Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Sickness reminds us to take care of our self.

For sharing.

Again, I felt the nudge from God in the form of my stomach ulcer.  

My dear Ed Mateo
, self-care is important.


You mean time for myself, Mommy N?


Yes. Exactly!

These are activities outside of work that contribute to better performance at work.

Self-Care Is a Leadership Discipline

To me, self-care is eating a low carb diet, getting at least 8 hours of sleep, doing moderate exercise in the morning, connecting with people I love, taking time out to reflect and to meditate, helping someone grow, and listing down things I am grateful for each day in my gratitude journal.

The bigger our vision is, the more we have to focus on self-care.

I have since integrated self-care into my everyday routine last week. And, I’d like to share with you these two benefits I have been enjoying:

Benefit #1: Self-care gave me more energy. It is amazing how much energy I get just by investing time to do all the above.

Benefit #2: Self-care gave me an edge. Getting more sleep and eating healthy have removed my brain-fog and has kept my brain as alert as I was in my prime - in my 30’s.

Because of self-care, I am now a more effective leader for my teammates in each of our businesses.

This is one of the things that helped me and I am sure it will help you, too.  It will let you know where you are exactly on self-care. You can also get Michael Hyatt's The Busy Leader’s Self-Care Handbook for free.


I wish that you enjoy the benefits of putting yourself first.

Talk soon!

Your Negosyo Mom,

Myrna "Mommy N" Tam-Natividad

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Happy 49th Birthday Darling.

Happy 49th birthday my Darling Fely. Wish you good health, more blessing and another 49th years of healthy living.

From Ed , Karen and JP.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Happy 23rd Wedding Anniversary Darling!

I searched all the dictionaries to find the meaning of life but I found nothing. But when we got married and I looked into your eyes, I found everything. Happy 23rd wedding anniversary darling! Love you.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Requirement for passport renewal with Minor (18yrs old below) accompanied by Father.

Requirement for passport renewal with Minor (18yrs old below) accompanied by Father.

  1. Confirmed Online Appointment (click here)
  2. Accomplished Application Form (click here for Blank Application Form)
  3. Personal Appearance
  4. Current ePassport with photocopy of data page
  5. Original PSA authenticated documents that will support the change of name (if applicable)
  • Marriage Contract
  • Annotated Birth Certificate
6. Photo copy of acceptable ID. For me I used UMID ID while for my son PWD ID. 

LIST OF ACCEPTABLE IDS (ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WITH ONE (1) PHOTOCOPY):

  • Social Security System (SSS)/ Government Service Insurance System(GSIS) Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID)Card
  • Land Transportation Office (LTO) Driver’s License
  • Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) ID
  • Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) / Integrated Department of Labor and Employment (iDOLE) card
  • Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Voter’s ID or Voter's Certificate or Voter’s Registration Record from COMELEC Head or Regional Office
  • Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms License
  • Senior Citizen ID
  • Persons with Disabilities (PWD) ID
  • School ID (for students)
  • Current Valid ePassport (For Renewal of ePassport)
7. Once done with verification. DFA personnel will ask you if express or none. And for pick-up or delivery. If for delivery they will mark the date of release in the passport slip/payor copy. Since we ask for express we pay PHP1200 each.
8. After this we proceed to cashier for the payment.
9. After payment we proceed to picture taking.
10. After picture taking we go LBC for delivery of our passport. We pay PHP150 each. Delivery date May 24,2018.

Remarks: Always bring your PSA (original Birth cert and marriage contract).

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Build this now

I recently sent out an email with the subject line "You Need To Build This Now To Grow Your Business…(HINT: No Money Needed)"


In that email, we talked about how to be a great leader by communicating your trust, competence, and commitment so that you will be trusted by your people, customers, and suppliers. We also shared 2 of the many ways to build trust with our people.


When trust hurts


"I don’t think "trusting" is the best way to succeed and grow in business. There are some story in our company where our own staff takes money from it." - Gemma (not her real name)


Right after I got Gemma’s email, I saw Vice Ganda on TV  while I was having my nails done by my favorite manicurista.


"Bakit ganun yung mga bangko? Tayo, pinagkakatiwala natin yung mga pera natin sa kanila pero yung mga ballpens nila may tali!! Ano, nanakawin ba namin yun? Tayo nagtitiwala pero sila hindi?"


