The Final Stretch

It's been a while since I've written an article on this blog. I've been to a lot of activities that made me realize that I'm not progressing. I keep on starting activities but I can't finish a thing.

Now, I know I am much focused and much excited to finish this task.

The task? I'm on my way to create a new blog that would contain tutorial videos of Microsoft Excel. This would teach Filipinos how to familiarize themselves to the greatest application in Personal Computer.

I'm currently doing one video a day for the site and so far I'm doing a great job.

Do you want to see the videos? Wait for it. I'll launch them soon!

By the way, this is my final stretch because I know I have less than thirty days left.

eLviN

St. Augustine Parish

Here are the photos and some of the videos I covered for the St. Augustine Parish here in San Cristobal, Parian Calamba City.

Celebrating the Holy Eucharist at St. Augustine Parish.

Zoomed view of  St. Augustine Parish while celebrating the mass

View from the back end of the St. Augustine Parish.
This seat is very distracting because you can hear the noise of the vehicles passing outside the church

The unfinished construction site

Inner wall

Back wall

Unfinished pillars

Left-most pillar

Left pillar

Left side wall

Unfinished flooring and pillars

Here's some video clips to better appreciate my shots.

Entrance to the parish

St. Augustine Unfinished construction Video 1

St. Augustine Unfinished construction Video 2

St. Augustine View at the center

St. Augustine Parish Altar

St. Augustine Parish Altar 2

In case you want to donate : You may deposit them on this account. 

BPI Savings Account 008453-0522-74 St. Augustine Parish.

Comments on tag line are highly appreciated.

Day 47 : I’m starting to like greeting everyone good morning!

For the past couple of days, I’m sending everyone a good morning message. It felt so good seeing them reply to my message. Some of them are sending back quotes that inspire me. Some of them are replying with a “how are you message?” These replies really felt good.

In fact, what made me feel better is we will be having a date with one person that replied to my short message. We scheduled it this coming Wednesday. We’ll have a little chit chat on what’s going on with each other’s life. So I’m looking forward to it.

I also encountered no response (in fact most of them) but hey that’s okay. As long as my message was received and my message made them feel that someone remembers them. That’s fine with me. No response should not stop me from doing the right thing right?

So tomorrow, I’ll do this again!

See yah on tomorrow’s post!

eLviN

By the way, before I forgot. I’ll be interviewing the parish priest tomorrow. I have my camera to take more photos of the place to fix the site.

Day 45 : Contemplating with Questions

After contemplating on the project for the St. Augustine Parish I asked myself the following questions. Also, I’ll ask these questions to the parish priest as well for us to align with our goals and objectives. Well, I guess this can also help other people to ask the right questions to get the right answers before jumping to any conclusion. By the way, these are random questions running through my head so please bear with me if these are not arranged in a beautiful manner.

• How do we define success?
• If we accomplished our goals of raising this fund, would that make us successful people?
• Why do we want to change?
• What benefits do we receive after changing?
• Why do other people want to help/buy from us?
• What do we offer that other competitors do not?
• What is our story?
• Why do we need to raise that much?
• What do we gain or lose after achieving our goals?
• What are the available resources that we can use?
• When can we complete this?
• Why are we doing this?
• What can be used as our leverage?
• How can we attract the right people that can help us achieve our goal?
• How badly do I want to achieve this?

I believe that aligning with our goals is the first step this includes the creation of our big emotional why. The emotional why would help us move forward in reaching our goals. With the questions I listed above, I’m hitting the big reason why I want to do this. Honestly, right now I’m having a hard time contemplating the answers to my own questions. I guess I’ll give it a day to think about it.

Contemplating,

eLviN

Day 44 : Sickness and 27 Million Pesos

Today I didn’t come to work due to coughs and colds.

Anyway, it was a good opportunity for me to rest. So I slept. I ate food to my heart’s content. I drank medicine and I watched movie in my PC.

I also sent a SMS to my friends to keep me sane from my isolation. I don’t want my family members to have colds too.

I sent Fr. Louie a message that I can go to his parish today. To give you a background, Fr. Louie is the parish priest of St. Augustine Parish here in Parian Calamba Laguna.

So at 8PM, my family went to the church to meet Fr Louie.

We talked to him and discussing to him why I’m doing this. I told him that I’m part of 1 million in 90-day challenge.

Then I asked him, how much does it cost to renovate the parish?

He said a whopping 27 million pesos.

Wow. I never expect that this would cost this much.

Then he showed me the artist perspective. Here's the artist perspective of the church. I’ll also post the current photo of the church.

I know I can do this. 

Believing,

eLviN

Day 43 : Results Oriented Business

I talked to Tito Tony and I realized that I really missed talking to him. I missed his empowerment for a couple of days of no communication or whatsoever. We’re both very busy in our businesses.

Anyway, I’m glad that I talked to him once again. I got his empowerment. I got his wisdom once again. Hooray!

I was amazed how Tito Tony and the group in Cebu manage to help businesses. He develops satisfied customers. Here’s how they’re doing it.

By the way, Tito Tony’s strength is his network and his Marketing Ideas. So he uses this one as leverage.

They attract businesses by giving them new marketing ideas. They create website for them and not charge them until they meet their goals (in the form of sales, number of customers etc). In short, the business ventures they’re entering are win-win situation both in Tito Tony and their business partners.

This scenario enlightened me last night.

Why?

Accepting a client and having a domain for him (for free) would really push me (or my team) to the reach that extra mile for me to have a breakeven. Well the charge for the website is limited but the experience I’m getting on these kinds of ventures is priceless.

Now, I’ll be shifting my mindset from a website developer into a results oriented marketer. Good thing I got to talk to Tito Tony before talking to people I’m going to help.

Pursuing great customer service,

eLviN

Day 42 : I get used to it and I can’t stop

I just developed a habit. For almost 43 days, I’m been writing my thoughts down on this blog. I could not believe that I could not go to sleep without visiting my MS Word to type in my thoughts that occurred for me for that day.

Anyway, just like any addictions, I can’t stop writing my thoughts down. Even though I’m sick, sleepy, tired or bored – I just can’t help myself but to right my thoughts down.

