Daily thoughts - Sari sari progress

A month ago I thought of opening up a sari sari store. My younger brother previously had his own store set up in front of our house but had to close it down because they now have a mini canteen and internet cafe. It was hard to find someone they could trust to tend to their sari sari store. At that time, my dad was still living in the province. My Dad has always wanted to own his own store however he was looking after an apartment being built somewhere in Pampanga. It is unfortunate that he has passed away now that my little store, which I named after him, is in business.

cleaning up the store

little mesh bags for chips

shelf for canned goods

shelf for candies

The first few days was a little depressing when I opened the store. It was because it was not yet noticeable since only a few items were on display. I also couldnt leave some of the goodies hanging by the gate because there was no chicken wire yet. For obvious reasons, I had to make sure that my investment wont get stolen. I had our neighbor hook the wires the day after and from then on the store looked better and more people have shown interest.

our neighbor Mel putting the chicken wires

The chicken wires did wonders! I felt more confident to leave the store while I did other things in the house like clean up, wash clothes or even surf the net.

Business is booming! hehe not really. The sales are modest but Im doing good and Im very happy. Also I now have a couple of loyal customers that come by on a daily basis!

my goddaughter EllenJoy

Mascot Murgit

Murgit looks like she wants some goodies

squid begging for scraps

The store has improved within the 2 weeks since I opened it. Hopefully by next month I can also sell cooked rice and viand to students who are on a budget. Hot coffee on a styrofoam cups seem like a good idea too. For now im focusing on selling what's in demand like soda, cigarettes, chips and canned goods. I have other stuff too but I have an idea now what people really buy most of the time.

weighing scale and rice boxes

bath stuff

cooking stuff

I also have certain customers that buy the same thing every single day. There is a guy named Mang Romy who buys Fortune cigarette menthol by the stick. He consumes probably 3-4 per day. Then there is a kid named Charles who lives a few doors away who buys candies and chips. Charles Mom also buys laundry soap, shampoo, qtips,bath soap and noodles every day. Another neighbor buys 1-2 kilogram of rice daily as well. Then during school week, the kids that go to the same highschool I went to, buy chips, soda, candies around 3-4pm. So the store never really has any zero sales. Sometimes even when I decide I want to have a day off, people I run into still buy stuff from me so I have to make a quick dash to the house to get whatever it is they need.

Charles and his crew (Tenten and Bembem)

Charles and crew

They love the chupa chups

Pop Cola Liter

Pop cola and Royal 8oz

I have only 3 kinds of sodas. Namely Pop cola, Royal tru orange and Coke. Coke is not too popular since people are mostly on a budget over here. A liter of coke costs 26PHP whereas a liter of Pop Cola costs only 16PHP. Not everyone is willing to shell out that extra 10 bucks for quality though. Although I still have customers who dont compromise their soda and get the coke. I have tiny bottles of coke and pop cola too which is a hit among kids.

Most importantly I have also added a top up station for GLOBE and TOUCH MOBILE. Ill be adding SMART and maybe SUN by tomorrow.

The best part of this small business venture is that I have more time to do what I want to do like Read, paint and also even play with my baby girls Thumper and Dapper.

and i have also started running again. Yes I tend the store while I also run in front of the house during the afternoons. I get my exercise while I do business. Pretty neat huh? hehe


I actually didnt expect that Id have so much fun operating this small store. The investment is not much, I dont have to go out as often and I have time for myself, my pets and my family. Yes money is important and I may not be making much right now, but I am very happy and content.

I wont be staying long in the Philippines and will have to relocate to the USA by next year. For now, Id say Im so glad that I have found something I really love doing and Im making just enough money on the side for me to survive.

I really wish I have done this sooner. Welcome to Eddie's sari sari store! How may I help you? Time to apply my customer service skills ^_^

Daily thoughts - a Welcome to Globe freebie!! ..err NOT!

