Categories
Life Lessons

Why Your Habits Determine Your Financial Destiny

My mentor recently gave me a book to read. Atomic Habits by James Clear.

According to the book, your financial situation is a result of your habits about money.
Rich people simply have better money habits than the poor or middle class.

The past few months, I’ve had one of the most challenging period when it comes to finances.
When I looked back, it is all because of my money habits.

Over the last 8 years, my business has allowed me to earn passive/residual income.
This income has allowed me to support my family and have the freedom to spend time with them.

This is one thing I would always be thankful for, for having built a business
that would allow me the freedom to spend time with my kids.

However, one thing I didn’t know then was the idea that “passive does not mean permanent.”

In any kind of business, changes would eventually happen. Ready or not.
In my case, I wasn’t ready. It didn’t happen abruptly. But I still could not adopt to the changes fast enough to put a stop to the bleeding in my finances.

In the end, I had to make some major sacrifices just to keep the boat afloat.

Thankfully, the changes allowed me a little breathing room, for the meantime.
I am not out of the woods yet, but I feel fortunate to have gone through it.

The experience allowed me to re-examine how I view money as part of my life.

In the world of business, there’s often the idea to focus on marketing “the lifestyle.”

Is it effective? Yes, sometimes. But not always.

I realized that people, of course, are attracted to a certain lifestyle.
We all desire to look good in pictures, to have a lot of friends,
to travel to beautiful places, to own the most luxurious cars or houses.

There is nothing wrong with that.

However, when you identify your self-concept or your value too closely
to this social status, you tend to succumb to the pressures of living up to this lifestyle.

We all know that there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Success is rarely easy nor simple.

There’s the unglamorous part where you are hustling day in and day out, stressed out
in just keeping up with the lifestyle that is supposed to free you up.
But now it has become a cage.

You feel so restricted. You are now posting for likes or engagement, rather than
share what you really value and who you really are.

For sometime, I tried to de-activate my Facebook account.
I wanted to see what happens.

At first, it was really hard to do. A few days after, I re-activated it again because
I wanted to upload a picture or video.

Eventually, I managed to de-activate it completely with one exception.
I had to keep my messenger active.

Maybe it’s the fear of missing out. I don’t know.

After a month, I realized I didn’t miss much. Of course I still went back and activated it.
I had to post pictures of important family events, just to update family and friends.

Staying up to date with social media has increasingly made little sense for me.

This is one habit. that I would hope to find a balance on. I am still trying. I am afraid the only logical step would be to completely get out. We’ll see.

Recently, I had a chance to facilitate cashflow 101 boargames.
I was surprised to see that many people still haven’t played the game yet.

Here are some of the things I observed.

People are naturally risk-averse. They would buy a few shares of stocks here and there.
Just keep them and not do anything with them. They would pass on opportunities after opportunities.

After an hour of playing, they are still nowhere near the goal of getting out of the rat race.

They could not see the opportunity right in front of their eyes.
Maybe it’s just that. We see what we are trained to see.

At the start, the players are so happy whenever they receive their monthly paycheck.
In the game, there’s always this gradual shift on what the players focus on.
At the start it is all about the paycheck. But as the game goes on, they would rather get an opportunity card than a paycheck. Because they know, a paycheck would only get you so far.

The real key to getting out of the rat race is in taking advantage of the opportunities you are dealt with.

Just like in real life, having this shift in mindset and habits takes a really long time.
In my case, it has been years since I am out of the corporate world but I still find myself clinging to the allure of security.

Your habits can also change. In the same way that your weight can fluctuate with every fad diet that comes along, so too are your finances if you succumb to every fad about money.

But the fundamentals about money habits is still the same.

Make as much money as you can.
Spend less than what you earn.
Protect your money and make it grow.
While keeping a healthy perspective in life that there’s more to life than money.

Money is only a magnifier of the things you value in your life.

When you use that money to grow your relationships with your family, your love within your family will grow.

When you use that to keep a healthy lifestyle, then you will have a healthy mind and body to grow.

When you use that money to bless other people through tithes and fund ministries, then your spiritual life will grow.

It’s a lifelong process to build a habit. The only way to replace a bad habit is to create a new one. The good news is that you can start a new habit anytime. The best moment to start one is now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Life Updates Uncategorized

My goals for 2019

As I am writing this, the 1st half of January is already over. Today, I am in Roxas city for a 3-day business trip. As part of our financial literacy workshop, we played Cashflow 101 board game and it was a blast! It’s amazing how much you can learn by playing. You learn so much more when you are having fun.

My business partners and I had lunch together by the sea side. It was so refreshing. The wind is soothing. The sound of the waves is like a relaxing music to my ears. Being the seafood capital of the Philippines, the array of seafood is a delight to the eyes (and to my hungry stomach.) The food is so delicious I wanted to just stay there and chill the whole day. I also learned “Talaba” (Oyster) is so abundant here, you can buy 1 sack for only P180! Yummy! 🙂

How about you? How’s your first weeks of January so far?

Every year, I spend some time going over my business and personal goals. I have shared a bit of my 2018 in my posts on “How to get unstuck,” “How I lost 7.8 pounds in 10 days,” and “How to Break Free.” You may notice all of them are about overcoming challenges. These are actually messages I wanted to tell myself as a form of encouragement as I was going through some finacial, emotional and mental challenges. Somehow, it gave me hope that the situation can get better. And it did.

If you are going through some challenges right now, know that everything in the universe go through cycles. Pain. Regret. Breakthrough. Success. Boredom. There’s a famous saying which says, “this too shall pass.” Take hold of that message and embrace God’s plan for your life.

Over the holidays I got a chance to think a lot and reflect. There are definitely lessons to learn from my experience last year that I hope to improve on this year. Today I’d like to share them with you.

These are my goals for this year 2019.

