I couldn't resist telling anyone out there about a prospect i have for web designing. Well, it started almost a month ago when a person from europe emailed me and ask me how much i would charge for a certain kind of a website (a legal one ok? hehehe)
I gave him my price.. and in the course of our correspondence i came to know the guy and so did he.. in short... we became friends... our problem started when one day, when he was about to send me his downpayment... he suddenly was asking me about scams and so forth and so on... so to make the long story short, he was afraid i would scam him... geeesshh... not that i blame him... i understood him actually...
It took me more effort selling myself and showing him some assurances... like for example... i told him that the address i sent him was my home-office... i don't know of anyone stupid enough like me to give away my home address on the internet.. but.. in the interest of making a living... i do...
For weeks, it was on and off.. until finally he decided to pay 50% downpayment.. when i checked with xoom.com i saw that the transaction was cancelled... anyway i said to myself.. hmm.. this guy must really fear being scammed.. so i gave him some references... and to my knowledge, he did contact them through e-mail...
Since i am really a nice guy, i told him to instead send me 25% downpayment and we could do a progressive type of billing.. and he did.. the problem was that xoom.com cancelled the transaction.. i inquired and was told the following:
Subject
---------------------------------------------------------------
Inquiry
---------------------------------------------------------------
Xoom Corporation (Ray Almanza) - 07/24/2007 11:41 AM
Xoom.com has refunded this transaction, as the intended money transfer has been identified as a commercial transaction.
Xoom.com provides a person-to-person remittance service only.
lease contact www.xoom.com with any questions.
Xoom Corporation
to which i replied:
Thanks for the quick reply. But please someone point to me where it says that we cannot accept money for a commercial transaction. And please define commercial transactions. We are at a loss since on your site specifically there is a https://www.xoom.com/static/merchant-services.html or a merchant services portion. Though a website may not be totally tangible, still it consists of tangible, readable, viewable, executable files that we also give our clients as a required part of our serivce.
How can this be when your site specifically says and i quote :"Xoom now offers payment services for merchants selling goods overseas from the Philippines." and "Sell goods from your website or auction listing". We are a legal and non-scamming web design company here in the philippines are you implying that we are illegal and in the business of scamming?
We have been helping you promote your services to the local web development community and this is what we get?
I dont get it... i honestly don't... anyway.. it is for you the reader to judge... the insanity of dealing with people... by the way.. as of the writing of this... the xoom.com people have not replied... maybe they do not know the answer too?
haaayyy.. this is so disappointing... my prospect has not contacted me anymore because of xoom, do you think i can sue them for that? and how?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Web Applications and your business
Web Applications... What? Programs, scripts, and other form of structured or object oriented lines of codes found in different types of websites have been around since over a decade ago...
In the advent of the internet... websites were displayed as text which had "hyperlinks" to other webpages and so forth and so on.. thus: the World Wide Web. But that's ancient history you may say... yes it is... But from such a jurrasic concept... Those people who have IQ's far higher than your weight in pounds saw the need of the web to do more than just display "static" text and hyperlinks...
HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language was the front runner of the web's steady rise... With HTML, one could show text and/or images on their websites. Fine! then came Javascripts, Visual Basic Scripts... These scripts enabled web designers to become web developers. Later on, ASP and PHP were introduced. With ASP matching up with Microsoft's database technolodies and PHP with MySQL(both open source).
So what does all of these common knowledge have anything to do with a business or a business person? Well think of having your own website with a login page that leads to your inventory and sales system.... such a system would enable you to check and update your inventory stocks and sell the remainder stocks to your clients. Such a system would entail a lot of programming but would be beneficial to you and would enable you to take your office on the road...
Imagine the same system that enables your sales people to post or book their sales from within and arrange for delivery to their clients, the same system deducts the items sold from your current inventory online-realtime-anytime... Imagine, again, utilizing the same system, and creating an interface designed specifically to be used as a POS or Point of Sales system...
Now what would it benefit you to go for such a system as against your manual system of managing your inventory, writing out sales slips and order forms, and selling in a retail environment.
