a good business package

I was chatting with a former colleague of mine a few days ago. We worked together in China as teachers. After years of having no communication, we spend hours and hours talking about what’s new and what had happened in our lives since we left China.

She left China a year after me and she went back t the Philippines to start her own business. She told me that she’d rather start a business than go back to teaching. Considering the very minimal salary of teachers in my home country, I agree with her. But when she told me that, I was a bit doubtful because I know for a fact that she does not have any background in running a business at all so when I asked how she’s managing it, she explained the whole thing to me.

She bought a business package. It’s like there’s one company that will set up the business for you and will provide the machines and the supplies you need. They will also set up a website for your business and they will train you in running the business. So it’s like a package—a business for dummies so to speak. You buy it and it will be made ready for you. I think that’s cool.

She told me that her business, which is providing custom billboard prints and custom vinyl banners is a hit. She said, she’s glad that she decided to do it. When I asked her how much it cost her, she told me that it’s just around a million pesos. The thing that made it expensive is the printing machine but depends on your choice of printer, the business package could also be much cheaper.

Such business is definitely not for me but I think it is perfect for her.

investing in gold

I don’t know a lot about the stock market and I would not know anything about it if not for my husband who owns some stocks. He was the one who explained to me how the whole thing works. I don’t often check changes in the stock market but I do check the currency conversion almost every day and I am disappointed to say that since a few months, the Euro lost a lot of its value and unfortunately for me, I earn Euros.

They say that the value of gold moves alongside the value of Euro so that means, gold is much cheaper now than before and that further means that now is the best time to buy buy gold bullion because as soon as the value of Euro picks up, like it seems to be doing recently, the value of gold will also pick up and when that happens, people who bought gold bullion can sell their gold at a higher value.

Investing in silver is also not such a bad idea because like gold, the value of silver is getting higher. Experts say that it is the best time to invest in silver and, especially, gold right now because the gold bar has a proven ability to diversify investments, protect wealth and preserve one’s purchasing power.

rewarding myself

Finally, I am on summer break.

That was a year of hard work and I am glad I got through it. There were times when I thought… I should just quit and be a bum but every time I get those ideas, I also find the courage to continue. Work life here in Europe is stressful. Everybody demands something from you and you just have to fulfill all these demands.

So I am thinking of rewarding myself for a job well done. First, I thought of buying an ipod touch 32G but hubby already has one and I am free to use it anytime I want. We don’t need two ipods in this house. And on the other hand, my iphone can do all the things an ipod can do so an ipod is completely unnecessary.

A Macbook Pro would be a really good reward but it is quite expensive too and I am not sure if I really want to spend my hard earned money on such luxury. My reasonable side is telling me that I don’t have to spend that much on a new computer but my diabolic side is telling me to go on with it since it looks like I will have to go through another year of hard work again.

MacBook Pro or no MacBook Pro, I hope that I still have enough patience to do the same job for at least another year.

wiener philharmoniker

The “Wiener Philharmoniker” is a well known Austrian coin. We got one as a gift from my husband’s grand aunt on our wedding day. At first, I thought it was just a commemorative coin but later, I learned that it is also made of 24 karats gold.

People buy such coins to invest their money on gold. Gold prices fluctuate constantly but that’s the good thing about it. When the financial crisis happened last year, the value of gold went down but many says that it was the best time to buy gold coins because when the economy picks up, the value of gold will also do so.

The value of gold moves alongside the value of Euro. It means that when the Euro is doing well against the US Dollar, which is the case for several weeks now, gold value will definitely climb up.

I wonder what’s the value of our Wiener Philharmoniker now? I don’t like to sell it (ever) but I am curious because if it’s really a very good investment, we might consider buying some of these coins.

day job over blogging

I am really happy to get a teaching job here. When I got the job about a month ago, I immediately started to prepare even if the start of the semester won’t be until the 14th of September (yesterday).

Before we came to Austria, I thought that I could do blogging full time. I wasn’t earning a lot but 400-700$ each month was enough. I had like three PR4 and four PR3 blogs. I thought if I really sit in front of my computer for at least five hours a day, it is possible to earn at least 20$ each day.

