Tag Archives: Business

Viagra and Cialis

Well, I felt a bit embarrassed. Or actually a lot. As I found that this site, an inspirational site and all supposed to be about ‘positive’ and ‘good’ things, was infected with a lot of spam content. And being a web developer and thinking I know a bit what I am doing of course that was very embarrassing. As it seemed to have been going on for quite a while and I didn’t notice it. Ah, yes, I noticed it a few weeks ago, that some posts had been changed by one of the other team members and containing some spam type content. So I just wrote him an e-mail asking him to check his computer and change his password. But only a few days ago I found how much the damage was and how long it had been going on. For month, and some things were even older, like a year ago.

So I started cleaning up, thinking it were only the recent posts being affected. But no, it seemed something like more than half or maybe even something like 80% of 90% of the posts had been affected with this, well, I would call it malware. And the posts were relatively easy to find, as most of them had the words ‘viagra‘ and/or ‘cialis‘ in them, even though I am not fully sure if I found all posts that had been affected.

And while working on removing this, from my point of view, unwanted stuff, of course I kept thinking. And one of the strongest thoughts around these kind of things is and was the thought of Abraham Hicks about ‘allowing others’. As even though I felt very offended by this, partly because it just affects this site in search and seriousness, I also realized that the people who put this, who wrote the programs and stuff to insert this, had put quite some effort, quite some time, meaning also quite some desire to make this happen. And of course I felt offended as I had to put quite some time removing stuff that someone put in MY site that I believe does not belong there, or at least I believe should not be there.

And next to this I was asking myself who is paying those people to somehow ‘advertise’ all the stuff that these insertions were all about. And yes, I also do link building like that for customers, writing articles about their products only to be able to put a link and try to ‘rank up’ the site of my customer. So yes, my customers pay me for things like that also, even though I think I am doing it in a more subtle, a more appropriate way. But while thinking I also thought the difference is not that big. As my ‘articles’ are basically also ‘spam content’ on the internet. And no, I don’t put content secretly, like the spammers did in this site. But still.

And another thing I was thinking about was how people who don’t know so much about these things, bloggers just using WordPress as a ‘blogging tool’ and trusting everything is ok, would deal with something like this. As they probably wouldn’t even be able to cut the inserted code out. Or may not even notice it. And apparently Google also didn’t even notice it, as I didn’t get any messages in the Google Webmaster Tools about this site being infected with spam content. So apparently Google ignores this type of content, as it is also not really visible in posts.

But the last thing I was thinking about was about Viagra and Cialis itself. About the apparent attraction those products have. And about the enormous ‘anonymous’ demand for these drugs that must be behind this. And of course that brought me also to my own sexual problems, problems that seem related to indeed the biggest human need I know, the need for sex. But no, I never needed Viagra and Cialis for sexual fulfillment or to increase ‘something’ that many people obviously need or want. But yes, sex is still my biggest driver, and with that my biggest problem, as it is a highly unfulfilled need affecting my life a lot as it is not in the way and the level I want it.

So well, a lot of thoughts, and at least inspiration for this article. But no, I don’t really get how we came here as humanity, inserting this kind of stuff in other peoples website and most probably even being paid for it. While the service I am trying to give, the services I am giving, apparently are not so much in demand.

But that’s another story.

The secret?

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I’m still wondering if and how websites or web pages like this work. I mean, someone put a lot of effort in it and somehow I ended up in that page and seeing from the url (I saw) it was some kind of advertisement I think I saw in the page where I found the inspirational quote for today. But that’s not the point as I saw quite some of these things, indeed, mostly related to breakups in relationships, but also others.

And I don’t like these kind of pages as they are so obviously ‘commercial’. Like the presentation in the page I found today is obviously set up to keep your attention to the end. And several things are being used to do that, like the warning the page may be taken away any moment, which I believe of course is not true as someone or some company has put quite some effort in making the page, especially the presentation. And of course that has to come back through the sales of the items being sold in the page.

Another thing on those pages is about pricing, as the prices are virtually always very, very high. And there is always some kind of discount displayed, often mentioned as ‘temporary’, sometimes even actually with a time limit.

And yes, you get a lot, as this page of today has a lot of useful information in the presentation. While writing this post it’s still running and yes, it still gives me more information, even though I might have stopped it if I wouldn’t be writing this post.

And it’s all true and I kind of agree with it, although for me personally one thing doesn’t add up, so I can really recommend it as in the end it’s of course just about self confidence and being happy by yourself without needing someone else.

