dentists covered by medicard
◦MEDICard QC
Address: 937 G/F MESU Realty Trading Corp., EDSA, Quezon City
Contact Number: (02) 920-8457, 920-5164, 775-4629
Fax No: (02) 920-8457
Clinic Schedule: M-F 7am-7pm, Sat 7am-5pm
◦MEDICard Makati
Address: 2129 G/F King’s Court II Bldg.,
Don Chino Roces Ave., Makati City
Contact Number: (02) 811-2411 / 811-0390
Fax Number: (02) 811-2007
Clinic Schedule: M-F 7am-6pm, Sat 7am-3pm
The Medical City
Trunkline: 635-6789 loc 3008 and 3009
Gound Floor, Medical Arts Tower
Coordinator: Ivy Rosal
Makati Medical Center
Direct Line: 893-7740
Trunkline: 815-9911 local 2373
Room 373, New Wing
Clinic Supervisor: Cecile Galvez
Monday, 13 May 2013
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Ideas & Opportunities
It used to be people went outside the home to earn money or apply for jobs. However, with the rough economic times in the last two years dealing major setbacks to major employing companies and even bigger corporations, more and more people are now going back to their homes, not to remain unemployed, but to become employers themselves by creating their own business.
Who can blame them? Maintaining a home-based business requires a smaller start-up cost as compared to thousands to millions of pesos needed for purchasing new equipment and creating your own space.
Rather than pay thousands of pesos for a few square meters, there’s virtually no need to pay monthly rent because your home is your office. [Read about a successful business that started at home here]
There’s also no need to shell out a small fortune to hire regular employees, you control your workload and your time, and the best part, you are your own boss. It isn’t surprising to find that for those who have made the leap from employee to employer, they began the transformation at home.
Many started their businesses as a part-time job, and eventually made it their fulltime career, finding more than just financial fulfillment in a small capital and home-based business. And for the lucky few, the business that literally started in their own backyard became the beginning of a bigger, and more ambitious mainstream brand. And with the Internet becoming an accessible and free platform for start-up entrepreneurs to begin their business ventures, it’s only a matter of time before another small capital and home-based business makes it out into the big league. And to think it all began at home.
Set Up a Home –Based Business in Six Steps
Just because you have the luxury of having your business in your home doesn’t mean you can treat your business like your home. It’s still, after all, a business. Learn the right way to set-up your own home-based business. [Read about Mama Lou's home-made cookies here]
STEP 1: Make it Official
Registering your home-based business gives you and your company credibility and shows your customers or clients that despite being home-based, you still mean serious
business. It’s easier that you think.
Action 1: The Department of Trade and Industry has made registering your business name easier with its Business Name Registration System (BNRS). Log on to www.bnrs.dti.gov.ph and check if the business name you have in mind is already taken. To save time, have at least three possible names for back up. [See five rules for a home-based business here]
Page 2: Permits
Action 2: Create an account by filling in your full name and e-mail address. The BNRS will send your password to your email, and using the password, log in to your free account.
Action 3: Once you’re logged in, go to the Online Services tab and click on the Request for a New Application. After reading and understanding the Terms and Conditions, click the button indicating your agreement to the terms, and proceed to filling up the online application form.
Action 4: Once complete, submit the online application form and to receive an e-mail notifying you of the approval of your application. If approved, you’ll receive a transaction Reference Number Acknowledgement Form (TRNAF), which you will need to print, sign, and later submit to the DTI Office together with the following: [Learn how to run your home-based business like a pro here]
• A printed copy of the e-mail notification from the DTI approving your Web application for a new business name;
• An original and photocopy of proof of citizenship (passport, voters ID, birth certificate);
• Two passport-size ID pictures; and
• A processing fee of P165.00, plus P15 for documentary stamps.
Action 5: The DTI will reserve your proposed business name for three days only. Within that time, you can visit the DTI Office to pay the processing fee and submit the required documents. Upon DTI’s notification, you can then go back to receive your business name document.
The steps above apply only if you are a single proprietorship. If you plan to register as a partnership or a corporation, you will need to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov.ph).
STEP 2: Get Permitted
Before you can operate, it’s also important to secure permits from your local government, which is the city where your home-office will be located.
Action 1: Obtain a barangay clearance. [See list of hot home-based business ideas here]
Where: Barangay Hall
What you need to bring: Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC
Fee: P1,500
Action 2: Obtain a mayor’s permit (also known as a business permit).
Where: Municipal or city hall in the place where you will set up your business
What you need to bring: Barangay clearance; Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC; Location sketch of your place of business; Community Tax Certificate
Action 3: Obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
Where: Bureau of Internal Revenue [Read more about other home-based entrepreneurs here]
What you need to bring: Accomplished BIR forms 1901 or 1903; Location sketch of your place of business; A copy of your mayor’s permit or municipal license; Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC
Fee: P500 plus 1 percent of subscribed capital for the documentary stamp
Page 3: Social Security
Action 4: Obtain special permits.
Depending on the nature of your home-based business, you may also need to obtain special permits. If your home-based business, for example, will be dealing with food, chemicals, of any health-related product or service, a permit from the Department of Health–Bureau of Food and Drugs would be needed. For a full list, visit the Philippine Business Registry website (www.business.gov.ph).
Step 3: Get Social Security for Your Workers
All businesses are required to register their employees for Social Security protection.
Where: Social Security System (www.sss.gov.ph) [Read about two successful furniture businesses that started at home here]
What you need to bring: Accomplished SSS Form R-1 for employer registration; Accomplished SSS Form R-1A, which lists the names of your employees; Articles of Partnership or Incorporation for partnerships or corporations
Step 4: Know The Numbers
The key to making a home-based business work is organization. This not only goes for the physical set-up of your office space, but even with you business’ finances. Having a good accounting system helps with not only gauging your profit, but also separating your personal and professional finances.
Tip 1: Your accounting system must give you control over transactions. In particular, the system must help you prevent unauthorized payments or theft from cash collections. [See four reminders to be an effective one-man company here]
Tip 2: Your accounting system must be compatible with your business operations and organizational structure. What’s the use of acquiring expensive accounting software when you can only use 20 percent of its functions?
Tip 3: You accounting system must be flexible enough to allow you to upgrade it without doing a complete overhaul. Your business may expand in a few years’ time with new products and services. Your current system should be able to adapt to possible changes in the business.
Tip 4: Always do a cost-benefit analysis when designing an accounting system. Do the benefits of buying an off-the-shelf computerized system outweigh the cost? Are you better off simplifying your accounting with a manual system rather than investing in software packages given your current business setup? Will an investment for accounting software pay for itself in the long run? [See five ways to survive the startup phase here}
Page 4: Time and marketing
Step 5: Keep Time
Despite being a home-based business, it’s important to keep regular office hours to create the atmosphere of professionalism and efficiency within the company. Make it immediately known to your customers and clients that you will only entertain them during that certain period.
Not only does this make your business seem professional, but it also prevents your work-life from interfering with your home-life, creating a boundary between the two. This way, instances like taking calls during weekends or meeting with clients during holidays can be avoided.
Step 6: Make Yourself Known
Aside from traditional forms of marketing such as leaflets, flyers, tarpaulins, and print ads, home-based businesses have found a new home in cyberspace. [See two startup principles for aspiring entrepreneurs here]
The Internet has proved to be the best, and not to mention cheapest, marketing tool. Its reach is global, and its cost is virtually free. Social networking sites like Facebook and Multiply have become a thriving marketing platform for start-up entrepreneurs. Or if you have the finances, you can purchase your own domain name, and hire a small Web development company to help create your own personal website.
Still, for many successful home-based businesses, experience has proven that the best marketing tool is word of mouth. And you can only ensure this if you treat your customers well and maintain a high standard for your product or service.
Useful Contact Information:
Social Security System
SSS Building East Avenue,
Diliman, Quezon City
(02) 920-6401; (02) 920-6446
www.sss.gov.ph
Department of Trade and Industry
385 Industry and Investments Bldg.,
Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City 1200
(02) 751-3330; (02) 751-5096
www.dti.gov.ph
DTI Business Name Registration System
www.bnrs.dti.gov.ph
Philippine Business Registry
(02) 729-8681
pbr-pmu@dti.gov.ph
www.business.gov.ph
Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC Building, EDSA, Greenhills,
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
(02) 584-0923; (02) 584-5293
www.sec.gov.ph
Related Articles:
Startup tips from successful entrepreneurs
The path from startup to going big time
Transform your great biz idea into reality
STEP 1: Make it Official
Registering your home-based business gives you and your company credibility and shows your customers or clients that despite being home-based, you still mean serious
business. It’s easier that you think.
Action 1: The Department of Trade and Industry has made registering your business name easier with its Business Name Registration System (BNRS). Log on to www.bnrs.dti.gov.ph and check if the business name you have in mind is already taken. To save time, have at least three possible names for back up. [See five rules for a home-based business here]
Page 2: Permits
Action 2: Create an account by filling in your full name and e-mail address. The BNRS will send your password to your email, and using the password, log in to your free account.
Action 3: Once you’re logged in, go to the Online Services tab and click on the Request for a New Application. After reading and understanding the Terms and Conditions, click the button indicating your agreement to the terms, and proceed to filling up the online application form.
Action 4: Once complete, submit the online application form and to receive an e-mail notifying you of the approval of your application. If approved, you’ll receive a transaction Reference Number Acknowledgement Form (TRNAF), which you will need to print, sign, and later submit to the DTI Office together with the following: [Learn how to run your home-based business like a pro here]
• A printed copy of the e-mail notification from the DTI approving your Web application for a new business name;
• An original and photocopy of proof of citizenship (passport, voters ID, birth certificate);
• Two passport-size ID pictures; and
• A processing fee of P165.00, plus P15 for documentary stamps.
