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More than 2 years ago, I was a very busy IT consultant of a mutinational company.  I was stressed out for sure.  In my 9 years working as an IT professional, not a day would go by that I would not ask myself “is this all there is to life?”.  There were many times I questioned myself whether it’s really all worth the effort to endure all the long commute to work and back home everyday, the stress of enduring an unreasonable boss, the pressure of working in a fast-paced 24/7 environment, the sacrifice of not being able to spend more time with your loved ones, and the dying of my own soul wondering if there’s a hidden meaning to all these unbearable challenges.

When I couldn’t bear it any longer, that’s when I started to search for other options that might help me get my goals without having to endure the same thing that I’ve gone through the past 9 years of my life.  I tried venturing into real-estate, stocks investing, bonds, internet marketing, and more.  But the more I became aware of the many options available out there, the more I realized I keep on going back to the same stumbling block that I couldn’t seem to get over with.  Every opportunity I came across, at its core is solid business system.

Stocks and bonds are simply a way for companies or the government to borrow money from other people they call investors or stockholders in order to grow the company.  Income-producing real-estate is a business system at its core. The landlord is the CEO of that little company, and the tenants are its customers.  Internet marketing is just one piece of a BIG online business ecosystem where each corporation big and small are interacting everyday with the likes of Google, Amazon, Ebay, Apple and more.  Each company is selling its own product, whether it’s the infrastructure they are selling, or a physical product like a book, or a digital version (ebook), or what have you.  The only question now is where you are in that whole ecosystem, and how you operate your own business system.

I realized early on that if I really want to understand how this thing works, I need to become familiar with the one focal point where everything opens up for you — that is, how to build a successful business.

If you don’t know something, what would you do?  First thing I did?  Read.  Read.  and read some more until my mind was already aching with so many ideas…but after so many books, with nothing to show for it, I got depressed and frustrated with myself.  I got the classic case for “analysis paralysis”.

If you’ve been on this same situation before, I can’t blame you.  Especially if you are in a technical field like me who does a lot of analysis on a daily basis as part of your work.  To give you an idea how many books I’ve read over the years, here’s a picture of my mini-library at home. 🙂

When I got fed up of reading without any results to show for it, I got into the next level of learning — I attended seminars.  Lots and lots of seminars.  Some of them I attended live.  Some I couldn’t attend because of location, but I managed to grab a copy of the video recording of the seminars.   I even signed-up for a lot of online coaching classes.  And after so many of those, I still didn’t have anything to show for it.  I paid for those seminars, out of my own pocket. I was frustrated, of course, but I thought of them as investments in myself.  Someday, they will bring dividends, I told myself.

When you’re disgusted with your results, when you’re so frustrated you feel like any result is better than nothing, that’s when you free yourself up to learn.  In my case, I simply wanted to “experience” for myself what it feels like to be “investing” and “starting a business”.  I was willing to lose some of my money for that experience.  So I tried investing, in Retail Treasury Bonds at first.  Then into stocks.  Real-estate.  Internet businesses.  I lost some money in the process, but I feel I gained something more money can’t buy.  I gained confidence.  I gained experience.  I don’t claim to be successful in any of those.  Truth be told, I am still learning, and learning a lot as each day passes.  I’m sure I’ll make mistakes along the way.  Lots and lots of mistakes.  The thing is, I realized mistakes is part of success.  I am now even more excited to make mistakes, because then I know I am one step closer to my goals.

If you ask me what is better stocks, real-estate, or businesses, I will say there’s an advantage and disadvantage for each one.  From what I know, I feel investing in stocks is good especially if you have other assets like a business which can give you the cash flow to invest in stocks.  The same goes for real-estate.  The thing with real-estate is that you have tremendous leverage if you know what you’re doing.  But if you don’t you can also get into serious trouble.  Having a business is a great way to build cashflow for your other investments like real-estate, stocks and other businesses.

As for me, my strategy right now is to build my own business, while steadily investing little by little in my portfolio of stocks, bonds and real-estate.  At this point in my life, my time is currently focused on 80% business, 10% stocks and 10% real-estate. It will not work for everyone especially since we all have different dreams and goals, different skills, different stages in our lives.  If the thing you do works for you, and you feel you will be able to achieve your goals in a reasonable amount of time, then go for it.  Otherwise, maybe it’s time to look for other options.

In my next article, I will be sharing with you one of those options and my journey of building my own business.

P.S. Some of you have emailed me about my last article and asked how you can become like RJ and Jacq who were able to get married in one year without going abroad, and without asking a single penny from their parents.  I have another exciting news for you.  RJ and Jacq has just bought their very first Apple Macbook Pro yesterday!  I’m very proud of the results that they have achieved so far.  Here’s a picture of them together. 🙂

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Last week, I had the priviledge to chat with some new friends of mine who asked to meet up with me over coffee so I can share some ideas with them.  I really enjoyed our conversation, and I was able to share with them my story on how I started awakening to the financial opportunities around me.

