No matter what some entrepreneurs would say, a business card is still an important and very handy marketing tool. It is very small, portable and you can whip it out anytime you want to introduce yourself. That is why a good design on your business card is very valuable. I was once saw spiritual business cards which were beautifully designed in an event I attended, and I must say I am very much impressed. Really made a good impression on the person who gave them away.

Unfortunately though, there are others who do not believe in business cards. I met someone not too long ago who does not have any business cards. He said he used to have them printed, but he noticed that his cards would often run out, and yet he never received any calls from the person he gave them too.

I don’t know, maybe his cards were not designed right or does not really give a good impression. And of course, you cannot expect everyone calling you back. Giving away  business cards is just playing on the law of averages — the more you give away, the greater the chance that people would call you. Otherwise, you really cannot expect any business flowing in at all.

That is why, I still believe you should always have your business card with you, everytime. You’ll never when you will have a need for them.

To encourage more new businesses to register this year, the Quezon City government launched last Friday the Business One-Stop Shop or BOSS, which aims of simplifying the process of securing business permit.

“The simplified procedures in licensing will drive individuals to invest or a business,” said Pacifico F. Maghacot, Jr., officer-in-charge for the Business Permit and Licensing Office, during the launching of BOSS. He said, the city government is expecting to having approximately 12,000 new business registrants within the year because of the new system.

With BOSS, applicants of business permit may be able to obtain in nine minutes, or a maximum of nine days if the business requires an ocular inspection. A process that takes three weeks in the old system.

Maghacot said that in the old system, applicants need to go o the different offices – zoning official, building official, fire official, health and sanitation official, to register the business and go to the city treasure to pay for their permit. This usually takes a long time, he said.

But with BOSS, he said applicants only need to fill up a business application form, pay the corresponding fees at the city treasurer, and proceed to the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Business Registry, simplifying the procedure. “All the steps are located in one office so the system is faster,” Maghacot added.

For other documentary requirements that my take time to produce, like location clearance, sanitary permit, and fire and safety inspection certification may be submitted after three months. Meanwhile, the business can start operating sans these documents.

BOSS was set up with the technical support provided by the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the financing arm for private sector of World Bank. Aside from Quezon City, IFC is also partnering with the cities of Marikina, Manila and Mandaluyong for the same project.

Rashad Kaldany, IFC vice president for Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa said during the launch that BOSS “will help invigorate the private sector and support sustainable economic growth.”

To be honest, the term “covered call” is really new to me. I heard it from a friend, and I got curious because he attached the word “investment” to the phrase, saying it is a good earning opportunity. So I searched for its meaning online, which led me to different sites, one of which is the Born To Sell which manages covered call transactions for experts and newbies alike.

Simply stated, a covered call is an investment opportunity wherein an investor buy stocks and when then sell them at a call option, with the aim of which of course is generating an income from the stock. The idea is really to sell them when the value appreciates.

Quite simple and complicated at same time, isn’t it. I feel you, where on the same page. For starters, you can check the Covered Calls Tutorial page of Born To Sell to learn more about this investment opportunity, which by the way, as my research does, is mostly done on short-term investments. But it is not a get-rich quick scheme, not a by long shot. So  don’t expect to get rich by one or two covered call transactions, okay.

After you got a clear idea of what is covered call all about, you can check the Covered Call Screener page to see what are the investment choices available for you. The site, by the way, was newly launched. I, personally, is expecting aggressiveness from them once I called them. They did say they will help you “even if it’s your first time.”

A good earning opportunity is always welcome, don’t you agree. Let’s check out what covered call investing can do for us.

Most entrepreneur started small. Even the big ones that are seeing now, they all were all aspiring entrepreneurs who knew how to dream. That means you can also dream, and become just like them.

Many started as “hole in the wall” or entered the business scene by joining trade fair and exhibits. You too can take this route. If you have some cool and exciting products, why not join these fair and introduce your products via trade show booths. It an effective and affordable way to reach your market.

Because Christmas is around the corner, be on the lookout for these trade fair. There will be plenty of them. When you have your booth, make sure that you attract attention – from your logo, colorful table skirts, an organized display table, banner stands that can be seen even from the other end of the alley, and proper lighting.

If you are able to catch attention, you foray into the business scene will likely succeed. Pipe and Drape will also be helpful as it will give your booth a more professional appeal.

So, start planning for your business now. Check your product inventories and scout around for the trade exhibits in your place.

If I weren’t too lazy to change and update my friends of a new phone number, I would have switched long ago from Globe to Smart, especially when I see promotions like this All-in-one load bundle from Smart.

Smart Communications now have an all-in-one load bundle, this allows their prepaid subscribers to use their text messaging services to update, as well as receive updates from popular social network like Facebook, Friendster and Twitter. We all know how popular online social sites are these days.

The new product is called Smart Buddy’s AllTxt Combo Plus, perfect for Twitter and FB addicts who wants to get update their status even while on the go. For only P25 per day, prepaid subscribers can update their social networks, and of course, they can also call and send SMS and MMS as well.

Smart wireless consumer division head Danilo Mojica said, “Mobile subscribers these days no longer just call or text to keep in touch with their friends and family or to share news – they also update their status, write on ‘walls’ and ‘tweet’, too, just like texting, without having to get on the Internet. Ideally, it could also work on any phone, even the older handsets, and that it wouldn’t cost too much on top of the staple call and text package. The Smart Buddy AllTxt Combo Plus makes all this possible.”

Mojica said, this  service is the “first of its kind in the world and creates for Smart the opportunity to make our subscribers’ Smart Buddy SIMs more relevant to them by offering more connectivity options.”

The AllTxt Combo Plus provides Smart prepaid subscribes a cost-effective way of updating their social media accounts without the need to connect to the internet. The good news is, it works even on older, 2G handsets.

