Truly Rich Club Wealth Summit 2013

I had the privilege of being on stage with Jomar Hilario and 3 other online income earners during the Wealth Summit 2013 at the Philippine International Convention Center. Around 300 people were there.

On stage with (L-R), Jomar Hilario, Jan McKingleyHilado, Paolo Josef Abadesco and Sha Nacino (photo from the Timeline of Sha Nacino) 

During the Wealth Summit, I was interviewed by Jomar about my journey towards my present online work. He asked what I did before working online, the transition and how I spend a typical day these days. The time on stage however was limited.

Allow me to talk about my story in greater detail here.

BEFORE

I was an executive in a popular videoke microphone company since 2002. Pay was good. I had a company car. My family was living in a 3-bedroom house with terrace and garage in Quezon City. I joined the Rotary Club. Prestige was there.

But life, in reality, wasn't that good. Stress and frustrations at work made me a sad-looking person. My wife could hardly stand how I looked like upon reaching home at 8pm or 9pm or 10pm. She was thinking about how our kids would grow up with that kind of Dad.

My wife and I knew something had to change. We attended personal development seminars to clarify our thoughts and update our perspectives. We were active in Couples for Christ and Gawad Kalinga. We went to the Feast (at that time, in Valle Verde Country Club).

The morose countenance went on. I had major misalignments in my work place such I was absorbing a lot negative energy, day in and day out. No amount of positive reinforcement did any good. It was like running a car with punctured tires. I was filling them up with air from gas station to gas station.

My wife said, "Ten more years like this and I'm afraid I'd be a widow." That remark really caught me. She was right! The physical toll on me was beginning to show. I knew I had to change something big time. That meant cutting something up, and cutting it cleanly, with one quick blow. That something was my job.

But then I hesitated. I told my wife one morning, "I would quit this job. But let's time this properly. Our kids are still too young!" (My son then was 6 and my daughter was 10 months old). My wife said, "Make a change now BECAUSE they're still young. It may be too late 3 years from now." I composed and submitted my resignation letter that very day, my 40th birthday.

Funny that Dean Pax Lapid also talked about listening to his wife earlier in the Wealth Summit. Dean Pax mentioned about his wife's major role in financial management. Rex Mendoza also mentioned the wisdom he was appreciating about his wife's decision to accept Rex's parents into their home. I now believe that God has entrusted wisdom to women, to be imparted to men, when men are ready.

TRANSITION

The transition started way before I resigned. My wife and I went into real estate investing on the side and explored internet marketing, hoping that income from these endeavors would help us later upon resignation. All these didn't work out money-wise, but they prepared us mentally and emotionally.

We lost money in real estate when a partner misbehaved and brought me and my partners in debt by close to a million in just a matter of 3 months. Thankfully we retained control over the property and kicked out the partner. We no longer sued her for the money that she lost. The property was able to sustain itself but the cashflow for us stopped.

Internet marketing required years of labor before it could truly be profitable. While we stopped counting on it, we invested on a lot of trainings by Jomar Hilario, Anton Diaz and online materials. We also attended lots of seminars on personal development from PSI.

Upon resignation, there was a prolonged negotiation, with the help of good friends, to liquidate my shares in that company. We were able to raise money good for 18 months. One would wish that was the end of the story. Incidentally, it took longer than 18 months. It took us 40 months to bounce back.

I went into a placemat advertising business that didn't work out. Nobody wanted it. Worse, I felt like my partner and I didn't agree on many fundamental things. Not much story to say here, except that I learned a lot about advertising in this experience, as well as how to run and how not to run a company.

With not much money left 21 months after my resignation, we moved out of our 3-bedroom home and transferred to my brother's home in Calamba City, 60 km south. We sold our narra furniture, Chinese jar, curtains, extra glasses, plates and utensils, the unused vacuum cleaner, the unused electric stove and an array of things in that would not fit into our new home.

But we didn't sell the home office table and chair, computers, printer and fax machine. We knew we would be needing them.

This was when I invested in Jomar Hilario's Virtual Assistant workshop. To achieve financial independence, we needed to build businesses. But to live today in order to work to build those businesses, we needed to eat! We needed bread and butter.

I religiously did all of Jomar's assignments, every one of them, to the letter. This blog and the slides you'd see featured in the early posts were among them. Then I submitted proposals to around 40 prospective clients before I got my first project.

HOW I KEPT MY SPIRIT UP

The emotional part of all that wasn't easy.

Losing the prestige, the big home, the glamorous calling card, the gorgeous phone and the car was bearable, with a wide smile. We were already psyched up for it. Besides, we were not as emotionally attached to those things as some people at that time may have thought.

