A Chat with Elaine of Yehey.com

Interaction outside the usual blog channels should always be a part of your development as a blogger. It is through interaction that you learn not only how your blog fares along with other bloggers', but also far more importantly, gives you a chance to develop friendly, working relationships with other bloggers like yourself.

I see it as this blog's mission to somehow paint a picture of the blogosphere- both local and global. And as a naturally chummy person, I like tossing ideas around with fellow bloggers, clients and industry partners.

The guys of Yehey.com have been rather active in the New Media scene lately- and they have to! After all, the bulk of their business is pretty much online.

They've just wrapped up a very successful Bloggers' Food Tour (the one at TriNoma, some three weeks ago), and now they're inviting another one hundred bloggers to come hang with the brains and talent behind the HappySlip vlog series on YouTube- Christine Gambito herself.

(Which, incidentally is Thursday next week, 07 Feb 2008, at the Mag:net Cafe in Bonifacio High Street. The fun starts at 11 AM, so make sure you register with Yehey here so you don't miss out on all the HappySlip Gambito goodness!)

Anyway, I was able to catch up with Elaine Uy, Marketing Manager of Yehey (who was nice enough to invite me to the HappySlip event! Yay!), and I asked her how the Bloggers' Food Tour worked out for Yehey.com.

First off, I asked her whose idea it was to make use of blogs and bloggers to promote the TriNoma restaurants. Here's what Elaine said:

Yehey! has been in contact with TriNoma even before they opened their mall, trying to cook up a partnership on how to create a buzz online. Then the Taste Asia in MOA (The SM Mall of Asia) happened. Since Yehey! has been supporting the blogger community and because of the obvious success of the Taste Asia event, we thought of organizing our own for TriNoma.

I also wondered if Yehey! would be tapping blogs and bloggers for their upcoming promotional activities. Elaine gives us a rather interesting tip:

We will try to incorporate the blogging medium in most of our campaigns. Just like in our second event of the year, the Happy Slip Meet-and-Greet (done) in coordination with the Department of Tourism.
We’ve been also receiving inquiries from other companies such as Chowing, P&G, among others in organizing a blogger event for them. I guess most major companies now see the benefits of blogs and how it could greatly influence other people in patronizing their products or service.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? But who's to say an event is an actual success? Take for example the last Bloggers' Found Tour at TriNoma, what would be Yehey's tangible measures to say, "Yeah, that event was a success"? Elaine says Yehey! keeps tabs on the results in the search engines and other community-based sites and the whole viral marketing effect.

So just how successful was it?

The result of the food tour is phenomenal that in just one week, there are 19 results for “Trinoma food tour” at Technorati, and a thousand plus results for Trinoma at Technorati. In Google, first page alone (of keyword "Trinoma food tour") is all about the event – first result is the Trinoma co-branded site. There are over 10,000 search results. And in Multiply, there are more than 400 blog results for "Trinoma Food Tour" and 750+ photo album results for the same keyword.

And so was TriNoma and Ayala Malls happy with the outcome of the event?

Yup, very much and better expect more events hosted by Trinoma. Given the results, TriNoma is planning on making succeeding events for their mall and possibly extend it to the rest of the Ayala malls.

What about the various participating food merchants of TriNoma? What sort of feedback has Yehey! received from them? Elaine shares this:

The best example would be the La Maison (hope you were able to meet the most accommodating manger, Mr. Robi Caguiat) that hosted an appreciation dinner for teamyehey the following week, thanking us for the exposure and raves they got from the tour. Even the band – Sound got in touch with us to see what bloggers got to say about their music.

Of course, who can forget Cabalen? I heard they offered AJ (of Bakla ako blog) for a free dinner for 5 or something like that. As you can see, these establishments- whether aware or unaware of what blogs are and what the internet is all about- have identified the promotional effect it could do to their brands.