This is one accomplishment that I don’t think I can do before. It is happening right in front of my eyes. I’m writing one article per day, imagine that.

Anyway, there’s another thing I want to become part of my daily routine just like what I’m doing. It is constantly exercising and building my muscles to the next level. I’ll exercise daily. I’ll do my sit-ups, push-ups and breathing exercises every morning as I wake up. I planned this before but it didn’t materialize after a couple of days.

My goal here is to build a strong and healthy body because I know I have a strong mind already.

If I was able to write on this blog daily), I can exercise everyday as well.

Why am I doing this?

After the series of events that occurred for the past couple of days, I really need to step up and to be strong. I want to be a good protector of my loved ones. And I’m claiming that.

I’ll get used to it and I will not stop.

eLviN

Day 41 : Meeting with the Parish Priest

Supposedly, I’m scheduled to meet the parish priest in Parian to discuss a fund raising activity for their parish. To give you a little background of the story, it goes something like this.

There’s a small parish near our place. From the outside, you’ll never expect that it’s a parish. It looks like an abandoned warehouse from the outside. When you get inside, it really looks like an abandoned warehouse. I guess, you’ll appreciate it if you saw the place. Don’t worry I’ll post some photos in the near future.

There was a plan by a political person that will renovate the parish. However, since he didn’t win the election, it didn’t materialize.

I heard this story from my father so it gave me an idea to have a big project. I never did something like this before so this is really worth a try. I have a goal, I’m looking for projects to have experience with my marketing skills, I wanted to help people/community, and this is my chance. It’s really a win-win-win situation.

So here’s the plan.

First, we need to know how much it would cost to renovate the whole parish. Of course, I’ll have the figure after our discussion (hopefully tomorrow).

Second, I’m thinking of applying the social media marketing in pulling this one off. I’ll use youtube – I’ll let the parish priest create a lot of videos. I’ll use facebook – I’ll post here photos plus status messages of the parish. These two sites will lead to a sales page (optin page) where they can see the donate button. I’m thinking of giving something in return to those people who will donate. I’m thinking of Christmas cards/greeting cards but it depends on the resources.

Then third, promote, promote, promote. I need the help of the parishioners as well as my friends to pull this one off. The parishioners will help the online pages to be viral.

My goal is to reach the target amount of money in less than 50 days (before the end of the challenge).

What do you think?

Excited to meet the parish priest,

eLviN

Day 40 : Questions and Random Thoughts

Question. When is the best time to trust someone?

We learned that like attracts like. We attract people that have the same mindset as ours. We attract people that have the same wavelength as ours. But not all have the same blueprint as ours. In some cases, our positivity are misinterpreted and taken advantage of.

Just like what happened to Edel. She was harassed. Her kindness was taken advantage of.

What should we do in such situation?

Here’s another situation.

You want to help someone. You have the resources. You have the skills. You have the talents. You have everything that he/she needs. However, at the back of your mind, you’re thinking that if I give this or that, it will create a dependency that would really worsen the situation. The lesson will not be learned. The person will totally depend on you. No more work, no more actions, no more decisions, nothing.

How can we teach someone a lesson?

If we don’t give them, either they’ll be mad at us or guilt will run in our heads. I know, the solution is to teach them. What if they don’t want to learn? What they really want is to depend on you, what would you do?

I know I have the answers to these questions but most of the time it is difficult to choose. It is very difficult to decide.

But I need to decide. We need to decide and we need to stick to that decision.

eLviN

PS. By the way, tomorrow I’ll be discussing a project to one of the parish priest of one chapel I’m planning to help. I’ll use my talents and skills to help renovate a chapel near our place. I’m excited for tomorrow! Good night

Day 39 : First Godwhispers Image

what do you think? :D

Check out Godwhispers page in Facebook.

eLviN

Day 38 : Longest Day

It's 1:52AM and I'm still awake.

In 8 minutes time, I should be resting to recharge myself..

This has been one of the longest days I had.

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to accompany Edel in her classes in Diliman.

While waiting for Edel's class to end, I went to Gateway to look for books. I bought two! Viral Loop and The Referral Engine. I started reading Viral Loop and the stories written in that book were astonishing! I got a 20% discounts on both books. By the way, National Bookstore is still on sale until Aug 21.

On our way back to Laguna, there's a discussion about Kindle. I'm thinking of buying one, what do you think?

We attended the Feast Laguna. We were blessed with the talk. Actually, it's a new series entitled T3 which stands for Time, Talent and Treasure. Major lesson learned, in everything we do, we need to give our all to get the maximum results. We've heard this before and good thing, this talk reminded us that we really need to be serious and 100% focus on the things we want.

Edel and I accompanied Edel's sister to their reunion. We met a lot of her classmates and learned a lot from the discussion, mostly politics. I recalled conspiracy of the rich during the discussion.

Okay. Time's up.

I'll post more stories tomorrow and watch out for the Godwhispers facebook page. Something good is brewing.

zzzzzz,

eLviN

Day 37 : Law of Reciprocity

I have been exposed to too much work. 

But I'm having a great time in helping others. I sacrificed my deliverables for the day just to help someone in need. Doing something unusual creates a certain value that cannot be repaid. In short, priceless.

Here are the things I did today.

I helped someone with her excel formula. Based on my calculations, if she manually computed it, it would take her 30-45 minutes. My solution? Less than 1 minute. 

I created a how to video for a report generation using a screen capture program. That video will save roughly 12 hours of my time (in the future) just to answer questions about how to troubleshoot the process. 

I taught my sister how to construct a chord in piano. I taught her the fundamental of chord formula to know the notes of a particular chord e.g. F#Maj7. 

I realized that there's so much to gain when giving. Law of Reciprocity at work. 

zzzzzz,

eLviN

 

Day 36 : Work work work

This is quick because it's getting late. I should have posted this a while ago but because I'm doing my work, I was not able to create a lengthy post today.

Anyway, I'll just share my update. Godwhispers page already received 235 people liking in just a matter of 8 days. So that would be 29 people per day. Wow! So if you haven't been there, I suggest you'll like that page now and be part of the first 1000 Godwhispers page members.

That's about it.

