Author: akosiallan

It’s that time of the year again. It’s the first day of January. A new year is about to unfold. Every year, I share with you my goals and plans for the year. This year, I’d like to do things differently. Instead of goals, I will be sharing with you my primary focus instead. These are one or two areas in my life that I would like to see a major improvement on. I am doing this for the following reasons.

Reason #1: Overcoming mediocrity.

Over the years, I feel like I have been stuck in mediocrity. I would like to get out of that once and for all.

In the book Die Empty, Todd Henry described being mediocre as like going up on a rugged mountain. Climbing the mountain is hard. Through hard work, you can go up and reach the middle of the mountain after some time. You feel good because you have reached a certain level of success. You are content. You ask yourself whether to continue going up, or just rest and enjoy what you have right now.

This is the hardest part of any journey, financial or otherwise, when you get to a point where you can be contented. Being mediocre is not so bad. You are actually accepting good things. But as they say, the enemy of great is good.

If you dream of becoming the best that you can be, you understand that it is actually fear that is holding you back. Fear of going through hardships again. Fear of letting go of the blessings you have right now. You hold dearly into these things. In the end, you will realize it is only an illusion. If you are moving toward personal growth, the path to take is obvious. The greatest growth comes from your biggest fears.

Reason #2: Pushing for imbalance.

Over the years, I realized succumbing to the social pressures of having a “balanced” life is a futile exercise. If you want to achieve something significant on a certain area of your life, you need to become UNBALANCED…for a time. This makes it possible for you to FOCUS your energy, time and attention in that area. In so doing, you will get amazing results, instead of a mediocre one.

Realize that what most people call a balanced life is actually a perfect example of untapped potential and lots of compromises. You end up not reaching your full potential. As they say, you become a jack of all trades, master of none.

Observing my mentors, I have seen that at a certain point in their business, they were actually highly unbalanced. They were focusing in growing their businesses 101%. They eat, they breath, they think about their business even in their dreams. That’s why they also achieved fast and amazing results as well. The financial rewards of that hard work has given them the freedom that they need.

Being in a great financial position allows them the option to become UNBALANCED again in another area of their life (if they so choose), like focusing 101% of their time into their family instead of their business. They may allow their business to slide just for some time, while they give their focus and attention to nurturing their family for the time being.

I think this is a way better proposition than having a “balanced” life where you just go in circles not really achieving significant results in any area. In the end, it’s better to be amazing in one area, than none at all. Of course, you can obviously change your area of focus after some time.

Life rewards those who become masters of something. You can only do that if at some point in your life you decide and intentionally put yourself in a position to become highly focused on one specific area and unbalanced on other areas of your life.

That’s why this year, I want to use that same strategy. I want to focus on a specific area. I understand that achieving a significant improvement in this area will also elevate the other areas.

This year 2018, my area of focus is to improve my overall fitness level and health.

During my time in the corporate world, one thing I learned is the importance of metrics. They say, “what gets measured, gets done.” So if I am going to seriously do this, I need a way to track my progress and measure it on a consistent basis. Perhaps this is where the fitbit or other tracking devices will come in handy.

What do I plan to track? Perhaps, my weight, diet, level of physical activity, etc. But I think one of the biggest things I will need to adjust is my mindset on becoming healthy and fit. I will have to align my VIBE into how healthy and fit people think, feel and decide on things like their diet, exercise and more.

Trying out the 30-day trial to kick-start this.

One thing I also want to explore more is the 30-day trial. I plan to do something related to my area of focus every day for the next 30 days. Just to see if I can possibly sustain it. If I can’t then I am free to drop that trial after 30 days. I am hoping of course that the law of inertia will take hold and it becomes a habit. But there’s no pressure to do that.

John Maxwell said that you will not change you life until you change something you do daily. That’s having a D.M.O. (daily method of operation.) It’s why having a morning routine is popular for successful people. It allows you to be on autopilot and sets up your mind body and spirit to be more condusive to achieving your goals.

What about other areas of my life?

