Dumaguete Info Search


Hey Guys - Follow up from American in AC looking for work

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Forum' started by JRL1978, Apr 23, 2012.

  1. JRL1978

    JRL1978 DI New Member

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    I happened to come across this site while searching the net yesterday looking up old email addresses of mine and I thought I would follow up with you guys to let you know how things have been going since I wrote the post back in FEB of 2010 Here.

    After the botched job in Clark, I've ended up working for 2 other american's over the past couple of years. The last company lasted the longest - but there was just way too much of an emotional roller coaster ride at that company plus the fact the owner failed to ever pay commissions, was late constantly on pay, and a billion other things that just made it an unstable insufficient work environment. Go back 20 years, I had dabbled in c/c++ and later on in flash/php. The job I took was in sales for a web design firm, eventually I moved into marketing and then from sales/marketing SEO was added to my tasks, then editing, then operations, then web design, then programming, then customer services, up sells, hiring, firing, etc.....You get the idea?

    Finally, I had a falling out with the owner after not receiving a paycheck for over a month and having not been paid commissions for almost a year and I kissed the company goodbye in late November of 2011 due to the fact I knew I could make more than the $1250 salary I was getting monthly (When I was paid).... I took the big step and went into business for myself. It started off slow mainly due to the fact my psyche was just fried from having to work 15 + hours everyday on building websites and the other 50 responsibilities I had. But in March, things started to pick up tremendously and I'm now on course to average $3,000 - $4,000 each month. A couple of good months is too soon to tell on these things, but I'm working by myself and my biggest problem is just the limited amount of hours in a day that's holding me back. The good thing is I get to work at my own pace which means just supporting my own family and not 25 other families and a CEO that's lifestyle can never be sated.

    There was quite a bit holding me back after I threw in the towel in November, but I've always been a quick learner and after spending December vegetating. I began many sleepless nights in January reading, experimenting, reading more and slowly gaining clients and spending 20 hours a day working on building their websites until I could hone myself faster and faster at doing it.

    I haven't even bothered to begin monthly recurring services like SEO and marketing yet as I'm wanting to get a good 50 websites under my portfolio before I branch out which will be where the big bucks are. This being the first year it'll be the hardest as we're living off of projects versus recurring revenue. Most clients are paying hosting for the year, so I won't be seeing recurring revenue from client's gained this year until next year. Last week was a good week. I sold 7 websites and netted a bit over $6500. Now I got to deliver 7 websites within the next month.

    Last time I messaged here I had 2 daughters, since then my wife and I have a son, and he's a real fighter, lol. I'm also already in the process of getting things squared away with immigration - hiring a lawyer to fix my oldest daughters paperwork - her birth certificate is messed up and apparently city hall refuses to fix it unless get a lawyer. At one point we were living in a squatter village, but have since moved up to a nice duplex (brand new) unfortunately, it's just not big enough now with me working from home and will need to find a bigger place soon. With 3 kids in the house it gets a bit loud.

    Never thought the day would come that I would be complaining of having too much work rather than not enough. Now instead of needing work, I'm in need of some help! If you guys know any talented web designers/programmers I'm going to be looking at hiring folks soon on a per project basis and if you know any guy's good at sales, I'm offering a tiered commission package.

    $500 - $999 = 25% commission
    $1000 - $2499 = 30% commission
    $2500 and above = 35% commission

    Note: This counts towards the website sale itself not hosting, domain, or up-sells later on down the road during development.

    Mainly I'm selling most sites at $500 and providing basic websites rather than shooting for higher sales. As it's faster and easier to talk someone in a basic site and do it at $500 rather than push them higher up in costs. If you got a knick for sales and spend at least 3 - 4 hours a day cold calling businesses and build your pipeline up for about 3 weeks, you can easily start netting 3+ websites a week and after awhile you'd have no problems pulling in 5+ a week. All you need is a computer a headset, a skype subscription to the states for $6.99 a month and you're set to go. So if you're in need of work or just looking to get some extra bucks in your pocket shoot me a message on here and I'll do my best to help you out.

    All in all I wanted to thank the guys that left supportive messages on my old post and even to Steve4910 for his tough love post - which you were 100% correct Steve in what you said - the problem was I didn't have the money to even get out of country and no family that had or was willing to help me out. My only options were to self-teach myself a skill set that could and would support my family. As for the comments about the bars and "not wanting to leave AC" you were far off the mark, there. I am not a drinker.