I'll play the guitar on tomorrow's first Friday Mass at the office.

God bless to me and to you reading this as well.

eLviN

Day 35 : Automation

While I’m doing this post, I’m currently sending an email message to all the attendees of the event on Saturday. In case you didn’t know yet, I’m a virtual assistant. What do I do? I’m sending emails to people who are inquiring on a particular event. As of the moment, I handle three events, two this august and one on September. This keeps me busy for the past couple of days (actually months).

So how did I do it? How do I automate it?

Well, I have this message that will be sent to 200+ email addresses. It would be a lot of work right? Good thing is I have a tool here in my PC where in I can send messages to a lot of email addresses. With just a few clicks of a button, viola, I’m multitasking – writing this post and sending email at the same time.

Isn’t it great?

Yes it is. It made my life easier. By doing automation, it is like delegating a task to someone else.

I know you can do that too.

Leverage automation for future success.

Until tomorrow,

eLviN

Day 34 : First steps to the Elvin – Poy Online Projects

Today is our second official meeting of Poy for our Southern Luzon Mastermind Group. Once again, we discussed Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Promotions, Internet Marketing Boot Camp, books and everything that I forgot to mention (intentionally).

We will be starting a project which will focus on building website for Filipinos. Our SEO and social marketing skills will definitely be useful for this project.

Clients will be looking forward to us as we serve them with highly search engine optimized website. The website is complete with social media pages where in their customers can freely talk about their products.

Anyway, that’s the initial talk.

For our next meeting, we will be inviting our partners in crime Edel and Meg.

Sidetrack story!

By the way, I learned something today from the tricycle driver and I quote “Libre lang ang magtanong.” This statement was given by the manong driver to one of his passengers who are unsure where he’s going. I wonder if he managed to get to his place of work on time.

If you don’t understand something, ask questions.

If you’re unsure, ask questions.

If you want to learn something, ask questions.

eLviN

Day 33 : A blessed day!

Yesterday, I talked about blessed or stressed. I decided that I'll be serving blessing today and that's what I got!

A lot of things happened today!

This is an awesome day!

First, we won in our first basketball game (our team standing is 1 win and 2 losses). I scored two points. I’m more of a defense type of a player when it comes to basketball. So scoring two points is already an accomplishment.

Second, I had an affiliate sale! Isn’t that great! I just need to put up more stores. Currently I have four affiliate links, scattered in facebook, a couple of websites and some forums. This means I need to scatter more of them in different places. Of course, I need to remember that I need to build networks first. I’m a permission internet marketer. :D Target for this one, is at least one sale per week.

Third, I’m happy that Godwhispers already have 168 fans in just a matter of 5 days! I did not reach my goal of 200 fans by August 1 but I already consider that one an accomplishment. Next goal for this is to create value before promoting the Godwhispers sales page. I have the post ready for the sales page we’re just waiting for the right time. :D

Fourth, we have a new article in our Feast Laguna Website courtesy of Bro Rem. This week, we will be executing our plan to put more posts in our facebook page. If we are right, this will encourage more people viewing Feast Laguna Facebook page that will eventually become Feast attendees. Target for this is in a month’s time, we will be doubling in Feast Attendees. Right now, the average attendees is 250. In four weeks time, it will be 500!

Fifth, Jomar Hilario already advised me the date for our Laguna Internet Marketing Workshop! It will be on November 20-21. I’m excited for my first event! Please pray for me.

By the way, I guess I’ll stop here for the mean time. It’s getting late. Gotta sleep.

Excited for tomorrow!

eLviN

Day 32 : Stressed or Blessed

I missed writing day 31 on this blog. My head was aching last night until this morning. Due to lack of sleep I guess. Good thing I’m back to writing. I really missed writing my thoughts down. It’s kinda automatic for me. Well, it has been one straight month I’m writing my thoughts down. Before I could not think that was possible but here I am, doing the impossible before.

I thank Tito Tony for that. I thank Tito Tony for introducing me to this 90 day challenge. It really pushes me to the limits (more or less).

Anyway, on this post, I’ll discuss to you my rant for the past couple of days. You see, I’m starting to be stressed out because of my job. Too much frustration I guess. I have this project wherein I’m tasked to lead the data validation of our inventory system. Other markets are willing to help me except for Philippines. I don’t know why, they don’t want to help me (themselves) to fix the problem. Everytime I talk to them, it feels like I’m the bad guy. I’m the bad guy because it is a hopeless case. From what I’m seeing, they don’t like the system because they could not change the details posted on that report.

For months, I’ve been trying to convince them that I’m just trying to help them.  

I’m starting to lose my patience.

I’m starting to be stressed out.

Good thing, God sent me an angel. The angel enlightened me and told me that I don’t need to be stressed out because I’m blessed. I’m blessed with my work.

I even got this message from Godwhispers…

Each day, you have only two options: To be stressed or to be blessed. Stress and trust cannot co-exist together. If you’re stressed, then it means you don’t trust. If you trust, then you won’t be stressed.

Trust me,
God

P.S. When you’ve done all you can, and the problem is still staring at you, just turn everything to me. Like a child, tell me, “Lord, I’ve reached a point of incompetence”. And then sit back, relax, and watch me move.

I thank God for the reminder. I’ll trust him more.

I’m working tomorrow because I’m blessed,

eLviN

PS. In case you haven’t like the page Godwhispers, please do so. I’m 50 people away from my target fans until August 1, 2010. Be blessed.

Day 30 : Time flies fast

It has been thirty straight days, I’ve been posting my thoughts here in my 1 million in 90 days challenge. Honestly, I’m on my way to greatness though I haven’t earned anything with monetary value yet (aside from my active income).

This post will just contain what happened since then.

First, my mind was opened to a vast learning and earning opportunities. I have read four books in one month. I’ve read one minute millionaire and cash in a flash both from Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. I’ve read my first ever marketing books, all marketers are story tellers and meatball sundae by Seth Godin. I learned various internet marketing videos in the internet.

Second, I aligned myself of my career as an internet marketer. I created a Godwhispers page as a start (targeting of 200 fans by August 1 – four days of existence). I even sent Bo Sanchez an email to ask for his permission with this one. He replied and gave it a go signal. So what’s the statistics? Currently it has 96 fans, half way to go and one day left. My goal is to practice viral marketing in facebook. I need your help! 