It was way back 2005 when I first read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  I remember I was buried in credit card debt back then.  When I read the book, it was as if a new world was opening up in front of my eyes, a world I never knew existed.  All I knew before that time, was I had to have a job in order for me to earn money.  I didn’t have a clue that you can actually make money without having a job.

The book opened me to the world of business.  I thought business was only for those of my friends who are great at sales or an extrovert. Not for a shy-type, introvert, silent kid like me. I thought, you had to have a lot of money before you can go and open your business.  I thought only the greedy, cunning, and materialistic individuals they call "filthy rich" are interested in owning a business.  I thought you had to be all these things before you can open your business.  I had all these assumptions in my head that were simply blown away after reading that book.  For once, it seemed like the world of business was so simple, someone like me can actually do it.  That experience gave me confidence to explore the world of business even more.

Because my mind was already opened about business after reading that book, I was always asking myself, what’s next? What can I do to get the experience I need?  What can I do so that I can learn more about business and investing?  The rich dad poor dad book mentioned about a board game called cashflow 101.  I searched for the game board and found out it’s worth P10,000 when converted from US Dollar to Philippine Peso.  I was not prepared to pay something of that amount, especially that I don’t know if it was worth it or not. 

One time, while I was searching one of the business forums, I came upon a cashflow 101 workshop where you only had to pay P800 for a chance to play the game.  I quickly reserved a spot in the workshop, paid for my dues on the event itself, and voila! I was there! I didn’t know anyone. I mustered enough courage to go and try it out.  I enjoyed it so much, two of those friends who were sitting in my table then, I did business with eventually.  One is now my long time insurance agent.  The other one was the one who introduced me to my first network marketing company. 

The first time I joined a network marketing company, I was desperate.  I needed money to pay for my credit card debts.  Whenever I invited a friend in, all I was thinking about during the whole presentation is for my friend to join me in my network marketing business because I NEED MONEY…I didn’t know or even bother to find out what my friend actually needed or if it’s something that they actually would want to do.  Needless to say, nobody joined me except my mom and a few friends/relatives simply because they couldn’t say no to me.  I didn’t feel good about it at all.  Worse, I didn’t feel like I was proud of what I was doing.  I felt like I was deceiving my friends into joining me in my new venture…I was trying to do everything, even going against my own values simply because I wanted to make money.  In the end, the constant battle within myself was simply too much to bear.  I failed.

Good thing, it was around that same time I was assigned to the US for a 6-months stint with my company.  It was the reason I was looking for not to pursue my network marketing business any longer.  Now, I had an excuse. 

I got lucky during my assignment to the US, I was able to earn enough to pay off my credit card debt.  I also took serious notice about my finances and started saving through our company’s savings and loans association. It came to a point that when I resigned from the company after almost 5 years, that money saved actually reached 6 figures.

But while I was able to save up some of my money after being promoted almost every year in my company, something was still missing.  I still couldn’t afford to marry my then girlfriend (now my wife).  I wanted to get married in a year, but when I found out how much it costs to get married, I was shocked! Assuming I get promoted every year, it would still take me at least 5 to 10 years! I realized I cannot rely on my job alone to achieve my goal.  At the same time, I now understood why many Filipinos get married late.  They simply don’t have enough money. 

I had only one goal in my mind.  Get married in a year.  After thinking about it day and night, I came to only one conclusion. The only way that I can get what I want, to earn enough money in one year to get married, is to go abroad. 

I knew some friends who went abroad a few years back and became successful in their careers.  Realizing the HUGE potential, I quit my job and went on to become an IT consultant in a huge multinational financial services company based in Malaysia. 

True enough, my wife and I were able to get married one year after.  Looking back, I now realize the HUGE RISK that I went through, giving up a promising career, starting out at the bottom and proving my worth to a new set of customers once again.  If only I knew what I know now, I would not have taken the same risk.  Why? Because now, I know another way to achieve the same goal. 

In fact, I’ve seen it happen for an inspiring couple I’ve had a chance to mentor. RJ & Jacq De Lara achieved a similar dream of getting married without having to go abroad, and WITHOUT asking any cent from their parents.  RJ & Jacq are your typical employees from big companies involved in energy development like oil & electricity generation.  But they had a dream, and with much dedication, exploring other opportunities outside of their current job, they managed to get their dream wedding in only a year.  Here’s a video of them together. 

Rj+Jacq (04.21.12) from ONE LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY.com.ph on Vimeo.

Looking back, what I saw in RJ & Jacq’s eyes were the determination to make their dreams happen.  I knew they were afraid, as I have been when I started looking for opportunities around me.  But they too suspended their disbeliefs, just like me.  With enough courage, they took the first step.  Learned along the way, built their confidence to continue going after their dreams.  I’m very proud of them, not only for the goal that they’ve achieved, but also for the person that they have become in order to get that goal.

