Why should you join myLot?

I’ve heard this often enough about many myLot users who have been addicted (forgive my word) to myLot. Are they just wasting precious hours on it?

It must be really that interesting!

It can be addicting enough to kill days on end, but for me, it must be also functional and useful enough for the millions of internet users who only have a few precious moments in their busy days for “online time.”

What can you exactly do on myLot?

- View the latest discussions, news, and blog postings all tailored to your interests and personal experience on myLot.

- Make myLot your default home page and take advantage of everything myLot has to offer. (Oh yeah, it has your local weather too!)

- Discuss topics about anything and everything under the sun.

- Join one of the hundreds of thousands of discussions already started by members, or start your own!

- Get paid (cash!) for your valuable contributions here!

For me, that’s the best part of myLot!

And it’s FREE!

Learn about the earnings program and find out how you can earn some extra spending money.

myLot users can express themselves with their own personal profile page. Every myLot user has one!

I have yet to sit and build my new profile, but I can’t wait sharing it with you. At least you already know that you can also find me on myLot. Click here to join!

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Take these small, easy steps to get started right away to make money online. They will not make you rich, but the knowledge gained from each program will open the door to bigger online opportunities, which will create wealth for you later on.

I am constantly reminded of those so-called Internet jerks and geeks out there who have been cashing in on the net this way, and most of them can’t even write good copies to invite referrals, but—yes, they are able to build hundreds of them and cash out thousands of dollars in residual income every month!

It will take you only half an hour to do, just before you shut down your computer or upon completion of the day’s important tasks, which is exactly the way I do it.

These are the same paid-to-click (PTC) programs they use to make money online, which are all part of the pay-per-click advertising system, an industry proven method that allows website publishers to direct targeted and unique traffic to their website and the same system that the largest online retailers in the world take advantage of for their advertising needs.

You will need a PayPal account to get paid in these programs. Registration is fast and free.

I think NeoBux is the best of these programs I have joined in. You can earn up to $0.02 per click, and up to $0.02 for every ad your referrals click. Like the others, you have access to detailed statistics of your clicks, earnings and even of your referral’s clicks and activities. Aside from having direct referrals, you can also rent, so you will have more clicks credited to your account.

WordLinx is my second favorite. It pays you $0.01 per click for visiting websites. The more sites visited, the more money you earn, which you can withdraw or exchange for services (visitors, products, etc). You can also earn by sharing links across the web by email, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Each shared link also contains your unique Referral ID, so you will earn from any person that views the shared link and signs up to the site.

Last but not the least, ClixSense is a little bit different and may be unexciting at first because of the small number of “clix” (ads to click) available to to free members, for $0.01 per clix found. But it has one of the best affiliate programs and commission structure. Free members (Non-Premium members) will receive $0.01 for each referral and will receive $2.00 if their direct referral upgrades to a Premium account. Premium Members are paid affiliate commissions 8 levels deep!

Like WordLinx, ClixSense’s premium membership is more affordable than NeoBux. Information on the prices and benefits of upgrading to premium is available on each site.

Want more? ClixSense has just launched a sister money-making program. How would you like to get $10 free? Nothing to buy! Visit GeoString.com.

Well, this one is totally manageable. Still Reading Commercial Emails For Free? With Hits4Pay, Receive Emails On Topics That Interests You And Get Paid For It! Get $10 Just to sign up!

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In a previous post, I left you with some readings on the top reasons why people work from home. I believe they represent the views of freelancers across America, but what about us here?

With the failure of the NBN-ZTE deal, and the anomalies surrounding it, we also realized that we are not yet a 100% wired or wi-fi country. The truth is, despite our good numbers on the major social networking sites, majority of the population are still in the backwaters regarding the Internet technology. Businesses are mostly brick and mortar and not too many companies utilize virtual solutions.

Local outsourcing (in plain words, allowing a remote staff do the work for you) is a strange thing to speak of. More importantly, becoming self-employed like the freelancer is considered akin to being unemployed. You will have a hard time convincing your family that you do have work, except of course, when the money is in. The banks will have a hard time establishing your sources of income and you may not be approved for a payday loan.

There are certain advantages, of course. While the cost of daily commute, food and bed space eat much of the regular wage earner’s meager salary, those who work from home naturally don’t have to deal with such realities.

In this country, only a few professions are guaranteed to build wealth, employed or self-employed, like doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers and accountants. We may also include those who work in livestock and farming, given that they are already big players, like those wealthy and powerful families in my hometown.

The question, instead of why, is “who can really work from home?” Basically, these are people with computing skills, a computer set, and a reliable Internet connection. I believe we have more female than male freelancers, and most of them are outside the normally employable age limit of 25. I also suppose they are underemployed.

The Internet is a fertile ground for those who want to put to good use their special talents and interests, which they seldom have a chance to do when working in a company. One thing is true about work from home jobs–you can only work them out if you are a good fit.

When you are underpaid, underemployed or both, naturally, you are not satisfied with yourself and what you’re getting. The freelancer is born in you when you take risks and overcome the scariest part of being self employed.

Whatever your reason for becoming self-employed, as a work from home professional or online business owner, you have to find satisfaction from what you’re doing. It is what really counts anywhere in the world.

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The Japanese have a rather formal way of passing a business card or meishi, giving and receiving it with both hands, like something really special. Here are some reminders on how you should receive a meishi, and any business card for that matter:

1. Take special care in handling cards that are given to you.
2. Do not write on the card.
3. Do not put the card in you pocket or wallet, as either of these actions will be viewed as defacing or disrespecting the business card.
4. Upon receipt of the card, it is important to make a photocopy of the name and title of the individual in your mind.
5. Examine the card carefully as a show of respect.