Business Goals

1. My goal is to grow my business income by at least 100%.

It’s going to be a challenge I know. But it’s possible. I also don’t want to put a limit to what can happen. I only know that based on the lessons I learned from last year, my business is due for a major upgrade.

You see, for the past 4 years, I have been coasting along. There’s a certain comfort zone you develop when you reach a certain level of success. In my case, I realized I have not been growing personally in the last 4 years, that’s why my business is also not growing as much as I would like to. Yes, it remains profitable and creating good income. But I want to challenge myself to grow my business even more. I want to try breaking the barrier that I have set mentally for myself the past few years. So this year, I decided to make a major expansion by growing at least 100% from last year’s business income.

There are multiple ways I am planning to do this. Obviously, these can change as I adjust them along the way. But here are some of the top in mind ideas on how I am plan to do it.

Over the past few years, I have always been concentrated in building my business offline 80% of the time. My days are consumed by lots of meetings, meeting people face to face. Add to that the horrendous traffic you have to go through when you are living in Metro Manila and you will have a heavily-packed day with lots of time spent driving to and from meetings. Only a small part of my business is done online which is around 20%.

Over time, I started to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. In the end, I got exhausted and burned out multiple times. I would have a few days that my week is full of meetings, talks and coaching sessions. The following week I would catch a cold, and would spend a few days just getting back on track again. I had to find a way to recharge myself to get back. My body is complaining and can’t keep up.

For my sanity’s sake, I think I really need to re-assess how I am spending my time and make sure I am delivering value to a lot more people without sacrificing my health, my time and my energy.

So this year, I decided to revamp the way I do things. I plan to take advantage of online systems even more to scale the value that I am offering. Doing most of the things I do offline is hindering me from scaling my value to the world. That’s why my plan is to create a more scalable system to share what I know and bring value to more people.

I am also looking for ways to maximize the assets in my business. Perhaps, even introducing other streams of income in the process. These are still at their early stages so you will learn more about them in the coming weeks.

This year I am planning to write more in this blog and share some of the lessons and stories I come accross. This is one thing that I feel I need to do more of. Expect to see more posts this year. Maybe publish an article at least once a week. This is a way for me to scale my value and reach out to more people, to serve those who I won’t be able to meet in person or face to face.

Do you have particular topic you want me to talk about in future posts? Do you want me to feature your story in my blog? Let’s connect and exlore future collaborations together. If you’re up for it, then you can message me here.

This year, I also want to ensure my time is spent in tasks that help me bring better results and not stuck in mindless surfing on the internet or social media. When you are operating your business through social media, it can be a double-edge sword. You can leverage it to scale your business, or it can consume too much of your time you are no longer being productive. You are stuck in scrolling and browsing at Facebook or Instagram posts instead of delivering value to your clients.

I am intentionally being vague about my plans for two reasons. First reason is that I have not figured everything out yet. Another reason is more practical. If there’s one thing I learned in business, it’s that ideas are a dime a dozen but the really important part is being able to execute it. Part of execution means being open to all ideas. Sometimes an idea that sounds good on paper performs horribly. Other times, a ridiculous or crazy idea works out perfectly. So I’m always experimenting and adjusting along the way. Besides, it’s a lot more fun that way as well.

Personal Goals

Write my 2nd book. Right now, I am in the middle of writing my second book. It is still in the early stages, so you will hear more about it in the coming weeks or months. I am planning to launch it this year. By me writing that book, I hope to reach more people who I might not be able to meet in person. I’ll be going to share some of the stories and lessons I learned over the past 7 years doing business.

The first book I wrote titled Rich Money Habits – 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich was written in 2011 back when I was still exploring the world of finance and entrepreneurship. It has blessed and inspired hundreds of people around the world. Good news for you, you can get your FREE copy of my ebook Rich Money Habits today. Simply click here to get instant access and download the ebook.

Travel somewhere I’ve never been to every quarter.

One of the things I love doing is spending some time with nature and just reflect on life. I am introvert by heart. Yes, I do get invitations to speak in public and conduct trainings and workshops in different provinces all over the Philippines. I love doing that and being able to deliver a message that can change people’ lives. However, I also need a way for me to recharge and nourish my spirit and soul. I get that from my miracle mornings (a routine I do every morning.) as well as from travelling and spending time with nature every now and then.

When I got busy with my business the past 4 years, these has remained in the back burner. Travels were always jampacked with activities for growing my business. It has led to burnout. This year I want to create more balance in this area of my life.

I think I have a great headstart. Today, I am writing this in Roxas City. Yes, I am also on a 3-day business trip but I feel this has been a more relaxed trip. It has allowed me the chance to just enjoy nature eating seafood over the seashore. It’s an amazing feeling just staring at the sea, enjoying the wind soothing my face as I listen to the sound of the waves, while eating “talaba” (Oyster.) Life is beautiful.

Build Habits Around My Daily Morning Routine

Late last year, I discovered this book called Miracle Morning, which allowed me to develop my own morning routine. This has given me extra energy. I feel more energized. I feel more productive. In fact, for the first time ever in the last 7 years, I have finally setup my own workstation complete with my own mini-library at home. I’ll give you a glimpse of my workstation setup in my future posts.

One of the things I discovered is that you have to build habits into your life if you want to create a longer-lasting impact or result. If you try to force it, you may hit your goal for some time but soon it will come crashing back down.

I have experimented with this late last year and it has given me great results. I plan on enhancing it even further. This year, I included 2 items in my morning routine. One is to do a 20-minute walk. Another is to create a gratitude list. That is, to list down 5 things I am grateful for every day.

This may come out like a new year’s resolution for some. But one difference is that my morning routine is so simple and easy to do. Creating a new routine is hard enough. So I’m taking it one day at a time. Making it simple enough so that I won’t force myself too much.