Does that mean I will no longer set goals for the other areas of my life? Definitely not.

On Business.

One thing that has hindered me to achieve more the past few years is my low level of physical health and fitness. There are weeks when I am highly motivated. I work hard and stay up late. A few consecutive days of not having enough sleep and I start to have colds, which turns into cough, and the circle starts. During that time of recovering I won’t be able to do anything. My momentum is stopped. I would have to re-start again if I want to get back on track.

Go through the same thing over and over again and you feel burnt out. You feel like you are just running in circles, not achieving something meaningful. When I look back on why I wanted to start a business, I realize money is important to me only as far as it can give me the freedom to explore and grow myself even more.

I am interested to create a business that would give me freedom in these areas: financial, time and mobility. I am planning to execute some pending projects in my business to make this more a reality. At this time, my mobility is not to the level I want it to be. I am still stuck in traffic most days (who isn’t if you’re living in Metro Manila anyway?) Perhaps moving some of the stuffs I was doing offline to online will help.

This is also a good time to re-examine what I want to get out of my business. Setting expecations is going to be critical in making sure I find meaning in what I am doing and be able to enjoy enough to do it for a long time.

I do realize that some things in my business simply can’t be done online. I know the importance of offline activities especially meeting people in person. There is no substitute to being face to face especially if you are building a team.

There’s a reason why airplanes are still needed. It allows people to conveniently be there in person to meet face to face. It allows for better communication. High-tech doesn’t mean we need to forego the high-touch aspect of business.

On Personal.

I plan on improving the way I use my energy and allow time to recharge effectively. Challenges in handling emotions, low physical fitness, solving business problems requiring lots of mental energy are some of the things that I will need to watch out for if I want to improve in this area.

Facebook is overwhelming. I feel de-energized when I scroll through Facebook. Perhaps it’s just me. But I feel it sucks my energy. I need to reclaim that focus and conserve my energy. Perhaps I am getting older or maybe I just need to refocus my mental energy to other areas.

I plan on re-evaluating how I currently use Facebook in my personal life as well as for business. Hopefully, I will come up with a plan soon. I cannot drop it yet because some of the business tools I use require Facebook. But I do need to find a way to use it that it adds value to my life and my business, instead of an energy drainer.

I realize that I am an introvert. I like to recharge alone or with nature in order to get back my energy. Being in an environment where I am constantly surrounded by many people can be overwhelming for me. It drains my energy, to the point where I no longer have anything to give.

I will need to allot some time to recharge whenever I feel overwhelmed. I may also need to restructure the way I do business to align it to how I use my energy.

One of the areas I can do this is in utilizing my online channels to do some of the stuffs I currently do offline. This year, I will be writing more. Or use this platform more to share more of my thoughts. I can also speak and share a little bit more about how I do business. This way, I won’t have to waste my energy so much.

Writing an article is something I can do that can add value over and over again to my readers, without me having to drain my energy over and over again. I can also do some stuffs on video or audio, or maybe try out podcasting.

Anyway, I’ll see where this leads me. It is always exciting learning something new and figuring things out along the way.

Looking forward to 2018.

As you would have observed, these are not mutually exclusive to my main area of focus. Having better health and fitness will allow me to perform better in executing my business projects as well as give me the energy I need to grow as a person.

There are a lot of things in my mind right now, but they are not yet as polished as I want them to be. They are just ideas at this point. In any case, I will be sharing them here in this blog throughout the year. This way, it will help me be accountable to you, as my reader.

When you observe that I am not sharing my journey about my fitness, you can nudge me in the right direction. Or message me, to keep me back on track. It helps. And I do appreciate it. In fact, I read each and every email I receive, and try to respond as much as I can.

How about you? Can you share what particular area of your life you would like to focus on this year 2018? Let’s make it happen! Cheers to an amazing and fruitful year! 🙂

Year 2017 is about to end. This is the perfect time to look back about the past year and share with you the lessons I learned.

