Nomad Manager Progress Report #5: When Procrastinating is Productive
Okay, so I’ve got a backlog of planned posts for Muni PH, as per usual, which only seems to increase with every post successfully publish (more ideas come than I can write them!). I’m also working to build the upcoming Muni Pop-Up Shop Online. And finally, I got myself involved with 2 rackets - 1 on design and 1 on writing (and both require a lot of work).
But upon the recommendation of Dindin Reyes, I opted to watch a nearly 40-minute video of Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of The Start. And prior to that, I spent a good amount of my day talking to Chesa Zimmer-Santos of co.lab PH and Denise Celdran of Edgy Veggy about design thinking for climate change, veg food, and plans for Muni PH.
Today has been a good day. And I need to write some of my thoughts because it’s an important day to chronicle in the life of this Nomad Manager.
Muni PH: The StartUp
Before today, I couldn’t quite figure out how I was going to approach making Muni PH a legal entity. And that’s something I’m certain I want to do. Never before in my life have I found work that I was “meant to do”, or work that made me feel so good - and it was work that I looked for, and not so much found. It took me a while to get to this point, and now that I have, I am certain that I’ve found that which I wish to do for the rest of my life, no matter how long or short it may be.
8 Groups Filipino Entrepreneurs Should Know About in 2013
So yeah, click the above link to see what I’ve been up to lately.
I feel like a party girl with all these “events”, except that the people I meet are real game-changers, and conversations engaged in are more socially relevant and less vapid.
Hooray! And now, I quote myself (lol):
It’s time we all band together to share ideas and strategies to create and support better products that raise the standards of Filipino businesses, to look beyond only profits as entrepreneurs, or the cheapest bargain as consumers, and see in the long run, the choices we make everyday do matter.
With 2012 coming to a close, many anticipate the end of the world, but I only see it as the end of the old world – the old ways we’ve been doing things. 2013 will definitely be explosive — with new ideas, turned into action, and everyone connecting with each other to create this shift in consciousness that I’m convinced will happen in the coming year.
[Above video is The Story of Change by Annie Leonard;
below article/post is The Story of Change by Jen Horn]
Going on this trip has really given me the time to reassess my priorities, restudy my values, and reaffirm my passions, which I am first making public here (yikes!).
![DREAMERS & DOERS: Tricia Gotamco & Erin Chu of Made For Movement Yoga & Travel
Life really does send us synchronicities every so often, we just have to be open enough to recognize them, and keen enough to act upon them.
Series of Synchronicities
About a month ago, I claimed a 2-week Deal Grocer pass for Urban Ashram, and a former ICA batchmate, Tricia, was still teaching there then. Incidentally, I had also been looking through Made For Movement’s site in search of a travel-friendly yoga mat a few days prior to attending Tricia’s class. From my bazaar rounds for Punchdrunk Panda, I knew Tricia Gotamco owned Made For Movement with partner Erin Chu.
After seeing Tricia that day and briefly chatting with her after her class, I just knew I ought to write about her and Made For Movement for my blog.
So we agreed to meet again at my regular haunt lately, Pipino, this time with Erin to chat more about yoga, business, a bit about vegetarianism, and an unexpected lot about passion.
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Moving On To Better Things
Tricia shared that as Made For Movement, “We aim to provide high-end products at mid-range prices for travelers and the yoga community”, given that most available products are much more expensive.
Back in March 2010, when Tricia had just come back from traveling and attending yoga teacher training in India, ideas of a business began percolating in her head. At the same time, Erin was feeling increased stress from work and cubicle confinement. Having been friends for the longest time, and partners on other “mini-business ventures” back in college, it was a natural decision for them to partner up again.
So they just dove in.
Erin left her full-time job at a bank to focus on the business, while Tricia started to put some of her yoga teacher training to practice, which would later prove beneficial to their business.
They started the business with their bestselling line of microfiber travel towels. And given their mutual fondness for yoga, eventually moved on to yoga mats and accessories and accessories as well.