Now there are a lot of other bloggers that have heard about the last Food Tour, and want to join the next event for bloggers. If Yehey! plans to mount more promotional activities with blogs and bloggers thrown in the media mix, and if there are other bloggers out there who would want to get in on the action, I asked Elaine what her advice would be for those who missed out on the last Bloggers' Food Tour.

Be more proactive and join the fast growing blogging community. More and more companies are sponsoring events for the bloggers. And who wouldn’t want free food, entertainment or what-have-you in exchange of your opinion and influence which you freely give out anyway?

Who wouldn't indeed? As for me, well, as long as there's free food, I'm there. I even have pictures to prove it :)

Cheers, everyone!

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Blog About Stuff You Care About!

I just read this article on the New York Times about "Blogging Your Way Into a Business". I find it interesting that regular folks like you and me can find their way into a lucrative enterprise by way of their blogs.

But here's the thing: I feel that this article, along with other features on other newspapers, magazines, even radio and TV shows, seem to perpetuate the idea that blogging for money is an easy thing. Maybe it is, maybe it's not- it totally depends on a number of things, in my opinion:

1> your ability to actually communicate effectively through writing,
2> your natural passion to share thoughts and ideas through writing,
3> your discipline and commitment to keep on sharing these thoughts and ideas,
4> and your aptitude towards picking up necessary skills and using them well, like internet marketing, networking, etc.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest: Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Yehey, TriNoma and the Hundred Hungry Bloggers: an Epilogue

It's been a full two weeks since the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour organized by Yehey.com, and I thought I should do my fellow bloggers a service by posting a compilation of blog entries pertaining to the event (at least the known ones, to this point).

Sidenote: I received an email from the guys of Yehey! that the photos from the Bloggers' Food Tour have all been turned in for your scrutiny and approval, and voting is now open- so go check out the photos and root for your favorites.

A Compilation of Blog Entries on the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour.

As you know, the whole group of one-hundred thirty bloggers that attended the event was divvied up to five teams. We were all lumped together in the 'pink' team. As far as our team is concerned, we have these great reads...

• Jomar Carlos' entry on "Java Joe's Coffee Corner"
• Chef Myra's blog entry on "Myra's Site".
• Christine Arteta's photos on her blog "Every Little Thing I Do Is Magic"
• Pics on my Multiply site, "Get Your Geek On!"
• JP on "Livin' La Venti Loca".
• Paolo in "Your Mind Will Go Pi".
• Omar has stuff in "Ohmski is the Law".
• Betsy has two blog entries, here and here on "Psychcafe".

Here are our other fellow food bloggers' stuff...

• Alvin Chua has a blog entry as well as a whole bunch of photos here on his Multiply.
• Noreen Ponce-Lazaro and Arpee Lazaro on "Pinoy Life At Large". Lovely pics, guys.
• AJ Matela's much-discussed, much-read experience at the Trinoma Bloggers' Food Tour! Oh, you'll want to read this one too.
• Ed Arevalo has his posts here, plus a photo album on Flickr here.
  