Action 5: The DTI will reserve your proposed business name for three days only. Within that time, you can visit the DTI Office to pay the processing fee and submit the required documents. Upon DTI’s notification, you can then go back to receive your business name document.
The steps above apply only if you are a single proprietorship. If you plan to register as a partnership or a corporation, you will need to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov.ph).
STEP 2: Get Permitted
Before you can operate, it’s also important to secure permits from your local government, which is the city where your home-office will be located.
Action 1: Obtain a barangay clearance. [See list of hot home-based business ideas here]
Where: Barangay Hall
What you need to bring: Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC
Fee: P1,500
Action 2: Obtain a mayor’s permit (also known as a business permit).
Where: Municipal or city hall in the place where you will set up your business
What you need to bring: Barangay clearance; Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC; Location sketch of your place of business; Community Tax Certificate
Action 3: Obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
Where: Bureau of Internal Revenue [Read more about other home-based entrepreneurs here]
What you need to bring: Accomplished BIR forms 1901 or 1903; Location sketch of your place of business; A copy of your mayor’s permit or municipal license; Registration certificate from the DTI or SEC
Fee: P500 plus 1 percent of subscribed capital for the documentary stamp
Page 3: Social Security
Action 4: Obtain special permits.
Depending on the nature of your home-based business, you may also need to obtain special permits. If your home-based business, for example, will be dealing with food, chemicals, of any health-related product or service, a permit from the Department of Health–Bureau of Food and Drugs would be needed. For a full list, visit the Philippine Business Registry website (www.business.gov.ph).
Step 3: Get Social Security for Your Workers
All businesses are required to register their employees for Social Security protection.
Where: Social Security System (www.sss.gov.ph) [Read about two successful furniture businesses that started at home here]
What you need to bring: Accomplished SSS Form R-1 for employer registration; Accomplished SSS Form R-1A, which lists the names of your employees; Articles of Partnership or Incorporation for partnerships or corporations
Step 4: Know The Numbers
The key to making a home-based business work is organization. This not only goes for the physical set-up of your office space, but even with you business’ finances. Having a good accounting system helps with not only gauging your profit, but also separating your personal and professional finances.
Tip 1: Your accounting system must give you control over transactions. In particular, the system must help you prevent unauthorized payments or theft from cash collections. [See four reminders to be an effective one-man company here]
Tip 2: Your accounting system must be compatible with your business operations and organizational structure. What’s the use of acquiring expensive accounting software when you can only use 20 percent of its functions?
Tip 3: You accounting system must be flexible enough to allow you to upgrade it without doing a complete overhaul. Your business may expand in a few years’ time with new products and services. Your current system should be able to adapt to possible changes in the business.
Tip 4: Always do a cost-benefit analysis when designing an accounting system. Do the benefits of buying an off-the-shelf computerized system outweigh the cost? Are you better off simplifying your accounting with a manual system rather than investing in software packages given your current business setup? Will an investment for accounting software pay for itself in the long run? [See five ways to survive the startup phase here}
Page 4: Time and marketing
Step 5: Keep Time
Despite being a home-based business, it’s important to keep regular office hours to create the atmosphere of professionalism and efficiency within the company. Make it immediately known to your customers and clients that you will only entertain them during that certain period.
Not only does this make your business seem professional, but it also prevents your work-life from interfering with your home-life, creating a boundary between the two. This way, instances like taking calls during weekends or meeting with clients during holidays can be avoided.
Step 6: Make Yourself Known
Aside from traditional forms of marketing such as leaflets, flyers, tarpaulins, and print ads, home-based businesses have found a new home in cyberspace. [See two startup principles for aspiring entrepreneurs here]
The Internet has proved to be the best, and not to mention cheapest, marketing tool. Its reach is global, and its cost is virtually free. Social networking sites like Facebook and Multiply have become a thriving marketing platform for start-up entrepreneurs. Or if you have the finances, you can purchase your own domain name, and hire a small Web development company to help create your own personal website.
Still, for many successful home-based businesses, experience has proven that the best marketing tool is word of mouth. And you can only ensure this if you treat your customers well and maintain a high standard for your product or service.
Useful Contact Information:
Social Security System
SSS Building East Avenue,
Diliman, Quezon City
(02) 920-6401; (02) 920-6446
www.sss.gov.ph
Department of Trade and Industry
385 Industry and Investments Bldg.,
Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City 1200
(02) 751-3330; (02) 751-5096
www.dti.gov.ph
DTI Business Name Registration System
www.bnrs.dti.gov.ph
Philippine Business Registry
(02) 729-8681
pbr-pmu@dti.gov.ph
www.business.gov.ph
Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC Building, EDSA, Greenhills,
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
(02) 584-0923; (02) 584-5293
www.sec.gov.ph
Related Articles:
Startup tips from successful entrepreneurs
The path from startup to going big time
Transform your great biz idea into reality
Home-based web biz, anyone?
Home-based Internet businesses have been growing in the Philippines because of the easy access and convenience they provide to part-time entrepreneurs. Among these entrepreneurs is Joel Christopher Remandaban of the Internet marketing company masterlistbuilder.com, who believes that the Philippines is in a great position to become a global Internet services hub.
“The Philippines is blessed to have such an educated population base, and this is our advantage over other countries,” he says. “The Web is a great equalizer because it allows you to serve people on the other side of the world while you are sitting in the comfort of your own home. And as knowledge workers become more in demand, we in the Philippines will reap the benefits.”
He says that people need not worry about the global economic crunch because it is also a good opportunity to cash in on the business opportunities offered by the Web.
“Right now, people all over the world are looking for value,” he explains. “So, the race is going to be in reaching the most people at the least amount of time, in presenting a unique product proposition, and in making the sale. There’s no limit to the amount of money you can make on the Web; it’s like creating money out of thin air.”
Remandaban started his online marketing services firm in 1999 in the basement of his home in San Antonio, Texas. It remains a home-based business today although it has grown into a million-dollar enterprise serving clients the world over.
“I get up in the morning and, still in my pajamas and T-shirt, go to work on my computer,” he says. “This lifestyle really suits me because I control my time and manage my teams from home. I believe that others can do this, too, as long as they are dedicated to their craft and keep on persevering.”
To measure the country’s interest in Web-based content, one needs only to look at the popularity of the major Internet social networking sites. Indeed, social networking providers like Friendster and Multiply even use the Philippines as a test-bed for their new service offerings.
Remandaban says the popularity of social networking is a boon to people who want to earn extra money off the Web. Selling merchandise, opening a blog, doing freelance work, and direct selling are just some of the moneymaking ventures one can get into on the Internet.
He explains: “There are many revenue streams on the Internet that are open even to amateur Web entrepreneurs. I started my business in 2000 with no knowledge about the Internet, and until now, I still struggle with some of the Web features available to me. So, if someone like me who is a non-‘geek’ can do it, so can anybody.”
One other example of a home-based enterprise on the Web is that of 28-year-old May Salvador, a single mother of one. She runs a virtual shop on the social networking site Multiply.com and the retail site Auction.ph. She says her income had been significant enough for her to be able to quit her job and just focus on selling merchandise online.
“I sell native fare like bags, delicacies, and accessories,” she says. “At the start, it was just a way to supplement my income from my day job. As time went by, however, more and more orders came, so I had no choice but to make it a full-time occupation. But since I work right in my own home, I have more time to take care of my child and have more time to spend with him,” she says.
Remandaban says that Web-based businesses can basically run themselves—meaning they continue to make money even while the entrepreneur is asleep or working in a regular job.
“Automation and systemizing the online business is a great way of making it generate a steady revenue stream,” he says. “As soon as you discover your niche, you can basically program the business to run itself. At the end of the month, you’ll be surprised how much you’ve made even if you spend barely an hour or two on the Web each day.”
Be a pro blogger
Abe Olandres is a 30-something techie who earns six figures a month without holding a day job. Instead of trolling in an office cubicle all day, he spends his working hours in chic cafés drinking latte and typing on his trusty laptop computer. Olandres is a professional blogger, a new breed of Web-based entrepreneur who writes about his personal experiences and reviews gadgets for a living.
Olandres is hardly alone in this new growth market. A huge number of local bloggers—blog is an abbreviation of “Web log”—are steadily revolutionizing the way people interact all over the world. Indeed, Olandres’ Yugatech.com blog has morphed from an online diary to a top resource portal for local techies—a sort of news service where reviews of the latest gadgets to hit the local market are posted, critiqued, and discussed.
“I started blogging in 2000 with a personal journal,” he recalls. “Back then, I wasn’t making any money from it. It was just a way for me to share my expertise with other people. But in 2004, I shifted to blogging about technology exclusively, and that’s when the advertisers came calling.”
According to Olandres, bloggers typically have a number of revenue streams: sponsored content or posts that take up a particular product or company, paid subscriptions to the blog, or paid advertisements. Yugatech has taken the paid advertisement route, wherein companies pay it a certain fee either for a specific period of time, the number of ad clicks, or the number of “impressions” or times the ad was displayed on the site.
He explains that for a blog to succeed and make money, it must have a specific target and fill a particular need for Web surfers. In his case, he has chosen to focus on gadget reviews, eschewing the personality-driven nature of most other blogs. His site gets at least 300,000 pageviews a month, with 500 to 1,000 unique or new page-views per day. He pays a dedicated server of a foreign Web services firm to host his site. (For startups in the blog business, he suggests getting hosting services that cost less than P1,000 a month.) “Some blogs are general blogs that talk about the daily lives of their authors,” he says. “However, I find that unless you are already famous before you start blogging, there’s only a very small chance that you can attract user traffic to visit and read your posts. In my case, I decided to focus on technology because it’s my area of expertise, having worked for the IT industry for almost a decade.”
