That was a wake up call, indeed ...

A homeschool colleague named Oliver was following my fatherhood blog and I didn't realize it. I ran across him in a homeschool gathering. Then he asked, "What's up? I've not read anything new in your blog."

Aluminum Apple Keyboard by Andrew*

That was a wake up call. I had not updated this blog regularly as I used to. For a time, I thought that was, "Ok." Deep inside me, something said, "No, Marvin, that's not Ok. You're out of integrity here." 

Bloggers like me put up blogs like this with a vision. In my case, I've been envisioning this blog to be read by fathers like me. There's just a lot of stuff out there that fathers could munch during breaks, to make them better parents of Filipino kids, especially in the information age.
But why would fathers be interested? We don't usually gather around to talk about family, do we? It's not in our genes, is it?

Neither is that in my genes. In fact, part of the reason why I put this blog is to "force" myself to think parenting, parenting, parenting. I do want to become a good husband and father.

But that does not take away the fact that we want to be good providers more than being the charming Daddy. We gravitate more towards making tons of money, politics, sports . . . you know what I mean, don't you?

aking money was exactly what I was running after the last 24 months or so. It was the primary thing in my mind, even while doing my best to become a charming husband and Daddy. Here's an account of what I've been up to . . .

Coaching

I studied coaching and have been coaching some clients. One of the key success factors in coaching is the ability to establish clarity in the coachee. I realized I was good in that.

That was exactly why after coaching myself, I realized something very clearly in mind. In coaching, I WAS the BUSINESS! I thought that if something would happen to me, what would my family eat? 

That scared the hell out of me. Coaching was good. I wanted to be a coach. I wanted the skills. But coaching was not the business I was looking for.

I wanted a business that would make a lot of money, expandable and transferrable. Coaching didn't fit the criteria, but I needed the coaching skills to coach myself and my contractors or employees later on. 

Ironic? That's how life works.

I loooooove coaching! Don't get me wrong. Someday I'll be coaching left and right, you'll see. But I wouldn't be doing it because I need the money.

Advertising

For 12 months, I was pursuing with a partner a very innovative idea of selling advertisement space on placemats and tray liners. Nobody wanted it. Period.

Blogging for Money

This, to me, was the perfect business model. Income could keep flowing in, even if you didn't touch your blog for years.

But to make tons of money, I had to be in a profitable niche, which may not match with my passion. I thought, I didn't mind. But it was simply difficult to blog consistently on something you were not passionate about.

I didn't quit on blogging. I simply realized it needed more preparation than I initially thought. This required the four T's ... time, talent, topics and traffic! 

By this time I realized I needed some quicker source of cash, so that I could pursue money blogging with peace of mind. I had the talent, I had the topics, but I didn't have the time. In that scenario, let's not discuss traffic.

But I looooove blogging. What you're reading now is a blog. I love writing. I love seeing comments (Lord, let there be more of them). I love interacting with people about life, through blogs. One day I would be the most wanted blogger in the Asia-Pacific.

Real Estate

I love real estate . . . but, you gotta have time for it. As I said earlier, I didn't have the time. I got to work on my cash flow very fast! As soon as I had sufficient money to enroll in cashflow groups, buy Starbucks Coffee and pay the jeepney for my trip to the site . . . I thought I gotta go slow.

But I loooooove real estate! It's a great money accelerator. One day, I'd be flipping properties left and right, and you'd think I was simply taking a walk in your plush subdivision.

Social Media 

Studied social media and how to make money from it. I realized internet marketing was really what I wanted to do . . . then I thought, "what's my product? Think! Think! Think!"

Ahhhhh, I thought  . . . I'm going to be an information marketer and use social media to promote it. ... BUT ... this takes time to really take off and I need cash for my family now.

I looooooove social media marketing. Someday I'd be deep into it, you'd see.

In the meantime, tell me, what product would you want to buy that you would love to see being promoted right in your own Facebook News Feed. Tell me, pleeeease!

That was a serious question, by the way. One day I would find out and you wouldn't know what hit you. You would part with your money with a big smile.

Virtual Assistant

This was what Oliver and I talked lengthily about in our last encounter. I studied being a virtual assistant to keep cash flowing in, while having the flexibility to pursue my dream enterprises. It was here that I was making some solid progress in terms of cash flow.

I'd talk more about it in my next post. Stay tuned!