By following through on my morning routine, I get a head start in centering myself first before I get started with work or reply to communications (in social media.) I feel this will allow me to balance the benefit of having social media but not overwhelm me too much that I am no longer productive.

There are a lot more that I want to do this year, of course, but I know that having a good plan doesn’t always guarantee success. It’s always a combination of a great plan, superb execution and having the right mindset to adjust along the way if it doesn’t work.

How about you? What are your goals this year?
What are you planning to do differently?

Categories
How To Tutorials Life Updates

How I lost 7.8 pounds in 10 days

Madalas ka bang mainit ang ulo?
Pabigla-bigla ba ang mood swings mo?
Pareho tayo.

Madalas ka din bang sipunin o di kaya ubuin?
Mabigat ang pakiramdam?

Ilan lang yan sa mga rason baki naisipan kong mag-lose na ng weight.

Ikaw ba yung every year na lang ang new year’s resolution mo ay mag-gym at mag-lose ng weight? Pero for some reason, every time tumutuntong ka sa treadmill, bored na bored ka kaagad.

Kaya lang pag nahimasmasan ka na, ang dami mo na namang naiisip.

Ang hirap kaya bumili ng damit pag hindi ka physically fit.
Yung damit mo di rin nagfi-fit sayo.

Pag nasa display parang ang ganda ganda ng porma.
Pag suot mo na, bakit ganon nagiging pangit. Haha.

Kahit anong hinga mo ng malalim, di pa rin lumiliit ang tiyan.
Kahit anong angulo mo tingnan ganon pa rin di papasa pang instagram.

In fairness, maganda ang fit sa akin ng shirt sa old navy.
Siguro dahil malaki na talaga nilaki ko. American size na. Haha.

Gusto kong maging mas fit kasi gusto kong maging mas maganda ang pakiramdam ko sa sarili ko.
Confidence booster kumbaga.

Tsaka alam ko kasing maraming kainan na naman ngayong December.
Sigurado ako pag wala akong gagawin pagdating ng January mas lalong ang laki ko.

Anyway, eto ginawa ko.

Matagal naman na akong distributor ng USANA products.
Since 2011 pa. Minsan nakaka-complacent din kasi alam mo may product kang maganda.
Anytime na gustuhin mong magpapayat, pwede talaga.

Nung bago ako, nag-try din ako maglose ng weight naging maganda naman ang effect.
Kaya nga lang siyempre habang tumatanda ka, yung metabolism mo mas bumabagal din.
Ang sarap ding kumain. Lalo kapag pagod na pagod ka sa gabi. Gusto mo lang ipamper ang sarili mo.
Marami pang dahilan (at excuses) pero ayaw ko nang humaba pa.

To cut the long story short, after 7 years lumobo na talaga ako ng todo.

Last Nov 8, 2018 umabot na ako ng 225.4 pounds.
Mabigat na talaga. Overweight kumbaga.

Kaya ayun. Nag-NUTRIMEAL RESET program na ako.
Inisip ko na lang. Tutal 5 araw lang naman to.
Lilipas din naman to. Mabilis lang yun 5 araw.

Para ka lang batang magpapa-injection sa doctor.
Sasabihin sayo, parang kagat lang ng langgam.
Kaso masakit pa rin. Pero at least tapos na. Kaya wala ka nang magagawa. Haha.

Minsan late na talaga ako nakakatulog. Tapos late din ang gising.

Sabi nila gawin mo daw yung routine mo naka-anchor sa una mong ginagawa pag umaga.
So ginawa ko naman.

Ano bang unang una kong ginagawa sa umaga? Of course, mag-CR ano pa nga ba.

So eto ang routine ko pag umaga.

– Pagkagising, diretso na agad ako sa CR.
– Pagbalik sa kama, uupo ako at magbabasa ng PSALMS
– Then after, makikinig ako sa audio recording ko ng affirmations
– Pupunta sa kusina, magti-timpla ng Nutrimeal. Cold water, 2 scoops Nutrimeal Dutch Choco flavor. Plus 1 scoop Fibergy.
– Iset ang timer ko sa phone ng 2 hours. Why? Para maremind ako kelan ako kakain ulit.
Minsan kasi either nakakalimutan kong kumain such that gutom na gutom ako after.
Or paminsan kain din ako ng kain.

So 2 hours it is! Iniisip ko yung yung (Nutri)meals happen every 4 hours.
So meryenda is after 2 hours of each meal. Siyempre inexplain ko talaga. Haha.

After 2 hours kain ako ng light snack. No carbs. No rice. No pasta.
Sinubukan kong kumain ng fruits like apple. Ok naman kaya lang naasiman ako sa lasa.

Mas ok sa akin ang veggies. May lasa. Chopseuy. Itlog.

No rice lang talaga. No colored juice drinks. Water lang.

Coffee pwede as long as walang sugar or creamer.
Brewed coffee di pwedeng 3-in-1 may sugar yun. Kaya alam mo na ang lasa.
Mapait? Oo naman! Hehe

Anyway, first day ok naman. I just made sure na hindi ako gutumin.
Malakas pa rin ako kumain pero puro vegetables lang.

Hinalo ko din yung Nutrimeal Choco sa Coffee.
Nag-end up parang MOCHA ang lasa. Masarap naman. 🙂

Ano pa ba mga ginawa ko?

Ayun, after another 2hours. Drink nutrimeal ulit.

Minsan pumunta ako sa Coffee Bean. Di ko maalala ano nga yung masarap na salad doon.
Sabi ko sa wife ko, sige if ever yung Greek salad na lang papasabay ko na order sa kanya.
Too bad, narealize ko nung niserve na. Yun pala yung hindi masarap. Kaya pala tumatak sa akin ang pangalan. For the wrong reason. Siguro sinabi ko sa sarili ko nung una ko tong natikman na hinding hindi na ulit ako oorder nito.