• Dementia of "Bury Me In This Dress" has her blog entries here, and her pics here.
• Jan Renes' blog entry can be found on "JanMania".
• You can find JM Tuazon's pictures here, and his blog entries here.
• Jonas Diego on "The Blurb!"
• Karen of "Kengkeedee" has her stuff here.
• KingDaddyRich on "Row: Morning Boleros' Journey To The Seas".
• Lalon dela Rosa has pics on "Underrated".
• Laszlo of "...Does Anybody Remember Laughter..." has his stuff here.
• Lord Artworks has his blog entry here.
• Isay Almo has her blog entry here on "The World According to Nherz".
• You can find some of Noemi Dado's TriNoma pics here, and Lauren has a post over here as well.
• Here's Caint's stuff on "Coming Out...Almost".
• Ade Magnaye has this to say on "Noisy! Noisy! Man!" Sorry about your work, dude.
• Kring wrote this post about her experiences on the food tour.
• And you have to check out this Video of Doom by Coy.
• Poyt has her blog entry here on "Tanggera: Drunken Antics and Misadventures of a Vlogger".
• Raffy of "Raffy's Sanctuary" has this entry goin' on.
• Rens of "Pansit-eating Maderpaking Blog!" has this to share.
• Here's Jonas' take on the whole affair on "Techieevangelism".
• Brian of "Following Your Footsteps... Every Step of the Way"- pictures on Multiply.
• Joriben of "My Divine Refuge" with his blog entry here.
• Celeni of "Life Is Colourful with Souped Vegetables" has this rather extensive coverage on her blog.
• Fritz of "Fritzified.com" covers the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour here.
• Darwin wrote this one on his "JuiceLog".
• Here's Jehzeel Laurente of "Jehzlau Concepts" and his posts on the Yehey! event. What's cool is that he's also got blurbs from other bloggers from the Food Tour. Including mine- cheers, mate!
• Tess Termulo of "Prudence and Madness" has the first of her blog entries here.
• Enrico Dee of "Byahilo: Ito ang Trip Ko" has some kick-ass pics here.
• The guys behind "Barat Mode" have this to say about the Food Tour.
• Here's something from Iggy Javellana of "Ka-Boom"

You can check out my other write-ups of the Bloggers' Food Tour here:

• The floor-by-floor coverage. Part 1 of 5, Part 2 of 5, Part 3 of 5, Part 4 of 5, Part 5 of 5.
• You can find pics on my Multiply site, "Get Your Geek On!"
• Other sides to the story can be found here on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"

You could check out my individual resto reviews on:

• La Maison
• Cyma Greek Taverna
  
• Abe
• Heaven N' Eggs
• Others To Follow (Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Jack's Loft and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)

Thanks to all the restaurants that participated! Special thanks to La Maison, Cabalen, Abe, Hossein's, Haiku, Cyma, The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Holy Cow!, Jack's Loft, TGIFridays, Italianni's, Fish & Co., Conti's, Mann Hann, Pho Hoa, Marina, Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Mangan, Bangus and Heaven N' Eggs for allowing us to check out your wares.

To Bread Talk, Bacolod Chicken Inasal, Madison Grill, Superbowl of China, Good Earth Tea Room, Oki Oki and Teriyaki Boy- I totally missed out on you guys. I've read so much about your restos from other blogs. Too bad I haven't had time to check you guys out during the Food Tour, but I will soon when I drop by TriNoma in the coming weeks.

To my fellow bloggers- spread some linkage love whydont'cha? I hope to see you guys again soon at future blogging events. Also add me up on your Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Multiply or whatever networking service you guys have as well.

Thanks to TriNoma- you guys have a pretty kickass mall. We'll be visiting more often. Definitely much more often. Thanks to the guys of Yehey.com- we hope you guys have more events for bloggers coming up- and we hope you can let us know how we can make your efforts more successful- that's just the marketing/events dude in me wanting you to keep your clients happy so we can do this again :)

Cheers everyone!

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Worry-free Blogger Templates at Blogcrowds!

I suppose it is no secret that I've been trying out all these different kinds of templates on my other blog projects.

The usual templates provided by Blogger is alright- but as I may have mentioned before, it seems that I have a preference for 3-column templates.

Now, there area a lot of sites out there- both free and paid- which features quite a number of the 3-column templates that I like (in fact, I've added them up to the Link List to the right, under "Free Blogger Templates"), and a lot other templates.

Read the rest of this article here, on my blog dedicated to blogs, bloggers and the Blogging Lifestyle- "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Preparation + Opportunity = Success

I remembered it hit me in the face when I saw it on an E! True Hollywood Story or something. It was a story about Keenen Ivory Wayans. You may know him as a successful and talented actor, comedian, director and producer- but for me, I will forever associate him with one of my most favorite sketch comedy shows of all time, "In Living Color".

Shout-out to my sister for getting me Season 1 on DVD, by the way. Great stuff.