I hope their story inspire you to go on pursuing your own dreams.

P.S. If you’re curious to meet RJ & Jacq and find out exactly how they were able to do it, CLICK HERE to email me. Or visit and add them as friends in facebook @ RJ De Lara and Jacq De Lara.  Just message them to let them know that you knew them from reading my blog akosiallan.com.  Apologies if it may take some time for me to get back to you when you send me an email because of the many inquiries I receive each day.  If you don’t get a response from me within 48 hours, please do send me a follow up note, as I might have missed it or got buried in my inbox. Have a great day ahead! 🙂  

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Over a year ago, I was an overly stressed employee trying to find a way to tinker with several online/offline passive income streams.  I had my hand dipped in several places, trying them out all at once.  It was a chaotic experience to say the least. I earned some, I lost some. But I learned a lot along the way.  It never crossed my mind that my simple goal to create 3 streams of income earning $100/month each would lead me to the life I am living now, being able to spend time with my newborn son and not be a regular dad who spends only 7 days on paternity leave to spend with his new baby.

The funny thing was after visiting our son in the hospital for more than a week, the doctor asked me if I was on leave from my job.  I said, “yes, I am” to keep the conversation short, not wanting to explain myself any further.  In my mind, I wanted to add, “yes, I am…on leave indefinitely.” 🙂  The next day, I was asked the same question again from another doctor…and then, the next day the same question popped up again. This time, I explained a little bit.  I said, I actually don’t have a job…I have a business, and my business is being taken cared of by someone else at the moment.  That’s why I am here spending time with my wife and my newborn son. As if hearing myself for the first time, I realized how blessed I really am to be in a position to enjoy spending time with my love ones at a very important time in my life, and not worry too much about having to go back to work right away because I have to.  Now, I finally have a CHOICE.

Here’s the good news. You can learn to discover how to get yourself in a position to have that same CHOICE.  For you it may not only be about having TIME, but perhaps it’s also about having other options or means to earn extra income to pay for your debts, or your kid’s schooling, or your retirement.  Whatever financial goals you have, it is always better to have MORE OPTIONS than none at all.

With the goal of helping you have that CHOICE, I am starting a new series entitled “Baby Steps to Financial Riches”.  This is of course, inspired by the birth of my new baby. :-)You will now finally get a chance to learn how I managed to go from dreaming of $100 stream of income, to starting to live the life of my dreams of having both money and time on my hands.  This has been a long overdue project of mine to write about the journey I’ve had the past few years delving into the online/offline passive income streams.

In the next coming weeks, I will be sharing with you my experiences in earning my first $100 dollar in passive income, what specific lessons I learned along the way, and how each experience has led me to other income streams which proved more financially rewarding than I initially thought it could be.  You will also learn how I was able to go from a full-time employee to a full-time dad, with part-time online/offline ventures. 🙂

Here are some of the questions you will get real-life answers to in this series:

• what is passive income? is it for real?
• how do you earn money from online? offline?
• how do you earn from stocks? real-estate? businesses?
• is network marketing for you? how do you distinguish the scams from the legitimate ones?
• which type of income stream is better: stocks vs real-estate vs network marketing vs online businesses?
• what are the challenges of having time freedom?
• what you should know before quitting your job?
• and more…

In order for you NOT to miss out on any of the articles of the upcoming series, I highly encourage you CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog/newsletter.  You will also get FREE issues of the Rich Money Habits newsletter.  These are all FREE BONUSES so you don’t have to pay anything. 🙂

Watch out for the first article of the series to be published on Tuesday. May 29, 2012!

God bless you!

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One of my greatest fears is in speaking with other people.  Growing up, I was not fond of going to birthday parties.  I was the geek at home, studying for school. 😉 I believed that if you want to appear smart, you have to keep quiet.  Unconsciously or not, it became one of my debilitating habits that I formed over the years. 

Rather than try to relate with other people, I shied away and hid in my own cave. 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is one of the main reasons why I have not been making the progress that I want to happen in my life.  At work, I don’t socialize that much.  Not because I don’t care, I certainly do.  But sometimes, I am just plain lazy.  I don’t want to make the effort and get rejected in the end.  I feel comfortable just being with myself, because then I won’t have to worry about anything else.  My simple mantra was.."do you work, go home and mind your own business."  Big mistake.

How do you confront your fear and laziness? 

Simple.  Go to the cemetery.  Look for tomb stones.  Imagine looking at your own tombstone.  Ask yourself if this is your last day in this world, would you be hiding under the bed, cowardly waiting for something to make your fears go away?  Or would you make the most of the time you’ve got, not a care in the world whether people will think you are crazy or not?

When you realize that you only have a limited time to live, you have no choice but to give everything you’ve got in every moment of your life.  After all, we only have one life to live.  Live it to the fullest or never live it at all!

P.S.  I am working on a project helping people live their life’s dreams, if you want to learn more and be a part of it, CLICK HERE to contact me.

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