    I do drink occasionally but it's very rare and I don't go after the bar scene. I am happily married, my wife is gorgeous. sure, I look at other girls and have been tempted many times but I try and keep myself away from those temptations because we all know how most filipina can be very unreliable in terms of how they will react and I will not wake up one day and find my wife and children gone.

    As for AC itself, I think I despise the city more than any city I've ever visited mainly due to not being able to go out in public and there is always someone either attempting to pickpocket, scam, lie, overcharge us and mostly not being able to enjoy a good walk in the evening with my wife without someone harassing us. The only thing that has kept me here foremost was the fact we didn't have the money to move somewhere else.

    Now, what's keeping me here is the worry of how another place would be in concerns to safety especially for my children. Here, over the years I'm at least fairly street smart on what to do, where to go, what not to say. But somewhere else is a totally different story. I know there's nice places in Manila, but its just too big and busy and big and busy means more danger theoretically... and costs more for living.

    The goal is still to move back to the states which is another reason I'm not looking to increase our lifestyle here in an expat neighborhood as we're well known where we are now and "I" feel just as safe here after being in the area for so long as anywhere else. Hopefully my business continues to grow and we're setting back as much as we can so that when we go to the states, there will be enough to at least get everything we will need IE: automobile, furniture, appliances, winter clothes (lol), and god willing enough to buy land and build my own house. There is none of these things waiting for me in the states and my credit is now crap after what happened back in '08.

    If things start to fall apart at least there is enough to fly us back. Unfortunately even with the money to fly my family with me I cannot until I can show the US Government that I'm sufficiently making enough income to support allowing the immigration proceedings for my wife. I've already done the paperwork for income but its been so long now I'm sure I will have to redo it, and I reckon at least one year of being in biz myself with sufficient income will be the proof we need (hopefully) Well I jabbered on long enough but how things are going and what our plans are.

    If there's any other expats looking to make some extra bucks or needing some work let me know I'm looking for programmers and sales. If you're in the AC area, I have no problems helping to guide you into a sales model position but I cannot afford to pay you while teaching you. Where there's a will there is ALWAYS a way.


    sincerely,
    Justin
     
  2. KTM

    KTM DI Senior Member

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    OMHO, but I think you'll be lucky to find anyone willing to work, on a 'tiered commission' package, especially locals.
     
  3. OP
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    JRL1978

    JRL1978 DI New Member

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    Yea, I thought I would offer. It's way to soon to gamble what I bring in myself with no true recurring yet. Support role staff would come out of recurring but projection's for that right now would be sometime early next year before that becomes a profitable move unless I do branch out into the service sector before then. Which I may end up doing over the next couple of months. One good account would cover the costs for an office, expenses and a staff of 10 (not including an expat). But of course would need to wait till there's 4 accounts of that magnitude before bringing in staff and quite frankly i'm enjoying not having to deal with that extra stress right now. lol.

    Not many people like taking gambles on commission only jobs. But if you're not hurting for cash but not flowing in it either -once you hone yourself in something like this - it's a sure fire way to pull in an extra 2,500+ a month working part-time.

    Getting sales types is the easy part - you'd be surprised how many americans back in the states will apply for this ( at the company i worked at before they only paid a flat 20% and alot applied ) hardest is finding local programmers 1/2 way worth a d*mn and have the motivation to continue learning and improving themselves in their field. without the programmers delivering - sales is useless and chargebacks happen :(
     