This year marked my 6th year being a full-time entrepreneur. It has been a year full of challenges and blessings. They say, most businesses fail within the first 5 years of existence. It’s an amazing milestone to be able to grow the business up to this point. Yes there are challenges, but we have reason to be hopeful and look ahead in confidence this year 2018.

The highlights.

One of our biggest milestones in the business this year is that we were able to buy our BRAND NEW BLACK FORD MUSTANG! Yehey! This is our 3rd car in the past 6 years. For me, it’s not just a car, but the realization that anything you can dream, you can achieve. Always remember, you were meant not just to make a living, but to live life to its fullest.

Our car is nicknamed, “Knight Rider”, based from the TV show of the same name. I realized recently that I must be getting older. Some of our younger teammates ask me who is knight rider. I realized, they were not born yet when the 80’s tv show was shown. They often try to guess the name as Dark Knight, from the Batman movie. It makes me think perhaps I should change it to that instead. 🙂

On a personal level, there were some other exciting firsts too. This year we had our first out of town family trip via airplane Bacolod with my 2 boys. They were so excited riding in the airplane for the first time.

There were also a lot of other wins this year, including being awarded as multi-million peso achiever for the 3rd consecutive year. I’ve had the opportunity to visit and train for the first time in Iloilo and Antique about building a sustainable business.

There were also invitations to talk about financial literacy in Batangas, Marilao and at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati. It was year of opportunities to share how to handle money to hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs.

On a personal level, my wife and I also celebrated our 10th year together this year. It’s been an up and down journey through all those years but I am happy we were able to overcome the challenges and stay stronger together.

There’s been a lot of blessings this year that’s for sure.

The challenges.

We had a lot of challenges this year both personal and business. Here are some of the most important ones.

On the business side, we had leadership challenges. We had one of the most challenging year so far in terms of leading a team. Relationships with key leaders went through rocky times. I wasn’t sure how to navigate the challenges at first. It took a lot of mental and emotional toughness to go through all of them at the same time. It’s not easy always to see the end of the tunnel when you are currently in the midst of going through it. You just hold on to the hope that eventually, things will get better. And it did for me. I have had to swallow my pride and admit my mistakes not only to myself but also to the people I have failed.

The hardest part of being a leader is to be constantly worrying about the welfare of the people you lead. When you see them go through challenges both financially and personally, you cannot help but feel their pain as well. You try to think of ways to help. But in the end, it’s their battle to go through. You can only be there when they need someone to talk to. But you cannot go through it on their behalf. Perhaps they need to go through it to learn some lessons that would help them grow and become stronger individuals.

It’s like the story of a boy watching a butterfly go out of its cocoon. Feeling the pain of the butterfly, the young boy tried to help it by breaking the cocoon for the butterfly. In the end, the muscles that needed to develop for the butterfly by pushing the cocoon out of the way did not mature enough. It grew weak and could not fly. That I think is the hardest part, to watch but not able do anything other than cheer. But in the end, it’s not about you. It’s about the growth of the person you want to help.

On a personal level, my health has been going through some challenges as well. My weight went up because of all the stress I was going through. I had some nights where I could not sleep very well. That’s why this new year, this is going to be my primary focus to improve.

The lessons.

One thing I realized is that people change. Relationships change. You need to continually give effort and invest time, money, attention and care in any kind of relationship. Nurture it. Let it grow with care. Never take people for granted.

You have to face whatever challenges you go through with strong faith. Always remember, that it will get better. It gets better faster if you are willing to admit your mistakes, say sorry. Swallow your pride. Make up for it. Make an effort to improve. The sooner, the better.

You are responsible for all the results (or lack thereof) of your business and personal life.

I realized that I was afraid to face the challenges head on. I let it slide for a long time when I could have addressed it sooner than later. In the end, I think the outcome could have been better than expected.

There’s fear. There’s doubt. Your lack of confidence is brought to the surface as well. You question yourself if you can still go back on track. It is a hard and a demanding process. It cannot be rushed.

In the end I think, it worked out ok. That’s the most important part of all. Let go of the past, so you can boldly face the new.