Web Applications are not limited to inventory and sales processes, some web applications function as CMS's or "Content Management Systems"... some as Blogs, such as this one, and some offer a repository of anything from audio to video to PDF files... Web applications can be in any form or presentation that you need them to be in order to work for you.
For those who need some affordable "Web Applications" programming please contact the author at alphonse.tan@gmail.com.
In the advent of the internet... websites were displayed as text which had "hyperlinks" to other webpages and so forth and so on.. thus: the World Wide Web. But that's ancient history you may say... yes it is... But from such a jurrasic concept... Those people who have IQ's far higher than your weight in pounds saw the need of the web to do more than just display "static" text and hyperlinks...
HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language was the front runner of the web's steady rise... With HTML, one could show text and/or images on their websites. Fine! then came Javascripts, Visual Basic Scripts... These scripts enabled web designers to become web developers. Later on, ASP and PHP were introduced. With ASP matching up with Microsoft's database technolodies and PHP with MySQL(both open source).
So what does all of these common knowledge have anything to do with a business or a business person? Well think of having your own website with a login page that leads to your inventory and sales system.... such a system would enable you to check and update your inventory stocks and sell the remainder stocks to your clients. Such a system would entail a lot of programming but would be beneficial to you and would enable you to take your office on the road...
Imagine the same system that enables your sales people to post or book their sales from within and arrange for delivery to their clients, the same system deducts the items sold from your current inventory online-realtime-anytime... Imagine, again, utilizing the same system, and creating an interface designed specifically to be used as a POS or Point of Sales system...
Now what would it benefit you to go for such a system as against your manual system of managing your inventory, writing out sales slips and order forms, and selling in a retail environment.
- In running a business, whether retail, wholesale or services information is KING! We need to have the information we need, without the need to rely on anybody else.
- Let's just say that you had to go home because of an emergency and instead of going back to the office and prepare your sales reports and sales quotations, you could do these at home and if needed you could go straight to your client directly from home?
- With such Web Applications, your accounting and credit and collections departments would have all the information they need when they need it...
Web Applications are not limited to inventory and sales processes, some web applications function as CMS's or "Content Management Systems"... some as Blogs, such as this one, and some offer a repository of anything from audio to video to PDF files... Web applications can be in any form or presentation that you need them to be in order to work for you.
For those who need some affordable "Web Applications" programming please contact the author at alphonse.tan@gmail.com.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Why we need insurance
Most of the folks that I know, do not believe nor include insurance as part of their budget of expenses. To most, insurance is really an "expense" that they could forgo.
So what is insurance and why do we need it?
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a potential loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium. Insurer, in economics, is the company that sells the insurance. Insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice. against the Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance
Ok, in Layman's terms, insurance is an instrument whereby one pays a premium to insure, for example, his automobile, that would pay for any losses he might incur in case an accident may happen. “Insurance provides indemnification against loss or liability from specified events and circumstances that may occur or be discovered during a specified period. ”
Now most people understand this concept and still believes that insurance is just an expense that they can do without. I remember during my early years in dealing with non-life insurance, I had a friend who had a vehicle and offered him comprehensive insurance (in the philippines, this means full coverage that includes own damage and loss/theft.) since his coverage was only CTPL (compulsory third party liability, again in the philippines this is a requirement prior to registration of motor vehicles and is quite cheap.) During the year, the vehicle met an accident luckily he did not hit any person he just hit a lamp post and got away with just a bruise on his pride. He thanked me for the additional coverage since the insurance took care of repairing his vehicle at a very minor cost to him.
Another incident involving motor vehicle accidents was when my son's godfather called me up and said he accidentally hit a drunk person crossing the street. The fellow died and left my friend in shock. The insurance took care of the of the burial costs. And other expenses my friend would have coughed up had he not taken the additional coverage.
Considering insurance as an expense may not seem fair since insurance not only would help a person in their time of need, it also helps them have the peace of mind that they deserve.
