10.25.2008

How to Back-up Your Files

Have you ever lost your files before? How does it feel? Terrible, right? I’m sure you don’t want that to happen again. The only thing that will spare you from such tragedy is simple. You need to back-up your files regularly.

My files include my daily ramblings about life, my spending history for this year, very special photos, some of my favorite movies, the coolest songs, family videos and more. I wouldn’t want it to vanish in thin air because of a virus attack, my system crashing down or I have accidentally reformatted my computer. They are priceless and I wouldn’t know how to handle it if I lost them.

You’ll never know what will happen and it’s always better to be prepared. Here are some ways to back-up your files.

1. Burn it in CDs or DVDs
2. Save it online (e.g. emails, your website)
3. Print a hardcopy
4. Save a copy in your ipod


We should back up our files regularly. As for me, I do it once every 3 months. It depends on you how often you want to do it as long as you do it. You’ll get spared of the heartbreak losing your files might cause.

10.14.2008

How to Make Someone's Day

Do you have friends whom you haven't seen for sometime now?

A few months back I decided to go back to my hometown in Negros Occidental. I just wanted to have some quality time with my family. I've been here for over 5 months now and I miss my friends very much. I miss the times when we use to stay up until dawn in coffee shops just to talk about anything. I miss the times when we use to do activities for the church and attend services. I miss the times when we spend the weekend bumming around. I miss the dinner dates, movie marathons and most especially, I miss their company.

I would love to keep in touch but phone calls are a little expensive. I'd be bankrupt if I'd do that. It's a good thing there are emails and chats. To be away from them is so much more bearable.

A few weeks back, I rediscovered visual talking. You communicate your thoughts, idea, feelings and opinions using pictures. You can even tell a story. I decided to send a VT message to my girlfriends and luckily, they love it!

Here's how you can make your special someone, friends or family's day:

1. Register a free account at VT's site. Click here.

2. Create a thoughtful message by picking cute and amusing pictures.

3. Send it to your friends.

That simple.
I'm sure it will put a smile in their faces. Try it out!

10.12.2008

How to Curb Your Overspending

By Divine Grace Segunla

Do you overspend? I have too many times that I stopped counting. Whenever I plan a trip to the mall or groceries, I always end up spending more than what I intend. It has been this way for years that leaves me frustrated and in a financial turmoil. I got myself into debt several times and it’s not something I’m proud of. Debt is a vicious cycle that will keep you in bondage and far from financial freedom.

With the rising cost of food, rent, gas, and our everyday necessities, we need to make a decision before it’s too late. There is no better time than now to get our finances under control. One way of doing it is to curb our overspending.

Over the past months, I’ve been reading and researching about money matters. I have discovered a few simple money matter habits that we need to incorporate in our spending in order to get it under control.

1. Decide
To acknowledge that we are overspending and to decide to put a stop to it is the first step to our freedom. No one can do this for us. If you really want to control your money and not the other way around, decide now and resolve to do it no matter what.

2. Make a Budget
The next most important thing to do is to write down your expenses starting from your basic necessities (bills, food, transportation, clothes, rent, etc.) to your miscellaneous expenses (books, watching movies, etc.). It doesn’t stop in making your budget. You got to stick to it. For instance, if you’re planning to do your groceries, never leave the house with a list of what you need to buy and follow it.

3. Keep Track
This can be a little troublesome at first but when you get it into your system, it will dramatically help you in your endeavor. Get a notebook, write down every single expense you acquire everyday and keep it handy. In this way, you will be able to assess in which areas you tend to overspend the most.

4. Cut Down
Cut down on some unnecessary expenses. This is when your handy notebook is useful. Where do you tend to overspend? If you watch movies five times in a month, you might want to cut it down to twice a month. There will always be an area to cut down an expense from. You just need to find it out.

5. Live Within Your Means
If you have written your budget then you know where your money should go. If you can’t afford to eat out every week then by all means, stop doing it. You have to make an effort to stay within your limit. Do not spend more than what you are earning - as simple as that.