For the remaining next sixty days, here’s my plan.

I’ll continue in creating viral messages. I’ll be promoting events, I’ll be creating my own website that will contain a lot of how to’s in the internet (I’m thinking of doing this in a tagalong version). The purpose of this one is for Filipinos to become aware that there’s a lot of earning and learning opportunities online. I’ll be using my handy dandy Camtasia.

To be aligned with the things I wanted to do, I’ll be pursuing another career. I will be an internet marketer and I’ll be discussing it to my boss on Monday. Please pray for me to have this job post.

Next 60 days, here I come!

eLviN

Day 29 : I never expected...

Today is the first day of our 2 day planning conference here in Taal Vista.

Well, the experience was great. I never thought that I’ll learn more marketing skills in our supply chain planning conference. Actually, I never expect something great will happen, it just came. So this post I will be sharing them all to you.

First, I never expected that I’ll learn a new quote that will help me as an internet marketer. Here’s the equation:

Deliver the results = Gain the Trust = Earn the right to

Actually, this applies to our life. This applies in our work, in our relationships, in our everyday life.

How?

If we manage to deliver the results we gain the trust of our superiors. Gaining their trust will result to us earning our right to provide a strategy to better improve the process.

In my life as an internet marketer, if I manage to continuously provide the things my market (selected niche) wants then I gain their trust, I gain their respect. Once they trusted me, the things I’ll be sharing will be trusted as well thus earning my right to influence their decisions. My voice will now be heard and will be considered.

This agrees to the idea of Social Profit Formula (Don Crowther) that we need to have a ratio of 50 valuable messages to 1 selling message. The 50 messages would make us more or less trustworthy (or should I say an expert) on the selected niche.

Second, I never expected that our company will be gearing towards the new marketing in five years time. With this, I’m excited to apply as a internet marketing of our company. With my passion in blogging and social media, and web 2.0, I know this will be a great learning opportunity for me.

Third, I never expected that I’m still on track for the first popular page I created in facebook. My previous post says that I’m seeing 200 people liking that page on August 1. And I’m very proud to tell you that in just a matter of 2 days, the Godwhispers facebook page already have 69 fans! Woohoo! I never created something like that before. This is the first one. :D

Fourth, I never expected that we will be sending email invites for feast laguna attendees tomorrow. Edel and I are starting to worry about not being able to do our job as media marketing for the Feast Laguna. Lo and behold, when I opened my email, I saw a personalized email from Jon Escoto! Whew! That message save our day!

Lastly, I never expected that God will enable me to share my thoughts to you today. God is really good in providing me everything I need.

Still in awe in God’s amazing power,

eLviN

Day 28 : Rant!

For the next two days, 29^th and 30^th day of July, I’ll be out of the office. We will be having our annual planning conference in Taal Vista. So bear with me if you’ll not see any post on this blog for tomorrow. I’ll do my very best to create a journal tomorrow even though the schedule will be tight. Who knows, anything can happen.

With this planning conference, each team and group are required to do some pre-work. We started doing it since last week and thank God it is finished (we’ll just present it tomorrow or on Friday).

Meetings after meetings were held just to finish the powerpoint presentations of each group.  I was assigned to create two powerpoint presentation, one for our group and the other own for my team.  

This does not excite me. Powerpoint presentation forced me to put a lot of texts in one slide. Long meetings mean long unproductive time. I should have finished a lot of my operational tasks. I should have got home early for the past couple of days. I should have written very nice articles for my blog (which is quite overdue). I should have promoted my facebook page enough. Sigh.

Good thing I have a nice stress reliever in the beautiful form of Edel who made my day by being so sweet and kind and understanding.

I appreciate her presence more and more.

By the way, today is our fourth year and 7^th month anniversary.

I guess, I need to go to sleep.

See yah!

eLviN

Day 27 : Making My Move

Today marks my 27^th day of doing the challenge. I admit I’m starting it a bit slow. A lot of the initial plans were not done. I’m constantly changing the path I’m doing on this challenge in search for that one thing that I really, really love doing.

Upon contemplating and reading Seth Godin books and listening to social media, I really want to make my own online business.

And because of that I have made my move. I’ll be following Seth and Don’s (Social Profit) advice. I created a facebook page for one particular product that I loved and really worth sharing. I’m seeing that we will be having 200 people liking this page by August 1 as I continue posting three to five posts per day. A lot of interactions will be happen on this page as we see people being healed and being blessed by the daily dose of Godwhispers.

That’s my first page.

Second, we are now more focused in bringing more people to the Feast Laguna. Again just like the Godwhispers facebook page we will be promoting the Feast Laguna. Here’s our strategy. We are incorporating the various thank you messages received from the love offering envelopes to have daily posts and daily interactions in Feast Laguna facebook page. We will be placing 10 thank you notes (or 10 inspirational messages) every day. So that would be 50 messages per week then promote the event on Thursdays or Fridays. The goal here is to have five to ten new people per week coming from the facebook page and/or the Feast Laguna website.

By the way, we will be doing audience targeting. How? We will promote on those people who follow Bo Sanchez for both Godwhispers and Feast Laguna (with Laguna as geographical location).

After this, we will be starting to feature another page which contains our own product. I downloaded software to aid me on this so this will be very fun thing to do! :D

Ooops. I forgot to take note that I admire Bo Sanchez for replying everytime I emailed him. He really values relationships. I like that. He is truly a blessing.

That’s it. I’ll keep you posted on the 200 people by August 1. The current status? 192 people to go.

This will be the start of me becoming an internet marketer!

eLviN

Day 26: A Helping Hand

This will be another short blog post because it is already late. I helped my mom create an office layout for their new office. Good thing, I still know how to create office layout using MS Visio.

I also helped Edel in fixing her blog. I removed some advertisements in her blog to focus more on our affiliate programs.