Currently, Im a subscriber of Globe Telecoms. There are three main subscribers in my country, namely Globe, Smart and Sun. Why I chose globe is merely due to the availability of it when I had my first cellphone a decade ago. Also, most of my family have globe numbers as well. So its feasible when taking advantage of promotions they have for unlimited texting. 


I have also subscribed to their broadband service and most recently i got myself their Retailer Sim. That means I can sell credits to customers using my phone. 

Ive been having issues with my broadband but its quite manageable. They are actually pretty efficient when you log a complaint. They send their guys to look at your connection and ensure its fixed within 2-3 days. Although there were times they didnt show up at all and never bothered to let us know. Other than that, Ive been quite happy with the services Ive been getting. But I always seem to have an issue with their customer service every single month.

I purchased a retailer sim last October 28 2010 for my variety store.I received a pleasant surprise through sms a few days after I bought Globe's retailer sim

 

I was so excited when i got this message. Of course it's free. I didnt ask for this bonus but its nice to get something like this as a welcome or thank you gift from Globe. 

After a few days I decided to claim my free one day unlimited messaging privilege. however, this was the message I received after I tried to register

I called up 211 and I spoke with a guy named Finn. He tried to assist me and was very polite during the call. He seem to really want to help me but according to him it was not within the scope of his responsibility to make any adjustments. This is because  they havent received word that there is such a promotion going on. He said, what he knows is that this has already expired in September. He gave me a reference number and asked me to contact 2629. 

The next agent I spoke to was an Erwin. This guy didnt even remember my name and was very impatient and showed no empathy or genuine concern about my issue. I got pissed and told him that honestly it only costs 20 pesos to get unlimited texting. This is really not a big deal. Its just annoying that they would send me such a message if it is untrue. Then he went on and on to tell me to turn off my phone and try it again, but later explained that this promotion for free messaging is meant for overseas foreign workers only. I was like huh?? thats not what the other guy said. Besides, the message I received did not show such information nor did it show any validity period. I had to argue with him over them sending me a message that was bogus and I only wanted to know whats the deal with them making false advertisements and bothering their customers. So this guy eventually had to escalate the matter to his supervisor whose name is Francis Reyes. It took forever before he answered the call. I kinda understand though that they might be having a queue of calls. I bet Im not the only customer with this concern.

Well they wasted an hour of my time. 

I spoke to Francis, gave him the reference number and found out that the previous agent didnt even know my name. What the hell. Customer service was an EPIC FAIL for Globe on this one call. The supervisor incessantly apologized but I admit I was unforgiving at that moment. In fact they can shove that free sms up their ass. I wasnt interested anymore. I just find it stupid that they would send such sms blast and they cannot follow through.

The conclusion, no freebie for me! Thanks a lot Globe!! F#$%&*^!!!

Unfortunately I am stuck with these bastards. both for my personal broadband and my prepaid sim.. and yes I will still be selling their sms credits and sim cards at my sari sari store. 

Globe you suck!!! so do I because Im still your subscriber. DAmn!

Daily thoughts - Im a sucker for giveaways

Ive been following a recent blog lately of this interesting dancer who has fallen in love with one of my favorite passions: Running. She documents her workouts, upcoming races and motivational insights on her site. I came across her page while I was browsing for additional race information on a local running website. 

I find her blog informative, animated and engaging. She seem to be an epitome of an ideal wife/mother. Living healthy, managing a family and even has the time to blog about it.

Although I havent written any article for the past few days, I feel compelled to do so today. Yes there is a freebie involved thats why. Hahaha. The blogger Ive been following has a giveaway contest going on. A runner's road ID is up for grabs and it would be neat if i get to win it on my birthday ( Nov 5)!

Here is my dream ROAD ID in orange, my favorite color:

It's pretty neat with all the pertinent information needed in case you get into an accident, whether or not youre running or out somewhere. You may check this link also to view the photo above.

I cant imagine running with a dog tag anyway.