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How To Turn Your Hobby Into Cash

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Mirriam-Webster defines hobby as “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation.”

Hobbies are as diverse as the people who pursue them.

Apart from keeping his day job, my friend Albert is also into mountain climbing, extreme sports and other outdoor activities that are physically challenging.

On the other hand, my friend Rex takes pride in his collection of tropical fishes that are truly a stress-reliever, which is especially helpful when coming home from work.

Most often than not, a person who is engaged in a particular hobby is doing it out of pure pleasure derived from the activity. Making money is usually out of the equation.

Make money from your hobby

You can make money by telling the world about your hobby. Click the image above or this link to see how people around the world are doing it.

Herein lies the rub: While pursuing a hobby is fun, it can also be a financial drain.

Now, what if you can turn your hobby into a source of extra income or even a full-pledge business? For some hobbyist, it may sound counter-intuitive; perhaps, even defeats the purpose of doing the hobby. But there are those who are thinking along this line: there’s nothing wrong about being compensated for doing something that you love to do so you can do it more.

If you belong to the latter group, the following steps help you get you on the right track:

1. Learn the Art and Science of Selling.

That’s the very first hurdle you have to overcome. You have to accept the fact that selling is an essential part of any money-making endeavor. Whether you are aware of it or not, your everyday activity already involves selling.

Convincing the kid to eat his breakfast; getting everyone in the office to agree with your idea; asking for a raise or promotion — these are all sales activities.

Even churches and non-profit organizations have to sell too in order to get some funding. So why not get comfortable with it and take your hobby to the next level?

“I’m not ashamed of selling millions of records. I’m very fortunate to be in that position.” –Chris Daughtry

2. Do your homework.

Identify your target market. Who are your prospective clients? Can you come up with a profile of a typical customer?

Research the competition. Can you identify the known market leader in your area? Competition is not entirely a bad thing. For one, it indicates there is a market to be served.

(See also: Why Start a Business?)

3. Know your price.

How much would you charge for each individual product or services that you offer? A pricing strategy could spell the difference between an amateur and a pro.

Now, this already sounds like real business. Remember that your final price should include all costs incurred, including your own labor, plus profit margin.

4. Identify the level of success that you want.

You have to be clear about the meaning of success and having it all.

Your hobby-turned business could still consume your time and energy. Do you really want to do your hobby all day, every day in order to please your customers? You should strike a balance in order to maintain your sanity and keep the same level of enjoyment you have over your hobby.

(See also: How To Start a Part-Time Business. )

5. Go online.

Having a website brings a lot of benefits for the owner of a hobby-turned business enterprise. Here is a short list:

  • You can share your experiences.
  • You can teach people about your hobby. This is another business opportunity apart from selling your products and services.
  • It establishes you as an expert or authority in that field.
  • You can reach a wider base of audience and clients, even globally.
  • It’s your sales tool. Or, your sales man who never goes to sleep.

I can go on and on with the list, but the point is having a website offers a lot of advantages.

And speaking about going online, here are good articles to read to help you get going further:

The 3 Business Entry Options

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Are you thinking of starting a business in the Philippines? Do you know where or how to start?

Today, there are so many business opportunities available from almost any type of industry in the Philippines that it’s easy to lose focus on what’s really important.

So you want to be in the food business? You say you love to cook. And they say Filipinos love to eat. From Jollibee and McDonalds to those little food carts you see in the malls, there’s no end to the number of franchise operations available in the market. That’s just for the food industry. There a couple more: water refilling, ink refills, schools, laundry shops, salon and spa, and many more… you name it.

In any of these lines of businesses you can either venture on your business starting from scratch, or take over an existing business, or buy a franchise from established brands. These are basically the three options available to you. Let’s discuss each one in the succeeding paragraphs.

1. Start From Scratch

A lot of businesses are started this way. That is, the founders came up with the business idea, setup the plans, raised the necessary funds and so on.

The new business venture is typically unknown in the market. And naturally, it is still struggling to carve a name for itself.

From ideation to launch and then finally running the operations, all these entail a lot of hard work for the owners and his team. It’s even more tough especially if the venture is trying to break into a market dominated by well-known brands.