Another successful blogger, Anton Diaz, says that people who want to earn big from doing Web entries should concentrate on brand-building above all else. He explains: “A blog is such a personal device, and to succeed you need to put your personal stamp on it. This is one of the reasons why a blog takes anywhere from six months to one year to start earning. You first have to build an image, look, and feel for your site.”
Diaz, who runs www.ourawesomeplanet.com, a travel and cuisine site, says most startup blogs falter because they tend to cast wide blankets when they should instead stick to a specific genre or niche.
“With so many blogs out there now, you must really stick to what you know the most,” he says. “Audiences have become smarter over the years, and they will call you about mistakes you make in your posts.”
For people who think that blogging can be nothing more than a sideline, consider the ad income a successful blog can possibly rake in: Google’s AdSense, an online advertising service, pay anywhere from 1 US cent to $2 per ad click, while 1,000 impressions or views can make P200 for the blogger daily, not to mention income from sponsored ads and content that can make several hundreds of dollars to as much as a five-figure income monthly.
Says Olandres: “There are many revenue streams for pro-bloggers, but the majority comes from advertisements. Some bloggers even get offered to write content for foreign websites, which can also be lucrative.” On the other hand, Diaz says that running a pro-blogging site is like running any regular business, which needs overhead costs and a lot of hard work and patience.
He explains: “I quit my corporate job when my blog started making good money. It’s a lifestyle choice more than anything because with blogging, you can become your own boss. It does have its ups and downs, but as more and more people log on to the Internet, the potential for a good blog site becomes limitless.”
ABE OLANDRES
E-mail: abeolandres@gmail.com
Website: www.yugatech.com
ANTON DIAZ
E-mails: antondiaz@gmail.com; anton@diaz.ph
Website: www.ourawesomeplanet.com
Tips on blogging for a living
From Anton Diaz
www.ourawesomeplanet.com
Create a blog site. “Basic blog sites are available on the Internet like Blogger.com, Livejournal, and Wordpress.com. You can pay as low as $10 a year for a domain if you want your own site, and there are also hosting plans for less than $10 a month.”
Make your content unique. “Although it’s easy to copy from other websites, viewers can spot similarities and call you on it. Also, having unique content and a unique style sets you apart from other blogs.”
Be consistent. “You must maintain the quality of your work, because if you slack off, people will notice. Also, be very patient and cool when dealing with posters on your blog; some of them have very strong opinions on subjects you discuss, so staying calm and professional goes a long way.”
From Abe Olandres
www.yugatech.com
The blog must have a theme. “It must be specific, so if you’re into cars, it should be mostly about cars. Avoid unfocused stories because viewers can recognize venting and rambling and can get easily turned off.”
Seek and stick to your niche. “There are many blogs out there, so coming up with specific content should be your focus. You must have a niche, an area of expertise to fill.”
Patience is key. “Blogs can take months, even years, before they start making money because you have to establish your name first. It’s only then that advertisers would start noticing you. So, to stay competitive, you have to be patient and keep on coming up with great content.”
“The Philippines is blessed to have such an educated population base, and this is our advantage over other countries,” he says. “The Web is a great equalizer because it allows you to serve people on the other side of the world while you are sitting in the comfort of your own home. And as knowledge workers become more in demand, we in the Philippines will reap the benefits.”
He says that people need not worry about the global economic crunch because it is also a good opportunity to cash in on the business opportunities offered by the Web.
“Right now, people all over the world are looking for value,” he explains. “So, the race is going to be in reaching the most people at the least amount of time, in presenting a unique product proposition, and in making the sale. There’s no limit to the amount of money you can make on the Web; it’s like creating money out of thin air.”
Remandaban started his online marketing services firm in 1999 in the basement of his home in San Antonio, Texas. It remains a home-based business today although it has grown into a million-dollar enterprise serving clients the world over.
“I get up in the morning and, still in my pajamas and T-shirt, go to work on my computer,” he says. “This lifestyle really suits me because I control my time and manage my teams from home. I believe that others can do this, too, as long as they are dedicated to their craft and keep on persevering.”
To measure the country’s interest in Web-based content, one needs only to look at the popularity of the major Internet social networking sites. Indeed, social networking providers like Friendster and Multiply even use the Philippines as a test-bed for their new service offerings.
Remandaban says the popularity of social networking is a boon to people who want to earn extra money off the Web. Selling merchandise, opening a blog, doing freelance work, and direct selling are just some of the moneymaking ventures one can get into on the Internet.
He explains: “There are many revenue streams on the Internet that are open even to amateur Web entrepreneurs. I started my business in 2000 with no knowledge about the Internet, and until now, I still struggle with some of the Web features available to me. So, if someone like me who is a non-‘geek’ can do it, so can anybody.”
One other example of a home-based enterprise on the Web is that of 28-year-old May Salvador, a single mother of one. She runs a virtual shop on the social networking site Multiply.com and the retail site Auction.ph. She says her income had been significant enough for her to be able to quit her job and just focus on selling merchandise online.
“I sell native fare like bags, delicacies, and accessories,” she says. “At the start, it was just a way to supplement my income from my day job. As time went by, however, more and more orders came, so I had no choice but to make it a full-time occupation. But since I work right in my own home, I have more time to take care of my child and have more time to spend with him,” she says.
Remandaban says that Web-based businesses can basically run themselves—meaning they continue to make money even while the entrepreneur is asleep or working in a regular job.
“Automation and systemizing the online business is a great way of making it generate a steady revenue stream,” he says. “As soon as you discover your niche, you can basically program the business to run itself. At the end of the month, you’ll be surprised how much you’ve made even if you spend barely an hour or two on the Web each day.”
Be a pro blogger
Abe Olandres is a 30-something techie who earns six figures a month without holding a day job. Instead of trolling in an office cubicle all day, he spends his working hours in chic cafés drinking latte and typing on his trusty laptop computer. Olandres is a professional blogger, a new breed of Web-based entrepreneur who writes about his personal experiences and reviews gadgets for a living.
Olandres is hardly alone in this new growth market. A huge number of local bloggers—blog is an abbreviation of “Web log”—are steadily revolutionizing the way people interact all over the world. Indeed, Olandres’ Yugatech.com blog has morphed from an online diary to a top resource portal for local techies—a sort of news service where reviews of the latest gadgets to hit the local market are posted, critiqued, and discussed.
“I started blogging in 2000 with a personal journal,” he recalls. “Back then, I wasn’t making any money from it. It was just a way for me to share my expertise with other people. But in 2004, I shifted to blogging about technology exclusively, and that’s when the advertisers came calling.”
According to Olandres, bloggers typically have a number of revenue streams: sponsored content or posts that take up a particular product or company, paid subscriptions to the blog, or paid advertisements. Yugatech has taken the paid advertisement route, wherein companies pay it a certain fee either for a specific period of time, the number of ad clicks, or the number of “impressions” or times the ad was displayed on the site.
He explains that for a blog to succeed and make money, it must have a specific target and fill a particular need for Web surfers. In his case, he has chosen to focus on gadget reviews, eschewing the personality-driven nature of most other blogs. His site gets at least 300,000 pageviews a month, with 500 to 1,000 unique or new page-views per day. He pays a dedicated server of a foreign Web services firm to host his site. (For startups in the blog business, he suggests getting hosting services that cost less than P1,000 a month.) “Some blogs are general blogs that talk about the daily lives of their authors,” he says. “However, I find that unless you are already famous before you start blogging, there’s only a very small chance that you can attract user traffic to visit and read your posts. In my case, I decided to focus on technology because it’s my area of expertise, having worked for the IT industry for almost a decade.”
Another successful blogger, Anton Diaz, says that people who want to earn big from doing Web entries should concentrate on brand-building above all else. He explains: “A blog is such a personal device, and to succeed you need to put your personal stamp on it. This is one of the reasons why a blog takes anywhere from six months to one year to start earning. You first have to build an image, look, and feel for your site.”
Diaz, who runs www.ourawesomeplanet.com, a travel and cuisine site, says most startup blogs falter because they tend to cast wide blankets when they should instead stick to a specific genre or niche.
“With so many blogs out there now, you must really stick to what you know the most,” he says. “Audiences have become smarter over the years, and they will call you about mistakes you make in your posts.”
For people who think that blogging can be nothing more than a sideline, consider the ad income a successful blog can possibly rake in: Google’s AdSense, an online advertising service, pay anywhere from 1 US cent to $2 per ad click, while 1,000 impressions or views can make P200 for the blogger daily, not to mention income from sponsored ads and content that can make several hundreds of dollars to as much as a five-figure income monthly.
Says Olandres: “There are many revenue streams for pro-bloggers, but the majority comes from advertisements. Some bloggers even get offered to write content for foreign websites, which can also be lucrative.” On the other hand, Diaz says that running a pro-blogging site is like running any regular business, which needs overhead costs and a lot of hard work and patience.
He explains: “I quit my corporate job when my blog started making good money. It’s a lifestyle choice more than anything because with blogging, you can become your own boss. It does have its ups and downs, but as more and more people log on to the Internet, the potential for a good blog site becomes limitless.”
ABE OLANDRES
E-mail: abeolandres@gmail.com
Website: www.yugatech.com
ANTON DIAZ
E-mails: antondiaz@gmail.com; anton@diaz.ph
Website: www.ourawesomeplanet.com
Tips on blogging for a living
From Anton Diaz
www.ourawesomeplanet.com
Create a blog site. “Basic blog sites are available on the Internet like Blogger.com, Livejournal, and Wordpress.com. You can pay as low as $10 a year for a domain if you want your own site, and there are also hosting plans for less than $10 a month.”