6. Postpone Buying
If you spotted a gorgeous blouse or a latest book from your favorite author, don’t buy it yet. Postpone buying for another 48 hours and do some thinking. Will it be a worthy purchase if you buy it now? Are you still within your means if you spend a few extra dollars for that book? Do you really need it? If you have assessed the situation thoroughly then you can make a reasonable buying decision.

7. Bring Only Enough
This is one of the most effective means of curbing impulse buying. If you are going shopping, have a list with you and bring only enough for your list. This is the best way of turning your back from temptations.

8. Quit Using CCs
As much as I can, I stay out of debt. Credit card means getting yourself in debt and I don’t use them unless for emergency purposes. If you use your credit card for shopping a new wardrobe, I don’t think that’s an intelligent way of using it.

9. Just Say No
IF temptations bug you, just say an emphatic NO! The urge will go away in no time.

10.08.2008

How to Solve a Rubik's Cube


Let me tell you a little history first. The Rubik's cube is a mechanical puzzle invented by a Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Erno Rubik back in 1974. Rubik's cube is believed to be the best toy, selling over 300, 000, 000 cubes in 1980s.

Have you ever tried solving a Rubik's cube ever? I just tried doing it lately. At first, it sucked up the patience out of me. I was trying in vain. Some say this cube is called the 'torture' cube, I was about to agree when I realized I can always use technology to search the answer to my dilemma. Alas, I found the easiest and most comprehensive tutorials on how to solve the Rubik's cube.

It was a blissful achievement for me. I can't help but show off my 'talent' to my siblings and friends. Haha.

If you want to learn it the easiest way too, check out the links below. Good luck.


 Part One


Part Two


10.07.2008

John Gokongwei's Commencement Exercises Speech at Ateneo University


I just have to share this. I am not an Atenean but I wished I was when I read about John Gokongwei's speech during their commencement exercises in 2002.

John Gokongwei is one of the business tycoon in the Philippines today having a networth of $430 million according to Forbes. He is also one of my inspiration. I dreamed of becoming like him someday.

I read his speech from time to time. It reminds me that you just need to hold on to your dreams, tighter if you must. It's a bit long but it's definitely worth reading.

Good morning.

I am John Gokongwei, Jr. I am not an Atenean but I feel at home with you. Today, at least. Sixty-two years ago, I could not have dreamt of appearing before the Jesuits and their students to tell the story of MY life. I was no more than a student then, at San Carlos University in Cebu, when my father died suddenly. It left me, the eldest, the responsibility of taking care of my mother and five siblings. That was tough for someone who was 13. Creditors had just seized our home and business and I had no experience with earning a living.

But here I am - not all on account of my good looks or charming personality but because I somehow survived. And when I look back, I know now that I did so because I recognized CHANGE when I saw it.

The first change was war. I had turned 15. My mother had already sent my brothers and sister to China where the cost of living was lower. From Cebu, she and I had to make money to send to them.

I turned to peddling. My day began at 5 in the morning. I would load my bicycle with soap, thread, and candles, and then bike to neighboring towns to sell my goods. On market days, I would rent a stall, lay out the goods from the bike, and make about 20 pesos a day, enough for me to survive and to buy even more goods for next time. Those days, you might call my BICYCLE AGE.

After two years of biking and peddling at 17, I entered my BATEL AGE. The batel was a small very utilitarian boat that defied the open sea and would take me farther from Cebu and all the way to Lucena, from where I would take a truck to Manila, with companions twice or thrice my age. The sea trips could take two to three weeks depending on the weather, and the land trips another five to six hours. (I was lighter then, you can imagine.) On the batel, I read books like "Gone with the Wind" under the great blue sky to pass away the time - even if we traders were always in fear of sea pirates and the bad weather.