That’s how you should really treat a business card the first time you received it offline, whether or not it came from a Japanese.  The first business cards, called “trade cards” were to be found in England, which function as advertising and maps. Why maps? These direct the public to the merchant or business being advertised because they didn’t have a formal street numbering in their time, which we still don’t have until now in most Philippine towns (we just ask barrio folks to show us the way).

Business cards are no longer as popular today, as business engagements become more and more virtualized. Perhaps to revive interest in it, Workface Inc. has developed “my online business card,” which has recently had a relaunch as BusinessCard2. Click here to see my own business card and to get your own. Did you notice that tab on your right labeled “Find a Professional”? Upon getting your own business card, you can “drop your card” on this site by clicking that tab. You can do the same on my other site here. If you have your own site that you’d like people to drop their cards on, you can sign up here and wait for confirmation from Workface Inc.

Now, this I promised to Lief Larson, co-founder of BusinessCard2, that I will share on this blog how I got to integrate FindaPro with WordPress and Drupal. It’s quite easy actually, and perhaps real web developers will just shrug their shoulders on this. But the point is, I searched the web for ways to do this and it returned answers that are hard to figure out for novices (like me). So I just relied on common sense and look for options right there on my sites.

Integrate FindaPro with WordPress:

1. Login to your site admin.
2. On the left of your dashboard, click “Appearance” and choose “Editor,” which will take you to “Edit Themes.”
3. On the right, find “Header” (header.php).
4. Scroll down, and after the first body tag, paste the javascript that Workface Inc. will send you in the confirmation email, like this:

<body>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://businesscard2.com/api_1.php/api/findAProButton?publisherId=bae2248925a40ec10276d95abfaa64ae&domain=mylako.net&color=0×7E2217&direction=right”></script>

Now, click “Update File” to save the changes.

Integrate FindaPro with Drupal:

1. Go to your site’s “Administer” area.
2. Under “Site Building,” choose “Blocks.”
3. You will use the “add block page” to create a custom block.
4. On “Block description,” write “FindaPro” to identify this block.
5. Leave the “Block title” blank.
6. On the “Block body,” if you’re using a rich text editor, click “Source” or you can switch to plain text editor, and paste the javascript provided to you by Workface Inc.
7. Continue on to “Custom visibility settings;” select “Users cannot control whether or not they see this block.”
8. Next, select all roles on “Role specific visibility settings.”
9. Then select “Show on every page except the listed pages” on “Page specific visibility settings;” leave “Pages” blank.
10. Save block.
11. Go back to “Blocks.” You will now see your custom block “FindaPro” in the list. Unless you place it in a region, it will not be activated. Choose “Footer.”
12. Save blocks.

On choosing the region to place your custom block, “Header” is also good, but it leaves a line on your header, where the block is supposed to be, which is less prominent on the footer.

You may edit the tab direction on the script (direction=left or right) and change the color (color=0xColorCodeHere). Go here to get the html code for the tab color you like. Do not include the # sign when you paste it on the FindaPro script.

That’s it. You should now be able to serve FindaPro on all your WordPress or Drupal pages.

References:
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/japan.htm

http://www.belightsoft.com/products/composer/historytrade.php

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Without mentioning the actual statistics, it is safe to assume that we make up the biggest population of Friendster users in the world. We are not yet dominating Facebook, but our numbers keep rising. Many interpret this as a sign of massive online awareness among Filipinos, but I’m thinking otherwise.

Last year, I tried to secure a loan, but despite the clear evidence of my online earnings on a spreadsheet that even surpassed the required time period, and the collateral I offered, I didn’t get it. The loan officer told me they weren’t familiar with the nature of my work.

On another occasion, I secured a debit card from a bank promoting a PayPal-integrated service. I told myself, finally, a bank that understands my online needs. To my dismay, no one understood me when I first mentioned PayPal.

From time to time, my wife Marissa would accept research work from students, as assigned to them by their teachers who believe the Internet has it all. It’s like their education primarily depended on search results (e.g. Wikipedia). Luckily, my wife has the patience to look for answers to what I consider impossible questions.

Undeniably, you can get a lot of information from the web, but to treat it as some sort of an encyclopedia, is not really proper, if not utterly wrong for a school. Even as this is happening, I maintain my view that the Internet is more like a marketplace than a library, for that matter (I can change my mind, though).

It seems that despite our numbers, we’re missing a lot of things on the web, and we’re just here to gather our friends, to chat and play with them, and to create copy-paste term papers. Thanks to a TV network for featuring many online businesses on its weekend show. That’s good news, even as the people here thought that if they want to have an online business, all they need is a Multiply site.

Is it lack of common sense or what? For instance, we know about the call centers, but many, including those who work at the call center, have no idea about outsourcing. Unless of course, you mention BPO, and you roll back again to the concept of the call center, and to differentiate, add something like “non-voice” so they finally get the idea.

Government employees use email and chat, but until now, most government transactions are done offline. A glaring example: OFWs still make long lines at their respective agencies and the DFA to renew their papers, passports and other licenses. Can’t we do something to make life easier using existing online resources?

I wonder if the ZTE deal with the Arroyo Government had pushed through, we would have really gone on to dominate the web, and Filipino friendships would have blossomed even more across the entire cyberspace  — and for what?

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