There was however a little discomfort in walking along the streets and riding public transportation that I had to bear. I bore it with an affirmation that I'd fill up this road in a few years with my cars.

It was watching my wife and my kids as they slept on the floor that really broke my heart. They deserved much better than that!

One evening, I was sitted on the flower pot outside of my brother's home, letting my mind go blank and breathing fresh Laguna air. I was emotionally down but I did not want to go down with it. Then by some sort of inspiration, the next thing I did was pull out the grass around my brother's home and started planting pechay, my favorite vegetable.

I made a personal ritual of planting the very small seeds and transplanting the shoots. I said, "Lord, I am this seed. Plant me in this pile of soil that seems to cover me and let me grow. When I'm ready, Lord, transplant me where I could grow." I said that to every seed, all 30 of them, slowly, and sometimes close to tears.

Photo of the pechay, planted in the middle of the carless garage. I posted this photo in my Facebook Timeline in March 2011.

Seeing the pechay grow patiently in the next few weeks gave me the inspiration to trust in God's divine hands and to grow patiently, persistently, day in and day out through His power, not mine. All I had to do was to go with the flow of God's power and to do my part: water the plants.

As the plants grew, I saw myself in them and I felt God's hands cultivating the soil around me. Then something hit me, "If I could grow vegetables in this small plot, God could grow hundred year old trees and a Church that could stand continuously for more than 2,000 years and maintain the order of the whole universe for 4.5 billion years! Why worry? There is only something to be delighted about."

It was at this time when I felt even closer affinity to my favorite prayer.

The LORD is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack.
In green pastures he makes me lie down;
to still waters he leads me;
bhe restores my soul.
He guides me along right paths
for the sake of his name.
Click this to see the full prayer.

And grow I did. I was able to gain more clients, increase my rates and bounce back to my previous income level. At one time I was serving 5 clients at the same time. Later on, I trimmed them to 3, then down further to 2, and later on to just one. After 19 months, we moved back to Quezon City in high spirit, full of plans and hope of greater things to come our way.

TODAY

My typical day today is to wake up after I'm done sleeping. Read that again. Not everyone can say that. Being able to say that today is already a feat worth mentioning. A good night's sleep would allow me to be up at 6am. But sometimes, it just feels good to be in bed til 8am or 10am.

I work at home with my most comfortable shirt and shorts, with my kids playing around me, or while my wife is homeschooling them.

Once a month, my wife and I splurge a portion of our income. Just last month, we watched The Hobbit in 3D at IMAX SM Mall of Asia on a Thursday 2pm. The whole movie ran with just my family (plus a couple nearby) in the cinema. That was a blast!

I eat almost all of my meals in every given week with my family.

When I kiss my wife to go to work, it really just means taking a few steps to my computer.

The mall is just a short walk from where we stay. At 10am or 2pm or 4pm any day, I can choose to unwind there with my favorite shirt, walking shorts and slippers.

But don't get me wrong. I still work like mad. I work between 50-60 hours a week.  I could do that, no problem. Why? That's because that's still less than the amount of time people spend outside of home each week (do your math). While people go through the motion of changing clothes and battling with the traffic in going to work in the morning and going home in the evening, I'm in front of my computer, making money.

It was a privilege meeting Bo Sanchez during the Wealth Summit 2013 and have his signature on his recent book, "How to Turn Your Passion Into Profit."

We are much more financially literate today. While, yes, we splurge part of our income monthly, we have strict controls on the rest of the money.

Lastly, I feel closer affinity with people in Think Rich Club. Getting invited to the Wealth Summit was a grrrreat privilege. I could not even believe that I actually went on stage with Jomar Hilario and other online stars, much younger than I am, yet making much more than I do.

It was also a privilege to get a chance to listen to Bo Sanchez again about business. There were also other serious names in business there such as Edward Lee, owner of Citisec Online; Rex Mendoza, CEO of PhilamLife; and Dean Pax Lapid, professor at the Asian Institute of Management, Dean of Entrepreneurship at the Truly Rich Club, and a business owner in his own right.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Having greater control of time, while making money for your everyday needs is the ultimate gain. I have big plans in my mind and I plan them with greater confidence because of what I successfully went through my 40-month transition. My wife and I have plans in place to get back to stock investing and mutual funds, put up online businesses that employ people, and engage again in real estate.

These plans would involve partnering with like-minded entrepreneurs. Yes, one could have 100% of one pie or have 1% of 100 pies. I want the latter.

A picture like this is in my vision board. I dream of being part of a group of geese that fly long distances by supporting each other towards a common destination -- purposeful businesses for the common good.
Image Credit: Brent Geese by Dan Davison