My Work, Family and Food

Recently I’ve taken a great liking for Italian cuisine; I really love the aroma and the lavish use of herbs and spices. I particularly love risottos, ribollitas, and of course pizza. The wife and kids seem to enjoy it too.

Even though I love making food; my culinary pursuits have been dampened by unending stress from running my other business. How is a man supposed to make some good food when he is being bombarded with calls and piles of documents waiting to be sifted through!

Archiving documents is a priority right now since they need to be made digital. I know this is for convenience as there are literally stacks of documents that need to be scanned and processed. I’d hate lugging these stacks of paperwork around, might as well put them in a USB stick.

The limited time I have to get these done has prompted me to hire outsourced data entry workers at my familiar Business Process Outsourcing partner. Now I have a couple of temps at my office who scan the documents and upload it to my data entry crew. I think I have made the right choice since they seem to have consistently given me good rates.

I really need to reduce my time spent running the show and go back to my passion. I’d hate every minute spent away from my wife and kids. I just wished there was more room for quality time now that they all grow so fast. Well a couple of weeks ago I did celebrate the best father’s day ever. Took the kids out to the movies and had a candle light dinner with my dearest wife.

Moments like that make life worth living and seems to take all my worries away. I just hope those data entry boys at voiceville are doing well, as Id hate to wake up to more lost deadlines.

 

Google Apps for Business.

Are you just starting and in need of basic office tools? Look no further. Google Apps provides robust package to get your business up and running swiftly. It has email, calendar, office applications and web-messaging service so you and your employees can get down to business and seal that important deal quickly.

The good thing about Google Apps is portability. With your favorite browser, you can create or access office files such as documents and spreadsheets using Google Docs — anytime anywhere. Google Calendar is another important tool which does not only allow you to plan ahead, but lets you remember an important event or meeting via SMS to your mobile phone.

Google Apps isn’t only for start-ups. Many businesses have come to see the benefits of cloud computing in Google Apps for company-wide or even client collaboration. With Apps, the document or spreadsheet always stays current, and your team and clients are rest assured that important modifications were entered in the right version. Thus, Google doesn’t only let you work faster but also smarter.

Google Apps is unbeatable in cost-savings. It requires no special hardware or software and requires minimal administration, giving businesses huge savings in terms of time and IT expenditures. Research also shows that “Google Apps is as little as 1/3 the total cost of competing solutions.”*
Downtime and data loss can be very costly not only in dollars but also your company’s productivity. Google Apps gives you the confidence that you are always up and running 99.9%** all the time and the peace of mind that your data are secured and kept by world’s trusted Google datacenter.
Best of it all, with Google Apps, it means you never have to upgrade all the time. Plus, as leader in cloud computing, Google never fails to give you something new every single day of your business.

Voiceville Communications, Inc.
Philippine Call Center
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* http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/details.html
** Available in Google Apps Premier Edition

 

mPower Emergency Illuminator

Did anyone give you a very expensive gift you’d think you’re not worth the effort? My wife did; and it’s not some birthday card or anything-it’s not even my birthday but she gave me one. According to her, I deserved it. But you’d be surprised that she gave a businessman an mPower Emergency illuminator. Have you ever had this funny feeling inside your stomach, you’d think you’re going to puke your guts out? It’s not even a tingly feeling, it’s just pure nostalgic. I don’t know what went through her head but she did say that I would need it someday and I’ll be thankful she bought it for me. In my opinion, spending almost $300 dollars is an extreme act of kindness and the strangest thing is how the flashlight can justify a price like that. Nevertheless, I guess I understand why she bought the mPower Emergency illuminator and I know this powerhouse flashlight will be of much help to me in the future, I just don’t know it yet.

Was it a waste? Coming from a businessman who thinks money should be spent wisely, I would say it was pretty much expensive. Now, here’s a working theory of mine. I wouldn’t completely say that it’s useless or not worth it at all because I was researching the other night and I read this article from technabab.com explaining how fascinating this product is. Imagine a thousand flashlights that a person can probably use in 20 years packaged into a single device such as an mPower Emergency illuminator. “It contains two rechargeable and replaceable CR123 batteries for normal use. But it also has a reserve battery, which can hold its full capacity for up to 20 years.” – technabob.com

Know what is more peculiar about it? A USB port that lets you siphon its power to other gadgets. Unbelievable. I wonder if this was like a symbolism for something. My wife can be pretty intense. She even pre-ordered the damn thing. (Sigh) Talk about surprises. FYI, if anyone is interested at all, make sure you buy it from the right place. You can probably ask my wife.

