth taking –   the world of online advertising. In fact I am readying myself when the time comes that I need to give up my online shop which is my only bread and butter from the start to become an online advertising professional.  I know it is going to be really hard. It’s like breaking up with your first love because you have finally found your true love. .. even if it meant losing everything you have and starting all over again.

FREE: SEO Lead Generation Conference on July 12th (Invite only basis)

This is the reason why I am cutting my one month vacation trip short, I want to be part of the SEO Lead Generation Conference and Competition this July 12th, so tomorrow I'm taking a 12 - hour butt - numbing (that's ok) bus ride from Bicol to Manila.

  

Since I run an online shop, I am always very curious how ranking in search engine results are done by different search engines.  I believe joining this give me so much knowledge I need to run a business online.  

FREE TrulyRichMakers Club's Financial Literacy and Coaching Seminar

 

Bro. Bo Sanchez, the braind behind Truly Rich Makers Seminar, is organizing a free event entitled Financial Literary and Coaching seminar. This is perfect for those thinking of getting out the rat race and starting out a journey of owning a business.

Available Dates and Schedules

July 8 (Tuesday) at 10:15 AM or 2:00 PM

July 10 (Thursday) at 10:15 AM or 7:00 PM

July 12 (Saturday) at 7:00 PM

July 15 (Tuesday) at 10:15 AM or 2:00 PM

July 17 (Thursday) at 10:15 AM or 7:00 PM

Venue: Room 901, 9th floor, Kingscourt 1, Chino Roces corner Dela Rosa st, Makati City

All you need is enter your name, occupation, email address, age, chosen date/time of seminar and mobile phone in this link here.

Business Sense: Practical Pursuits for Filipino Women in 2014

Image source here

The year is almost halfway done and many may be wondering "Why now?" But the truth is, it is never too late to start pursuing your dream. In the past few years, many in the nation have decided to leave their regular jobs and start businesses. In a third world country such as the Philippines, being your own boss is as big a dream as being able to work abroad. And now that the PH economy is doing quite well in the world market, you'll probably witness more people joining the entrepreneurial bandwagon in the coming years.

Setting up a business, however, is no walk in the park. You need capital, a sound business plan, a ton of determination, and most importantly, an amazing business idea. If you're planning to go through the conventional route, you would also need to rent an office space . If you're a parent, you'll also need superb organisational skills. Out of all these though, it's probably the "idea" part that you should first get a hold of. After all, according to American author Earl Nightingale, "Everything begins with an idea." 

Another coworking space in Manila: the newly-opened Honeycomb Manila Coworking in Ortigas

As a freelance entrepreneur gives me a freedom  to work anytime and anywhere I want. I can work in my bed with my laptop and I can answer clients' emails via my smartphone in a coffee shop. 

However this absolute freedom also has negative consequences. The noisy TV, messy housemates and the ambiance of home which to me is a place of rest are my mightiest distrations.

Most of the known coffee shops in the metro don't  have a reliable wifi connection. Their password-enabled internet connection which is often rate per hour is merely for browsing and cannot be used on serious stuff like working online.

Practical Motivations for Opening a Hotel Business in the Philippines

In the hotel business, there are a lot of variables to success that may be out of your hands. After all, you can't fully control the flow of tourists or visitors in any location, or stop natural disasters from happening. Of course, you may be able to do some effective marketing to alleviate the situation, but that may only cause tiny ripples to a whole ocean of causes and effects. But however bad these things may seem, these should not really pose as deterrents to putting up a hotel business. What you should be checking for instead are these factors:

Mobile Festival 2013 in Manila

Our mobile phone is no longer just a tool for communication. It has evolved into a platform that any business should know how to maximize its unprecedented capabilities. Mobile Festival 2013 is a great event I definitely would recommend to fellow entrepreneurs, startup founders,  wannabees etc. They have fantastic line of speakers whom I am sure that no one will go home without picking at least one idea that can inspire them to expand their brands and start something out via mobile technology. I myself is very curious about what is the current local mobile industry and how I can use it for the benefit of my travel blog and shop. 

Two Well-Known Filipino Entrepreneurs with Humble Beginnings

Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. Entrepreneurship can be challenging as it takes perseverance and hard work to achieve a high level of success. 

Whether you already have an enterprise or are looking to open one , it pays to learn from those who have already walked in your shoes and managed to build something amazing out of obscurity.

6 Tips To Start As A Bootstrapping Entrepreneur

There are a lot of reasons why I hurried back to Manila after staying for more than a month in Bicol my hometown: I brought my mom for a free trip to ilocos courtesy of one of my travel partners for a job well done by yours truly (I have another free trip coming in Sagada), I have to get my backpay from my previous company and my application abroad is still hanging in the air. 