And no, I did not put any affiliate code or something in the links on this page as I still still stick to the business model of give and receive, so yes, if you like this post or the link I would be happy to receive something from you, but I want to leave it completely up to you.

And yes, I’m still kind of wondering if there pages work and if the people buying the, in my opinion quite expensive, stuff in the page, are really happy with it, meaning buying it was worth the price.

Looking forward to your experiences or opinion on this.

Love what you do

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Just read this quote:

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

And I love what I do, but somehow something is missing and somehow there is too much what I don’t like to do. And while thinking I loved more to be the manager of Active Discovery Designs instead of being the whole of Active Discovery Designs what i am now. As today most of my day was spent on doing all kinds of errands in the city, like doing bank transactions and paying bills. And yes, I kind of like that also, but it meant I arrived home at the end of the afternoon and started working something like 5pm.

Mitsubishi Pajero And looking back I see many of my mistakes, but I also don’t know how I could have done it differently. And that is still what is bothering me, what is keeping me busy thinking: how can I make it work, how can I rebuild Active Discovery Designs in a way that would work. And the image of Active Discovery Designs in my mind is quite clear. I see the building and I see 200 people working there. And I see myself in a black Pajero going there, something like being the CEO, something like managing the whole thing, giving it direction.

But no, I don’t see the management team and the employees. As it seems they are not there, they are not in Cagayan de Oro City, not in The Philippines. So how will I get them here?

Fair Usage Policy and more

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Unexpected visitors

So yesterday I was really happily surprised as at the end of the day some people of Smart were at the gate who turned out to be engineers of Smart, even though I was very suspicious hearing the word ‘Smart’. And yes, I had had some phone calls just before apparently coming from Smart, but I couldn’t really connect it to anything as I did not complain anymore recently to the customer support or something, although just around that time yesterday I tried to find a way connect to Mr. Llloyd Manaloto whose name came up quite frequently related to my search for people within Smart on the higher levels.

But as far as I remember the phone calls started earlier, so they must have been triggered by something else.

So suddenly there were three engineers from Smart at our gate, something that I believe should have happened long time ago, as especially in our location customer support and installation technicians probably would not be able to find a solution for the problems with our Smartbro internet connection.

Problem solved

And actually that’s what I wanted to start this post with: thank you sir Bryant, RE and Art for making this site visit and understanding what has been going on here and last but not least, probably having solved some problems with the radio signal.

Or problem not solved?

So yes, the problem was solved today. As last night I thought it was too late for the engineers to climb on the roof, even they were willing to spend some more time and effort to make sure I had Smart internet straight away yesterday, which was fully gone the night before. And while writing this that might have been the trigger, that without me knowing Smart is monitoring my connection and could see I had no connection anymore as it seems there is more going on within Smart than I know, probably based on my letters.

So was the problem solved? Well, in a way yes, as the radio signal did not pass the required values before and they do pass now. So don’t get me wrong, something was really solved and I’m happy with it. And it is even solved beyond expectations as right now the radio signal is within the required values.

Something doesn’t add up

But something doesn’t add up. Or actually two things don’t add up:

From 2006 to 2013 i basically didn’t have problems and a few years ago the system was even upgraded from 512Kb/s to a higher speed, I think even 2Mbit/s, but it could also be 1Mbit/s. And it seems nothing changed in the environment around the house.
The speed I have been experiencing lately is around 20Kbyte/s, with a peak a few weeks ago of 100Kbyte/s. And that’s about the same speed I am experiencing right now, although it appears to be slightly higher.

Related to the speed see below two images for the speeds I found with a speed test program while writing this post¹.

So it seems the effective speed I am experiencing right now is a little less than 512 Kbit/s. Which is far lower than the speeds I experienced after the upgrade until somewhere 2013. And the issue here is that it is quite a bit lower than it was before and also that Smart, or probably PLDT now, is selling.

What next

So what’s next?

Well, of course I am happy I have a stable PLDT/Smart internet connection again. But what still worries me, and this was also the whole starting point of e.g. the page Smart/PLDT limited unlimited, is that I have no clue where I stand with all this as somehow Smart/PLDT has changed the rules, especially apparently having applied a volume limit on existing unlimited plans. And they did it without informing me properly. And apparently I am also back to a 512Kbit/s speed where I thought I had 1Mbit/s or 2Mbit/s and also actually had.