Now from what I remember (I could be wrong, so bear with me), Keenen had always wanted to be a cast-member of Saturday Night Live- which has always been the benchmark for TV sketch comedy, even to this day. For some reason, he never made it into the show- but it didn't keep him from honing his craft, working on writing and directing and producing.

Read the rest of this entry here on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging", a blog on blogs, bloggers and The Blogging Lifestyle.

Cheers, everyone!

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Fifty Posts and Counting. Now What?

This blog- "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!" has already reached the fifty-post mark. Took me quite a while- probably about a month and a half of steady writing to build it up to this point.

Fifty posts should be sufficient enough content to somehow set the general tone for any given blog, as well as provide enough reading for any casual passerby curious about the work you've put together.

For me however, putting together fifty posts is really more of an exercise in discipline and structure. It's more of a habit-forming activity, and I'm glad that it had worked for me. In fact, when I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is log on to my Blogger account and put out a post or two- if not on this blog, at least on another upcoming piece of work.

So at this point, what's next?

Now that I feel that I have enough content, and now that generating content seems to take less of an effort- we can now focus our attention on marketing this blog.

That would entail reading up on Internet Marketing in general- and various blog-specific aspects of it- Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), directory submissions, link building, Social Media Optimization (SMO), and more importantly, perhaps- interaction with fellow bloggers.

So for the next few posts, you know what you'll be expecting- we'll be discussing more Internet Marketing strategies, while consolidating gains from the content-building phase of putting a blog together.

"Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!" will continue its direction as a blog-building resource for starting bloggers- an online source for tips and advice for anyone who wants to get into the blogging lifestyle. That has always been the grand plan.

Seems we still have a lot more work before us, so let's get to it, shall we?

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I Like AddThis.com!

In my quest to find out how they put little "Bookmark This!" buttons at the bottom of every post on your blog, I have managed to stumble upon (no pun intended) a rather useful service on AddThis.com.
As a blogger, you'll want the buttons from AddThis.com because of several reasons, all pretty much pointed out on their homepage.

1. It allows for easy bookmarking.
2. It helps promote your site.
3. It increases your rankings.
4. It reduces overall clutter.
5. It's easy to install.
6. It comes with free statistics.
7. It's very reliable.
8. It's free!

Read the rest of this article in full on my other blog on The Blogging Lifestyle, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Diddling with Del.icio.us

I was playing around with my del.icio.us account the whole day today, mainly trying to figure out how to slap a del.icio.us script at the footer of each post, versus just having one at the side of my blog.

Del.icio.us is a free social software web service for sharing web bookmarks. See, there used to be a time when you'd bookmark your favorite websites from whatever PC you'd be using at the moment.

Del.icio.us takes all that bookmarking several steps further because, not only can you store all your personal bookmarks on an easy-to-use, easy-to-access online account, you can also share your bookmarks with other people, as well as check out what other people are bookmarking.

Read the rest of the post on my blog on The Blogging Lifestyle, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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A Disaster Recovery Program is in Order

Frack it.

I got no one else to blame but myself. As I was toying around with blogger/blogspot templates, I must have inadvertently uploaded another template on my blog- "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"

Doing so takes out ALL your installed widgets- pictures, text boxes, html codes, etc. No do-overs on this one- once you've hit 'save template', you just kissed them all goodbye. I thought I may have undone it pressing the 'back' button. And while I may have been able to salvage the old code, the fact that I have to insert bits of code all over again to bring everything you once had back can be quite annoying.

Which is, unfortunately, where I'm at right now.

But, "glass-half-full" kind of guy that I am, I see this as an opportunity to consider a serious disaster recovery program for my blogs.

1. The texts in the text-boxes, fortunately for me, I can get from an old archive I keep in my hard disk- so it's just a simple matter of cutting and pasting it back. Or, I could just say 'screw it' and enter in an entirely new Introductory Message and other shameless self-promoting material.

