Devoted to women of color in business

Well, we've attended to some business, found some great deals and are now back in California.

Talk about a whirlwind trip!

We had a great time in Manila, Baguio, and Bohol Island. Lots of time spent visiting family, looking around Metro Manila, and taking advantage of business connections to find some great people.

This trip really brought me back to some basics:

1) It would be wonderful to retire in a tropical paradise.
You can hang out in the "province" or village with rural everything: agriculture, water buffalo, rice paddies, the works. You probably have to get along with your neighbors and in general contribute to your community. There are sometimes floods and the rainy season is six months of the year, but you can get a lot of peace and quiet.

We plan to buy a condo in Manila. The 42 sq. meter condo my aunt has is right in the heart of things, walking distance to the Bay, and close to practically everything.

In the picture, there are two towers. A third tower is being built as we speak. My aunt lives in the tower to the left, about halfway up.

Very plush! and inexpensive, too (check Ayala Land for what they're currently offering)

PS) 5 million pesos is $100,000US (divide the peso price by 50 to get the dollar price)

There's a pool, mini putting green, and workout room on the 7th floor, and there's an entire mall (Robinsons) on the bottom floor. Seriously!

It's intense how much building is going on right now in Manila.

2) Buy low, sell high.
Amazing handicrafts, beads, clothing, jewelry, tables, rocking chairs, foodstuffs, homemade pastries, fruit.... There's lots of opportunity for those of you who want to go to your country of origin in Europe, Asia and Africa, find great deals, and buy bucketloads (we got a 20ft. shipping container) of stuff to bring back to the US and sell.

I know there are stores like Pier One and Cost Plus that started out doing exactly that. There are also catalog-based and internet stores that support local handicraft makers, or textiles, or jewelry, or coffee.

Here's an example to take advantage of the LOHAS market (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability): You visit an out-of-the-way place, where perhaps there is a cooperative or some sort of skilled grouping. Oftentimes there are villages without basic necessities (food, water, shelter) where you will have tremendous influence with the community. Let's say you make friends with, for example, a basketmaker, and make a long-term agreement (there's one in Bohol that we tracked down, about an hour from the main city).

Have them be your prime supplier: give them your designs, or let them know what types of items sell well. You help out the local economy, you get quality goods, and you sell them for much more in your own region... everyone wins.

3) Relationships are key to everything: form alliances and make new friends.
We are fortunate in that we have a very large family with many cousins, aunts and uncles, all of whom are connected in some way or another with practically every type of industry you could imagine, from the family ice plant in Lipa City, to tropical fish, to knife and dagger collecting, to land development. (In the pic, my grandparents are on the left and right, and I'm in the back talking shop with my uncle and aunt.)

Always asking the "who?" question, as in "Who can help us with this?" or "Who can we get on board for this project?" is helped immensely when you have a large network of friends, associates, family, and alumni to call upon.

When you live in a small country like the Philippines, this effect is magnified because you can always find out about somebody (they might even be related to you!) so your reputation, and your family's reputation, proceeds you.

(Pic is of me (third from left) with relatives on my mom's side (Sunny, Mella, and Clara- my grandmother)

If you have ties to another country, go visit! There are tons of opportunities available to you abroad! and you can bring your knowledge and skill to help others, as well as coming back to your home country with an expanded point of view.