Make your content unique. “Although it’s easy to copy from other websites, viewers can spot similarities and call you on it. Also, having unique content and a unique style sets you apart from other blogs.”
Be consistent. “You must maintain the quality of your work, because if you slack off, people will notice. Also, be very patient and cool when dealing with posters on your blog; some of them have very strong opinions on subjects you discuss, so staying calm and professional goes a long way.”
From Abe Olandres
www.yugatech.com
The blog must have a theme. “It must be specific, so if you’re into cars, it should be mostly about cars. Avoid unfocused stories because viewers can recognize venting and rambling and can get easily turned off.”
Seek and stick to your niche. “There are many blogs out there, so coming up with specific content should be your focus. You must have a niche, an area of expertise to fill.”
Patience is key. “Blogs can take months, even years, before they start making money because you have to establish your name first. It’s only then that advertisers would start noticing you. So, to stay competitive, you have to be patient and keep on coming up with great content.”
Part 3 of hot home-based business ideas
INDIGO MANILA BABY PRODUCTS
By Dulce Castillo-Morales. Photos by Walter Villa
Bosom buddies Monica Eleazar and Denise Gonzales conceived their business in 2007 when each was heavy with her first child. Both wanting to be full-time mothers, they had earlier decided to leave their respective corporate jobs.
"We talked and realized that we didn't want to work for somebody else forever," Eleazar recalls. "We didn't like the idea of having only two months of maternity leave and of leaving our babies with complete strangers. So we figured that we should start doing something that we love to do. We decided to start a small business with a few products."
Pooling P100,000 each in initial capital, the two best friends since college put up Indigo Baby in October of 2007 to make specialty products for babies and mothers. They made as pilot products 300 pieces of nappy clutches, 100 pieces of reversible nursing bibs, and 400 pieces of all-natural bed-and-bath products.
Gonzales says that they initially wanted to launch their business during a bazaar at the Rockwell Mall in Makati City that year, but something developed while they were waiting for the bazaar's scheduled opening. "We posted photos of our products online at Multiply.com and we received a lot of feedback and orders," she recalls.
As it turned out, the bulk of their sales were to come from online transactions. Indeed, their online business was so brisk that in less than a year, the partners had already recovered their initial capital.
"On a good day, we would make P5,000 to P8,000," Gonzales says. "The lowest we have gotten so far is about P1,000. And there's still a lot of potential because we haven't really done PR yet; it's been all through word of mouth."
Although they have kept Indigo Baby home-based, Eleazar and Gonzales have since taken their online business to a higher level. Officially pursuing Indigo Baby as a dotcom business, they launched an international website for it last year, Indigobabyshop.com. This enabled them to serve the needs of international clients who also wanted to buy and resell their products.
Indigobabyshop.com now has wholesale buyers in Singapore and Malaysia, so the partners recently put up P250,000 in additional capital to meet the growing demand. They now also have a full-time staff to help them in soliciting and in shipping orders, and each has also hired a yaya (nanny) for her baby, who is now a toddler. "Unlike when they were still babies when we could just carry them around, they run around a lot this time. So although we remain hands-on mothers, we need extra pairs of hands to care for them," explains Eleazar.
Despite its brisk online sales, Indigo Baby has since been also participating in several bazaars held in Metro Manila. The partners say that setting up booths or stalls in bazaars gives then the opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with their customers and to talk to them about the various Indigo Baby products.
Gonzales says that Indigo Baby products sell well because they have been tried, tested, and used by their very own babies, Santi and Benny, who both turned two years old last October when Indigo Baby celebrated its second anniversary. For instance, Gonzales says, they have included such essential oils as lavender and chamomile in their product offerings because Eleazar's son used to suffer from colic, and Eleazar had found lavender and chamomile to be effective homeopathic remedies.
"Since we are both mothers, we know what we need for our kids," Gonzales explains. "For instance, dengue is rampant, and because we are afraid that our babies might contract dengue, we came up with our own baby massage products."
Indeed, Indigo Baby now has diversified into a considerable range of baby-care products as well as a growing number of mother-care products, to which the partners will soon be adding a "Yummy Mommy" line consisting of facial care and hair care products.
And this is not all. Eleazar and Gonzales, joined this time by another college friend of theirs, Jeri Carillo, recently further diversified by putting up a wedding events company, Manila Wedding Bees (www.manilaweddingbees.multiply.com) .
DS PINOY MORINGA PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
By Jesse Edep. Photos by Jun Pinzon
Two young women, former public relations executive Joy Ann Dimabuyu, 27, and former marketing and events officer Desiree Segovia, 30, have teamed up to come up with natural health and beauty products using a unique organic ingredient: the oil from the malunggay or horseradishh tree, Morina oleifera.
In August last year, their company, DS Pinoy Moringa Enterprises, launched its wide line of malunggay-based products: body butter, body lotion, salt scrub, foot soak, hair wax, bath soap, hygienic wash, and massage oil. Malunggay oil, also known as ben oil, has been found to be highly suitable for high-end health and beauty products because of its softening and soothing properties and antioxidant content, particularly alpha-tocopherol or Vitamin E.
"Our products were sold out within two hours after we did a test market at Mara's Organic Market in Legaspi Village in Makati," says Segovia, who handles marketing and promotions for the products.
Dimabuyu, who is in charge of operations, says that because their products have always sold very well since their launching, they were able to recover their startup capital of P2,500 immediately.
Greatly encouraged by the favorable market reception, the partners have since decided to make their malunggay-based products their main business. Previously, they had ventured into making flip-flops, designing handmade accessories, and selling religious merchandise in Bulacan.
Dimabuyu says that at present, she and Segovia are both making their malunggay-based products on a home-based basis. They source the raw materials primarily from malunggay farmers in Dumaguete City and in the provinces of Batangas and Camarines Norte. When orders get big and the local supply falls short, however, they import malunggay oil from India, its biggest producer.
The partners give credit to Edilee Omoyon of All Organics, a seller and distributor of organic bath and body products, for teaching them how to make soaps and shampoos. This led them to put up their first partnership venture, the DS Pinoy Organics and Herbal Store. DS Pinoy Moringa was an offshoot of that partnership.
DS Pinoy Moringa now has a regular outlet at the AANI Herbal Garden and Livelihood Center at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, which is open daily, and another at Mara's Organic Market in Legaspi Village in Makati City, which is open only on Sundays. The products are now also carried by Back to the Garden, their outlet in Mandaue City.
Dimabuyu says that they have pending orders for their malunggay-based health and beauty products from the Department of Agriculture for its export showroom, and from the EchoStore at Serendra Piazza in the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
To promote their products, the partners have been joining trade fairs and bazaars. They are currently looking for a steady source of funding so they can meet the orders for their products from both their local outlets and their distributors in the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
They expect that within three years, with government strongly promoting the cultivation of malunggay and its health benefits, Filipinos will embrace and value a "culture of wellness" through a more widespread use of malunggay-based products.
"The good thing about our products is that the main ingredient, malunggay oil, is tried and tested," Segovia says. "So, once people become more aware of the need for proper health and natural wellness, we expect that acceptance of our all-natural products would become much easier."
JEVZAM'S ENTERPRISES TEACHING MATERIALS
By Maan D'Asis Pamaran. Photos by Walter Villa
"A lot of people ask my parents if they are teachers," says Evelyn Zamora with a grin. This is because the family business, Jevzam's Enterprises, produces colorful charts that are used by schoolteachers as instructional aids.
Her father, Jose M. Zamora, is actually an air-conditioning and refrigerator technician by trade who had spent 10 years in Saudi Arabia as a contract worker. Her mother Virginia is a dressmaking and tailoring school graduate; unable to finish first year in high school, she used to work in a garments factory before she married Jose.
Jose recalls how they got into the chart business: "I came back home to the Philippines when my visa expired in 1990. Our first business when I returned to the country was making rags. My wife knew how to sew and I told my family that we needed some sort of business from where we can get our daily expenses. But my wife gave up on making the rags because it was dusty work, what with all those fibers flying around the house!"
It was at this time that a neighbor of the Zamoras gave them the idea of making charts as a source of income. "That neighbor of ours was in the business of making instructional materials on manila paper," Jose says. One day, she asked us if we could make charts out of plastic material. She gave us a sample that she had bought from a street vendor in Blumentritt [in Manila]. I looked at the chart and I knew at once that we could replicate it. The machine we had for sewing rags was tough enough to sew through the material. We then bought five colors of the material from Divisoria and made our first batch of the charts. We showed them to teachers in nearby schools and the charts got sold out right away.?"
That was five years ago. Since then, the Zamora family has been producing various charts under the Charts Unlimited label, adding more chart designs over the years for their growing clientele. They also started distributing their products through several outlets of the Pandayan Bookstore, which has its main store in Valenzuela City.
Evelyn recalls how the family's chart business progressed: "Before every school opening, my parents would get so busy making charts. When things tapered off in the months after that, they would put up a small barbecue stand and cook and sell barbecue instead. Then, at the approach of the 'ber' months, they would start making charts again."
But because the products were so sturdily made, it took such a long time for the customers of the Zamoras to reorder charts from them. The family therefore decided to expand the markets for their charts from Valenzuela to more cities and schools.
