i dream

of a space like this for the company.

well, when you put it that way...

Over 1.2 million+ / year
Number of people whose buying decisions we directly affect with our own website


Over 2 million+ / year
Number of people reached by websites we produce for our clients


Over 12 million+
Number of people we have reached in the four years we've been a company

****

And we're just starting, compared to giants.

I guess my job is more important than I think.

Shucks. I'm the internet's anonymous Anna Wintour.

This quiet empire shall get bigger.

stuck in the new middle

There's something nice about setting up a home at just the right distance from the craziness of the city center. You're just 5 to 10 minutes away from the essentials - the office, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, church, a decent sushi place, the train station, THE GAP, etc. That was part of the charm of this little white box almost two years ago, when I moved in full time. It was near enough not to be boring, and far enough to still be quiet. You know - off grid, on radar.

Now, my little part of the metro is turning into a monster.

1. Foreigners are creeping in.

Fortunately, they're not the Noisy Korean types who infest my friend Illyria's bulding. My new neighbors are a different breed. I call them Chatty European types who live here because their money would go farther in the tropics than anywhere in the EU. They say "good morning" and "hello there" in German/French/British accents. They sunbathe by the pool wearing clothes that reveal more than they should. They actually use the gym and hang out in the garden. They are very... European.

(That sounded racist. However, if you knew me in real life, then you would know that I'm part European. Therefore, that just sounded self-deprecating and honest.)

2. Progress is assaulting this part of town.

I didn't realize just how noisy and congested the road to progress would be.

3. Property values are ballooning.

All the "progress" is doubling the price of the units here faster than you can say bourgeoisie.

****

Why I'm even complaining, I don't know. It's weird; I always knew this place would eventually be developed, and was even proud of the fact that I got first dibs while it was still cheap.

Resistance to change - maybe it's human nature?

How very Parisian.

what if it all ends?

I wish I could feel more ready for life, but I don't.

Everyday, changes tip the balance. Interest rates fluctuate. Marriages end. Houses burn down. Everything we could touch, count, smell, feel, and think - it all feels like a bluff, and not a very good one at that.

Today my grandmother (my father's mom) passed away. We were not close or anything. I only knew her superficially. Many of my relatives described her as a manipulative person, trying to control the family with her wealth. To me, she just seemed uncompromising. Her biggest flaw seemed to be her blind love for her eldest son, my uncle, to whom she gave her all money only to see it burn to the ground. It's a classic story of fortunes made and lost. This is just my point of view. I don't know all the details, and frankly, I don't want to.

I wonder when I'll die, and how.

It's impossible to prepare for life. All we could do is minimize the risk - and that's why people insure their valuables, save for the future, and follow other formulas created by self-proclaimed gurus of all kinds. But sometimes, all this "preparation" gets in the way of living, don't you agree?

* * * *

P.S. Just read an article about the ruins of another life change many people go through: divorce. Here's a look at a gorgeous house post separation. In my opinion, banks should only grant mortgages based on individual income, never on joint income. After all, 50% of marriages fail.

wiser

In a few days, I am turning 29. I am fast becoming ancient. This "growing old" business is a dirty job, but we all have to do it.

It sneaks up on you, these birthdays. You drown yourself in work and coffee and before you know it, you have inexorably slipped away from what "the kids" do these days. Worse (or luckily, I can't decide), you don't even care. You just accept the fact that you don't know what the hell is on MTV, that staying in is better than a long night out, and that you can no longer eat a whole bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken by yourself, even if you tried.

In a way, this is all fantastic. I sort of feel like my apprenticeship on life is finally over, and now, I am in a "managerial" level where I can actually LIVE. My life is finally mine. I am free from parental control. I live on my own. I have some money for small luxuries. I have the trappings of adulthood (including a proper French press), but more importantly, I no longer feel the pressure to prove anything to anyone. Hey, I'm almost 29. This IS me.

To be able to minimize the hiccups of this newfangled life stage, I should be able to achieve a state of recklessness tempered by practicality. I want to live in the moment without throwing away my future. It's going to be hard. Some ideas:

1. Save money. My twenties have been all about spending. This has to end. Anyway, my closet is full of Prada now, and I have eaten in thousands of fancy restaurants here and abroad (frankly, expensive food is starting to taste the same). I need a budget and I need to stick to it. Passive income streams need to be built, as I don't intend to work forever.

2. Live healthier. Wealth is nothing without health, really. That's why I have started moderate running two to three times a week, but I intend to become more active. I am seriously considering taking up Chi Running and joining a marathon. As for diet - I don't do diets. This is why I'm not as thin as I used to be, which isn't necessarily bad (I feel healthier, anyway). I am beginning to eat more sensibly now, but who can say no to sweets and the occasional bad carbohydrates?

3. Disassociate with negativity. I must develop a new method of dealing with people who just zap energy -- dysfunctional family members, friends who always seem problematic, clients who nitpick, etc. There's no way of completely cutting them off, so I should just change my approach so that they don't get to me. I must master the skill of saying NO, especially if saying it equals self-preservation.

4. Build a light lifestyle conducive to travel. The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page. Well, I intend to read the whole book until it's beat up. I will doggy-ear pages I like so I can go back to them. I'll even subscribe to updates. To enjoy this freedom of just going whenever, my life's essentials must fit into a carry-on bag. It's the only way to live.

5. Take care of good relationships. I haven't been very lucky with family, but I am blessed in the coupling up department. I have MSP. He does not only help me carry life's occasional excess baggage but has actually bought into this light lifestyle of "no mortgage, no kids, no hangups." We are working our asses off to make our business even more mobile, so we can make money anywhere we are. That is a ultimate dream, and we're getting there slowly but surely (his words, not mine / if it were up to me, everything would be fast, fast, fast.)

