Making the most out of a little lot January 9, 2009

I have been toying with an idea especially after a lot of people complain you cant run a profitable piggery and a few other businesses. The truth is time management. This idea is something I no doubt will do myself in the future. Imagine you have a small lot of around 400 – 800sqm. You build a main house and 2 – 3 apartments to the side. You grow your own vegetables and a lot of fruit. Maybe a bit of room for a few catfish or other fish production on a small scale. But either way you should be looking at something that keeps you busy if your semi-retired. Biggest killer in the Philippines for many is boredom going out gets expensive so making money while not having to leave the house seems a good idea. Well here is the concept :-

The 3 x apartments you rent out for around P10,000 a month each = P30,000

You grow your own fruit and veg where possible and although may not be sellable you have reduced your costs on your food budget.

You attach a small piggery with 20 – 30 pigs. Revenue is low but its an hour or two a day to keep you busy and you “should” gain around P2,000 a month with a good breed. But be aware the feeds are where you get robbed. Overpricing is more than common. But also the fact you have a product that is marketable to your partners relatives and friends. As well as the fact it reduces your meat costs over the year why pay P140 to P160 a kg when you can be producing for less than P100 small gains but its all profit or cost reduction.

You then add a small Sari-Sari (corner store) which is open lunchtimes and evenings (When home). Your sat watching TV selling products through a grilled window at the side of the house. The profits aren’t huge but it will at worst cover electrical bills and a bit extra for the house. The key to everything is maximising your budget and reducing your costs. With a bit of time you should be seeing your income around P40k to P50k every month regular as well as the fact you have fresh meat from pigs/fish and fresh fruit and vegetables all produced on your own land. This keeps you fit and occupied.

Its a small scale idea but its a basic one you can expand from. e.g. the tenants of your apartments need collecting from the Airport, Visa runs, imported foods/wine etc. It could be a small gold mine you haven’t yet discovered but a year of practice you can see the idea come together but the main thing is that you have other incomes to start. Don’t bleed the business dry before its had chance to mature into a bigger venture. A Sari-Sari store in the wrong location may only need beer and cigarettes etc because there is no need for anything else. But its all on the person in each location to develop things. You could have a deep well add a purification kit and suddenly you can provide clean drinking water. The ideas could be pretty much endless. I would love some feedback on people already doing this sort of thing or people who are giving it a try for the first time.

Secrets to doing business in the Philippines January 9, 2009

I’ve spent nearly 2 years on forums about the Philippines both for Pinoy (Filipinos) and for expats and there is complete opposites of information due to the expats sites primarily negative feed on the Philippines and the Pinoy sites posting everything is great. So what is the truth? Somewhere in the middle. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories ranging from people forced out of hotels and resorts in the middle of the nights running for they’re life to businesses that are just unsuccessful. But your probably wondering why I have put nothing positive? Well the truth is the people doing well don’t like to admit the fact. They also aren’t heavy forum users but one thing is for sure there is a lot of them here making money everyday and living a good life. There are complications here like anywhere else in the world. Firstly corruption is a major issue having a restaurant may get you constant visits from local police for example. But its not just the Philippines operating in the UK with a business I had previously local council officials tried to blackmail me after I had gained several contracts from them. So be aware its just business the key to business anywhere in the world is contacts you can take the same basics from anywhere on the planet and its all pretty simple. Supply and demand, good relationships with officials, good business contacts and most importantly good business sense. Many of the failed businesses I’ve come across seem to fall into 2 categories the first is relying on someone else to do all the work. Basically the foreigner invested money in a family venture and just hoping for a good return. You wouldn’t do it in the West so don’t start doing it here.. Second category is the value of the Dollar.. here working in Pesos is the key.. a guy will work for between P150 – P300 a day and that’s the going rate. If you can make a profit above that each day then you are running a business. But if your expecting to make $500 a week from a venture your already making a mistake your in the wrong currency and your not looking at what the local market can sustain. There is big money opportunities available but for the majority its unreachable not only because of finances but also the networking issues. Importing goods could become a headache for example if you haven’t got friends within the Import/Export zones etc. But one business that can thrive is purely exporting back to your home country. I’m not going to list products because its pointless.. the truth is each region has something unique to offer. If it hasn’t maybe you have an idea that you can utilise the local skilled labour for. Either way it is possible to not only be a Millionaire in the Philippines but a $,£ or Euro Millionaire but the key to success is down to trial and error and a lot of hard work.

Is this hell or Paradise? January 6, 2009

A friend of mine arrived in the last few days and one of the comments he made was regarding there are a lot of people posting the Philippines as a Paradise location. Well its all locations and definitions Cebu itself has a lot of beauty and also a lot of poverty. The way Paradise comes about is many people will many ideals. I will give you a few….

Imagine your a person reaching you upper years and living in a studio apartment your kids all have families and have moved away from the area. Most of your friends over the years are no longer around or have moved away or suffering with ill health. You get a few phonecalls every week from people but hardly anyone visits you. You travel out each day and in cities of millions you might aswell be sat alone.. your unnoticed and no longer respected by the people that surround you.. Many people suffered with this in Western society.