"Now we go as far as Manila and Marikina to sell our wares," says Jose. We have added more designs to our lineup, too, and we have done away with the ordinary rectangular charts that can be bought just anywhere. Instead, we are now focusing on innovative and colorful designs that are more attractive to children, such as our apple chart, school bus chart, tree chart, sunflower chart, and pencil chart. We also make items for specific school lessons like the days of the week, place value, and fractions. They are now among our bestsellers. One other bestseller of ours is the 'Show Me' chart, which schoolchildren use to learn how to spell out words."
Jose says that no job is too big or too small for them to make, and that many of their chart patterns actually are suggested or requested by the teachers themselves. "Our biggest project so far was a cake chart," he says. "I had to really use my imagination to make it. It turned out that it was actually an organizational chart for the school that ordered it."
The business is still home-based, and Evelyn says she is mostly happy with the way things are. "Expenses are kept at a minimum, because I don't have to pay for rent. I am also able to supervise our employees better, because I have less time constraints. Our family also has more opportunities to bond."
But she cites some challenges, too: "Since we don't have commercial space for display, we really have to reach out to our clients by visiting, calling, or e-mailing them. Some people don't take us seriously when they find out we work from a home office."
From their initial capital of P5,000 five years ago, Jevzam's Enterprises now has acquired four sewing machines to keep up with the growth of its production requirements. It also recently bought a computer, and is now looking into establishing dealership agreements for its expanding product lines.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Zamoras are expecting much bigger volumes of orders in the months ahead now that Evelyn and an uncle Ric are handling the marketing for the family's chart business. To reach a wider market, she has also created an e-mail account and a Multiply account for the company.
they are now in talks with a bookseller in Brunei to sell their charts there. They are working on a deal with a major bookstore for distribution of their charts in its outlets.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Indigo Baby
Showroom: Gallery Medusa
120 Capt. Manzano St. corner N. Domingo St., Brgy. Pedro Cruz, San Juan
Telephone: (02) 725-9285
E-mail: indigo.manila@gmail.com
Website: www.indigomanila.multiply.com
DS Pinoy Moringa Enterprises
Mobile: (0905) 342-2256; (0918) 800-1728
Website: www.dspinoymoringa.multiply.com
Jevzam's Enterprises
3214 Gen. T. De Leon St, Teacher's Village
Karuhatan, Valenzuela City
Telephone: (02) 444-0719
Mobile: (0919) 375-0222
E-mail: chartsunlimited@yahoo.com.ph
Website: http://chartsunlimited.multiply.com
By Dulce Castillo-Morales. Photos by Walter Villa
Bosom buddies Monica Eleazar and Denise Gonzales conceived their business in 2007 when each was heavy with her first child. Both wanting to be full-time mothers, they had earlier decided to leave their respective corporate jobs.
"We talked and realized that we didn't want to work for somebody else forever," Eleazar recalls. "We didn't like the idea of having only two months of maternity leave and of leaving our babies with complete strangers. So we figured that we should start doing something that we love to do. We decided to start a small business with a few products."
Pooling P100,000 each in initial capital, the two best friends since college put up Indigo Baby in October of 2007 to make specialty products for babies and mothers. They made as pilot products 300 pieces of nappy clutches, 100 pieces of reversible nursing bibs, and 400 pieces of all-natural bed-and-bath products.
Gonzales says that they initially wanted to launch their business during a bazaar at the Rockwell Mall in Makati City that year, but something developed while they were waiting for the bazaar's scheduled opening. "We posted photos of our products online at Multiply.com and we received a lot of feedback and orders," she recalls.
As it turned out, the bulk of their sales were to come from online transactions. Indeed, their online business was so brisk that in less than a year, the partners had already recovered their initial capital.
"On a good day, we would make P5,000 to P8,000," Gonzales says. "The lowest we have gotten so far is about P1,000. And there's still a lot of potential because we haven't really done PR yet; it's been all through word of mouth."
Although they have kept Indigo Baby home-based, Eleazar and Gonzales have since taken their online business to a higher level. Officially pursuing Indigo Baby as a dotcom business, they launched an international website for it last year, Indigobabyshop.com. This enabled them to serve the needs of international clients who also wanted to buy and resell their products.
Indigobabyshop.com now has wholesale buyers in Singapore and Malaysia, so the partners recently put up P250,000 in additional capital to meet the growing demand. They now also have a full-time staff to help them in soliciting and in shipping orders, and each has also hired a yaya (nanny) for her baby, who is now a toddler. "Unlike when they were still babies when we could just carry them around, they run around a lot this time. So although we remain hands-on mothers, we need extra pairs of hands to care for them," explains Eleazar.
Despite its brisk online sales, Indigo Baby has since been also participating in several bazaars held in Metro Manila. The partners say that setting up booths or stalls in bazaars gives then the opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with their customers and to talk to them about the various Indigo Baby products.
Gonzales says that Indigo Baby products sell well because they have been tried, tested, and used by their very own babies, Santi and Benny, who both turned two years old last October when Indigo Baby celebrated its second anniversary. For instance, Gonzales says, they have included such essential oils as lavender and chamomile in their product offerings because Eleazar's son used to suffer from colic, and Eleazar had found lavender and chamomile to be effective homeopathic remedies.
"Since we are both mothers, we know what we need for our kids," Gonzales explains. "For instance, dengue is rampant, and because we are afraid that our babies might contract dengue, we came up with our own baby massage products."
Indeed, Indigo Baby now has diversified into a considerable range of baby-care products as well as a growing number of mother-care products, to which the partners will soon be adding a "Yummy Mommy" line consisting of facial care and hair care products.
And this is not all. Eleazar and Gonzales, joined this time by another college friend of theirs, Jeri Carillo, recently further diversified by putting up a wedding events company, Manila Wedding Bees (www.manilaweddingbees.multiply.com) .
DS PINOY MORINGA PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
By Jesse Edep. Photos by Jun Pinzon
Two young women, former public relations executive Joy Ann Dimabuyu, 27, and former marketing and events officer Desiree Segovia, 30, have teamed up to come up with natural health and beauty products using a unique organic ingredient: the oil from the malunggay or horseradishh tree, Morina oleifera.
In August last year, their company, DS Pinoy Moringa Enterprises, launched its wide line of malunggay-based products: body butter, body lotion, salt scrub, foot soak, hair wax, bath soap, hygienic wash, and massage oil. Malunggay oil, also known as ben oil, has been found to be highly suitable for high-end health and beauty products because of its softening and soothing properties and antioxidant content, particularly alpha-tocopherol or Vitamin E.
"Our products were sold out within two hours after we did a test market at Mara's Organic Market in Legaspi Village in Makati," says Segovia, who handles marketing and promotions for the products.
Dimabuyu, who is in charge of operations, says that because their products have always sold very well since their launching, they were able to recover their startup capital of P2,500 immediately.
Greatly encouraged by the favorable market reception, the partners have since decided to make their malunggay-based products their main business. Previously, they had ventured into making flip-flops, designing handmade accessories, and selling religious merchandise in Bulacan.
Dimabuyu says that at present, she and Segovia are both making their malunggay-based products on a home-based basis. They source the raw materials primarily from malunggay farmers in Dumaguete City and in the provinces of Batangas and Camarines Norte. When orders get big and the local supply falls short, however, they import malunggay oil from India, its biggest producer.
The partners give credit to Edilee Omoyon of All Organics, a seller and distributor of organic bath and body products, for teaching them how to make soaps and shampoos. This led them to put up their first partnership venture, the DS Pinoy Organics and Herbal Store. DS Pinoy Moringa was an offshoot of that partnership.
DS Pinoy Moringa now has a regular outlet at the AANI Herbal Garden and Livelihood Center at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, which is open daily, and another at Mara's Organic Market in Legaspi Village in Makati City, which is open only on Sundays. The products are now also carried by Back to the Garden, their outlet in Mandaue City.
Dimabuyu says that they have pending orders for their malunggay-based health and beauty products from the Department of Agriculture for its export showroom, and from the EchoStore at Serendra Piazza in the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
To promote their products, the partners have been joining trade fairs and bazaars. They are currently looking for a steady source of funding so they can meet the orders for their products from both their local outlets and their distributors in the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
They expect that within three years, with government strongly promoting the cultivation of malunggay and its health benefits, Filipinos will embrace and value a "culture of wellness" through a more widespread use of malunggay-based products.
"The good thing about our products is that the main ingredient, malunggay oil, is tried and tested," Segovia says. "So, once people become more aware of the need for proper health and natural wellness, we expect that acceptance of our all-natural products would become much easier."
JEVZAM'S ENTERPRISES TEACHING MATERIALS
By Maan D'Asis Pamaran. Photos by Walter Villa
"A lot of people ask my parents if they are teachers," says Evelyn Zamora with a grin. This is because the family business, Jevzam's Enterprises, produces colorful charts that are used by schoolteachers as instructional aids.
Her father, Jose M. Zamora, is actually an air-conditioning and refrigerator technician by trade who had spent 10 years in Saudi Arabia as a contract worker. Her mother Virginia is a dressmaking and tailoring school graduate; unable to finish first year in high school, she used to work in a garments factory before she married Jose.
Jose recalls how they got into the chart business: "I came back home to the Philippines when my visa expired in 1990. Our first business when I returned to the country was making rags. My wife knew how to sew and I told my family that we needed some sort of business from where we can get our daily expenses. But my wife gave up on making the rags because it was dusty work, what with all those fibers flying around the house!"
It was at this time that a neighbor of the Zamoras gave them the idea of making charts as a source of income. "That neighbor of ours was in the business of making instructional materials on manila paper," Jose says. One day, she asked us if we could make charts out of plastic material. She gave us a sample that she had bought from a street vendor in Blumentritt [in Manila]. I looked at the chart and I knew at once that we could replicate it. The machine we had for sewing rags was tough enough to sew through the material. We then bought five colors of the material from Divisoria and made our first batch of the charts. We showed them to teachers in nearby schools and the charts got sold out right away.?"
