The Filipino Entrepreneur

Recycling paper can be a good business. Although we can’t make a very good quality paper made by big companies, in our home we can make home made paper too. With just a little creativity, we can transform old newspapers and used bond papers from offices and create another product like colored papers or art papers for school projects. Paper recycling have a noble objective, to save trees and along with it you will save mother earth and all living creatures in this planet. There are other ways to save trees, and that is to make our documents paperless but there are still demand for paper so I think it will not be possible for being paperless right now even we have this digital technology.

So if you are ready to learn how to make a paper out of used paper, then lets start. The following materials are those you need to start recycling the used papers.

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Do you remember the song of Neil Sedaka “My World is Getting Smaller Everyday”?. Maybe the new generation haven’t heard of that song. I can still remember that song in my childhood years. Technology really makes our world smaller everyday. Since the revolution of the internet there are many smart gadgets in the market being invented year after year. Computers are getting smaller and smaller, smarter and faster. Today, you can see powerful laptops in the fraction of it’s size from it’s predecessors. Remember that 386 computers? today when you see someone still using it, I guess you will laugh and say that it only fits in a museum. Websites too are changing and becoming more and more dynamic. But one area that sparks my interest are the mobile phones that can surf the internet. Before I’m skeptic to the marketing potential of the WAP market since the small screen of those cell phones are inconvenient when surfing. Also, surfing using your computer is cheaper and you can do things better than just pushing your cellphone keypad which will take longer just to type a single word.

But come to think of it. Technology will get better and better and having a website compliant to WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) will give website owners an edge compared to those who does not plan to take advantage of this new technology. Anyway, GPRS/MMS is not really the latest technology because it has been around for years. But before, not many have WAP access and your phone should be postpaid to use it. Now, telcos are providing this service to all packages, be it a prepaid or a postpaid. You can even access some WAP websites for free like the Yahoo! search and Yahoo! mail provided by Globe telecom. And maybe sooner or later many telcos might bring down the cost of using GPRS since they compete with each other and might provide more features and services.

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Being your own boss have been a dream of many people specially those who can’t get along well to their bosses or those who aren’t satisfied with their 9 to 5 routine. There are many advantages of being your own boss as well as disadvantages but it all depends on what we really value in life. We read many opinions about this topic either it’s more secure being employed because of all the employee benefits they enjoy, like for example, fixed renumeration or earnings compared to being self-employed. Unlike being self employed, monthly earnings vary from month to month depending on your strategies or sometimes luck. An employee enjoys other benefits too like health care, bonus or performance bonus and recreations. But on the entrepreneurs side, being your own boss is sky is the limit for your earning potential because unlike being employed, an employee will just have to wait yearly to have a salary increase (it will also depends how generous or stingy your employer is) . If you are lucky enough you can be a millionaire in just a few years of even a few months. And aside from monetary potential, you have the freedom not possible to an employee because being an employee, your time is being paid by your employer. You are actually selling your time whether you do something for the company or just wander around the office and pretend doing something.

But on the contrary, freedom has it’s disadvantages on our productivity as an entrepreneur. Being your own boss is a lot harder than we think, in my opinion. Why did I say that? It’s because we are prone to being complacent and procrastinate more often thinking that since we are our own boss we can do everything we want. Have you hear the saying “Man’s greatest enemy is himself?”. It’s so easy for us to fight something we can see, but since we can’t see ourself, what we do or plan to do, we always assume that we are right. So what is the solution? my solution is out of the box and purely an opinion but it somehow relates to other personal development articles you encounter. Since we are our own boss, we should always think that there are two person inside of us. One is an employee and the other is the boss. You should have a mind set that you should always have a deadline to meet and to present your work to your boss (which is yourself). That discipline will help us motivate and minimize procrastination. Very simple and it works for me. Maybe you should also give it a try.

Have you heard of the words ‘Mobile Entrepreneur’? You see then every where, in coffee shops who access the internet with their laptop while sipping their favorite brew. Those people are also those who are stuck in a traffic jam and send urgent email messages through their cell phones. They have all the modern communication tools at their disposal and they have access to information anytime or anywhere in the world. They can achieve high level of productivity because of the technology.

Since mobile entrepreneurs are on the go, the mobility of those high end gadget have made an attraction to them. Smart phones are getting better and better with regards to network access and storage capacity. They also have many built in application that makes them useful to the mobile worker. One good example is the Nokia E90. It’s no just a cell phone, it can be a mini laptop as you can see in the picture below.
The following features are 3G: HSDPA/ 3.6 Mbps, Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, video(VGA 30fps), flash; secondary QCIF videocall camera,Built-in GPS receiver (with preinstalled maps), Push to talk,Video calling,Java MIDP 2.0,MP3/M4A/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player, FM radio, TV out, Voice, command/dial, PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing , Document viewer, Photo/video editor.
Not only will these devices provide entrepreneurs with timely and precise access to information but also with much higher quality of of accessed information with the introduction of 3G networks and rich media by local telecom.

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One of the outstanding discovery of an innovator, Bonifacio Comandante Jr. have contributed much on the fishing industry. Imagine, how can you transport live fish without water? It’s impossible because just taking a fish out of water with only a few hours it will surely be dead. But not to Boni, because he have this technology of making the fish sleep or hibernate for 24 hours without water. Not only will it save on transportation cost but the survival rate is also astounding 95 to 97.5% because the fish is not stressed during transport. Compared to the conventional way, when the fish is awake, it is prone to shock specially in a rough ride. Not only will it increase the shipping cost, it will also have high mortality rate.

