Showing posts with label options. Show all posts
Showing posts with label options. Show all posts

Saturday, May 26, 2012

5 Myths About Being An Entrepreneur


5 Myths About 
Being An

If you’re looking for a feel good post about why you should quit your secure 9 to 5 job and become an entrepreneur, this is not the post for you. Being an entrepreneur is great and I wouldn’t trade it for a desk job, but there are some things aspiring (or existing) entrepreneurs should know.
#1 You’re going to be insanely successful. You are not the next Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry, you’re not and I’m not. If you have the idea that you’re going to sit down and create the next Facebook and be worth billions of dollars in seven to 10 years, it’s not going to happen. Am I saying it’s not good to dream big? No. I’m saying there is only one Facebook and only one Mark Zuckerberg in this world.
#2 Entrepreneurs have a very flexible work schedule. They can work three to four hours a day and have plenty of time to goof off. I know I’m not alone when I say that entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of ending our workday abruptly at 5pm. When you own your own company or work for someone who does, you have to put in the extra hours and the extra effort to make things happen. If you aren’t ready to work some pretty long days, you probably aren’t cut out for being an entrepreneur.
#3 Entrepreneurs can take off when they want — after all, you’re the boss, right? Remember all those times you used to be able to party on random nights of the week or just take off for a weekend with your friends? Not if you want to keep your business afloat the first year (or two, three, four, etc). Now I’m not saying you won’t ever get time off, but most entrepreneurs live, eat and breathe their businesses and a lot of times partying gets pushed to the wayside. What’s more important: Doing keg stands with college buddies or generating income so you can pay bills the next couple months?
#4 Working from home means you’ll have more time for your relationship, your pets, taking care of your home, etc. Wrong. Because you work from home, it’s like you live in this constant state of never finishing anything. You start cleaning the dishes and then think of a great idea or feature for your company. Instead of taking your significant other out to a nice meal, you ask to get drive thru so you can get back to work quicker. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked over at my dog and it looks like he’s crossing his legs because he needs to go outside (and I love my dog to death!).
#5 Everyone wants to have your job. I’m guessing it’s because people genuinely don’t love their jobs, but they think you have this perfect setup where you get to work and play all day long. I always hear things like “At least you don’t have to deal with a commute” or “I have so many worthless meetings and calls, you’re lucky”. Do you want to trade the last three days I worked 18 hours and had to go above and beyond to appease clients? No, no you don’t.
For all the starving entrepreneurs out there, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all doing things we love and enjoy, and that’s what matters. I may not be building the next Facebook, but I am excited about controlling my own destiny and knowing the harder I work, the more results I see.

Cheers!

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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Online Marketing or Offline Marketing?

Online Marketing or Offline Marketing? 

In this article, i wanted to share what i know about online versus offline marketing. As many are already familiar with this, you will be amazed that there are still a lot who have no idea what these are, How powerful it is and how clueless we are on how easy it can be.





But first lets define what Online Marketing and Offline Marketing is.

Definition

Offline Marketing is your traditional business done in the traditional manner of advertising. Simply put it, advertisements done through newspaper, magazine, radios, TV adds, banners etc.

Pro's
- Proven system
- Effective in delivery
- Can reach a huge number of demographics

Con's
- Expensive, requires a substantial amount of money.
- could be limited to your area and country only (depending on your initial funds, again going back to "expensive")
- requires a lot of work and people (advertising consultants, staff, paid actors etc)
- ROI or Return of Investment takes longer ( 2 to 3 years by average)


Online Marketing is defined as your business advertised online through social media (number one right now if i may say myself) like Facebook, Online Stores (Multiply.com, Sulit), blogging, tweeting, etc.
Pro's

- This is already a proven system ( samples are coke and pepsi battling it out on the social platform of Facebook)
- Massive potential and reach (again, this is online and the whole world can see this)
- FREE This could be the BEST advantage yet. Most social sites are FREE registration and if not only requires a minimal fee for advertisement edge. Like Facebook, you can spend a budget of a dollar per click but of course the higher the better but just imagine advertising online for $10 - $50 compared to thousands.

- minimal number of people to work with (no need to hire anyone), less expenses
- ROI can be seen in a months time  


Con's

- Spamming, be careful with this one. There's a line between sharing/promoting from Spamming and the latter can create negative feedback instead of a good one.
- none that i can think of, given that you follow the successful paths and do your research first (Basics, Guide and always get a successful brand to mirror), your business should hit success in no time.