"Oo nga, ano?" I muttered under my breath.  In our businesses, our ballpens are also tied.


Why? Because if they are not secured, customers "run away" with them.  Not that they are dishonest, but either they were tempted or they just put it in their pockets automatically, without thinking.  


They just did not know what they were doing.


And, by not securing our ballpens, we provided them the chance to run away with them.


At that moment, I felt Gemma’s hurt, and also, anger.  


I have been in that dark place, many times in my 40 years in business.  I trusted too much and was betrayed. It hurts when the dog you are feeding bites you, what more if it was someone close to your heart?


I had to learn the lessons of trust the hard way.


When to trust your employees


This is what I learned:


After hiring a new employee whom I expect to do certain tasks and assume responsibilities, I should not trust her on her first day at work.  Not even after her first week.


Let’s say she is the cashier.


We wouldn’t expect her to report and just do the work, right? We won’t assume she already knows what to do, right?

  • She needs at least two days of orientation first.  
  • She needs to be trained to deliver the quality of work and service, especially in using the software and hardware.
  • She needs to be able to do every single task from the time she gets into her cubicle until she leaves it during breaks or when the day ends.
  • She needs to know whom she should go to when she has questions.
  • She needs to know how and when she will be promoted and what her career path in the company is.
  • She needs to know what benefits she can expect now and at the other stages of her stay with us.
  • She needs to know what are the rules and regulations of our company to avoid getting into trouble.
  • Most especially, she needs to know that being dishonest will cause her to be terminated and sent to jail.  
  • She needs to know that stealing is a criminal offense and that it is our policy to spare no expense to prosecute so that others will not be tempted to follow her example.
  • Finally, she needs to know that there are checks and balances in place so that any criminal act will surely be found out.

When the benefits and the consequences are clear and in place, the chances of stealing is minimized.


Yes, minimized.  Not totally gone.


When money is involved, we have to remember that no matter how holy a person is, no matter how good we are to her and her family, we can never predict that she will not be tempted.


Here are a few of the circumstances we have experienced when people were tempted to steal:


An employee could not say "no" to the friend who was selling him the latest model of a cellphone installment.  He also could not say "no" when another friend sold him his dream headphones. He was not able to keep track of his other utangs like canteen, clothes, shoes, etc. that he went into last month.  With so many creditors to pay, his take-home pay was not enough. What will he send to his parents and siblings in the province who are expecting his pera padala? His only thought was, what can I get from the office that I can sell? He was found bringing Disk Drives home!  


My own inaanak who was also my employee loved his boyfriend to the moon and back.  His motorcycle was in the pawnshop and it was the last day that he could still redeem it before it will be foreclosed.  If he couldn’t come up with the money, he would lose the motorcycle forever. She could not bear it when he came to her, crying. So she stole five gold bangles and gave it to her boyfriend. She confessed when she learned that the police will be brought in to investigate.


A saleslady whose father was hospitalized did not have money to buy medicine. Payday was a few days away.  So, she "borrowed" a jewelry item from her estante and pawned it, with the intention to get it back when payday comes.  The auditor made her rounds a day before the payday and she was discovered.


The whole amount of a janitor’s salary was given to his wife and he would only be given a fare allowance per day.  But he was smitten by the waitress in the carenderia across us. She was a single parent and her salary was not enough to support her kids.  So, to be the knight in shining armor, he padded the price of the generator fuel everytime he would be asked to buy so he can help her and get some favors in return.


What we learned that worked


Every single centavo should be accounted for. Everything should be recorded. And, there is someone who audits it periodically and sporadically.


Without controls in place, we are actually inviting and tempting our employees to steal from us.


Let us remember always that as leaders,  it is our duty to take care of our employees.  We not only treat them well and pay them well, we should also protect them from temptation at all times.  When we protect them, we are also protecting ourselves.


Share how you did it


Do you have stories to share about dishonest staff?  Or do you have ideas on how to protect your employees from temptation that you want to share? Please join the Grow Your Business, Pinoy Movement and share them with us. Give and get support, advice, and recommendations from fellow Pinoy business owners. We are waiting for you here.


Talk soon!

Your Negosyo Mom,

Myrna "Mommy N" Tam-Natividad

Wednesday, May 09, 2018

Saturday, May 05, 2018

Simba Samba Zumba

Simba - para sa katoliko. Samba - para sa iglesiya Zumba - para sa oldies.