Should any of you be interested, I offer non-life insurance with a product line consisting of motor car insurance, Fire Insurance, Marine Cargo Insurance, Personal Accidents.
I am currently connected with Toko Marine Malayan Insurance Corp.
So what is insurance and why do we need it?
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a potential loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium. Insurer, in economics, is the company that sells the insurance. Insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice. against the Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance
Ok, in Layman's terms, insurance is an instrument whereby one pays a premium to insure, for example, his automobile, that would pay for any losses he might incur in case an accident may happen. “Insurance provides indemnification against loss or liability from specified events and circumstances that may occur or be discovered during a specified period. ”
Now most people understand this concept and still believes that insurance is just an expense that they can do without. I remember during my early years in dealing with non-life insurance, I had a friend who had a vehicle and offered him comprehensive insurance (in the philippines, this means full coverage that includes own damage and loss/theft.) since his coverage was only CTPL (compulsory third party liability, again in the philippines this is a requirement prior to registration of motor vehicles and is quite cheap.) During the year, the vehicle met an accident luckily he did not hit any person he just hit a lamp post and got away with just a bruise on his pride. He thanked me for the additional coverage since the insurance took care of repairing his vehicle at a very minor cost to him.
Another incident involving motor vehicle accidents was when my son's godfather called me up and said he accidentally hit a drunk person crossing the street. The fellow died and left my friend in shock. The insurance took care of the of the burial costs. And other expenses my friend would have coughed up had he not taken the additional coverage.
Considering insurance as an expense may not seem fair since insurance not only would help a person in their time of need, it also helps them have the peace of mind that they deserve.
Should any of you be interested, I offer non-life insurance with a product line consisting of motor car insurance, Fire Insurance, Marine Cargo Insurance, Personal Accidents.
I am currently connected with Toko Marine Malayan Insurance Corp.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Starting a Small Web Design Business
If you know basic HTML, CSS, Photoshop you can start your own web design business. Unlike traditional businesses... Most people who would go for your service understand that you are some sort of a consultant and would ask more for samples of your work rather than your company's name.
The only piece of equipment you would need, which you probably have already, otherwise you would not have read this thread of mine, is a computer. Maybe even a scanner, a printer and that's it.
First Tip - Sample Work
If you have not done any actual web sites yet, it would be great if you came up with a sample. Basic HTML web sites may be placed on CD's or FREE HOSTING Sites. As long as your links work. Then you're in business.
Second Tip - Web Presence
Working on our first tip, might as well create your own website and learn to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Some FREE sites have their own file managers/uploaders but it would be better if you could use FTP since file managers/uploaders don't have the ease of use of FTP programs. I personally use WS_FTP.
Having a website, even on a free site is better since your work will be accessible to prospects 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week (24/7). Besides, without a website your like a carpenter offering his services without even owning a hammer. :) Also, get yourself an email address that is a little more professional. juan.delacruz@somewhere.com is far more professional than NiNo_da_Man@somewhere.com.
Third Tip - Know your suppliers
The only suppliers we would have in this industry are Web hosting companies. Most web hosts also offer domain name registration. One of my suppliers, located in manila that offer a not so bad pricing is www.1pesohosting.com. You need at least one of these suppliers so that when you offer your services, you already have an idea of how much to charge them aside from the web site design charges.
Fourth Tip - Advertising
Once you have your own site, decide whether you want to get local clients or foreign clients, either way, go and register your website in as many on-line business directories as you could. This way you could even get foreign companies.
Fifth Tip - Answering Inquiries
When answering inquiries, be sure to make certain that both of you understand what you are talking about before even giving your prospects a price quote. You must first understand that the client requires so much pages and so much graphics, etc. If prospects just want to ask for the price and are not willing to tell you much about their requirements, then they are just either canvassing or trying to put one over you.
For example, the actual work needs you to do some programming or flash animations and as far as you know, you only discussed about plain static pages in HTML and CSS.
