Cool, We’re Newsworthy!

Ok, well it’s really more of a press release 🙂

We got ourselves some exposure on a couple of major dailies.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer had us on last Sunday’s (18 November 2007) Business Section. Check it out on page B-2. The Philippine Star had a slightly longer article on Money Talks! – this morning (19 November 2007), also in its Business Section, on page C-2. Lovely.

We’ve been getting quite a number of inquiries for the November 24 event at The Podium. Read more about it here if you haven’t heard about it yet.

Much thanks, Inquirer and Philippine Star!

 

One at a Time…

I suppose I’ve realized it’s one of my failings. I always try to get into too many things at any given time.

Take for example blogging. See, I know it’s probably a good thing to just have ONE MAIN BLOG. You know, stick to what you’re really passionate about and come up with an all-encompassing theme and just focus on JUST THAT.

After an inspiring workshop with Abe (last October 20, with Money Talks), it was supposed to be all clear- have a focus. If you want to have a blog working well for you, have a clear focus (aside from other useful tips he so generously shared).

Okay, so maybe I’ve gone a little over-enthusiastic and came up with, like, ten or twelve blogs or so. Could be more- who’s keeping track anyway?

I got one for pretty much every single facet of my 30-something lifestyle- writing, music, business, cats (lasercats!), pc gaming, tv & movies, stress management, radio, marketing- well, you get the idea.

Perhaps the best way to go about it is to consolidate the little blogs into a certain interest-group blog, and then those into one main blog.

Yikes! More blogs!

There’s no problem, I suppose, with having 50 million blogs. But you can only dedicate so much time to churning out content- which you can only post on a finite number of blogs- unless you have an entire army of keyboard monkeys on a constant mindlink to your brain at your disposal. Which is rather unlikely in most cases.

Let’s think of it now as a restructuring of sorts. Pretty much in the same way as we re-evaluate our lives every so often, the so do we re-evaluate our online lifestyle. Has to be done, right?

Good God, maybe it’s just me. Over-obsessive-at-times little ol’ me.

But what the heck. It starts today, with this blog 🙂 More later.

 

Blogging For Beginners

Hey, we all gotta start somewhere. One of the reasons why I left my last couple jobs was due to the fact that, despite having written so much about the company and stuff, I’ve hardly done any writing for myself. And man, did I have a lot of stuff to vent back then!

Anyway, I only started blogging last March- totally inspired after an invigorating trip from Singapore. Yeah, I’ve had a few friends who have already been regular bloggers at the time, but other than that- I have had no experience at blogging at all.

A friend of mine gave me a few tips to help me start out (thanks Gabby! -you can check out her blogs here). I now include those tips here, together with some of mine.

Later on, after setting up my first few blogs, I’ve ran into other bloggers- some a lot more into serious than me, others more casual- you really get all kinds, you know?

Blogology 101

Blogs start off with the idea of putting your thoughts online- think of a blog as a diary, a notebook, a bulletin board, a review column, a collection of media, or any mix thereof. The beauty is that it can be pretty much anything you want it to be.

Many people write for various reasons. Traditionally bloggers write for the purpose of informing and communicating. But a lot of bloggers do so because it makes for a great outlet to get creative, go crazy, or get into an experimental mindset.

It’s great for socializing- think of it as setting up a room online where others can visit you, and from which you can also visit others. Be a good neighbor, and you can see others be good to you and your blog when they drop by too.

So how does one start getting in on the Blogging Bandwagon?

Setting Up Your Blog Empire

For starters, let’s set up your blog. I would suggest you make use of free blog services like Blogger, WordPress or LiveJournal.

Blogger/Blogspot is a great blog service to start with, being extremely user-friendly, simple to use, and allows you a number of widgets (nice little applications you add on to your basic blog).

WordPress is also good, allowing you more applications to play with. While not as easy to use as Blogspot, it looks a great deal sharper and more professional. Also, if you plan to go professional, there’s a pretty good chance you might be using the WordPress interface, so you might as well get used to it now.

LiveJournal is great because, while it has the most simple features compared to Blogspot and WordPress, it seems to allow you the greatest deal of privacy- so you can choose who gets to view your blog.

Later on, when you’ve gained more experience and think you can handle your own hosted domain, you could choose to do so.

Good luck, and let me know how your blogs turn out!

Cheers!

 

Join the Blogging Bandwagon!

Wow, the support for our first ever Money Talks! event has been truly overwhelming! Thanks for showing interest, everyone!

We’ve had emails and text messages asking for other activities, or other dates/venues. Which we shall eventually be getting into. Because the demand for high-quality raket among entrepreneurs and business-minded folk is high.

Rest assured we’ll be working on more projects with Abe Olandres and some other fine ladies and gentlemen we’ve met at the most recent SEM Conference at the Hotel Intercon last 09-10 October 2007.

If you have a Facebook account, check out our Event Page right here. If you don’t have a Facebook account yet- well, now’s a good time as any to start having one 🙂

 

Bloggers of the World, Unite!

Times are hard and we all need to always be pro-active in everything. We should learn how to think, learn and act fast. We don’t have the luxury of time and time is money, literally. Digital technology has taken everything by storm and everything now is done online.

Blogging is said to be the wave of the future and now there is actually a way for us to join that bandwagon and even earn quite a significant amount of money, just by being online and blogging our way to untapped riches.

Attend the Money Talks! series- which kicks off with “Blogging for Money” with resource speaker, Abe Olandres, the country’s undisputed blogging guru- on Sat, Oct. 20 at Unit 204 Centerpoint Bldg., Julia Vargas cor. Garnet Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City and learn how to make blogging work for you!

Registration starts at 8am and seats are limited so be sure to come on time!