 

Tribute

Being a man of my age is not an easy job. With a family and a business to run, everyone expects me to be on tip top shape. Coming from a family background wherein problems always have solutions, I gotta say, I can’t afford to disappoint the people looking up to me—my employees, my business partners, my parents, and above all my wife and kids. They are basically the reason why I’m the person that I am today. Each day I keep my head clear and sane enough to face the world. Maybe I was destined to be this man and I am not going back to regret the life that I have now.

Just yesterday I got a call from a company that offers online ordering system since I have been quite the restaurant owner for a few years now. Their proposal got me so excited I had to jump in and acquaint myself with their services. Despite my other business which I’m currently outsourcing now, I found the need to fulfill my passion and that is to serve food. Believe it or not, my dream is running a restaurant business. After putting some thought on the progress I have made these past few months, I decided to step up a bit and do something to serve my loyal customers through practical and financially helpful means.

Carryout Directory, an affiliate company, introduced Koopons!©, which is a fantastic banner feature and I have to agree about the money that businesses like mine can save with printing and other advertising needs. Since it’s electronic, a lot less paper will be used, which will eventually help save the environment. If you ask me, there is no other means of hitting two birds with one stone in terms of profiting and being of service to our customers.

 

Help on its Way

It has been a while since the last time I made an entry in this blog. I haven’t written anything partly because I have been very busy these past months going to places and investing time and money to expand my business. My outsourcing partner is definitely with me on this and as far as progress is concerned, we have achieved so many with only a month and a couple of days. I have had more sales on a monthly basis than I could possibly imagine. I couldn’t have done this without them but of course, there is still a lot of work to do because the fact that I’m improving, my business is improving, and my partnership with other businesses is improving welcomes more challenges ahead. But I am prepared.

But that is not mainly the reason why I’m writing today because today I had quite an experience with an old friend of mine. He was young when he started managing his own business, likewise, he too had a lot of options but according to him a lot of factors got in the way. But eventually, he became successful; he was able to launch multiple products in a short period of time and as expected, he made profit faster than anyone of us. But today I just received unfortunate news from him and he was struggling to put the pieces back together. Perhaps there was mismanagement in terms of finances or discrepancy in product quality. Who knows? He wasn’t exactly honest with me and I definitely know why. We all looked up to him and hoped to follow his footsteps or even better. But now that he seems to be having a difficult time, he manages to prioritize his pride more than the issue at hand. However, I am a good person and despite my own success I don’t see why I should lend a hand. From one businessman to another, I spoke with confidence about certain things and advices he probably thought wouldn’t come from someone like me. But nevertheless, I owe myself the humility to stand by those who once believed in me.

 

Lost for Words

Right now I am simply lost for words. There is no particular reason why because I am still reflecting about the events in my life and yes it’s a bit confusing for someone in my position to experience the extremities of life. Over the years I have seen and felt what I have done for others including the people who matters most to me. I have been inspired to write poetry and my own versions of a short tale. Writing has truly become an outlet for me and I began to appreciate how words can influence a person; how these words become either your enemy or your friend and for the longest time they have showed me the paradoxes as clearly as I could.

But today I am just truly in awe of not being able to lift them under me just so I can create something worth reading in the future. I seem to have lost the connection or the knack for this because I keep coming back to where I was. Stunningly lost for words and this is just annoying if I may add. But then when we finally try to make amends with it, it elevates your soul and you wonder what happened with the two of you. After a while, your words show up beneath your pillows and tell you how they missed you and you on the other hand can’t help but show deep sorrow of the gap that has caused so much pain.

I asked them how they managed to leave my thoughts and they all said that I was giving up on them. I told them that it was contrary to what was going on inside me because all along I wanted them to stay and to comfort me at all times. They seemed startled as I became wishful and eventually they settled for it. Now, I have myself ready to face the pen and paper once more and share the most infinite thoughts I have for the rest of the world.

In memory of my beloved friend, Chloe. Your words will never leave you and your wisdom will never leave us.