On the positive side, unlike buying an existing business, which is discussed next, the owners can take comfort in the fact that there is no negative history to overcome. That is, there’s no bad press to haunt you down.

And unlike a franchised operation, which will be discussed later also, you can be creative in the way you deal with the changes in the market conditions by offering discounts and incentives as you see fit, without getting an approval from the parent company (the franchisor).

If you have done your homework well, you have probably identified the weaknesses of your competitors. You can even exploit those areas where they fail to satisfy their clients and customers.

2. Buy An Existing Business

In the Philippines, this is the business road less traveled… and for good reasons. Buying a business from someone else is very complicated and should be avoided by first-time entrepreneurs who can’t even interpret a financial statement.

Business Opportunities

Pick One: Start From Scratch, Buy A Business, Or Get A Franchise

However, buying an existing business at the right price also presents a lot of advantages, among them are the following:

  • It’s less work on your part. The start-up stage is one of the most challenging parts of a business operation. If the business has been in the market for quite some time, you are lucky for skipping this part. It’s like adopting a three-year-old kid. You skip the pregnancy part and you don’t even experience the painful process of delivering the baby from your tummy.
  • If the business is already profitable, that spares you from having sleepless nights.
  • You already have a list of established clients and vendors.
  • Machines, equipment and other tools necessary in the operation of the business would probably stay and you can use them right away.
  • You can learn some lessons from the experiences of former owner. That is, if he can provide you with honest information, stories and data.

But then again, this option should be approached with extra caution. There are a lot of factors to consider when taking this option. You have to know such things as Business Valuation, Financial Statement Analysis, and other similar skills.

3. Buy A Franchise

The International Franchise Association has defined franchising this way:

Franchising is a method of distributing products or services. At least two levels of people are involved in a franchise system: (1) the franchisor, who lends his trademark or trade name and a business system; and (2) the franchisee, who pays a royalty and often an initial fee for the right to do business under the franchisor’s name and system.

Essentially, you as a franchisee can run your own business and leverage on the resources and experiences of the parent company. No more re-inventing the wheel. This is far less risky that trying to start from scratch and venture on your own.

It’s been demonstrated by a number of studies that franchised businesses have much greater chances of success compared with businesses started from scratch.

So basically, when it comes to real business opportunities in the Philippines, you have three options available. Should you start from scratch, buy an existing business or get a franchise? Whatever your choice is, remember that success is never guaranteed. You still have to put in the required work, strategies and creativity in your business.

5 Factors To Consider When Choosing A Business Legal Structure

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One of the crucial decisions you have to make when setting up a business is the choice of the legal structure upon which to base your business.

The term legal structure is sometimes referred to as the “ownership structure” or simply “business structure”.

Here in the Philippines there are basically four options available to you. These are:

  1. Sole Proprietorship. In this setup, you and the business is one the same.
  2. Partnership. This involves an agreement between two or more individual to engage in a business activity.
  3. Corporation. This is an artificial being and a legal entity separate from its members.
  4. Cooperative. This definition is taken in part from the Cooperative Code of the Philippines: “a duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end…”

Some of you may have already heard of those types business forms, but don’t give it much thought. Each one has each own set of advantages and disadvantages; we have more about that in a separate article.

But right now, the question is: How do you know which legal structure best fits your business?

The following are five important factors you need to consider:

1. Ownership Flexibility and Control

Do you want to go it alone or with several people in a team? How much control do you want to have to influence in the direction of the company? Are you comfortable working with other decision makers?

True or false: Two heads are better than one.

2. Future Needs

Business Legal Sructures In the Philippines

Go Solo or With A Team?

How do you see your business in some future time, say 5 or 10 years? Do you want it to continue operating even when you are already retired? Are you planning to sell it out some time so you can spend more time at the beach, swimming with the dolphins?

How does “100 years in business” sound to you? There are locally based companies in the Philippines that have reached that milestone. It’s quite an achievement for them. Kudos to the founders for thinking long-term in serving the community!

Will you be inviting outside investors to help support the business and share the success with them? Do you see it going public soon and be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange?

These questions are worth pondering if your business is here for the long haul.