2. Blogrush. Blogrush is a handy blog syndication service that cross-promotes your blog into other blogs of the same persuasion. It's a good way to check out what other bloggers are up to, and makes for great material and networking as well.

3. Technorati. Gotta load that Technorati button back. This allows your readers to 'bookmark' your blog as a favorite, and share it with other bloggers, which in turn gives you more 'authority points'. This works on the model that a positive reader experience gives you more credibility, and therefore brings in more traffic into your site.

4. Twitter. I think it's a nice touch- giving your blog a little personal flavor, giving your readers an idea of what you're up to.

5. Multiply. Oh, just a badge that links to my Multiply, social networking fiend that I am.

6. RSS Feeds. Damn, I gotta find all the feed URLs and encode them back in. Fortunately for me, I think I've been able to save all those on Google Reader- *checking* - oh, good, there they are :)

7. My various link lists: have to build em up again from scratch- online buds link list, blog-building link list and others.

Well it looks like I still got myself quite an amount of work to do. So I'll check you out in a bit.

Lessons Learned Today.

Pick yourself a template and stick with it :). Back your files up, even on notepad; at least export your blog as an xml every so often.

Cheers everyone!

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The Search for the Next Best Blogspot Template...

Can you believe it? My whole day was pretty much spent on fickle-mindedly going through different Blogger/Blogspot templates for one of my blogs.

I'd have to say my benchmark design would be something like this one, on this blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"- a design I'm totally happy with; a template I see myself using for quite a long while.

It would seem that I have a preference for the 3-column variety of templates. I think the issue was more of trying to find the right design that looks nice, but at the same time is also functional enough to accommodate a particular load-out of widgets.

I suppose I'm just at a point where I'm trying out putting in all kinds of widgets only to see if it's something that works for me or something I really need.

End result: I'm still not entirely happy with the design on my other blog, "My Thoughts In Stereo". It's adequate for now, but somehow it doesn't seem to have the same clean design as "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"

Well, in a way, that's the beauty of Blogger/Blogspot- it's very easy to just chuck out a design and pick from any of the templates they've supplied, or you can go ahead and search for other free templates online. There really is a wide variety available, and when there are just so many to choose from, it's likely you'll end up trying out all kinds of templates until you finally stick to one.

It's already 7pm, and I have to get moving for a dinner date- so I suppose the quest for the next best template will have to wait 'til tomorrow.

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Twitter, Twitter!

I've just successfully put up Twitter on a few of my blogs.

Twitter is a free micro-blogging service, which enables you to post updates of about 140 characters long- enough for a short sentence, and enough to tell people what you're doing, what you feel or what you're going through with just a few words.

You can go sign up quickly for a Twitter account here on their website. Once there, you'll want to start looking for friends who are also on Twitter. Eventually, you'll be able to 'follow' each other through little updates you leave online.

Read the rest of my article on Twitter here on my blog about The Blogging Lifestyle, "Renzie On Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Toying with Technorati

Seems like a real fun site. Technorati is an online service that allows you to keep track of other blogs from all over the world.

It works just like a search engine, you can search by topic, tags or keywords, keep track of your favorites, and visit blogs based on your searches, or by other people's recommendations.

Signing up to Technorati involves letting them know which blogs are yours- so you not only create a short profile (so other people can know a little bit about you), but you also create a list of all the blogs you author.

Read the rest of this article on Technorati here, on my other blog, "Renzie On Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Linking to Technorati

As part of my efforts to promote this blog, and learn about promoting blogs in general, I have started to visit and understand various online networking services.

One such service, is Technorati. I've even gone as far as making my own Technorati Profile and see what it has to offer.

I was reading it up as well here on Wikipedia. More about this later on.

Cheers!

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Squeezing The Most Out Your Stories.

It is the day after Yehey's much-talked about TriNoma Blogger Food Tour. It was a rather hectic, but incredibly fun affair, and I can imagine my fellow bloggers hard at work right now, labeling and sorting through pictures, putting together posts for different kinds of blogs, linking up new acquaintances, etc.