I normally keep a file on every conversation or email i have had with my clients. With that, whenever they require something else, i always copy and paste our conversations. :)
Sixth Tip - Communications
Exchanging email with prospects is good, it is actually better. But for you to work better with clients, sometimes it is great to be able to chat with them either on Yahoo!™ or MSN™. To record your conversations here.. Just click "Select All" then "Copy", open your Notepad and "Paste". Save your file and you have a record of your communications.
Seventh Tip - Pricing
Always make sure that you make a detailed listing of the services you will be providing your customers. Send this price quotation through email and have them send this back to you as a sign of their acceptance. When pricing, always separate the domain name registration and web hosting costs. This way your clients would know what they would be paying the next time without you. You should also inform them that web hosting is paid yearly and domain name is paid annually (depending on the domain name registrar).
For foreign customers, you may give them a price in US$. Be sure to check the exchange rate first. For example, if you wanted to earn at least P750 per page and the current exchange rate is P 48.05 = $ 1. You might charge the client US$ 15.60/page (computed as P750 /48.05)
Eight Tip - Receiving Payment
The fastest way to receive payment is through Western Union™. All you need to know is the confirmation code, which the customer should give you once they have sent you payment. Prior to this, you should have at least two valid ID's when receiving their payment through any Western Union Agent(click on this link and click on "FIND AN AGENT" the Western Union website.) here in the Philippines. When going to any Western Union be sure to bring your ID's.
If you have a bank account, you could also go to xoom.com and enrol your bank accounts there. Although as of this writing only Equitable-PCI dollar accounts can be enrolled. Others banks would mean that your payment in US dollars might be converted to peso in your account.
But if you don't want that kind of hassle, just have your clients (for foreign clients) send payment through Western Union™.
That's all for now, good luck and welcome aboard!
Sample Quotation
Client Name
Company Name
Dear Sir/Madam: (or place the client's name here)
We are pleased herewith to present to you our best quotation for (Indicate the project name)
We hope that this would suffice in your personal evaluation.
Web layout and design P x,xxx /page
includes : uploading of files, setting up of email accounts, etc.
Domain Name Registration P x,xxx
WEb hosting 1year P x,xxx
Terms and Conditions:
Payment : Web Design 50% downpayment/ 50% upon delivery
Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting Fees %100
Delivery : Within (be careful about this) _____ days upon confirmation
Deliverables : 1 fully functional website, with 2 email accounts, etc., etc.
Very truly yours,
ME the WEbdesigner
The only piece of equipment you would need, which you probably have already, otherwise you would not have read this thread of mine, is a computer. Maybe even a scanner, a printer and that's it.
First Tip - Sample Work
If you have not done any actual web sites yet, it would be great if you came up with a sample. Basic HTML web sites may be placed on CD's or FREE HOSTING Sites. As long as your links work. Then you're in business.
Second Tip - Web Presence
Working on our first tip, might as well create your own website and learn to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Some FREE sites have their own file managers/uploaders but it would be better if you could use FTP since file managers/uploaders don't have the ease of use of FTP programs. I personally use WS_FTP.
Having a website, even on a free site is better since your work will be accessible to prospects 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week (24/7). Besides, without a website your like a carpenter offering his services without even owning a hammer. :) Also, get yourself an email address that is a little more professional. juan.delacruz@somewhere.com is far more professional than NiNo_da_Man@somewhere.com.
Third Tip - Know your suppliers
The only suppliers we would have in this industry are Web hosting companies. Most web hosts also offer domain name registration. One of my suppliers, located in manila that offer a not so bad pricing is www.1pesohosting.com. You need at least one of these suppliers so that when you offer your services, you already have an idea of how much to charge them aside from the web site design charges.
Fourth Tip - Advertising
Once you have your own site, decide whether you want to get local clients or foreign clients, either way, go and register your website in as many on-line business directories as you could. This way you could even get foreign companies.
Fifth Tip - Answering Inquiries
When answering inquiries, be sure to make certain that both of you understand what you are talking about before even giving your prospects a price quote. You must first understand that the client requires so much pages and so much graphics, etc. If prospects just want to ask for the price and are not willing to tell you much about their requirements, then they are just either canvassing or trying to put one over you.