Once, our batel hit a rock and sank. Thank heavens for my rubber tires! Those were the goods I had with me to sell in Manila. Well, we all held on to those tires, which meant I saved all those traders and those traders saved all my tires.
At that time, the War was still going on. Ironically, I look back at the War with the fondest of memories. It was the great equalizer. Almost everyone I knew had lost big and small fortunes at the time. This meant we all started at ground zero.
When the war ended, I was 19. Because of the war, the economy was more dependent than ever on imports. So when I set up Amasia, my first company, it was to import textile remnants, fruit, old newspaper and magazines, and used clothing from the U.S.
There was a side benefit to this. I would wear some of my own stock, so I would have different clothes to wear when I went courting Elizabeth, the woman who would be my wife. But at the end of it, I made some money. The Bicycle Age was over. The TRADING AGE began. By then, my brothers and sister returned from China. Together, we worked in the trading business I had begun - as bodegeros, clerks, warehousemen, cashiers, and collectors. And all this while they were all still going to school; me, I stopped schooling. Like most Chinese-Filipino families, we worked where we lived, and at times, we had to endure the stench of rotten oranges and potatoes filling our two-story apartment.

By the early '50s, we were importing cigarettes and whiskey as well. Business was good. But two factors made me change strategies again. First, I saw that trading would in time become a low-margin business BECAUSE we were at the mercy of our suppliers and buyers. Second, I saw that the government was working on import-substitution policies to encourage local business. President Quirino wanted to shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves that had been depleted as a result of the high importation of the post-war years.

So I decided to enter the AGE of MANUFACTURING. In 1957, I started a corn milling plant producing glucose and cornstarch. Why cornstarch? Because I thought - and it turned out, correctly - that the unglamorous cornstarch would be in great demand from better known businesses like textiles, paper, ice cream, pharmaceuticals, and beer.

But there was one problem: I needed capital. This was not easy. I was 30, had no big company success to back me up, and I didn't know any bankers. Thankfully, Dr. Albino Sycip, then chairman of China Bank, and DK Chiong, then president, gave me a clean loan of P500,000 to start my business. He would be asked later why he did that and he said something about knowing a good man when he saw one. (Maybe he knew something I didn't.) Anyway, from there Universal Corn Products, the predecessor of Universal Robina Corporation, was born.

Of course, the bigger cornstarch players did not give us an easy time. They engaged us in a price war. That is a nice way of saying they tried to kill us by selling low.
But we prevailed, and started to get clients like San Miguel Corporation. It was my first real taste of competition. And I liked it. I think THAT first experience prepared me for the bigger tougher competitors in my future.

By 1961, corn starch was becoming a commodity, and I saw that there was no future in a business where we had to keep lowering margins to survive. It was time to get into bigger, and riskier, games played by big multinationals like Procter and Gamble and Nestle. I saw that all they did to capture the market was to brand their products, for instance their coffee and their toothpaste. That is, give their coffee and toothpaste a name, a face, and an image that customers would instantly recognize - and identify with quality. Me, I dreamt that one day I would be the Philippine Nestle or General Foods. So the Manufacturing Age for me was giving way to the AGE of BRANDS.

So, we put up CFC, and our first successful product was Blend 45, an instant coffee we put out to directly compete with Nestle's Nescafe. We positioned it as "the poor man's coffee," hired top movie star Susan Roces to endorse it, and employed Procter-and-Gamble veterans to sell it. Basically, we took a page out of the multinational book and applied it to our business. We gave our coffee, snack food, candy, and chocolates a name, a face, an image. Today, Jack and Jill, Max candy, and Cloud 9 have become household names. It was also at this time that I returned to school for an MBA - with all due respect to the Jesuits, at De La Salle University - and a decade later for a 14-week advanced management program at Harvard. Going back to the university for studies which war had interrupted gave me an appreciation, believe me, for the beauty and the breadth of business life. This is something I believe I would never have gained if I had chosen to stop my education. The success of URC opened up many opportunities for our group. We had the choice to focus on food where we were very successful - or to pursue other businesses. We decided that there were too many good opportunities to pass up, and that remaining in our comfort zone would stunt our growth. So we got into the Age of Expansion.

For the next two decades, we pursued businesses that answered positive on FOUR

CRUCIAL QUESTIONS.
First: Is there a market?
Second: Could we compete against both local and foreign players?
Third: Could we find the right people for the job and did we have enough capital to pursue the business?
Last and most important: Did we have the stomach for it? That is, could we take the sleepless nights, the cutthroat competition?