Now, an event like yesterday's Food Tour has so much potential in terms of story generation- in fact, you can blog about it in so many ways.

As a blogger, you probably have a number of blogs in your blog-stable already, and you can come up with a variety of fresh content for all your reader segments, even with just one event. There are many angles to any given subject matter, event or story, and therefore many ways to write them up.

You can even come up with a whole chain of posts on the matter, or an entire series, pics and vids if you have them, and then cap everything off with a blog entry that brings them all together nicely.

Take the TriNoma Blogger Food Tour organized by Yehey! yesterday- I can write them up as...

1. A blow-by-blow account. I could talk about going from restaurant to restaurant, and about all the food me and my new blogger buds tried doing so, rating the restos as we went to each one. I made my own blow-by-blow account of the event here:

• Part 1 of 5: Getting to Trinoma. The Bloggers' Food Tour is on!
• Part 2 of 5: La Maison, Cabalen
• Part 3 of 5: Abe, Hossein's Persian Kebab, Haiku
• Part 4 of 5: Bubba Gump, Cyma, Jack's Loft + Holy Cow!, TGIFridays, Italianni's and Fish & Co.
• Part 5 of 5: Conti's, Mann Hann, Pho Hoa, Sizzling Pepper Steak, Marina, Mangan, Bangus, Heaven N' Eggs + Event Wrap-up
  

2. A technical analysis. I'm a marketing/events guy, so I would naturally tend to observe how the guys of Yehey! and TriNoma put it all together, worked out the logistics, and basically made it all work.

3. A personal experience. I could go talk about which restaurants were everyone's easy favorites, or how our arms hurt by the end of the day lugging around all those goodies and food-to-go, or how we had to beg off on food by the end of the day because we just had so much. Check out my story and photos here on my Multiply.

4. Individual restaurant reviews. This would be great, especially if you've been able to have a leisurely sit-down, and had a chance to talk with the resto managers. You could check out my reviews on:

• La Maison
• Cyma Greek Taverna
  
• Abe
• Heaven N' Eggs
• Others To Follow (Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Jack's Loft and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)
  

5. A list of recommendations. It was my first time at TriNoma, and it had a lot to offer. To people visiting TriNoma, we could easily put in a good word for any of the many restos we visited. A lot of them were indeed very accommodating, taking time to talk to us about the food, about the business, etc.

6. More lists! People love lists of all kinds- come up with "The Top 10 Most Interesting Food Items", or the "TriNoma's 10 Must-Visit Restos", or "My New Blogger Buds".

So as you can see, that's a lot of stuff to blog about. And just looking at the list, I suppose I have to get to it!

Yehey for Yehey!

Much thanks to TriNoma and Yehey! for putting all this together. It was a fresh concept executed rather well. A lot of hard work, but it was pulled off rather nicely. Although the activity can benefit from a number of improvements, all the bloggers had fun, and was therefore a success for the most part.

Happy bloggers make for a good amount of buzz and word-of-mouth. I say more power to the good people of TriNoma, and everyone from Yehey!

Well done, guys. Well done.

For those of you interested in viewing the pics I took at the Bloggers' Food Tour, you can check em out on my Multiply right here. I have several more posts on the way on the Bloggers' Food Tour, and I'll have em up in a day or two.

Cheers!

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Looking Back Fondly at 2007, pt.2.

This is a continuation of the earlier blog entry, Looking Back Fondly at 2007, pt.1. I've covered January to March in the first part, so now we try to cover the rest with this post.

April

At this point, I suppose I've already had my fill of fun, so by mid-April, I thought it would be a great idea to get my house in order.

Specifically, it meant having a positive cash flow, whether through a business or a regular job. After all, my savings wouldn't last forever.