The Perks of Travel & Yoga
Tricia and Erin’s eyes sparkled when talking about their travels and yoga beginnings. Traveling allowed them time to unwind, be inspired and come up with new ideas. And while they had their own motivations for beginning their yoga practice (for Erin, it was a physical activity that effectively relieved her of stress without requiring hand and foot coordination; for Tricia, it was initially to lose weight), their love for yoga is among the things that bind them as they are gaining popularity as the only local brand that provides more affordable products for the yoga community in the Philippines.
Moving Forward
Having graduated from Fashion Institute of the Philippines, and as the natural course of their brand, Tricia would like to introduce a line of yoga and travel wear for the brand. With what they’ve accomplished so far, and with their still growing success and recognition, I am confident that Tricia and Erin will go even further with their brand.
And because I think it is no accident that I got in touch with them, and gotten to know them better as individuals (and even conducted a passion test on them), I’ll definitely be backing them and rooting for their success.
For my Life in 10KGs Giveaway, the nice ladies of Made For Movement are giving three (3) lucky winners a Made For Movement travel hand towel each, along with other goodies summing up to P2000 worth of prizes!
Back to prepping for my trip,Jen
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DREAMERS & DOERS: Tricia Gotamco & Erin Chu of Made For Movement Yoga & Travel
Life really does send us synchronicities every so often, we just have to be open enough to recognize them, and keen enough to act upon them.
Series of Synchronicities
About a month ago, I claimed a 2-week Deal Grocer pass for Urban Ashram, and a former ICA batchmate, Tricia, was still teaching there then. Incidentally, I had also been looking through Made For Movement’s site in search of a travel-friendly yoga mat a few days prior to attending Tricia’s class. From my bazaar rounds for Punchdrunk Panda, I knew Tricia Gotamco owned Made For Movement with partner Erin Chu.
After seeing Tricia that day and briefly chatting with her after her class, I just knew I ought to write about her and Made For Movement for my blog.
So we agreed to meet again at my regular haunt lately, Pipino, this time with Erin to chat more about yoga, business, a bit about vegetarianism, and an unexpected lot about passion.
DREAMER & DOER: Alessandra Lanot of Pipino Vegetarian Restaurant by PINO
[I’m starting this segment, DREAMER & DOER, to feature various inspiring people I meet, and whom I believe you guys can draw inspiration from as well. I’ll be featuring travelers, entrepreneurs, vegetarians, yogis, designers, writers, planeteers, or people who are a ridiculous mix of this all…the big dreamers who are also big doers; turning their passion into action.]
I’ve gotten to know Alessandra Lanot, or Alessa, through our Punchdrunk Panda blogger hangout at Pipino last March, our cooking session 2 weeks ago, and Passion Test Workshop with Lois Yasay the other Sunday, which Alessa and I participated in, and incidentally, was also held at Pipino.
Alessa is one of those super slashies who still manages to to do well with each slash. She’s a vegetarian/vegan restaurant owner/designer/blogger/wife/teacher/crafter, and a DMC brand ambassador too!
Part-timing PdP: Pursuing A Personal Passion
Just came from @arriane_’s Blogworthy workshop today and I was inspired to write a Nomad Manager post because it’s been a while since I wrote something related to the purpose of my blog. So read, and hopefully enjoy.
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Unbeknownst to most, I shared with my team that I wanted to take a less active role in Punchdrunk Panda effective May 2012.
At PdP, we always talk about the pursuit of passion, and support people pursuing their passions in graphic design, music, film, photography and entrepreneurship. After working on the business full time for 3 years now, I finally realized last year that I was foregoing some of my own passions because I was so immersed in managing PdP.
An Entrepreneur’s Malaise
As a business owner, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of working on your business 24/7. Even when you’re done with all the concerns of running the business’ day-to-day operations (meeting with suppliers, checking products, marketing, accounting, bazaars/events), cogs still keep on working to think up new products or concepts or collaboration; you still get an urge to research on new trends, tweak the business’ website, or update Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr, improve systems, or check your e-mail every 5 minutes.