 

Making the Workplace Feel a little more Comfortable…

It was a Monday morning and, just like thousands of other people in the city, I shuffle out of bed, burst into a flurry of preparation and head out the door (kissing the kitties goodbye) to make it to work on time.

Having prepared my work-bag the night before, I run a mental checklist of the things I have to get done today while I was in the cab.

For anyone who’s been working- you know that we do the best we can to bring down levels of stress at work by bringing in a little bit of what we like to the workplace.  I for one, have a need for good music- so I burned an entire CD of mp3s for the office player (and called it “Mush Rush 2000s”) .  I also brought some healthy snacks, and several packets of tea (chamomile, mixed berry, etc.) to help me power through the day.

Quite the pleasant surprise, two of my colleagues brought this nice little oil lamp, with a variety of oils.  It’s that kind of lamp that’s probably used in spas- where there’s this water bowl and you add a few drops of oil, so you have the room smelling like lavander or peppermint, or whatever oils you have on hand.

Setting things up hardly took any time at all, and soon the room had the barest hint of peppermint, and I was sipping my chamomile tea chilling out to some awesome currents.  Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Monday should start.  Or any day for that matter.  The whole effort just had a calming, centering effect that I feel like taking on anything for the rest of the day.

And I probably will.  Hmm, time to get more tea…

 

Building Up a Network from Scratch.

I’ve been in the radio industry for over 12 years, and a big part of it was spent managing events, sales and marketing. I’ve noticed that, while it isn’t as lucrative as it was 5-10 years back, a lot of people still put up companies that deal in setting up events. I suppose it’s alright, having your own events team. But it’s really shouldn’t be your bread-and-butter, you know.

More on events management in other articles, I suppose.

In any given business, especially if you are more events-oriented, building and maintaining a network of contacts and business partners is really important. The saying, “It’s who you know that counts” truly applies here. Your market value as a corporate entity depends on your ability to make things happen. And by “making things happen”, it can be anything from getting sponsorship to any given project, driving up foot traffic to any given event, or getting the best deal possible out of suppliers.

It generates a lot of good business too, as you hook your contacts up with others within your networking. After all, there’s plenty of business to go around for everyone on your list, and everyone can benefit from a little cooperating.

As a marketing person, your value depends on your ability to build an effective business network from scratch. Even if you’ve been out of action for a few years, or if you get assigned to a completely new area (like a new country, for example), the most important thing is that you know how to build it up as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Between the time I semi-retired from the radio business and the time I set up my own independent projects, there have been so many movements in the industry already. In fact, poring through ALL the calling cards I must have religiously gathered all these years (from visiting all those Ad Congresses, trade fairs, seminars, etc) has revealed that more than half of the people on those cards have moved somewhere else already. And you have a small number of companies that aren’t even operating anymore. C’est la vie, huh?

Which means no matter how long you’ve been doing this thing, you still have to update your contact lists. Always keep in touch with your existing contacts, and get ready to make new friends.

OK, so how do you build one totally from scratch? Here are a few useful tips:

1. First of all, you have to have an idea exactly what kind of people, groups or companies you’d want to deal with. No point getting everybody just for the heck of getting them. Take it industry by industry if you have to.

2. Immediate friends and family. Well you have to start somewhere. Get your mobile phone out and go through your contact list. Rekindle old friendships. Visit that uncle you haven’t seen in several reunions. Of course, you may also choose not to- totally depends on you.

3. Cold calls. Use the yellow pages- a seriously under-utilized tool in my estimation. Pick several good ones. At the very least, you will want to find out basic information- contact details, contact person, etc. Remember, introduce yourself properly and professionally- the ones you’re talking to are only too willing to help you if you treat them with respect.

4. Pay attention to advertising. Always be on the lookout for the newest ad placements. There’s more to just watching TV, listening to the radio or reading a newspaper or magazine. Those ads you see or hear? Those belong to companies who have the ability to devote some resources (read: cash) to promotions and advertising. So, yes, you most probably will want to do business with them in the near future.

5. Attend Trade Fairs, Conventions and Congresses. If you’ve been watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading a newspaper or magazine, there’s a good chance these events will be announced every so often. Take a lot of calling cards with you to one of these events and work your magic- you’ll have lots of quality contacts in no time.

6. Go online. You can run searches on Google, Yahoo! or MSN to find what you’re looking for. In fact, that’s what search engines are for. Same as doing cold calls- you’re looking for contact details. Follow it up with a quick introductory call and update your records.

7. Always be in a mode to network. Whenever you’re out eating at a restaurant, getting a massage at a spa, or just taking a casual stroll in the mall, pay attention to new establishments, or take note of promotional on-ground activities. Don’t be afraid to look around, ask for the manager, and get contact details for your future reference.

So there you have it. Remember that it’s all business. You have something to offer (your products, services or promotional activities) as much as you need something from them (their support, business and goodwill).

Good hunting, everyone!

 

Wow, where do we start?

When the idea of a talk/workshop series was pitched, it all sounded so simple at first.  But then when you really think about it- you can easily get lost in all the details: what kind of talks do we do?  How do we get people to go?  How much advertising are we going to take on?  Can we really make some cash this way?  Where do we get our speakers?  Do we quit our dayjobs?  …seriously, we can go on all day if we were left to it. 

But you do things like you take on any other task: break it down, take it one step at a time.  So we gathered everyone around and started making some plans, divvy’ed up the workload, and now- the proverbial wheels are turning.

Welcome to our blog here on WordPress.com.  Other than giving the impression that we are busy doing- well, entrepreneurial things- we thought it might be a great idea to keep track of what’s going on, and share our collective experience with everyone else.

Thanks for dropping in.  And we hope to see more of you around in the near future.  Cheers!