by The Happy WAHM
It’s two in two! Two sites in two weeks! Can’t get any better than this.
This site has been around since last year, but only during my goalsetting in November did I really get to internalize on its purpose. I bought the domain early in the year, wanting to use it as my ‘pay-it-forward’ kind of site. I wanted to create an online resource for WAHMs and WAHDs (or WAHM and WAHD wannabes) where they can either get ideas, or offer ideas. And then for a while, I decided to turn it into my coaching site, but later changed my mind again, because I felt that the coaching is a big part of what I do, hence it should be with MargeAberásturi.com.
So in December, I collaborated with Chasing Dreams on the design to get the site off hibernation. This site was actually our first, but as you well know by now, my personal biz site made it to launch date first. In terms of content, I was simply more ready with the business site.
This was the mock up of the logo.
And this is the final output. I requested for the Sketch Block font to make it identifiable with TheHappyWAHM.
Last night, hoping to make it two in two, I worked overtime to just put a couple of products in the shop and set up the directory pages.
The main focus of the site is to encourage entrepreneurship among women, and men, who stay home. I wish to have guest posts from anyone who’d like to share a hobby or an idea that has the potential of becoming a profitable business, just like the first post, How To Make Mango Puree. Incidentally, that was written by a man, so while the WAHM in the site title means work-at-home mom, it can also be easily referred to as work-at-home man.
I also have a page for partner sites, and these are the ones who responded to my call on Facebook last year, on who would want to get listed on my still-inactive site. And I’m so grateful to them, because they trusted me that much.
The Shop page is a showcase of my affiliate marketing stream. I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for two or three years, I guess, but it’s only now that I decided to have them in one place. Affiliate marketing is a good income stream, if you know how to do it right, and this is one of the topics that I will share in my February 28 VA Business Success Workshop. Since I’ve been asked to share my blueprint for my virtual assistance success, I find it important to share how to create other income streams out of the niche that I have chosen to pursue.
The site is still considered under construction, but I wanted to get it out there already. Everyday is a great day to get something started, so why not today?
I hope you will drop by, and again, if you have an idea and you don’t know what to do with it, let’s talk! I may be able to help you turn it into a profitable venture.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
About a month ago, I asked fellow WAHMs for suggestions on a payout processor. See, I’ve been having serious concerns about my current processor. I’ve been with them since 2012, and honestly, I was only really happy with the service for maybe the first four months, when service was on time. After the honeymoon period, everything just went downhill. I have written about our bumpy start here and here, and after those times, I just had to go with the flow, as choices have really been limited.
I could take the crappy customer service, for as long as they credit my payout on time. But even that just felt too much to ask from them. And so last month, I just felt that I need to move on. I feel so bad, really, because I was among the first WAHMs who endorsed them to clients and fellow freelancers. But we all need to get paid on time, right? So, I’m moving on…
I’m really grateful to fellow WAHM, Kristine, for suggesting Western Union in my survey thread on Facebook. There were other great suggestions, of course, like Paypal, Xoom, Orbit Remit and RemitHome. But after going through each one of them, except Xoom [you already know what happened there] and Paypal, I decided to give Western Union a try.
And it did not disappoint.
Here’s what clinched the deal for me…
My scheduled payout is always the 15th of the month. But because present payout processor has never acted on my transactions on time, I have since requested client to allow me to process my salary on the 10th. I would receive my payout around the 20th, or worse, even later. There were months that processing my transactions would take them 15 banking days, so you can just imagine my frustration. Of course, I would not want to request the client for an even earlier payout. It’s not fair to him that he should suffer for the inefficiency of our present processor.
So last December 9, I went ahead and processed my payout, thinking that the Christmas parties might get in the way of employees attending to their tasks promptly. What do you know, they acknowledged the transaction on the 12th. Three days for a mere acknowledgement!
So I was thinking, maybe it’s time I look at other ways to get paid. I remember that my client has a Western Union account, so I went ahead and logged in, checked out the terms and then sent out a proposal to my client for a change in processor. Within minutes, he replied with a go-ahead. And so I did. That was yesterday morning. And this afternoon, the money was credited to my bank account. Amazing!
