by The Happy WAHM
Well! It’s really not everyday that I have the luxury of reading blogs. It’s just that last night, I launched my new business site, MargeAberásturi.com. Been considering getting my name for a domain, but have been putting it off since I already have a full schedule and really have no time for another baby to take care of. But given the developments that happened right after the WAHMderful Workshop, I decided that it’s time to take action.
So on Friday morning, I finally bought the domain, and launched the new site Saturday evening. It was pretty easy, as I only migrated the content from my old biz site. I used the Weaver II theme, the same theme that I’m using here, and experimented on creating a really simple header. I’m still not a Photoshop expert, so for the short time that I had, I made do with creating a simple font box in a Powerpoint slide, saved it as PNG and uploaded as header. Same thing for the background. I just created a slide and saved it as PNG, then uploaded as background. We VAs find ways! 🙂
Last night, prior to launch, I optimized my pages and my posts, created my meta title, meta tags and meta description, and then went ahead and announced the link on my Facebook account. This morning, I went for a Google search, and what do you know! MargeAberásturi.com appeared #4 on page 1 of 12,300 results!
But what really got me excited, and almost teary-eyed, is what I found on page 5. There’s this blog of Apples and Dumplings about the WAHMderful Workshop. And there, in one of the pictures, was my hideous, unglamorous self, along with the pictures of gorgeous, snazzy WAHMs, in action during the workshop. Well, never mind that I looked like a hag. What really caught me was the caption under the picture. It said: “Marge Aberasturi, a very successful WAHM! WAHM of WAHMs I must say.” Now that will beat Selecta Rocky Road Overload any day, a hundred to zero!
So to you, Apples and Dumplings, thank you very much! I really hope that I can live up to that description. I am trying, I really am! And I do pray, too, that you will finally find your niche in WAHMing. TheTechieMom and I are just here, an email or a post away. Ask your questions, call for help. We’ll be so happy to assist you!
by The Happy WAHM
It has been a bumpy ride, but I can’t complain. Customer service has been great, sans the technical mishaps. I received my card the day after I created my recipient profile in my client’s Ko-Kard account. Was really surprised when the LBC guy called out from the gate and told me I had a package from Ko-Kard. That fast! I must have made it to their cut-off for processing time, so my card was sent out the same day, and delivered by LBC the next. Hurray, too, for LBC!
So that was the other day. I even took photos of my card and posted it on my Facebook account. Just like my other BDO cards, it came attached on a letter, and the letter says the ATM PIN is also enclosed. There was nothing else attached so I read the letter again, hoping that somewhere in the jumble of words I would find that 6-digit PIN. Nothing.
Okay, cool! I was going to the city (we live in the boondocks) in two days anyway so I was just going to swing by the bank and maybe they can help. Meantime, I still needed to wait for the verification of my client’s bank account.
The next day, my other client sent me an email to inform me that he has registered with Ko-Kard, and he wanted to have my KID number. So I sent it on. That afternoon, my main client also sent me his bank verification information, so I was able to log in and attach my KID number to his account.
This morning, I finally made that trip to the city, and sadly, it all went to naught. The BDO staff told me that the default PIN for all their issued cards is 123456, so I should try those. After 15 minutes of waiting for my turn in a pretty long line, I did just that, but the system told me it was incorrect. I again went inside the bank and approached the BDO staff for help. They were really nice. Let me use their phone to call the hotline. The first to take my call was someone from their call center. She didn’t know how she could help me, so I was transferred to another lady. Again, the voice at the other end of the line had no idea why their default PIN would not work with my card. So I was again transferred to the Cash Card Department, coz they are in a better position to help me.
Now, this lady at the Cash Card Department is really something. After relating my problem for the fourth time, all she had to say to me was, “You should contact your card issuer.”
Well, hello! As far as I can understand, the letter came from BDO Remit, on a BDO letterhead, where my BDO Cash Card was attached, so I’m assuming that I can be somehow helped by the BDO staff. And the icing on the cake, she did not even bother to ask for my card number, if only to find out if I indeed have a card in my hands. Some kind of customer assistance you got there, BDO Cash Card!
Now, while I was on the phone with that Cash Card Department lady, the tellers at the bank were already trying to find out the status of my card. They looked for my account in their system, and told me that the status is issued and active. That, at least, was a relief.
So, to make a long, sad story short, I just thanked the lovely BDO ladies and told them that I’d just get in touch with the card issuer. Well, that was after I gave them an overview of what virtual assistance is about and how they, too, can earn from the comfort of their homes. 🙂
Fast forward to now.
I was just on the phone with Joy, a lady with a really sweet voice, who called me after I sent Ko-Kard Support an e-mail asking how I could get a hold of my mysterious PIN. Joy gave me my PIN, telling me that as a precaution, they really don’t send out the PIN with the card, and that the protocol is really to give the PIN over the phone, after the card holder confirms his/her identity by answering a few questions. Now, why didn’t I know that? Apparently, they sent me an e-mail with that information. That I should let them know the moment I received my card, so that they could inform me what the PIN was. And the e-mail was sent to one of my addresses that I don’t frequently use. My bad!
Still with that soft voice, Joy informed me that when using the Ko-Kard, from the main menu of the ATM, I should push on “Withdraw” and choose “Cash Card”. So there’s that special route you have to go to if you’re making withdrawals from your Ko-Kard. Something to keep in mind!
So I now have my PIN, and an email just came in a few seconds ago, informing me that a remittance is on its way.