3. Cost of Formation and Recordkeeping

In general, the more complex the legal structure, the more expensive it is to set up and the more time required to administer the business. You have to factor this in during the start-up phase, especially if monetary assets are hard to come by.

4. Legal Liability

How high is the potential of your business to incur liability?

In a sole proprietorship, you are also personally liable for whatever liabilities incurred by the business. That’s very scary if something really goes wrong. Naturally, you want to protect yourself against too much exposure to risks and lawsuits as a result of doing the business activity.

5. Tax Implications

You have to look at this in the light of your business goal and your individual situation.

Which business structure has favorable tax advantages? It is wise to avoid taxes, or defer its payment as much as possible. This must not confused with tax evasion.

If this part is really important, and it will be in sooner or later,
you should hire a professional on board who is an expert on Business Taxation in the Philippine setting.

For most people, the choice of business structure is very clear from the start. For others, the questions posted above would take a long time to answer and that’s a good sign that you are not careless in going about it.

There is no right or wrong answer here. Only you can answer those. You be the judge. After all, it’s your own business.

3 Tips On How To Name Your Business

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How do you choose the best name for your business? How important is a business name?

When it comes to business, it is very important to create a good first impression. Not only that, you want to make sure that your customers can remember you – hopefully, not your competitor — and that you are properly positioned in their minds. That’s Branding 101, right?

How do you do it then? How do you choose a business name that you can be happy with and be your long-term brand? We will give you some business name tips or ideas.

Tip #1: Start With Your Name

If you are a well-known expert in your field, or you are an authority figure on a very specific topic, you can actually leverage on that by naming your business after – what else? – your very own name.

People do it all the time, especially for service-oriented businesses like Accounting and Law Firms. You don’t even have to be a Donald Trump to do it. Having a good public image is a big plus factor, of course.

Locally here in the Philippines, we have the following as good examples:

  • Belo Medical by Dr Vicky Belo. And who doesn’t know her?
  • JG Summit, that’s the holding company of the entire conglomerate which was started by John Gokongwei, Jr.
  • Ayala Corporation. Sounds familiar? That’s the holding company of one of the largest groups of businesses in the Philippines.

How about you? Can you come up with a creative business name out of your name or in combination with those of your partners?

Tip #2: The Nature Of Your Business

Business Name Tips

Business Name Game

Can your prospects tell what your business is all about just be the name of your company?

If your name leaves them guessing, chances are good that they may pass you up for your competitor — or worst, simply ignore you. As a small business, you can’t afford this kind of mistake.

Come up with a business name that spells out clearly the nature of your business or your product lines.

Which of these is better: AP Bookkeeping or AP Ventures? Obviously, it’s the former. The latter should be reserved to your holding company, which doesn’t directly deal with the end consumers. That’s when you are already big.

Tip #3: Make It Sticky

We’re talking about name recall here. To be sticky, your name must meet the following criteria:

  • It must be easy to read or dictate over the phone.
  • It must be easy to write or spell.
  • It leaves an impression on the one reading it or hearing it.

You have quite a wide range of choices for your business name. You also have the time in the world to decide. Take your time to determine the best name for your business. Brainstorm, if necessary. Confer with friends; test the name in the market, and make sure that it is legally available for you to use. Choose wisely as this name will carry the company brand for as long as you want to stay in business.

6 Tips On Starting A Part-Time Business

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Considering the danger of financial complications when starting your business, it is not surprising that many successful ventures started as part-time. Most entrepreneurs held on to their salaried jobs until they could see their start-up ventures getting off the ground. Part-time business brings with it the chance to augment the family income while enjoying a rewarding but flexible career for work from home parents.

Nonetheless, managing a part-time business has challenges of its own. At the very least, you must learn to juggle the demands of entrepreneurship to what is expected of part-time business owners.

Hence, if you wish to start a part-time business, maybe as freelancer, with the goal of making it long-term up to the point of going full-time, you need to come up with a strategy for your part-time business. Here are six tips in going about it:

Tip #1: What Do You Mean By Define Part-Time?

Most part-time businesses can balloon into full-time occupations in no time. This is because business owners fail to properly project the scope of investment needed in starting and running a part-time business.

