NegosyoBuilder.com

Business Tips, Deals & Opportunities in the Philippines

You are here: Home / Online Business Articles Philippines

How To Turn Your Hobby Into Cash

by 1 Comment

Mirriam-Webster defines hobby as “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation.”

Hobbies are as diverse as the people who pursue them.

Apart from keeping his day job, my friend Albert is also into mountain climbing, extreme sports and other outdoor activities that are physically challenging.

On the other hand, my friend Rex takes pride in his collection of tropical fishes that are truly a stress-reliever, which is especially helpful when coming home from work.

Most often than not, a person who is engaged in a particular hobby is doing it out of pure pleasure derived from the activity. Making money is usually out of the equation.

Make money from your hobby

You can make money by telling the world about your hobby. Click the image above or this link to see how people around the world are doing it.

Herein lies the rub: While pursuing a hobby is fun, it can also be a financial drain.

Now, what if you can turn your hobby into a source of extra income or even a full-pledge business? For some hobbyist, it may sound counter-intuitive; perhaps, even defeats the purpose of doing the hobby. But there are those who are thinking along this line: there’s nothing wrong about being compensated for doing something that you love to do so you can do it more.

If you belong to the latter group, the following steps help you get you on the right track:

1. Learn the Art and Science of Selling.

That’s the very first hurdle you have to overcome. You have to accept the fact that selling is an essential part of any money-making endeavor. Whether you are aware of it or not, your everyday activity already involves selling.

Convincing the kid to eat his breakfast; getting everyone in the office to agree with your idea; asking for a raise or promotion — these are all sales activities.

Even churches and non-profit organizations have to sell too in order to get some funding. So why not get comfortable with it and take your hobby to the next level?

“I’m not ashamed of selling millions of records. I’m very fortunate to be in that position.” –Chris Daughtry

2. Do your homework.

Identify your target market. Who are your prospective clients? Can you come up with a profile of a typical customer?

Research the competition. Can you identify the known market leader in your area? Competition is not entirely a bad thing. For one, it indicates there is a market to be served.

(See also: Why Start a Business?)

3. Know your price.

How much would you charge for each individual product or services that you offer? A pricing strategy could spell the difference between an amateur and a pro.

Now, this already sounds like real business. Remember that your final price should include all costs incurred, including your own labor, plus profit margin.

4. Identify the level of success that you want.

You have to be clear about the meaning of success and having it all.

Your hobby-turned business could still consume your time and energy. Do you really want to do your hobby all day, every day in order to please your customers? You should strike a balance in order to maintain your sanity and keep the same level of enjoyment you have over your hobby.

(See also: How To Start a Part-Time Business. )

5. Go online.

Having a website brings a lot of benefits for the owner of a hobby-turned business enterprise. Here is a short list:

  • You can share your experiences.
  • You can teach people about your hobby. This is another business opportunity apart from selling your products and services.
  • It establishes you as an expert or authority in that field.
  • You can reach a wider base of audience and clients, even globally.
  • It’s your sales tool. Or, your sales man who never goes to sleep.

I can go on and on with the list, but the point is having a website offers a lot of advantages.

And speaking about going online, here are good articles to read to help you get going further:

How To Build A Profitable Website With No Programming Skills

by 1 Comment

A website is your main doorway to the world of online business.

Is your business already online?

If not yet, that’s understandable. A lot of small business owners — I’m talking about traditional, offline businesses — are still taken aback when the thought of going online comes up.

The following are some of the most common hesitations for putting up an Internet presence:

  1. They don’t know how or where to start.
  2. They have no technical background such as programming, HTML, CSS and all that stuff.
  3. It’s expensive.

The last reason is the easiest to solve or justify. I believe that no matter how frugal the entrepreneur is in handling the financial resources of the business, once it’s demonstrated that a website can contribute positively to the bottom-line numbers, he would be convinced to jump right in and invest in having a website.

The Easy Way To Build a Website

SBI has all the right tools you need in building a successful online business.
Click here to see for yourself.

So I think the very first task of the entrepreneur before he embarks on having a website is to really asses the significance of having it in the first place. One of the ways you can do this is to look at your competitors, especially those who are run by the younger breed of entrepreneurs. Are they online already? If so, how was the effect of having that website on their business versus not having it? If you are eating their leftovers as a result of that website, maybe you should be online now before it’s too late already.

As to the first two reasons, consider this: What if I can show you a tool that allows you to build, not just a website, but a real online business, without any programming skills required on your end, would you give it a try?