Now that we have defined the two, the next question that is always asked is, which one is better and why? 



In my honest opinion (based on my experience and research as well), I prefer Online Marketing. Why? because of the following reasons:

1) You don't need a lot of funds to start up. When i started, i only needed a few scanned materials, a desktop & internet connection (which is a standard necessity already in any home, if none whats 25 pesos in a computer shop) and creativity. I finished my first Ebay add in less than 30 minutes and that's FREE advertisement.

2) You can start faster if not immediate. Yes, i will admit that it took me at least a few hours to research online about which FREE sites to use, how, success stories and online tips but that's still faster compared to offline which requires, market study, statistics etc and that requires months if not years to complete. 



3)More leverage for you. What do i mean? by leveraging on the massive power and visibility factor of the net, your business works for you and therefor gives you more time for the important things. Admit it, we want more time for the important things in life. That's why we saw this opportunity.

4) It works while your asleep, gone in vacation, 24 hours a day with global exposure and the best part with minimal to moderate management on your part. Once you have set a system, it takes care of itself. 



5) Massive exposure. This time your not only limited to your peers, friends and family. The globe is your apple here.

Now, its safe to assume that your reading this article because your interested in Online Marketing, Need an extra income, build your own business or simply need help with your own 
Online Marketing. First things first, don't be afraid to try  Online Marketing, its simple and easy. Your 1st tool is knowledge and there is plenty in the net though word of caution, there is such a thing as too much information paralysis. Just focus on one successful system and remember that it does take patience and consistency. If you don't hit it on the 1st week, don't just jump to another system. Go back to the basics and improve what you started don't just over haul it immediately.


Next is the How?
For strategies, as i mentioned above. There are a lot in the net but i'll be discussing the basics on a separate article.

So there you go, i Hope i was able to help and enlighten you even in the simplest way about Online and Offline Marketing.

How about you, whats your experience with this two? What better and effective for you? and as always feel free to share your thoughts and this article if it proved helpful to, as we can still help other =)

Cheers!


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Can you earn BIG money and get RICH in employment?


First of all, before you continue reading this article, let me already advise that this may hit "some nerve" for some people. As they say, "the truth hurts but it will set you free". Now if you are not open to others ideas and creative criticisms then, please don’t read any further but if you are open to others ideas and feel that this is an article meant to help you then, enjoy.







I have been catching on my readings, as well as some bonding moments with my peers and I realized I’m always being bombarded by stories about how hard it is being an employee specifically on the financial aspect. So I made some research online, gathered some experiences and stories and this is what I got.


Honestly, this is a crucial everyday topic already that I am well accompanied to as well, so I used to share the same sentiments and as it looks, not much has changed.

I don't want to say that nobody gets rich in employment, period, since I have read some items that are an exception that does make sense. Here are the exceptions:

1) Employees invest their hard earned money (retirement pay more or less). This is no trivial task since some have taken years to even save in the first place to actually invest it. I know a lot that was only able to invest upon retirement or near that age.

         a) Some would invest in traditional business like water refilling stations (I know a family friend who did this, father retires then invested in the province)
         b) A few will invest in bonds, shares and mutual funds. As much as this is  a enticing and could be lucrative, these are no items for beginners and a lot lose big money from the start due to lack of information and experience.  I suggest you equip yourself first with all the information you can get and an experience mentor/adviser before even attempting this one.
         c) And of course there is the MLM opportunity. Low capital, minimal risk and high returns. Now I will not focus on this for now since I am an active part of the industry and I’m not here to up sell myself.


But in reality while you’re tied in your employee career for the next few decades and have not saved that sum of money, these are what most people are doing.

1) Have you seen and met colleagues selling all sorts of knick knacks and homemade delights? Yes, this is what most are doing part time to make ends meet. Now there is nothing wrong with this, it is an honest source of income and hard work as well. In my Manager career, I was even a loyal buyer from some staff and sometimes a promoter (Christmas cookies or cakes anyone? hers are delicious) so next time, somebody tells you " i don’t like to sell anything" one point of your life you actually sold something from small knick knacks to an idea. Promoting is still selling.

2) Need insurance? Oh yeah, there are a lot of them as well =) insurance is not a bad investment, in fact one of my mentor is worth 20 million in insurance alone. He even said that insurance is a great investment for your money once you have a money generating machine other than your work because if this comes from your pay slip alone, it’s still an expense that could be challenging to maintain.