Well to be honest di naman talaga ako sanay kumain ng salad kaya lahat di masarap.

Except for Go Salad. “Man Go Wild” for the win!

Ayun masarap yun. Man Go Wild. Madalas hati kami ng wife ko. Mahal din kasi. P275 ata per piece. Kinukuha namin yung naka-WRAP. Tapos hahatiin yun sa dalawa. Enough na yun kalahati para sa akin. Hinay hinay lang haha.

In fairness, hindi siya lasang parusa katulad ng Greek salad. Feeling ko talaga nun para akong kambing na ngumunguya ng dahon. Kadi di ko makain yung ibang kasama dun sa greek salad. Yung dahon lang ng lettuce kaya ko.

Kaya lang after sometime, nagsawa din ako sa Man Go Wild. So sinubukan namin yung Caesar salad nila. Ayun masarap din! Dagdag pa yung chicken. Medyo mahal nga lang. Aabutin ka P345.

Iniisip ko na lang since hati kami ng wife ko. Lalabas parang P173 each kami. Parang kumain na lang din ako sa McDo or KFC. Only this time, healthy yung kinakain namin.

Marami akong na-observe sa 5 day program, pero eto yung pinakamahirap na part.

Ang hirap maghanap ng healthy na pagkain! Marami sa pagkain ng Pinoy kasama palagi ang RICE!!! Ang daming rice meals! Longanissa with rice. Egg with rice. Bagoong with rice. Chicken, beef, fish with rice!!! Lahat na lang may rice!!!

Kaya nangyari every night bumibili ako sa grocery store ng veggies para bukas may lulutuin.
Nung nilista ko ano yung mga ulam na kinain ko, eto ang lumabas.

Chopsuey
Pinakbet
Bulanglang
Ampalaya with Egg
Nilagang itlog
Kalabasa at sitaw
Ginisang upo
Brocolli with garlic
Toge with Tofu
Lumpiang gulay

Sa totoo lang ang hirap kumain ng walang kanin. Sanay na sanay kasi ako kumain. Sabi nga ng wife ko pag kumain daw ako parang construction worker! No offense sa mga construction workers. Pero ibig lang niya sabihin, ang dami ko talagang kinakain na kanin. 🙂 Kaya ang laking adjustment para sa akin ang walang kanin.

After 10 days, ayun Nov 18 naging 217.6 pounds na ako. That’s 7.8 pounds lost.

Ang pinakamababa ko nang weight recently ay 215.8 last November 25. That’s 9.6 pounds lost!

Pero ayun after a few days, napakain na naman ako.
Nag-start yun din nung manonood sana kami ng UAAP sa MOA kaso naubusan na ng tickets.
Kaya para mabawasan ang lungkot, nag drive thru kami sa McDo ng wife ko.
Nagorder ako ng 6-piece chicken. Ang sarap. Crispy. Fatty meal. Haha.

Kahapon, ayun kumain na ulit ako ng kanin. Fried rice sa Mann Hann. Hhhaayyy.. Ang sarap talaga kumain ng kanin.

Kaya di na rin ako nagtaka na tumaas na ulit ng 218 pounds ang weight ko.

Kaninang umaga, sabi ko kelangan kong bumalik sa gulay lang.
Narealize ko pag may breading ang chicken, carbs din pala yun.
Tsaka mahirap pumayat kung wala ka ngang rice pero sangkatutak na chicken wings and legs din ang palagi mong kinakain.

No choice. Balik ulit sa fruits ang veggies.

Yun isang bagay na di ko pa nagagawa talagang concistent sa weight loss goal ko ay yung exercise.

Mahilig ako sa sports. Gusto ko ulit maglaro ng tennis o di kaya badminton. Yun nga lang paminsan kasi kelangan mo kalaro or kapaluan pag ganon. Eh minsan yung mga kaibigan ko hindi naman sila available.

So bakit nga ba ako all of a sudden naging seryso ulit magpapayat?

This year kasi ang goal ko ay mag-focus sa fitness ko. Admittedly, sobrang naging erratic ang outcome. May time na bumaba siya. May time na tumaas ulit siya. May time na palagi ako may sipon at inuubo. May time na hindi na talaga maganda pakiramdam ko.

Pero after I lost the 8.2 pounds recently, medyo mas gumaan at gumanda ng konti ang pakiramdam ko. Excited ako na magtuloy tuloy yung fitness journey ko. Goal ko next is mapababa to at least 210 pounds…then down to 200 pounds…then down to 190…and settle down to mga 185 pounds.

Teka, ano nga ba yung ideal weight for men para sa isang taong may 5’8” na height at large frame? After google-ing, nagulat ako nasa 165-169 pounds daw pala!

WHAT??!!!! Malayo pa pala yung 185 pounds hahaha! Kung aabot ako ng 169 pounds, by then, I would have lost 225 minus 169 = 56 pounds (around 25kgs)!!! Parang araw araw ko palang buhat buhat sila Ethan at Ervin with my extra weight of 25kgs. Haha! 😀

Alam ko I am still a long way to go dun sa goal na yun. But I am enjoying the process. Roller coaster ang emotions. Roller coaster din ang discipline. Roller coaster din ang results. Pero at the end of the day, masarap pa rin ang mag-set ng goal at unti unti mong nararamdaman na may progress. Anuman ang mangyari, grateful ako sa character-sculpting experience na to.

Ikaw, may plano ka din bang mag-lose ng weight? Kung may napulot ka man sa article na to, hopefully, na-encourage kita na hindi ka nag-iisa. Kaya mo din yan. Importante tuloy tuloy ka lang. Pasasaan ba’t makakamit din natin ang minimithi nating weight goal na yan.