Though it all, I am thankful for 2017 for it taught me a lot of things. By going through it, it gives me confidence that next year is going to be a lot better.

Thank you for being a part of my year as a reader of my blog. I appreciate it. I hope the things you read here helps you in your life as well. I wish for you a richer and more prosperous 2018! 🙂

Sometime in 2011, I shared my 3 goals in my blog. It was so simple back then. I only had 3 goals in my mind: 1) earn an extra $100/month from another stream of income, 2) lose some pounds, and 3) go to a place I’ve never been to every quarter. I have achieved all of them that year. Unfortunately, my weight missed me so much, it came back the next year. Haha. 🙂

For this year, I think I will adopt the same pattern. I will set goals in 3 areas: 1) finances, 2) personal 3) health.

My first goal is to DOUBLE our business income from 2016. To do that, I will need to help more people get what they want in life and learn how to solve more problems. BIGGER problems. DOUBLE problems. Hehe 🙂 This year, I am planning to help a new batch of 111 people start an additional stream of income by sharing the same opportunity that changed my life in 2011. In my last count, there are already 546 people who have earned at least $100 in my team. This year, I’d like to open up the slots to more people who are seriously thinking of making a change in their lives. In the last 5 years, I have only been focusing on building my local team in Makati. Now is the time for me to open new markets, both in the Philippines and abroad. So if you would like to be one of my partners, simply head over to my website at http://www.allaninocente.com/ and follow the instructions to signify your intention.

My second goal is to bring my wife to the U.S. for a vacation. Almost a decade ago, my wife and I were assigned to the U.S. for a 6-month stint in our former company. Our love story began there. While I was able to go to the U.S. last year, I was not able to bring with me my wife. This time, I think it would be a worthwhile goal for both of us to visit again together. I have not been to Las Vegas yet, so that will definitely be in the itinerary. It’s also the 25th year anniversary of our company so it is going to be a blast. Hopefully, some of our closest business partners will be able to join us this year as well.

My third goal is to level up my fitness by losing 20 pounds of weight. I think it will give me more energy. With 2 growing boys who are very active I need to keep up. 🙂 I’m trying to look for some metrics I can use but nothing is as easily available as weight. So for now, we’ll go with that. I’d love to have a more active lifestyle this year so I am incorporating a regular 30-minute physical activity. If all else fails, I think I will have to hit the gym and run for at least 30 minutes. 🙂 They say weight loss is 30% exercise and 70% diet, so choosing to eat healthy is part of the plan. Hopefully, I can stick to that. Haha 🙂 I’m sure the food and energy products from our company will help. I’m excited to try the new mysmart foods and the healthy energy drink in can (goodbye coke!) as they will be launched early this year in the Philippines! Yehey! 🙂

How about you? What are you goals for 2017?

It’s this time of the year when I spend sometime looking back what the past year has taught me…as well as make some plans for the next year. But this time, I wanted to give you a little more glimpse of what I have been doing the past 5 years and the many lessons in my entrepreneurial journey.

There are moments when I think I should just stop this blog for good since I don’t write anything anyway. It’s just a hobby and from a pure business perspective, it doesn’t generate any direct income since I don’t sell anything on my blog. In my day to day business meetings however, I meet young hungry individuals who were just like me when I was starting. Because my business requires me to be more hands, it is actually harder for me to devote some time to write to you. Yet, there are so many things I want to share with you. T

The reality is for most of you, I may never have a chance to meet in person. Perhaps reading these articles from my blog will be the only chance I get to help you. So, for that reason, I continue to write.

In 2009 after getting back from a 2 and half year stint from Malaysia, I was very eager to learn the world of business and investing. I attended lots of seminars, read hundreds of books, and a whole lot more. The experience opened up new doors for me. I met some people that I otherwise would not have met. There’s this feeling of nostalgia when you meet the people who were like your “batchmates” in your financial journey and be mesmerized how far each of you have gone. It’s like a meeting of kindred spirits – the warriors of light.