And if you are concerned about the price, worry no more! Your monthly investment is only less than 1 USD per day!

This tool simply works! Believe me, I’ve never seen anything that compares to this product.

The only requirements on your end, so you can get started, are the following:

  • You can use email. You need an email address and you have to know how you use an email software.
  • You can pay online. That means having a credit card or a debit card. But I highly recommend that you get a PayPal account for better protection.

Enter Site Build It

Site Build It (or simply SBI from now on) is a complete set of online tools that you can use to create a successful online business. SBI is not just your usual online Site Builder. With SBI all the right ingredients are already there at your disposal.

Here are some of the good stuff that comes with the package:

  • Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting
  • Keyword Research Tool
  • Market Research and Competitor Analysis Tool
  • Newsletter management
  • Form Generators
  • Point-and-Click Page Builder
  • Search Engine Optimization

I bet you can’t find those tools bundled in WordPress or Joomla or Drupal!

Click here to compare WordPress with SBI.

SBI is simply amazing!

It works. Period.

And by the way, those are just a few of my favorite tools in the package. There are a lot more. I think you should take a video tour of the product to see what’s in store for you at SBI.


( Click here to watch the Video Tour.)

Perfect for the Newbies and Pros Alike

One of the reasons why SBI is successful as a product is that it is so easy to use. You don’t need any prior knowledge of HTML, CSS, FTP, Scripting, SQL and all those technical stuff just to be able to use the product.

With SBI, you focus on the content: your articles and your message. These are the stuff that cement your online relationship with your clients and customers. SBI takes care of the rest.

It’s really like driving a car. If you step on the brake pedal, you know that the car slows down until it stops moving. You don’t care about the exact mechanism of brake system like the auto-mechanics do. You just know it works.

Priceless: Online Business Education

SBI! CTPM Process

I think this is the most important part of the package.
SBI is loaded with educational materials and videos called Action Guide that help you in building a successful online business.

It’s like having an online mentor who will guide you every step of the way.

SBI also follows a proven and tested formula to ensure your success online. If you follow this system, you not only minimize errors, your chances of success also increases.

No Risk To Try: 90-Day Money Back Guarantee

Think about this: your monthly investment with SBI is less than 1 USD per day!

90-Day Money Back Guarantee On top of that, the company also gives you a 90-day money-back guarantee. That gives you three months to try it and study it yourself. If within that time-frame you realize that it’s not the tool for you, you can claim your money back!

When you sign up for SBI, you will be getting a free domain name, too. If you decide to stop using the tool within the 90-day period, the domain name is your… you can do whatever you want to do with it. That’s the company’s way of saying thank you for trying the product!

In conclusion

I am a firm believer in idea that the entrepreneur should not be wasting his time doing the dirty works (e.g.: clerical works, sending fax, etc) of the business, but instead shift his focus on the bigger picture and the overall direction of the business.

When it comes to making a website for your business, you may want to outsource that task to a more capable service provider. That is, if you are willing to invest some money also.

But if you are on a tight-budget, there is a tool that can help you do it and it’s very effective. I would even venture to say that in a lot of times, using SBI is even more effective than hiring a web professional.

I love SBI and once you begin using it, you will love it too!

Domain Name Selection Tips

by 2 Comments

It’s possible that you can strike it rich in the Internet with just a domain name alone. Some people called, domainer, are making serious money with domain names: creating them, holding on to them like prime real estate, or trading them for top dollars to interested parties.

Consider the following domains and their corresponding price tags:

  • Sex.com. This is perhaps the most controversial domain name ever. It made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive domain name when it sold for 13M USD in 2007.
  • Insurance.com. Not as sexy as the first, but it sold for 16M USD in 2010. The domain is currently in the good hands of Quin Street.

There are a lot of other examples, but as you can see, a good domain name is already a valuable asset by itself. In fact, it is the single most important resource for your presence in the Internet. Whether it’s for a business website or for your personal use, when crafting your domain name, make it worth your while.
Listed below are some tips to consider.

Tip 1: Domain Name Extension Tips

Domain Name SelectionFirst, get the .com. Make it a priority to get the .com extension first before you get the other extensions. If you are saving a little bit, you can stick with just the .com.

Optionally, buy other extensions also especially .net, .org and other domain extensions which your competitor might try to get and use against you.

Tip 2: On Strings and Characters

Stick with Alphabetic characters. Though it is now possible to use other strange characters from the UNICODE system, you are better off just using the letters of the English alphabet.