By the way, Edel and I created a history. We felt this certain opportunity to post our link in the official site of the Philippines (www.gov.ph). We noticed that there were no comments posted on the English version of 2010 SONA so we commented. We also created a blog post about 2010 SONA. In any minutes now until the SONA craze will subside we are expecting visitors to our blog (either from the social media or the search engines). We’ll see. In case you’re interested in reading the 2010 SONA, just visit my blog (www.elvinperia.com) or Edel’s blog (www.bit.ly/edelramilo).

By the way, tomorrow will be our second mastermind meeting here region 4.

I’ll continue my thoughts tomorrow.

eLviN

Day 25: Interruptions

Today, things not went well according to plan. We were supposed to have our Fourth Starbucks Experience. To give you a background, Starbucks Experience is an event where in Edel and I go out to have a sip of Starbucks coffee to meet and discuss with friends some plans for our future. Plans may include business ideas, wedding plans (ahem), life plans, strategies on how to make our lives remarkable and anything under the sun.

Well, it does not happen due to an interruption.

We accompanied Ren and Bridgette on their first ever Karate Tournament.

It was a great experience seeing Ren and Bridgette perform. I took their video and Edel posted them in Facebook. Here’s the link to Ren’s first ever Kata Tournament.

Interruptions are not that bad after all.

We just learn how to make every moments (interruptions or scheduled) remarkable.

eLviN

Day 24 - Law of Attraction at work again!

I just finished reading All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin. I started a new book and so far I’m enjoying it. It is about the old and new ways of marketing. The new way focuses on internet marketing, the path I’m going to take.

Just like what I have said in yesterday’s post, I’ll read and look for more materials like this to start my job as an internet marketer. By the way, I thank Tito Tony for sharing me these awesome books! I want more.

Thanks to law of attraction, the universe gave me what I want. I got a priceless material that would help me understand social media and how we can harness its full potential for profits.

In case you want them, you may check out this link (this link contains three videos this is the first one. Social Media Doesn’t Work unless you do it right. Just put there your email address and you can see the videos. I’ll tell you they’re priceless.

By the way, the third video is my favorite. It shows us the social media map.

That’s about it for this post. I want to have more time reading Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin.

Back to reading,

eLviN

Day 23: Our Online Business

For the past couple of days, we’ve been reading a lot of books. As far as I can remember I read almost three books in three weeks time. It’s a bit slow you might say but I like to note that I’m still have my Monday to Friday work, my blog posts daily, my daily conversations with my family, my weekend activities and preparations to my first ever Internet Marketing Workshop event. Starting on Sunday, I’ll be reading my fourth book for the 90 day challenge. It is about internet marketing, a book form Seth Godin entitled Meatball Sundae. From the stories I’m hearing from Edel, I know it’ll definitely help us a lot.

I developed a technique to fast read a book. How? When buying, always buy two books at a time with the same thickness or size. Since you have two books, decide which book you’re going to read then have a bookworm buddy (preferably your partner in life or someone you can trust and has the same reading speed as you) who will borrow the other book that you have bought. By the way, the books must also be on the same genre so that story telling (exchange of ideas) will complement each other.

This happened today. It feels like, I’m reading meatball sundae when in fact I’m reading All Marketers are liars. Well these two books are great match for what I want to pursue. Thanks to Tito Tony.

Speaking on what we will be pursuing, we will be devoting our time, energy and resources to find enough materials for us to become an internet marketer. We will be focusing our attention to social media. We will be marketing an affiliate product which is close to our hearts and which helped us a lot in so many ways.

We’re targeting it to be launched next week. We’ll read more stuff for the meantime. Here’s the plan, we will be looking out for techniques on how to sell online through the use of social media. We’ll do the research until Friday. Saturday or Sunday in our Starbucks Experience (with Edel) we will discuss the steps we’ll do. Then on the first Monday of August, we will be creating materials for that one. Then as soon as we completed it, we’ll launch it.

Watch out for it. I’ll be updating you every step of the process.

For the mean time, here’s something worth sharing about social media. This sets of video helped me understand what social media is all about and how we can maximize it for our business.

See you on tomorrow’s post.

eLviN

Day 22 – Thinking Aloud!

I’m actually out of words today. Edel and I are thinking of new strategies on how to introduce financial literacy to companies. We’ve been doing this for so long and for the longest time we’ve been procrastinating and entertaining things that would divert us to not pursuing it.

Well today we’re back to planning stage and we’re doing this seriously.

We will be starting out a new website for financial literacy exclusive for companies.

We have a letter than will be distributed to companies.

We started building a list of companies and their HR managers.

We already have this statement “A real boss looks for solutions for the financial problem of his subordinates.”

We are currently studying different marketing techniques through Seth Godin’s books.

This weekend we’ll pull this off.

In case you have ideas to share, feel free to post your comments below.

Making things happen,

eLviN

Day 21: The truth about lies and the best marketing strategy

Yesterday, I bought two books from National Bookstore in Festival Mall Alabang. I bought Seth Godin’s two classic marketing books Meatball Sundae and All Marketers are Liars Story Tellers. These books were suggested by my mentor Tony Hilado.

I immediately read the All Marketers are Liars Story Tellers book. From the first page, I could not stop myself reading. I agree with the concepts Seth Godin presented. The way he delivered it was fantastic.

I have found a lot of good marketing strategy from that book.

I can say is that we all live in a world of lies but a good marketer believed in that lie. Godin presented one glass wine maker as an example. The glass wine maker claimed that the taste of any wine is better using his glass as compared to an ordinary glass. Obviously it’s a lie but lot of wine critics proved that the taste is really different. The wine in his $20 glass tastes really good as compared to an ordinary $1 glass.

So what are we missing here?

The answer is belief.

I have a story to tell. I have been an affiliate of International Marketing Group. I am amazed by the concepts presented during the wealth academy series. Every after the wealth academy series I am fired up. But there’s a problem. I don’t believe that I can sell. That’s why I don’t have sales. My limiting factor is belief. My limiting factor is my belief that I can’t do it.

There’s a saying that goes like this: “If you think you can do it, you’re right. If you think you can’t do it, you’re still right.”

So what’s the point?

My point is our beliefs depend on our own definition of truth. There’s no universal definition of truth (and lie). Truths and lies are all products of our mind. What we believe as true may be considered as a lie to others.