After a couple of years, I started my network marketing business part-time with USANA Health Sciences. The business allowed me to quit my 9-year IT career after working on it for 6 months part-time. Later on when my wife gave birth to our first born son, we decided it would be better if she becomes a hands-on mom to our kids. For the last 5 years, our business has supported our family of 2 boys. It gave us the financial capability to buy us a 2-bedroom property and an SUV car for a comfortable travel with family. Every day I get to spend some time playing with my boys before I attend to my business. Those things don’t have a price tag. On a personal level, I feel I have learned more about business and people in the last 5 years than in the 30 years before that. It’s been the greatest experience and I would not trade it for anything else. I am grateful.

I wish I could tell you it’s been all great, but it’s not. It was not easy. I have had to learn how to handle many kinds of emotions along the way. How do you handle rejections? That’s easy. Getting it from people you care the most, that’s harder. The sting never goes away. You just learn to remind yourself that them saying NO does not define your value as a person. You have to keep in mind WHY you are doing this in the first place, what’s your mission, and why is it important for you to succeed.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. No one allows a child to be born only to be left alone. I have learned that in starting your business, you are like raising a “child.” In the early years, it demands your utmost attention. Every minute is crucial. You do everything you can to satisfy the needs of your “child” even if you don’t know how. You just…make it work somehow.

After a few years, it will soon grow a little bit. It will take a life of its own. You miss the early days when you can be hands on. But you know that life has to go on. You now have different expectations. You learn to accept the things that you cannot control. You try to work harder on things you can. You remind yourself that soon this “child” will grow up even more and make a difference in the world on its own.

You cannot build a business on your own. You need the help of other people. If a child needs a village to grow up, your business needs the right environment to flourish. You need mentoring. You need a platform to make mistakes and learn. You need people who value the same things as you, like freedom to choose your value in the marketplace, work your own hours, and escape the culture of corporate slavery. You need people who are on the same stage as you, to encourage you, to make sure you have someone to turn to when discouragements caught up with you. You need people to remind you to work hard and have fun in the process.

In this light, I would say I was lucky to be part of that kind of an environment while building my business. I became part of XTRM 1-11. The name comes from a latin phrase “eXcito Triumphus Recuso Mediocris” meaning “To bring forth triumph is to refuse to be ordinary”. It is an organisation of professionals from all walks of life, IT consultants, engineers, accountants, doctors, lawyers, nurses, students, teachers, seafarers, board topnotchers, cum laude’s, student leaders, and more. What’s common is their desire to learn entrepreneurship hands-on through different workshops and trainings on leadership, sales and marketing, financial literacy, wealth management, wholistic growth, and more. Our team has partnerships with established brands like Technomarine, Sun Cellular and BPI. Among our guest trainors have been Francis Kong, Anthony and Maricel Pangilinan, Direk Joey Reyes, Jonathan Yabut, and more.

Where am I in my financial journey? I could say the past 5 years have been very good to me. It allowed me to learn a lot of things in business and in leading people. In 2011, I had a goal to help 100 people earn an extra $100 a month. I have since achieved that goal. As of today, there are 546 people who have earned at least $100 in my group. Some have earned more: $200 – $600 part time, $1000 or more full-time. I have had the honor to bring into the business and mentor personally two special couples who worked harder than anyone I knew. They have gone on to earn at least $8,000 in a 4-week period. The group has presence now in Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and more. It’s true what Zig Ziglar said, “help enough people get what they want and you will get what you want.” Yes, I have been blessed. I also worked hard. There’s also some element of “luck.” But my journey is far from done. In fact, I am only just beginning.

This 2017 is going to be another exciting chapter in my journey. There are BIG projects that I am going to embark on this year that I haven’t done the past 5 years. It’s going to take a lot of effort. It’s also going to be exciting. I can’t wait. I may need some help along the way. But I am sure help will come, I have an army of like-minded people who would like to venture with me. In my own little way, I hope this article inspires you to take charge of your own financial journey. I would love to hear about your success story soon. For some people this 2017 is going to be an epic comeback from a challenging 2016. I wish that you find the strength and courage within you to take action on things that truly matter to you.