That’s exactly what happened to me, especially when my co-founder Gail left for Canada in May 2010. Work became more intensive, and yet, I had no one to back me up. Fortunately, Nica joined us in March 2011. I constantly primed her for my eventual distancing from the business, so I can allow myself to go on relatively extended travel, and devote more time to other hobbies too.
Super Slashie / Part-time Everything
I’ve kinda pretty much diagnosed myself with ADD from the time I learned about the disorder. And I remember that when I was younger, and people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I’d have super slashie (or dashie, whichever you prefer) answers like: I want to be a writer / interior designer / painter / fashion designer / photographer / jewelry designer / musician / chef / filmmaker / housewife. I basically wanted to be a part-time everything. Whether that just means I’m a lost and hopeless scatterbrain, or I have a rich fascination in a broad range of interests, or both, up until now, I don’t believe I’ve really figured out what I want to major in in life.
However, I personally feel that doing any one thing full-time just sucks the life out of you and clogs your brain. And once any hobby becomes a full-time job, it’s not soon after that you get a disillusioned about promising prospect of making money doing something you love.
Enter: Nomad Manager
In spite of my varied and sometimes wavering interests, one thing I am sure of is my passion for travel (or at least to be elsewhere, anywhere). All my life, I’ve consistently worked toward travel. I create strict budget plans (which I more or less get to stick to) so that I can fulfil my financial goals (i.e. travel). I try to allocate 30% of my monthly earnings for travel (I highly recommend MoneyWell for Mac users). I forego excessive clothes, bags, shoes and accessories in favour of promo fare tickets.
Having finally acknowledged my passion for travel, I decided to stop putting off my painful desire to pack up and leave. This is not at all without difficulty because I had to work a year on basically gearing Nica up for my departure. Furthermore, as a staunch believer of saving for a rainy day, I felt a lot of apprehension in making loads of travel “plans” (i.e. booking tickets), as these seriously deplete one’s bank account. But I decided to throw caution in the wind, knowing that if I didn’t do this now, I would wind up pulling all the hair off of my head.
So now, instead of M-F 9-5 work + overtime + weekends, I’m down to T-W-F 9-5, more or less, plus e-mail on M and TH. Still trying to get used to it and seeing how Nica will respond to it too. In the meantime, people, you can commission me for freelance work. :)
Part-time panda,
Jen
PdP Nostalgia: Talk at Ateneo
Hahaha! Look at what my business partner Gail found!
This was from maybe 1.5-2 years ago (my memory is fuzzy), at a talk for the Ateneo Management Association. Hahaha. Ever since I got my super short haircut, I feel funny looking at pictures like these where I have “long” hair. :P I’m the dark one, by the way (in case you stumble upon my blog and don’t really know me), and my hair is not really long at all. Haha. Looking at the photos makes me feel “nene”.
Anyway, even if Gail and I were fumbling around with our talk (we prepared, mind you), and we were nervous and stuff, it was still fun. I love speaking to college kids and corrupting their minds. I kid. Not. Joke. No, seriously.
Look what I found! :)
My cousin randomly forwarded me this link to ask if I know the owner of the site. I don’t but I remember speaking in a class of maybe just 20 students and talk about entrepreneurship.
If only these kids knew that back then that I (or we) was (were) young and foolish. =)) Anyway, I hope we get invited to more of these sessions. *parinig*
Speaking of, to whoever’s following this blog, please nominate Jennifer Horn to be a speaker at Pecha Kucha.
Click here to know more about the event.
Here’s how to nominate:
- Twitter: Using this format: ‘I nominate @JuanDelaCruz for the #OpenMicNight because…’
- IMMAP’s Official Group Page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/175361742529657
- Through this Event Page wall
- IMMAP’s Like Page: http://www.facebook.com/immapPH (we’ll open the wall soon!)
I’m confident that Jen will be a great speaker! :D
(via Linda Rottenberg: For Entrepreneurs, “Crazy” Is A Compliment :: Videos :: The 99 Percent)
A bit of inspiration to start the week. :)