Birth pains! But all’s well that ends well. And I hope that my VA readers have learned something from my experience.
by The Happy WAHM
I was just on the phone with Ken Sproule, owner of Ko-Kard, and no, that was not a job interview. 🙂
Let me share with you what actually happened…
Last Wednesday, November 14, I received notification from Xoom that one of my clients has sent me money. It usually takes a few minutes before I get another e-mail telling me that the money is ready for pick up. A few more minutes, the client sent me an e-mail to tell me that Xoom denied the transaction. When I clicked on the tracking link, it showed that the transaction has been cancelled. Came Thursday, November 15, and found another notification from Xoom in my folder. I was expecting it, since that one is from my main client and I actually manage his Xoom account and I also pay his other service providers through Xoom. Found out that the payment transaction has been cancelled. Came the invoice from the transcriptionists, so I logged in to Xoom to send out the payment. Instantly, the transaction was cancelled. And then it hit me. Xoom found me out! Xoom’s fine prints state that remittances should not be commercial in nature. So all payments to me are now being blocked.
Sent my clients an e-mail letting them know that we have to find another way they can send payments to me. Direct bank deposit is expensive, and so is Western Union. I shy away from Paypal coz it charges me an arm and a leg on withdrawals. And their conversion rate is almost a peso lower compared to Xoom.
Then my main client, bless him, sends me a link to payments.ph and says: “If that works for you, go ahead and set it up. Just tell me what you need.” So I went ahead and started the registration process. I have all his bank and credit card details so no problem there. After completing the required information on the first page, the system tells me that a confirmation link has been sent to the e-mail address I used in the registration. So I sent my client an e-mail letting him know that he has to click on some link or forward it to me.
Nada. He could not find anything even in his spam folder. Twenty-four hours passed and no link. So I finally sent Ko-Kard’s support staff an e-mail to follow up and requested for another link.
Must have received my e-mail and acted on it, on a Saturday, coz the client forwarded the confirmation e-mail to me. I went ahead and clicked on the link, and was told that the code was not in their system. Tried to log in, crossing my fingers that the client has clicked on the link and therefore it was no longer valid, but account must have been verified so I can log in.
No such luck! The account still needs to be verified.
I was already stressing. I need to pay the subcontractors, and I still don’t have the cash. So I e-mailed support again. And the one who replied was Ken Sproule.
“Please send a contact number so I may call you and get things sorted out.”
So I did.
And that was what the call was about.
The link turned out to be erroneous, so while still on the phone, I was sent another link to click, and it actually worked! So I continued on to page two of the registration, and at the end was told that another e-mail with a link has been dispatched to my client so he can verify his bank account.
It’s past midnight in his part of the world, so I guess I will have to wait ’til late tonight, or early tomorrow morning to find out what comes next with Ko-Kard.
by The Happy WAHM
It’s been a while! Life has been so blessedly busy that I haven’t had time to write anything here. Two reasons: Have not been promoting my site, and I want to have it redesigned first before I actively promote it, again.
But I’ve been missing out on a lot of things by not writing here. I love writing. I wish I can write about everything that has been happening in my life, in our homeschool, with my biz, my wonderful clients, the new things I learn from doing my tasks everyday, and how I have learned to be calm in all the chaos of my daily routine. All those things will just need to wait to be written, as I am still in the middle of re-organizing my biz. I’m expanding, or at least working towards expanding, so there are a lot of paperwork to attend to. I’m also preparing for the next WAHM Workshop which will be in January. Hence, this sudden volition to write something here, coz my first WAHM Workshop has come and gone, and I still have not updated my few followers here about what went on.
So here’s a link to a blog post that was written by Tina Santiago-Rodriguez about that workshop. Just a glimpse of what went on there. I really had a blast, so you can just imagine how excited I am with this coming workshop in January. It will be more detailed, more to the point, but my first slide may just be something from my husband, too.
Photo by TheHappyWAHM
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by The Happy WAHM
Back in 2006, when I started out in what would be my new career, there was no one to hold my hand – no one to offer words of encouragement, no one to tell me what would work and what would not, no one to tell me what pitfalls to watch out for, no one to offer suggestions on what tools to use, no one, even, to tell me that I should first find my niche before anything else. There was just me, wanting to stay at home and take care of the kids, but could not afford to lose the income I was getting from the corporate career that I was about to leave, so I was going to set up a home business that I felt I could do with a little capital and a lot of hard work. Blindly.
Oh sure, my husband was there, and he did hold my hand and offered words of encouragement, but those were out of love. My husband has always been my number one fan. He has always been confident of my capabilities. So when I told him I was leaving my corporate position so I could focus on being a mom to our three lovely treasures, he was really quite supportive. He knew that I knew that we couldn’t afford to lose my income, so it was a given that somehow, I’d find a way to replace that income.
And I did. And if I may say so, I did a hell of a good job.
But it has not been easy. Everything I had to learn, I learned the hard way. I did my research, spent hours acquiring new skills so I could compete globally. Oh yes! The competition, even back in 2006, has been pretty stiff. I joined forums so I could learn from the experts. And I experienced trashing by other VAs from the USA, Australia and Canada. We Asians are second rate to them. We deliver mediocre performance. We charge less because we are worth less. That’s what they think! So I had to speak out, and speak out, I did. Loudly. And I’m happy to say that some of them have since changed their minds about some of us Asians.
And you are thinking of becoming a WAHM yourself.
So what if there is a way to make you better prepared? What if there is a way to make life easier for you?
Yes, you.
You who are just about to have a baby and can’t imagine leaving your bundle of joy to a nanny. You who are tired of the daily traffic to and from work. You who are fed up with a domineering boss and just want to throw in the towel.
Well, this workshop is for you.
Come join us and find out if working from home is for you! Click here for more details.
