Carlo Ople

Dec 022017
 

Making money is always harder than saving.

This age old bit of wisdom has allowed me to make more money consistently over the last few years. It might sound “simplistic” but if you do it consistently it has a big effect that will surprise you at the end of the year. The tactic is simple:

  1. Make a list of consumable items you regularly use like soap, toothpaste, deodorant, or shampoo.
  2. Buy them in bulk during major flash sales (like 20-50% off or buy-one-take-one deals) on Lazada, S&R, Watson’s or even SM Department Store.

That’s it.

This is real money that you get to “put back” into your pocket because you would have spent on these items at higher prices (SRP) anyway. The savings can be massive if you’re able to do this consistently across a wide range of daily consumables. Apart from shampoo, there’s toothpaste, soap, mouthwash, napkins, deodorant, toilet paper, cooking oil, canned goods, coffee, and even softdrinks (though I would suggest you stop drinking soda for health purposes). All of those taken together will make a big positive impact on your cash flow.

More importantly doing this develops money mental discipline. You will be more cautious of your how you spend and this will ultimately help keep building your wealth so that you break away from “petsa de peligro”.

This is pretty timely as there are a lot of upcoming sales. The most notable online sale is the Lazada 12.12 Christmas sale where you have a lot of the “consumable” type of items I just mentioned going up for sale. Suggest you guys check them out, buy in bulk, and put more money back into your wallet this Holiday season.

Nov 282017
 
Why You Need to Do Online Shopping this Christmas Season in the Philippines

Online Shopping is so underrated in the Philippines. A lot of us still prefer to go to the mall to buy what we want and need but we’re missing out when we don’t consider just shopping online. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should just focus on buying stuff from your smartphone or laptop this Holiday season versus making that trip to the mall. 1. Ang Sagwa ng Traffic mga Besh The most obvious reason is that you get to save yourself from the horrendous Christmas traffic. We all know that EDSA comes to a gruesome halt starting the Ber months because of the volume of cars that hit the road, especially the ones going to malls. You can save yourself the stress by just buying online. 2. Lots of Promos and Sales Exclusively Online There are more sales online than there are in physical stores. Lazada recently did a bunch of massive sales in November and the deals were ridiculously good, especially for electronics. Those are prices you don’t see in physical retail. They’re gearing up for another massive sale on December 12. Make sure you remember that date and make it a point to visit online stores on that day to see deals that you can take advantage of. 3. You can do COD even for International Items LAZADA, through their new investor and owner Alibaba, recently made the entire Alibaba Taobao collection available on their site. This is a fantastic range of affordable China-made products Read More …

Nov 282017
 
5 Ways to Make Money Using Digital and Tech in the Philippines

A monthly salary usually isn’t enough to have a comfortable life. This is the reason why having “rackets” or “side hustles” is important. It allows you to be more productive and it generates more money for you monthly versus just relying on your job. The money you earn is also dependent on how much time and effort you put into it. That said, here are 5 side hustles you can do today in the Philippines leveraging digital and technology. 1. Be a Grab or Uber Partner If you have a car, you can apply to be a Grab or Uber driver partner. The great thing about this is that you’re your own boss. You can bring the car out during your free time or during certain windows where Uber/Grab pays more. You just have to bear with the insane Manila traffic but at least you’re getting paid for it. How to Apply as an Uber Driver in the Philippines How to Apply as a Grab Driver in the Philippines 2.Buy Bitcoin This is probably the riskiest way to make more money. Given how Bitcoin’s value is skyrocketing right now, you can make a bet on it by buying a certain amount and just wait for it to appreciate. You can sell it later on when the value has grown significantly. By the way, there’s no minimum amount to buy Bitcoin. You can just start with 500 and learn about it. Once you’re more comfortable, you can start investing more. How Read More …

Oct 132017
 

The “Ber” months officially started last September and you can feel the Christmas vibe especially when you’re in the mall. Business-minded Pinoys have already begun to take advantage of holiday rush by joining bazaars, which are frequent during this time of the year. If you’re a bazaar veteran or if you want to put up a business in time for Christmas, you might want to consider skipping the hassle of city traffic and try your hand in e-commerce and sell your products online. To help you get started here are 5 key steps you need to take to create a profitable online business. 1. Set up your Online Store You don’t need to spend hundreds of thousands of pesos to set-up a website with e-commerce capabilities. There are easy-to-use and set-up services like Shopify and TackThis. You can even try your hand out in selling on Lazada which already has millions of visits monthly. We’ve written extensive guides on how to set-up accounts in these channels which you can read below: How to Create Your Own Online Store on TackThis How to be an Online Seller on Lazada How to Open Your Online Store Using Shopify These platforms offer end-to-end solutions for e-commerce. They have the website which you can customize, a payment platform, delivery partnerships, and some of them even offer product photography in their studio. Just read through and pick which one is the best for you. 2. Set up your Facebook Page 96% of all Internet users Read More …