We went into textiles, retail, real estate, telecommunications, aviation, banking, and petrochemicals because we said YES to all those questions. Still, in all those industries, we were faced with tough and worthy competitors - the mighty SM Department Stores and Malls, the unbeatable PLDT, the entrenched Philippine Airlines and the powerful San Miguel Corporation. Most pundits expected us to fail. They were wrong. Robinsons Stores and Mall, Digitel, Cebu Pacific Air and Universal Robina Corporation are now market leaders in their respective fields.
That's because they offered the public a choice.

Remember the story of David and Goliath? Every industry has its Goliath. But every David knows that all giants have their weaknesses. Every weakness is an opportunity.
In a few months, we will launch our mobile services to compete with two giants, Globe and Smart. Our stomachs are churning for sure - but we know that we faced similar challenges before, and we are hopeful we can prove the pundits wrong again.
In the past decade, which is one-sixth of my entire business life, the company has tripled in size. This was the decade when our companies raised money from the global equity and debt markets, brought our companies public, and hired the best professionals to run them. In six decades, we grew from a one-man team to a group with 30,000 employees.

Now I am in what you can probably call the AGE of GLOBALIZATION. I am always asked where I stand on this issue. I say that it does NOT matter where I stand because as sure as the Ateneo Basketball Team will win next year's UAAP championship, global barriers will come crashing down, and we have no choice but to prepare ourselves for that.

Still our company will not take globalization sitting down - OUR future and the country's depend on how we act now. JG operates branded food concerns in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Hongkong, China, and soon, Vietnam. We also sell our snack foods in India, Korea, and Taiwan - one of the few ASEAN companies to do so.
In a few years, when foreign products find their way into OUR shopping carts as they already have, we want Piattos and Chippy to find their way into THEIR shopping carts as well. Our dream is to be the first group to plant the Philippine flag throughout Asia.

As I look back, I ask myself, "What if I had stopped at cornstarch?" I would probably be the owner of the biggest cornstarch group in the country today or just as possibly, be broke.

But I chose to live my life unafraid even during times when I WAS afraid. I discovered that opportunities don't find you. You find your opportunities.
I found those opportunities when MY FATHER PASSED AWAY, WHEN WAR CAME, THROUGH CHANGES IN PRESIDENTS AND THEIR POLICIES, DURING MARTIAL LAW,DESPITE THE COUPS D' ETAT, PAST ECONOMIC BOOMS AND BUSTS, AND IN THE MIDST OF MARKET SHIFTS AND MOVEMENTS.
Now I'm 75 and retired. And funny, but I often wonder what ever happened to my first bike! The bike that was my companion during those first years when my family had lost everything. I wonder where it is now. That bike reminds me that success is not necessarily about connections, or cutting corners, or chamba - the three C's of bad business.

Call it trite - but, believe me, success CAN BE ACHIEVED through hard work, frugality, integrity, responsiveness to change - and most of all boldness to dream. These have never been just easy slogans for me. I have lived by them. I hope that many of you in this room will some day choose to be entrepreneurs. Choose to be an entrepreneur because then YOU create value. Choose to be an entrepreneur because the products, services, and jobs you create then becomes the lifeblood of our nation. But most of all, choose to be an entrepreneur because then you desire a life of adventure, endless challenge, and the opportunity to be your BEST SELF.
Thank you.

10.06.2008

How to Make Money Online

By Divine Grace Segunla

Thank God for the World Wide Web! I just started my venture online a few months back and I discovered that there are hundreds or even thousands of great opportunities to earn money online. But unfortunately, there are also thousands of scams. We need to be extra careful.

I read and met (online) hundreds of men and women who made it big online. They are earning hundreds and thousands of dollars every month. Some make their living online and some do it part time. Nonetheless, they have found their niche in the World Wide Web. They are using the net to their advantage by turning it into a source of income for them.

Here are five easy steps to make money online.

1. Maintain Attitude
I believe this is the most important thing we need in our success. As I have mentioned, you will encounter scams along the way. They are littered everywhere in the web. You will get frustrated, that’s a fact. You will get discouraged. You will fail. Yes, you will fail and the sooner you fail, the sooner you will succeed. And in our journey towards success we need to maintain a persevering attitude. We need to arm ourselves with an attitude that will not back down from any obstacle.