Bottomline is trust in what you believe in; live by it, share it, tell your story and eventually it will sell. That’s the best marketing strategy. That’s why Seth tells us that All Marketers Are Story Tellers.

Gotta read!

eLviN

Day 20: The First Mastermind Meeting!

Just got home from the first ever mastermind meeting here in Luzon.

I’m so excited. I’m looking forward to our next meeting which will happen Tuesday next week.

I’m happy to present that we have a future millionaire who is very passionate in SEO. I call him SEO Master Paul Tibayan!

The mastermind meeting focuses on the things that we do on a regular basis: our work, our families, our hobbies, etc. Then, the topic was diverted to SEO. I didn’t know that Paul is a SEO Specialist. I really learned a lot from him.

I really thought what I’m doing for my blog has an effective and proper SEO already but guess what, through the stories earlier I realized I can do a lot more. I can attract more visitors. I can gain more readers. I can gain more friends and the most important thing is I can inspire and reach more people through my stories.

Also, while writing this blog post, I realized I’m part of a team of great internet marketers. We have SEO expert for search engines, we have viral marketing experts for social networking sites like facebook, twitter etc, we have great stories to tell, we have a wide array of products to sell thus all I can say is that we have a great online marketing team. We will be conquering the Philippines, then the whole world because of this elite marketing team.

The ideas are there. The marketing team is there. They are all set.

Nothing can go wrong right? Yes. The only thing we need to do is act. We should act. We should act to promote our products. We should act to learn more about our field of expertise. We should act based on the talents we have. We should act to share our ideas to others. We should act to make things happen.

I should act. What’s stopping me?

See you on tomorrow’s post.

The man who wants things done,

eLviN

Day 19: Choice requires Action

This morning, I find it so hard to wake up. Well, the typical Monday blues is kicking on my system. I understand myself because I don’t have any exciting things to do at the office today. I’ll just compile and consolidate data, make some phone calls, do some checking at the system which we’re working and eat (the last two are one of the things I love doing at work). Ooops, I forgot. I checked the TVIExpress online and found out not so good stuffs about it. Well, I just recommend you to see for yourself and look for it in the internet.

Anyway, the 7 – 4 working hours went by. I did the things I need to do to finish my day at the office. At 4:15, I left.

I went straight to Edel’s house and shared my stories for the day. The things I did at work and the research I did about TVIExpress. She was surprised to hear about TVIExpress and still we are intrigued about the selling skills our friend has. We really need to see how she sells.

Anyway, after the story, I decided to read a portion of one minute millionaire to Edel. I read this portion to her.

Practice imagining yourself enjoying an abundant lifestyle. All great fortunes started in someone’s imagination. See yourself living in the home of your dreams, enjoying ideal relationships with friends and loved ones, contributing to the world through your own unique talents and abilities. Imagine the fortune you could create and the good it could do. Believe it and you will see it.

We stopped after reading the passage above.

She asked me, what do I imagine?

Honestly, I can’t imagine a thing. As of that moment, I can’t see myself having the fortune I want. I still believe that my psychological wallet could not contain that $1M. In short, the dream does not pressure me anything at all.

Then Edel noticed my silence. And she said that she understands. She told me that I haven’t made a choice that’s why I still can’t imagine my life in the future.

She’s right.

If I already chose a path, with my intellect, with my knowledge, with my skills I can go towards that path of greatness.

My excuse? I’m not living in the city. The opportunities here are not that much as compared to the metro area. People’s lifestyle here is very much different to the lifestyles in the metro. People here do not think financial freedom that much. They still have the employee mindset where in they work for a stable company who will provide them money every 15^th and 30^th day of the month.

Then it struck me. If my friend who lives here in Calamba bought shares in TVIExpress, then they are thinking of their financial freedom. This idea opened my eyes to the opportunity that I’m looking for. I debunked my own thoughts (that there’s minimal opportunity here as compared to the metro). There are a lot of people here in Calamba who wants to be financially free aside from us and my friend is a living proof.

So what’s left for me to do?

Choose from my inventory lists.

I should act based on what I choose. I choose to focused on this three things, Internet Marketing Workshop in Laguna, Wealth Academy in Laguna and Website creation projects.

Act, Act, Act!

eLviN

Day 18 : Business Opportunities

Instead of going to the Franchise Expo today, I decided to stay home and finish the office layout for my mom. It is actually a gift for me to talk to her about our family. It’s been a while since I talked to her about the relationships we have as a family. I’m happy that she opened up. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m excited for more tasks from my family.

Also, I met a high school friend today. She introduced me to a new business she’s venturing. It’s called TVIExpress. It is a travel agency site which offers cash rewards for members who invited two more into the business. Though I’m not yet sure if it’s a good investment or what, I need to do some research first.

During our discussion, she told me that our friend (the one introduced the business to her) sold 3 shares ($900) while doing some bank transactions. She was in the bank when a lady asked her about her work. She shared her business (TVIExpress) and the lady was inspired. Right there she brought 3 shares. I was amazed. I need to talk to her to see how she did it.

You see, that’s what I think lacking from my skills pool. If there’s a seminar about selling, marketing and if it is online, I would definitely grab it.

This led me to the idea of my own company. I will call it ePop which stands for elvin peria online projects. The mission of the company is to provide websites for businesses (which is I’m passionate in doing) and to help them market their own sites / ideas (which uses SEO, social promotions etc). Also, it offers online tutorial how to market and how to create sites and how we do business.

Aside from these stuffs, here are my additional learnings for the day (we watched two movies today to relax our mind).

1. Real relationships are hard to find. If found, handle it with care. – Bulletproof
2. We all have bad bone but it doesn’t mean we ought to use it. – Igor
3. Neutrality opens us to more learnings. Bias leads us to stagnation.  

I will be having an exciting day tomorrow!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 17 - Important – Forever and Stuff-Temporary

I’ve re-read Cash In A Flash by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. Right now, I’m in the part of chapter 6 : Empowering questions particularly on the Important – Forever and Stuff – Temporary. The book gave an exercise by John Ortberg. The exercise goes like this:

It’s 4:00PM in the afternoon and you have decided to head home. There are two pads of Post-its on your days. One says “Important –Forever” and the other says “Stuff-Temporary.” As you leave your office, put a Post-it on anything you see-your computer, your desk, your secretary, the soda machine, the receptionist, your car, your house, your spouse, your kids-anything you see. Which Post-it do you put on what or whom? What is important and what is stuff?