So now, my only dilemma is the other transaction with the [now] old processor. Since they have a sending limit, I always have to process my payout in two separate transactions. So I have transactions A and B with the old processor. What I did yesterday was to process the amount of transaction B with Western Union, as a test on how they would perform, and then immediately sent a request for the other processor to cancel Transaction B, but keep Transaction A. Alas, up to this time, they have not acknowledged the request for cancellation, nor do they have any notification on the status of my other transaction. Based on our bank records, both amounts have been withdrawn, and should be credited to my account already. But well…
Suffice it to say that we will be using Western Union from hereon.
Here are some share-worthy notes:
- No sending limits – you can get paid with any amount, the sending fee is adjusted according to the amount being sent. Fee is competitive, as well as the conversion rate.
- Different sending options – your client can send using either his bank account, a debit card, a credit card, or can go to a WU branch and personally transact.
- Different receiving options – you can opt to receive through your bank account, or pick up from hundreds of accredited establishments. Most major banks in the Philippines are listed at the WU site.
- Opt to send free of charge, just adjust the sending date. So let’s say you want to receive your payout on the 15th. Your client can save on the sending fee if he chooses to send using his bank account balance. It’s free for the client, but it will take 4 days to reach you. So you can work around that by sending the money just 4 days earlier.
- Instant notifications. Your transaction is acknowledged in real time.
For yesterday’s transaction, I chose the option for my client to pay via his credit card. At the WU site, it says that it will take 1 to 2 days. But as it is, it only took 1 day to reach me. Good, yeah?
Some points that might appeal to your clients:
- If what you are getting is substantial [more than the sending limit of your processor], then doing the transaction twice proves to be more expensive in the end. With a flat fee of $4.99, if your client has to process twice, then it will amount to $9.98, as opposed to WU’s $8.00.
- Using their credit cards can earn them points with the card issuer.
- They earn WU reward points for every transaction fee they pay.
And of course, it may also be good to point out that Western Union has been around for decades. And with the news of remittance companies being shut down by Westpac in Australia, we would want to be with a service provider that has been in the industry long enough to weather these kinds of storms.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
Hit the ground running this year!
I’m really very excited about 2014, as a lot of things are in the works. I call them new beginnings, as I am finally putting into action the plans that I used to simply dream about.
Plus, a special occasion will be happening in March, and my brother, whom I haven’t seen for a long time, will be coming home for a vacation with his family, also in March. I’m most excited about seeing my nephews, and seeing my kids connect with them. My kids have been practicing their conversational English, while my older nephew has been learning Tagalog.
My dream of having an extension of the house that I can use as a home office will come to fruition this year, hopefully to be completely finished before the end of the first quarter, but if not, I will still have nine months to work on it. I mean work, like earn, so I can fund the works. Ha ha!
I also want to see to fruition the planned revamp of my sites, which has been long overdue. I built my sites on free templates, and have been dreaming of having them designed professionally. This has been put on the backburner for the longest time. I have not had the opportunity to sit down and internalize on what I really want in terms of design, color palettes and such. I just know what I want the content to be. I guess I really have not felt the need to further promote my services because I have been pretty much fully booked, so to speak, and I can no longer afford any more clients. But then again, I just need to have my brand out there, and share best practices that worked for me and somehow be of help to those who are just starting out. So yeah, this year will be about new beginnings, starting with re-organizing my home office, both physically and virtually.
Another big thing is that my podcast interview from last year has just been released. Really thrilled to be to be asked for an interview in a podcast, as this is the first of its kind [that I know of] in the Philippines. The interview happened late at night, after a long workday, so I may be talking nonsense at times. Ha ha! Please be kind when you hear me say “meat on the table” when I really meant to say “food”. I can’t recall much, but I have dwelt on that error right from the moment I said it, until now that I’m writing this post. I have not fully listened to the podcast yet, but my understanding is that it was recorded as live, so no hopes for editing out the faux pas and others like it.
Just click on the play button below, or click this link to see the shownotes. And while you’re at the page, please give me some love and click on the Facebook Like button. Thank you! 🙂
But the one thing that I’m really preparing for this January is the WordPress Re-Run. I really can’t be emphatic enough in saying that having WordPress knowledge is a big plus in going out there and presenting yourself as a virtual worker. Let’s face it. We now live in a world where everyone goes to a website for something. So people are building businesses online, and one out of six websites actually run on WordPress. So virtual workers and online entrepreneur wannabes really need to learn the power of WordPress. You need an online portfolio? Build it on WordPress. You want an online store? Build it on WordPress. You want to have a retainer job online? Your would-be employer will want you to be adept in WordPress. And that’s why we created this workshop, so we can help you with what you need.