That was five years ago. Since then, the Zamora family has been producing various charts under the Charts Unlimited label, adding more chart designs over the years for their growing clientele. They also started distributing their products through several outlets of the Pandayan Bookstore, which has its main store in Valenzuela City.
Evelyn recalls how the family's chart business progressed: "Before every school opening, my parents would get so busy making charts. When things tapered off in the months after that, they would put up a small barbecue stand and cook and sell barbecue instead. Then, at the approach of the 'ber' months, they would start making charts again."
But because the products were so sturdily made, it took such a long time for the customers of the Zamoras to reorder charts from them. The family therefore decided to expand the markets for their charts from Valenzuela to more cities and schools.
"Now we go as far as Manila and Marikina to sell our wares," says Jose. We have added more designs to our lineup, too, and we have done away with the ordinary rectangular charts that can be bought just anywhere. Instead, we are now focusing on innovative and colorful designs that are more attractive to children, such as our apple chart, school bus chart, tree chart, sunflower chart, and pencil chart. We also make items for specific school lessons like the days of the week, place value, and fractions. They are now among our bestsellers. One other bestseller of ours is the 'Show Me' chart, which schoolchildren use to learn how to spell out words."
Jose says that no job is too big or too small for them to make, and that many of their chart patterns actually are suggested or requested by the teachers themselves. "Our biggest project so far was a cake chart," he says. "I had to really use my imagination to make it. It turned out that it was actually an organizational chart for the school that ordered it."
The business is still home-based, and Evelyn says she is mostly happy with the way things are. "Expenses are kept at a minimum, because I don't have to pay for rent. I am also able to supervise our employees better, because I have less time constraints. Our family also has more opportunities to bond."
But she cites some challenges, too: "Since we don't have commercial space for display, we really have to reach out to our clients by visiting, calling, or e-mailing them. Some people don't take us seriously when they find out we work from a home office."
From their initial capital of P5,000 five years ago, Jevzam's Enterprises now has acquired four sewing machines to keep up with the growth of its production requirements. It also recently bought a computer, and is now looking into establishing dealership agreements for its expanding product lines.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Zamoras are expecting much bigger volumes of orders in the months ahead now that Evelyn and an uncle Ric are handling the marketing for the family's chart business. To reach a wider market, she has also created an e-mail account and a Multiply account for the company.
they are now in talks with a bookseller in Brunei to sell their charts there. They are working on a deal with a major bookstore for distribution of their charts in its outlets.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Indigo Baby
Showroom: Gallery Medusa
120 Capt. Manzano St. corner N. Domingo St., Brgy. Pedro Cruz, San Juan
Telephone: (02) 725-9285
E-mail: indigo.manila@gmail.com
Website: www.indigomanila.multiply.com
DS Pinoy Moringa Enterprises
Mobile: (0905) 342-2256; (0918) 800-1728
Website: www.dspinoymoringa.multiply.com
Jevzam's Enterprises
3214 Gen. T. De Leon St, Teacher's Village
Karuhatan, Valenzuela City
Telephone: (02) 444-0719
Mobile: (0919) 375-0222
E-mail: chartsunlimited@yahoo.com.ph
Website: http://chartsunlimited.multiply.com
Hot home-based business ideas
The tough economic times may be dealing hard blows on big business, but they are giving an auspicious start to many home-based businesses in the country.
The reasons are obvious. Doing business while staying at home requires much smaller startup costs; you don't have to pay a small fortune for a fancy office and the staffing and utilities to maintain it. And, of course, family members and others living in the household can be expected to help or pitch in for you anytime and on short notice--often without need to pay them hefty overtime or holiday compensation.
No wonder then that many startup entrepreneurs are finding home-based businesses a great way to supplement their income from their day jobs, and that not a few career-shifters are finding both psychic and financial fulfillment from running home-based enterprises.
Even more gratifying, a great many home-based businesses become the seed bed or takeoff point for bigger, more ambitious mainstream businesses, some of which blossom into multimillion-peso ventures even if they continue to be run at home.
Entrepreneur has put together the inspiring and highly instructive stories of 12 successful home-based businesses--ventures that are as diverse as their owners and their interests.
CORNERSTONE CERAMICS
By Roderick Abad Photos by Jun Pinzon
In April 1996, husband-and-wife EJ and Eva Espiritu left the United States and came back to the Philippines, hoping to find work here as a ceramic engineer and marketing professional, respectively. Little did they know, however, that they would just end up adding to the country's increasing unemployment rate--what with the 1997 Asian financial crisis hitting economies in the region, including the Philippines, really hard.
"We realized we didn't have that much money to support ourselves in the long run, so we immediately took the business opportunity offered to us by a friend of my husband," recalls Eva. "It was to do subcontracting work for an exporter selling house ware and decor to Europe and elsewhere overseas. That was how we got started on a home-based pottery business--purely out of necessity."
In August of 1996, after the exporter lent them P125,000 in initial capital, the Espiritu couple started their small-scale enterprise in a rented house in Bacoor, Cavite. Calling it Cornerstone Ceramics, they registered it as a sole proprietorship. Then they bought a kiln and other baking equipment, contracted 12 workers, and made their garage double up as a makeshift production area for the ceramic components and earthenware needed by the exporter.
The production demand almost doubled in less than a year, so the Espiritus transferred their operations to a bigger place in Imus, Cavite, which became both their home-office and factory. But the growth of their ceramics business was short-lived. By 1998, due to the Asian economic crisis, orders started to decrease precipitously until the exporter couldn't place any more orders by 2000.
"That convinced us that we might die a silent death unless we did something," Eva recalls. "So we decided to develop our own product line and look for new buyers. Stoneware, which is a high-end form of ceramics, was then relatively unknown in the Philippines and wasn't available commercially yet. We saw its strong market potential so we decided to go into it."
EJ AND EVA ESPIRITU: They had intended to teach pottery-making simply as a source of supplemental income, but to their surprise, their workshops had been drawing a huge participation.
Putting his technical know-how in pottery to good use, EJ started developing his own clay-and-glaze formulation. For her part, Eva used the marketing skills she had learned from her US studies, creating a website for their company, www.cornerstonepotteryfarm.com, and making advertising collaterals. Closely working together, they eventually came up with a sizeable line of mugs, teacups, tea sets, chimes, dining ware--even oil burners for aromatherapy and bathroom amenities.
These products, although priced quite expensively between P35 to P12,000 depending on size, nevertheless received an enthusiastic reception when they were launched in March 2000 during the National Trade Fair at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
Since then, Cornerstone Ceramics has become a regular at trade fairs and bazaars, generating more customers and making trade deals with leading Metro Manila department stores and other retailers.
The business continued to pick up briskly. By 2002, in fact, the Espiritus were able to settle the balance of the loan extended to them by their former exporter.
Three years later, to further expand the business, they acquired a 5,000 sq m property in Silang, Cavite. They added two more LPG-operated ovens to their existing kiln, then further improved the quality of their stoneware by using more matured clays imported by their supplier from Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
The Silang site has since become the couple's residence, pottery shop, and workshop area--the "Mud Pit," they call it--aside from being their stoneware factory. In February of 2008, the couple also put up a cafe in their Silang compound primarily to serve healthful snacks to their customers.
By 2003, most of the couple's contemporaries in the stoneware business had begun to experience sales declines. Bucking the trend, however, the ever innovative Espiritus gambled by introducing what they called the "service side" of their business--the "Mud Pie Party," a pottery-making workshop for hobbyists and for serious learners. The two-hour workshops are conducted by the couple by appointment in the Mud Pit, their 10-seater workshop area next to the factory. The fee is P550 per participant, and P850 inclusive of lunch.
The Espiritus had intended to teach pottery-making simply as a source of supplemental income, but to their surprise, their workshops have been drawing much more participation than they expected. They have therefore decided to run the workshops offsite, offering them today at P750 per head for a group of at least 10 people.
LOOKING FORWARD
Cornerstone Ceramics considers itself a "thriving, surviving" small-scale home-based enterprise that caters to the B, upper B and A markets. Its stoneware products continue to enjoy a good following from both repeat and new customers. On the average, the business is able to produce and sell P200,000 worth of stoneware in two weeks--just enough, EJ and Eva Espiritu say, "for us to continue to operate, save, meet our personal expenses, and do tithing.:
Eva says of their business prospects: "We're just hoping that this year and in the years after that, our cafe in the Silang compound will do well, and that we can hire more people to work in the factory. Also, I look forward to seeing more clients coming to attend our ceramic-making workshops."
PUNCHDRUNK PANDA LAPTOP SLEEVES
By Jan Vincent Ong. Photos by Jervy Santiago
Jennifer Horn and Nathania Gail Go have known each other since grade school. They went on to the same high school and became best friends as badminton partners. In college, Horn took up psychology at De La Salle Taft and Go studied management at Ateneo de Manila University, but they still kept in touch.
After their graduation in May 2006, they decided to pursue a sideline business together. Go says they did this so that as partners, they could mutually judge each other's work and improve on each other's ideas. They initially wanted to put up a T-shirt business, but they still didn't have the graphic design skills to do it. They therefore opted to go into the bag business instead, availing of the services of a friend who could produce the bags for them.
Seeing that the price of the typical laptop bag started at P1,000, they saw a business opportunity in specializing in laptop sleeves. They felt that by designing funky patterns for their sleeves, they could dramatically improve the bland designs of laptop bags. They were sure that there would be a substantial market for their laptop sleeves because what were locally available then were only for Apple laptops.