3) Are you looking for a house or maybe a condo? Honestly, if any of them offered me a place within my choice of locality I could have gotten one then but laguna, taytay and montalban was too far for me back them. Again, another good source but this is more of one time big time for me. No sale no allowance, it’s like selling cars.

4) Pautang (lending money)....too risky for me. Especially in the BPO industry I know a lot of very notorious people and horror stories about this. Again, if your good at harassing people to pay up (just kidding, not always the scenario) then 3%-5% interest are high returns ( Kapit sa patalim people, I know a lot of them. Sadly, some could have avoid this with a little good choices and decisions)

5)  And of course there is the MLM opportunity. Low capital, minimal risk and high returns. 

6) 
I don’t even want to tackle the shady deals but YES, there are a lot of them. Back then I even know people who would take coupons and make up liquidation reports just to kick some extra. Not recommendable by my standards.


But this has nothing to do with your work directly, what can you do with your work that can give you the chance to earn big? Just one way and that is through “Promotion”

Have you heard of the 80%-20% rule? 80% of the money and compensation only goes to the 20% population. That 20% is such a small percentage to move into especially since that 20% is limited to a number of allocations only. What am I talking about? That 20% is your corporate leaders and managerial positions and trust me they’re not going to give those positions easily because they themselves got it through hook or crook (just an expression)


If i may quote this line from a article from Phil daily inquirer
"
It is evident that long years of dedicated service are not the key to making big money out of employment.
This is bad news for employees who have been programmed to believe that as long as they continue to make the businessman rich, they too will get rich when they retire. When successful businessmen retire, they wallow in luxury. When an average Joe retires, he either invests his hard earned retirement money
wrongly, loses medical benefits for sicknesses he contracted as an employee, or simply squanders his big money that he wasn't used to have all his life. Ces't la vie."


Yes, the only option to technically earn big in your work or employee career is be promoted and keep being promoted. Note that I said "technically" not "ethically", you know what I mean.

So what do you need to prepare yourself for the corporate “Rat Race”

Its smart to start in a good company, Why? Promotion requires time and a lot of effort and the last thing you want is to invest those in the wrong company or career path.  Always work with your options, don’t just jump on the first ship that will offer you a ride. Be smart and do your home work about the company and your possible growth path but again this is no easy feat. Everybody has the same idea as you and some may even have the better school and credentials. be ready to fight for that position if you don’t want to be just a average joe at the office.

Your talents and skills. This is your value to the company. The more you have this, the more valuable you are.

Always learn and keep learning. It adds to your value. 

Always have the edge compared to your peers and competition (friendly of course) Always remember, at the end of the day you are still a number to the company and a number away from the next replacement. Number can pertain to stats, deliveries, sales or success rates/projects.

Yes, Attitude is still important. For me at least, when I screen new candidates for positions I take in greater consideration over talent or skill is the person’s attitude and interpersonal skills. Anything can be learned and taught but attitude can make and break everything not to mention you don’t learn this overnight. 

Experience is always the first requirement that all people ask for so be prepared to burn a lot of time to acquire experience. Yes, you can say some get lucky but as a standard, experience is the first thing to check.

Most importantly, be well informed. Office politics anyone? If you’re not aware of your own place politics well, let’s just say it’s an advantage to be in the know. By the way this can make or break you, even if you’re the best in the game, be warned it’s not a fair ball out there.

Hopefully, I didn’t forget anything. Give or take that is what they or you will have to look for if you want to climb that ladder and run that race. As for me, I’ve been there, it was an experience and I would say people can go through the same experience so they can get their own experience and learn the same values because at the end of the day even the big guys in my old companies were always on the lookout for the next opportunity to earn more. I’ll be honest, resources can do a lot in life that’s why admit it or not everybody is looking for chance to earn. There is nothing wrong with money especially if it will make the life of your love ones more comfortable.

As i was always advised, there is no such thing as easy money or easy way. There are always challenges but nobody said that we cant be smarter and handle it better.

The only question I leave you is this, given the chance would you prefer to earn 100,000 thousand after years of hard work when you can earn the same amount in half of that time or even months? Nothing is impossible, there is a lot of ways to earn and some may even know something that’s not included in this article but the point is opportunities are just a waste when you don’t give it a chance.


Rather start young, since you’re going to do business when you’re old anyway.