by The Happy WAHM
Exactly nine years ago today, I walked out of the Digitel building in Libis for the last time. I went there to return my service vehicle and take care of my clearance and last pay. My husband went with me as he was bracing for a meltdown. He knew how much I loved my career, and he wasn’t sure how I’d handle letting go of it.
On this scorching hot afternoon, while browsing through my Facebook feed, I got alerted that today is my 9th anniversary as a WAHM entrepreneur. Well, the entrepreneur part came much later. But today, I’m just amazed that I have forgotten about my WAHM anniversary. Like I’ve always been a WAHM and there was no beginning, you know? How time flies when you’re having fun! And fun is exactly what I’m having! The corporate life I have loved so much is just but a distant memory.
I have not blogged for weeks, as I have been busy doing the things I love, and enjoying myself immensely in discovering new possibilities, but in honor of my ninth anniversary, I’m going to share what I’ve so far learned in my journey as a WAHM entrepreneur.
Here’s my list, which can also be taken as my advice to those who want to join me in the journey:
- Take your time. Have an idea? Let it sink in. Sleep on it. Gauge your happiness level about it. If you’re not 100% sure that it’s for you, don’t take it. There will always be another opportunity.
- Be a people person. More than the money, it is the relationships that you build that will bring your business the boost it needs to succeed.
- Work hard, then work smart. Success takes hard work and commitment. But you don’t have to do all the work. Learn the value of delegation.
- Never worry about competition. Stop comparing. Just know who you are, know what you want, know your purpose and do your best to achieve your goals.
- NEVER compete on price. Know how much your time and effort are worth, and charge accordingly. Compete on service and quality, not price.
- Get a mentor. Listen to people who can show you results, not theories; people who have been successful in doing the advice they’re giving. While their paths may not be the same as yours, at least you know that they know what they’re talking about.
- Network. Be the person even your competitors go to for answers and assistance. My favorite word is collaborate.
- Commit mistakes. Don’t be paralyzed with fear. Note that this is different from taking your time. By committing mistakes I’m saying that even when you are making informed decisions, you can still be wrong about it. So it’s okay to be wrong. Just make sure that you learn from that mistake, correct your course, and make adjustments to the earlier decision.
- Write a plan. And I literally mean write, because that’s what I do. I know what business I want, who my target customers are, and how I’ll go about my processes. So I write them down, and I tweak as I go.
- Be money-wise. Buy what you need, not what you want. You don’t have to show off your success by having the latest gadgets in the market, or wearing the most expensive watch. Let your bank balance do the talking.
- Be with people who are your kind of crazy. Seriously. There’s nothing more stressful than working with people who cannot even appreciate your brand of quirkiness.
- HAVE FUN! ‘Nuff said.
So there! These are the things that have worked for me in the last nine years. Maybe they’ll work for you, too!
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
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!
