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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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$

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$

During the first two weeks of November, I tried hard to get as much opps as I can to maximize my earnings but due to poor paying opps and well, no opps at all, I didn’t reach my target. The PR decline of my blogs affected my earnings so much but somehow, I did better in November than in October.

November 2008
Sponsored Articles: 138.42$
Links: 115.94$
Direct Ads : 45.00$
Total: 299.36$

For December, I was honestly expecting to get around 100$ only. The reason to this is because I decided not to write opps so my blogs’ income will only come from link ads. I was busy preparing for my German exam and our holiday to Austria so I didn’t have a lot of time. I didn’t expect much but on the third week, I was able to sell some private ads and that became the main source of my income for the month of December.

December 2008
Sponsored Articles: 0.00$
Links: 94.04$
Direct Ads : 210.00$
Total: 304.04$

I didn’t do any paid blogging for the whole month of January and I also was not able to sell private ads. This is by far my lowest income in my history of blogging. (Not a good start for a new year.)

January 2009
Sponsored Articles: 0.00$
Links: 91.75$
Direct Ads : 0.00$
Total: 91.75$

My husband is in automotive industry so they are among the top businesses that are badly hit by the recession. He, as an employee, felt it too specially in the last two months. A designing project which normally needs 10 engineers to work on it is now forced on lesser number of engineers so that means my husbands and his colleagues will have to work more because their company cannot afford to hire additional staff.

Business owners this time are paddling so hard to fight the currents but what would work if your business is already way down the bend? Would a business loan help it cope with the slump? Maybe. But before you even consider getting a business loan, it is better to consider another source of funding and that is personal savings. If you have faith that your business can get back on track, why not use your own money. In this manner you won’t be worrying about interests and monthly payments. But if personal savings is not an option then get a loan but just be careful to choose the one that is for your business’ interests. Go for loans with lower interest rates and no closing cost or fees.