  4. Steve4910

    Steve4910 DI Member

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    Dear Justin, I am very happy that things are working out for you. Sometimes my posts and comments are misinterpreted and people consider me to be a hard person, it tells me that you really took the time to give thought to my comments and realized it was tough love and I am very happy that I got the point of my comments. My only purpose was to help you and advise you however most of my fellow foreigners fail to understand how harsh the Philippines can be to a foreigner at the beginning. To be totally honest I was in a similar position like you were Justin 24 years ago. It's like a battlefield sometimes you have to retreat, regroup, resupply then come back and counterattack. After living several short periods in the Philippines nobody wants to admit failure and be forced to go back to United States, it was a reality that I faced at the time and I knew going back to the states was my only option. Returning to the United States can be no picnic either especially when you're trying to bring the rest of your family there as well. My first wife had very high expectations of me and the United States, she expected everything to be very easy with dollars falling off the money tree into our hands. Filipinos watch too much Hollywood movies and think everyone is rich and well-off. If I had to do it all over again I would had never brought my first wife to the United States to begin with. Many American men do not understand even a perfect marriage in the Philippines can end up in disaster in the United States and even be destroyed especially over financial matters. Often Filipina wives don't understand why the guy next door in the other apartment is driving a $40,000 SUV and you're only driving a Yugo car. There are additional pressures in the United States that are not often seen by Filipinas and some fail to understand their husbands financial situation. I'm not saying all Filipinas are like this but some do a lot of comparing about what you have and do not have especially when they hook up with other Filipinas. I have often seen decent Filipina women end up talking to Americanized filipina ex-bar girls that totally screw up her head with ideas and turn your marriage upside down. Justin be very careful if you ever decide to make that big jump back to the states to settle in. I do not envy the hardships that you will endure because you are in for the long haul after that. The Philippines can be a very beautiful place when you first arrive and see the beautiful islands, palm trees and happy smiling Filipinos all around you. I'm sure you already know and have learned that being a foreigner in the Philippines can be rather hard at times. As a foreigner we are basically on our own with no hope for outside help. I know the feeling of walking down the street and being harassed, lied to, scam tricks. I even had a few pickpocket attempts but never lost money. At times you are expected to help poor family members with money and they do not understand when you cannot help them. We used to pride ourselves saying that America has a lot of opportunities, right now that is far from the truth. Justin I feel what you're saying regarding credit issues and trying to buy that car or that house for your family. The United States credit system discriminates against a lot of good people in achieving their financial goals and often takes advantage of them due to low credit scores. They talk about fixing the banks, the economy, the stock market, but what they do not talk about his fixing the credit system for millions of Americans that have poor credit right now. I plan to do business soon and it certainly will not be in the United States, it will be in the Philippines because there are still a lot of opportunities there for foreigners providing they have the proper capital to invest. It is good that you have a computer skill in demand by building websites in the Philippines. My advice to you Justin if you ever decide to return to United States save up at least US$20,000 because you will really need that much for resettlement money. Believe it or not $20,000 will go very fast but it will get you started. Immigration lawyers aren't cheap and it will take you at least a year to bring your wife to the United States. That is a very long time to wait plus you have to produce three years of IRS tax statements or get a friend or family member to help you with the petition as far as financial backing, and have a decent paying job to prove that you can support your family once they are in the United States. Justin you might want to consider whenever you have a chance to move out of Angeles city because that is not a decent place to raise a family. You will find much cheaper places to live in the province. Another question I have for you Justin if your kids were born in the Philippines why not just simply take them to the American Embassy and get them US passports? You mentioned something about problems with the birth certificate I would take that first certificate and make an affidavit at the US Embassy to correct the mistakes then demand naturalization papers for your children then they become instant United States citizens. Most likely the Embassy will demand that you take a DNA test at St. Luke's hospital to confirm that you are the biological father but that's not a big deal. Once you have your naturalization papers for your children you no longer need a Philippine birth certificate anymore. I will tell you a little secret if you want to avoid high Philippine immigration fees and penalties go to the American Embassy and declare yourself or family members American in distress, this will waive all your Philippine immigration penalty fees for overstaying. I hope this information helps thanks for remembering me Steve4910
     
  5. OP
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    JRL1978

    JRL1978 DI New Member

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    Hi Steve,

    The youngest children are fine -it's my oldest; the 5 year old that is the problem. She isn't mine, but is my step child. I met my wife when she was pregnant (the real father is an american) whom abandoned her when she got pregnant. When we were trying to get things squared away he agreed to help but instead got a lawyer and his lawyer and mother "advised" him not to sign anything - and since then has refused to claim responsibility for the oldest.

    I've already went through everything in immigration with my wife (she's at the point to where she gets the packet and goes to st. lukes for tests) but we have had the case on hold since '08 (I renew the status each year). Due to the real father not assisting to get things cleared up it made things a bit more complicated which was the original reason when I came back in '08 to find out what we had to do (and ended up getting stuck here)

    Originally when we were married one of my wife's friends of a friend worked at city hall and helped arrange the paperwork for the marriage and also the birth certificate for my oldest daughter (step). They put my name as the father and even forged my signature. The funny thing is my signature was afixed when I was in the united states and of course the ladies at city hall denied it ; even claiming they remembered me signing it. Obviously, I showed 'em my passport stating it was impossible and instead of helping fix the problem, they threatened my wife for forgery. So...that's where the lawyer comes in as I will need to change the father and her last name; then start an I-130 on my stepdaughter.