For example, the actual work needs you to do some programming or flash animations and as far as you know, you only discussed about plain static pages in HTML and CSS.
I normally keep a file on every conversation or email i have had with my clients. With that, whenever they require something else, i always copy and paste our conversations. :)
Sixth Tip - Communications
Exchanging email with prospects is good, it is actually better. But for you to work better with clients, sometimes it is great to be able to chat with them either on Yahoo!™ or MSN™. To record your conversations here.. Just click "Select All" then "Copy", open your Notepad and "Paste". Save your file and you have a record of your communications.
Seventh Tip - Pricing
Always make sure that you make a detailed listing of the services you will be providing your customers. Send this price quotation through email and have them send this back to you as a sign of their acceptance. When pricing, always separate the domain name registration and web hosting costs. This way your clients would know what they would be paying the next time without you. You should also inform them that web hosting is paid yearly and domain name is paid annually (depending on the domain name registrar).
For foreign customers, you may give them a price in US$. Be sure to check the exchange rate first. For example, if you wanted to earn at least P750 per page and the current exchange rate is P 48.05 = $ 1. You might charge the client US$ 15.60/page (computed as P750 /48.05)
Eight Tip - Receiving Payment
The fastest way to receive payment is through Western Union™. All you need to know is the confirmation code, which the customer should give you once they have sent you payment. Prior to this, you should have at least two valid ID's when receiving their payment through any Western Union Agent(click on this link and click on "FIND AN AGENT" the Western Union website.) here in the Philippines. When going to any Western Union be sure to bring your ID's.
If you have a bank account, you could also go to xoom.com and enrol your bank accounts there. Although as of this writing only Equitable-PCI dollar accounts can be enrolled. Others banks would mean that your payment in US dollars might be converted to peso in your account.
But if you don't want that kind of hassle, just have your clients (for foreign clients) send payment through Western Union™.
That's all for now, good luck and welcome aboard!
Sample Quotation
Client Name
Company Name
Dear Sir/Madam: (or place the client's name here)
We are pleased herewith to present to you our best quotation for (Indicate the project name)
We hope that this would suffice in your personal evaluation.
Web layout and design P x,xxx /page
includes : uploading of files, setting up of email accounts, etc.
Domain Name Registration P x,xxx
WEb hosting 1year P x,xxx
Terms and Conditions:
Payment : Web Design 50% downpayment/ 50% upon delivery
Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting Fees %100
Delivery : Within (be careful about this) _____ days upon confirmation
Deliverables : 1 fully functional website, with 2 email accounts, etc., etc.
Very truly yours,
ME the WEbdesigner
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Get Paid to Read Email... Easy!
Now a system that is easy and closer to home... Based in Singapore, EmailCashPro offers a system wherein all you do is read their email, click on their links and get credited and eventually get paid for doing just that.
You can request payments in either check or through your paypal account. EZ right?
How it works
Step 1: Sign up as a member for FREE
Join EmailCashPro as a member for free and select the kind of emails you are interested in receiving.
JOIN NOW!
Step 2: Read emails that you are interested
Receive Paid Emails that match your profile and interest. These emails will have subject headlines that start with **SoloAd**, followed by a description of the content of the Paid Email. Browse through the subject description. If you are interested in the subject, click on the link in the email to view the content. Click here for a screenshot of a sample Paid Email you will receive.
Once you click on the Paid Link and visit the advertiser's website for 30 seconds, your account will be credited with 1 point. Your accumulated points will then be converted into cash credits on the first week of every month. The conversion is done based on 40% of our total earnings for the previous month. This means we share 40% of our total revenue with our members! Our conversion for the last few months ranges from 0.55 cents to 0.75 cents.
JOIN NOW!