Understanding these concepts will eventually help us to value relationships more as compare to the things we own. It will also help us to be grateful to the things and relationships we have even if we lost some stuffs.

Of course we tag our health as important as well so we should make sure that we have enough sleep. Work and any other money making activities are just stuff. Even God created the earth for six days. He can do it in one day but he chose not to.

I must follow that as well.

Gotta sleep! Until tomorrow. 

eLviN

PS. In case you're near the Manila Area, the last day of the 2010 Franchise Expo will be tomorrow July 18. I want to attend the event but i choose not to. The reason? Important. More of this tomorrow. 

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 16 - Act!

Yesterday I just have said that I have a focused mind. My mind will be focusing on these three potential businesses: (1) Internet Marketing Workshop in Laguna, (2) International Marketing Group – Wealth Academy and (3) Online Clubs of Bo Sanchez.

Well, for the past couple of days, I’m proud to say that I’m doing my best to focus on these three tasks. So here’s my update.

Internet Marketing Workshop. We have found a venue and we already submitted the photos as well as our assessment of the place. We’ll be looking for additional venue while preparing for the detailed expense and projected income statement for the event. I received a not so good news from Jomar that Bo Sanchez may not be able to promote the event but the good news is instead of 1/3 profit split it will be 50-50 split. Also, the marketing efforts will be a sole responsibility of Jomar and me. This would definitely help me practice my marketing skills. Next steps will be the preparation of the detailed income and expense statement.

Wealth Academy. We have created a website to promote wealth academy. What is Wealth Academy? Wealth Academy is a program developed by IMG CEO Noel Arandilla designed to help Filipinos increase their financial literacy. The site aims to educate Filipinos even if they cannot go to the seminar to attend the Wealth Academy Series. We will be bringing the concepts in their email soon. We’re setting it up in such a way the information available in that site will become viral. We’re looking at 500 subscribers in 15 days after launch.

Online Clubs of Bo Sanchez. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been posting Godwhispers in my facebook page. This time, I’m conquering offline friends as well. This is made possible with the use of my mobile phone. This has been already setup, so in case I found this inside my comfort zone, I’ll replace this with either Real Estate or Book writing. 

One more thing, I’m proud to say that the communication lines in my family are starting to improve. My mom started to open up her feelings for my father. I told her my side as well. We discussed some minor plans on how to improve our situation so we’ll see how things will work out.

Please pray for me. I’ll be very positive on this one.

Okay. It’s getting late.

See you tomorrow! It would be a great weekend!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 15 - A Focused Mind

Today, Edel and I embarked on a journey to Los Banos to take some photos of the possible venue for the internet marketing workshop. Before going to the venue, we had our dinner in Chowking.

She asked me the top three items I want to pursue as a source of income for the moment. I said, I want to earn online.

She said that my answer was vague. She asked again, what are the things I’ll be doing to have a source of income in the internet.

I answered. Jomar Hilario’s Internet Marketing Workshop, promote Financial Literacy through IMG and Truly Rich Club. These three are my low hanging fruits. Everytime someone will inquire in any of these three I’ll refer them immediately to my mentors (affiliate links).

So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be focusing my attention to these three sources of income.

It would be a hard thing to do for a hare like me, but it is still possible. This is a challenge for me to focus on the things I want to happen.

By the way, as a result of our discussion in Chowking I will be spending most of my spare time doing these three. I’ll market and share them. Also, this is the first time I’ll attempt to make a viral information. Let’s see what will happen next.

See you on my next post tomorrow!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 14 - Realization and the Formula for Success

Here’s another realization that helped me understands the scenario in our house. The situation in our house lacks openness.

Thank God Edel is there to help me realized the problem.

The problem is I tagged my father as a failure. Everything he does, everything he did and everything he will be doing is already a failure to me.

I realized this one when Edel and I had a practice negotiating session. I could not speak during that session because I was afraid to have an emotional breakdown. I was afraid to see my father and my mother having an emotional breakdown. This is the reason for most of the time we kept quiet and let silence speaks for us in the family. Silence brought us to our current situation right now.

In order to break the wall, I need to be open. I need to do something to let them share their thoughts.

So here’s my strategy, I’ll use the cash in flash equation for success. I’ll have a focused mind, a determined heart and a focused and determined team. My team consists of my family members. I know I can’t do it alone because for the longest time, I’m doing it my way. Now thank God I realized that I have a team. I have a team to help me get the things we want for our family.

One of the reasons why I got into this challenge is to have $1M for me and for my family at this time. Also, I wanted to have that openness in our family. I know this will come true.

By the way, I re-created this blog post since my internet connection is down yesterday. My PC crashed as well while saving this Day 14 entry.



I can do this!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 13 - Dreams Part 1

Here’s the first list of my dreams. This is the reason why I’m doing this 90 day challenge. Within the week, I’ll compile pictures, I’ll hire a graphic artist to arrange it and definitely have it framed!

Before I write this down on this journal let me share to you the dream guidelines suggested by Bo Sanchez. In making our dreams, it should be MAGIC – Measurable, Ambitious, Godly, Imaginative, and Complete.

So with these guidelines here are my short term dreams.

Have a happy family by having an open communication to each other starting August 2010. To have a family where every member can share stories of successes and failures freely. Every one listens when someone is sharing. Every issue is freely shared. Every idea is acknowledged. Every discussion leads to a better relationship. Everyone works to improve the current situation of the family.

Have a very exciting chapel wedding with my Edel here in Calamba on the 4^th quarter of 2011. After the wedding we will be bringing in our family members to Hong Kong Disneyland for a wonderful experience. A month after, we will be having the greatest wedding reception for our friends and mentors.

Have my first one million dollars by end of September 2010 through the use of internet with the guidance of my mentor Tony Hilado. The business ideas I have starting today are worth millions of dollars. The first book about relationship will be released end August will get a thousand hits in one day. Those readers will get inspired by the story.