 

A Valentine Thought

Why is it that as men, we are always bombarded with expectations on Valentines Day? It is not that I resent the reminder of showing appreciation but more of how the emphasis on the day bothers me.

I have always loved my wife and family. I have always been loyal and devoted to her and to keeping her happy in the marriage. However, I saw some men last year being tied to a string and brought to shops by their women and I feel sorry for them. It’s not a pretty picture and with the “big” day on the way, I am painfully being reminded of that horrifying memory.

My wife says I am over reacting however, she admits that she had urges to do that too and she did with her previous but not when I came along. I asked her why, slightly smitten by her straight forwardness. She simply smiled and said, “Richie, you make everything romantic.” And there I stood on the kitchen counter, the world stood still and I realized why I was so in love with my wife.

She is not without faults but she is perfect in her own right. In her imperfections, she is perfect and beautiful. After years of marriage and kids, my friends often ask me how I struggle with not so honorable desires. I tell them that I don’t. Honestly, I don’t’. I don’t feel the need to. What I need and want from any woman or every woman, I find in my wife and with her.

So come Valentines, I shall put my wife on a pedestal and praise the heavens I met and was able to marry a woman who is “the” woman for me.

 

Moment of Truth

I was reading the papers today. The very day the news hit about the quake in Haiti, nations were struck. Or at least I was. The paper I saw showed a man stealing a dead person’s coffin, Haitians fighting over relief goods, and some big guys in uniforms carrying boxes of bottled water.

My thought was clear when I saw those pictures—“All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Word for word I uttered them as if I was seeing the world in all its dimensions. Don’t get me wrong, my friends. But this is what I call the moment of truth. I see the images so clear in my head, I get goose bumps. I just think that life can crumble in a matter of seconds and believe me, when you’re there to witness it, you’ll wish you you could undo being a witness to it.

The Haiti quake has caused thousands of deaths and these people were pretty much living a normal life before this tragedy. They were just like us now, blinking our eyes at every chance, loathing every day that passes by, and cursing those who spilled coffee on our shirt, among others. But these predicaments didn’t help them see what was coming. Question is, can we?

The truth is, our ignorance makes us care less about the very reason why we are all here. Everyone is to blame for this, including myself. We slide away from what matters most because we are too afraid to confront them–afraid that we may not be able to handle it. But what if the time comes when our days will look like an endless nightmare, what then? Haiti is just another wake up call and I don’t see why millions of people aren’t picking up the phone. REALIZE TODAY THAT WE ARE ALL BREATHING THE SAME AIR.

Haiti Phenomenon

 

Help need for Victims in Haiti

An earthquake hit Haiti, a 7.0. Thousands were hurt and many have died. They are in need. Please help.

Click here to help those in need in Haiti.

 

After a Bad Day, the Phone Rings

Ever had a really bad day that you thought could get worse but does? When just after arriving home from a very long day at work where your boss ranted on how he couldn’t do his job right and that it was somehow your fault, only to find that the whole house suffered some catastrophe which left it even more messy than you left it this morning, and when you finally think you can sit in the sofa to collect your thoughts, the phone rings.

“Hi. My name is…..” And you bite that person’s head off even before he could finish his first sentence. But the person’s all good and he goes on with his spiel and you’re seething. You tell him you’re not interested but he continues to talk like he turned deaf for a minute there.

Ah. Telemarketers. I had a similar experience yesterday. I did bite the goddamn person’s head off but after he went on and on, oblivious to my fury, I found myself giggling like crazy at the thought of the people who were also doing my telemarketing for me. My laughing finally got his attention and he blatantly asked me why. I merely told him to call me at a better time and apologized for my attitude.

I must have confused him so much that he probably had to take a quick break. I had started to outsource just recently. I finally finished weighing the pros and cons of doing so. The decision speaks for the weight of the two.

I chose a provider in the Philippines because I have been there once and found that most of them spoke very good English, were friendly, accommodating, and people were generally fast learners, flexible and kind.

I am very happy with the arrangement and the results are as impeccable and as good as they said they would be. So yesterday, I found it absolutely funny to be barking someone’s head off when probably somewhere someone was putting off the people telemarketing for me too, someone, who like me, may have had a really bad day.