This technology is discovered by Boni by accident while experimenting on the sex reversals of groupers (lapu-lapu). He discovered the secret of fish hibernation in 1987 when he unintentionally left some fish in the ice bucket and found them still alive the next day. He then developed this technology and made it the basis of his masteral thesis in coastal resource management at Siliman University in Dumaguete City. The technology is now being used by fish growers in the Philippines to export live edible fish and crustacean like the groupers, prawns, white shrimp and ornamental fishes.

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While I was reading the Entrepreneur magazine, two Filipino Chinese entrepreneurs caught my attention. One is Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro the toothpaste magnate and the other Mr. Alfredo M. Yao the self made fruit drink magnate. The reason is because of their decisions that turned disappointments into an opportunity. The first one I want to discuss is Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro. He is the President and CEO of Lamoiyan Corp. which is the first Filipino company who penetrated the Philippine Toothpaste market.

That market was dominated by big foreign companies ( those that produce Colgate and Close-up). Now Happee toothpaste ranks no 3 in the toothpaste brand. Because of that success he was able to diversify his products into dish washing soaps, liquid detergents, fabric enhancers and other gum formula tooth paste.

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Are you Web-Savvy? then I think there is a business opportunity waiting for you as an internet trainer. Being web savvy is not just the average internet surfer who uses the internet. Its a kind of skill and knowledge of various web technologies. Today there are lots of young people who have an above average skill when it comes to the realm of the internet. That is why many have made their fortunes doing things online and their creativity is their vehicle to reach that status. But not every one will become a super millionaire and not everybody is lucky enough to follow their foot steps. But still, being web-savvy will give you extra income helping those who are not very familiar in the world wide web technologies. People like in retirement homes or those who are scared with technology who wish to learn some basic things like making a free blog or a free website. Some may wish to learn more than just pointing a mouse and clicking. You can guide them with regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), blog publishing software, HTML/CSS, RSS/syndication, feed aggregators, pings, trackbacks, full vs. partial feeds,blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic), search engines, page rank, social bookmarking, tagging, contextual advertising, affiliate programs, traffic statistics, email

How about having a Computer Cleaning Service business? sounds not a very promising since not everyone is aware that a dusty internal computer parts contributes to wear and tear of a computer. I have an incident once where my old computers’ power supply just blew up because all those dust particles inside the power supply have accumulated with moisture so the internal components were short circuited. Besides, the dusty CPU heat sink, in my observation slows PC performance too because the airflow inside cannot circulate due to dusts sticking on the heat sink that acts as an insulating blanket. The cooling fan also accumulates dusts which in turn makes it ineffective to circulate the air, blowing cool air inside your system and expelling heated air outside (for the power supply). It’s not easy to promote it but you just need a little creativity to convince your prospect on the importance of cleaning your computer just like the one I mentioned (the reasons why cleaning is needed). Regarding the tools needed, just a set of screw drivers to open the casing and a compressor to blow off the dust. In my experience with my previous employment, when I have a task cleaning the computers, I used compressed air which is more effective compared to a vacuum cleaner. Wearing a filter mask is a must whenever you dust a computer with compresses air.

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Just like to say a Happy Valentine’s day to all!

To send your greeting cards to your love ones, click here!

I’m sure every Filipino know the brand name Mama Sita. If I’m not mistaken they are the pioneer of ready-made sauces and mixes of Filipino dishes like kare-kare mix, sinigang mix, kaldereta mix, barbecue marinades, palabok mix and many others. It started when Mrs. Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes’ desire to give her grandchildren living in the United States to eat Filipino dishes because all her grandchildren wants to eat are hamburgers and hotdogs. Maybe she wanted also to cultivate some Filipino culture on her grandchildren because there are many kinds of food for them to choose in the U.S. besides hamburgers and hotdogs. Anyway that desire motivates her and her children which gave them an idea to make ingredients which they can easily bring outside the country so those Filipinos living there can have a chance to eat Pinoy dishes with convenience. They then setup a company named “Mama Sita” and the first product they made is the “Biglang Sinigang”. For those who were not familiar with sinigang, its a Filipino dish of boiled pork in sour broth using tamarind juice as the main ingredient for it’s unique taste and added with spices and vegetables. There are also variation aside from pork which is beef, prawns, milk fish or bangus and other marine fishes.

The “Biglang Siningang” is made from tamarind and formed into a paste. It’s not easy to find tamarind in the states back then so those who wish to make ’sinigang’ used lemon to make it sour. Maybe today you will find tamarind coming from other parts of Asia like for example in Thailand. Even in our local supermarkets you can see tamarind from Thailand and is more expensive than the local ones. So with the help of Mama Sita’s son-in-law which she called by the name “Henyo”(’genius’ in english) they created the formula to make the ‘Biglang Sinigang’ which started the long and tasty success story of Mama Sita.

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Candle making is not new and also scented candle was already in the market for so long. Since candle business is seasonal, for example here in the Philippines there is a large demand during All Saints Day and I think scented candle also have a peak season during holidays or maybe Valentine’s Day for a romantic dinner or whatever gig you might have in mind. Anyway scented candle can also be a good business whole year round since just buying a candle to light in your home don’t need to have an occasion to do it. It will depend entirely on the customer if he or she likes to make his ambiance full of aroma of those scented candles.

So if you wanted to go into this business, it is advisable to attend seminars and trainings because you will not only learn how to make those candles, you will also learn other things like tips and tricks, how to maximize your investments or other opportunities. But you can also start by your own by searching for instructions or “how-to-make” on the internet like the one I have for you (see below with pictures). If you are interested to make or start one, or just wanted to see if you can do the steps, then proceed reading the steps below: Read the rest of this entry »