Before anything else, it is necessary to define your goals in relation to your view of success. You need to set the number of hours you intend to spend on your business — include schedule for weekends. Be clear about your expectations, motivations, needs and the extent of work you will put into the venture to make it successful. There is a big difference between a few hours of work at night to working for the entire weekend — hence have an honest to goodness self-assessment.

Tip #2: Set Milestones

Have a clear perspective of goals and key tasks within your control by charting your monthly milestones. These milestones may include steps in business registration, getting your first customer, setting up a website for the business, networking, marketing and so on. After having these milestones charted, step back and plan on how to accomplish all these in terms of working hours, resources, etc.

The process of planning your business may feel daunting. Nevertheless, this plan will be your step by step working guide to help propel your business. Learn to keep your plan manageable and simple by reading more about it.

And after everything you have envisioned this business to be, never underestimate your efforts and hours that will be spent on it. However long it takes, if necessary double it.

Tip #3: Always Remember You Are In Business

Despite your venture being part-time, you are still a business owner. You can read and learn more about steps in starting a business to guide you on business registration, tax requirements, permits, etc. If you have a business running, read more about how to run a home-based business.

Also remember that your day job is always your first priority. It’s the one paying the family bills at this early stage of your business. Having a side business doesn’t have to mean cheating on your employer or burning bridges later on. Who knows, your current employer may become your business partner or client someday?

Tip #4: Get A Mentor

Starting any business on your own can seem overwhelming. Instead of having boss to support and guide you, you can learn from a mentor. He can assess your progress, provide assistance in correcting potential mistakes, and guide you to set realistic goals. You can try finding a mentor from organizations that offer free counseling and mentoring.

Tip #5: Hack Your Life

Google Apps

Google Apps Help You Become Organized at Work and In Business

When you juggle between family or salaried job and part-time business, it is crucial to have discipline.

Technology helps a lot. There are a lot of free software applications and mobile apps that help you organize your schedule, track your business transactions and keep things in order. Familiarize yourself with stuff like Google Apps. If you work in remote teams Trello, Basecamp are highly recommended tools. Even a simple voicemail forwarding service is a lot of help depending on your business.

You can also utilize the help of a virtual assistant. This assistant can help with taking calls on your behalf, manage your calendar, and give that polished touch to your business for a nominal fee.

Tip #6: Learn And Have Fun

Having a part-time business provides you with the joy of pacing your venture in relation to your needs. While doing so, you can learn if you want to have a full time business later on. It is a great training ground to learn and make mistakes with minimal risks. No one will beat you up for incurring mistakes and some failures. What is important is you learn from them and have fun as you journey to become a success in your start-up.

Why Start A Business?

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There are so many reasons why people want to start their own businesses.

Some are very clear about what they wanted to do and how to go about it; others are jumping the business bandwagon just to test the waters.

There are people who simply wanted to have an extra income apart from their day job. Can you relate with this group?

According to William Stolze, an entrepreneur himself and author of the book “Startup: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Launching and Managing a New Business”, these reasons can be grouped into two broad categories: active reasons and reactive reasons. Active Reasons “are the positives that pull you out”; that is, you want to be in business because you wanted to make a positive contribution. You are being reactive if you want to be in business simply because you are sick and tired of being an employee and all aspects associated with it.

You, too, may have your own set of reasons for wanting to start a company. Whatever it is, the following list should be able to guide you in developing your own reasons, and hopefully, it will be among the Active Reasons, as opposed to the Reactive ones.

Why Start a Business

To Start or Not To Start a Business? That is the Question.

1. Follow Your Bliss. A lot of entrepreneurs consider their businesses as an extension of themselves. They do it to express their passion in life.

2. More Money. The potential to earn more is high. Compared to being a plain employee of another company where the income is usually fixed, in business, there is no ceiling as to how much you can earn. Most businessmen believe that there is actually a direct correlation between your income and the amount of work that you put into your business.

3. Yes, Boss! The good thing about starting up a small business is that no one can dictate you on what you should and not do. All the decisions will come according to what your mind and heart tells you. In the end, no matter how the business will fare, because you were brave and independent, you will always be feel like you’re the captain of the ship.

4. Freedom. Who doesn’t love it? How about taking the time off now and head straight to the beach? Or, how about calling your secretary to reschedule that Manic Monday Meeting, because you feel like watching Lady Gaga on MTV? Isn’t that what freedom is all about?