Websites are like virtual “real estate properties.” When handled well, they can appreciate in value and could be worth a lot, if you know how to develop it. That is why there are online services that is the website business brokering. These  companies assist those who has a website to sell and find the perfect buyer for their website.

You may ask, why would someone want to buy a website? A website, especially a popular one, gets a lot of visits and therefore, if you have a business and you  bought a website that has a lot traffic, chances are you will get the same visitors, and with the law on averages working for you, you will get more sales, compared to let’s say you have a new website and you are just developing it.

Where do these websites for sale coming from? There are other enterprising individual who buy domains, develop the websites, and when they are getting enough traffic, they are putting them up on the market for sale. Much like investing in real estate properties really, except that there are no really “prime locations” but websites with unique domain names, and the know-how to develop them.

If you want to know more, you can visit Website Properties, one of the companies who broker these types of virtual real properties.

Cognizant, an Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) firm expanded  Philippine operations to add 600 more seats to its service facility, as the previous 200-employees could no longer meet their clients’ needs being serviced in the country.

The company first started operations in the Philippine in October of 2009, providing high-end business transactions processing services to a global telecommunications industry player. Its Manila delivery center is situated at the McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig and could accomodate 600 seats and 800 employees.

Cognizant global delivery president and managing director R Chandrasekaran said they are currently hiring to fill those new seats. “We plan to also move to other cities, to leverage the talent and keep our costs down. Just as we have done in India, we’ll also be expanding here in the Philippines,” he said. “Based on customer feedback, there’s a big potential for this (Philippine) center to grow.”

He said that growing Cognizant’s presence in the country fit well with the company’s overall strategy of “intellectual arbitrage,” or taking advantage of talents where they were located.

It is always nice to have available credit when there are emergencies. That is why credit cards have become very valuable financial tools for people from all walks of life. Yuppies used to to buy the latest gadgets, for housewife it becomes a valuable means to make both ends meet, and some entrepreneurs even take to their credit cards when an investment opportunity comes along their way.

But as convenient as it is to use the credit cards in making purchases, it is wise that one must be prudent and should look into his credit card purchases, before he maxed out his credit limits if he is not conscious of it.

For starters, if you are a compulsive buyer who buys things on a whim, even if you do not really need them, it is advisable that the credit card should not always be with you. Do not bring it unless you really plan to buy on something that is really needed. That way, you can avoid buying things on impulse.

And when the credit card billing arrives, it is better for you if you can pay the whole amount instead of only the minimum amount due. By doing so, you avoid expensive finance charges. If you cannot pay the whole amount, at least pay more than what it required to minimize the finance cost on the remaining amount due on your bill.

Remember, when you use the credit card to purchase, you are actually borrowing money. Make sure that when you borrow money, you will have the resource to pay it back to keep your credit record clean.

Convergys Corp., one of the biggest business process outsourcing firm (BPO) in the Philippines is looking to hire at least 3,600 new employees this year.

The plan of Convergys to hire additional employees was announced by Convergys Philippines country manager and managing and managing director Marife Zamora. She said the expansion is meant to meet the demand of its clients, who mostly belong to the top Fortune 50 list of global firms.

The company has expanded its five of its 12 existing sites in the Philippines, and with the additional new employees, it hopes to bring its total workforce to 25,000 before the year ends.

The sites that are included in the expansion are the: UP TechnoHub in Diliman, Quezon City; San Lazaro in Sta. Cruz, Manila; Nuvali in Laguna; Cebu i3 in AsiaTown Cebu; and Bacolod.

The expansion involved the addition of 2,300 workstations, prompting the need to hire at least 3,600 more people. Of the total, an estimated 350 were for the Bacolod site, 600 for Cebu, and 2,800 for Metro Manila.

Zamora said that the Philippine’s call center agents were among the best, if not the best in Convergy’s global workforce, which fuels client demand for more business to be outsourced here.

“We’re expanding mainly because of the outstanding performance of our employees here and the overall demand for the high-quality service that the Philippine operations are delivering,” she said.

While many of Convergys’ 12 existing facilities were already filled to capacity, she said there were still other sites that had room for expansion. She added however, the company was already looking at several locations nationwide to house possible new site

The country’s largest Filipino-owned coffee company plans to expand operations this year by opening up one or two outlets each month, or a total of 18 stores before the year ends.

Figaro Coffee Co. sets aside a total of P78 million to fund the increase of its 65 coffee shops in the Philippines. Marketing manager of Figaro Coffee Systems Inc., Ace L. Azarraga, noted that each store has an estimated cost of P6.5 million. They have just opened two stores recently, one in DBP Makati and the other in Dasmarinas, Cavite.

“Figaro Coffee Company is now keeping a critical eye on expanding in our home-market, which will focus mostly on business districts around the country as we want more and more people to experience our local barako coffee,” Azarraga said.

The DBP Makati branch is a full store carrying their complete line-up of coffee drinks, breakfast, pasta, pizza, all day breakfast, ala carte, sandwhiches and pastries. The store is located at the ground floor of DBP building, Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., cor. Makati Ave., Makati City., which is perfect for business and casual meetings.

Figaro’s expansion program is in line with its tradition to continue serving the finest native barako coffee in the country by opening more outlets. “As we continue to expand, more and more Filipino coffee farmers are benefited. Figaro Coffee Company only buys local coffee beans,” Azarraga said.

Of the 65 Figaro branches nationwide, most of which are in Luzon, 35 are franchise-owned and 30 are company-owned.

Figaro was established in 1993 and is  a 100-percent Filipino-owned company whose product lines include specialty roasted local coffee varieties and various coffee-related paraphernalia.