Online shopping is just starting to gain acceptance among Filipinos especially to those who are tech-savvy, have credit cards and Paypal accounts. The growing numbers of local online shops is a proof that Filipinos are no  longer as skeptical to online shopping as before.

I believe online shopping is actually better than going to the malls. There are far more better online deals than what you can have at the malls without having to go through traffic, fight for an item, and endure the long queues. You can actually make more shopping money by finding great discounts and deals on Groupons, Coupons and Flash Sales sites.

Groupons of Group Buying lets you get great deals through bulk buying. You can get as much as 90% discounts from the original price of a product or service. Groupons are great if you want to avail of services in groups such as a relaxing massage, dine in expensive restaurants, spend a weekend in a resort, among others. Most of sites have deals available in Metro Manila but the number of deals for the provinces are now increaing.

FitzVillafuerte.com has a comprehensive list of Groupon sites in the Philippines so I suggest you check out his blog. Read the comments as well so you’ll have an idea which among them suits your needs.

Coupons are also a good way to save money. Do you remember those coupons given out by fast food companies which give you 5% discount or a freebie everytime you dine with them? Those are really good marketing strategies and if you’re a consumer, its a great way to save. You’re dining with them anyway so better clip those coupons.

There are also online coupons which are available for you. I often buy online so I always look for available coupons first before making a purchase. You can search online coupon sites such as CouponChief.com which has hundreds of coupon codes from online retailers. What’s even better is that they have a Pays-2-Share program wherein you can upload a coupon code and every time someone uses it, you get 2% of the sales.

I’ve recently discovered flash sale retailers also known as invitation-only shopping retailers. One of the pioneers in the Philippines is AVA.ph where you can avail of discounts of as much as 70% on designer items. Every week, a limited number of branded items will be on sale which you can purchase by Paypal or credit card. As a member, you’ll also receive an email a few days before the sale with details on the products and the dates they will be on sale.

If you register now at Ava.ph, you’ll receive Php200 of shopping money automatically credited to your account. You’ll only receive the credit if you register using the link I provided.

Just a reminder, before making any purchase, be sure that you really want it and will not be sacrificing your needs just to get it.

Christmas is an occasion when most families get-together. However, for those who are not as lucky, as in the case of most families of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), who has to spend the holidays away from their families. The most common method of keeping in touch is through telephone but international calls are very expensive. This is where technology plays an important role on how you can save on calls.

Today, there are a lot of alternatives to stay in touch with your loved ones at home. There is email, cellular phone, social networking sites, and internet phone or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Most of VoIP services are free while others are not but still very cheap compared to using the conventional telephone.

Yahoo Messenger has enabled the PC-to-PC calls and we even used it for official calls with my previous employer to save on long distance calls. This service is free if you call PC-to-PC but if if you call from PC to regular phones of mobile phones. there’s already costs involved. Sometimes internet connection may not be very good so you get a chappy reception. Aside from voice calls, you may also use video calls through Yahoo Messenger.

When Facebook gained popularity, it has also enabled video calling function although I have yet to try it. Again, call quality will also depend how fast your internet connection is.

Recently, I discovered the MagicJack through a relative from the States. This will also enable you to call from PC-to-PC for free but you may also use PC to mobile or regular phones with an annual fee. When you subscribe you will be given a US phone number and you can make calls to US and Canada for free. MagicJack is such a hit among Filipinos who have relatives in the US and Canada.

One of the longest VoIP services available is Skype. It lets you make internet calls for free and has different rates per country for those who want to subscribe and want to make calls to regular phones or mobile. I know somebody who uses Skype teaching English to clients in Italy.

These are not the only VoIP services available which you can choose from. There are now companies that offer additional features such as ITP VoIP, Viatalk, among others. I haven’t tried these companies’ services so you may want to visit sites that offer a lot of information to guide you in choosing the best VoIP providers.

 image by: Mario Inoportuno

A few months ago my hosting account got hacked and all of my blogs and those of my clients got redirected to malicious sites. I had to request help from my host in the US in order to remove the malicious scripts from my account. As a result, I lost income, I lost sleep, and exposed my readers to the hackers. Apparently, the hackers enter through a bug in a plugin or in older versions of WordPress.

If you’ve noticed a few weeks ago, there was a proliferation of porn and images of extreme violence on Facebook due to hacked accounts. The disturbing images spread everytime somebody click it and then it is automatically posted on all your friends’ walls on Facebook.

Here’s how you can protect yourself from hackers and spammers.

1.  For bloggers using WordPress, protect your blogs form hackers by updating your WordPress and plugins to the latest version. Also avoid using plugins which are not yet verified by WordPress.

2. Protect your account in Social Networking sites such as Facebook by not immediately clicking on images and links which seem tempting at first but are quite suspicious even if it’s form somebody you know. Would your friend post links to porn sites on your wall? Just think before clicking on that link.

3. Protect your email account from hackers buy not clicking on emails sent with links even if it’s from your contact. Usually, these emails don’t have subjects. If you receive suspicious emails, delete theme immediately so you will not have a chance to click it in the future.

As long as we go online there’s always the threat of hackers and spammers but we can avoid the daunting tasks of recovering precious files by protecting ourselves.

The editors of the Windows Secrets Newsletter have compiled some of the best security stories into this PC Security Guide eBook that provides simple and straight forward advice for secure computing. The eBook will provide you with the basic tools in order to protect yourself from most online threats.

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A colleague recently got so sick that he had to take a leave of absence from the office for two months so he can recuperate. When he got back, the first advice he had for us was, “I now realize the importance of my health. So let’s take care of our health so that  we may be able to enjoy our retirement.”

I’m sure everyone of us wants to enjoy our retirement where we get to do the things we want to do after working hard for most of our adult life. What do you want to do when you retire? Travel abroad? Have your own business? What if you’re already too old and sick you won’t be able to lift a bag without hurting yourself?

Our body has it’s way of reminding us we are going overboard. All we have to do is listen and pay attention. Everything is possible if we have good health. In our quest to earn extra income, let’s not forget to live our life today, not when we’re too old to remember even our name.

Let me share with you this story which was shared with me by my friend Eli Gatanela of Businessphereconsulting.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, that’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

Things change. Time changes. We change.

Since things change, you must too.  Because the economic landscape is now different as a result of  recession and global economic meltdown, we must position our businesses and companies to adopt to sudden change and remain competitive.

Here are the things and guideposts to consider when we rethink the position of our companies and businesses to adopt to the changing environment.

Stop, Look And Listen. When we were still children, we have been taught to stop, look and listen before we cross the street.  This lesson is apt in business as in any areas of our lives. Look what’s going on in your company and in the industry where it belongs. Listen to your customers. Look what your competitors are doing.  Get feedback from your customers, suppliers, and the people in your industry.

Use the information and data you have to evaluate the status of your company, and the direction it is going, say six months from now, 1 year from now, 3 years from now. This is necessary to anticipate where the market is heading and to be on it.

Be first, be daring, be different. Once you have spotted a trend,  you have to get there first ahead of your competitors.  You have to change the products or service you are providing to fit to the demands of the changing tastes and preferences of your customers.

As the saying goes: To succeed in business, be daring, be first, be different.

Communicate the change to your employees.  Your people are the assets of your business.  You cannot manage alone, business success is always a team effort.

This guest post is by Eli Gatanela of http://www.businessphereconsulting.com

Image credit: VinothChandar