Step 3: Share good stuff with your friends
The most powerful part of EmailCashPro is our 4 level referral system. When you refer other people to join EmailCashPro, you will receive 50% of your referral's earnings on level 1, 20% of your referral's earnings on level 2, 15% of your referral's earnings on level 3 and 10% of your referral's earnings on level 4.
Never underestimate the power of cents. With our 4 level referral system, your income can easily be in the order of $100s a month!
“I’d rather have 1 percent of 100 people’s efforts than 100 percent of my own.” - J. Paul Getty, one of the world's first billionaire.
You can easily build your referral team by sending invitation letters, informing your friends about our latest members only offer or by sharing interesting Paid Emails with them. More details are provided in your Members Login Page.
Step 4: Receive cheque in your letter box
Once your account reaches our minimum payout of S$11, you can request for a cash-out from us. For Singapore members, you can cash out your earning through cheque or paypal. For International members, you can cash out through paypal. All payment will be made in Singapore dollars.
Easttech Pte Ltd (ROC: 200301652W)
164, Kallang Way #07-21/24
Singapore 349248
Fax: (65)6842 6465
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Internet Connection Woes...
Just recently most of the connections here in the Philippines bogged down because of the earthquake in Taiwan...
Most DSl and ISP's were caught with their pants down as most of them and their clientele were affected by slow and mostly frustrating connections... even for DSL providers...
This frustrated me, and i thought about a work around... there must be one... my friend john... who is an SEO person... remarked that the inefficiency of restoring regular connections was partly due to the dotcom crash in the 90's...
Anyway... based on my own knowledge about the internet... and just like traffic.. we can all reroute our connections... well, if i am not totally mistaken, by rerouting our proxy servers... i found a site... (all through the sluggish connection) that has listings of proxy servers around the globe... and i thought.. hmmm.. what if i could find a taiwanese proxy server... and i did... so i changed my browser's proxy servers to that taiwanese one... and voila... i had a somewhat faster connection..
The downside here is that i have to go back to the site directory and choose another proxy server as the latency* of each proxy server changes every day... at any rate... i don't mind as long as surfing is nearly normal, to me at least... :)
The url of the site i go to is http://www.xroxy.com/proxylist.php?port=&type=&ssl=&country=TW&latency=&reliability=7500
* This number gives the time that it took to fetch a very small, known-to-be-good html document through the particular proxy the last time it was checked. This value is mesured in milliseconds.
The test document is less than 1KB in size, and the elapsed time is measured from the moment the connection is made until the moment the document has finished downloading.
The latency data is extremely subjective, since it's a reflection of our connectivity to a proxy, not yours.
Generally speaking, though, proxies with lower latency should be more responsive.
Most DSl and ISP's were caught with their pants down as most of them and their clientele were affected by slow and mostly frustrating connections... even for DSL providers...
This frustrated me, and i thought about a work around... there must be one... my friend john... who is an SEO person... remarked that the inefficiency of restoring regular connections was partly due to the dotcom crash in the 90's...
Anyway... based on my own knowledge about the internet... and just like traffic.. we can all reroute our connections... well, if i am not totally mistaken, by rerouting our proxy servers... i found a site... (all through the sluggish connection) that has listings of proxy servers around the globe... and i thought.. hmmm.. what if i could find a taiwanese proxy server... and i did... so i changed my browser's proxy servers to that taiwanese one... and voila... i had a somewhat faster connection..
The downside here is that i have to go back to the site directory and choose another proxy server as the latency* of each proxy server changes every day... at any rate... i don't mind as long as surfing is nearly normal, to me at least... :)
The url of the site i go to is http://www.xroxy.com/proxylist.php?port=&type=&ssl=&country=TW&latency=&reliability=7500
* This number gives the time that it took to fetch a very small, known-to-be-good html document through the particular proxy the last time it was checked. This value is mesured in milliseconds.
The test document is less than 1KB in size, and the elapsed time is measured from the moment the connection is made until the moment the document has finished downloading.
The latency data is extremely subjective, since it's a reflection of our connectivity to a proxy, not yours.
Generally speaking, though, proxies with lower latency should be more responsive.
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