    Once all of that is fixed and we're ready to go to the states, then it's up to my wife if she wants to drive up to the deadbeat's state and file a case against him.

    I do rag my wife quite a bit about her and her friends foreign marriage conspiracy theory lol. Alot of her friends married foreigners and almost all of them have since then moved to their husbands countries and she has seen how quick some of her "friends" attitudes have changed. Where once every dime I sent to her would go to taking care of her family, which is the typical story we all know to well and hear. With me being here these past years and seeing first hand how her family thinks I'm an ATM - after amany of fights to show her the "light" that her family does not want to self-improve and continue to just take handouts. I had to orchestrate events to prove my point that they would never become self-sufficient and cared only to sit on their @ss all day and have us take care of them all. Eventually after many botched business opp's which showed their laziness and inability to work more than 2 hours a day and after we hired her mother to be the housemaid and she went back to Manila with one of our daughters for "one" day which turned into 3 weeks. Keep in mind my wife was pregnant with our youngest. My wife finally started getting the idea.

    My wife went into labor, while her mother had disappeared with our oldest daughter, and I was at work. Our other daughter ended up getting dreadfully sick because there was noone to watch her and she had to keep going back and forth to the hospital with me. So we had a really sick 1 year old, new born, and my wife was split open like a cantaloupe and my mother-in-law had vanished with our oldest lol. 1 week after giving birth my wife had to go track down her family in manila (who had recently moved) and found them living in a tent with my oldest by a dirty old river.

    They didn't apologize or nothing but asked for money to build their new squatter house (they had sold the squatter house) i had paid to have built and blown the money and her mother made excuses about coming back to her "job" which she had already gotten three CA's for. I'd done paid her 3 months work and she'd only worked 2 weeks. That was finally the straw that broke the camel's back and she took our oldest and told them to never come back to our home again. That's the short version. lol

    As hard as it was to juggle work, taking care of her and the kids till she got back in good health, it was such a relief that my wife's eyes had finally opened up to see what she refused to see before and it was a win in my opinion. And less drama on our plates when we were barely squeeking by.

    There's still quite a bit of hurdles to overcome here if/when we decide to go back but I am not walking into it blindly as I've already researched everything, have reliable contacts and people in high places if things go sour.

    If you have suggestions on where is a safer place while we're in the 'pines and isn't insanely expensive like Makati is, i'm all ears. The only requirements being it has to have decent internet so I can continue to work.

    Sincerely,
    Justin
     
  6. Knowdafish

    Knowdafish DI Forum Luminary

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    Wow! Glad things have worked out for you!
     
  7. Steve4910

    Steve4910 DI Member

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    Justin I would say that Dumuaguete city is the place to go. It's far from you but well worth the trip. It's has a clean city,good internet service and no npa or terrorism activity. You will find Dumaguete city way more cheaper than Angeles city,Manila,Cebu and they pride themselves on good schools. Your wifes friends are blowing smoke about forgery problem. They are backed in a corner because the name has already been recorded in the books and they need to justify why it should be changed and they can't.

    This will attract attention from their superiors and they do not want to risk losing their jobs. You might want to consider making an appointment with the vice mayor or the mayor to resolve this problem because I'm sure they do not want this to become a court case. If they refuse to help you then tell them that you have no other choice to seek assistance from the NBI and report that his government workers have committed fraud and you refuse to take any action. Since the police are under the mayor's control I would not bother going to them for help. I believe that will get their attention and some appropriate action will be taken. I just don't want to see the Filipina lawyer milk you for your hard-earned money and this case ends up in court a year or two later.

    No doubt you have proof that you were not even in the country when your signature apparently was forged. I will say that heads will roll on your wife's friends when an attorney gets involved. Of course they can claim that she forged everything but they are guilty as well because you had to be present to sign that document and claim that you were there but obviously you have proof that says otherwise. I would highly advise you once this whole mess is taking cared of and done with to have your wife to file a case with child support against the other American father.

    I'm sure this guy is running scared now because he never imagine that the girl that he got pregnant would ever get a chance to make it to America. The sad thing is that your wife can't recover child-support for the past five years but she can get child support as soon as she signs her signature and they file the case. It is very sad on how extreme poverty in the Philippines can make Filipino families turn against each other in a great time of need. I have heard many times on how poor Filipino families will use a daughter to get money from an American guy and throw the guilt trips and even blackmail at times. It's like a ransom and they try to make you feel guilty but I would turn a blind eye to that and only worry about your immediate family.

