Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

This March, Mayor Strike Revilla launched the “Bawal na ang Plastic at Styro sa Bacoor” campaign through a fun run against plastic. This is in relation to Municipal Ordinance No. 14-S-2002 which regulates the distribution of plastic bags and polystyrene (styrofoam) and providing penalties for violations thereof.

The biggest mall in the city, SM City Bacoor joined the brigade on March 12. Even before that they’ve been encouraging people to bring their own bags as they shop and on that day, they stopped giving out plastic bags for your goodies. Other establishments followed and nowadays even the small entrepreneurs from wet markets are no longer providing plastic bags for your wet or dry goods. This leaves us Bacoor people no choice but to bring our own bayong during palengke days and bring at least 1 small reusable bag every day.

While this may be tough for the factories making plastic bags, the move has helped small communities who make rack sack bags, reusable bags and the like to earn a living. This campaign increased their revenues as well. The demand for these kind of bags is quite high giving more people within the community more jobs.

Yes, change is hard for anyone, and bringing your own bag can be quite tasking but eventually people could adjust and we’ll all see and reap the fruits of this campaign.

I really hope that every city will implement this campaign and we would also avoid using the brown paper bags because the more we use the brown paper bags, the more trees we have to cut to fill the demand.

Let’s all use REUSABLE BAGS on every occasion.

If you are spending too much money on second-hand stuff, why not have a garage sale to sell the stuff that you don’t need? It’s spring in the US so we started spring cleaning too!

My dear sister got the courage to sell our beloved magazines, (most in pristine condition), unused cosmetics, pre-loved clothes and a lot of slightly used stuff like indoor antenna and cellular booster. It’s our way of cleaning and earning too!

We sold the back issues of our favorite magazines at P10 each. Not bad considering that these magazines have been on our book shelves for ages!

The imported cosmetics at P5 – P25, books (textbooks she accumulated all these years but definitely NOT my precious books!) at P10 – P50, and many, many others!

If you need any Smart Parenting, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, OK,  FHM, Good Housekeeping, Working Mom magazine, just send me an email at entrepremom[at]gmail[dot]com then I’d be happy to check if we have a copy of it.

P.S. Our garage sale is so hi-tech that we’re using a CCTV camera for monitoring hahaha

Ever wondered how you can start selling spa products with only a few bucks on hand? You can at BeauQuest Pharmacy!

BeauQuest Pharmacy is a Filipino owned company serving all kinds of skin care, spa and other dermatological products. All of these are BFAD approved, non-irritating and hypoallergenic. I am using them so I can vouch for this claim.

The good part about this is you can make your own brand!

To see more BeauQuest products and to get their latest updates, LIKE them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/BeauQuest/122273401206355

Sharing with you pampering experience with La Reine Nail and Dayspa: http://irispulga.com/2012/03/21/pampered-momma-in-la-reine-nail-and-dayspa/

La Reine Nail and DaySpa offers a lot of services for your skin, nails and body suited for every budget. Their hand and feet services ranges from P50 – P200, various massages from P80 – P299, waxing from P100 – P250 (they do Brazilian waxing too!) Eyelash Extension from P200 – P400 (they did mine and it was really, really awesome!), Paraffin Treatment fromP200 – P450.

They are open for franchise starting this year. A fully operational franchise package costs only P200,000 inclusive of the following:

• Use of trade name and logo
• operations manual
• continuous research and development
• franchise training and seminar
• staff training
• initial stocks
• equipments
• customized staff uniform
• customized furniture and lightnings
• marketing materials
• signages

La Reine Nail and DaySpa’s main office is located in No. 17 Annapolis St. Cubao, Quezon City. For more information, please call Ms. Grace Barrios at 0917.572.7530.

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Don’t know anything about franchising or opening a new business? Get ideas from Center for Small Entrepreneurs. They guide small business individuals to go through each detail of running a business.

If you are a restaurant owner or planning to enter the food business, you may need restaurant uniforms for your staff, check out Chef’s Garb.

Chefs Garb Exchange Inc. is a manufacturing and trading company specializing in kitchen and service apparels.

Our core competence is our fully customized designs that serves each clients needs. Each product is carefully designed based on form and functionality. Chefs Garb also takes pride in its product research and developing team that brings innovative products to cater to the most demanding client.

We cater to a diverse market ranging from various food and service related institutions to individuals clients.

Our product line includes Chefs Jacket, Pants, Apron, Shoes, Headgear, Accessories and Service Uniform

CHEFS GARB, kitchen apparel and accessories for Chefs by Chefs

Follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefsgarb

I wonder if we have contactless cards here in the Philippines?

Here is an explanation of what a contactless cards are:

A contactless smart card is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits that can process and store data, and communicate with a terminal via radio waves. There are two broad categories of contactless smart cards. Memory cards contain non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps some specific security logic. Contactless smart cards do not contain an ordinary read-only RFID, but they do contain a re-writeable smart card microchip that can be transcribed via radio waves.
The first contactless smart card in production use for fare payment was the Octopus card, introduced in Hong Kong in 1997 for the territory’s mass transit system.

I wonder too, if they use these contactless cards in mass transit tickets and in ATM cards. Well if they do, I badly need more information about its local availability.

Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

Mid of 2010 I stopped getting projects from oDesk mainly because I gave birth to Project Happiness Bakehouse and the planning, recipe trials and what-have-you’s in building an online bakehouse. It was tough, believe me and it took me a while to get recognized. The continuous flow of orders came at the start of 2011 already and just when the orders started pouring in, I got pregnant, almost lost the baby blah blah blah

So I really stopped working for people from the foreign land. And here comes 2012, while most people are looking for Orderly Jobs here and abroad, here I am, wishing that I could find a suitable VA job for me in oDesk. The business is doing good, I just need an extra job to sustain my “luho” LOL

It’s worth taking the risk, right?

I have been getting invites from friends to try investing on Vmobile. I am skeptic, yes I am because I’ve heard a lot of not-so-good news about multi-level marketing since I was 14. Having heard of aunts and moms of friends getting lured into believing that they will double and triple their money once they invested on these programs but ended up drowning in debt and some in jail makes me want to cringe. No I won’t make the same mistake. I’ll earn money the hard way, no easy money for me.

Then here comes VMobile. A lot of my friends believe on it, rich and the not-so-rich alike are saying that it’s really true. I want to give it a try and as long as I’d get back my 4K pesos investment, I guess I would be okay with that.

So how true is this? I hope NO ONE replies with links saying that my I will earn 30,000 in a week. That’s BS. It’s only POTENTIAL earning, not a guarantee that I would really earn that much. If that’s the case then I’ll just sit and buy gold bars and be merry for the rest of my life.

So Vmobile, how true are you?

I was calling myself a baker until I met Top Pastry Chef Franck Geuffroy. He was just too good that I felt like a dot compared to him

Chef Franck is the training chef and consultant of Alain Ducasse Formation et Conseil.

This novice baker just got invited to a live pastry demonstration held in Enderun Colleges –  the L’art de la Patisserie (The Art of Pastry). Why would I say no to this once in a lifetime event? of course I said YES immediately Chef Franck demonstrated advanced techniques in making various pastries including the eye-catching all-edible sugar sculpture.

During the demonstration I learned that a Pastry Chef does more than just bake, he is capable of creating masterpieces. Pastries and desserts should not just be delicious, they must also be artistic, creative and pleasing to the eye.

Here are some of the traditional French pastries fusioned with local flavors giving classic pastries a Filipino twist:

Paris-Manila Brest

Paris-Manila Brest is a ring of golden brown pâte à choux pastry that sandwiches praline cream and sliced almonds. It was created in 1891 in honor of the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race.

Kouglof

Kouglof is a brioche-like coffee cake from Alsace—lightly sweet and studded with raisins.

Tropézienne

Tropézienne, from Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, is a rich orange blossom water scented brioche that oozes buttercream.

St. Honoré

St. Honoré has a base of puff pastry topped with a ring of small, caramel-drenched cream puffs; the center of the cake is filled with clouds of whipped cream.

Citrus Entremet

Citrus Entremet is a confection of coconut mousse, citrus crème, white chocolate brownie and grapefruit.

Intense Raspberry Chocolate Brownie

Intense Raspberry Chocolate Brownie a rich concoction of chocolate brownie and raspberry marmalade.

Enderun Entremet

Enderun Entremet, a playful dessert of buttery shortbread, sour calamansi, intense chocolate biscuit, gingered milk chocolate, and crunchy peanut praline.

As you would notice, Chef Franck has been using various local fruits to flavor his pastries. This is so because this chef just loves our fruits!

“The flavor of calamansi is so strong and so fresh!” he exclaims.  “It is a pure gift from nature.  And the mangos and pineapples here are so flavorful and sweet that they are so much better than what we can find in France.”  He also loves working with coconut paste, saying that the amazing taste of roasted coconut can be used to give classic French pastries a Filipino twist.

L’art de la Patisserie (The Art of Pastry) launches Enderun Colleges’ 3-month Pastry Arts Certificate, which will begin in November 2011. The comprehensive course is ideal for home cooks who want to increase their knowledge in pastry and bread-making, professionals who want to update their knowledge, and anyone considering a career in professional pastry. Students will be given hands-on instruction in basic and advanced techniques to equip them with the skills necessary for mastering French and international pastries, confectioneries, and breads. The program also gives students the opportunity to take further studies at Ecole National Supèrieure de la Pâtisserie, the pastry arts training center of Alain Ducasse Formation.

More importantly, it gives students a chance to discover if they have the passion, creativity, stamina, and skill to be a pastry chef.

For more information about this 3-month Pastry Arts Certificate, please contact:

Enderun Colleges
1100 Campus Avenue
McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio
Taguig City 1634 Philippines
Telephone: (632) 856 5000
Facsimile:   (632) 856 4656
www.enderuncolleges.com

I could not express how much online banking has helped me save time and effort in paying our household utility bills and purchasing tickets. Everything is easy as 1-2-3 though I could say that it has its own disadvantages, too! hihi

Monitoring the “ins” and “outs” of our funds has never been so easy. I only maintain one account making it easier for me to monitor payments from clients and to merchants. Like ach payments which are simply electronic transfers from one account to another, online banking helps save a lot of time and resources in both the individual and the merchant. Unlike before when people use to send checks (which often get lost in the mail) or fall in a long line for payments, nowadays, people can do it with a few mouse clicks.

Life’s easier these days but why do I feel that it’s the other way around? Hmm…