And yes, legally I guess they are fully right and safe, although to me a volume limit is a volume limit and not fair sharing of internet bandwidth. But what they seem to have forgotten, and that is also what I was trying to convey to the Smart engineers who were here today, is that they lost my trust and, more important, someone who was really selling them, selling the Smartbro connection I had. As until last year I was a very happy customer who was recommending Smart above Globe to friends and business contacts. But right now, and the last few months, I have been complaining and complaining and complaining and am even writing about all this in a way that may very well damage Smart in the long term. And yes, they may even lose me as a customer, as the Globe connection I have right now is much faster, even though the Smart/PLDT internet infrastructure is better than the Globe infrastructure. Or I may look for something completely different, which I actually already started.

Principles of Success

So yes, this whole thing with especially Smart has taught me that Napoleon Hill is indeed right, that you first and foremost need to serve the people, serve your customers, at least if you want to be or become rich. Or stay rich looking at the sample of the Smart Fair Usage Policy.

And the sad thing is that this is all about a simple, standard internet connection that has worked for years and could have worked for years, should have worked for years, but where somehow greed (‘Fair Usage Policy‘ and apparently now a continuous speed limit) made a customer lose his trust. And it will take an awful long time to gain that trust back, although sir Bryant, RE, Art and Ronnie made a start with that yesterday and today.

To be continued.

¹Please note this is not a fully fair test as I am running some torrents who appear to have upload speeds of around 20Kb/s.

What’s next

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So what’s next? I’ve learned a lot and somehow I progressed a lot, but still there are some things missing.

But yes, I am making progress and I’m becoming more careful. Especially more careful with people, more careful with choosing people.

As today I received an e-mail in reply to a request from me to meet a previous employee again. As I thought he might be one of the people who could be part of restarting my business. And please keep in mind the goal of my business has always been and still is to indeed support myself, but also to support Filipinos and the Philippine economy. But especially the last has proven not to be easy as it is virtually impossible to find decent staff. As it has been very easy to find graduates who were all willing to be trained, which they were and which I did. But in the end I found myself without customers, without any money to invest and without any people willing to support me, help me rebuild the business. As most of those people willing to be trained decided to look for greener pastures elsewhere after having been trained.

And yes, I made my share of mistakes and of course I am responsible for my business, not the staff, the people I hired. And yes, I guess my management skills and social skills are not the best in the world. But looking back I am starting to realize more and more that it is not only me that is the cause that my business is not flourishing, was not growing and in the end kind of stopped. And no, it was certainly not the fault of the staff I hired, the graduates who were just looking for a start and of course in the end left my very small company that was kind of surviving and in the end couldn’t really survive anymore.

But looking back, knowing what I know now I think the main reason is the culture, the Philippine culture that makes it virtually impossible to start a company that wants to do a bit more than standard stuff, a company that wants to stand out and wants to deliver advanced quality stuff and services. And you can’t do that with graduates. And you can’t do that in an environment where the good people go abroad to work. And you can’t do that in a culture where it seems people only want to work as an employee, work for money.

And yes, I know more what I want now and I am still determined to build the company that I have in mind. And yes, I know that is virtually impossible, here in Cagayan de Oro City. But yes, I know anything is possible and that persistence in the end normally pays off.

But yes, I was very disappointed with the reply I got today. As for me it was an e-mail to someone who I think might be willing and capable to help me rebuild the company, build the company I have in mind to not only serve customers, but also help Filipinos stay with their family, not going abroad. Build a company that can provide decent jobs to the people of Cagayan de Oro City. Help him earn more, have a nicer job.

And no, apparently he was not the right person to ask. As the first thing he did was demanding for solving issues with his Social Security plan. And yes, of course I know there are and have been problems with the payments to the SSS. But the reason is very simple: the company just never earned enough to fulfill many of its obligations to the government. And looking back I have never really earned anything from this company. On the contrary, I think I invested more than the company ever earned. And yes, my mistake with all my good intentions trying to build a decent company here. And yes, certainly for me, for my own income, for my own money. But also definitely for the staff, for the people in Cagayan de Oro City, in The Philippines. But they didn’t make it easy, just leaving mostly after half a year, after a year, after their being trained.

And yes, I guess this person doesn’t know all this, doesn’t know that I lost most of the money I had when I first came to The Philippines. And doesn’t know I lost a lot more, money I don’t even have a clue how to pay back. And my living in a big house and my supposedly high living standard is only a very small part of that.

And yes, I can imagine he is worried about his SSS. And of course I guess that is my problem, the problem of my company. And of course I am looking for ways to settle all my debts. But is the implicit where is my money really the first thing to mention if you are being invited for coffee or something, being invited to restart or cooperate in a business?