And what’s good about attending this workshop is that the learning will not end there. We take all our attendees to a closed Facebook group where they can continue to ask us questions and we’ll continue to assist them with their respective sites. If you feel that you, or someone you know, will benefit from this workshop, please help us spread the word. Just click here to go to the registration page.
And one last thing that I want to share in this post: I have started a journal. Since my mantra for this year is journal, plan and share, I have started writing down my daily activities. And when I say write, I really mean write, with the old fashioned pen. And thankfully, someone took pity on me and gave me a really cool planner, but I’m not in liberty to divulge who the generous donor is. Suffice it to say that the donor is an awesome person, and the planner, equally so. But in case you don’t have a generous donor like I do, this one is cool, too. I have this on my laptop and it’s called the Red Notebook.
I really hope I will have more time to post here this year, but if not, you can still catch my updates via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I guess it’s always easier to just write short updates. 🙂
by The Happy WAHM
One word. Successful.
And it was.
The workshop borne of a Facebook status of someone in my friends list pushed through despite the storm signal being up at number 2. With only 18 days of preparation, from the moment I made the announcement that I’m going to conduct a WordPress Workshop for WAHMs (without even consulting my partner), we were able to confirm 20 warm bodies, out of the 41 who actually registered. but with the final date not being a fit with their respective calendars, the rest just begged off and asked that a re-run be scheduled, and soon.
This workshop was a first for both me and my partner, Jenn Tan, although I’m not a stranger at coordinating events. I knew what we needed to do and have. Only problem was, we both have demanding clients to take care of. So we thought it best to ask for the assistance of a good friend, Patty, who is a professional event coordinator an event coordinator extraordinaire. I knew I wanted the workshop to be at colab, a place I fell in love with when we had our Real Ways to be WAHM workshop there. And when it comes to food, I knew we’re safe to go with Almost Gourmet, so we did.
The preparation was not easy, especially for Jenn, whose task was to create sub-domains for all the attendees. She had all kinds of trouble installing the script and all, and all I could do was pray that the glitches would be sorted out. True to her moniker – The Techie Mom – she, of course, got everything ready for the event.
The one thing that we really made sure would be out on time was our special giveaway.
Special thanks to the designer of the mug, Chris Oliver Tan, Jenn’s other half, and of course, to The Mug Shop, for the wonderful print.
And a workshop would not be complete without certificates! Those, I printed myself, kudos to my ever reliable Epson L-200.
We loved the questions that were thrown our way, and really, even the basic stuff could not fit in a day of workshop, so to be able to address more of our attendees’ questions, we have created a Facebook Group where we can continue to support these ladies who have bravely trooped to the workshop despite the rains and traffic and storm signal.
And despite the lack of sleep and the stressful days leading to the workshop, I am so grateful that I didn’t have the unsightly pimples to show, thanks to my trusted soap, which you will read more about in tomorrow’s post!
I should not forget to mention, and thank, Xend, for always being so supportive of WAHM workshops.
With the workshop over, and it being a Sunday, I’m going to take a bit of a time off, maybe go to the supermarket with my ever comfortable jeans and shirt, but this time, sporting my new-found A-Strap comfy feet friends.
But before I go, let me say again, THANK YOU to these awesome ladies!
Will there be a re-run?
Stay tuned!
by The Happy WAHM
In less than a month, I’ll be in front of like-minded WAHMs again, doing what I love most – sharing what I know.
This has been in my mind for the longest time, but I’ve been putting it off coz I always succeed in talking myself out of it. I tell myself “people won’t be interested”; “I can’t make it fly”; “there are lots of workshops about the same topic, who will come to mine”; and a host of other negative thoughts. But then, if I count the number of aggregate hours (yes, hours) I spend online answering questions thrown my way, those hours can already make up some weeks.
So why not put together a day of hands on tutorial for those who are brave enough to get acquainted with WordPress, up close and personal! And I’ll have my partner, The Techie Mom, by my side, to whack me on the head if I ever tell you something that is not so true.
So here’s what we are going to do.
We are going to create a subdomain for each one of the attendees. Like yourname.margeaberasturi.com, so that you will have a real hands on experience of the WordPress.org platform.