Looking forward to seeing you na confident na sayong beach body pagdating ng summer escapades this 2019! 🙂

P.S. Want more tips? Here’s my short video after 30-days of trying to lose weight.

P.P.S. Wanna learn more about the 5-day weight loss program? Contact me here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5PG34NCXo

Categories
How To Tutorials Uncategorized

How To Break Free

As I am writing this, the song playing on the radio is “Jingle Bell Rocks”
I know, we just celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
Time flies so fast.

Not too long ago, you were writing your New Year’s Resolution.
Once the “BER” months kick starts, it seems time enters warp speed.

Do you realize we only have 6 weeks left before 2018 ends?
Everyone is busy getting all their work done.
Everyone wants to get on with their 2-week holiday vacation.
Maybe go home to the province and spend some time with friends and relatives.

Yes, we are all about ready to wrap up 2018.
But wait, there’s still ONE QUESTION that needs to be asked.

So, how are you with your 2018 goals?

Have you accomplished all you set out to do?
Have you visited the places you want to go to?
Have you achieved the level of success you wanted?
Career? Lovelife? Fitness? Money? etc

The good news is, there’s still some time.
Time to make a LAST PUSH for your goals.
Last 6 weeks to be exact.

This year, my goal was to focus on fitness.
Admittedly, I am nowhere near where I want to be.

My weight has really gone crazy.
There were some good months where I managed to bring down my weight a little bit (around March).
But most of the time, it’s growing in all the wrong places.

One thing I realized is that everthing you do is connected.
If your fitness is not good, you won’t have the energy to accomplish the goals for your career.
You are sluggish. Your mood swings make you a bore to be around.
You undergo roller coaster of emotions as you battle stress from you business, finances, love life, and more.

It also happens the other way around.
A stressful problem in your business triggers your cortisol levels.
It makes you eat more. You dump all your stress into eating out.
In the end, your health suffers. You get sick.
And the cycle continues.

It’s like the proverbial question of which one came first, the chicken or the egg.

The good news is, if you’re like me who went through a similar situation, there’s hope at the end of the tunnel.

Here’s what worked for me.
Do something. Do anything. DISRUPT your pattern.

What you need is to BREAK FREE.

Break free from your mental patterns.
Break free from the self-deprecating beliefs that is causing you pain and lose of confidence.
Break free from the cycle of financial struggles.
Break free from the emotional roller coaster.
Break free from the situation you are currently in.

How do you break free from your current situation?
Here are some things that might help you get started in this direction.

1. Setup a morning routine.

After reading the book The Miracle Morning, it inspired me to create my own.
There’s an acronym from the book that summarizes how to do it.
S – silence
A – affirmation
V – visualization
E – exercise
R – reading
S – scribbling or writing

I’ve created my own morning routine using this as a guide.
– Read the PSALMS after waking up.
– Listen to a 4-minute affirmation audio I recorded.
– Drink Nutrimeal.
– Lace up my rubber shoes.
– Put on the headphones.
– Go to the gym and run.
– Listen to audiobook while running.

I am still not as consistent as I want to be but sometimes the process is more important than being impatient with yourself or your results.

There are also some areas where I want to improve on.
For example, I want to make my wake up time a bit more consistent as well as my exercise routines. I am enrolled in the gym but I am hardly using it. It bores me to walk on a treadmill.
I try to put on headphones and listen to an audio book to motivate me.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I am looking to add sports into my routine.
Maybe play basketball, or tennis or badminton.
We’ll see.

2. Lose weight.

I finally got around doing the USANA’s 5-day RESET program.
It’s been 10 days and so far, I’ve lost 8.2 pounds.
It’s a good start towards a healthier lifestyle.

I’ll tell you more about what worked for me in one of my next articles.
I am still a long way to go from my weight loss goal so I am still not that confident to show some pictures. But if you are so curious and want to join me and get fit too, feel free to message me so I can share with you what worked for me.

3. Take a vacation.

There’s something about going someplace near nature, to the beach or closer to the trees that sooths your soul. When your life is in an imbalance, there’s so many things going on.
You are in chaos mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, etc.

If you can’t go anywhere far, maybe staying at home and doing nothing is something that you need to do. Taking a moment to STOP what you are doing is sometimes enough to disrupt the pattern.

As for me, I go into hibernation mode.
I go back to what I enjoy doing.
Watch that endless videos.
Eat that unhealthy meal you always wanted to eat.

Do something you love doing.
Don’t worry, that is not indulgence, as long as you are not hurting anyone.
That’s reminding yourself that you are LOVED.
And you can ENJOY LIFE’s so many blessings.
Even if your finances are not ok.
Even if you feel you don’t deserve it.
Even if there’s so much work that needs to be done.
Even if there’s a lot of things going on.

Because what’s more important than any of those, is YOU taking care of YOU.

Sometimes, you need to prioritize YOU.
Why? Because when you are not ok, the people who depends on you will suffer as well.

So they need you to be OK. And that’s the best thing you can do at that moment to serve them.
Forgive youself. Let go of your pains and frustrations. You deserve to break free.

No one said you have to suffer endlessly. Enjoying the journey is part of the package.
You have a right to living your life the way you want it.

The same applies to your goals this year.
Yes, you may be nowhere near accomplishing them. But who cares?
Life is a journey.
One moment you are so far away from your goal you can’t imagine how you can achieve it.
Another moment, unexpected circumstances happen ALL AT THE SAME TIME and give you the desires of your heart.
It is as if the heavens opened up to POUR you an AVALANCHE of BLESSINGS that you have been waiting for all this time.

So, enjoy the next 6 weeks.
The path with a heart will always give you the best results.
Sometimes that lesson is not to struggle, but to accept that there are deeper lessons to be learned such as enjoying the joys of the journey while you are in the middle of chaos.