They thought that the name of their product should be "cutesy enough" to draw both guys and girls, so they branded it Punchdrunk Panda. They then invested P100,000 to produce laptop bags in 14 different designs and launched their business online on Multiply in July 2007.
Horn says they chose Multiply because they saw its potential based on the presence of local online stores in the website. Another reason was that at the time, Go had just started as an intern in the advertising agency Leo Burnett and could not possible engage in a full-time business on her own. In any case, the partners found it easier to manage their bag business through simply checking e-mail orders after work.
But their first months in the business were characterized by trial and error. For one, they realized that they had ordered too many designs for their initial run, and that their product delivery system was just not good enough. They used to ask customers to meet them in either the La Salle or Ateneo campus to accept delivery of their bags, until they discovered that using LBC or Air 21 for the purpose was cheaper and more efficient. As they did the business, they also gradually discovered their respective strengths--Horn was better at talking to customers and Go worked better dealing with suppliers.
Horn says that keeping customers happy was their goal, so they actively sough customer comments by running a feedback form in the Punchdrunk Panda website. From the feedback they got, for instance, they were able to fine-tune the sizes of their laptop bags as well as make their order system more efficient. They have since made arrangements to accept payments for their products through GCash, Western Union, and BPI.
The partners consider Punchdrunk Panda as an online brand, but to reach new customers, they now also usually frequent bazaars such as the "Global Pinoy Bazaar" by Yabang Pinoy.
Horn, who now works as a copywriter with the advertising agency J. Romero & Associates, says that she and Go find their sideline business fulfilling because it allows them to use their creativity on their own. In her case, she says, it gives her a stronger sense of accomplishment to work with a friend on something that's truly theirs.
Currently, the partners are set on building the Punchdrunk Panda brand to become the next Hello Kitty in terms of market positioning. They are now developing new sleeves with a white background where the customers can customize their own designs. They are also looking into making dolls and cellular phone charms featuring their Punchdrunk Panda mascot, and issuing gift cheques and freebies such as gift sacks to help build a bigger base of loyal Punchdrunk Panda fans.
The reasons are obvious. Doing business while staying at home requires much smaller startup costs; you don't have to pay a small fortune for a fancy office and the staffing and utilities to maintain it. And, of course, family members and others living in the household can be expected to help or pitch in for you anytime and on short notice--often without need to pay them hefty overtime or holiday compensation.
No wonder then that many startup entrepreneurs are finding home-based businesses a great way to supplement their income from their day jobs, and that not a few career-shifters are finding both psychic and financial fulfillment from running home-based enterprises.
Even more gratifying, a great many home-based businesses become the seed bed or takeoff point for bigger, more ambitious mainstream businesses, some of which blossom into multimillion-peso ventures even if they continue to be run at home.
Entrepreneur has put together the inspiring and highly instructive stories of 12 successful home-based businesses--ventures that are as diverse as their owners and their interests.
CORNERSTONE CERAMICS
By Roderick Abad Photos by Jun Pinzon
In April 1996, husband-and-wife EJ and Eva Espiritu left the United States and came back to the Philippines, hoping to find work here as a ceramic engineer and marketing professional, respectively. Little did they know, however, that they would just end up adding to the country's increasing unemployment rate--what with the 1997 Asian financial crisis hitting economies in the region, including the Philippines, really hard.
"We realized we didn't have that much money to support ourselves in the long run, so we immediately took the business opportunity offered to us by a friend of my husband," recalls Eva. "It was to do subcontracting work for an exporter selling house ware and decor to Europe and elsewhere overseas. That was how we got started on a home-based pottery business--purely out of necessity."
In August of 1996, after the exporter lent them P125,000 in initial capital, the Espiritu couple started their small-scale enterprise in a rented house in Bacoor, Cavite. Calling it Cornerstone Ceramics, they registered it as a sole proprietorship. Then they bought a kiln and other baking equipment, contracted 12 workers, and made their garage double up as a makeshift production area for the ceramic components and earthenware needed by the exporter.
The production demand almost doubled in less than a year, so the Espiritus transferred their operations to a bigger place in Imus, Cavite, which became both their home-office and factory. But the growth of their ceramics business was short-lived. By 1998, due to the Asian economic crisis, orders started to decrease precipitously until the exporter couldn't place any more orders by 2000.
"That convinced us that we might die a silent death unless we did something," Eva recalls. "So we decided to develop our own product line and look for new buyers. Stoneware, which is a high-end form of ceramics, was then relatively unknown in the Philippines and wasn't available commercially yet. We saw its strong market potential so we decided to go into it."
EJ AND EVA ESPIRITU: They had intended to teach pottery-making simply as a source of supplemental income, but to their surprise, their workshops had been drawing a huge participation.
Putting his technical know-how in pottery to good use, EJ started developing his own clay-and-glaze formulation. For her part, Eva used the marketing skills she had learned from her US studies, creating a website for their company, www.cornerstonepotteryfarm.com, and making advertising collaterals. Closely working together, they eventually came up with a sizeable line of mugs, teacups, tea sets, chimes, dining ware--even oil burners for aromatherapy and bathroom amenities.
These products, although priced quite expensively between P35 to P12,000 depending on size, nevertheless received an enthusiastic reception when they were launched in March 2000 during the National Trade Fair at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
Since then, Cornerstone Ceramics has become a regular at trade fairs and bazaars, generating more customers and making trade deals with leading Metro Manila department stores and other retailers.
The business continued to pick up briskly. By 2002, in fact, the Espiritus were able to settle the balance of the loan extended to them by their former exporter.
Three years later, to further expand the business, they acquired a 5,000 sq m property in Silang, Cavite. They added two more LPG-operated ovens to their existing kiln, then further improved the quality of their stoneware by using more matured clays imported by their supplier from Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
The Silang site has since become the couple's residence, pottery shop, and workshop area--the "Mud Pit," they call it--aside from being their stoneware factory. In February of 2008, the couple also put up a cafe in their Silang compound primarily to serve healthful snacks to their customers.
By 2003, most of the couple's contemporaries in the stoneware business had begun to experience sales declines. Bucking the trend, however, the ever innovative Espiritus gambled by introducing what they called the "service side" of their business--the "Mud Pie Party," a pottery-making workshop for hobbyists and for serious learners. The two-hour workshops are conducted by the couple by appointment in the Mud Pit, their 10-seater workshop area next to the factory. The fee is P550 per participant, and P850 inclusive of lunch.
The Espiritus had intended to teach pottery-making simply as a source of supplemental income, but to their surprise, their workshops have been drawing much more participation than they expected. They have therefore decided to run the workshops offsite, offering them today at P750 per head for a group of at least 10 people.
LOOKING FORWARD
Cornerstone Ceramics considers itself a "thriving, surviving" small-scale home-based enterprise that caters to the B, upper B and A markets. Its stoneware products continue to enjoy a good following from both repeat and new customers. On the average, the business is able to produce and sell P200,000 worth of stoneware in two weeks--just enough, EJ and Eva Espiritu say, "for us to continue to operate, save, meet our personal expenses, and do tithing.:
Eva says of their business prospects: "We're just hoping that this year and in the years after that, our cafe in the Silang compound will do well, and that we can hire more people to work in the factory. Also, I look forward to seeing more clients coming to attend our ceramic-making workshops."
PUNCHDRUNK PANDA LAPTOP SLEEVES
By Jan Vincent Ong. Photos by Jervy Santiago
Jennifer Horn and Nathania Gail Go have known each other since grade school. They went on to the same high school and became best friends as badminton partners. In college, Horn took up psychology at De La Salle Taft and Go studied management at Ateneo de Manila University, but they still kept in touch.
After their graduation in May 2006, they decided to pursue a sideline business together. Go says they did this so that as partners, they could mutually judge each other's work and improve on each other's ideas. They initially wanted to put up a T-shirt business, but they still didn't have the graphic design skills to do it. They therefore opted to go into the bag business instead, availing of the services of a friend who could produce the bags for them.
Seeing that the price of the typical laptop bag started at P1,000, they saw a business opportunity in specializing in laptop sleeves. They felt that by designing funky patterns for their sleeves, they could dramatically improve the bland designs of laptop bags. They were sure that there would be a substantial market for their laptop sleeves because what were locally available then were only for Apple laptops.
They thought that the name of their product should be "cutesy enough" to draw both guys and girls, so they branded it Punchdrunk Panda. They then invested P100,000 to produce laptop bags in 14 different designs and launched their business online on Multiply in July 2007.
Horn says they chose Multiply because they saw its potential based on the presence of local online stores in the website. Another reason was that at the time, Go had just started as an intern in the advertising agency Leo Burnett and could not possible engage in a full-time business on her own. In any case, the partners found it easier to manage their bag business through simply checking e-mail orders after work.
But their first months in the business were characterized by trial and error. For one, they realized that they had ordered too many designs for their initial run, and that their product delivery system was just not good enough. They used to ask customers to meet them in either the La Salle or Ateneo campus to accept delivery of their bags, until they discovered that using LBC or Air 21 for the purpose was cheaper and more efficient. As they did the business, they also gradually discovered their respective strengths--Horn was better at talking to customers and Go worked better dealing with suppliers.
Horn says that keeping customers happy was their goal, so they actively sough customer comments by running a feedback form in the Punchdrunk Panda website. From the feedback they got, for instance, they were able to fine-tune the sizes of their laptop bags as well as make their order system more efficient. They have since made arrangements to accept payments for their products through GCash, Western Union, and BPI.