    Apparently the mother must've thought that their daughter is in good hands because you are involved and is trying to focus on other family members. It doesn't make things right but that is the way it is in the Philippines. Remember this Justin your heart must be hard as stone because typical poor families like that have no regard no matter how much you helped them. When you give the money to them it's like throwing it in an empty well and it is a thankless job.

    I have seen this all too often and the sad thing is the rejected daughter will secretly send money back to the family trying to win their love trust and whatever feelings they have to save face. I never understood this myself Justin but always remember blood is thicker than water especially in a Filipino family. I learned all this to well never pay a Filipino a whole salary upfront because you will be at the losing end. I must say after reading your post you are in a very delicate and serious legal matter but I have confidence that you will prevail.
     
  8. OP
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    JRL1978

    JRL1978 DI New Member

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    Furthermost I've been south is Moalboal. Could you guys give me some examples on costs? Like, I looked online for houses/apartments and of course you can't really go by what you see online bc the gems are usually not online, but the prices looked a bit higher in comparison to alot of the properties appeared 20+ years old and priced at what i'd see newer properties listed for in AC. Lets say a house with a nice front/back grass yard near grocery/mall at min. 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, fairly new property not over 5 years in age would run how much?

    We use 1000kw ave a month now which runs us 10,000php. I've heard electicity is cheaper south of luzon, this true?

    Then for food for example:

    166PHP a kilo for boneless chicken breast at fresh options
    220Php a kilo for pork tenderloin
    210Php a kilo for ground round
    500Php - 650php a kilo for the big shrimp

    As for school I have zero faith in the education here. My oldest who is 5 only goes to school for 1 1/2 hours a day. 30m of that is break-time and the older kids go like 4 hours a day. I went to school 7 hours from kindergarden to high school. I don't see kids learning much of anything where we are at currently, when i've gone to visit mostly all I see is singing and dancing and I swear their probably just trying to get them put on that tv show broadway or broadshow (whatever it's called) rather than educating them.

    what kind of hours can you expect in dumaguete and how much do tutors run on average?

    As for the issues with the Birth certificate that sounds like a good plan, I'll talk to the vice mayor about it - i've met him a few times at my ex-employers parties. They can't exactly argue, with a receipt for the BC having a separate date than the BC itself, which is where they goofed up in the forgery. Being I was in the U.S. when the receipt was made out for the BC.

    Let me know what I can expect cost-wise. Thanks in advance.
     
  9. Steve4910

    Steve4910 DI Member

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    I wish I could give you accurate information on prices in Dumaguete however it has been quite sometime since I have been there. I am making plans to move their sometime late next year since it will take some considerable amount of time to sell my house. The Philippines has a great amount of talented singers and dancers especially since the country has been a big tourist place and many Filipinos seek opportunities in Japan as well.

    I don't know how much tutors would cost because I don't have any young children. I would hope some of my fellow members here in the Dumaguete website would shed some light on your questions regarding those things. The good thing about leaving Angeles city is the fact that you will be leaving the place for a better one. I can comment that transportation is a lot cheaper than it would be than Angeles city. Unfortunately Dumaguete city suffered a bad earthquake which was considered very rare and left a lot of people homeless. I normally do not do this but I will leave you my personal e-mail address so that you can contact me directly. steve4910@aol.com

    I have learned that you can find some crazy prices out there that are not advertised on the Internet but of course I do know you want to be prepared to move in a place once you arrive with your family. This website can be very useful in finding some places to live but I'm sure that you will find a lot cheaper places that are not advertised. Dumaguete is a laid-back university town/city with no girlie bars. You will find it a good place to have your wife and kids there.

    You might want to try visiting Dumaguete for a few days and look around for a place to stay for the rest your family. I hope things work out with you with the vice Mayor. There is a wet market in zamboanguita next to Dumaguete city that sells fresh seafood and fish once a week. I hear that they have excellent prices which are considerably reasonable but I would suggest that your wife does the buying because she will get better prices. I keep on hearing how many single foreigners leave Dumaguete for Angeles city and I keep on hearing after a long duration foreigners leaving Angeles city for Dumaguete. It seems like both places have both a positive and negative reasons to stay and go.

    If you're not hung up on going to girlie bars than Dumaguete is a place for you. I will wait to hear back from you take care. Steve 4910
     
  10. Knowdafish

    Knowdafish DI Forum Luminary

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    Any updates? JRL1978, if you post some more you will be able to receive private messages.
     
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