5. Heal The World. Make it a better place. I bet that sounds like so Michael Jackson, so let’s make it simple: Solve A Problem. Any business is in the business of solving a problem – and the entrepreneur, the ultimate problem solver.

In closing, I think the title of this article is worth pondering. Before you start asking your friends and relatives what kind of business to put up, give yourself enough time to come up with your own personal answer to this question: “Why should I start a business?”

7 Ways To Get Rich in the Philippines

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“If you stay here in the Philippines, you’ll never be rich.”

Those words came from my cousin who is a seaman.

When I was a kid, I was determined to become a seaman. Well-meaning as they truly are, my elder folks back home somehow led me to believe that it’s the only way you can become rich at the cheapest amount of investment in school. And from my observations of my own family and close relatives, it’s not difficult to tell who from among them has fattest wallets. I was convinced. I have to be a seaman.

I have two close friends — a couple — who are overseas workers. Every time we meet when they are back home in the Philippines, the husband would always say there is “no hope” for anyone to become rich here in the Philippines.

“Look at the salaries of your employees,” I remember him say. After a long pause and some kind of mental calculation, he continued, “I could earn at least 10 times as much if I do the same thing abroad.” That is, his one month salary abroad is equivalent to a year’s hard work here the Philippines. What a magic geography can do!

Do you agree? Isn’t it ironic why every Filipino’s dream is to flee from the Philippines?

I beg to disagree. That’s why I decided not to become a seaman. I could go on arguing why such kind of thinking is fundamentally flawed, but I’d rather not elaborate it here.

Suffice it to say that it is highly possible to become rich in this country. It can be done. A lot of people are doing it already. You, too can make it here!

Let me show you some of the ways.

1. Be Born Rich

Some guys are lucky to be born to a rich family. There is nothing wrong about this. If this is you, you owe it to yourself and your parents to keep the family wealth, preserve it, and let it grow for the future generations.

2. Marry Rich

Everybody loves shortcut. When it comes to wealth transfer, the marriage certificate is the ultimate shortcut ever devised by mankind.

“If thy marry for money, thy surely will earn it.” –A wise, anonymous lady.

3. Enter Showbiz

A lot of Filipinos could sense it already. That’s why when an audition for a talent search is conducted at some place in the country, people would flock to go there, endure the hardships just to get their ration of riches and fame… even just temporarily.

“The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them.” –Paulo Coelho, The Winner Stands Alone

4. Become A Boxer

make money

A Wanna Be A Billionaire So Freaking Bad

If you can pull punches like Pacman and you’ve got foot works that could beat any breed of chicken, by all means don’t be shy… come out in the open… box.

Just make sure you know how to get the attention of Bob Arum and insist on fighting in the land of the free, home of the brave. That’s where big bucks are coming from.

But here’s the trick: you have do the boxing there (therefore, earn there) and live here in the Philippines. That’s like becoming an OFW, but you only have to really work hard for 1 month out of 12. And your earning potential? That’s directly proportional to how many elite boxers you can knock on the floor in the early rounds.

Let’s get ready to rumble?

5. Play Lotto

The game of chance is as old as mankind. In the Philippines, there are two kinds of gambling: legal and illegal — talk about double standards. If you should try to make it, you have to know the difference. Lotto tops the list of my recommendations.

6. Fool The People

If it already runs in the family or you’ve got the right connections, this route is either easy or bloody. And those who have taken the journey could tell you how good it is to be in power.

Tell the people that your main vocation in life is to become their servant. Plus, you love the poor, too. But never, ever tell them the ultimate truth: you don’t want to become one of them, or live where they live, or eat what they eat.

You only have two potential enemies here: your own conscience and the other guy who is always planning to kick you from your sit.

7. Own A Business

Seriously, this is the best chance left for most of us Filipinos to make it financially. You can’t be re-born to a rich family; at least not in this lifetime. Marrying a rich guy/gal is really like playing the lottery. Most of us don’t have a remarkable talent we could proudly take outside videoke bar. And we would rather just watch boxing over cable TV than actually be in the ring.

Business… Let’s give it some thought.