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

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.

I was a resource person this Tuesday afternoon at Y4IT, where gave a 30-minute talk about IT entrepreneurship. Great thing about these events is not only do you get to learn stuff, but you also get to meet great people. Today I met Atty. Denny Roja of Acuity Ventures, who gave an interesting presentation on venture capital funding. His presentation came after mine. I was supposed to leave already (busy, busy, busy), but when I saw his first few slides I got hooked.

He gave tips on how to pitch ideas, which business plans VC’s like to support, and other options to pursue for funding.

Perhaps one of these days I’ll get to pitch some ideas to Atty. Roja. Who knows? One of my proposals might get accepted.

This was aired last Sunday, August 19th, 2007 on GMA 7’s Mel & Joey talk show. The topic was innovative means of making a living.

The interview was actually about two hours long, as the producer and I chatted about a lot of things relevant to blogging and problogging. I guess due to time constraints (and to give way to other topics), they had to cut things short. The clip shown is just a few minutes long, and my part there was only about a minute or so. Fellow Filipino bloggers Abe Olandres and Gaile dela Cruz also appear on this segment.

Video is embedded here (viewable after the jump) ...

We’ve read about horror stories all too often. AdSense checks get delayed, and before you know it, the check has already been deposited and the funds have cleared (the AdSense control panel gives you information on clearing date). In short, someone has stolen your AdSense check. They’re either from the postal service, or someone who was able to intercept your check en route to your mailbox. Chances are, they’re in cahoots with bank employees, or are able to create fake documents to impersonate you, in order to deposit these checks, which are crossed (marked for deposit to payee’s account only).

That was before, when Google sent checks directly from an office offshore. The alternative was courier service. You get the checks 3 days after being issued, but you have to pay $24 (about PhP 1,200). It sucks. I know—I’ve tried it, but that was after asking for a re-issue, when I suspected my check was lost or stolen. This is a good idea for those who put their checks on hold until the account accumulates money, or for those who get big amounts regularly.

When I got my check in the mailbox yesterday, though, I was surprised to see a local return address attached to the envelope: APCEI Logistics, Inc. It was printed on sticker paper, and slapped on top of the Google Mountain View, CA address. Also, the postmark says April 23, 2007—just two days from the date of my receipt (and almost a full month after my check was issued by Google). This indicates that Google is likely sending checks to the Philippines in bulk, and then someone here is handling the mailing for them.

Here’s the return address.

And here’s the postmark.

I’ve sent an email to Aileen Apolo, Google’s country consultant here, to ask whether there are changes in how Google handles AdSense checks here. Hopefully this will mean we can have more options soon, like cheaper courier service (anything cheaper than $24 a pop would be great) or even electronic funds transfer like what they have in the US.

Heck, even receiving the checks via regsitered mail would be okay with me. At least this way, your check doesn’t have to be carried by the postman and left at your door/mailbox/gate. Instead, you would have to claim it at the post office by presenting a valid ID. I know this is still not as secure as EFT or DHL. Even having a courier service handle your packages/letters/checks isn’t a 100% surefire way to be safe. But at least these add a few more layers of protection.

I also emailed APCEI, and I’m waiting for their response as I type this. I do hope this is good news for AdSense publishers in the Philippines who are worried about the safety of their checks. And I do hope there’s more in store for us.

Later this week, I’ll be launching a team blog focused on lifestyle matters (announcement to be made this Friday). It’s not a niche blog, but rather a blog about the bigger picture (for some reason, niche blogs aren’t working well for me, and I think big blogs are a better business model in some cases). One of the come-ons for my writers is a revenue-share scheme, on top of a fixed monthly salary, their own AdSense channel, and ad sales commissions. However, it will not be like what other networks may offer, which are revenue shares out of gross revenues/proceeds of the blog. Revenue share will be net of costs—which are mostly blogger wages, and not much of hosting fees.

When I started problogging, one of the first groups I joined paid their writers by revenue share. There was no base salary, so you’d better wish the blog started to earn soon so you get your share of the pie. But being new blogs, we were made to understand that we couldn’t expect revenue to be good in the first few months. But still, it was interesting since all the blog’s ad revenues are to be distributed among bloggers up to a certain ceiling, after which, the blog network and the bloggers will split the revenues 50-50.

Sounds like a pipe dream, doesn’t it? I wondered how the network would be earning money if all the proceeds below a certain amount go to the bloggers. Factor in hosting fees and other incidental costs, and surely the network would be in the red. This meant they were probably optimistic that each blog would be earning in the thousands of dollars, so they can get a decent share.

However, it was a pipe dream indeed, as one of the owners of another network that took me in told me. The first few months, the blogs didn’t earn much. AdSense revenues were dismal, and other link/ad sales were nil. Maybe it was because of the niche. Or maybe it was because the sites weren’t marketed well.

So was I still worried I wasn’t earning anything from those blogs? Well, by that time I had already joined another blog network—smaller, but with more focused efforts (and bigger pay, too). But I was still wondering if I could get a share from the blogs, and if the owners are earning from these at all.

Then surprise of surprises, the blogs were sold, one by one. I hear they fetched quite high prices in the market, too.

And I hear that the network had been divesting itself of blog properties time and again. They built them up, and they sold for a profit.

So that’s how they earned. And that’s how they could afford to give too big a revenue share to their bloggers. I guess they weren’t rooting for monthly revenue earnings much, because they know they could sell the sites for 10, 50 or even 100 times the monthly revenue.

So then, if you ask me why I’m only sharing net profits with bloggers instead of gross? That’s because I intend to run the blogs long-term, and I’m not in the business of build-and-sell. I want to grow with the blogs, and I want my writers to grow with the blogs, too.

But still, a revenue share is a good idea to entice bloggers to write for you. That’s why I’m also allowing my bloggers their own AdSense channel on their posts, and even commissions on direct link/ad sales.