The partners consider Punchdrunk Panda as an online brand, but to reach new customers, they now also usually frequent bazaars such as the "Global Pinoy Bazaar" by Yabang Pinoy.
Horn, who now works as a copywriter with the advertising agency J. Romero & Associates, says that she and Go find their sideline business fulfilling because it allows them to use their creativity on their own. In her case, she says, it gives her a stronger sense of accomplishment to work with a friend on something that's truly theirs.
Currently, the partners are set on building the Punchdrunk Panda brand to become the next Hello Kitty in terms of market positioning. They are now developing new sleeves with a white background where the customers can customize their own designs. They are also looking into making dolls and cellular phone charms featuring their Punchdrunk Panda mascot, and issuing gift cheques and freebies such as gift sacks to help build a bigger base of loyal Punchdrunk Panda fans.
Instant office
It's good to have one's own business, but putting up an office for it is not that easy. There just are too many things to do and too much expense required to get things off the ground.
For the start-up entrepreneur, however, there's now a very convenient and cost-efficient way to have an office in no time at all: the CEO SUITE solution. CEO SUITE, which started operations in the Philippines only in the middle of this year, offers ready-to-occupy office space for start-up businesses or just an office address for those that are simply testing the waters for a prospective venture.
The company provides two types of services: an instant office for chief executives on the go and for mobile entrepreneurs, and a virtual office with a specific a business address and dedicated phone numbers for clients who don't find a need to put up an office of their own.
Either way, CEO SUITE's instant office services can spare businessmen all the hassles of looking for an office, designing and furnishing it with all the necessary equipment and furniture, and hiring a full-time staff to take in calls and messages.
CEO SUITE started ten years ago in Jakarta, catering to different businesses in different industries. Its founder and president, Mee Kim, is a highly experienced manager who was educated in Seoul, New York, and Sydney. She has worked in many of Asia's leading urban cities as well as in the United States and Australia.
While in Sydney, Mee Kim had worked full time as manager of Servcorp Australia, which runs a business similar to that of CEO SUITE. In that capacity, she played a key role in the opening of Servcorp's new centers in Bangkok, Japan, and Jakarta.
In Jakarta, she met the man she would later marry, Joseph Siswanto. With his support and with her seven years of experience with Servcorp, she decided to go on her own and established CEO SUITE in 1997. With an initial investment of between US$1.5 to $2 million, she opened her first CEO SUITE center at the Jakarta Stock Exchange Building that same year. The center consisted of small offices with areas of between 20 sq m to 70 sq m, each furnished with the necessary corporate amenities.
She did not have an easy time at the start. This was primarily because during her very first few months in the business, the Asian financial crisis hit Jakarta very badly. As a result, the occupancy rate of the center was so low it could not even cover its day-to-day operational costs.
Two years later, in 1999, Mee Kim opened a second CEO SUITE center in Jakarta, followed in 2001 by a third center in Kuala Lumpur. In 2002, Mee Kim opened a fourth center in Singapore, followed in 2004 by a fifth center in Shanghai.
The rates of CEO SUITE start at US$50 a month for clients that only need an office address. For those who need a dedicated phone number or an assistant, the rates range from US$60 to US$200 a month. The rates for a physical office space range from US$550 to US$4,000 depending on the size of the office and the services required.
Ems Llanes, country director of CEO SUITE for Manila, says the company decided to enter the Philippine market in June this year because of the fast-growing market for office space in the country.
"The office space market in the Philippines has been experiencing a boom because of the continuing growth of the country's call center industry and business process outsourcing industry,” she explains. “There are now very few available office spaces left in the Philippines, so it is one of the countries that office space investors would have in mind for expanding their business.”
This shortage of office space has jacked up the cost of office space in Manila, a problem that CEO SUITE now addresses with its instant office services.
Precisely what kind of services does CEO SUITE offer?
Llanes says CEO SUITE can make its instant offices immediately available for the client's use for an hour, a half day, or a day or on a weekly or monthly basis. For entrepreneurs who are just starting a business, CEO SUITE provides services that can link them with the appropriate contacts for business registration and other start-up needs.
She says that CEO SUITE has a ready list of contacts with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company can thus help clients that engage its services in going through the step-by-step process of business registration.
CEO SUITE can thereafter make the necessary follow-up calls for the processing of the client's business applications. “We help speed up the process and provide representation for our clients,” Llanes says.
She says that for start-up businesses, CEO SUITE has a package that can go as low as P2,000 monthly for clients needing mainly a business address. Its P5,000 monthly package, on the other hand, provides a business address as well as a telephone answering service and other basic office amenities.
For its virtual office offering, CEO SUITE provides a client company a respectable business address, a dedicated phone line, and a skeletal office staff to take in calls and messages for the client. The virtual office service costs around P2,000 per month, depending on the duration of the service.
For its serviced office offering, on the other hand, the client will be provided with the following additional amenities: a pantry area and a Private Automatic Branch Exchange or office PABX. "We can transfer a client's calls anywhere and we will also provide for the client world-class board room facilities,” Llanes says.
The rates for the serviced office are similar to the rates of five-star hotels, ranging anywhere from P12,000 to P40,000 per month.
CONTACT DETAILS:
EMS LLANES
CEO SUITE
37th Floor, LKG Tower
6801 Ayala Avenue
Makati City
Telephone: (02) 859-2888
Fax: (02) 859-2882
For the start-up entrepreneur, however, there's now a very convenient and cost-efficient way to have an office in no time at all: the CEO SUITE solution. CEO SUITE, which started operations in the Philippines only in the middle of this year, offers ready-to-occupy office space for start-up businesses or just an office address for those that are simply testing the waters for a prospective venture.
The company provides two types of services: an instant office for chief executives on the go and for mobile entrepreneurs, and a virtual office with a specific a business address and dedicated phone numbers for clients who don't find a need to put up an office of their own.
Either way, CEO SUITE's instant office services can spare businessmen all the hassles of looking for an office, designing and furnishing it with all the necessary equipment and furniture, and hiring a full-time staff to take in calls and messages.
CEO SUITE started ten years ago in Jakarta, catering to different businesses in different industries. Its founder and president, Mee Kim, is a highly experienced manager who was educated in Seoul, New York, and Sydney. She has worked in many of Asia's leading urban cities as well as in the United States and Australia.
While in Sydney, Mee Kim had worked full time as manager of Servcorp Australia, which runs a business similar to that of CEO SUITE. In that capacity, she played a key role in the opening of Servcorp's new centers in Bangkok, Japan, and Jakarta.
In Jakarta, she met the man she would later marry, Joseph Siswanto. With his support and with her seven years of experience with Servcorp, she decided to go on her own and established CEO SUITE in 1997. With an initial investment of between US$1.5 to $2 million, she opened her first CEO SUITE center at the Jakarta Stock Exchange Building that same year. The center consisted of small offices with areas of between 20 sq m to 70 sq m, each furnished with the necessary corporate amenities.
She did not have an easy time at the start. This was primarily because during her very first few months in the business, the Asian financial crisis hit Jakarta very badly. As a result, the occupancy rate of the center was so low it could not even cover its day-to-day operational costs.
Two years later, in 1999, Mee Kim opened a second CEO SUITE center in Jakarta, followed in 2001 by a third center in Kuala Lumpur. In 2002, Mee Kim opened a fourth center in Singapore, followed in 2004 by a fifth center in Shanghai.
The rates of CEO SUITE start at US$50 a month for clients that only need an office address. For those who need a dedicated phone number or an assistant, the rates range from US$60 to US$200 a month. The rates for a physical office space range from US$550 to US$4,000 depending on the size of the office and the services required.
Ems Llanes, country director of CEO SUITE for Manila, says the company decided to enter the Philippine market in June this year because of the fast-growing market for office space in the country.
"The office space market in the Philippines has been experiencing a boom because of the continuing growth of the country's call center industry and business process outsourcing industry,” she explains. “There are now very few available office spaces left in the Philippines, so it is one of the countries that office space investors would have in mind for expanding their business.”
This shortage of office space has jacked up the cost of office space in Manila, a problem that CEO SUITE now addresses with its instant office services.
Precisely what kind of services does CEO SUITE offer?
Llanes says CEO SUITE can make its instant offices immediately available for the client's use for an hour, a half day, or a day or on a weekly or monthly basis. For entrepreneurs who are just starting a business, CEO SUITE provides services that can link them with the appropriate contacts for business registration and other start-up needs.
She says that CEO SUITE has a ready list of contacts with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company can thus help clients that engage its services in going through the step-by-step process of business registration.
CEO SUITE can thereafter make the necessary follow-up calls for the processing of the client's business applications. “We help speed up the process and provide representation for our clients,” Llanes says.
She says that for start-up businesses, CEO SUITE has a package that can go as low as P2,000 monthly for clients needing mainly a business address. Its P5,000 monthly package, on the other hand, provides a business address as well as a telephone answering service and other basic office amenities.
For its virtual office offering, CEO SUITE provides a client company a respectable business address, a dedicated phone line, and a skeletal office staff to take in calls and messages for the client. The virtual office service costs around P2,000 per month, depending on the duration of the service.
For its serviced office offering, on the other hand, the client will be provided with the following additional amenities: a pantry area and a Private Automatic Branch Exchange or office PABX. "We can transfer a client's calls anywhere and we will also provide for the client world-class board room facilities,” Llanes says.
The rates for the serviced office are similar to the rates of five-star hotels, ranging anywhere from P12,000 to P40,000 per month.
CONTACT DETAILS:
EMS LLANES
CEO SUITE
37th Floor, LKG Tower
6801 Ayala Avenue
Makati City
Telephone: (02) 859-2888
Fax: (02) 859-2882
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