Avoid hyphens. I was guilty of violating this one. I own the Davao-Real-Estate.com domain, which I still maintain up to this day. What makes it stupid is when I share this domain verbally to someone: it sounds awkward saying “dash” two times. Note, however, that that is an SEO-value in doing this, which was what I wanted back then.

Avoid Numeric Characters. Numbers on domain names are another things you want to avoid. It makes it difficult to type, especially on Internet-enabled mobile devices.

Tip 3: More Than Words

Keep It Short. They say two heads are better than one. But when it comes to domain names, one word is better than two. As a matter of fact, a single word domain is a rarity these days. I suspect all of the words in the English dictionary have their corresponding domains already. You have to be really creative in crafting one.

Mean what it says. If your domain name includes the word job, make sure your site is related to career and job opportunities. If it has travels in it, then your website should deliver travel-related contents.

Tip 4: Think Branding

Make it sticky. It should not only be easy to remember. It must be difficult to forget also.

Make it easy to type also. Think about users who might be browsing your website using their tablets and smart phones. Some users of these devices don’t know how to switch between QWERTY Keypad and Numeric Pad modes; others are simply too lazy to make the switch

Keep the above tips in mind as you begin to think about the possible domain names for your next online project. You may not be in for domain speculations like the domainers do, but remembering these pointers at least gives your useful insights in coming up with a valuable Internet asset.

Related Links

  1. Learn how to create your own website in 5 easy steps.
  2. Check out my recommended Domain Name Registrars: GoDaddy and NameCheap
  3. Get free domain name when you host with Fatcow. Click here to know their on-going promos.

Why Rich Kids Hate Their Parents

by Leave a Comment

I have to admit that I’m not entirely original when it comes to the title of this article. I took it from Franco Lombardo’s latest book entitle, “The Great White Elephant: Why Rich Kids Hate Their Parents”. The book says a lot of things about the wealth of the rich families in Canada. (Mr Lombardo is a wealth advisor based in Canada.)

Lombardo’s work is based on his observation that when it comes to wealth succession from first generation to the second, there is a dismal 70% failure rate among the wealthy families. It seems to confirm the old Chinese Proverb that goes like this: “A family’s wealth seldom lasts beyond 3 generations.”

Lombardo contends that there is more to Estate Planning that goes beyond expertise of lawyers, accountants, financial planners and investment advisors. Funny but no matter how sophisticated they are in dealing with the issue of wealth transfers (meaning passing it from one generation to the succeeding generations), wealthy families fail miserably in dealing with the emotional issues the family members have to deal with. The family’s Great White Elephant is sabotaging the whole process of succession planning.

During his interview with USA Today, Lombardo said, “The emotional component just wasn’t being dealt with. The more money families have, the more these problems are magnified.”

He also identified the three common reasons why wealthy kids hate their parents.

White Elephant

A white elephant is a metaphor that represents something which, when possessed, causes burden instead of giving value (like hapiness) to its possessor.

1. Wealthy parents don’t say, “No” to their kids. You know… the kind where parents give anything that their children want. This is a perfect recipe for raising spoiled kids. But wealthy parents can’t seem to connect this relationship.

They say too much love can kill you, but I think it’s exaggerated. However, here is a fact: too much love can spoil your kids.

2. Not spending time with their kids. Acting as if everything revolves around money is especially dangerous for the rich families. A lot of wealthy parents seem to be addicted to money that to the point of relegating time with their kids on the side lines. While many of them think that they can make up for the lost time by giving their kids money, well it actually only adds insult to the injury. “Money is the wrong currency to pay back lost time,” Lombardo said.

Author’s Note: Rich or poor, I think once you become a parent, you should take to heart the meaning of song, “Cats in the Cradle.” The song is rock, but it nails down the message quite effectively. Watch the video below and pay attention to the lyrics.

3. Societal Influence. What’s true in about people’s attitude toward the rich in Canada is also true here in the Philippines. Realizing that the society at large actually makes fun of rich kids, wealthy parents instruct their children to hide their wealth to blend naturally with everyone. In other words, these kids spend a large part of their growing up years with their real identities camouflaged so they can be accepted by the crowd. Unfortunately, children grow up to resent their parents for teaching them such a “fake” display of behavior.

In the Philippines, the society’s influence is even worst. As a nation, we hate the rich.

