racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

photo credit: kekremsi

I’m now officially a columnist at the Manila Bulletin, under the TechNews section (edited by Art Samaniego, Jr.). My first article is entitled Netrepreneurship And The New Filipino Hero, and is about outsourcing, freelancing and government support.

The MB article seems to have been truncated, though. So after you read the TechNews article, here’s the conclusion:

Most of these people would probably have such a support structure, paid by their own tax money, farthest from their mind. But with the benefits considered, this may not be such a bad proposition. Any economist worth his salt may tell you that with taxation comes some deadweight loss. And those critical of government might say that our taxes go nowhere (or perhaps, more accurately, mostly into the pockets of corrupt officials). But still, I believe our sector merits taking care of. After all, in tough times, good jobs are hard to get by, and many people resort to going abroad just to earn money. Freelancing and online businesses provide Filipinos an alternative which does not require uprooting oneself and being separated from one’s family for long periods of time. Isn’t it high time that freelancers, entrepreneurs and small businesses are also considered heroes of our economy?

Being an economist (with whatever definition that might entail), I shall be focusing on the economic and business aspects of technology, and sometimes also how it affects our daily, personal lives, especially with regard to productivity. If anyone would like to give me tips on stuff to write about, please feel free to send me a message.

Close to a decade ago, several of my dad’s high school friends who migrated to the US came home to the Philippines for a reunion of sorts. They were here to introduce a new web-based business system they were part of, called SkyBiz. This was actually a multi-level marketing system for selling web space and web builder packages (remember, that was the late 1990′s; think Web 0.9). We bought in, thinking of the great opportunities. I was, after all, techie-oriented. Dad was business-minded (ten years after, we’re a little of both!).

It turned out the business was a scam–a classic pyramid scam. True, a great number of MLM and direct-selling based businesses are legitimate (and big business worldwide), but this was just not one of them.

Distribution of $20 million dollars in consumer redress will begin in the near future for victims of SkyBiz, an alleged massive international pyramid operation based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The money for consumer redress is part of a settlement between the pyramid’s promoters and the Federal Trade Commission, which charged that their scheme violated federal laws. The settlement also bars the defendants from participating in pyramid schemes in the future, and bars them from misrepresenting business ventures. It bars one defendant from engaging in any multilevel marketing programs for life and bars three others from engaging in multilevel marketing programs in the for periods ranging from seven to 22 years.

I had actually forgotten about this for a few years, until I got curious about my online dealings in the past and Googled up a handful of names I could remember. SkyBiz was one of them. And the first few results were about the class action suit for SkyBiz. So I signed up. I couldn’t remember our actual account numbers and names, but the people over at the law firm were glad to help us get our needed information (we gave our full names, addresses, telephone numbers at that time, and the few keywords we recalled from our account names).

I then shelved the idea of receiving funds from them since we were advised it might take long to process.

So I was surprised to receive email just a few minutes ago that the SkyBiz Redress program was already sending out funds in the form of Mastercard debit cards. I’m not expecting a big amount, but the thought of justice being served, and that we were part of some benefits package, is comforting. I’m thinking the refund amount would at least cover for some hosting/domain expenses, and hopefully a full tank (or two) of gas!

But it’s in US Dollars, so I do hope establishments here won’t have a problem processing transactions with the card. Nonetheless, I do hope we get our cards soon!

My brother B.A. ran into some persistent callers a few months back, and he found out these callers were part of MLM business trying to recruit him. I advised him that there are legit MLM businesses, and I’ve actually tried these (another company, not SkyBiz), and there are scams. I posted a couple of comments because the comment thread had turned into a flamewar zone, I had to intervene (supposedly neutral, but hey I’m opinionated).

I quote a paragraph I wrote there. This is how I do business, the Web 2.0 way.

True, business almost always entails networking. But some people misconstrue “networking” to be the ol’ pyramid/binary type recruitment where you have to recruit at least two people, who would have to recruit two each and so forth. To me, networking means connecting to people, and connecting people. You don’t necessarily have to have business dealings with anyone. But the fact that you’re connecting–as friends, associates, business partners, colleagues–builds up your reputation and your network of people. You will almost always find people to help you out this way.

If any of you guys are part of the redress program, congrats! Tell me if you’ve received your gift cards already.

In retrospect to my last post on waiting for one’s muse, here’s another question that’s undoubtedly had its share of time in many an artist’s mind: the art-for-money vis-a-vis art-for-art issue. Lyndon Gregorio has some thoughts:

Should an artist pursue sellable art or should he create art for art’s sake? The first doesn’t really push the envelope while the latter doesn’t really pay the bills.

Lyndon considers himself both an artist and an entrepreneur (IMHO, entrepreneurship is, to some extent, intrinsic in being an artist). His business card says “Creator,” as his title. And guess how he responds to the question? Do ‘em both!

The lesson is an artist worth his/her salt can create both commercial and artistically compelling art, even separately. You can try to make both in a single product, but the driving forces between the commercial and artistic are mutually exclusive.

Ever wonder why the J Spot has no ads? You may be wondering how I monetize this blog if there’s no hint of any advertisement around, contextual or otherwise (I have AdSense on most of my other sites, though, even the old J Spot). I’ll write about this later. But suffice to say for now that I’d rather not be pressured to earn from this site–at least for now. And let’s just say that I’d rather build up my site’s intrinsic value first before venturing into monetization, if at all!

Yes, I consider blogging as an art form, or at least a form of creative expression (hey, we write, don’t we?).