But towards the end of last year, I lost my PRs because of google-slapping and I also neglected my blogs. I needed to attend a German course and there were also other things that made me busy. In short, an income of 400-700$ each month from blogging is no longer feasible.

When we got here in April, I decided to go out and find a day job. There are actually a lot here in Austria if you are not choosy. Jobs as a clerk or a receptionist were among my choices but I said to myself that if I can’t have such jobs, it’s also okay for me to work manually… like… be a chambermaid, kitchen crew and the likes but my husband disagrees. He wanted me to study and practice my profession later on.

I really don’t like to go back to the university. Maybe someday I’ll do that but right now I don’t have the energy for it. So anyway, I tried to look further. I sent out hundreds of applications and I also got a lot of rejections. It took me three months until I finally found a teaching job in a private learning center.

I honestly wasn’t aiming high. I just wanted a simple job that I can do well and that will give me the feeling that I am able to help my husband with our finances. It took me three long months but the job I got is really more than I asked for so it is definitely worth the search and worth the wait.

Driving sucks big time!

I got my last driving lesson today and my instructor said I will definitely need more. Urg!

This is the driving lesson set (6 hours driving) I paid extra right after I failed my first practical exam. I had like 25 hours driving before that… so all in all, I have like 31 hours. To cheer me up a little bit the instructor told me that not a lot of people make it right after the minimum hours (13 hours). But I did 31 hours already! And how many lessons did I pay extra? 3 sets (18 hours extra) and that cost me 756Euro plus the basic course price 968 (13hours driving lessons + theory lessons + exam fee + entrance fee) and yet another plus 205 for doctor’s fee (eye and general doctor) and the book. And because I failed the first practical exam, I have to pay yet another 139 for it (second exam sometime next week).

If my computation is right, I’ve spent exactly 2,067 Euro for this. Hey, that’s about the price of a secondhand Ford KA already (not my dream car but ok). I could have my car for that money!

Driving sucks! And it is sucking me off my money!

It doesn’t help that I got 100% in my theory exam. I still don’t get a license!

I can drive. I know I can drive but the city traffic here in Graz is just too complicated for me. There’s just so many one-way-streets, tramways, bicycle lanes, and pedestrian crossings, etc, etc… sigh*

Maybe I should just accept the fact that when it comes to driving… I am a total moron.

It sucks!

And to cheer myself up, I just think about Einstein and how was also NOT able to drive a car PROPERLY even if he was a genius.

Income from Blogging for March 2009

Although my earnings this month didn’t even reach 300$, I would say that it is still a good month considering that I didn’t really do work on my blogs. Most of the money came from direct ads. I have some advertisers who contacted me directly to have a spot on my blogs. They have the options to pay me every three months, every 6 months, or every year. One particular client choose to pay me quarterly so if everything goes right, I expect 210$ every three months in my Paypal account.

Another constant source of income comes from TextLinkAds and BackLinks. I don’t earn a lot from them considering that the PRs of my blogs are low but the total monthly amount from these two Google-hated sites is good enough to keep me using their services.

So here’s my early report for this month’s blogging income:

March 2009
Sponsored Articles: 5.00$
Links: 65.98$
Direct Ads : 210.00$
Total: 280.98$

Income from Blogging for February 2009

A year ago I was earning more than 500$ each month and a good month means earning more than a 1000$. Now earning at least 200$ is already difficult mainly because there are lesser opps to write about and the ones that are available are too cheap. The cheapest opp before was 5$, now you can see opps cheaper than a dollar.

I think this can be explained by the current financial crisis. Fewer business owners are willing to spend money on internet advertising so blog networks lower their prices to accommodate those advertisers who are not sure whether it is a good idea to spend so much $$$ on internet advertising during these times.

So like expected, bloggers who do sponsored posts are the ones who suffer the most. Imagine working thrice as hard to earn half of what was being earned before.

February 2009
Sponsored Articles: 74.23$
Links: 78.80$
Direct Ads : 50.00$
Total: 203.03$