Friends - I have a few good ones, and I intend to keep them. Old friends I haven't seen for years are suddenly here again -- people from high school, from my old job, etc - and it's like we never parted ways. I still have my constant college friends, and I have a feeling they will always be there. Our friendship has surpassed the deciding point when you all either (a) lose contact or (b) consciously decide to pester each other for life. We've chosen (b), obviously. And of course, I still have my bestfriend of two decades, who now lives in Canada. We still talk almost everyday, thanks to technology. The world is so small and I just know I'll be able to visit her regularly.

* * * *

MSP is asking me what I want for my birthday. I said, "NOTHING." It's the first time I haven't wanted anything. Why? I have four reasons: (a) I'm still not over the Tiffany treasure he gave me, (b) the shop floors are so boring these days that nothing catches my fancy, (c) I'm much older now so I value experiences more than things, (d) I am realizing that if we get married, his money will become my money, too, so I would prefer that he save as much as he can.

However, I think I'll buy myself a small gift. I haven't decided. If nothing amuses me, I'll just save the money for the upcoming trip to Malaysia and Cambodia. I already have the book. I can't wait :)

lemonade - the movie

What happens when recession forces creative people out of their jobs? How creative can they get in their own lives?

Watch this trailer:

b/millionaires who don't look the part

"Mark Zuckerberg's appearance is every bit the geek. He wears a zippered brown sweatshirt, baggy khakis pants and Adidas sandals. He walked into the room eating a bowl of cereal from a paper bowl with a plastic spoon. He still resides in a rented apartment, with a two chairs, a table and a mattress on the floor. Mark walks or rides a bicycle to the office every day." Source

Mark is the founder of Facebook, and though there is still controversy on whether he really is a billionaire (at least on paper) or not, there's no doubt that he is rich (even if reports state that Facebook has not met revenue targets and that Mark really owns only 30% of the company now).

And yet, he is so simple - almost a geek-hippie. Incredible.

READ:
Mark Zuckerberg Lives Like a Hobo

OR IF YOU'RE LAZY, THEN JUST WATCH THIS:
Zuckerberg on 60 Minutes

how are you doing financially?

There's a fun CNN money quiz here. You may have to convert your values to US dollars to get accurate results.

I got a pathetic B+.

How did you do?

the story of stuff

This can change your lifestyle, or at least some aspects of it.






Watch the video here.

the luxury of small space

In my last post, I talked about Abito, which I like because they create small, smart, intelligent houses that have minimal impact on the environment. This kind of philosophy really appeals to the hippie in me. Perhaps the reason I love small spaces is because unlike many people (especially those who lived through the depression), I don't have compulsive hoarding syndrome.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has been designing the homes of the future. According to the philosophy, people really only need 2.5 meters all around in order to be comfortable. That's a little extreme, but certainly believable. The philosophy further implies that people who live in these small (but very organized) homes become less materialistic, and have more time to "expand outside of themselves," reaching out more, and fulfilling more artistic goals. And did I say the designs look really beautiful? Well, they do.



Here's another extreme: A 10-sqm home. That's the size of a small walk-in closet (and the average size of a small bedroom here in the third world). But it has everything -- and it's stylish, too. Kinda extreme for me, but certainly inspiring:



Many others who have chosen to live in small houses exactly like this cite three reasons why they live the way they do:

(1) No mortgage

(2) Which means more money

(3) And more time to travel, read, do the things they love (because they don't have to work as hard as they don't "need" that much cash to maintain or pay for a conventional house)

If you think about it, living in a small, simple home affords you MORE LUXURY and FREEDOM. This makes me appreciate the small space we own, and just how ideal it really is for a lifestyle of work-travel-work-sleep. In that order.

And it also makes we want to buy this tiny home in Indiana. I am just kidding. I think. They don't let foreigners buy homes, do they? Maybe I'll just get this portable cube home from Japan and bring it here to Manila.

So, how big is your home?


****EDIT****

With property rises around the globe FALLING by 30 to 50 percent, why bother getting a big ovepriced expensive house, right? Last week there was the real estate bubble burst in Spain, and now China's property prices are likely to halve. According to The Financial Times:

Cao Jianhai, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading government think tank, said an apparent rebound in the property market was unsustainable over the medium term and being driven by a flood of liquidity rather than real demand. He told the Financial Times he expected average urban residential property prices to fall by 40 to 50 per cent over the next two years from their levels at the end of 2008. “Prices may not fall in the near term but I expect a collapse starting next year, followed by many years of stagnation,” said Mr Cao, known as one of the “three swordsmen” of the real estate market because of his influence as an official economist.

***

Read my entry on the impending real estate crisis in the Philippines in the coming year. It looks like indicators of a price collapse are staring to show:




1. HLURB legal officer Mike Denava says he had noticed an increase in the number of complaints and those seeking refund assistance since December 2008, majority of which come from families of overseas Filipino workers.

“These families said they no longer wanted to continue to pay because of hard times,” Denava informs Inquirer Property.

He surmises that the increase in the number of refund claims could already be a direct result of the global economic crisis.

“In my opinion, this might already be the effect of the global recession. Many of the buyers of houses and condominiums didn’t anticipate this crisis to happen,” Denava says in Filipino.

Source

2. Inquirer Property reported last week that, according to the GPG report, prime 3-bedroom condo prices in Makati fell 2 percent in 2008 after an 11-percent rise during 2007. Proof that troubled times has landed on our shores as early as late 2008 is evident in Global Property Guide’s survey of publicly-available house-price time-series for 2008, which showed prices declining steadily. And seen from a global perspective, the downturn is still accelerating.

Source