I was introduced to the idea of working from home while I was on a local job as a web developer. Through that job I was able to get in touch with clients from outside the Philippines. I learned where to get clients and how to get in touch with them simply through e-mail.

Six months after working in that local company I found my own client and started working for him. By then, I was still finishing a degree in college but I had to stop in order to accomodate the job, which paid me more than four times my regular salary. At first, I could not believe I could earn that much, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity so I took the risk of working for two weeks. I figured that if the client decided not to pay me, then at least it would only be for two weeks worth of work. But when that two weeks came, so did my first pay check! Or more like, my first payment through PayPal! Honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so excited about it, and I was so happy when the money finally came to my hands.

This lasted for six months. I was a full time web developer and an internet marketer (most of the skills I needed were self-taught, some of them were even learned on-the-spot where I had to study and research online when the client asked me to do something I didn’t know yet). Then my contract with that client ended.

I would have tried searching for another client, but by then my eyes were opened to other types of opportunities on the internet. I learned that there were ways to earn money online even as you sleep! Don’t be fooled though, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy to succeed in such opportunities. I categorize such opportunities as passive income generation opportunities. Put simply, after setting things up and working on it diligently for a few months, you can start earning money even when you’re not working! Of course, the more you work, the faster your income will increase every month.

The downside to such passive opportunities is that it isn’t so easy to set up and it requires a lot of time and effort. But for the long run, this can help you become financially independent. Imagine generating an income of 20,000 a month even when you’re not working.

My first passive income generating opportunity was from a survey site, where I earned $30 a month. It wasn’t big, compared to my monthly salary working for a client, but I was happy. I earned $30 even if  just laze around for a month! Of course, I never did laze around for an entire month–I was busy trying out other opportunities.

I set up a blog and focused on a certain theme. I worked on it for two weeks, and that had me earning an additional $30-$40 a month through Google Adsense. I figured that if I did the same thing over and again, I could be earning as much as my salary while working for a client! But I could be earning that amount even while on vacation! The idea got me excited.

I also tried some smaller opportunities that paid me $10 a month for displaying advertisements for each mini-site that I did. Some of these sites are set-up on free blogging platforms such as Blogger.com.

I tried opportunities that paid me $5-$20 for writing 200 word articles and posting them on my personal blog. I even tried opportunities that paid $4-$9 for doing other people’s homework! And then I tried going into a business that employs web developers and programmers.

This business was started by a few friends and I, and we market services to foreign clients. We used what we learned about how to make money online, where to get contacts, and what opportunities are available to grow that business. Today, I balance my time with business and work-from-home. It can be hard, but it’s really challenging and can be very rewarding.

About Work Philippines

Work Philippines .net got started when I and my parents decided to make a joint site sharing our experiences in earning money online. We wanted to share the opportunities we learned to the Filipino community (and hopefully to the Asian community and maybe even to the world. Most of the opportunities we feature on this site are available internationally).

Our vision is to empower the Filipino people through work from the internet. We aim to reduce the unemployment in the country through this site and spread the information that it is possible to earn money online.