⌛ Gold Discovered in Dumaguete

Is may not be gold to some but I have struck my own kind of gold here Dumaguete. I arrived here approximately 4 months ago full lots of hope and dreams that I would be able to develop over 40 domains that I own. I tried searching for help but it seemed like I was running up against a wall.

From what I was told allot of students who graduate from here head off to Manila and the likes for better paying jobs. Other opt for the call center here in Dumaguete. The more I tried the worse it got.

Then a strange thing happened. I had the opportunity of hiring 2 young men. But I was warned about hiring without a license here the Philippines. So, I had my wife run around and do the necessary things needed to legitimize my business. My business is centered around Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Strange as it was most of the people I have working for me now are here because of my wife applying at the various agencies to register the business. I now have 8 very intelligent young people working for me now. We work out of my home and we are like family.

I have been retired now for over 5 years and during that time I have traveled allot. Before coming here I spent 2 years in Colombia. I have mostly been a loner all my life and this is quite new to me. It's allot of work but each day I get up with a purpose. I am so happy I found Dumaguete. I know things don't always last but for now I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

This brings me to one last thing. The house I have rented is overflowing. My landlord wants me to get an office or move. I don't blame as it is ethical to rent for two people and then have over 10 in the house all day.

If any of you know of a large home to rent where I can take my team please get in touch with me at franko 4444 at gmail . com. I really don't want to rent an office because it is nice to work at home as a community. Any help would be greatly appreciated.:D

When I say intelligent I don't mean university educated. Also, I don't give any credence to the level of education taught here in the Philippines. My criteria for hiring is based on enthusiasm, experience in keyboarding, good command of the English language, the ability to reason and good writing skills. I don't care how old they are, their color, race or who their parents are.

 

Okay, so I'm assuming gold in this case means affordable help.

Especially considering that SEO itself doesn't bring in any money unless you are selling your services. Good luck!

I'm a freelance web developer myself, which means I spend all my time working on other peoples sites on not my own. :( One day I hope to get some passive income streams going though.

I would like to hear more info about the process of going "legit." I thought about getting help there but I would want for my help to work like I do. Setup their own contracting business and work for me (and others if they can find the work) as a contractor.

In the U.S. this is tricky because there are rules which determine if you are really a contractor. Not sure what it's like in the Phils.

 

Legit in Philippines

Going legit here means jumping over allot of hurdles. My g/f had to go to at least 10 places to do this. It seems as though every little gov't agency is involved and everyone gets paid something. I even had a representative here from the fire department that had me buy a "special" fire extinguisher. Not that special but I had to buy it from a specific person/business it seems.

I even had to get a document signed by the mayor of the town.

In terms of what I pay them. The initial wages are low as I am training them. However, once they are trained I plan on paying them more than they would get working for any outsourcing company in the Philippines. So the gold I am talking about is not ripping them off for their wages but for me to get my domains up and running.

The team I have now are like family and I want to help them all succeed. I think that if they ever decide to leave our team they will be able to find work anywhere doing SEO.

TheDude: "Especially considering that SEO itself doesn't bring in any money unless you are selling your services." I am not sure what you mean by this statement. I have 9 websites being developed targeted towards Poker. I have to be competitive in this market and that means massive SEO. No SEO no money. In terms of hiring out SEO it is big business if your team is highly qualified. My team is quickly getting there. We did take on a contract for a friend and in one month we got him #1 in Google for the keyword he wanted.

 

good luck with the business

 

Good luck on your venture, you could of SOHO'ed like I do and set a team up in India, but its nice to see your paying wages here and using the local talent.

I SOHO can't be bothered with local politics or business here in the Philippines its too corrupt. Take care and always watch your back.

 

Well, you still have to monetize, right? And SEO doesn't automatically mean you will actually rank well, especially in something as competitive as online poker. But nevermind me, I'm just flapping my jaws. If I really knew what I what I was talking about, I would be have my own sites bringing in revenue. Right now, it's all labor for me.

I assume that going legit means you also pay the local taxes. Or did you setup your tax structure outside of the country? As I said, I would like to get a person or two to help me out but I still think it would be better to setup my help as contractors owning their own business. Or perhaps find someone local who has already done so.

 

I seem to recal that you get a tax holiday or something if you are in this kind of business, if your clients are abroad it is export business and so you get plenty of local cooperation.

(So I was told)

 

Makes sense to me. I believe Hong Kong and Thailand do this as well.

 

Welcome To DTI

think most relevant info can be found here

 

I think I have found a new place to live. My place will be available January 1st. It is a fantastic place fully furnished. Two brand new air cons, chesterfield large and new tv, 2 beds, nice large new fridge. This a brand new house only 6 months old. The location is on San Jose Extension. Rent is $20,000 pesos a month. The reason I am leaving is I have outgrown the house. I have over 10 people working for me out of my house.