Coming from a weekend retreat, I only recently saw footage of the utter devastation wrought by Yolanda. For a good hour, my wife Pauline and I were just silently watching, with a hand on our mouths. I've never seen this kind of footage from Ondoy, Habagat, or even the recent 7.2 Bohol earthquake. It was heartbreaking. I…
Recently, I took a picture of the weekly FLEXIBLE BENEFIT products we received in our office and now had to deliver to our clients: There were hundreds of items ordered in a span of a few days. It was the very first time I've seen this many orders made in our system. We had to find a…
There's a lot going on now with two of my startups, STORM and STRATA. People movement, scaling, fire-fighting, creating processes, client meetings, projects, you name it, we're doing it right now. For STORM specifically, we usually do systems implementation around this time in preparation for the coming year. Plus we're also renewing with all our current clients.…
Our Brief Fling With Payroll More than a few years ago, when STORM was finding out first hand that we still needed to educate the market about flexible benefits, we were scrambling on ways on how to generate more sales. I had an idea. "Let's offer payroll!" My several justifications were many: to be known as both…
(Part one of this series can be found here) In part 1, I talk about how the combination of how EVERYONE having something special to offer and the current technology infrastructure now enable ANYONE to build her own startup. So the question is: why isn't everyone rushing to do so? Here are 3 factors why: 1) The…
Last 23 slots for OPEN COFFEE! Since we're holding the event in a slightly smaller venue than our usual 47 EAST, we're limiting the slots to around 80 people. As of 5pm today, 57 people have already confirmed, so I advise clicking here to reserve your slot now before they run out. You can REGISTER HERE. See…
"Startups aren't for everyone." I've written this considerably in this blog. (very prominently here) We've also heard it uttered by every other entrepreneur, it seems, right? "Entrepreneur you say? Well, ho ho ho! You have to have a unique skill set: a combination of cast-iron will, uber-magnetic charisma, the ability to laugh in fear's face, and space-age…
FInally! By far, the most common question my mailbox has received is: When is the next open coffee? and How come we didn't have open coffee last month? People, I'm so sorry for the delay, as I've been sorting out some stuff. I know we've now missed two months of open coffee. Let me begin making up…
(This is part 2 of a 2-part series. Part one can be found here.) 3) Build Free Agent Skills So what sort of skills are highly useful in this free-agent era? Skills which maximize your ability to be independent - skills which can allow you to be highly mobile and flexible. Here are three really strategic ones you…
(This is the first of a 2-part post) When I was in college in the mid 90's, I was still hearing the phrase, "employed for life" a bit. This was when an employer could virtually guarantee an employee's financial well-being from fresh-graduate to even beyond retirement. Twenty to thirty-year careers were commonplace and a societal…