Women On The Web Summit by Google Business Club Manila

Immeasurable amount of inspiration! This is what the Women on the Web Summit by Google Business Club Manila gave me after joining this free summit for Filipina entrepreneurs and wannabees. In two days these women shared experiences and Google provided resources of how to use its products and services for their business ventures. One of the speakers I won’t forget is a Malaysian woman who manages a brand agency, showed a number of researches regarding Filipina entrepreneurs that we are leading in terms of competition in Asia and the world like Philippines ranks 5th globally in terms of rising women entrepreneur! I have been to a lot of events few years back when I have not started a business yet but now that I have already the feeling is different because I have something now to hold on and I know I am part of them. I have seen a few faces that I used to brush shoulders from past events and it feels great because I feel like I am starting to gain “real” business peers - those whom I can relate to. In a nutshell, Google Business Group is an independent community-led group of business professionals that come together to share knowledge about Google web technologies for business success.

 This is what I observed during discussion and comparing it to talks of men entrepreneurs I have been:

“When women talk about business, issues such as relationships, marriages and family are always part of it but when men talk about business, they usually share about their hobbies, opinion on current events, where’s the best beer in town etc.”

Most of the participants’ business has something to do with online stores or doing online stuff. Fashion products and moms crafts dominate the scene. If there's one woman that inspired me so much there is a mom already in her golden years and a wife of a known photographer in Manila, Ms. Harvey Chua. I have seen her in a few events before and admire her being very active inspite of her age. During the panel disccussion when she was asked about what drove her and her husband to business she replied that the audience chucked feeling kinikilig:

"Since my husband's passions is photography and my passion is him, I have no choice but to support him. "


The other three ladies also worth remembering is a blogger whose blog is all about travels and travel promos. She said she was able to go to Japan and Malaysia for free because of joining to these kinds of contests. I did checked her blog and it had a number of current promos so I was like a kid trying my luck to all of it! Working online has given her the privilege of a location - independent lifestyle which I am dreaming and working out soon! This gave me idea to also promote authentic travel promos here.

While I was in a corner sitting in the floor eating my lunch, two ladies joined me. We hit it off right away when I heard them talking in our vernacular language. We came from the same province and we talked like we are longtime friends in the dialect of our family. The first lady  has a fashion accesories online store and the other one has a women's clothing online store.

The common denominator for all of us is we got tired working in the office, doing monotonous task and having a boss around. For us to get out of these, having a business is the best way and be our own boss! Starting one is no joke really, it is a risk because of this not all chooses this path. We are used to getting a fixed amount of money from our salary every 15th and 30th. But we don't realize life is all risk. When you fall inlove, you take the risk of after sometime either you build up a family with that person or not, when you work for somebody else either you are paid high or not, when you go to school either you graduate after or you stop because of financial reasons etc. So life is all about risks then why is it that most does not have the courage to take it to business?

I am superbly amazed of Google’s products and services for work productivity, collaboration and networking. I have never known any products and services that are under one brand say Google that has almost everything that I need! I created a separate blog post about elaborating Google's effective productivity tools that can be used any business:

I hope to join more activities of Google Business Club and hope to encourage more women to be part of this really literally helpful when it comes to business like who started mine and everything I was learning are from experiences and mistakes.