Cheers to your 2018 goals and to the journey that this year has been! 🙂

Categories
How To Tutorials Uncategorized

How To Get Unstuck

In a couple of days, June is finally over. The first half of the year is done.

This year has been a roller coaster ride for me so far. How about you? Perhaps we are both going through some challenges right now.

I have some encouragement for you. This too shall pass. The best is yet to come.

No, the storm is not yer over for me. But, thankfully, there are people who believe in me that makes me hopeful. They give me the strength to push through and focus on the future.

During the first quarter, our business went through a major overhaul.
Due to a leadership challenge, key people in my business made
the decision to take their business into a different direction.

In short, some people left. Some people stayed.
It was a tough time for me emotionally and mentally.
As a leader, I needed to be strong for the whole organization.

At first, I questioned myself.

Did I fail as a leader?
What can I learn from the situation?

What could I have done differently?

How can I make sure that it will not happen again?
Or if it happens, how would I be able to bounce back faster?

There were times, I no longer feel excited going to the office.
Every day I asked myself whether I should still continue building the business.
It’s hard when people close to you, people you thought you knew, catch you by surprise.

There were days I stayed late at night thinking endlessly.
Am I still fit to lead? I honestly think, my confidence suffered the most.
It hit me deeply. I started to doubt myself.

But slowly and surely, I am starting to get back on my feet.
It helped a lot that I have good people around.

Close friends encouraged me. They provided a listening ear when I needed it the most.
I am fortunate to have people like them that I get to share in my journey.

Having people like that in your life, makes everything bearable.

When you are down, it’s hard to get back to being joyful.
It’s easier to stay in bed. Sleep all day. Do nothing.

But the more you do nothing, the more you become depressed.

Then a friend suggested that I do things that I used to enjoy.
Perhaps to rekindle the excitement in your life.

Doing things you are happy, helps a lot.
Sing with my guitar at home. Check!
Watch movies! Check!
Play with my kids. Check!

Yes there are challenges outside and within. But life is like that.
There are also silver linings, as well as big blessings that come with it.

Business problems come and go. That’s why you are getting paid. You are supposed to solve problems. The bigger problems you can solve, the bigger your income will be.

As Jim Rohn said, “don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills.”

Money problems are just that. You just need to create and handle money better.

No matter how many financial problems you have, there are still things you can be grateful for.

As for me, I was reminded of these things.
1) I have a loving family.
2) I have time to spend with them.
3) Watch them grow.
4) Learn and bond with them whenever I want to.
I am blessed beyond measure. Lots of families can’t say they have all four.

I have people who still believe in me. They trust me that I can help them.
They look up to me, and my confidence grows as I see them grow.

Business is recovering and slowly getting back on track.
The team is growing. New leaders are emerging. Business is once again looking up.

I am thankful I started getting into business.
It’s been 7 years. It’s been a wonderful journey, of ups and downs, learnings and fun times.

What makes life so colorful are the people you meet along the way.
It’s true, some stay with you for a little while, some stay with you longer.
Each for a different purpose, but both are there to help you in your journey.

Life happens for you, not to you.

We are emotional beings. We are meant to connect with each other.
Sometimes, that connection fizzles out. Sometimes, it becomes stronger as the years go by.

We are changing. We are always changing.
As we change, the people you need in the next chapter of your life may change as well.
Embrace the change anyway.

Yes, you are going to be hurt. Definitely, you are going to learn.
But don’t let the fear of being hurt, rob you of the joy of connecting with a fellow human being.
To connect, to enjoy, to feel alive is in itself a gift that you can only experience by giving it to somene else.

We are only passers by here on earth. Our journey is bigger than the hurts, emotional traumas, business challenges, money problems or emotional roller coasters. It’s bigger than what we think it is or what we believe we were supposed to do here.

There’s a reason why you are here. You are destined for greatness.
You may think you have nothing to offer. But you are not here by accident.

You are made for a purpose. You were meant to do something only you can do.

Don’t hold on to past hurts. We need you to get unstuck.
Get up, stand up. People look up to you.
They need you to lead them.

So, take charge and be the leader you were meant to be.

Categories
Story

Featured Story: Billy De La Fuente Transformation Story

Today’s article is very special because I will be featuring one of my mentors for the last 7 years in my journey as an entrepreneur. His name is Mr. Billy De La Fuente. One of the things I admire about him is his passion to teach and train people, regardless of their current background. There was this one time where we had a bonding session with my co-mentors. We just decided to play bowling together. I am not very good with bowling but one thing I noticed was, Mentor Billy could not contain himself. I saw him helping out, giving tips to the new bowlers like me. When you are passionate about what you do, it just comes out naturally for you. You can’t help it. It’s already in your blood – a teacher, a mentor, a friend who cares.

Anyway, to get a glimpse of who he is, here’s an excerpt from his website at http://www.billydelafuente.com/. Read on and enjoy.

Billy Dela Fuente (or Mentor Billy as his team XTRM 1-11 fondly calls him) is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, XTRM 1-11 Founder and CEO and father rolled into one – or to sum it up, superman in a suit, jeans and Jordans. He was born and raised in Metro Manila and is currently residing in their dream abode in Pasig City with his wife Pin, and their three sons Godfrey, Enzo and Joaquin. He graduated Chemical Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas but did not push through with the career, instead he ventured into various businesses while also modeling.

Billy modeled for both Globe Telecom and Coca Cola before. His eureka moment happened when he reached the age of 24, and was already planning to settle down with his then girlfriend Pin. He realized that the amount he was earning from his Franchising and Loading businesses were not enough to support a sustainable future he has envisioned. Because of that, he frantically searched for solutions for this dilemma. Until one day, he was able to read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and Multiple Streams of Income by Robert Allen. He was also able to watch the documentary The Secret. Those books and video changed his life.