I was seriously eyeing opportunities in Singapore- which really was a great place to start fresh. I also considered setting up a couple of businesses- something to call my own, and something that can capitalize on my skills, talents and contacts.

While I started to toy with several ideas, there was nothing definite yet. But I had to figure something out quickly, and get the show on the road.

I also took the time to start working out, and so Cristina and I enrolled at a gym. Probably one of the best decisions we've ever made.

May

May 2007 saw a lot of jobhunting. I was targetting BPO/KPO companies, as well as multinationals. Eventually, I landed a job as a copywriter/researcher for an Australian company called Trixan. Seemed promising enough at the start, with an adequate package and enough free time to allow me to work out and do the other things I wanted to do.

As for my businesses, one was going to be a travel agency. Another was going to be a marketing communications company.

There were a couple other projects I wanted to get off the ground, but I suppose they could wait for now. After all, I only have so much time on my hands.

June

And so I worked on the papers for my two new companies- OceanBlue Tours, Transport and Travel Marketing, interMedia Strategic Marketing Solutions. and Felt great to finally be a small business owner.

The plan was to slowly build them up- and launch them by the 4th quarter of 2007. It was at this point that I started to get into New Media and Internet Marketing once again.

My stint as a professional content developer seemed to be working out alright.

On a sidenote, I've injured my left arm working out. Probably over-exerted myself some.

July

On top of my writing/editing duties for Trixan, management thought it would be a great idea to have me do more Search Engine Optimization efforts for the Trixan websites. I realized then that SEO was definitely a lucrative and marketable craft, and I was just all too happy to be at the forefront of it all.

To hone my writing chops some, I started a couple of blogs, and discovered that it was something I could really get into. Didn't occur to me at the time that you can blog professionally though :).

August

August saw the "unholy" alliance of my fellow Trixan writers and myself. I suppose we were all entrepreneurs at heart, really. So after some venting and scheming, and dreams of world domination, Money Talks! was born.

Initially Money Talks! was an effort of my marketing communications company, interMedia Strategic Marketing Solutions. But it started to pretty much have a life of its own, so in short order my partners and I decided to turn it into a separate company altogether- an events group nicheing on entrepreneurial workshops and seminars.

Was still doing SEO work and content development stuff for Trixan, though things weren't looking well for their local business partner here, a BPO/KPO provider known as Global Sky- for me (and several others), it seemed to be more of a fly-by-night operation, and many of the employees simply weren't happy.

Still, as long as it didn't interfere with our work, I really couldn't care less.

September

I knew by this time that I wouldn't be staying with Trixan for long- so I started stepping up efforts with my other projects, specifically my blogs, businesses and other efforts.

Fortunately, though quite unexpectedly, an FM radio station contacted me and we started to talk about doing work together. That station turned out to be 105.1 Crossover, and we started tossing around some ideas and doing exploratory talks.

It was at this point that I decided to immerse myself in learning more about New Media, Blogging and Internet Marketing- to the point of making a viable career out of them.

The Money Talks! workshops and seminar series would help our new entrepreneurial endeavors, and would help make things happen for us. Later on, it did.

October

The very first "Blogging For Money" was quite an eye-opener; it completely convinced me that professional blogging is definitely the way to go. Although our event didn't do as well as we had hoped (because of the explosion at Glorietta the day before), it gave the group valuable field experience.

Also, I officially joined 105.1 Crossover as its new program director. I suppose radio really is in my blood. No matter how I try to re-invent myself, the industry somehow manages to pull me back in.

November

I turned 34 this month. Unlike my other birthdays, I feel strangely fulfilled this year: so many changes, yet the changes were all good. I have a lot of things to show for this previous year, and it looks like another promising year.

But I decided to re-organize my life once again; though two full-time jobs were bringing in quite an amount of money, the truth is, it can really work a number on your well-being. It's not doing well for my work-life balance.

So I decided to let go of the Trixan job. I thought I could now pursue my pro-blogging interests- and thus write about stuff that really matters to me- you know, fun stuff. I could still do SEO and SEM on the side, as they work really well with blogging.