However, here’s one irony that bothers me the most: We hate the rich, but at the same time, we also wish to become one of them.

~~~

References:

  1. “The Great White Elephant: Why Rich Kids Hate Their Parents” can be purchase at http://www.veritage.ca.
  2. Visit Franco Lombardo at his website.

Your Website In 5 Easy Steps

by 1 Comment

I already mentioned in one of my past articles that it is so easy to create a website these days. Given the right tools and guidance you too can make your own website in no time. In this article, I’m going to show you the process on how to have your website up and running.

But before we proceed, let me just be clear that it is not my intention to fool into thinking that you can create a website like Facebook and eventually compete with them. There are a lot of companies out there that are trying to do that, with their million-dollar backing, but just could not make it. And Google Search, as simple as it may appear on the surface, actually follows a set of very complicated Mathematical algorithms — the kind that would make your head spin.

The website that we are trying to build here is one that would become useful in getting the word out about your business. It’s your online Marketing Tool. Think about an online brochure.

So prepare your credit card or, if you already have a PayPal account, that’s even better. You are going to buy two essential resources: a domain name, and a hosting account.

Let’s start.

Step 1: Play With Words — Brainstorm Your Awesome Domain Name

Simply stated, a domain name is the name of your website. People will type this name ( yourcompany.com ) into the address bar of a browser to be able to access your website.

The following pointers will help you:

  • Make sure the name is easy to remember.
  • Make sure it is easy to pronounce.
  • As much as possible limit the name to a combination of 3 words, maximum.
  • Try to get the .com domain.

The domain name must be available. You can check the availability using this tool.

So play around until you can come up with the good domain name for your website.

(See also: How To Name Your Business.)

Step 2: Buy A Domain Name

You buy a domain name from a company called domain registrar. I’m recommending the following companies:

  • NameCheap.com — Don’t be deceived by the name. We normally associate cheap with mediocre service. Not this company. Their support has been very excellent, I’ve stick with them for a couple of years now.
  • GoDaddy.com — This is perhaps the most popular domain name registrar around. Some people love them, some hate them. Personally, I think I am in the middle of this love-hate affair with GoDaddy. One thing to note is that, when you buy, expect a lot of upsell offers from them.

GoDaddy Deals

Check out the link below for promo GoDaddy is currently running:

Go Daddy Deal of the Week: Get 20% off your order! Offer expires 7/17/12

Step 3: Get A Web Hosting Account

This is the company that will keep the files, scripts and databases necessary for you to serve the contents of your website. Essentially, they store (or host) your files, text, images, videos and other related resources.

There are a lot of hosting companies out there. And I’ve tried a number of them. The one which I’m recommending highly for starters is the company named FatCow for one reason: Simplicity.

You don’t have to choose from a variety of hosting plans, because they offer only one simple web hosting. But for most purposes, this one plan is already more than enough. With Fatcow, you get unlimited everything – well, almost. Just consider:

  • Unlimited Web Space
  • Unlimited Bandwith
  • Unlimited MySQL Databases
  • Unlimited Ad-on Domains

Well, go check their latest offer of unlimited stuff by clicking here.

Note: Though getting a web hosting account with FatCow already comes with a free domain name, I don’t recommend that you do it. Remember what they say in Mutual Fund investment? Right, spread your eggs in different baskets. Suffice it to say, that the same advice applies here, too.

Step 4: Point The Domain Name to Your Hosting Account

Take note that your domain registrar and your web hosting company are two different companies. Their computer servers don’t know each other, too. For your website to be properly setup and become visible to the world, you must tell the domain registrar that your web server is located someplace else.

Technically, you do this by changing the Name Server settings from your domain name control panel so that it points to the name servers provided by your hosting company.

Luckily this one is easy to do.

Step 5: Install WordPress

Trust me, setting up WordPress from Fatcow is as easy as clicking a mouse. It should just take 5 minutes, maximum to get your WordPress based up and running.

Watch this video to know what I mean.

Easy WordPress Installation with FatCow

In conclusion

Easy, right? If you are serious about having your own website for fun, profit or whatever, you should at least try doing what I’ve just shown you.

Again here are the companies I’m recommending:

  • Fatcow — The affordable web hosting company that’s perfect for your starter website.
  • Namecheap — The also provide FREE Whois Guard protection, which you have to pay from other domain registrars.
  • GoDaddy — For Premium domains. They run promos every now and then.

I’ve actually done business with all of these companies so I can attest to their respective credibility.

And in case you run into some problems following the steps outlined above, feel free to contact me. I’ll be glad to extend a helping hand.

Update: NegosyoBuilder.com is now offering a web hosting and domain registration for locally based businesses in the Philippines. Get an Unlimited Shared Webhosting Account for as little as USD 5 per month. Contact us for details.