Have a Healthy Learning Mindset

Share This Post: getting into a healthier, more creative state of mind, with Renzie Baluyut.

Besides my competencies in marketing communications, or people skills, or whatever skill set I’ve got going on, I think one of the most important attributes I have is my desire to learn.

It is a hunger for knowledge, an affinity for picking up new skills, and an equivalent desire to share what I know.

I have particularly appreciated this realization at my current age– 35, at the time of this blog post- even as I feel fairly accomplished, and thus far generally satisfied with my career and life choices.

Right now, at the top of my head?  I’d like to learn about growing my own herb and vegetable garden, or building even better websites.  I’d like to pick up more digital photography skills, and make better meat sauce, or learn to cook great soup completely from scratch.  More:  I’d like to learn to sail, and fly, and dive, and cover Depeche Mode on synths, or Boston or Dave Matthews on Guitar.

Fortunately, the internet allows us access to all the things we want to get into.  At the very least, there are all kinds of websites and e-books available to anyone who can do a fairly comprehensive search. You got all sorts of blogs and podcasts on a wide variety of topics, as niche as it can possibly be.

Then you got discussions, forums, and all kinds of communities- so you can go ahead and test your knowledge against everyone else’s.  And finally you have webinars and all sorts of e-learning programs- real convenient as you can listen to a speaker from halfway across the world while you’re having breakfast in your shorts back home in Manila.

The point is: learning now has never been easier or more convenient.  We still have our books and our films and workshops and classes, but now, there are so many additional options available, both online and off.

So go ahead- watch a new how-to video now, join the discussions on your favorite blog, share a link you found this morning on Facebook and Twitter, or sign up for a free webinar today.

This is a great time to learn all the things you ever wanted to learn.

Now is the best time to have a healthy learning mindset.

Thanks to Michael Jastremski for the cute photo.

Cheers, everyone.

Living Solo: The Importance of Manscaping

practical solutions to life’s biggest challenges with Andy Botwin and Renzie Baluyut.

Whether you’re living solo, or happily married with a wife and kids, there simply is no excuse for a terrible sense of personal hygeine.

There’s a reason why grooming is so important, particularly for singles and bachelors: you want to get into the habit of making yourself more appealing to the opposite sex.  And that means working on grooming and hygeine all the time, 24/7.

Here to talk more about the subject matter of manscaping is Professor Andy Botwin of the University of Andy.  Pay close attention, man.  This will save your life one day.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go right ahead and visit the University of Andy official website, and sign yourself  up in one, several, or better yet, all of their classes designed specifically to make you a better man, all of ‘em practical solutions to life’s biggest challenges.

Enroll now!

Cheers, everyone.

Living Solo: Spending Money The Right Way, part 1 of 2

managing money for bachelors and entrepreneurs, with Renzie Baluyut.

It used to be a lot simple.  You make some money, you spend it, maybe set aside some for savings, or for whatever big ticket item you’re eyeing for yourself in the future.

If my spending goes up, I would be the kind of guy who would probably try to look for more side projects or gigs to cover the added expenditures.

That was when I was still working for a radio station and all that.

These past few years, I had to take a good hard look at how I spent my money.  A few months back, I wrote about the expected cost of living is in Metro Manila.  I also had a post on How To Make More Money, also from a few months back.  A good start, but now I feel we need to write a follow-up to that post in the very near future.

Fix Your Money Blueprint

The way we see money, our spending patterns, how we’re serious about our savings- all those are manifestations of what is called our Money Blueprint.

This was all the idea of T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth.  Which, if I may point out, is a good read for anyone who needs a little more guidance on managing money.  And I mean, anyone; not just entrepreneurs and businessmen.

In fact, had I known about this a lot earlier in my life, I probably would be a lot better off now.  But hey, it’s never too late to start anything, so here I go.

In his book, Eker recommends a fairly simple money management technique: separating our income into a number of different accounts, with each account created for a specific purpose.

There are six different accounts that he recommend we create, each with a corresponding percentage value:

• Ten percent (10%) goes to an account to accumulate money for the purpose of investing and building more passive income; never to be used (withdrawn) for any other purpose.  He called this the Financial Freedom Fund, or FFF.

• Another ten percent (10%) goes to an account for Long-Term Savings for Spending, or LTSS.  This is what you use for whatever big-ticket items you have in mind for yourself: renovating your kitchen, that big new plasma TV, or that brand new PC you always wanted.

• Still another ten percent (10%) goes into our Education (EDUC) account: which we should spend on books, seminars and workshops, anything that allows us to keep on learning new things, which in turn, encourages our personal growth.

• Necessities (NEC) will account for fifty- to fifty-five percent (50-55%) of our income.  It’s not as easy as you think; if anything, limiting your bills and day-to-day expenditures (food, transportation, phone bills, internet, etc.) challenges you to live a simpler lifestyle.  A real eye-opener for me, on a personal note.

• You will definitely need to enjoy the fruits of your labor- which is where ten percent (10%) of your money goes: to the Play (PLAY) account.  Anything for the purpose of rest and recreation.  For best effect, spend your entire PLAY account monthly, or at least every 3-4 months (if you’re saving up for that Singapore vacation you’ve always wanted, for example).

• Lastly is the Gift (GIFT) account, which takes the remainder- five to ten percent (5-10%) of your income.  This is what you use for any and all your charitable endeavors, whatever makes you happy.  Remember, there are always people out there worse off than you.  Giving back, therefore, is important (and is therefore a topic worthy of another post).

So now you know how to divide your money up.  Eker even had gone so far as to recommend we use jars- actual, physical glass containers- to put money into, accordingly.