 Arriving in the Philippines to find… People want to know where you came from,what your doing, about your life. Want to be your friend the opportunity to have a wife is suddenly more available than it would be in most Western countries infact not only that your respected by most people due to you age. You wake each morning to the warmth of the sun and living on a lot less than you would in the West. Your not struggling with groceries and getting to the local malls but you may even have a live in maid who does it all for you.. You find a community of friends who have all had a new lease of life given to them in a land that wants them here.. That is the Paradise many are talking of.

But what about the younger generations? Well I can only talk from my experiences in the West im a Surveyor paid well and enjoy my job. I pay over 40% of my salary in taxes, I have high housing costs,fuel costs,a biast government thats in favour of the lazy and uncontrolled migration. Im punished for working, having 3 or 4 kids upwards pretty much guarantees a free house,reduced taxes and as a bonus you wont need to even get a job. The reason that people will travel literally thousands of miles to get there. Im not against immigration,migration and im definitly not a racist but i do expect an even playing field for all.. Im punished for working hard my whole life and most of the people in the same sort of situation as myself feel exactly the same. Im not bitter or twisted about this but will that and a system that is very pro feminist which has caused an imbalance to the point even if someone was divorced the guy pretty much knows already he will likely lose the house, car and half his income until the children are of working age regardless of the status of the person or family. Thrown in for good measure is the difficult process that may leave the guy paying for children that he cant see due to a bitter ex and they play god with feelings and loss.. I may sound a bit bitter about the latter but its not too much with the difficulties ive faced as the relationship with my ex partner to see my daughter is most of the time amicable. But I have friends living in bedsits/studios who once had 3 – 4 bedroom houses and a life that they were happy with. An ex who suffered with depression etc. and it ends up all the guys fault. Another where a guy lost nearly everything he had including his children, over nearly a lifetime he had build a portfolio of houses for rentals a good job and a caring father. But got involved with a 4th divorcee woman that pretty much ate him alive. Coming home one day to find he had an empty house as the property and the bank balance had been cleared and legal proceedings began for divorce. He had to pay a monthly “allowance” to a woman who had never worked in theyre married life even though she had taken everything that was in the bank. In the end he had to buy his children as simply the woman only wanted money. He lost more than 50% of his houses, all his furniture etc and left a broken man. Is he still paying the allowance? Probably yes.. its no doubt been bound in one of the property rentals that still existed.. These are the reasons many are coming to the Philippines…

battle scarred from past relationships and most are 30+ they have pretty much had enough of western society so many come here and suddenly find a woman that is the complete opposite of what defines a Western woman. A woman who is in most cases unselfish, misses the guy even if he goes out for the day and looking to take care of the house while the husband is busy with work. A society thats preached in the West as sexist but the truth is everyone is happy. In the West can you really say everyone is happy? the 30+ year old is increasingly likely to be single because they want the independance but missing the whole point of a family unit. You cant have your cake and eat it.. With the increased single mothers and divorce rates (divorce rates are stalling i believe currently due to economic climate rather than anything else in the UK) who really has it right? A relationship thats going to bring children into the world in a supportive enviroment where children are the priority.. or a western society that is the land of the hoodies and the forgotten youth? I know which I would prefer my kids to be brought up in and I also know life isnt perfect but life is really what you make it. The Philippines to me is my home and Paradise, but you need to look beyond the poverty sometimes and the fact that every carrier bag for miles seems to end up in the river. But sooner or later this will eventually stop. Most malls are encouraging the use of boxes etc and the Enviromental shopping bags are starting to appear here so give it time and the rubbish will clean up. The politics are internal and not for foreigner interference so why get involved in something thats between governments and locals that could actually get you deported.

Paradise is where the heart is…

There is also the tourist side of things which I havent added yet. The big cities can be a mountain of fumes in rush hour and hearing a beep from a horn only a second away. Tightly packed streets and stores the size of market carts are abundant in the poorer areas but its part of the developing society that is the Philippines its caught in an industrial age that is seeing people leave the rural areas for the cities for employment and a brighter future. History dictates it will eventually lead to development of newer housing and better standards of living for all. But it doesnt happen overnight and corruption is still a major problem. Being realistic though corruption deprives a country but even those on the take,theft or manipulating things to theyre own needs will find that a developed nation offers more funds, capital and developments which would leave anything that could have been gained with corruption as small coins in the big picture.. Look at China where the worry with Hong Kong is it would be stripped of its independance and enterprise.. but in essence the opposite happened China embraced Hong Kong and its ideas.. leading to a wealthier and stronger future.

Head from the cities you will find that within an hour you are starting to hit the real Philippines still untouched as there has been little money or development spent on the rural areas. Traditional Nipa roofed buildings still exist and pretty much the home of the poorer families in the further flung locations but also those less than an hour from the cities.. The real Philippines that can offer a slower pace of life and a life as a small scale farmer etc. A paradise to another type of expat. Then you have the diving from the coasts another type of expat and another type of Paradise..

If you see it as hell its either the fact you havent found your home.. or you have yet to find that woman that changes the way you are.. One thing I would advise to anyone is experience life as you find it not as people tell.. (sounds strange from a blogger) but the truth is my Paradise may not be yours but one thing is for sure there is a lot of different Paradises here in the Philippines and I believe there is one for nearly everyone.. (as long as you dont prefer the cold!).

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