Most of all, I felt strange and so detached to the place where I was born and raised. Maybe because for the past ten years of my life I have learned to live far and independent from my family. I want to stay longer with them but I feel like I left my heart somewhere and I need to find it.  If not I will end up regretting I never bothered to find what makes me happy.

How to Start a Home or Office-based Travel Agency

It was in February of 2012 when I took my very first whole-day seminar and paid a thousand peso on how to set up a travel agency. That time everything was new to me so I never really digested the information at all but it was not a waste because it challenged me to keep learning along the way. I had no one to turn to even up to now when it comes to help and advices so I learn from my mistakes and experiences alone. It is never easy I tell you.   

Before I finally closed my first ever major sale of a tour package, I remembered a few dozen that I lost previously because I literally don’t know the ropes of this business. I work with 2 freelance tour guides, 1 tour operator and I deal with 6 accredited travel agencies so far: 5 of them I have active engagement until now and 3 seasonal. I am still looking and hoping to collaborate to a lot more also.  Out of these 8 travel agencies, only 2 of them I have met in person. I  talk to them over the phone, send emails, exchange text messages and close thousand bucks thru online transactions. 

Tips On How To Make An Effective Business Pitch

-->

“To date I have seven startups founded: three is doing fine, three failed and one is so – so. ” says Peter Cauton, the blogger behind “Juan Great Leap who encourages Filipinos to build their own startup  or in other words – a startup company.

Ever since I have fallen in love with the words “entrepreneurship” and “location – independent lifestyle” few years ago because of some recent life –changing events I have never stopped roaming around the metro joining activities learning on how these matters work.
  

How to make a pitch is something that I am really looking forward to learn because as an aspiring entrepreneur – I literally need financial backup for my business to last for a long time and connections to give me opportunities.

I just don’t want to settle in selling tour packages alone, rest on blogging paid reviews, wait for the advertisements from my blog to pay me or aspire to be one of the country’s famous travel blogger. I want to create a sustainable business that is a product of innovation – meaning it solves a problem or provide an effective alternative to the majority and generates enough profit to cover my basic everyday expenses or even more.

Open Coffee Meetup for Entrepreneurs

Never did I ever thought of starting a business out of blogging and travel. To tell you the truth I started blogging because I just want to make use of my online time always spent on nothing and I started travelling because I was inspired of the travelers I met previously. But again selling tour packages? Nunca did I ever thought of doing this. But It was all about perfect timing and chances that paved the way. I would be hypocrite if I say it is not the money that gets me motivated but you know the feeling of going to sleep and waking up always inspired because I have something that I look forward every day doing which makes me happy and gets me   excited big time!

Running a business all alone made me half – proud and half – afraid. Proud because I was able to start something which no one literally helped me through and afraid because I have no solid professional background in this industry. So I read a lot of news, articles, blogs online that would give me information of how to be familiar of anything I need to know and most important I want to reach out to like-minded people who are into the path of entrepreneurship just to feel I am not alone. Now this one I am going to share below is something that I am excited to be part of this coming week and would recommend too.

Filipinas are the most admired by the rest of Asian women

“Filipina entrepreneurs have a lot to be proud of” said Julia Koh, Director at Brand 360, a marketing and advertising company in Malaysia while showing her Powerpoint presentation in front of fellow aspring and inspiring Filipina entrepreneurs. Then she showed a slide that the Philippines is now in the top 5 global countries with the fastest rising women into entrepreneurship and ranked 8 th in the global gender gap (source: Global Gender Gap Report,2012) . Women globally comprise 40% of the labor force but in our country it comprises 50% and compared to Malaysia, our neighboring country it is only 45%. It seems that gone are the days that our women stay at home to take care of their family.This is a very, very good sign to encourage more women to take the path of entrepreneurship. We will have less and less women especially mothers to go abroad for work thus preventing their family left half- taken care.

Serving Two Masters at the Same Time

Keeping my nearly eight – year old night job and my business that requires me to be up all day is NOT easy. If you peep to my mobile inbox it is filled with unnamed numbers from clients with their text messages and call logs, my email Yahoo inbox has dozens of thread emails from clients and partners and Google drive filled with scanned documents of transaction receipts,  hotel rates etc. If ever there is a way to see through my mind, por favor don’t ask me what’s inside! At least I have given you clues already. 

The online searching habit of Filipinos peak from 8AM TO 12NOON and a little less onwards in the afternoon until it declines when the night comes. How come I was able to say this? Well my shift is 10PM – 7AM,  I take a breakfast right away and sleeps until 1PM. Now my sleep has become literally like hell because my mobile phone would ring nonstop from 8AM until I wake up. Now my sleeping habit has been compromised but this is never gonna be the reason I am going to quit.