The things he learned became the foundation of Billy’s business fundamentals – the value of Time and Residual Income. Time being our biggest asset and it being limited instilled in him the importance of acting swiftly. On the other hand, Residual Income is having your money work for you. These concepts plus the unrivaled hardwork he has put in, propelled him to become one of the top Directors of USANA Health Sciences, a leading global health and wellness company, today. It has also allowed him to achieve his goals and live the life he has imagined with his family.

Nowadays, Billy’s business and know how have helped touch thousands of lives not only in the Philippines but around the world. The organization that he has co-founded, XTRM 1-11, has been a beacon of transformation in the field of entrepreneurship as well as professionalism. Billy being the head of the pack, continues to train and develop people for them to get their personal wealth and health goals. Expanding his network in the process, his business enabled him the opportunity to live the lifestyle of their dreams. And he’s not finished yet. Because he wants you to live the dreams you have imagined, too.

Billy just needs two things from you: an open mind, and the mentality of helping others to succeed. Because, an open mind makes you become ahead of others, and helping others get what they want will eventually make you get what you want. Pretty neat, right?

Looking back over the years, I got a rare chance to witness first-hand how his transformation has been, from a reluctant leader to a strong leader who leads thousands of associates around the world. He leads by example. He is naturally curious. But one thing I noticed about him is his people skills and his ability to read people. Sometimes, he jokes around and says he is not that fluent in English but he has improved a lot and has been invited as motivational speaker into countries like the U.S., Mexico, Canada and many many more.

Today, I’d like you to get a glimpse of the “Taglish” version of him. He speaks from the heart. He cries when he can’t contain his emotions. But a leader who leads from the heart, sometimes, speaks with his eyes. For the eyes is the window into the soul.

Here’s an excerpt from one of his Facebook Post when he shared his story of transformation.

Alam nyo ba na ang path para maging successful tayo ay hindi diretso?
Yan ang narealize ko looking back at my journey. Kadalasan ang daming detours sa daan. Yun tipong akala mo tama na yung dinadaanan mo, naligaw ka na pala. Or worse, yung tumbok pala nun, di yun ang gusto mo na mapuntahan.
Pero iba talaga si God. His plans are always on point, maybe not in the timeframe that we expected, but in the timeframe that fits. Swak. Sakto.
Naalala ko, nung elem pa lang nagbebenta na ko ng NBA cards (relate ka?), na napalitan ng pagbenta ng magic (the gathering) cards nung High School. At syempre nung college, kaliwa’t kanan ang part time ko: red ribbon crew, sa catering, modelling. Ambitious kasi ako. And I really want to make a name for myself para sa family ko at sa future.

Looking back, all the sacrifices have been worth it. All the detours that I have experienced along the way have been instrumental to my transformation. Ang focus dapat pala wala sa kung ano ka sa ngayon, kundi kung sa ano ang pwede ka maging in the future.
Remember, we are all potentials waiting to be unleashed. Kaya laban lang!

Nowadays, mentor Billy is growing his influence across different channels. You can reach him @billydelafuente on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, Snapchat and through his website at http://www.billydelafuente.com/ to get some tips in life, travel, inspiring stories and more. He also gets invited regularly to different youth organizations to share his story and give some tips on how to become a young leader.

I have had a chance to be invited in his lovely home many times. I can still remember, how he taught me regarding financial management for 3 straight hours. One on one. Not many successful people care enough to invest on a personal level like that. I learned how to grow my financial portfolio by focusing on controlling my expenses and knowing where to invest to grow my income even more. I realized some of my past programming as an employee has been hindering me from fulfilling my full potential. Slowly but surely, I am growing my entrepreneurial mindset and skills. Thanks to mentor Billy.

As with any story of transformation, the main ingredient is having a mentor who can guide you. Yes, mentoring is very important. It fast tracks your success.

Today, much of my work goes into mentoring individuals who are hungry to learn about doing business, just like what mentor Billy has done for me over the years. It is time to pass on and extend the same help to those people who are hungry to learn from a mentor.

Perhaps, you are just like me before, tired of reading so many books and attending so many seminars but with no results to show for it. You may have fears and you are looking for a community of entrepreneurs who will be there to support you, not only in training you the skills but in enabling you to manage the ups and downs of emotions you go through as an entrepreneur. Now, you are ready to take action. Now, you are seriously considering something with your situation. There is hope! As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

If you are at the stage in your life, I have good news for you. This month, I am in the middle of building a new team of 10 people as part of my newest project. If you are interested to be part of it, simply reply to this email or message me through my website at http://www.allaninocente.com/work-with-allan/ for more details. Let’s connect. This may be the start of a long and successful partnership. Cheers!

Categories
Life Lessons Uncategorized

Why The People Closest To You Can Make You Rich or Poor

They say, you are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with.

At the top of your head, who are these 5 people in your life? Your colleagues? Friends? Family? Make a guess as to how much they are earning. Compute the average. More often than not, the number will be roughly the same amount as your monthly income.

Still can’t believe it? Observe the groups of people in your office. Who do they eat lunch with? In most cases, the managers eat lunch together with their fellow managers. The team leaders, with other team leaders. The entry level staff with their peers as well.

You spend your time with the people you are most comfortable with. The people who earn the same amount flock to each other like magnets aligned on the same sides. People who have a BIG disparity in income more often than not, repel like magnets on opposite sides.

Still not convinced? Are you familiar with the saying, tell me who your fiends are and I’ll tell you who you are?

I rest my case.

This is biologically wired within us.

Have you ever seen a baby smile whenever someone smiles at him? Or is it the other way around? Perhaps the baby smiled first? 🙂

The baby doesn’t speak any language, but both baby and the adult mimic each other. It’s like magic.

The answer lies in the mirror neurons embedded on our skin cells. It’s subconscious.
We are made to subconsciously copy or mimic what we see.