Money Talks! had its second "Blogging For Money" workshop. This time, it was at The Podium, and we were so much happier with the turnout.

At this point, I decided to reposition interMedia as a New Media company- one that aims to synergize New Media efforts with traditional. It's gonna be awesome.

News comes in from my folks in the US: Dad has been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and is not expected to live long.

December

Mom and Dad wants us to spend Christmas together. So we went ahead to work on our US Visas. Seems they were giving out 5- and 10-year multiple entry Visas at the embassy. My brother and I each get a 10-year. Nice.

In short order, we get tickets to LA. I had myself booked for a flight back before the New Year.

Nevertheless, we've been able to spend time together as a family for the first time in fifteen years. Everyone was happy; I try not to be overly moved by the drama of it all, but it was totally awesome. I'm not discounting the fact that I'll be moving to the US in the not-too-distant future, with Cristina and God willing, our two lovely kitties- the Chloe and the Noobie.

Final Words.

So yeah, there's 2007 for you. Just like good little soldiers, we move on and concentrate on the task at hand: the here and now.

Here's wishing a productive and prosperous 2008 for everyone- may it not only bring you good fortune, but also give you the opportunities to make things happen for you.

Cheers everyone!

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Looking Back Fondly at 2007, pt.1

Man, 2007 was a really good year.

That just about summed it up. It's actually the second day of the new year today; I'm writing this entry as I take a break from my mundane music research duties at the station.

I was probably too gung-ho with the plans I laid out for myself for 2008, or maybe I just decided to relax and take it easy instead of partying (old fart that I am). It just occurred to me that I haven't taken the time to have a look back at the year that had gone by, just to appreciate the good things we had goin'.

So here goes...

January 2007

It was honestly a rather scary, uncertain time for me in January: I was fresh off my 10-year stint at Mellow 94.7. And while I was celebrating my new-found liberation, there was a part of me that was asking, "So what next?"

Radio had been a major part of my life. In a way, it's my comfort zone. I know I could make something big for myself- I just realized that I didn't really have a solid plan just yet.

February 2007

Major spending spree: with the early retirement money I got from my old company, I earmarked some for setting up a business and some more for travel.

The rest? Aw man, I blew it all on all kinds of toys and games and gadgets- almost like I was making up for recreation time lost at work.

Among them, a new top-of-the line PC for playing all the new games like Neverwinter Nights 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Medieval Total War and Battlefield 2142. It had a whole lot of hard disk space for all my recreational downloading, and as long as I got broadband, everything was gonna be alright.

Also got matching 30-gig Creative Vision-M's for me and Cristina, as well as a brand new Palm, graphic novels, and a whole lot of Justice League action figures. Nice.

Had my passport renewed, and got really hooked on Battlestar Galactica- I must've finished seasons 1 & 2 just this month alone!

Family dropped by as well: Tita Ne, Tita Gilda, Uncle John with cousin Giles, and Uncle Ferdie all came in for a vacation to the Philippines for a few weeks.

March 2007

Two things: Singapore and World of Warcraft.

Spent the earlier part of the month with Cristina in Singapore. Yeah, it was our 6th anniversary as a couple, but it was cool because it was our first vaction together with no work in mind. I realized that from that point onwards, vacations have got to be like that.

Also started getting into blogging, but not seriously just yet.

I've been more of a Guild Wars guy up to this point, because I always thought I never had the time to fully appreciate World of Warcraft. But hey, since there was no job to get in the way of things, and a perfectly new gaming machine sitting majestically in the middle of my room- why the hell not, right?

World of Warcraft remains as one of the most addictive games currently installed on my PC. Plus, Cristina's hooked on it too. The couple that plays together, stays together, right?

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More of my reminiscing of the year gone by coming next. Still have to cover nine more months! Coming up- Looking Back Fondly at 2007, pt.2!

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