But you ask: “I already have myname.wordpress.com account. Can’t I just use that?”
Well, yes, you can. But you will be missing out on the fun! And fun has a name. It’s called plugins!
So, yes. Our hands on tutorial will allow you to really create your own site from scratch, and by the time we’re ready to go home, you will be dreaming of ways you can tweak your site to improve its content and design.
Now, for those who already have existing hosted WordPress sites, you can, of course, use your dashboard, and apply what we’re going to share with you, when applicable, to your site.
So, are you ready to join us?
Just head over to this link => Getting to Know WordPress
I will be so thrilled to see you!
by The Happy WAHM
I really meant to write this post last night, as soon as I got home from the worskhop. But some Higher Force wanted me to rest, so I got my monster red eyes instead, which practically made me go straight to bed upon getting home.
Well, no, strike that. I actually had time to eat dinner, check my mail and my pages for urgent messages, took a really quick shower, then straight to bed.
Yesterday’s run of the Real Ways to be WAHM was simply awesome! We had a fantastic audience who asked the right questions, the food was terrific and the venue was impressive! Fast internet connection, and what do you know, there were power outlets right in front of you. Like on the table. In front of you. Right where you are sitting.
Have I described it vividly enough? The power outlet was within my reach! And there is one for each and every one of us. And some extras.
Oh, okay. Enough! Power outlets just make me excited, that’s all.
So, as I was saying, it was an event that left me feeling warm all over. Definitely in a figurative way of speaking there. But literally, too. As I actually had to go down for a while and made a short trek to Watson’s to buy paracetamol. Estimate, I had a 39-ish fever, but the show must go on. Quite unfortunate that the goodie bag from Unilab didn’t have a paracetamol in it.
I wouldn’t have taken medication, as it’s a no-no for my kidney, but hubby said texted that I had to, or risk getting chills on the bus, and travelling alone with chills wouldn’t be fun at all. So I took one tablet, and thankfully, I was perspiring before the last speaker finished. And the trip home went uneventful. Oh, and thank you again to the Cuyugans, for letting me ride with them to Alabang. 🙂
A number of attendees, I have previously met, or have communicated with through the Facebook group, but I was also thrilled to have met some wonderful new personalities. They were a responsive bunch. I just got so carried away that my slot meant to end at 12:15PM actually ended at 12:45PM. So sorry they we all got hungry. But I really didn’t notice the time. I was having fun!
A couple of ladies have noticed my red eye at the event, so I’m wondering if I’ll be showing as the red-eyed monster in the photos. But when I got home, the kids were kind of got scared. My left eye was bloody red all over, like there really was no white left, and my vision was a bit impaired. I’m guessing that a vein ruptured, so I had to hit the sack pronto.
Yesterday was like a “six degrees to” sort of thing. Like one seatmate’s mother knows my aunt-in-law in Cagayan. Another seatmate has a Peace Corp volunteer whom I’ve met here in Batangas. Another attendee is from Batangas, but now lives in Cavite, and also a homeschooler. And another one has a credit management background just like I do. So there was kinship with almost everyone, and that really made me connect with them more.
I really love speaking in workshops. I think I have been working from home for so long, working all by myself, that speaking in workshops has become an outlet to voice out my experiences, share my ideas and simply connect with people. I started out as a WAHM on my own. No community groups, no other WAHMs that I know of, in fact, the words “virtual assistant” were still quite foreign to the rest of the population that each time someone would ask me what I was doing at home, I’d have to go on a full ten minutes of explanation.
And because I know how it feels to be forced to venture into the unknown, I really want to be of help to anyone who’d believe that I know what I’m talking about.
Kudos to Mommy Patty and Mommy Ginger of Manila Workshops for pulling off another event to remember. And Mommy Donna, of course, for the moral support. And we finally got to hear Kris of Xend speak. Xend has been one of the generous sponsors of our past workshops. Hats off, too, to the brainy, Dainty Mom, the strong woman behind the WAHMderful Life Community of Moms, who introduced me to the workshop scene. And of course, Manila Workshops for believing in me, and giving me the opportunity to share my story. Because really, all the things you will ever get to hear from me in all my workshops are practices that have already worked for me, not theories that are yet to be tested.
At the workshop yesterday, I was asked to discuss the Realities of a VA’s Life and how to cope with those realities. My last slide, I’m sharing with you here.
And don’t forget to share!