I say, whatever works best for you.  It can be as simple as doing an electronic funds transfer from one main account into all your other accounts, maybe a bunch of envelopes you keep on hand.  The point of the exercise is to get you in the habit of divvying up your income this way.  Something we’ll be talking about in the next post, Spending The Money The Right Way, part 2 of 2.

Cheers, everyone.

Three Things a Couple Should Never Fight About | Relationship Advice

relationship advice with Renzie Baluyut.

A friend and I were having coffee the other night, and she was opening up the fact that, while her relationship with her current boyfriend is generally alright, they usually end up quarreling.  This usually happens when she has to go out of town, attend to some clients, or work on a photo shoot.

Now, as far as relationships go, I think I have a fairly good idea of what works and what doesn’t.  While I am enjoying a very happy eight-year love affair with my girlfriend/fiancee, my current view on relationships has been shaped by a number of ex-girlfriends, numerous dates both successful and disastrous, as well as stories from other friends.

So here’s what I think: if there’s anything you, as a couple, shouldn’t be fighting about, it would have to be these three things:

1.  Work,
2.  Friends,
3.  and Money

Let’s get into all three in greater detail, shall we?

Renzie Ten Years From Now

a snapshot of a vision inside the head of Renzie Baluyut.

We’ve all been asked, “so how do you see yourself <insert arbitrary number here> years from now?”

One thing I’ve realized is that this seemingly innocent, yet over-asked question, actually gives you a chance to evaluate your Grand Strategy over your life.  And by “Grand Strategy”, I mean a visualization of exactly what you want to achieve within the next- in this case, ten years.

“I want to be rich.”  “I want to be famous.”  “I want to live happy.”  These would be some of the more typical answers to the aforementioned question.  Nothing wrong with wanting to be rich, or famous, or happy, or thinner, or successful, really.  But you have to paint a clearer picture:

How rich is rich?  Do you want your own G5 jet shuttling you back and forth European cities?  A Bentley for each day of the week?  Similarly, how famous is famous?  Having a million followers on Twitter?  Five thousand friends on Facebook?

The point of filling in all these details, is to put together a realistically attainable (yet challenging) scenario of your future self.  If you were an Isaac Mendez- you’d paint this picture out in a mutant power-induced instant.  This is your destiny, one that you will have to carve out for yourself.

On this one particular beautiful spring morning, I decided to answer that over-asked question and fill in the details of my own vision of the future.  Allow me to acknowledge my vision of a typical day in the life of Renzie ten years from now.

Ten years from now will be 2019.

I see in my mind a beautiful 2-storey house that might be in a residential area in Glendale or Long Beach.  The kids are just about heading off to school with lunches I packed them earlier that day.  My wife’s getting ready for work too.  As she drives off for the day, I head on to the adjoining home office to get things done.

Yep, I have a home-based office, from which I run a network of small business ventures, just after breakfast.

• I have a couple of property management companies- one to oversee the day-to-day operations of a number of apartments along the West Coast, and another buying, selling and renting out real estate in various parts of the Philippines.
• A travel and tours company is just about getting a final count on a number of parties heading out to Blizzcon 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Tour teams to Disney Resort and Knotts Berry Farm have been prepped and good to go, according to this morning’s report.
• A shipment of anime DVDs, dolls, action figures and other collectibles from Japan will be arriving tomorrow, according to my geek-friendly coffee shop based in Pasadena.  I’ll be dropping by later that afternoon to check out the inventories.

After poring through the rest of the sales figures and reports, signing checks and managing the other online accounts, I head off to town to get even more stuff done.

By 10:30 AM, I’m at the gym, working on tone and cardio for the most part.  I meet up with a client for late lunch, then stop by the coffee shop in Pasadena.  It shares floor space with a hobbies and collectibles shop, and has a nice little niche market of gamers and geeks, both casual and hardcore.

I get a call at 3PM from my wife- reminding me to pick the kids up from school, and to swing by PetSmart for some cat food and litter.  I round up the kids from school and take them out for some ice cream, right before heading off to the store to grab the supplies.

Instead of cooking dinner that night, the kids wanted some pasta and pizza, so we drive on over to a nearby restaraurant and order some carry-out.  My lovely wife is already home, spending some much-needed play time with the cats.

Over dinner, we all talk about school and the latest Twilight movie, which the kids want to see on Friday afternoon, as we would all be out camping over the weekend.  Gotta check on all our gear tomorrow to see what else we might be needing before heading out for the outdoors shop in the afternoon.

As Mom helps out with the kids’ homework, I check my email: approving the copy for a bunch of sales materials for a client due for printing the next day, online brochures for new apartments in Metro Manila, friends confirming game night two weekends from now, a business partner’s itinerary as she flies in from the Philippines next month, and a marketing proposal from a nearby computer shop.  I sync my handheld with my PC, and power down for the evening.

The kids are allowed an hour to play with their XBox 19.  Wife and I retreat to the den and squeeze in an hour of online gaming.  We then get the kids ready for bed and tuck them in.  We get ready for bed as well; she watches her reality shows recorded on DVR while I read a couple of chapters from the latest Robert Greene book.  After making sure the alarms are set right, we both catch some much-needed shuteye to take on a brand new day come morning.

That’s going to be me ten years from now.  A daydream on a blog post perhaps, but also a roadmap.  In my next post, let’s break it all down together, and join me pick on my own brains.

But for now, ask yourself this same question:  How do you see yourself ten years from now?

And this time, really paint yourself a detailed mental picture.

Cheers, everyone!