Have you seen couples, over the long term start to seem look-alike?
Behaviours in money tend to be similar as well.

Why is this important?

If you want to upgrade your income, realizing this can put you on the fast track. You will invest more time learning how to develop yourself so your mindset, thoughts, behaviour and skills align with those of the people who are earning more than you.

I am not saying let go of your friends. I am not even saying you make friends only with people who are richer than you. Or even imply to judge people based on how much money they make and use that to determine whether to be friends with them or not. Far from it.

My only suggestion is for you to be conscious of who you spend your most time with. We all have 24 hours in a day. It is up to us to make use of those hours to improve our situation in life. This is the greatest equalizer of all. Rich or poor both have the same number of hours. It’s a matter of utilizing our resources to the fullest within those 24 hours.

Don’t waste your time spending it with cynics. Don’t associate yourself with negative people, people who drown your energy, people who always complain and make excuses but do nothing to improve their situation. If you spend your time with them, sooner or later, you will become just like them.

Instead, invest your time developing yourself. Do yourself a favor and find someone who has achieved the results that you like. If you can, take that person to lunch. Ask him questions. Observe not only his answers, but how he answers them.

The power of a mastermind group

Want something better? Find a group of people who has the results you like. Spend time with them. If it’s not possible yet, start by reading their books. Attend their seminars. Observe them. How they act. How they think. How they behave. Be with them.

It’s going to be awkward at first. You may feel out of place. You may start to think you are way over your head. Just stay. Take a deep breath. Know that you are ok. It will come, sooner than you realize.

Always remember, you are who you are because of the books you’ve read, the places you went to and the people you met. Of the three, what carries the most influence are the people you spend the most time with.

If you want to accelerate your path to financial success, as what Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich, you need to form a mastermind group. He devotes a whole chapter just talking about it. This tells you how important having a mastermind group to a person’s success is.

No one is an island they say. In the same way that nobody can claim to be a self-made man. There is no such thing. Our success is a result of our own efforts plus the help provided to us by the people we encountered along the way.

Once you realize that the universe is ready to serve what you want most in life, you will undrestand that everything you ever wanted is possible. It is reachable. You just have to decide to make it happen.

As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said,

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Categories
Life Updates

2018 Focus

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! 🙂

Categories
Life Updates

2017 Year-End Review

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! 🙂

Categories
Story

Featured Story: Former IT Software Developer Fulfills Dream Europe Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Ana Angelica Ricafrente or “Anj” as we call her, shared her inspiring story with our team. She was back from a 49-day Europe trip travelling 11 countries and exploring 26 different cities.

Anj is also an IT professional just like me so I related so much with her stories, and having started the business in around the same time as her 6 years ago I was a witness to her struggles and triumphs along the way. She loved to travel and proved not only that her business can finance her dream Europe trip but she also found a way to have the FREEDOM to live the life she wants.

I totally agree with her when she said that MONEY was NOT the problem. She could earn it! Especially if you’re in IT, you are paid well. She can work harder. She can go abroad. That’s not a problem. The problem was she did not have TIME. I think this is the curse of being a great worker – if you do great work, they give you MORE work! Haha! I used to think “ngayon lang naman to, lilipas din to, makakapag-bakasyon din ako.” But the sad truth is that after the completion of a BIG project, they will give you an even BIGGER project! Obviously, they are not paying you to TAKE A VACATION. They are paying you to WORK.

I too, was there when these words were uttered in Meralco Theater back in 2011. It has become a blueprint for some of us, a goal we are willing to work hard on for a dream to take a vacation and STILL get paid, get paid, get paid!
“Work Work Work Work Get Paid
Work Work Get Paid Get Paid
Work Get paid Get paid Get paid
Until Eventually
get paid get paid get paid.”
— Monica & Bryan Penrod, Meralco Theater, June 30, 2011.

Truly, there’s more to life than earning an income. There’s LIVING the LIFESTYLE of your DREAMS!

Read her story below and be inspired.

When my mom and dad died when i was a teenager, I felt that life can be really short and i must see the world before i die. Left with only P50,000 (roughly US$1000) as inheritance money to finish my final year in the University, I was excited to work and earn my paycheck and use it to see the world! When i got the job as a software development analyst in a Telecommunications company, I made sure that i travel at least once a month! But with 15 vacation leaves a year (15 sick leaves), i felt it was not enough!

 

Staying in a cubicle for 8 hours everyday felt like life is passing by me. And weekend trips or long holidays felt like an ‘escape’ rather than reality.

It’s true, i believe that anyone who works hard can earn lots of money in IT or any other career. But is there an opportunity out there where i can work hard now and earn lots of time in the future?

June 2011, i was presented with an opportunity that’s not in line with my profession. I saw it’s potential because some people were living the life I wished for: a life where i can choose where to spend my time. I told myself, what’s 2-5 years of learning and working on a new profession if i can create the life i want? What’s there to lose? Time would pass anyway so I might as well try it.

“Work Work Work Work Get Paid
Work Work Get Paid Get Paid
Work Get paid Get paid Get paid
Until Eventually
get paid get paid get paid.”
— Monica & Bryan Penrod, Meralco Theater, June 30, 2011.

That’s the future i wanted.
Fast forward to 2017. No longer do i post the words “back to reality” after a vacation… because this is now my reality. 🙂

I did not Y.O.L.O. as others might think. I built a passive income source first that can allow me the flexibility of spending my time to things important to me.
My mentor told me, Y.O.L.O is not true. You don’t live once! Y.O.D.O., You only DIE once, but you should LIVE EVERYDAY! <3

 

Watch this video to learn more about Anj’s amazing travel adventure to Europe!!! 49 days, 11 countries and 26 cities!!! Fully-paid all by her online business!!! The best part is, she was still earning PASSIVE INCOME while travelling since her business is thriving even without her.