1. I started taking up Executive MBA from the Asian Institute of Management. I’m about to finish 3 months from now.
2. Because of #1, I now talk like a real professional businessman – S curve, Ansoff’s diagram, value creation, variable costs, NPV and all those shit.
3. I met a not so nice girl who made me feel like i’m the most unlucky person in the world.
4. Several months after #3, I met the perfect girl.
5. I am now with the girl I met in #4. And now I feel like I’m the luckiest and happiest person in the world.

These are the 5 highlights of my life from early 2011 to today

Last Friday, I met with the owners of an online flower shop to get feedback on the effects of our SEO efforts on their sales. I am very glad to know that they are happy with how it is going.

Aside from monitoring the SEO campaign’s outcome, I also met them to suggest a few things that they might consider to improve their sales more like sending a discount coupon automatically after somebody orders, offering subscription based deliveries and many more.

I was also very fortunate to be enlightened by the owners on the benefits of having an organic flower farm. One thing thats bothering is that if you send someone flowers that are not organic, the chemicals can spread through the air inside their homes. More than having a healthy environment for the recipients of the flowers are giving a healthy work environment for the farmers. More information about organic farming can be found on their corporate blog.

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Optimind Web Design and SEO is currently maintaining the SEO campaign of MyFlowerDepot Inc, an online shop that delivers flowers to anywhere in the Philippines. Optimind is a Web Design Company in the Philippines that also offers Affordable SEO Solutions.

His talent and passion about music convinced me to hire him even if he charges twice than most trainers I can find.

He aims to upload about 1000 arrangements in his YouTube channel by the end of the year.

Owning your dream house, your dream car and lots of money has never been the measurement of success. I believe a person becomes successful if he can change somebody’s life for the better. It’s not about donating money or food or clothing. It’s about connecting and making sure that your recipient learns how to get better by himself.

Social Business – a company with a heart

Muhammad Yunus is probably the most famous person in the Social Business industry. I learned about him from a feature in BBC. He developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance which aims to finance entrepreneurial dreams of the poor. Through microfinancing, the poor can have a chance to be granted a business loan and eventually grow and get themselves out of poverty. Yunus received a Nobel Peace Prize for his microfinance concept and microfinance bank, Grameen.

Ever since I saw Yunus on TV, I became interested on how Social Businesses work. Locally, there’s Hapinoy. A company that helps people in poor communities to operate their own sari-sari stores and eventually grow them into becoming a distributor in their area.

Solving Poverty vs. Helping the Poor

Charity organizations should stop fund raising for clothing or food. In my opinion, what they should focus on is solving poverty. There’s a saying that goes – “Give a man a fish and he will be fed for the day. Teach a man how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime”.

Most of these organizations are run by successful businessmen. So I think they have enough creative people who can think of solutions to turn their recipients into fishermen.

Pay It Forward

Years ago, I saw this movie about a boy who thought of a way on how to change the world. His concept is simple – He will help someone and this someone will have to help someone else and so on.. Its a very simple concept that will make our world a better place.

Think of it this way – Social Business + Pay It Forward. The result should be a world of peace and full of gratitude.

My Slice of the Pie

RafflesForACause.com is a website that aims to raise funds for projects that support the concept of “Teaching a man how to fish”. The online raffle idea for charity was suggested to me by a good friend and I just grew the concept and took on a partner to help me bring this into reality.

We are currently looking for projects to support. Please go to our website www.rafflesforacause.com for more information.

Lot of scenes in Siem Reap where the tree roots have outgrown the temples because they are so old. Read about Siem Reap One day Itinerary.

During my recent trip to Vietnam, I booked a tour that uses a Vespa as a mode of transport. To experience the true Vietnam, I guess you need to at least try to ride or hitch on a motorbike.

My HCMC and Cambodia Travel Itinerary can be viewed here.