2. Online Search
You must do your homework and you better do it well. There is no substitute to thorough research. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Read the FAQs, forums, and of course the policies. Google it.

3. Never Buy Anything
Eric Hodhulm is one of the online gurus I am getting my advices from and he said, “Never buy anything!” Keep this in mind. If you happen to encounter a site wherein you need to pay before you can earn then you better think about it (99% of the time they are scams). I mean the very reason why you’re online is to earn not to pay some fees. “Never buy anything” unless you know what you’re doing.

For more online tips from Eric, click here.

4. Enjoy and Explore
When you’ve done step 2, don’t be afraid to try out things. Explore the possibilities the web offers you. Keep your eyes open for other opportunities. Join forums and social networking sites. You can get a lot of scoops from there. And most especially try to enjoy every minute of it.

5. YOU
You are responsible for your success. Make sure to back up your plans with a decision to succeed no matter what happens. Quitting should never e an option. You never know what awaits you in the WWW. Good luck!


In order for us to succeed in our quest to make money online, we need to Maintain our attitude, conduct Online researches, keep in mind Never to buy anything, just Enjoy and explore and at the end of the day, You are responsible for your fate in the World Wide Web. In short, we need MONEY to succeed in making money online. ;D

For a list of online money maker sites that really pays, click here.

List of Online Money Maker Sites (that really pays):

1. myLot
myLot is a social networking site with members from all over the world. In order to earn in myLot, you just need to post and respond to discussions. That simple. They pay via paypal and the minimum payout is $10. At the end of the month, if you reach payout, it will be deposited in your paypal account.

Check it out. Click here.

2. Platinum Lounge
In Platinum Lounge, you get paid for posting. Every post you make is entitled with points and the goals is to get more points to increase your level wherein you are eligible to be paid twice a month. It's very simple. The key is to make posts during weekends because posts have higher points than on weekdays. After a few days of joining the site, I'm already at a level where I will be paid twice a month.

Join NOW.

3. Ciao
Ciao is a paid to review site. You get paid $1 for every review you write. You can write about gadgets, electronics, appliances, movies and more. During my first day in ciao, I earned myself $5.64. Not bad, right? The review should at least contain 120 words (around 5-6 sentences).

If you’re interested, PM me at dsegunla@gmail.com. I hope to hear from you.


4. Dneero
It is a site where online social people gather to share ideas and opinions. You get paid by joining conversations and sharing your opinions. The moment your account reaches $20, it will be credited to your paypal account. You can earn as much $3 per conversation.

PM me at dsegunla@gmail.com if you're interested.

5. Web Trade Hut
The best discussion forum in the web today. You get paid by posting threads and replying to posts. They pay a generous 0.3 cents per post. The minimum payout is $5 and you get it after 24-48 hours in your paypal account.

Want to join? Click here.

6. Review Stream
This is another site that pays you to review. They pay $2 to every review you submit to them as long it passed RS's qualifications. If it did not pass, you can still get paid by receiving the bulk rate which amounts to around $0.40.

Click the smiley if you want to join.

7. My Homepages Friends
You get paid to search. Since we search online from time to time, why not turn it into money? Just download the My Homepages Friends and do your searches there and you get paid until you reach ¥10 which will be deposited in your paypal account.

To download, click here.

8. Make Money Kingdom (MMK)
MMK has been around for over a year and they are very legit and has been paying their member ever since. In MMK, you get paid to post and you can earn as much as $18 in a month. Not bad, right? But more than being paid, you also learn and get updates about making money online.

Join NOW.


So far, these are the sites I’ve joined and they really pay. You can Google them if you want more proof. I'll update this from time to time.

List of Online Money Maker Sites (that really pays):

1. myLot
myLot is a social networking site with members from all over the world. In order to earn in myLot, you just need to post and respond to discussions. That simple. They pay via paypal and the minimum payout is $10. At the end of the month, if you reach payout, it will be deposited in your paypal account.

Check it out. Click here.