Edel and I will conquer the world by travelling around the world after the Internet Marketing Workshop scheduled September this year. Our adventure will start in Cebu to meet our mentor Tony Hilado and the Mastermind Group.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss business ideas. :D

Excited for tomorrow’s activities!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 12 - Ideas

Today, I thought of a lot of ideas. The video of Jason Fried gave me a lot of fresh approaches to my existing business ideas.

First idea: How to become an MS Excel Expert. I admit. It’s been six months since I thought of this idea. I want to create an excel blog site that would teach readers how master their Microsoft Excel skills. But everytime I started it, it does not work. My mind is blocked. I thought of doing this, I thought of doing that. I thought of doing with the copywriter approach but it does not work either. I have lots of materials, I have lots of resources, I have lots of books but nothing. I don’t have an output.

It does not push me to do it. Why? I’m afraid. I’m an expert in 2003 but the latest version is 2007 (and 2010 is now available). Well, I’m starting to gain my confidence in 2007 but not compared to 2003. Give me more time, I’ll master it.

So that will be my new approach. I’ll create a journal on how to master excel 2007 the easiest way.

Second idea: Create a Laguna Bloggers Club or Laguna Online Marketer’s Club. In search for a Mastermind Group here in Laguna, I thought of starting it with my interest, which is blogging. I’m planning to setup a Laguna Bloggers Club. Well, the internet marketing workshop we’re scheduling is a good start.

Third idea: Sleep early. Well, this is part of my health awareness program. I’m doing it starting today so that tomorrow I’ll be refreshed to think of that million dollar idea. I’ll have more ideas and its action steps tomorrow.

By the way, the internet marketing workshop here in Laguna is still on. We looked for possible places here in Calamba but there’s none that passed our standards. We’ll be back in Los Banos to look for more.

Gotta sleep!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 11 - There Are No Accidents

This morning, Edel and I attended the Sunday Mass here in Calamba. The Gospel today is about the Good Samaritan. In his homily, the priest shared a story by Leo Tolstoy. It is about a king who wants to find the answer to what he considers the three most important questions in life.

What is the best time to do one thing?

Who are the most important people to work with?

What is the most important thing to do at all times?

Many educated men attempted to answer the king's questions, but they all came up with different answers. The king decided that he needed to ask a wise hermit in a nearby village. The hermit would only see common folk, however, so the king disguised himself as a peasant and left his guards behind to see the hermit. The hermit was digging flower beds when the king arrived.

The king asked his questions, but the hermit went on digging rather laboriously. The king offered to dig for him for a while.

After digging for some time, the king again asked his questions. Before the hermit could answer, a man emerged from the woods. He was bleeding from a terrible stomach wound. The king tended to him, and they stayed the night in the hermit's hut.

By the next day the wounded man was doing better, but was incredulous at the help he had received. The man confessed that he knew who the king was and that the king had executed his brother and seized his property. He had come to kill the king, but the guards wounded him in the stomach. The man pledged allegiance to the king, and he went on his way.

The king asked the hermit again for his answers, and the hermit responded that he had just had his questions answered.

The most important time is now. The present is the only time over which we have power.

The most important person is whomever you are with.

The most important thing is to do good to the person you are with.

Bottom line of this story is that there are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason. If currently you are confused over a particular situation or event, remember that it happened for a reason. That reason may be unclear as of the moment but I believe you’ll realize it sooner or later (at the right time).

If you stumbled upon a person that needs help (like the Good Samaritan and the story of the king), extend that helping hand. Who knows that might be the best friend for life you’ve been looking for.

Anyway, just a reminder, the most important time is now. The most important person is whomever you are with and the most important thing to do is to do good to the person you are with.

With this in mind, I will be opening my eyes all the time to learn from every situation I’m in. I’ll continuously look for people I need to help. I’ll continuously look for events that can help me grow. I think you should do it too.

Until my next post!

eLviN

A Journey to The $1 Million in 90 Days Challenge: Day 10 - I'm a Hare

I’m currently reading the One Minute Millionaire book as suggested by my mentor Tony Hilado. There’s one material the authors suggested, it’s a personality survey called HOTS. In this survey, you’ll know your natural strengths. This is a critical step in creating our dream team. To know more about this, go to www.oneminutemillionaire.com or better yet, read the One Minute Millionaire book.

I took the test and here’s the answer.

===============================================================

Your Answers Indicate A Hare Role

APPROACH: Conceptual/Spontaneous

DESCRIPTION: The Hare generates the concepts and ideas. They like to reframe the problem and look for solutions that may be unusual, unique, and/or outside the boundaries of traditional thought. Hares are good at exploring alternatives and perceiving the "big picture".

Hares want freedom from constraint, and when a rule exists they may break it. They may act impulsively, letting their feelings guide them. They derive satisfaction from the process of creating, discussing concepts and ideas, and overcoming obstacles.

When everything is in its place, the Hare may become restless, get impatient, and have a tendency to move from one subject to another.

CONTRIBUTION: Fresh, original concepts that go beyond the obvious, and are not constrained by fear of failure.

WEAKNESESS: Because the Hare enjoys generating ideas, they may move from one idea to another without stopping to evaluate the consequences.

If left alone to refine concepts, they will solve the problem within the problem within the problem, and eventually lose sight of the objective.

INSTINCT: Reframing problems to achieve breakthrough solutions, moving in new directions, examining possibilities without regard to risk.

===============================================================


I agree. I’m a hare. I recalled my experience before while brainstorming in one of the Laguna Feast meetings (I’m part of the Laguna Feast Marketing Team). I have lots of ideas in my mind that I shared. I shared that we create a website, we create a facebook page, we create a twitter page, we give away free stuffs in the internet to promote Laguna Feast online, we create a promotional video using powerpoint, animoto and you tube’s share stories and a lot more. Yes, I created a website, a twitter page but the rest I tried doing it once but I’m not satisfied so I moved on and forgot about it. Until, my girlfriend reminded me that we should be doing what we promised to do.

If she does not remind me, I don’t know if I still do it.

Good thing I have a team.
 
I’m excited to expand my team.

eLviN