2. Platinum Lounge
In Platinum Lounge, you get paid for posting and the goal is to increase your level to that where you get paid twice a month. The key is to post during weekends because points per posts are higher than in weekdays. I have been a member of the site for only a few days but I'm already eligible for payment, $2 twice a month.

To know more about the site, click here.

3. Ciao
Ciao is a paid to review site. You get paid $1 for every review you write. You can write about gadgets, electronics, appliances, movies and more. During my first day in ciao, I earned myself $5.64. Not bad, right? The review should at least contain 120 words (around 5-6 sentences).

If you’re interested, click here.

4. Dneero
It is a site where online social people gather to share ideas and opinions. You get paid by joining conversations and sharing your opinions. The moment your account reaches $20, it will be credited to your paypal account. You can earn as much $3 per conversation.

5. Web Trade Hut
The best discussion forum in the web today. You get paid by posting threads and replying to posts. They pay a generous 0.3 cents per post. The minimum payout is $5 and you get it after 24-48 hours in your paypal account.

6. My Homepages Friends
You get paid to search. Since we search online from time to time, why not turn it into money? Just download the My Homepages Friends and do your searches there and you get paid until you reach ¥10 which will be deposited in your paypal account.

To download, click here.


Want to join? Click here.

So far, these are the sites I’ve joined and they really pay. You can Google them if you want more proof. Happy earning!

How to be a “Dragon Warrior”

By Divine Grace R. Segunla



Have you seen the movie Kung Fu Panda? I’ve seen it several times and I’m not over it yet. I just love the movie like crazy. I adore Po, the big fat panda, who’s always dreamed to become a kung fu warrior only to wake up everyday of his life with an apron around his waist and in the kitchen. He cooks the best noodle soup (next to his father) in the valley and he hates it. Deep down inside, Po knew he was meant to do something more. Po is ‘The Dragon Warrior’ the only one that can bring peace to the valley and master Shifu.

Po? The big fat panda is the dragon warrior? No way! He doesn’t even know anything about kung fu. He’s fat and he stinks. He’s nosy. He’s too loud. He’s disgusting (sometimes). He eats (too much) when he’s upset. He couldn’t be the dragon warrior. Surely, there has been some mistake.

But he is the dragon warrior.

Po may not have what it takes to be a dragon warrior but he was chosen because he was meant to be the dragon warrior. You may not have the resources, you’re too young or too old, you can’t speak well and you’re not talented enough to do great things in your lifetime.

You might have been in that road before. I’ve been there several times. I know deep down inside me I’m meant to do something more. I just can’t be the ordinary province girl who just wants to finish her studies and help her family afterwards. I know there is something more to life than that. I want to be the ‘dragon warrior.’ I want to help other people. I want to travel around the world. I want to be a successful entrepreneur. I want to live life to the fullest.

Here are some things I learned from the movie on how to live the life we are made for (becoming a dragon warrior):

1. Dream
It all starts in a dream. When you dream, do not ever limit yourself. That’s why it’s called a dream. It’s for free. You can dream as big and as grand as you can. Po didn’t just dream of becoming a kung fu warrior, he dreamed of becoming the best kung fu warrior.

2. Never Give up
A true dragon warrior never gives up. If you want to fulfill all your dreams in life, you better not include give up, quit, and can’t do it in your vocabulary. It should not and never be an option for you and me.

3. Training
You need a mentor. You cannot do it and learn everything on your own. Find someone whom you trust and who believes in you to teach you everything you need to know about failure, success and life. In order to be the best in what you can do, you need to be trained, coached and mentored. Po has Shifu as his master. I have Jesus as my master. It’s time you find yourself one.

4. Believe
“To believe something is special, you just need to believe it’s special.” That’s what Po’s dad told him that ultimately led to Po’s fulfillment of his dream and call as the dragon warrior. There is no special ingredient to the best noodle soup in the valley. In the same way, there is no special ingredient for us to succeed in life. We just need to believe. Believe in your master and believe in yourself.

For us to fulfill our destinies in life does not depend on what we have or on what we can do. It depends on who we are and what’s inside us.
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